It started in October 2010. I had just moved to Atlanta and didn’t know a thing about the city. I picked a neighborhood at random – eeny-meeny-miney-moe – and rented the first listing on Craigslist. I struck gold. I moved two blocks from Atlanta’s most beautiful park, a rolling greenscape with spectacular skyline views. It…
Several days ago I received a Tweet from a reader named Carolyn saying: “I’m an ex-newspaper reporter in Atlanta who just found your (old travel) blog. Would love to ask advice if you don’t mind!” Well, I’m a sucker for helping ex-newspaper reporters in Atlanta 🙂 (My regular readers will understand why!) So I emailed…
Let’s take a look at a typical American worker — and figure out how much she earns. Lisa starts prepping for her work day the night before, when she irons and lays out her clothes, packs lunch and cleans her car. She meets with clients throughout the day, so she must present a polished appearance….
Note from Paula: A HUGE thank you to all my readers who helped little ‘ol Afford Anything win the Plutus Award for Best New Personal Finance Blog this past weekend! This award belongs to you, my readers. Afford Anything is dedicated to you and it would be nothing without you. Cheers to you! ******** Last…
For the past week and a half I’ve been in the middle of the desert, far removed from internet access, mobile phone service, electricity, running water or sewage. (Sorry if I haven’t responded to your comments yet!) Regular readers to this blog might notice I’ve taken a huge number of trips this year: I spent…
Yesterday I learned a colleague from my newspaper was found dead in her Colorado apartment. I learned the news, ironically, by stumbling across her obituary while I was reading the same newspaper for which she and I both wrote. It struck me, for the first time, that the final consequence of working at a newspaper…
Anyone with a pulse – your co-workers, your neighbor, your third-grade teacher – is fretting that stocks nosedived this week. Actually, “nosedived” is an understatement. It plummeted. Plunged. Tumbled. Crashed. You get the picture. From the Associated Press: Gripped by fear of another recession, the financial markets suffered their worst day Thursday since the crisis…
What if the most common strategies to repay debt are wrong? Two popular methods are used to repay debt. One focuses on the interest rate; the other focuses on “small wins.” I recommend reading this post if you want a solid understanding of these two methods. Here’s the executive summary: the “Debt Stacking” method says…
What would you do if reason says one thing but your heart says another? That’s the predicament many people find themselves in as they search for the best strategy to repay debt. Reason says you should repay the debt with the highest interest rate first. Your emotions say to — well, really, they say to…
I just returned from 10 days in the Caribbean, where I was a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding. This wedding felt surreal because the bride and I were together when she met her future husband. They met three years ago. She and I were trekking in the Himalayas. My bum knee was slowing me down, so she reached…