One Wish List Item Bought

For those of you following my Selfish Little Wishlist, it’s now one item shorter. I bought a wetsuit! If you can believe it, renting one can cost anywhere from $40 to $65 for an entire weekend. I was kind of surprised by this, since you can rent them right outside my office on Lake Michigan [...]

How Not to Handle Your Student Loans

Last week the Chicago Tribune posted an article on the ticking time bomb that is student loan debt. They called it the next “economic doomsday scenario” and then they profiled a 2007 grad who is having trouble paying her student loans and keeping her financial commitments. For those of you graduating this year, I want to [...]

Weekend Spending Recap

This weekend ended up being spendy. On Friday I was craving pad thai so we ate out. On Saturday,  ”mom’s day” with my mom, aunt, and cousin in Chicago involved a couple meals out, some spontaneous purchases, and some wine. And Sunday I found some Sports Authority coupons that were about to expire, and I [...]

Building a Budget in Five Easy Steps

A colleague recently said, “I signed up for Mint.com to learn how to budget. I linked up all my other accounts. Now what?” Good question. Signing up for a free secure personal finance site like Mint.com or Personal Capital is a great first step to build a budget. Once your accounts are synched though, there [...]

Off My Schedule and Paying for It

I am a person who thrives on a weekly routine. I hate deviating from my usual schedule, which is: wake up, commute, work, commute, eat, workout, sleep. I plan my meals and workouts weekly, DVR my TV shows, pre-schedule blog posts, and generally overplan everything, down to the minute sometimes. I do this because when [...]

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