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Need Some Reading Material?

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As I mentioned earlier, I went and did a little shopping this past week. I have received so much from this blog in terms of support and some advertising dollars so I wanted to take this opportunity to give back a little. I’m big believer that when it comes to reducing debt, you have to figure out a plan that works for you. To do that, it helps to have some tools. So, the things I want to give away follow that philosophy. For the first part I went to a used bookstore to purchase some financial books to give away.

1.) The Wall Street Journal Lifetime Guide to Money – published in 1997, this book has almost 600 pages. A quick flip through made me feel like this will be a good reference book for someone.

2.) The Consumer Reports Money Book – published in 1995 it’s over ten years old so some things may be outdated. I actually have an older edition of this book and I’ve read through most of it. I believe it’s a good solid reference book as well.

3.) The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom – this one is by Suze Orman. I haven’t read this book, but I did purchase a copy of it a while ago and haven’t gotten around to reading it. One of these days I will finish it and review it on here (but first I still need to finish “The Millionaire Mind”).

Unfortunately, that’s all they had. All of the books are in good condition, but they do have an insense smell on them from the bookstore. I’ve been trying to air them out a little but the smell is still there. Also note I do have a pet-friendly home.

Now, if you are interested in receiving one of these books, please leave a comment below with something about yourself like how much you debt you have (or don’t have). I will ship the book to you free of charge to US addresses only. If something should happen where you received the book damaged or it gets lost, I cannot replace it. So far, everything I’ve sent out has made it to its destination *knock on wood*.

I will use random.org to select three random numbers. In the event that the randomizer selects two identical numbers, I will pick another one to have three different numbers. Those numbers will correspond with comments and that will determine the commenters who will receive the books.

I will accept comments on this post until 11pm EST on Monday, February 19, 2007. I will announce the winners on Tuesday, February 20, 2007. If after I email the winners I do not hear back from them by Thursday, February 22, 2007 with a shipping address, I will select another number(s).

And so you know, just like if you subscribe to my updates via email, I will never use your email or address for anything other than what they were provided for.

There will be another giveaway that I am really excited about. Unfortunately, I am still securing them. I’m hoping to have it finalized soon. When it is, I will be announcing that one as well. I am hoping it will help 5 people really take charge of their finances. Those that are selected for a book are eligible for the next givewaway as well.

What are you waiting for? Leave a comment and tell everyone about your debt (or lack of) 🙂

So Glad to Be Back!

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I’ve really missed blogging the past few days, but I did manage to make some progress with getting some things done. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get off of work so that put a little bit of a damper on things.

One of the biggest things I did was to really take a look at our finances. Today marks the one year anniversary of Blogging Away Debt and deep down I really wanted to pay off $15,000 of our debt by then. I’m happy to say that we did meet that goal, and our new debt total is $22,302. I did pull some money from the home repair fund that we have been saving to make it happen. I still cannot get my handiman to call me back and I’ve pretty much given up on him. It’s winter, so that’s probably why he hasn’t called. Once the snow starts melting I will call someone else to come and do the repair. I hope to replace the money I borrowed from the repair fund by then.

I also plan on putting more money into our new savings account. I don’t like to call it an emergency fund because that sounds like I am waiting for something to go wrong. I’m not sure what to call it yet. Perhaps a “contingency fund” as a reader suggested before. I believe this is important, so the debt reduction is going to go slowly for a while to get that built up.

I did some shopping for life insurance. I was hoping to write a post as I was researching, but I didn’t have enough time. I took notes and wrote down a few websites I found useful. Probably this weekend I will put it all together. Our quote to cover my husband and I for $100,000 each for 10 year term insurance: $50.00/month. Now, that could change once the nurse comes and takes our stats and takes our blood. I am not very excited about that.

I didn’t get a chance to look at disability insurance, so that is still on my “To-Do” list.

I did go shopping for a few things to giveaway on here. Expect more on the first few things later today 🙂