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Downsizing My Home and Moving to New Mexico, Yet Again

Remember when I wrote about downsizing my apartment to save money? And then I moved again soon thereafter? I know, I know – it seems like I am always moving around. And truth be told, I am; I have already moved three times in the past three years. 2011 will almost definitely see me move once more, as I have decided that my trial experience of living in California again isn’t worth what I would have to do in order to afford it and live comfortably the way I want to live. Everything in California is more expensive than almost everywhere else I would ever consider living: gasoline, groceries, utility bills, taxes, car registration fees, home rents, etc. – the list goes on and on. Sure, the weather can’t be beat, but when you have to work extra long hours just to make rent, well, it’s not worth it to me. I know it’s counter to the “American Dream” to not really care about making a lot of money or buying a big house, but those things just don’t interest me. I would much rather live a life of my own choosing on my own terms, and to do that requires me to live somewhere a lot cheaper than California. So 2011 will see me moving back to where I originally went to escape it all – New Mexico.

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Lifestyle
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How to Buy a Good Mattress for Cheap

There truly is no sane way to go about buying a new mattress for your home. You would think it wouldn’t be that difficult of a process, seeing as how mattresses are advertised for sale almost everywhere on every single day, but the truth is that it can be a very arduous process. I am betting that you see those ads on TV or in the paper which claim that “We’ll beat any advertised price or your mattress is FREEEEE!”, right? Well, guess what – your mattress will never, ever be free. Ever. Why? Because almost every retail store which sells mattresses has their own name for the same mattress as other stores. So Store X will call their mattress “Sleepytime” and Store Y will call theirs “Snoredom”, but the mattress is probably the same model from the same manufacturer. By coming up with their own name for the mattresses, it makes it much harder for you, the consumer, to shop around and compare — never mind get a mattress for free because of a higher advertised price. So, how would you go about finding a good deal on a mattress if you cannot comparison shop?

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shopping
5
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Do You Still Write Paper Checks?

I write just one lonely paper check per month. My landlord is the lucky recipient of said paper check, and I write him this paper check because I usually hand it to him in person. I could have my bank, Charles Schwab, send out a check each month to him without me even having to do anything, but I like the act of paying the man directly for his house, as he worked really hard on fixing it up before I moved in. All of my other monthly bills, from Charter Cable to AT&T to my local utility companies, are charged directly and automatically to my Amtrak Rewards credit card each month, and I have four automatic payments sent to the card each week which pay off the total of my bills for the month. This method helps me out in several different ways:

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banking
3
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Be Your Own Boss – 10 Reasons Why I Love the Benefits of Being Self-Employed

As many long-time readers of any of my sites may know, I have been self-employed for about 5 years now. I left corporate America to strike out on my own, and I hope to never ever look back. Sure my income is a pittance compared to the money I was making working for “The Man”, and I definitely don’t live anywhere near as care-free as I used to, but I have many reasons why this is perfectly fine with me and is a trade I consider totally worth it.

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working
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Helping Good Neighbors – 10 Communal Items to Share and Save Money

We all know times are tight right now, with so many unemployed and tons more losing their houses to foreclosure. It’s a really sad situation and one that we all hope turns around relatively soon. In the meantime, however, we all still need to keep on living — and that means that we often need to spend money on things for our family or our homes in order to keep everything in order. But these expenses can add up quickly, especially for repairs if you are a homeowner and need to pay for everything yourself (those expensive repairs are when I am thankful I am a renter!), so careful planning and discussion amongst friends prior to making big purchases can really help out your bottom line.

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saving
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