Series
Watch my friend Courtney get out of debt
- part 1 Starting with $54k in debt March 2010
- part 2 Thoughts and suggestions from Kacie
- part 3 March 2010 changes they’re making
- part 4 May 2010 — two month update, and progress
- part 5 June 2010 already paid off $7k!
- part 6 October 2010 catnip-powered intense, paid off $14k+
- part 7 March 2011 one-year update, paid off $26k+!
- Part 8 September 2011
Watch my friend “Dorothy” get out of debt
Weddings 
- Ideas for saving on wedding presents
- Plan ahead for out-of-town weddings
- Reader question: Saving money on wedding rings
- Our wedding: The flowers
- Our wedding: The guest list
- Our wedding: Accessories
- Our wedding: Hair & makeup
- Our wedding: Stationery
- Our wedding: The photography
- Our wedding: The wedding party
- That one time where my husband lost his wedding ring in the ocean…on our first anniversary!
Housing
Renting can be awesome!
- Rent before buying in a new city
- Being a content renter and avoiding the ‘buy a house’ bug
- Peer pressure to buy a house
- Saying NO to $8,000 and why we didn’t buy a house in 2009
- Why I’m so glad we didn’t buy a house in 2009
We first thought about buying a house in 2009 during the first-time homebuyer tax incentives. We were in Pittsburgh at the time. I’m glad we didn’t! We’re now back in Indiana and bought a house in 2011.
- Our first steps to buying our house
- Our house-hunting toolkits
- Should we buy a ‘starter’ house, or just a one-and-done?
- Thinking about how much house we can afford
- Can we debate one-story houses vs. two?
Our first house
- We’re under contract on a house!
- We almost walked away from house negotiations
- We asked for a lower interest rate and got one for free
- First-time homebuyer money. We qualified for an amazing Mortgage Credit Certificate which will give us a 20% tax CREDIT off our federal taxes each year we have the mortgage. It’s a big, big savings.
Housing and retirement and investy stuff
- Saving for a house, retirement, or both
- A house is where you live, not an investment
- A buyer always pays closing costs, somehow
- Should 20% down be standard?
- On not making extra mortgage payments – I’ve rethought my stance here. I think you should make extra payments if you already have an emergency fund, and are investing in your retirement, and have no consumer debt.
- Even small amounts can have a big impact on prepaying the mortgage
