Save Money By Checking the Energy Star Ratings on New Appliances + MORE

Naked With Cash is the year-long series on Consumerism Commentary where seven readers’ households share their financial progress on a monthly basis. I’ve partnered with financial planners who will offer some guidance along the way. Read this introduction to learn more about the series. Calvin is in his early 40s, earning a salary of $120,000 plus bonus as an IT project manager in New Jersey…

Our country has a decades-long history of trying to make sure that high earners pay what is considered their fair share in taxes.
However, a long list of deductions is available, which allows many wealthier people to reduce what they pay in taxes. In order to reduce the deduction loopholes, another method of figuring tax — the alternative minimum tax (AMT) — was introduced…

Hidey ho! Got another awesome giveaway for y’all today, this time by my friend Ryan Bales from Bync.com – a person I’ve met and drank beers with a number of times now over the years 🙂 A great (and very SMART) guy at that, too – as evidence of his new company connecting people to the best coupons and offers from the stores they *actually shop at*, haha… Imagine that?
You’ll find more info about Bync here below, and then below that your entry methods to win this week’s Nook HD giveaway…

When my wife and I bought our home, it came with some older appliances. They were all in good condition, and quite functional, so there was no immediate need to replace them. However, it quickly came to light that we would be replacing them shortly after we moved in, and for a few reasons. First of all, in an effort to make our home livable, we wanted to make sure that it was visually pleasing…

It’s often said that when money is tight, maintenance is the first thing to go. When you own a home, skimping on maintenance in any way can lead to bigger – and much more expensive – problems later. Home maintenance truly comes within the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…

If you’ve been paired with one of our Debt Coaches, here’s a behind-the-scenes look on what you could accomplish as a member of the Debt Movement.
This is an update on the Debt Coaching assignment with Stephanie, who’s been paired with Jeff and Robin Ehrlich from Debt Free Squad.
Debt Coach Success Story
My husband and I have been living a pretty much normal lifestyle…

Carol writes in:
My local bank offers an interesting account each year. It starts on the first Saturday in January and the deal is that if you deposit the same amount each week for 49 weeks, they will make the 50th deposit for you and give you the money at the end of the year just before Christmas. You can’t take the money out of the account and if you miss any payments you don’t get the free 50th payment but they do set it up so you can pay in automatically out of your checking account…

All day at work I listen and watch as coworkers waste money.  ”If you and your husband both have a Tim Horton’s coffee twice a day every day and that coffee is $1.50 per cup that is $6 per day and $2,190 per year”  I said yesterday after watching a coworker, who complains about being broke all the time, walk in with a take out coffee again…

Accidents are just that – mistakes. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t disrupt your life for a little while. Unfortunately most of us will get in at least one car accident in our lives, whether it’s a small fender bender, or a huge collision. Car accidents are horrible for everyone involved…

I subscribe to the promotional emails of hundreds of companies so you don’t have to. I sift through 1,000 deal-touting emails every week. Most are worthless. But some offer valuable coupons, promo codes, sales, and freebies – which I collect and organize.Note: Expiration dates are in brackets.FoodOn The Border: Free guacamole appetizer with the purchase of an entree (print first or show coupon on mobile device) [3/27]…

If 2012 was a hard financial year for you, you might be wondering if the outlook for 2013 is any brighter. The worst thing you can do however is get in a slump and force yourself into a rut that you can’t get out of. And, if 2012 had been a bright year for you, you must have home worked on the strategies that worked…

The following is a guest post from William Cowie @ Bite the Bullet Investing.
You still remember those New Year’s resolutions to spend less so you can invest more, right? You’ve kept a tight leash on your finances, holding off on buying new clothes, and throwing away all those catalogs you receive in the mail without even opening them…

As I get older, I’ve find myself more and more inclined to spend time with those who share my views on frugality, simple living, and saving. It seems as my age increases, so does my resolve to be quite open about my frugal ways. I guess that’s either drawn like-minded folks toward me, or repelled others — perhaps it’s done a bit of both simultaneously…

I’ve often watched the show House Hunters International and dreamed about moving abroad for a season in my life. Whether it be for work, volunteer/mission work, or simply to drop everything and go on an adventure with my wife, it has always been something that sounds appealing to me.
If you think about moving abroad enough, you eventually start thinking about the flip side: all the challenges of living abroad…

This is a guest post from friend and blogger Ben Edwards of Money Smart Life.
Here, take these five pills of debt advice from the movie The Matrix.Stopping bullets with your mind is no easy feat. It took Neo quite a while to hack the laws of a computer program called “The Matrix” in order to achieve that outcome…

I read about 30-40 personal finance articles every week, and there seems to be a recurring theme about being financially ready for big life events.
They talk about how much money you need to have saved up before you buy a house. They caution you to have a huge emergency fund before you have a baby. And marriage! Oy! You better think twice before you join accounts or take on your fiancé’s debt! That could mean bad news for you, they say…

Making a career change is a big step. It can be difficult enough to improve your job search, but to try to look for an entirely different career can be stressful and take a lot of sacrifice. Before you take the plunge, here are six questions you should ask yourself.
1. Am I really ready for a career change?
Before you make the leap, ask yourself if you are truly ready to completely change careers…

This post is from staff writer El Nerdo. I love my job, but my job doesn’t pay so well. For a while I attempted to cope with this problem by means of personal finance. However, while thinking and writing about personal finance, I have realized (for a while now) that I need to make more money…

Have you ever been invited to a dinner party? No, I’m not talking about a booze fest at your college’s frat house. I mean a party where you are going to a friend’s house and they are going to feed you while you socialize.
If you’ve ever been to one of those parties, I hope you didn’t show up empty handed…

MSN Money recently had a piece on retirement expectations versus reality. Seems like there’s quite a gap at the present moment. A summary of where their information comes from:

A recent BlackRock and Boston Research Group poll of 1,002 workers with retirement accounts at work and 1,035 retirees who previously participated in a 401k or similar type of retirement plan found that workers are expecting to pay for and experience retirement in a way that contrasts with the lifestyle of current retirees…