How to Take the Emotion out of It + MORE

Emily is a 27-year old married graduate student living in North Carolina.  Her blog, Evolving Personal Finance, focuses on navigating the financial transitions common for young adults.
Hi everyone, future doctor* here!  I’m going to tell you what’s what regarding your credit card usage.  Just like drugs, credit cards have prescribed uses in which they can be safe and helpful…

Happy Friday everyone! To all my US-based readers, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a three day weekend! Memorial Day weekend is upon us and hopefully everyone has great weather this weekend to enjoy the holiday. Ever since we started our own business we have come to learn that we do not always get to take advantage of the long weekends, but that is ok…

Good morning and happy Friday Dinks.  As I write to you this morning I can hardly contain my excitement because today two totally amazing movies are being released and I don’t know which one to go see first. In a mere few hours I will be off work and ready to go to the movies to see either the new Fast and Furious movie or the new Hangover movie…

Hey everyone! Happy Friday. I’ve decided that every other Friday I will attempt to publish a short post that asks all of you readers a question. Today’s question is about what is more important to you: negotiating for a raise or working on increasing your side income.
Both negotiating for a raise and working on side income are important to me…

Take a look at the 401k your employer offers. Is it inadequate? If so, you may want to consider opening a self-directed retirement account.

Cheap cruises rock! I’m not the only who thinks so. Crystal from Budgeting the Fun Stuff is also taking advantage of Carnival’s cheap cruise rates, and taking off on vacation!

Remember the saying buy low, sell high? Well, I also think it applies to vacations. I love traveling, but what I love even more is the thrill of knowing I searched for a good deal…

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.University is a great period in one’s life. There are so many new and great experiences one gets to be a part of. The learning and social aspects along with the independence of this time is a truly great part of growing up…

Happy Friday to all of my readers.  I know readers here in the States are happy about Memorial Day weekend.  Who isn’t feeling good about having a 3-day weekend?  I know am am feeling great about it!  I mentioned in my last Debt Roundup Digest that my content is being scraped onto a crappy website…

Representing a way of generating tax reliefs for investors in small businesses, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) in the UK was created to help promote innovation – the main recipients of the scheme are businesses that are not publicly listed, and that would otherwise find it difficult to raise financing…

When it comes to finances, I used to have a hard time trying to take the emotion out of it, or anything for that matter.  I thought my stuffed animals had feelings, so every night I had to put them … Continue reading →The post How to Take the Emotion out of It appeared first on Financial Black Sheep…

Photo: kenteegarden

Today’s low interest rates make buying a home incredibly tempting, especially if you’re being hit with annual increases in rent. But finding money for a down payment can be tough, especially if you don’t have much wiggle room in your budget.
One option is to tap your retirement savings…

 
This is the view from the cabin on a cool fall morning.
Wow, this week flew by for me.  We’re starting a forecast at work (real exciting, I know) so I was pretty busy.  Plus, I’ve been looking forward to heading up to the cabin, so I’m glad the week went fast.  Memorial Day weekend is normally our first weekend of the spring/summer that we head to my parent’s cabin…

Sometimes I meet coupon non-believers. You know, the types that think that coupons are a waste of time. Usually the non-believers tell me that they don’t clip coupon for several reasons. The conversation sounds something like this…

“Coupons are only for processed food and we don’t eat processed food”
My Response: You don’t eat any processed food? Not even Chef Boyardee or Cheez its? Just kidding…

I had two posts this week which left me a little bemused as as to how different Australia is from the US. The first post was in regards to buying a rental property as an investment and some of the comments I got really shocked me. I had never before heard of someone buying a rental property that could make money straight away…

Vonnie and I are in full party planning mode for the 17th Annual Pizel Memorial Weekend Party.  I’m off of work today to fire up my smoker and BBQ my way to some pulled pork and brisket.  So if you’re anywhere near South Eastern Minnesota this weekend, stop on by we’d love to have you…

Image: apple.com
Whenever I’ve asked a question to my faithful readers, you haven’t disappointed me with your answers and reasoning. I have a dilemma coming up at the end of June, and I’m not sure which way to go. I’ve seen other bloggers ask this question, so I thought I would seek your advice on whether or not I should upgrade my dumb phone to a smart phone…