I expected his benefits to expire but I did not expect the high cost to maintain his health insurance through COBRA. We’re looking at $250 a month for an active healthy guy who hasn’t been to the hospital for a medical reason since birth.

This expense isn’t an option for us. It’s either healthcare or our mortgage payment and since healthcare won’t keep us sheltered at night… it lost.

In light of this, I have restricted him from doing anything dangerous. He is officially banned from riding a dirt bike, surfing near sharks, standing on ladders, and clipping his toe nails. I have also encased him in bubble wrap and tied large sofa cushions to his stomach.

I think it will work.

But…

All I have been hearing about for the last week on every news station in San Diego is the Cash for Clunkers program and about angry car dealers who have decided to cut off the program early. Dealers have found themselves swimming in paperwork and unable to get timely reimbursement for the Clunkers (most dealers in this area have been reimbursed for less than 25% according to the reports). The Clunkers program was expected to last until November but quickly ran out of money in the first few days. More money was added to the pot, but it was used faster than expected as well.

And of course…

The local news stations have tied this topic to the heated healthcare reform debate. The ‘failure’ of this program has caused people to worry about governmental competence when it comes to their health.

What do you think?

‘The whole country got overpriced. Bloated. Swollen. It wasn’t predatory lenders. It was greedy, shortsighted homeowners. ’

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

Patient, wise, brilliant, loving… he’s an all around great guy.

He encouraged creativity and made me feel like I could do anything. Now that I’m striving to become debt free, he is one of my biggest supporters. We I get frustrated, he is the voice of reason. When I get stressed about life, he brings things into perspective. When I get confused about the finance world, he knows all the answers.

I think he secretly has Google software in his brain because no one should know THAT much.

Thanks for being such a great dad.

I love you.

Whenever someone on the show says something clever, an elevator in the background dings. Not a big deal… unless you work in a building with elevators. Now every time the elevator dings, I act like Pavlov’s Dog and wait for someone to say something clever.

I’m onto you Executive Producer Betsy Beers. Thanks to you, TV watching has caused a semi-normal person like me to live in a complete state of confusion for 10 floor dings up… and 10 floor dings down each day! But while you’re out creating chaos in the world, I was wondering if you’d take some precious time from your schedule and somehow work your Pavlovian magic on my finances. I’d like to be completely numb to the charms of the evil ones, ie… Target, Macy’s, and their best friend Nordstom.

Come on Betsy! A little help please!?

DING!

I excitedly went to our local nursery and realized the 15 bucks I budgeted for landscaping each month would allow me to complete my dream backyard sometime in 2037.

Um. Someone forgot to tell me how expensive plants are.

Disappointed, I went to work and lamented to a co-worker about my landscaping situation. She sweetly offered me some cuttings of her plants – several of which were on the list from the landscape architect. While we were talking, another one of my co-workers walked by and joined the conversation. He suggested I contact local garden clubs including water saving cactus clubs. He happened to be moving and offered to bring in several of his plants that matched my list. Let’s just not tell these generous co-workers about my history of plant killing OK?

Inspired, I can home and did some research and thought I’d share it with you.

I found several garden clubs – some of which offer spring plant sales.

Our local college offers a degree program in Ornamental Horticulture. Students grow plants and sell them for less than half of what they retail for at nurseries.

Our local dump (should I be politically correct and call it a ‘Solid Waste Disposal Site’?) offers high quality mulch in several different colors and sizes. If you are willing to load it yourself, you can save a fortune.

And perhaps the most odd place to find plants… our local 99 cent store!

Any ideas I missed? Where do you get your plants?

New York Times Article

A 34 year-old Walmart temp employee was killed by Black Friday shoppers when they rushed into the store and trampled him.

Like I mentioned, it makes me sick to my stomach. Those people wanted deals so bad that regard for human life went out the window. I don’t get it! What is so important about stuff that you trample people to get what you want? I think there is plenty of blame here. There could have been more security, there could be a different system for controlling crouds – but it all comes back down to the people outside of those doors. Their behavior was unacceptable and I hope they are held accountable for what they did. It’s just stuff!

If anyone from that man’s family happens to read this, I offer you my deepest sympathies for your loss.

Since we have a son in school, we are familiar with the Box Tops for Education program. You clip the coupons from products that have them. Give them to your school and then they will receive 10 cents for each one submitted. We have collected some for the school, but we mostly make things from scratch now and we rarely come across the box tops. But there is another we can help.

If you go to BoxTops4Education.com, you can sign up and then shop at their marketplace. A portion of your purchase will go towards the school of your choice. There are many retailers in their marketplace – maybe one of the places you like to shop online is listed.

If you were going to shop there anyway, it’s an easy way to help a school.

If you are interested, please follow the directions below for more information.

Blogging Away Debt Blogger

We are searching for someone who is in debt to blog about their debt and their effort to reduce it with honesty and frankness. If you would be willing to blog about the successes, the failures, the goals and the obstacles as you work your way out of debt, we may have a quality writing opportunity for you.

There will be a small amount paid for this position, but this position probably won’t be of interest if your main focus for writing is to make money. It does require a commitment of making 4+ posts per week. Writing experience in the past is not necessary, but basic writing skills definitely are. More important than past writing experience is your willingness to share your experience honestly with the readers and the observations you make along the way. You can blog under an assumed name if you desire.

If you think that this might be of interest to you, please email me at info@savingadvice.com with the subject “Debt Reduction Blogger Position” to get more detailed information about the spot. We will be accepting emails from those interested through Monday, October 13.

We will get back to everyone that is interested in more information on October 15th or so once we have received emails from all those interested.

You think debt can sneak up on you? Check out this little guy:

Yahoo Video

We have a bit of credit card debt
We live frugally
We live in a rural setting
We live in a smaller house, and are even looking to downsize that
We have a non-traditional husband/wife roles
We both work from home
We have one car
We are not big on the social scene

I do think it would be interesting to swap lives for a little bit. It would provide a different perspective and we’d probably learn a few things. At the same time, though, I know how television works and it’s all about the drama. Not sure if I’d enjoy that part of it. While the money would be awesome, Wife Swap probably isn’t for us.

If you are interested in something like this, they are currently looking for people according to this post at WAHM.com. The contact info is over there. It was posted the 19th – I’m guessing the post will disappear when they receive enough responses.

*sigh*

I’ve been trying to make a video using iMovie, but I am not very creative in the movie-making department. I can make a mean cherry picker and I was able to combine green and purple for the colors for this blog, but that’s about it for creative ideas from me.

We’re also pretty boring when it comes to what we want to save for. There’s no real goal except to have a lovely cushion of cash so we can sleep better at night knowing it is there. Let’s see…if we won the $13K we’d pay off the rest of our debt (about $8K) and that would leave $5K for savings. Add that to the almost $4K in there and we’d have $9K.

I still am not used to the fact we have over $3K in a savings account. I can’t even imagine having close to $10K!

I’m hoping a creative idea will come to me tonight. If not, I guess I will not be entering the contest. There are already some really creative videos there. By the way – have any of you entered the contest? If so, please leave a link to your video in the comments. I’d love to see them!

I also caught up on our finances since they were set on the back burner the past few days. I was hoping we could put some money towards our savings, but we can’t. It’s a bit frustrating. We were doing great for a while there and around this time of the month we usually had extra money to put towards our debt or savings. Not this month.

Looking ahead, we may be able to contribute to our savings by the end of the month. It really depends on how the whole health insurance thing goes. My husband is due to go back to the doctor next week and I need to keep money in our account to pay for that just in case our insurance situation isn’t cleared up. I haven’t heard back from my bank yet about the claim I made. I plan on calling Blue Cross tomorrow to see if our insurance has been reinstated. I will be looking into automatic payments because I don’t want this to happen again.

On an unrelated note, since this post is mostly a catch-up post, how many of you are using sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc.? Is there one that you would recommend over another? I haven’t joined any yet, but have been tempted to try one.

Matt at One Million and Beyond is having some troubles sticking to his budget. To help motivate himself to meet his goals, he is putting his money where his mouth is. If he doesn’t meet his weekly budget, he’s giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate. Check out this post for the specifics.

Next up is FNBO Direct. They are having a Pay Yourself First Challenge.

Create a one-minute video about what you’re saving for. Maybe you’re a savings superstar — or a little savings challenged. Be compelling, original and creative — and you may be selected as a challenger in the FNBO Direct Pay Yourself First Challenge!

Check out their site for the specifics. The grand prize is a getaway (or $7,500 cash). I’d love to enter, but I have a little problem with doing that. Remember that piece of equipment my husband sold a while ago? It was our video camera I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on one.

Good luck!!

Here are a few links I found interesting this week:

Jesse is dealing with a wrecked car. He gives some tips that I sure could have used when I had a car accident.

Glblguy talks about using constant reminders to help you keep focused. I have a few of them. My desk is surrounded by pictures of my family and I have a excerpt from a book that I always have in my wallet.

Lastly, this has absolutely nothing to do with personal finance. But it sure made me smile last night when I saw it on TV so I thought I would share: YouTube Video of Robert Muraine. A-ma-zing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

EDIT – WOW! That was quick! There are 18 in the list, and that will probably last a few months, so I closed the comments for now. I will post again when I need more

I have been out of my links for a while, so I host ING Orange Savings referral links for others on my referral page. Every now and then I ask for more referrals on here so I can keep up the supply.

Please just leave a comment saying you are interested.

Thanks!

If you would like to write an article and have it featured on here, please contact me if you are interested.

Here is a list of guest articles that have appeared in the past:

How I’m Staying Motivated Through a Setback
Dealing With Setbacks, My Two Cents Worth
The Generosity of a Stranger
The Road to Becoming Debt Free
Steps to Achieving Your Goals
101 Ways to Put $101 in Your Pocket This Month
Debt Doesn’t Have to be Just a Part of Life
How to Fight Discouragement About Debt
Volatile Financial Cocktail
Two Ideas for Your Credit Card Debt Reduction Plan
Zen and the Art of Financial Prudence
Super Simple Method for Debt Reduction
Consumer Debt vs. Government Debt – How Can We Judge Congress When Our Plastic is Maxed Out
Debt From Another Angle
Lending on Prosper.com

Thanks again to everyone who has been a guest writer on here

If you were here way back in the beginning…I’ve already done that once!

Please send me some “Tricia won’t wreck her blog” vibes

Thanks!

The checks aren’t in the mail, but they will be soon. President Bush signed legislation Wednesday to rush rebates ranging from $300 to $1,200 to millions of people, the centerpiece of government efforts to brace the wobbly economy. First, though, you must file your 2007 tax return.

[Via Yahoo.com]

Our family of three will receive a check for $1,500 and it’s going straight towards our debt. We don’t need to buy a big TV or treat ourselves to a fancy dinner with that money. It’s going to get us a little bit closer to our debt payoff goal.

I have been a little concerned about how this rebate would be treated with next year’s taxes. According to an article on the Consumerist:

…it’s an advance on an additional credit Congress passed for your 2008 earned income.

So next year when you are doing your taxes, there should be a credit on there that you claim, but then have to deduct the amount of the rebate check you received.

I guess I better get crackin’ on filing our 2007 taxes!

When you make a comment, underneath where you type your comment you’ll see a little checkmark box with a note to click there to subscribe to the comments via email. If you checkmark that box when leaving a comment, you will then get an email when a new comment is left on that post. I think that’s pretty neat because sometimes I ask a question in a comment and I would forget to check back for a reply if I didn’t have an email reminding me.

At any time, you can unsubscribe from receiving follow-up comments to a post by clicking the unsubscribe in one of the emails that you receive. If you are having troubles, you can also contact me and I can manually remove you.

Now, if there are any other features that you can think of that you would like to see here…please let me know. I can’t guarantee that I will be able to do it, but I’ll look into it.

I hope you like the new feature!

Comments on here are still broken, but I am closer to a solution. I want to give a big thank you to everyone who emailed, other bloggers and of course the great guy who did my blog design, Dave at 1955 Design. Thank you for your help!

As for the solution – I need to have my host do something, then I can do something, and then hopefully all will be well. Then we can start chatting again and I will be very happy. I’ve really missed having comments on here. It is really what makes a blog a blog.

Thanks for your patience

But what’s wrong? At first glance, it looks like all is well. It’s when you try to leave a comment or look at a comment that you see what’s going on. Error messages galore.

As always, I appreciate your patience and I’ll work to try to resolve the problem. It would be a pretty big bummer if we can’t comment on here anymore. But I’ll see what I can do and hopefully comments will be back soon.

If you need to get my attention, you can always contact me.

Thanks!

It’s a little hard to swallow and the further I get with writing the post, the harder it is becoming. It’s not easy to take such a deep look at what makes you tick. Especially when you realize that you are not sure how to overcome your fear because I’m trying to figure that out while writing it.

I do want to share it with you, but I think it will take me longer than I expected. I just can’t seem to concentrate tonight. Too much going on, I guess. I think I am going to take a shower and go to bed a little early and try again tomorrow.

I’ve discussed Modest Needs before, but I haven’t mentioned them in a while. To read what I wrote about them before, you can click here. For those new to reading my blog, I wanted to point them out again.

If you are experiencing a difficult time financially due to unforseen circumstances, you can turn to Modest Needs. A few examples of people they have helped:

• A woman needed a scooter to help her get around.
• Someone needed a hearing aid repaired.
• A woman needed help affording materials to get her G.E.D.

If you have some tissue handy, go ahead and read the testimonials page.

I love this organization, and I support it 100%. There are many requests that are looking to be funded, so if you are looking for an organization to support, you can become a donor at Modest Needs. Right now, thanks to a matching grant, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar. So if you donate $10, it turns into $20 that can help a family through a difficult time and hopefully keep them from the downward spiral that many of us in debt can probably relate to.

So if you need a little help, maybe Modest Needs can help you. Or, if you are looking for an organization to support, perhaps Modest Needs is one you would like to help. This organization does not spend their donations on advertising. Rather, they are hoping word of mouth will get the word out about them. I’m proud to help spread the word.

As soon as things improve, I’ll get together a few posts to highlight.  In the meantime, if you already do not know about the “popular” posts feature of pfblogs.org (an aggregator of personal finance blogs), you should check it out. It shows the “hottest” posts around, as determined by readers clicking through to them.

Pfblogs.org Popular Posts

The list is continually updated and it’s one of my favorite places to visit on a daily basis.

I hope you enjoy!

Tomorrow is supposed to be hot and humid as well. One of my weaknesses in the past has been the heat. When I was pregnant with my son, we spent the night at a motel for the air conditioning and a comfy bed. That stay was put on our credit card. We also purchased our air conditioner (on credit) on a 90 degree day. Thankfully, we don’t have too many very hot days where we live.

I am hoping the weatherman is wrong about tomorrow’s weather

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the NPR Story.

This blog is basically the journey of our family to eliminate our credit card debt and get our financial house in order. I’ve been blogging about it since February 2006 and there have been good times, as well as bad times. This blog provides a great deal of motivation to me, and I love the interaction with readers through the comments or emails. In turn, I hope reading about our story can help others.

If you like what you see here, there’s a few ways you can keep updated. You can bookmark this site to visit again, or if you have a feed reader you can Subcribe to my Full Feed. If you have an email address, you can also Subscribe via Email. Every day that I post you will receive one email with the posts that I wrote for that day.

As for where to start, here’s a recap of 2006:

A Reflective Look Back at 2006 – Goodbye to $13,000 of our Debt

And here’s something I wrote that highlights my frugal posts of 2006:

My Top Frugal Posts of 2006

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you enjoy your stay

You may see more of that in the next few days as I try to pinpoint the problem. As always, I thank you for your patience.

If you see weird things going on…that’s why.

Thanks for your patience.

I’ve already been notified of one glitch with the comment box not wrapping the text when you type it. I’ll keep working on trying to resolve that problem. If you happen to notice any other “bugs” if you wouldn’t mind leaving a comment detailing the problem and what browser you are using, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for your patience during the remodel

In Debt and Want to Start a Blog – Here’s How

The Ways I Make Money With My Blog

While blogging has the potential to bring in money, it is not easy. I was blogging six months even before I received my first check and that was among a few different blogs I had at the time. Of course, your results will vary.

I am super excited about this. As some of you may remember, I am trying to save up for a new digital camera for an idea that will generate additional income. I had $200 from doing some extra writing and now I have this gift certificate so that brings me to $250. I am still waiting to hear about one contest that could add another $200. I am slowly getting closer to having the funds I need!

I’d also like to say thank you to NetWorth IQ for the contest opportunity

If any of you would like a “sneak peek” at the new design and would like to offer some feedback, please email me at bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com and please use the subject line “SITE DESIGN”.

In a few days, I will email everyone instructions on where to see the new design and how you can send me feedback on it.

Thanks!

I hope you are enjoying your day as well! I’m signing off until tomorrow…lots of news to report for tomorrow…

Overall, I like the the fonts of the current look and I like the layout. But the green and purple were so cheery to me.

What do you think? Do you like the current blue and gray or do you like the old green and purple?

Wisebread thought it would be neat if the US Mint gave everyone 2 $1.00 coins for a $1.00 bill. If they did that, I’d be first in line!!

Golbguru proclaimed that Warren Buffett is Buying His Blog. Why he didn’t pick the person in debt is beyond me. Hey, Mr. Buffett…I’m over here!! LOL.

As for me, I didn’t play any pranks on anyone and by my late posting today I wasn’t pulling a prank. Today was rather uneventful except for the fact that I have been working hard to bring my idea to light. I was hoping to not have to spend any money to get things up and running but it looks like I may need to spend about $650. We technically have the money in our savings account to cover this expense but it’s not easy parting with that money when I know things are going to be rough financially shortly.

Decisions…decisions…life is full of them. You can think through them till you are blue in the face but in the end you just have to hope you make the right one!

Mae Laborde via Yahoo.com.

There’s much to be said about life and what you can do with it. Since this is a personal finance blog, I’ll highlight a tidbit related to finance I found in the article:

“A Girl Scout leader for her daughter’s troop, she has kept in touch with most of her daughter’s friends. Now in their 70s, they’ll ask her for secrets to living a long life. She’ll tell them to never retire.

When she was 89 Laborde took a police training course just for fun, and she still cooks for herself, paints and raises tomatoes in her garden that she sells to a local restaurant.”

A police training course when she was 89? She’s amazing.

I’m still smiling…what more can I say?

When you subscribe to my feed via email, you will receive an email after you sign up. You will need to locate that email and click on a link to verify your email address. Once that is completed, you will begin receiving updates.

I subscribe to my own email feed to make sure things are running fine, and sometimes it gets filtered to my junk folder. I’m not sure why it does that, but you can add my email address to your “safe” list if you have that ability. The emails will show that they are coming from bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com, even though they are coming from the company (Feedburner). It’s crazy what they can do now a days.

As a reminder, I can see your email address, but I will not do anything with it. I will never sell your address or start sending spam. I also will not send you emails on a whim. The only time I will personally email you at that address is if you contact me first (which some people do by replying to the “Latest from Blogging Away Debt” email).

“A writer for a national magazine is looking for money-saving ideas from frugal moms (and dads). The article will feature ideas beyond “I clip coupons” or “I shop at consignment shops.” If you have any clever or unusual ways to save money that you’d like to share, send them along with your email. (Real names will be used, so you have to be willing to be quoted.) Any ideas are welcome–from creative, crafty or do-it-yourself ideas to environmentally “green” or tech-y ways to save money.”

If you are interested, please send your email to me at bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com and use the subject title of “FRUGAL IDEAS” and I will forward your email to the writer.

Also, another writer is still looking for people willing to share their story about bad experiences with credit cards.

Thanks!

Needless to say, it amused me as well as the other people in the video. I think it’s really neat!

Toy that plays tricks on your eyes

Without “giving it away” in the comments, what did you think?

There are two things that we will ALWAYS pay the money for – smoke detectors and a carbon monoxide detector in our home and the batteries to power them. Like clockwork, we replace the batteries with every time change.

You know me, I don’t like to sound like I’m telling you what to do. But those two devices can save lives and I feel strongly about having them in homes. If you haven’t checked the batteries in yours in a while, please do so. And, if you do not have any, please do buy some. If funds are really tight, see if your local fire department has a program for free smoke detectors and/or carbon monoxide detectors.

In my mind, they both are too important to not pay the money for.

At first glance, it probably won’t affect things too much except for appointments and such. However, one part of the article is of particular interest:

“It can also affect the businesses we use, so check and save your bank deposits and payments during this period, especially if there’s a fee for missing a deadline.”

For the full article, click here.

I am also having problems with my web hosting. It isn’t necessarily their fault. I did find a cheap plan to get this site up and running and I am on one of their plans where I share a server with many different users. The increased traffic seems to be creating havoc with the server and sometimes you may get error messages when trying to visit. The alternative is to host my site on a dedicated server (my site would be the only one on it) and that costs a bit of money which is usually more than my site can reliably bring in with ad revenue a month.

I am going to try to see what I can do and as always thanks for your patience

THANK YOU!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and for all of the comments and emails. Words cannot express how truly thankful I am for all of you. I don’t believe I could have paid off as much debt as I have if it wasn’t for the support I have received. I think about this blog every time I’m in the store and something that I don’t need catches my eye. Look what you all have done to me! LOL.

Seriously, though. Thank you…thank you…thank you!!!!!

I will give an update on what’s going on shortly

I wanted to share with you a postcard from PostSecret. I thought this postcard was really neat. Please click Here to see the card (I’m not sure if it will stay on the PostSecret site for very long).

It has been so weird not writing the past few days. I have two more guest articles to post and then tomorrow I will be back to regular posting. I’ve missed writing about things as they happen so it will be nice to get back in the groove of things.

There’s so much to update you on, and of course tomorrow is a happy day

Monday I am hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction. After that is posted, I’m taking a few days off from blogging to take care of some business. I have enlisted the help from other bloggers to make sure you have articles to read. Plus, you will get to read some other viewpoints.

So what kind of business will I be taking care of?

1.) I will be shopping for life insurance. I currently do not have any and my husband has a whole life policy. We are going to shop around for term life insurance for the both of us and look into cashing out on his whole life policy.

2.) I will be looking into purchasing disability insurance. My income earning potential is the greatest asset we have right now. If something happened where I couldn’t work – it would be devistating to us financially.

3.) I will be doing some fun shopping. I know, that sounds weird. But there’s a good reason for it. Thursday the 15th will mark the one-year anniversary of when Blogging Away Debt was born. I do make money with advertising on this site, and I want to give some of it back to you…my readers. I won’t tell you any more than that at this time. You’ll have to stick around to find out more

So, stay “tuned”. I am so excited about next week!

I am hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction on Monday. Bloggers, please submit your debt reduction articles by 5pm EST on Sunday.

Also, if you were thinking of writing a guest article, I will need it ASAP. I will be taking care of some things starting Monday morning and I’ll be back to my regular posting on the 15th or maybe a little earlier.

More about why I’m taking off for a few days later.

Osman Chowdhury, a 41-year old New York taxi driver, found 31 diamond rings in the back of his taxi. He could have received a hefty sum if he chose to keep the rings for himself and sell him. The thought never crossed his mind.

“I’m not going to take someone else’s money or property to make me rich. I don’t want it that way,”

When the owner of the diamond rings wanted to reward Osman for his good deed, he tried to refuse the $100 reward:

“I cannot take a penny for being honest,” he said, but he reluctantly accepted the money to cover the fares he lost while trying to track her down.

I don’t know why, but I could read stories like these all day, every day. I had to share.

Here’s a link to the full Yahoo article.