My Two Dollars

Checking In On Your Financial Health.

Wondering just how you are doing financially? You probably are if you are like the majority of people. While I don’t necessarily worry about it or spend too much time focusing on how much money I have, it’s nice to check in once in a while to see how I am doing compared to how I am “supposed” to be doing. And since 2009 is coming to a close in a few days, I wanted to revisit a quick little test I found last year over at CNN/Money that asks questions about how much you make, your age, your housing and debt costs, retirement information, etc and tells you how you are doing. While not an exact science, it can give you a good overview of your situation. It only takes a few minutes, so give it a shot!

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Lifestyle

By David

Avoid Headaches & Save Money On Holiday Air Travel.

It’s that getting to be that time again – time to fill up the highways, airports, and railways with people on their way to visit relatives for the holidays. I took off last week via car to the east coast and made it with no problems, right before the blizzard hit. Good thing I drive fast! For those of you just starting to think about what you are going to do this year (Maybe a little late?), there are a few ways to both save money and save yourself some headaches in the process.

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travel

By David

Give The Gift Of Saving Money This Holiday.

I just finished reading an article over at Kiplingers called 12 Gift Ideas That Save Money for the Recipient and was pleasantly surprised that it actually was what it proclaimed to be rather than just another list of “stuff” we don’t really need. It’s nice when a mainstream article gives people info about actually helping others to save money rather than just spending it! So if you are looking for last minute gifts to give to those you love, check out some of the things on this list – you would be doing them a huge favor by getting them any of these as presents. I put my thoughts on each next to them, just in case anyone in my family is reading this!

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saving

By David

Money Quote Friday – Weather Forecasts & Economists Edition.

“Isn’t it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?” — Kelvin Throop III

So very, very true. Like either of them really know what is gonna happen! Anyway, I hope you guys have a great weekend and holiday. Posting will be light and sporadic over the holidays as I take some much needed time off and away.

quotes

By David

Save Hundreds Of Dollars (Every Year) By Drinking Filtered Tap Water.

Let’s say you currently buy water in plastic bottles for your everyday water consumption. And let’s say you consume three .5 liter bottles per day, give or take. That’s 90 .5 liter bottles per month, or 1,080 per year. (An average day could be more or less depending on your situation, so I just picked a number). To see how much that would cost you per year, I wandered over to the Staples website and saw a 24 pack of .5 liter plastic bottles on sale for $7.00. At $7 for 24 bottles, it would cost you at least $315 for a year’s worth of water in little plastic bottles. Wanna know how much it costs me for water at my house? $1.91 per every 1,000 gallons – meaning I would have to DRINK over 500 gallons of water a day, for a year, to spend as much as some people do on the plastic bottles filled with it. That’s insane. In fact, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap the stuff costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000. Yes, you read that right – $9,000 per month. And there is no way I am spending my hard earned cash on filtered tap water in plastic bottles! In fact, I carry my Klean Kanteen reusable water bottle with me everywhere I go so I never have to. And did you know that:

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Frugal