Blazing a Trail Towards Financial Independence
I love Barbecue. I can’t get enough of it. The heat of the coals, the wisp of thin white smoke lazily rising from the smoker, the hint of smoke wood-tinged air, and of course the mahogany-colored meat itself! A great a plate of ribs makes Daddy happy!
The problem is, a plate of good “Que”, can stick you with a sizable tab if you always get it at a restaurant. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
[Read more…] about 5 Keys to Making Restaurant Quality BBQ at Home
We’ve all heard the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses”. That is the arms race of measuring one’s worth by comparing one’s possessions and status with one’s peers. It means acquiring the biggest, the best, the newest, and the most expensive things. You look down the street and see the family with the new car and you set your sights to figuring out how you can buy one yourself. A friend gets a new job or promotion and you feel the pressure to improve your own career standing. You have to be the first among your friends to buy the newest iPhone model. It is an insatiable pursuit of more and better. If you look around, it appears that we are surrounded by the Joneses. Do we have to keep up with the Joneses? Is there another way?
A couple weeks back I posted about how to determine your actual hourly wage to factor in the various benefits, costs, and actual time associated with your job. So this week I thought it would be worthwhile to show how we ran the numbers for our own income. [Read more…] about Our Salaries: What Are They Really Worth?
The vast majority of us go to work each day and trade our time for money. As we are weighing job offers we tend to get a laser focus on the listed salary or hourly wage. But you need to look past that shiny salary number to figure out the true wage being offered. After all, every hour you are doing job-related things is one less hour you have to live your life. Here are 10 things you need to account for to determine the actual wage you are being offered.
[Read more…] about How Much Are You Really Paid? 10 Items You Must Consider
Last year we paid down over $56,000 in debt. One of the biggest areas of savings for us was reducing our spending on food. So, what did we do, just eat rice and beans?
Nope.
If anything, we ate higher quality food than the previous year. Meal planning made it possible to slash spending without sacrificing flavor.
Summer is here! The pools are filled, the sunscreen is out, the tomatoes are turning red, and the solstice is upon us!
Besides Summer being a great time to have fun in the sun, there are some unique opportunities for savings. Here’s 5…