March Goal Progress & Income Updates + MORE

When it comes to name brand products, I normally don’t give them any thought and choose the cheaper product.  There are certain name brand products I wouldn’t give up, unless I was back in debt of course.  I do try … Continue reading →The post Name Brand Products I Love appeared first on Financial Black Sheep…

SourceThe following is a guest post. If you are interested in guest posting for my site, please see my guest posting policy and shoot me an email.Aside from traditional on campus learning, universities and colleges are starting to offer online learning opportunities for students that don’t even attend their institution…

As a bit of a break from personal finance today, I’ll share a story from my past. All of our experiences shape the person we are today. From this experience, I certainly learned lots about myself and that I never want to move to Florida!
In the final year of optometry school, students chose internship sites throughout the country to complete their training…

 
Just because it’s almost May doesn’t mean it’s too late to sneak in a March goals update, right? Here’s an overview of what March looked like:
Personal Goals

Cook 1 new meal per week- This goal was pretty easy to achieve because the bf and I have been using Fresh Direct to have our groceries delivered…

On Wednesday we went over why it is important to know your credit report info and credit score at least a year ahead of when you’re planning to purchase a house. Today is the second part of things you should do at least a year in advance of buying a house and we’ll be discussing whether or not a small down payment is actually a big deal or not…

Photo: 401 (K) 2013

How long does it take to improve your credit? That’s a great question.
Unfortunately, the answer is, “It depends.” It depends on what your credit score is now, and why. And it depends on how much you want to improve your credit score.
Serious credit problems — foreclosures, collections records, etc…

Happy Friday everyone! It’s been another fast and frenzied week, but I have come to expect that these days. Awhile back I decided to take this Friday post in a different direction and discuss something that happened in the “news” that week, whether it be quirky, ridiculous or just plain interesting…

Happy Friday Dinks. I would just like to take a minute and send my thoughts out to all the people in Boston.  I am glad that the two suspects have been found and Boston is once again a safe city for everyone to enjoy.
You may remember that I went to Boston for the first time in December and I absolutely fell in love with the city…

My first week back at work is now over, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be – so that was a pleasant surprise. I think it was made better because my wife kept sending me photos of Nick every hour so that I could keep tabs on how he was going.

Speaking of my wife, she also sent me the following YouTube clips which I found both interesting and hilarious…

Today I have an awesome guest post from Lindsey. Enjoy!
My name is Lindsey and I started my own personal finance blog a few months ago at http://centsandsensibility.ca. I have to say it’s been a great adventure so far and I’m learning a lot as I go along my journey to become debt free! I like reading, writing, traveling and technology…

I’ve written a lot about options in my three part options primer.  I also wrote a brief primer about how a margin account works.  What we need to do now is to put these two concepts together and discuss why you should be excited about the prospect of selling put options using a margin account…

As retailers use new technology to interact with potential customers, the strategies of finding and using online coupons has fundamentally changed. This infographic is designed to help consumers understand these changes so they’ll never have to pay full price on purchases.

Infographic brought to you by: Rather-Be-Shopping…

It’s very hard to establish a good credit in this extremely bad economy – some experts suggest it’s in the state of recovery, others say the worst since the last Great/Worst Depression. It’s increasingly difficult to keep your head above water. However, there are ways you can build and improve your credit history…

Our finances feel very strange at the moment.  We’re 4 days from payday, and we’re not trying to stretch every dollar trying to make it until the next infusion of income – which was the standard method of operation for so many years.    We have our budgeted amounts for groceries, gas, and allowance for the kids plus our own weekend entertainment fund…

Check Their References
Before you decide whether or not to consider an  employee, you must check their references. It is recommended that you ask for and then call at least three of your candidates’ references. You are given a good idea of what type of employee your candidate will be  if they give two professional references and one personal…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Well, I did it.  I gave notice to my employer…

Well, it is here my friends.  It is Friday.  The day we all look forward to, because it means we have a few days off from work.  I am still battling bronchitis that I got about 2 weeks ago.  I am getting really fed up with it, but it is slowly going away.  If I have to go another week, I will probably go insane…

I hit a milestone this month, and it came in the form of a birthday.  With that comes gifts, some good and some, well….interesting.  One of those was a gift from my grandmother who, bless her heart, knows I have a love for coins.  She must have been reading the paper one day and seen one of those special advertisements……

The VIP Club Roundup – Sorority Meltdown Edition
Club Thrifty – Stop spending. Start living.What’s up, party people? Welcome back to the VIP Club Roundup!
First, we wanted to apologize to anyone who tried to comment yesterday and couldn’t.  We were having issues with one of our plugins and comments were getting thrown out left and right…

 
Everyone wants to know how to get a raise or a promotion.  I hate to say it, but there is no formulaic approach to guarantee either of these.  Even though there may be no fool proof method, there are certain steps that will give you a better chance at getting a promotion.
 
Do a Great Job at Your Current Job
This may seem obvious, but I know quite a few people who really want a promotion, but they are not doing exceptionally at their current job…