Downsizing

I took interest in the CNN story about a couple selling their home to keep their small businesses alive. Essentially, the family is selling their lakefront home and buying a smaller one which will cut their mortgage in half.

We wouldn’t be downsizing to make ends meet, but we would be doing it to save money, just like all my other money saving tactics. Although, this would save a whole lot more than switching to Vonage or playing the Grocery Game!

Our House

We live in a house that we custom built 3 years ago, complete with unnecessary amenities, like our beloved sauna, imported granite, and more square feet than we know what to do with.

We love our house, but I try to remind myself that a house doesn’t make the home, the family does. Since we built our house, I probably feel some additional emotional attachment that doesn’t really factor in financially.

We also live in a premier neighborhood and pay a premium for that. After discussions with a friend, we found that a similar size house in the next town over goes for about $250,000 less. We probably wouldn’t be willing to move to the next town, but we would consider the next neighborhood, where similar sized houses run about $100,000 less.

Downsizing Feels Good

I made a similar downgrade last year when I sold my Mercedes for a Mazda minivan. And to be perfectly honest, I haven’t even missed it. The car was half the price, but does the same task. It’s making us think… what if we bought a house that was half the price?

And ironically, without participating in the corporate rat race on a daily basis, I feel like I’ve also distanced myself from some of the need to drive a fancy car and live in a huge house.

Housing Costs

When looking at housing costs, it’s easy to just look at the mortgage. However there are many other costs that would probably go down as a result of a smaller house. And to come up with a complete financial picture, you have to consider all the costs involved.

• Mortgage Payment – Principal and Interest
• Real Estate Taxes
• Homeowners Insurance
• Umbrella Insurance
• Gas and Electric
• Homeowners Association Dues
• Landscaping and Maintenance

Housing Resources

Are you considering doing the same? Here are some handy resources for home buyers right now.

Valuation. Our house finally listed on Zillow. It’s a easy way to check out approximate house values.

Mortgage Rates. You can get a free quote from to see rates for a refinance or a purchase.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credits. If you are in the market as a first time home buyer, the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit will be a nice bonus. (Or the $7,500 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit for 2008.)

Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Rules to take advantage of this part of the economic stimulus plan will be unveiled March 4. I’m anxiously waiting to hear all the details.

Low Mortgage Rates

We’re in a great situation, where we cash flow more than we used to when I had a job; but banks just don’t quite see it that way! Since I don’t officially have an income (banks want at least 2 years of self employment income), and I doubt that any bank around would be willing to include the withdrawals I make from my retirement as true income, I’ve been sitting on the sidelines watching people refinance with great rates.

I’m jealous. It’s hard for me to not take advantage of such historic lows! Although, if we bought a smaller house, I could just have Scott apply by himself to take advantage of a great rate. I know, I know…. not at all a reason to move, but it is something that factors in financially.

Other Considerations

There are many factors that weigh into our thoughts: school system, eventual family size, proximity to both of our families, and many more. We love our house and our neighborhood, but we’re trying to decide if it’s really worth the premium we pay to live here. Would we be just as happy in a smaller house?

At this point, we’re still in the very early stages of discussion. We have more questions for ourselves than answers.

Have you downsized your house? Tell me about it! I’d love to hear your thoughts…

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In other news at the Dupaix household this week, I bought my new car, we’re scheduled to close on our refinance, and our youngest son started to crawl! It’s been a busy week so far.

Gas Prices

It seems like gas prices continue to be a hot topic, so here’s your weekly dose of gas related articles:

• Mapquesting Cheap Gas
• Hack Your MPG: Improve Gas Mileage by 15%
• How Are Gas Prices Determined?

The Life Skills Network

Exciting news from The Life Skills Network! We’ve added two more member sites: Simple Mom and Marc and Angel Hack Life. They are both terrific additions to the network and our goal to give you a one stop shop to get the most out of life.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll see. Simple Mom had a timely post for our upcoming road trip: 13 Tips for Packing Light with Small Children and Marc featured 60 Popular Pieces of False Knowledge that disputed lots of common quotes.

More articles from the Life Skills Network:

• A Letter from Twenty Years into the Future at Frugal Dad
• Does Your Wallet Have A Leak? at The Wisdom Journal
• Please Help Me Find a New Way To Track Personal Finances! at My Super-Charged Life

The Money Writers Network

• Protect Yourself from Catastrophic Loss With the Often Overlooked Umbrella Policy
• Saving Money on Groceries: Picking the Right Store
• What’s the Cheapest Way to Make Long Distance International Calls?
• Increase the Value of Your Home With a Few Simple, Affordable Changes
• How to Buy and Sell Shares on the Stock Market
• Got Our Economic Stimulus Payment, but
• How America grew rich, fat and unhappy

Personal Finance Finds

Here’s the rest of the articles that I’ve enjoyed reading this week:

• Closing a Business
• Looking Back: My Finances 10 Years Ago
• Make Over $200,000 And Pay No Income Tax?
• Renovations And House Price – Reader Question
• Freeze Your Air Conditioning Costs

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It’s completely unbelievable! The homes were not in a flood plain and were uninsured. It occurred to me that something like that, crazy as it might be, could happen to us. So yesterday I got a quote for flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program. I probably won’t purchase it, but it was an eye opening experience to have an entire lake disappear.

Now onto my favorite personal finance finds of the week.

Pinyo at Moolanomy recently launched PF Buzz. It features popular personal finance articles of the week. You can submit articles and vote for your favorites. So far I’ve had a lot of fun discovering new sites with it.

Gas Prices

Trimming Our Gas Costs, Plus Saving $5,500 a Year Off The Road
See what they are doing to save money on gas. There’s a neat link in the article that can show you how fuel efficient your vehicle is.

Hybrid vs. Gasoline Vehicle Comparison – Are Hybrids Worth it?
Great analysis to see the break even point on a few popular hybrid cars. We considered the Toyota Highlander when I was shopping for my new car, but the price was just too high to justify, even with the savings.

The Housing Market

How to Get the Most for Your Home When it is Time to Sell by Making a Good Impression
Painting, cleaning, and landscaping. A little goes a long ways when it’s time to sell!

How to Sell a House in a Down Market
Have you ever thought about hiring a home stager? We’ve watched the show on TLC (or is it HGTV?) where the stagers make houses more appealing. It never occurred to me to hire one!

Just for New Graduates

Have a new grad in your life? Check out Gift Ideas for College Grads for a Financial Headstart.

In addition, last week The Life Skills Network had a whole series for new grads. In case you missed any, here are all the articles featuring tips for new graduates.

• 10 Financial Tips for New Grads for New Grads at My Dollar Plan
• 7 Common Interview Questions For The New Graduate at The Wisdom Journal
• Inexpensive Tips For A Greener Life After College at The Good Human
• Tips for Furnishing Your First Place at Frugal Dad
• 5 Do’s and Don’ts Of Living The Good Life For New Grads at My Super-Charged Life

I also skipped the roundup last week to feature tips from readers in: New Grads: 29 Money-Smart Tips.

More Great Personal Finance Articles

Make money now versus make money later

Would you take a job for free now if it offered the chance at a double payout down the road? What if the flip side was zero?

Amazon Kindle: Buy or Not?
I mentioned the Kindle in my list of gifts for dad. Check out the review and find out if the price is right.

Five Jobs with Surprisingly High Salaries
Hmmm, gaming managers? Is that the pit boss at the casinos? As a gambler, I find that salary a little low since the dealers could do the same if not better with tips.

TransUnion Settlement to Let You Get Free Credit Score
I just missed being able to participate in this settlement. Although, I’ve found other options to use for reporting and score monitoring. Check to see if you are eligible for the class action.

Double Carnivals

There’s two weeks worth of carnivals to catch up on:

• Carnival of Debt Reduction #143 — The History of Debt
• The 156th Carnival of Personal Finance: Songs of Summer
• 16th Carnival of Money Hacks
• Money Hacks Carnival #15 – French Open Edition
• Festival of Frugality #128: No Debt Plan Edition
• Carnival of Personal Finance #155 — Time With Family
• The 14th Money Hacks Carnival – Weird Golf Facts Edition
• Festival of Frugality #129 – Try a Little Harder This Week Edition
• Carnival of Money Stories #63 – Gather Round the Campfire!

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Editor Picks:

Nicole presents The Zen And Art Of Coupon Clipping posted at Breaking Even, Inc.. Nicole made a goal to cut off $50 a month from her $250 a month grocery bill. See how she’s doing it.

Nancy presents 2008 Financial Goals Nearly Met posted at sunnyislandbreezes.com. Nancy checks in on how she’s doing on the goals she set back in November. I’ll give you a hint, she needs a new goal since she’s made a lot of progress. Way to go!

Sean presents Goal: Save $500 in Book Expenses using Public Library in 2008 posted at Financial Ramblings. Sean loves to purchase books on Amazon, but he’s committed to using the library instead. He details how many books he’s checked out and how much it saved him.

Chief Family Officer presents We’ve paid off the car – now what? posted at Chief Family Officer. CFO and family just paid off their car loan less than two months after they bought the car. Find out why their new goal is to start saving for another new car, even though they just bought one!

Dollar Frugal presents New Goals for the Mid-Year posted at Dollar Frugal. Once Dollar Frugal pays off the mortgage, they will be debt free. Cheer them on in their stretch goal!

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Don’t Want To Work Forever? Retire On Time With These 10 Tips! posted at The Digerati Life. SVB reminds us: “to get ourselves ready for retirement, we’ll need to weigh our retirement goal against shorter term goals and ensure that we’re not ignoring the important things.”

Cash Money Life presents Deciding What to Do With Your 401(k) When You Change Jobs posted at Cash Money Life. Patrick needs to decide what to do with his 401(k) this month. Find out what his choices are and how he will decide.

More articles about financial goals
Here’s the rest of the articles about goals and planning as they relate to personal finance.

The Dividend Guy presents Keeping and Eye on My Dividend Portfolio Goals posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “A review of my short-term and long-term investing goals.”

Save Money presents Save Money In An Emergency Fund posted at How I Save Money.net.

FMF presents Why Shopping Around for Car Insurance is a Good Idea (It Can Save You a Ton of Money) posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A simple example of how to save money on car insurance.”

CMOE presents Improve Productivity With Goal Setting posted at Teamwork.

Nadege presents The actions I took that created my financial peak posted at fabulous finances.

Passive Income Investor presents $2,811 In Passive Income For April 2008 posted at LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME.

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips – Managing Your Personal Budget posted at Tip Diva, saying, “In uncertain economic times, it’s a smart idea to know where your financial status stands. If you’re looking to start cutting down on expenses, the best way to do so is creating a personal budget”

David B. Bohl presents How To Become Wealthy byLiving Within Your Means posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, “Many of America’s wealthy get that way – and maintain the lifestyle – by making smart decisions about what to spend their money on.”

Brice Hogan presents How to Create an Effective Spending Plan posted at Financialzip.com.

Meg presents A funny thing happened on the way to frugality. . . . posted at Finally Frugal, saying, “An article explaining how we can create a new habit of decreasing spending and increasing savings.”

Mike Leonard presents Debt Management – Anyone for some elephant? posted at Until Debt Do Us Part.

Chris presents 9 Surefire Strategies NOT to Retire Early posted at nomad4ever.

Tyler McKinna presents Staying Motivated With Personal Finance posted at Dividend Money, saying, “How to stay motivated about your personal finances. Finding out what drives you to achieve your financial goals.”

Todd presents Retirement: Farmer-style posted at HarvestingDollars.

mmhabits presents My Portfolio Dropped 8% – How’d Yours Hold Up? posted at Millionaire Money Habits.

Thanks for all the submissions! Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of financial goals using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Kids & Family. Life & Happiness. Goals & Money.

In that order (and no, the & signs don’t count!) While I write about money like it’s the answer, it’s not my top priority. Here’s who I’m calling on next to share their six word memoir:

• Frugal Dad
• My Super-Charged Life
• Quest for Four Pillars
• July Bucks
• No Debt Plan

$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Don’t forget, if you haven’t entered the $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway you still have until Thursday night to enter. Now, onto my favorite personal finance picks this week…

Housing Market

Common Costly Blunders When Selling Your Home
One of the tips that I noticed: “Remember that what you NEED from your home may not be what you’ll GET from your home in today’s real estate market.”

The Pros and Cons of Going Into Foreclosure
Wow. I guess I didn’t realize there were pros of foreclosure! Although I can see how some of the choices are better than the alternatives.

More Personal Finance Favorites

Have you seen the tiny, tiny little car buzzing around town? It’s a Smart ForTwo and it actually passed the insurance crash test!

How I Invested My Roth IRA This Year
Remember back when I told you that you could invest Lazy Man’s Roth IRA money? See where the money ended up.

Get $206 in Free Groceries!
My local grocery store is doing the 10% bonus for gift cards. The problem is that you have to spend the entire economic stimulus check there. For us that is $1800 +$180, or almost $2,000 in groceries. It would take us over 8 months to buy that many groceries! Since we get 5% back on all our groceries with a cash rewards credit card we’re going to pass. I think it’s a great deal for people who are getting smaller checks though.

Time Management And Money Management
NCN finds that “one of the root causes of poor money management is poor time management.” I love reading about time management because I never feel like I have enough time in the day for everything I want to do.

By the Numbers

• Six Painless Steps to Reduce Monthly Expenses by $130 at Frugal Dad
• Ten Steps To Take When You Are In Financial Trouble at Generation X Finance
• Three Ways Your Boss Can Save You Money on Gas at Money Smart Life
• 10 Things That Bring Success in Personal Finance #10 Part 1: Take Ownership at Prime Time Money
• 13 Ways to Slash your Gasoline Bill at Master Your Card

More Great Articles

• How Much Money You Have Defines Your Life at My Super-Charged Life
• Why you need to write your goals down at Brip Blap
• Concentrate On Savings First at Quest for Four Pillars
• Reader Mail: How Do I Reduce Investment Fees? at Million Dollar Journey
• Are These Myths Preventing You from Saving for Children’s Higher Education? at The Sun’s Financial Diary

Carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories
• Carnival of Financial Goals
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival Of Frugality
• Money Hacks Carnival #11, Money Hacks Carnival #12 and Money Hacks Carnival #13

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Recently I’ve been on a roll, first I learned to text message on my Sprint Centro with the SERO plan and now I’m finally into some of the technology on the web. Here’s how to find me:

• Twitter: My Dollar Plan: Read what I’m doing.
• Stumble Upon: Madison DuPaix: See what articles I like this week.
• Facebook: Madison DuPaix: I’m still learning what exactly I should be doing with Facebook!

Want to learn more about me and My Dollar Plan? David at My Two Dollars interviewed me recently.

Economic Stimulus Money

Your Economic Stimulus Check is Coming
The IRS pushed up the schedule and the first checks began arriving this week.

Adding 10% to Your “Economic Stimulus” Rebate
A great idea to stretch your rebate dollars even further at Krogers… I just wish we had one!

Economic Stimulus Rebate – Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about your rebate check: the who, what, when and how much.

The Day Job

Build A Business Before You Go Solo
This is a timely article for me after I was handed the news about our pension plan. It is important to get things sorted out before relying on a new business.

Speaking of job quitting… Brip Blap did just that last week. Read the good and the bad about his new move and see if it will be permanent.

Allowances

Reviewing my children’s allowances
With two kids still in diapers, we haven’t hit the allowance phase, but it is something I’m considering. See how one family does it and if it is working or not.

Do You Pay Your Kids an Allowance?
Instead of an allowance, this family uses a commission schedule.

By the numbers:

• 34 Ways To Save Money On Car Expenses
• Simplify Your Savings in 5 Simple Steps
• 10 Tips to a Wildly Successful Garage Sale
• 6 Ways to Find Additional Money
• 13 ways to save when grocery shopping!

Other articles I enjoyed this week:

• How to Eliminate Mutual Fund Deadbeats from your Portfolio
• Military: Save Money With (Almost) Free Vacations
• Subprime Mortgage Crisis Is Going To Cost Us Money
• Smith Manoeuvre Portfolio – April 2008
• Blockbuster Free Trial

Carnivals

• Carnival of Personal Finance #150 includes Retirement Planning Checklist: 43 Tasks to Get You Ready!
• Festival of Frugality #123: The Supercapitalism Edition included Are You Missing Some Money?
• The Carnival of Money Hacks will go live today at Money Hacks.

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My husband researched it and found that it is a typical scam the con artists try to pull on people selling a car. They never take possession of the car and you never get the money they offer, but they get away with your money.

My favorite article of the week

Play the Annual Invest Lazy Man’s Money Game.
Want to invest someone else’s money? You can! He is letting readers invest his Roth IRA contribution. I love to invest other people’s money!

Saving Money on Food

How I managed to spend almost $9000 on lunch this year at Brip Blap.
Looking at the cost of eating out versus bringing your own lunch and investing the difference and the money really adds up!

Coupon Tips and Tricks That Can Cut Your Grocery Bill By 80%
Tips to combine loss leaders with coupons, stock up when things are on sale, and donate the extras to charity.

Frugal Recipe: Beef Stew at Million Dollar Journey.

Kids

Lots of great articles about kids and money this week:

• Ten Ways You Can Teach Your Kids About Money
• Principles Parents Must Teach Their Children If They Ever Want to Get Rid of Them!
• Morningstar’s Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans

Other articles I enjoyed:

• Saving Money, Saving Fuel, Saving The Environment at The Good Human
• 12 Household Uses for Used Plastic Containers at Frugal Dad
• Microloans Make A Difference For Those Living In Poverty at My Super-Charged Life
• Think Your Mutual Fund Fees Are High? at The Wisdom Journal
• Thank You, Yahoo!, for Perpetuating the Use of Home Equity as Cash at Generation X Finance

Carnivals

• 149th Carnival of Personal Finance
• Carnival of Money Stories included What I Learned About Taxes This Year…
• Money Hackers Carnival featured Do You Back Up Your Financial Data? as an Editor Pick!

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Photography by: greefus groink

Editor’s Picks

No Credit Needed presents Beware Of The Laundry Detergent Cap posted at No Credit Needed. He found the recommended amounts for detergent are not what the lines look like on the cap!

Squawkfox presents Top Five Frugalicious Snacks (A Visual Guide) posted at squawkfox. These are great ideas for healthy frugal snacking. My favorite is the apples and peanut butter!

Aryn presents 13 Frugal Ways to Celebrate Spring Fever posted at Sound Money Matters, saying, “In honor of spring, I have 13 frugal ways to celebrate the season – one for each week.” It’s a great list of ideas to get outside and enjoy springtime without spending a fortune.

Jason presents Prepare Your Home for Summer Energy Savings posted at The Frugal Dad. Change the direction of your ceiling fan and other helpful tips will get you started on energy savings for the summer.

Terry presents Where to Find the Cheapest Travel Deals posted at Savvy Frugality. Included are some interesting ideas, like being a courier.

C Duran presents Budget Organic – How to Spend Less for Organic Foods posted at Jinxy Knows Best, saying, “Eating organic is great for your health and for the environment, but it’s not always so great for your wallet. But, with these tips, you can eat organic foods without breaking the bank.” We’ve been considering joining a CSA, so this was a good reminder for me to do some research.

Photography by: christopher.woo

Yan presents 14 Easy Ways to get the best Shopping Deals posted at buxr.com.

Alex presents Car Buying Tips posted at Home Life Weekly.

R.Pettinger presents 10 Simple Ways to Save Money at Work posted at Mortgage Blog.

vh presents Real Wealth posted at Funny about Money.

Amy presents Five Find for Friday – Free Things to Do in Atlanta posted at The Q Family Adventure.

Thursday Bram presents Cutting the Grocery Bill: Reducing the Cost of a Good Spice Rack posted at Wise Bread.

Steve presents How to Save Money on Air Tickets posted at DebtBlog.

Kris presents Free Cooking Lessons Part II: A Beginner’s Guide to TV Chefs posted at Cheap Healthy Good.

Bryce presents Farmer’s Market posted at Save and Conquer, saying, “You can save money at a local farmer’s market and get healthy and scrumptious food as well. It doesn’t hurt to haggle, as well.”

Photography by: TooFarNorth

Rio Rivas presents The importance of keeping investment expenses to a minimum posted at Get Financially Fit! saying, “Using average mutual funds may cost you a quarter of your nest egg”

Finance Girl presents When I’m Debt-Free, I’m Buying the Expensive Toilet Paper! posted at Finance Gets Personal.

Ron presents 5 Ways I Plan To Survive The Recession posted at The Wisdom Journal.

Lightening presents Reducing the Grocery Budget – Buy Generic posted at Lightening Online.

Penny Nickel presents Delicious homemade ice cream means more for my money posted at Money and Values.

Raymond presents The Difference Between Legal Tax Avoidance and Illegal Tax Evasion posted at Money Blue Book.

FMF presents Wisdom from Readers: Saving Money and Performance of Index Funds posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Save money by getting AAA discounts.”

Chief Family Officer presents Drugstore vs. Department Store Makeup posted at Chief Family Officer.

Shana presents Smart Easy Money: Budgeting is Only for Lean Times?? posted at Smart Easy Money.

Pinyo presents A Dollar Saved Is Better Than A Dollar Earned posted at Moolanomy.

Photography by: greefus groink

Paid Twice presents My Frugal Travel Tip ~ Pack Your Own Snacks posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Kyle James presents Fun and Frugal Spring Family Activities posted at Rather-Be-Shopping.

Steward presents Save to Buy … If You Buy At All posted at My Family’s Money.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Serious Savers Who Died Very Wealthy posted at The Digerati Life.

GBlogger presents How The Word “Free” Makes Us Lose Our Minds posted at Can I get Rich on a Salary.

David presents 10 Tips for Finding a Shared Living Space posted at Money Under 30.

Dollar Frugal presents New Work Clothes posted at Dollar Frugal.

Jacob presents The value of hobbies posted at Early Retirement Extreme, saying, “Do you pay for your hobbies, do you enjoy them for free, or do you even get paid to have fun?”

Stephanie presents Beat Rising Food Prices – Grow Your Own posted at Unclaimed Money.

RC presents Your Health and Money- Save Money by Living Healthier posted at Think Your Way to Wealth.

Photography by: cheesy42

Mmhabits presents Wealth and Weight Loss posted at Millionaire Money Habits.

David presents Beauty in Simplicity: Steps for Decluttering Your Life posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

Single Guy Money presents Avoid those Bank Fees posted at Single Guy Money.

Deborah presents The American Frugal Housewife posted at Pennies To Nickels.

Nickel presents Save Money by Fixing Things Yourself posted at Five Cent Nickel.

Lazy Man and Money presents Feeling Poor: Here Are The Two Largest Reasons Why posted at Lazy Man and Money.

Ryan presents Hunting for Discounts: Mail Order vs. Local posted at Uncommon Cents.

Wenchypoo presents Inflation—Here We Go Again posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Poetloverrebelspy presents Why I Love/Hate RyanAir posted at Less Than a Shoestring.

Photography by: Mr. Mystery

Sarah presents When persnicketiness and frugality meet posted at 20saver.

Be This Way presents I’ve Finally Found the Line posted at Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You?.

KCLau presents Financial Security: How you feel it? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips.

Lisa presents Free Time or More Money-Which is it? posted at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance, saying, “When I was just out of college, all I wanted was money. Now, pushing fifty, all I want is time.”

Grace presents Free is Such a Lovely (and Dangerous) Word posted at GRACEful Retirement.

Dorian presents The Personal Financier: How to Make Sure this is your Dream Home: 7 Practical Tips posted at Personal Financier.

The Happy Rock presents Easter Spending Without A Plan posted at The Happy Rock.

Frugal Duchess presents Ask for Camp Scholarships! Money is Out There posted at The Frugal Duchess.

Frank presents Buy an S&P 500 Index Fund with Low Costs posted at No Load Index Fund.

Thanks to all the participants in the festival. Submit your article to the next edition of Festival of Frugality, hosted by Consumerism Commentary, using the carnival submission form.

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Photography: nozai

A slang term for a caboose.

Editor’s Picks

Cindy tells her daughter there are No More Excuses! 50 Free or Low Cost Budget Tools posted at Oh My Aching Debts. This is an incredible list including many options: online, Excel, paper, and downloads. I’m a proud user of at least one of these!

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Do You Really Know How Much It Costs To Own Your Car? posted at The Digerati Life. This is perfect timing since we are busy shopping for our new car. It’s often easy to forget about maintenance, insurance and opportunity cost when looking at the sticker price.

mmhabits presents The Money Spectrum posted at Millionaire Money Habits. The spectrum is a great visual to determine where you fall and where you want to be.

Aryn presents Manage Car Expenses with a Goodyear Card posted at Sound Money Matters. Credit cards sometimes get a bad wrap. Check out how to use one to your advantage to get discounts oil changes.

RC presents Vending Machine Economics: The Convenience Factor posted at Think Your Way to Wealth. Find out the real cost of using the vending machine and see if it makes sense.

Ted presents Where to Buy, Sell and Trade Textbooks posted at CampusGrotto. One thing I remember from college was the steep price of textbooks. Ted lists some great resources to get them cheaper and recoup some costs when you are finished with the books.

Photography: edit felix

A piece of equipment used for traction in the sport of curling.

Debt & Credit

William presents Are You Balancing Your Bank Statements Every Month? posted at Becoming Debt Free.

Peter presents My 5 Biggest Money Mistakes posted at Bible Money Matters.

Lisa presents Getting a Break on Your Student Loans posted at Greener Pastures.

Pinyo presents Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step 6: Pay Off Home Early posted at Moolanomy.

Raymond presents Zero Percent Balance Transfer Credit Cards With No Fees posted at Money Blue Book, saying, “I’m currently earning interest free income from my balance transfer credit loan during my time off from work.”

Rio presents Create a financial plan posted at Get Financially Fit!

Mike presents Is Prepaying Your Mortgage a Mistake? posted at Richer by the Day.

Photography: Salvatore88

Slang in New York for a taxi.

Income & Investing

Rick presents Income Allocation 101: How Much Should I Save? posted at Increase Revenue, Decrease Cost.

Living Off Dividends presents Monthly Passive Income Crosses $2,000 Mark!

Mark presents We Saved Like Bandits, and Invested in Businesses posted at The Butler Project featuring an interview with a multi-millionaire.

Foxie presents The Downfall of Knowledge posted at Dreaming of Ferraris.

Chris presents Two Recession-Proof Investment Picks for 2008 posted at Martial Development.

Aussie Investor presents Dividend Yield Investing For Beginners posted at Stock Market Investing For Beginners.

KCLau presents Top 39 Essential Rules of Investing posted at KCLau’s Money Tips.

A clever or quick fix to a computer program problem; in a similar vein, a “hack” may refer to works outside of computer programming. For example, a math hack means a clever solution to a mathematical problem.

Tax, Savings, and More

Free From Broke presents Tax Documents You May Need.

PT presents 3 Ways To File Your Taxes For FREE posted at Prime Time Money.

Terry Dean presents 8 Steps to Create Your Internet Business posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Paid Twice presents How I Almost Got Suckered Into Selecting A Prize posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

T Struck presents Avoid Identity Theft – Don’t Go Phishing posted at Daily Money Tips.

The Investor presents Who’s your Star Wars money hero? posted at Monevator.com.

Christina presents A really stupid idea posted at Northern Cheapskate, saying, “A look at the subprime mortgage mess”

GBlogger presents 5.01% Interest On A Checking Account? posted at Can I Get Rich on a Salary.

Hill Robertson presents Are You Working for the Weekend?

Marc and Angel presents 11 Practical Ways to Spend Your Money.

R.O. presents How to stack your first million posted at Japan Man.

FIRE Getters presents Save Gas – Tips To Save Money On Gas! posted at FIRE Finance.

A Money Hack? A clever solution to a financial problem.

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Free Money Finance put together a fun March Madness tournament featuring 64 personal finance articles. The winner gets $500 to the charity of their choice. I’m playing for the March of Dimes. I have two articles included. You can vote for the first in Round 1 which was announced yesterday:

My article How Do I Organize 181 Accounts? is facing off against I want to be rich like you at Single Guy Money in Game 6. You can also see the full bracket.

E-book

The Money Matters for All Ages E-book is ready to download! It’s free, so be sure to get yourself a copy. Thanks to My Two Dollars, Moolanomy, and Quest for Four Pillars who all worked very hard turning the series of articles into a fantastic e-book!

Carnivals

• Carnival of Personal Finance had a fun college theme and included How Do You Handle Unexpected Expenses?
• Festival of Frugality included Free Gift Cards from MyPoints.
• Carnival of Money Stories featured Leaving Money on the Table… On Purpose!
• Carnival of Debt Reduction included my article on Selling My Car: The First Steps.
• The very first Money Hacks Carnival featured Reallocating Credit Limits for Bigger Balance Transfers.

More Carnivals (from last week)

• Carnival of Debt Reduction featured 2008 Budget Series: Vehicles.
• Carnival of Personal Finance included Tips and Tricks for Financial Organization.

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Money and Income

My Two Dollars identified his sources of alternative income. I’m especially interested as it is one of my goals in 2008 to work on passive and alternative income streams.

With raises on the way soon, I’m going to do my best avoid the wealth effect or increasing our spending with increased income. See what Flexo at Consumerism Commentary is doing with his raise.

Lynnae is only paying $800 for preschool! Wow… that’s a big difference from our projected preschool cost in the fall.

Pay all your bills at the same time by changing the due dates at Prime Time Money.

Calculators

I love calculators! The Digerati Life has 10 great calculators. Here’s another early retirement calculator from Five Cent Nickel and some of my favorite calculators.

Big Decisions

A couple personal finance writers revealed their upcoming plans. Trent at The Simple Dollar is quitting his job. Congratulations and good luck Trent! Millionaire Mommy Next door is considering leaving their rental behind and living like vagabonds for the summer!

Here’s some more articles that caught my eye:

• Gazelle Budget Life at Gather Little By Little.
• The Verizon Triple Play at Chance Favors.
• Eight Retail Ripoff Tactics at The Wisdom Journal.
• ABC of Wealth Building at Moolanomy.
• Buying REIT ETFs or investment trusts? at Quest for Four Pillars.

photo credit: wannabehipster

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From celebrating frugally to funding your Roth IRA, you’re sure to find an article you love. We have 95 great articles in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Next stop for the carnival: The Financial Blogger.

Photography by: Philgarlic

Here’s the one’s that stole my heart (editor picks):

David at My Two Dollars presents 5 Frugal Ways To Make Your Valentine Swoon. I especially like the idea of cooking from scratch!

If none of those ideas jumped out, you are sure to find a frugal idea in Trent’s huge list of 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started at The Simple Dollar. You’ll notice number 5 to make your own gifts would be a great money saver for a Valentine’s Day present.

Free From Broke comes clean to let us know that the 2008 goal is not going as well as planned in Roth IRA Goals Update. Thanks for being honest… hopefully you can divert a little money you might have been planning to spend on Valentine’s Day by using the tips above and invest it in your Roth IRA instead.

In case you wanted to spend “a little” more on your Valentine and were inclined to buy a 1000 acres in Napa with a mansion for $35 million, it’s too late, someone from France beat you to it. Find out why foreigners are hot on buying in America at The Digerati Life in We’re On Sale: Time To Buy America!

Feeling a little pinched to be spending any money on a “Hallmark Holiday?” Depending on where you are from and the cost of living in your area you may find Struggling on a Six-Figure Income in line or out of this world. Make sure to read the big discussion at Free Money Finance.

Thinking of getting a piggy bank for your Valentine? From “papier-mache piggy banks” to “Titanium-reinforced Kevlar® piggy banks inside a force field” Mighty Bargain Hunter helps you determine how strong you need your piggy bank to be to help you meet your goals in How strong is your piggy bank?

Finally, Valentine’s Day is about celebrating love. Lynnae’s tip to make sure your wife knows how much she means to you in 7 Things Women Wish Men Knew About Money is a perfect reminder for the upcoming holiday at Being Frugal.

Special Mention

Here’s some more articles that stood out. I figured they deserved a little heart.

Ryan from Millionaire Money Habits presents 8 Habits of Millionaires. As a huge fan of planning my favorite is number 2: Have a plan and work the plan.

Chief Family Officer was trying to switch to all cash but it ended after only two days. Find out why in The All Cash Spending Experiment is over (yes, already). The good news is that they did learn something as they found they don’t have to use cash just to save money.

Quest For Four Pillars decided it would be good to convince a friend Why ETFs Are Better Than Mutual Funds during a dinner-time conversation. See if the friend took his advice…

If you aren’t sure if ETFs are right for you, check out the review from Richard Ferri on whether an investor should buy ETFs or mutual funds at The Dough Roller. It includes a very informative rundown of the costs considered.

Still looking for some more free ideas to celebrate with your Valentine? Cindy from Oh My Aching Debts has a great list of Frugal Valentines. My favorite is the breakfast in bed.

Here’s another idea for a completely free Valentine’s Day. Do what Ashley from College of Cash is doing and watch a movie and snuggle in I Don’t “Do” Valentine’s Day.

Jeremy from Generation X Finance put together 15 Ways to Establish and Improve Your Credit History and FICO Score. It takes time to fix, but Jeremy has some great tips including working with your local lenders.

Photography by: naama

Finance

• Pinyo from Moolanomy explains I Missed My Goal, Dealing With Failure.
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… presents The Pursuit of Perfection and What Happens Next.
• Praveen from My Simple Trading System walks us through The 62/70 Solution for Claiming Social Security Benefits.
• The Financial Blogger prepares us in case of financial emergency in The 4 Steps Personal Finance Drilling.
• The Div Guy uses NetworthIQ for Tracking Net Worth. Here is how he got started.
• Kevin from No Debt Plan presents The No Debt Plan: Pre-Step #1: An Honest, Positive Attitude.
• InsureBlog explains why “keeping it simple” can be so rewarding in To Be Continued on health insurance.
• Smarty from Growing Money presents Consolidate Accounts and Save Time.
• Bible Money Matters lists the 5 things I can’t do without.

Money Management

• Randall from Credit Withdrawal presents Dave Ramsey and the Great Debt Payoff Debate.
• Kimberly Palmer from Alpha Consumer explains how to navigate sticky situations in Dealing With Family, Friends, and Money.
• Ron from The Wisdom Journal examines the relationship between men, women, and money in 7 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Money.
• Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents How Do They Sleep at Night? Part 4 – Banks and their Usurious Fees.
• Alison from This Wasn’t In The Plan presents Checks and Balances and My Credit Card.
• Erik from Money Crashers presents Four Tips for Dealing with Money and Family, and says, “Here are some tips for what to do when your money mixes with your family. “
• Money and Values explains The Psychology of Money: Sad people are willing to pay more.
• Blunt Money reveals Why poor planning often equals higher spending.
• RacerX from Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Money explains what happens when you skip asking an important question in Learning Finance from “The Smartest Guys in the Room”.
• GRACEful Retirement presents Saying Goodbye to Life Insurance.

Taxes

• In time for tax preparation, Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity gives us a List of Free Tax Preparation Services.
• Stacking Pennies presents Is the Mortgage Interest Deduction Fair?
• Mercedes from Common Sense with Money presents Debt and Income Taxes.

Budgeting

• Lisa from Greener Pastures: Personal Finance presents Life On a Spreadsheet.
• Cheap as chips details situations where Making use of the interest free period works and the pitfalls.

Photography by: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Real Estate

• Lily from The Honest Dollar discusses Mortgage Rates Up – Refinancing Up in the Air?, and says, “Why my boyfriend and I aren’t refinancing our apartment.”
• Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade presents Differences Between Loans Look Smaller Than They Are.

Frugality

• Aryn from Sound Money Matters explains how to Save Money on Books using book swaps and the library.
• The Happy Rock presents Free 80 Hour Dual Tuner Series 2 SD Tivo.
• Terry from Savvy Frugality puts it all together in Of Course the Economy is Bad…It’s an Election Year!
• Plan Your Escape tells us how to Be Frugal Without Depriving Yourself.
• Marc from Askix – Making Every Penny Count teaches us how to make your own gifts in 5 Inexpensive Homemade Gifts.
• Debbie from American Consumer News presents How to Give Gifts That Are Inexpensive and Practical.

Credit

• Single Guy Money says, “My Credit Card Companies Miss Me“, they’re offering him balance transfers.
• Ana from Debt Free Revolution presents Bank of America Takes Rate-Jacking to a New Level.
• Megan from A Dollar a Day asks Credit Reports – Why Haven’t You Checked Yours?
• Raymond from Money Blue Book put together a List Of Airline Credit Card Offers Providing Free Miles.
• Colonel Cash from Money and Credit presents How to dispute a credit card billing error.
• Handling Finances explores the conditions where credit card debt makes good financial sense in When Credit Card Debt Makes Sense (and When to Run Away).
• Building Equity in Toronto presents the second post in a three- part series on Tips on optimizing and simplifying your credit card use experience.
• Mr Credit Card from Ask Mr Credit Card presents Some Credit Card Trends I Foresee in 2008.

Debt

• Dorian Wales from The Personal Financier presents When is it Reasonable to Take a Loan? Consider These 4 Questions.
• Smart Easy Money asks Budgeting: When Do You Change Yours?
• One Girl’s Quest reveals My secret to debt reduction success.
• No Credit Needed presents Debt Cures For Living Debt-Free.
• Cynthia from Debt Marathon presents The Kick in the Butt You Need.

Saving

• Ciaran from Chance Favors presents ‘My Two Cents’ On How To Avoid Cell Phone Termination Fees.
• FIRE Finance presents Free Hosting & Free Domain For Businesses Courtesy Microsoft!
• J.C.’s Money Blog explains How the Federal Reserve works and why the interest rate on my savings account dropped.

Photography by: celinet

Investing

• Patrick from Cash Money Life analyzes the Roth IRA Versus Traditional – Which is Better?
• Jorge from My Adventures into The Street put together a guide on How to Read the Fed Funds 30 Day Futures Rate.
• Eric Toya from Leonard Wealth Blog presents The Super Bowl Indicator: does it work?
• Steward from My Family’s Money reveals what they learned in Investment Strategy Update – One Month.
• My Retirement Blog asks Where Should I Open A Roth IRA?
• American Small Business News presents Dive Right In, The Sharks Won’t Bite: Recommended Reading for Entrepreneurs.
• Ryan from Uncommon Cents presents The Joy of Index.
• Squawkfox compares ING Direct Streetwise Funds Vs. TD Index e-Series Funds, and says, “This is good news for Canadians considering we pay some of the highest management expense ratios (MERs) in the world. However, I believe the average investor could do a lot better than ING’s Streetwise Funds by simply constructing their own portfolio using TD e-Series Funds. Here’s how to do it!”
• One Snarky Chica with Issues presents A look at some investing strategies.
• JS from Smart Money Daily tells us How to Buy Foreclosed Homes.
• Mariam from Money Relations presents Stock Market Rules: How much institutional ownership for individual investors?
• John Hunter from Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog presents Starting Retirement Account Allocations for Someone Under 40.
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck reminds us Even “reputable” stock tips can be dangerous, and asks, “So why do reputable magazines make stock recommendations? And what happens when a magazine actually prints the wrong company name and ticker for their stock pick?”
• Create Increasing Passive Income from stocks with above average dividend growth presents Why
  do I like to invest in dividend aristocrats?
• Dividends4Life presents Tech Stocks in a Dividend Portfolio?!

Career

• Amanda Milne from Value For Your Life presents How to Survive Losing a Job.
• Matt from One Million and Beyond lost his job recently. Here’s his Next Steps. Good luck Matt!
• Dog Ate My Finances presents Breaking Free From 9-5, and says, “Small business is scary when you’re just starting.”
• Tim from Canadian Dream: Free at 45 presents The New Mercenary, and says, “We are not out for big salaries, but rather the best benefit package.”

Economy

• David from Money Under 30 asks if Americans will live within our means in A Country Without Credit?
• Aaron Stroud from On Financial Success presents It’s hard to be optimistic when you forget the past.
• Richard Epley from Blue Jeans Millionaire presents Bear Market?

Reviews

• Million Dollar Journey presents Book Review: Retire Rich from Real Estate.
• Jason from All About The Ben explains his views on a new peer-to-peer lending site in ZOPA USA, Finally, And It Is Quite A Disappointment.

Other

• Dawn from iowahippiechick explains the finances of owning dogs in Meet Buddy & Fugee.
• Brooke from Dollar Frugal presents Why We Don’t Need Trucks.
• Feminist Finance explains Books And Their Covers, and says, “You frequently can’t tell who’s on track financially just by looking at them.”
• Debtbeater relates values to personal finance in Values.

Finally, one special Valentine goes out to My Wealth Builder. Super Saver, 40-something, retired in October. Here’s a rundown of how they are doing: Retired Life – A Four Month Report Card.  

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What does all this snow make me think of? Money!! Remember the lady who made over $40,000 per year selling tumbleweeds? I keep thinking there must be a way to ship some snow to those who want it! Of course the cost to keep it frozen during transit makes it not possible, but it’s always fun to brainstorm!

The big news this week is that the Senate passed the Economic Stimulus package. The IRS will begin sending out checks in May. I’m trying to figure out how to make sure we will get our $300 for our youngest son. I’m guessing the IRS will use tax returns not social security cards and due to the timing, they’ll probably use last year’s return. Since our son wasn’t born yet he isn’t listed on our 2006 taxes. Does this mean he won’t get a check or do we have to do something special to make them aware of him? If anybody knows, I’m all ears!

Articles I Enjoyed This Week

• Quest for Four Pillars has a terrific article detailing Ponzi schemes.
• Prime Time Money details how they organize their 50+ online accounts. It seems I’ve finally found a partner in crime (aka organizing a ridiculous number of accounts)!
• Plonkee is going to Ireland for the weekend to visit family. Check out the expenses when visiting family. 
• Jaimie at Paid Twice paid off her credit cards!
• Mrs. Micah is also celebrating as her site reached it’s 6 month anniversary. In that time she has paid off her credit card and started a Roth IRA. Congrats Jaimie and Mrs. Micah!

Carnivals

I’ve already highlighted the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Festival of Frugality this week since my article Investment Snowflaking was up for the MVP vote.

Banker Girl hosted the Carnival of Money Stories. My article Should I Stay Home or Go Back To Work? was included as an editor pick!

The Carnival of Everything Finance was posted at Everything Finance. My article on Financial Strategies for Infants and Young Children was included.

I’m busy preparing to host the Carnival of Personal Finance tomorrow! If you still haven’t submitted an article, be sure to do so by 5 pm.

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My post Investment Snowflaking was an MVP in the Superbowl themed carnival. (An editor’s pick!)

To add to the fun, you can vote for your favorite MVP, including My Dollar Plan! See the other MVPs and vote at the carnival and vote at the festival before Friday night!

I will be hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance next week so be sure to submit your best work!

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We have an adjustable rate mortgage and it’s a good thing!

Benefits of our adjustable rate mortgage

If an ARM works the way it is designed, the potential for significant savings is one of the key selling points. Here’s more benefits:  

• Lower interest rate and lower payments resulting in more money to invest for our long term goals.
• If interest rates were to drop when our loan adjusts, we would automatically be able to have the lower rate.
• Ability to save money if we don’t stay in the house long term.

Not all adjustable rate mortgages are created equal

We obtained our ARM from a reputable lender with good terms. Without some of these safety precautions, I wouldn’t necessarily have considered one:

• No prepayment penalty.
• Limited caps (maximum percentage increase) on both the annual adjustments and total adjustment.
• Hybrid 5/1 term that provides a fixed option for the first five years and adjusts annually after that.

Our Housing History

How long you stay in the house is critical to determine whether or not an ARM is appropriate. If you are staying a long time (10 years or more) a fixed rate is probably a better deal. If you’ll be moving before that, an ARM may be appropriate. This was the case with our last two houses. Our first was a starter house that we didn’t plan to live in long term. We had a 7 year balloon. We actually moved out in 9 months, but that’s another story! Our initial plan was to stay for 5-7 years.

Our last home, a condo, we had a 2/2 ARM from Pentagon Federal Credit Union. It was an adjustable rate that adjusted every two years, with a max adjustment of 2% each time. We locked in at 3.625%. We lived in the condo 3 years until we built our current house and realized substantial savings over a fixed mortgage.

I’d love to tell you that we’ll stay in our current house forever, or a long time, but I know myself better than that! Having said that, we’ve been in the house 2 years and currently don’t have plans to move.

What happens after the 5 years are up?

I’ve been investing with the intent to have enough money to pay off the house in 9 years, coinciding with our dollar plan. We’ve given ourselves the option to ride out the interest rates. However, I’m also ready to refinance if we need to. In fact, it is one thing I might consider if I decide to stay home from work.

After it starts adjusting, if we are no longer comfortable with the annual changes in interest rates we can do one of the following:

• Refinance for another 5 years until we have enough to pay it off.
• Pay off the portion we have saved.
• Or do a combo of the above.

When an Adjustable Rate Mortgage is the Wrong Choice

An ARM fits our current financial situation. I would probably opt for a fixed mortgage if some of the following were true:

• I had any certainty that we would stay in our house for 10 years or more.
• We didn’t have a plan to have savings available to pay off our mortgage after the adjustment period.
• I was risk averse.
• We couldn’t afford the maximum interest rate change that ours could adjust to.
• We couldn’t afford our house without an ARM.

Examples of situations where an ARM was not appropriate:

• Stupidity got us into this mortgage mess
• The Housing Bust Aftermath is Turning the American Dream into an American Nightmare

Other Considerations

While I believe a 5/1 ARM is right for us, I probably wouldn’t feel comfortable with a 1 year or 3 year ARM. Five years is about the minimum I would go. If the price difference wasn’t substantial between the 5 year ARM and the fixed rate, I would likely choose the fixed rate.

We also didn’t finance our entire house with our mortgage. We put down 20% and do not pay PMI. We also financed some of our house with student loans locking in really low rates that will not adjust. So in a sense, we do have a fixed portion.

I’m a risk taker. I’m willing to take the risk that the interest rate will adjust in exchange for a cheaper price upfront. It’s the same reason that I don’t lock in long term savings vehicles like CDs. I’m willing to go where the market will take me. Sometimes it will be up and sometimes it will be down. I’m willing to take the risk that I might not come out ahead for the chance that we will save significantly.

Are evil adjustable rate mortgages the root of the housing crisis?

ARMs are being blamed as part of what got us into the housing mess. However, it’s the choices that people made and not the product itself that is the root cause. There are definitely people that should not use an ARM, and then there’s a group of people who the ARM makes perfect sense for. Since I fall in the latter group, I’d hate to lose a product that suits us because others couldn’t use it wisely. I’ll be watching the government regulation to see what becomes of the current lending practices.

I do have compassion for people who used a trusted advisor, or believed they had someone working on their behalf and got an ARM without understanding how it works and what would happen when it starts to adjust. It’s why I also believe financial education needs to have more emphasis on it to empower people to learn and make the right decisions.

Action Plan

I paint a pretty picture for our house and an ARM, and the truth is that the worst can happen to anyone. However, I feel that we have put appropriate safeguards in place to guard against it. We’ve saved a lot of money by choosing the right financing to meet our needs.

This article was featured in Home Finance: All you need to know about home ownership at rocket finance. Here’s the rest of the articles in the series.

My Thoughts On This Whole Mortgage Crisis And Why I Don’t Feel That Bad @ My Two Dollars

Why renting is right for us right now @ Mrs. Micah

Homeowners – Avoid Forclosure by Thinking Like Investors @ Two Wise Acres

Debt-To-Income Ratio and Why It Matters @ Moolanomy

Catch a Falling Knife – Buying the Housing Slump @ Millionaire Money Habits

Can we afford the Payments @ PaidTwice

Pay off Credits Cards with a HELOC @ Debt Free Revolution

So You Want to Buy a Fixer Upper @ Remodeling This Life

Frugal Hacks For Your Home @ Being Frugal

American Subprime Crisis—Should We Care @ Plonkee Money

Mortgage escrow accounts Explained @ Cash Money Life

Don’t Use Your House to Pay for Your Life @ Rocket Finance

Why the Sub-Prime Crises has not Affected Canada Yet @ Four Pillars

That Damned Rent vs. Buy Question @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Predatory Mortgage Lending and the Subprime Market @ Chance Favors

After Foreclosure Guide to Housing: It Ain’t Easy @ DebtKid

How to Avoid Foreclosure – The Definitive Guide @ Credit Withdrawal

Photography by rucativava.

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