Owner: SingleGuyMoney URL:www.singleguymoney.com Join Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:22:25 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Personal finance blog of a 30 yr single male trying to get out of debt. Site statistics:Click here
Watch Those Sneaky Credit Card Companies 2007-12-11 20:00:00 Those sneaky credit card companies are always out to make an easy buck. I paid off the remainder of my credit card debt last month but I got a bill this month for the remaining interest charges of $20.99. I immediately went online to schedule my payment. The payment is due on the 17th of this month. As I was scheduling the payment on the credit card company website, I had the option to schedule the payment to post on any day up to the 21st of the month. Why would they even offer the option to pay on the 21st when my payment is due on the 17th?The credit card company wants me to schedule my payment AFTER the due date so they can promptly charge late fees and jack up my interest rate. Just a heads up; when you are scheduling an online payment, be sure you schedule it to post on or before your due date. (I usually schedule my payments to post at least 2 days ahead just in case there is a problem. (This gives me time to fix it if something does go wrong.)I won't mention the name of the cr Read more:Companies
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Holiday Spending Poll 2007-12-10 17:59:00 I am curious to know how much you guys are spending for holiday gifts this year. Please take a moment to visit SingleGuyMoney and vote on the spending poll on the upper right side of the page.
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Sunday Links - Dreaded Monday Edition 2007-12-09 18:22:00 Here are some of the posts I've enjoyed reading from my fellow M-Network members this week and would like to pass them along to you. If you haven't seen them already, please be sure to check them out. Being Frugal wants to know How Do You Track Your Money? I just downloaded with MoneyDance and will give a review once I've had a chance to check it out. Being Frugal uses Mvelopes but thinks it's too expensive. The Dough Roller had an article featured on the front page of MSN. You can read the article here. Congratulations DR!Ana over at DebtFREE Revolution had finals this week. Hopefully, she passed with flying colors. Paid Twice was nice enough to share her Kroger card and may get a deal on gas because of it. David over at My Two Dollars made his wife happy by making her a nice gift. Pinyo over at Moolanomy posted a great article comparing active and passive income and how it relates to your retirement. Plonkee wants to avoid giving investment advice. I've had several people at m Read more:Monday
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Vote Reminder 2007-12-23 19:24:00 Today is the last day that the holiday spending poll will be up at SingleGuyMoney. Please visit the site to cast your vote if you haven't already. I want to know how much you've spent on holiday gifts. There is about 22 hours left to vote. The poll is located in the upper right hand corner of the page. You will need to visit SingleGuyMoney to vote in the poll. I'll post the results on Wednesday, December 26th. The choices are as follows: $0 - $100$100 - $500$500 - $1000Over $1kI know I said it before, but THIS will be my last post until after Christmas. Again, have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Be sure to subscribe to SingleGuyMoney for more great articles in 2008. Sponsored by: Mvelopes Personal Budget - Online Personal Budgeting. 30 day free trial.
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Holiday Wishes 2007-12-23 14:29:00 Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday
s to everyone! I'll be taking a break for a few days but I'll be back on Wednesday, December 26th. I wish everyone a very safe and HAPPY HOLIDAY!
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Safe (Last Minute) Holiday Shopping 2007-12-22 06:34:00 If you are one of those folks who wait until the last minute to do your holiday shopping or just need to pickup a few more items, be sure to be safe this holiday season. There are alot of people out there who are not willing to get a job and purchase their own gifts and would much rather just take yours. If you will be out shopping in the next couple of days (or anytime for that matter), remember these basic tips:Shop during the day, if possible.Shop with a friend or family member. Especially if you shop at night. Don't carry large amounts of cash. If thieves steal your hard earned cash, there is a good chance you will never get it back. Use a credit card (if you plan to payoff the purchase in full). If thieves steal your credit card, as long as you report it asap, you will not be responsible for the unauthorized charges.Don't carry a purse or wallet. It's best to carry only your ID and a credit/debit card.Be aware of your surroundings. Know where you are and who is near you at all Read more:Holiday
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Use Credit, Save 10% 2007-12-20 17:49:00 I have a credit card from one of the big home improvement stores. When I bought my first home four years ago, I figured I needed a credit card from one of the big home improvement stores in case I needed emergency repairs or supplies for my home. Knowing then what I know now, I would have setup a special savings account for home repairs. I bought several things over the first two years with the promotions the stores would run. Make any purchase over $299 and pay no interest for six months or twelve months. Of course, I would never pay the balance off before the promotion ended and would end up paying more interest than I saved over the course of the promotion. When I decided I wanted to get out of debt, this was one of the cards I paid off first. I've had a zero balance on this card for over two years. I've used the card since I've paid if off but promptly paid the balance in full the next month. Lately, the big home improvement store has been sending me 2-3 coupons a month advising
Trying to Keep My Good Tenant 2008-03-10 05:07:00 I’ve had my current tenant since I first decided to become a landlord and rent out my house two years ago. I did not take the proper steps of protecting myself by running a credit report on my tenant or verifying prior rental history. I had a couple of people interested, mostly college students from the local college, but decided to go with my current tenant. I had multiple conversations with her and I just had a gut feeling about her. So far, that gut feeling worked out to be correct and she has been a great tenant.My tenant pays her rent on time. I’ve never had a bounced check from her and she doesn’t call me for minor repairs. I’ve never even had to respond to a “lockout” at 3am. Sometimes, I get so busy and I don’t realize that it is time to pick up the rent check and she Read more:Tenant
What I Hate About Wal-Mart 2008-03-09 17:46:00 I have about four Wal-Mart Supercenters within five miles of my house. I have been to all 4 of them and I have finally found the one that is not so bad. All of them are always crowded and are usually out of the things I need. Today, I went to the one I like the best out of the four. I've found that everytime I go to Wal-Mart, there is a recurring theme of things that I hate.Here is what I saw on my trip today and usually everytime I go to Wally World: Rude People. This is not neccesarily just Wal-Mart though. This is one of the reasons I keep shopping to a minimum. More than 20. I had about 5 items that I needed to purchase. I went to the 20 items or less aisle and of course, the person in front of me had about 50 items. I HATE THAT!Bad Drivers. I hate when people cut across the parking lo
Sunday Links - Daylight Savings Time Edition 2008-03-09 09:42:00 I got back from my unplanned business trip last night. Since the trip came up so suddenly, I was not able to plan out my weekend posts. I guess that is a prime example of why you should not procrastinate on doing things you need to do. This post will be a bit random so do your best to follow along. I apologize in advance!This past week, I was interviewed by My Two Dollars. Be sure to head over and check it out. Some of the posts I liked this week include:Lynnae over at BeingFrugal did an excellent wrapup of the M-Network Series on Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps. This is a great list of personal finance posts that everyone should check out. Paid Twice posts about her dumbest purchase ever. What's yours?Mrs Micah premieres The Finwikian. This is a great list of personal finance blog resources an Read more:Sunday
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Headed Out of Town 2008-03-06 05:25:00 I was notified yesterday by my boss that he needed me to go help out in another office for a couple of days. I don't want to go but I always like to keep my boss happy so off I go. I'll be back late Saturday or Sunday. I wasn't prepared to be out of town so I had not scheduled any posts ahead of time. I know there are some of you who haven't had time to read all the articles so I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites.From the archives:My Bad Habits Are Costing MeMarried Folks and MoneyHow I Became a LandlordCredit Scores on the Rise Applying for a Business CardHave a great weekend and I will see you next week!Image Credit: hyku
Changes in the Blogging World 2008-03-05 18:31:00 Please join me in welcoming Mrs Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life to the M-Network. We are glad to have Mrs Micah as part of the group and I know she will make a great addition. Be sure to visit her blog and also check out her new project, The Finwikian. The Finwikian is a wiki dedicated to all things related to personal finance on the internet. I'd also like to introduce you to a new blogger I've added to my blogroll. Check out From Mike.com - Random Thoughts on Life. Mike is a 30 year old father of 2 who realized his life was headed toward financial turmoil. Be sure to check it out and subscribe to his feed. I like his writing style and I look forward to following his debt reduction progress.Subscribe to SingleGuyMoney
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Signed up for Upromise. 2008-03-05 05:14:00 At the beginning of last year, I set an unofficial and unadvertised goal of increasing my passive income. Since then, I’ve signed up for Mypoints and Ebates and I’ve been pretty happy with the proceeds with minimal effort on my part. It’s not a lot by any means but every little bit helps.This past weekend, I signed up for Upromise. I’ve heard of them before and they are actually a featured sponsor of SingleGuyMoney. I was under the impression that the program was only for individuals with children looking to save money for college. After looking more into the program, I realized that Upromise can benefit anyone. If you don’t have a child headed to college and decide to open an account, you have a couple of options:Save for Someone else: You have the option of designating a benefi Read more:Signed
More Rental Property Issues 2008-03-04 05:02:00 Here we go again. A couple of weeks ago, I had to replace the front door to my rental property. Yesterday, I got a call from my tenant for another issue. It appears there was a wet area on the wall and she could not determine where the water was coming from. This same problem happened about 2 months ago and went away. I called American Home Shield to check out the problem and see if they could repair it. American Home Shield offers a home warranty to cover failure to major components in your home. For my house, it costs about $350 a year and each service call is $55. The component has to have been in proper working order prior to the failure in order for the repair to be covered. Turns out, when I had hardwood flooring installed about 2 years ago, they removed the toilet to put flooring in Read more:Rental
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SingleGuyMoney Goes Shopping!! 2008-03-03 05:01:00 I hate shopping. Let me say it again. I hate shopping. I don’t like dealing with the crowds of rude people with uncontrollable kids talking on their cell phones. I’m not a mean person and I don’t have anything against kids, but I just don’t have a lot of patience for people who aren’t considerate of others. Since I hate shopping so much, I only shop for clothes once a year. I am a big fan of Kohl’s due to their frequent sales and large selection. The stores are also large enough that you aren’t bumping into anyone. They had a pretty good sale this weekend and I had Kohl’s giftcard that I received as a Christmas gift that needed to be used. Reluctantly, I decided to go ahead and get my yearly shopping spree completed. The Plan:Wanted items: The dress code in my office is bus Read more:Shopping
Thanks Everyone!! 2008-03-02 07:54:00 THANK YOU to all the sites that have sent traffic my way in the month of February. Even if you are not in the top 10 list of referrals. I still appreciate you sending any traffic my way. If you were one of those that found SingleGuyMoney thru a referral from another site, THANK YOU for visiting. Please visit often and be sure to subscribe!!!Top 10 Referrers for February: Fabulous Financials - You Rock SingleMa! Moolanomy - Thanks
Pinyo! (M-Network and Money Hackers Network Founder)PaidTwice - Thanks PT! (M-Network member)CashMoneyLife - Thanks Patrick! (M-Network member)Frugal HacksBeingFrugal - Thanks Lynnae! (M-Network member)Get Rich SlowlyGather Little by Little - Thanks Gibble! (M-Network member)Frugal Bachelor My Two Dollars - Thanks MTD! (M-Network member)Again, thank you to everyon
February 2008 - Net Worth Review 2008-03-01 07:53:00 Assets:Rental Property - $137,000.00Primary Home - $196,000.00Car - $19,500.00Retirement - $40,341.12Cash (checking and savings) - $37,335.88Brokerage - $3276.40Total Assets: $443,453.40 - increase of 0.61% Liabilities: Rental Property Mortgage - $149,352.80Primary Home Mortgage - $182,523.00Car Loan - $23,910.68Student Loan - $22,500.00Credit Cards - $119.70Total Liabilities: $378,406.18 - decrease of -0.22%Net Worth
: $65,047.22, increase from prior month 5.77% Monthly Recap: Finally, the first positive month of 2008. Credit card debt is all from this month and will be paid in full next month. By keeping my spending in check, I was able to keep my February
expenses significantly less than income. Looking Ahead: March income will be boosted by a state tax refund (more on that in another po Read more:Net Worth
Investing - Do Your OWN Research 2008-02-29 17:23:00 Image Credit: thelastminute I should have known better. Actually, I did know better but it just sounded too good to be true. You know what they say, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I overheard a couple of people talking about a hot stock in the elevator at work the other day. As soon as I got off the elevator and made it back to my desk, I did a quick search on the stock. The numbers looked pretty good and the stock was actually up over $3 for the day. I immediately dropped about a grand and picked up about 43 shares. If I'd only done a little more research and waited a little while, I wouldn't be down over $100 today. I think the stock will rebound but I still wish I'd done a little more research. I'm really bad about making quick decisions without thinking about Read more:Investing
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Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 3 2008-02-28 17:07:00 If you've made all the right moves to keep your personal information safe and someone is still skilled enough to steal your identity, don't panic. Panicking is the last thing you need to do when something like this happens. You need to take immediate action to restore your good name.As soon as identity theft is identified, you need to take the following steps: Fraud Alerts. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports and review the reports in detail. Placing a fraud alert on your credit reports will stop the thief from easily opening additional accounts in your name. You only have to call one of the three companies to place a fraud alert and that should be sufficient (I would still call all 3 just to be sure). Experian can be reached at 888-Experian, Equifax can be reached at 800-525-6285 a
Baby Step 0 - No More Debt 2008-02-25 18:03:00 If you are a follower of the teachings of Dave Ramsey, you probably already know or have heard about the 7 Baby Steps to start you on the road to financial independence. If you are not familiar with the 7 Baby Steps, Patrick over at Cash Money Life gives a great explanation of each step. No More Debt is not an official part of the 7 steps but it is certainly an important step on the ladder to financial independence. If you were drowing in a pool, would you want someone to pour more water on you? If you were trying to lose weight, would you eat more food? If you were driving along and saw that you were about to hit the car in front of you, would you speed up? The previous questions have one common theme; don't do things that can make a bad situation even worse. Taking on additional debt whi
Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 2 2008-02-25 15:57:00 Saturday, I presented a few key tips to avoid Identity Theft. Today, we'll discuss a few signs to determine if you have been a victim of identity theftSigns that require your immediate attention:Missing Bills. Because you take great care in knowing when your bills are due, you can tell pretty quickly if a bill does not arrive. It may have been lost in the mail or some other mix up. If your bill does not arrive as scheduled, check up on it. Note: A missed bill does not relieve you of your payment obligation. Sign up to receive online bills if offered by the provider and you don't run the risk of having bills lost in the mail or stolen from your mailbox. Unexpected Bills. Receive a bill in the mail for a credit card you never applied for or for a card you haven't used in a long time? You ma
Sunday Links - Leftover Money Edition 2008-02-24 13:00:00 I just finished paying all the bills for February and I actually have money left over. I'm telling you from experience, if you don't have a budget, get one and stick to it. You will be amazed at how well it works. If you are not sure how to do a budget, do a search for "budget" and you will come up with a number of free resources. If that does not work for you and you want to pay for help with your budget, consider Mvelopes. Mvelopes is an online, easy to use budgeting tool to help you get your finances in order. Before I go back to wrapping up my bill paying activities, here are some of the articles I've enjoyed this week. From the M-Network: 5 Simple Ways I Save Money
@Gather Little by Little ABC of Wealth Building @MoolanomyThe Choice of What is Right, and What is Easy @Cash Money LifeI Read more:Sunday
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Did you save money this week? 2008-02-24 07:02:00 I couldn't wait to post this weeks saving money post. I made a few smart moves this week that saved me a little more extra money. This week, I saved money by:Mypoints Redemption. I redeemed a chunk of the points I'd saved up to get a couple of gift cards for a few things I needed to purchase. I'd wanted to replace my dining room light fixture since I purchased my home but I did not want to shell out the money for the new fixture. I redeemed enough points to get a gift card to Home Depot. I was able to get my new light fixture for free! Not only was the light fixture free, I was able to get it installed for free. Using my new bartering skills, I did my uncle's taxes for him in exchange for him installing the light fixture. By using the gift cards and free install, I estimate that I saved a
Avoiding Identity Theft - Part 1 2008-02-23 07:38:00 I received a letter in the mail from the USPS the other day with a flyer on avoiding Identity Theft. Usually mailers I get from the post office go straight to the trash (once I make sure it is not something that is important). Identity theft is one of my biggest financial fears and I want to be sure I'm taking the right steps to avoid being a victim. Identity theft can quickly erase the good credit history you've worked so hard to build. Identity theft can cost you your hard earned money and your precious time. Deter Identity Theft by:Rip it up. Invest in a good quality shredder and make sure you USE IT. The best are the ones that make the "confetti" cuts vs. strips that can possibly be put back together. Make sure you can also shred credit cards. Unpublished Number. I'm not talking about
Insurance Premiums Heading North 2008-02-21 17:57:00 Looks like there's about to be another drain on your wallet. Two of the biggest auto insurers are looking to raise premiums in about 20 states. The premium increase comes about after two years of price reductions. The insurers are looking to increase costs due to rising repair costs and rising medical costs resulting from injuries from automobile accidents. How can you minimize the impact to your wallet?Shop around. Shopping for insurance is about as exciting as going to the dentist. Unfortunately, just like having healthy teeth and gums, shopping for the best rate is necessary for having a healthy wallet. Don't want to waste time completing multiple insurance quotes? Sites like Insurance.com and InsureMe.com allow you to fill out one single form and will submit your information to multip Read more:Heading
, North
I think I'm growing up..... 2008-02-19 18:36:00 It's funny how some people choose to remember you. I ran into one of my old coworkers today and we had the customary "catching up" discussion. One of his first questions after the usual "how've things been?" was to ask me if I was still buying all the latest electronic gadgets? He then went on to ask my if I'd bought a new car lately?I informed him of the new me and how I was no longer buying everything in sight and was actually saving money. After the conversation, I started to think
if that was how people viewed me. I actually was embarrassed at all the money I'd wasted in the past. Was I the guy that spent money like a free-spirited single man with no regard for saving?I know what people think of me is unimportant and the most important thing is how I view myself. I now view myself as s
How do you remember monthly bills? 2008-02-18 17:52:00 I've been looking for a better way to remember when my monthly bills are due. I don't like having anything automatically deducted from my checking account and would rather keep track of when the bills are due and then pay via billpay or pay directly at the billers website. I carry a calendar to remember various appointments or meetings and I also use it to keep track of bill due dates. Using this method has a couple of drawbacks. Due to lack of space, I am not able write down notes about the bill like the amount due, account to be paid from, bill website or any other important notes. Unfortunately, if I forget to take my calendar with me, I do not have the due dates readily available. I was contacted by the publisher of a program by the name of The Bill Manager. This is a free program that
Did you save money this week? 2008-02-17 12:50:00 This week was relatively quiet on the money spending front. I am still way under budget even though I did make a few unplanned purchases. So far, my zero based budget is working out well. This week, I saved money by:No More Dry Cleaning. As I mentioned in my Modern Day Bartering article, I have offered to help my friend with her finances in exchange for her ironing services. Doing my own taxes. I did my own taxes using TaxCut. I considered using an accountant due to the complexity of owning a rental property. TaxCut asks all the questions, I supply the answers and the software does all the calculations. I worked on my taxes every other weekend for about 30 minutes to an hour and finally finished yesterday. Washing my own car. I usually take my car in two the professionals for a bath every
Sunday Links - Tax Rebate Edition 2008-02-17 07:55:00 If you've been following all the talk about the economic stimulus package, you probably know that President Bush signed into law a multi-billion dollar stimulus package on February 13th. If you have not calculated how much stimulus you can expect, Kiplingers has a quick and easy calculator on their website. Click here to use the calculator to find out how much you can expect to receive. Please come back and share the estimated amount of your rebate and how you plan to use it.There are a number of personal finance blogs I read on a daily basis and here are some of the articles I have enjoyed:From the M-Network:You Tell Me: What's Your Weakness? @ beingfrugal.net401k or IRA? @ Cash Money LifeWhat do I do when my 401k is losing money? @ Gather Little by LittleWhen the Left Hand and the Right Read more:Sunday
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$25 Referrals - Get them while you can. 2008-02-16 17:33:00 If you are one of the few people left in the country that doesn't have an ING Orange Savings account, I still have referrals left. By opening a savings account with at least $250, you can get a $25 referral bonus (I will get $10 - Thanks in advance). Tricia @ Blogging Away Debt was kind enough to take a couple of my referrals to help me out. If you would like a referral, you can contact me here; or you can go over to Blogging Away Debt.
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