Carnival of Personal Finance #95 Recap

Carnival of Personal Finance #95 Recap

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This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is being held over at AccumulatingMoney. Each host usually puts their personal touch on the carnival and this week is no different. AccumulatingMoney actually put all the articles in a grid which is sortable by column (if you are using IE). It’s even AJAXY so no post backs 🙂 The geek in me love’s this touch and then you don’t have to worry as much about people complaining about where their article got placed in the carnival. My article on Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today is included in the article
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Cash Plus Rewards – The gig is up no more 5% back on all purchases at Wal-Mart

Cash Plus Rewards – The gig is up no more 5% back on all purchases at Wal-Mart

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Late last week I received a letter for both of my Chase Cash Plus Rewards credit cards stating that I would no longer be earning 5% back for my purchases made at superstores, warehouse clubs, and discount stores. This really sucks because my family and I do almost all of our shopping at Wal-Mart and it was just amazing how fast we racked up the rewards. Nearly all our Christmas shopping, home supplies, etc getting 5% back was a big deal.
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Frugal lawncare – Part II Overseeding

Frugal lawncare – Part II Overseeding

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In Part I I talked about organic fertilizers that can often be found much cheaper than the chemical versions. In Part II I am going to talk about over seeding.

Overseeding is probably the #1 thing you can do to a lawn to make it look great. Overseeding is simply planting grass seed over the top of your existing lawn. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but in this article I am going to go with what I did to my lawn last spring as I had just incredible results. My lawn went from bare patches, lots of weeds, and dead areas to people asking me if I had my yard sodded.
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Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today

Save for tomorrow – but don’t forget to live today

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I recently received an email from one of my readers (Doug) and I thought I would share it with you as it really hit home with me and I think it might with many of my readers. Doug was kind enough to give me a few compliments, which made my day, but in the end it was I who really learned something. It’s a little long, but please read it in it’s entirety as it is probably one of the best pieces of writing you will see on this site.
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My Financial Journey Best of March 2007

My Financial Journey Best of March 2007

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March was another good month for My Financial Journey.  Here are some of my favorite posts from the previous month.

March 5 – How to go about frugal landscaping – Part II
March 9 – I just don’t get it – what is the big deal about gas prices?
March 13 – Million Dollar Kids – Give me a break
March 17 – Frugal cure for a sore throat (92 comments and 4800+ diggs)
March 21 – What not to do with your tax return
March 23 – When lightening strikes
March 29 – My Financial Journey’s pimp ride version 2

Vehicle Cost per year – My Ford Escort

Vehicle Cost per year – My Ford Escort

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I recently sold my original pimp ride so I figured it would be good to break down the costs of the vehicle.

Purchased
1990 Ford Escort
Purchase Date: 10/2004
Mileage: 90,000
Cost $1000
Sales Tax $50
Repairs: $463 (tie-rods, timing belt)
Maintenance (oil-changes) – $100 (5)
Insurance Costs: $575 ($115 every 6 months)
Total Expenses= $2288

Sold
Sold: 04/2007
Mileage 129,000
Money Received – ($125)
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Retirement NestEgg Report – March 2007

Retirement NestEgg Report – March 2007

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Well another positive month. A good chunk of the gain was due to deposits again, but all of my accounts except my Roth IRA had positive investment gains also. One thing to note is that I missed for the first time in my life my planned deposit to my Roth IRA account. I really got it in me for whatever reason to pay off my HELOC entirely and put a good $5000+ of my resources in the last month to paying off my HELOC entirely. This drained my cash reserves quite a bit so I did not feel safe making my monthly Roth IRA deposit because it might get my checking account too low and I get really nervous if it ever dips below $3,000. I also have a 0% credit card that I have been carrying a balance on that comes due in July and has about $5500 on it (primarily due to me putting all cash towards HELOC, paid over $10,000 in HELOC within the last year). Note- I have never left a balance on a non 0% credit card and never will. I don’t see the extra $5,500 being a challenge to pay off before July, but I may forgo another Roth IRA deposit this month just to be sure. Anyway here are the numbers.
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