Buying It for Life + MORE

Determining whether to rent or buy a home, apartment, or other dwelling is often a tough choice to make.
As we discussed, housing costs are huge (between 31-39% of spending, on average). And you want to keep yourself out of trouble, should you hit some monetary speed bumps.
Despite what a local realtor or mortgage broker might tell you, it is not always “a good time to buy”…

If you’re trying to save money, pay down debt, or both, then you might want to consider skipping your family’s usual summer trip and plan staycations instead. Staycations are inexpensive activities that your family can do at home, or locally, that you can all enjoy without running up an expensive vacation tab…

This is a follow up to – Can you retire with a million dollars? Some readers pointed out that a million dollars net worth is very different from having one million dollars in investible assets. You could have $500,000 tied up in your home and other assets and you won’t have much left over to generate money for you in retirement…

I remember when I received my first credit card offer. I was 18 and fresh out of high school and, frankly, I was flattered that Visa thought I was responsible enough for a card. Of course, I know now that pretty much every 18-year-old receives credit card offers, but at the time I couldn’t wait to […

I’m always a little amazed when people drive across town to the gym, hunt around for a place to park, change their clothes, sign up for a treadmill, and wait in line to use it, all just to take a nice 30 minute walk. Not that there’s anything wrong with walking…

Delayed gratification is one of the main tenants of personal finance. Scan the front page of any major personal finance website, or read through the table of contents for any popular personal finance book, and you’ll see examples of delayed gratification.
We see this in tips and techniques like freezing your credit card so that you have to wait for it to thaw in order to make purchases on it, or by writing out a list of things that you want, waiting 30 days, and checking to see if you still want to make those purchases…

For those with the financial power becoming a landlord can be a lucrative scheme, bringing in a sizable income on a regular basis. However, the life of a landlord is not always as straightforward as many believe.
With a little research and knowledge of the trade, landlords can ensure that they are seeing a solid return without putting in a large amount of regular work…

I’m currently of the mindset that Girl Ninja and I have enough job security and enough liquid assets we can afford to quit saving money. It’s a fun place to be in for sure, but it is also extremely intimidating. Throwing excess income in to a savings account each month takes virtually no effort…

Over time, as our various pots and pans have worn out, we’ve slowly been replacing them with enameled cast iron, which are fairly expensive – substantially more than the pots and pans at our local department store.
My pocketknife’s blade became so beat up that it could barely cut string…

Over the past six months, the price of gold has been steadily in decline — though the past six days have seen the precious metal regaining some of its allure, rising 5.8 percent. According to some gold watchers, that is a sign that it may be a perfect time to get into the gold game.
"We’re in process of finding a bottom," Jeff Nichols, managing director of American Precious Metals Advisors, told CNN…

Back in my country, weddings are not as costly as what it is in US. Generally we attended weddings within our own city but occasionally we had to travel long distance by trains. I know those trips and all the associated costs were too much for my father. This guest post from Alice talks about some of the ways to reduce cost of attending a weeding…

So after the debacle with our renting situation last week, I thought it would be smart/fun/interesting to see what our house could sell for shall we put it on the market instead of renting it out. Ya know – in case I lose my mind and just say “F it” one of these days (only a 1% chance of happening btw, but you never know ;))
It’s been almost exactly a year since the last time we updated it (when our neighbors sold theirs for $285,000), so figured it’s about time to get it checked out again anyways…

Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities
The Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities (OFPD) is a program designed to help persons with disabilities to prepare for and obtain employment or self-employment in Canada. The program supports local, regional and national projects. The eligibility for local and regional projects differ by region and year contingent on the community needs but applications are accepted on an ongoing basis…

While this week will find golf fans hearing the call of the pipes not far from Edinburgh, Scotland, as the British Open gets underway, the pipes I’m writing about are of a different and more profitable kind than bagpipes.
Last week, I wrote about the tragedy in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, located in the southeast area of the Province of Quebec…

Talk about myopia!
For 18 months straight, I’ve been chronicling the “huge recovery” in residential real estate, as one of the Nation’s largest homebuilders recently put it.
I’ve ushered in data point after data point to convince investors of three things: The recovery is legitimate; it’s broad-based; and it’s here to stay…

The following is a guest post by Celina Jones. If you are interested in guest posting on BudgetBlonde, please e-mail me at Cat [at] BudgetBlonde [dot] com.
It can be hard to determine whether a particular piece of money advice is right for you, and the Internet is full of ideas and opinions!
However, there are some tried and true pieces of advice that almost everyone can benefit from…

The baseball season is a grueling six months. It starts with Spring Training in March, and it ends in the beginning of September. There are many games — and only a few days off. When I had two days off for the All Star Break last week, my wife and I took advantage of it.
Being that we’re on the east coast, and I played a summer in Cape Cod, we got in contact with my old host family to see what they were doing…

This post is from staff writer Kristin Wong. I first read about the envelope system back in college. I used it regularly, but after graduating and paying off my debt, I sort of abandoned it. I’d gotten a hold of my finances, and I figured I could budget safely without having to use this tactic…

One of the classic investment scams is the “pump and dump.”
While this scam has declined somewhat in recent years, it’s starting to make a comeback, at least according to FINRA.
FINRA warns that pump and dump is on the rise in emails. On top of that, it appears that other social media outlets offer the chance for pump and dump to really take hold…

How do you spend commercial breaks? Checking your email? Playing Candy Crush Saga on Facebook? Why not spend it doing something productive like hunting for treasure?You can by searching online for unclaimed money that’s owed to you. While it may seem unlikely, 2.5 million claims involving $2.25 billion were processed in 2011, returning the money to its rightful owners, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators…

How do you save money yet keep your personal information private?
This is an article by Sam Lustgarten, a doctoral student at a midwestern university.
We’re living in a surveillance society. Recent news and leaks from whistleblower, Edward Snowden, show that the American government has an intricate network — both foreign and domestic…

We all have those heart sinking moments when we realize we made a big money mistake. At least, I hope I’m not the only one! (Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to share yours in the comments!)
Here’s one of my best:
A few years ago when I wasn’t as financially savvy and way less cool, we completely misunderstood my husband’s (then fiance’s) apartment lease…