Comments on: The Ten Biggest Money Mistakes I’ve Made Since My Financial Meltdown

By: marybeth

marybeth — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:08:14 +0000

You could have waited to have children, but consider the fact that, you could have waited then had fertility issues. Most people don’t let the idea of having children slip by that easily, so the cost of fertility treatments or adoption would be MUCH higher than the expenses you incur in a traditional pregnancy.

By: sara

sara — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:04:08 +0000

A thought about inexpensive cooking- My dad’s best cooking lesson was that “Presentation is 90 percent of the meal.” Its amazing the difference that appearance makes in the enjoyment of the meal. This really makes it possible to eat meals that look and taste gourmet without spending lots of money. Paying attention to presentation in cooking means things as simple as using ingredients of contrasting colors (dried cranberries in a green salad) cutting vegetables into a variety of shapes (dice the onions up small and slice the carrots at an angle) and plating (just adding a dollop of white sour cream and some red paprika to each bowl of golden butternut squash soup last night made the dish go from “meh” to “wow!”) Even things as simple as wiping up the drips off of the rim of the plate before serving adds to the “restaurant feel”
The idea is not to trick the eater by serving dolled up slop, but to remember that the eyes play a powerful part in our perception of quality. You’ll be amazed at how great a beautifully plated meal can taste and feel- It certainly doesn’t feel like budget! This is also a great cooking exercise to help discover new flavor combinations and recipe ideas.

By: Robert Knechtel

Robert Knechtel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:23:33 +0000

One of the things that has helped me immensely is joining Debtors Anonymous. This is a twelve step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s a spiritual program applying spiritual principles to dysfunction and lack of control around money.
Thanks for your insights.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:30:43 +0000

Loved your article. As I am in the process of getting out of debt now, I have made some of the same mistakes, but will learn from your advice on the ones I haven’t made yet. Thanks. :)

By: Carnival of Personal Finance » Carnival of Personal Finance #110

Carnival of Personal Finance » Carnival of Personal Finance #110 — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:59:31 +0000

[...] The Ten Biggest Money Misakes I’ve Made Since My Financial Meltdown [...]

By: ladydoughgirl

ladydoughgirl — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:15:34 +0000

Re Kids. We have two and I am so glad that we don’t just have a singleton. I feel like we’re more of a family now that we have two kids. When we just had one kid we were more like a couple with a child. Still a family but nuanced differently. Being a couple with a child allows you greater ability to focus on your marriage. It also is so much easier to be fiscally responsible. From a strictly financial standpoint and from an ease of life point of view having just one makes sense. But from an emotional long term point of view having two is definitely better. Just more bumps along the way. THought I would argue that perhaps you have more personal growth because of that!

By: john m

john m — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:12:18 +0000

I wished I invested in a Roth IRA when I first worked at age 17. Also, I wish I haven’t wasted a lot of money on trendy clothes. Now, I try to buy clothes that are made to last.

By: yvie

yvie — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:03:32 +0000

Have you ever tried pasta cooked with tomatoes in season, onions, black olives, garlic, oregano and basil? Yum and inexpensive. If your ingredients are fresh, they don’t have to be expensive to be delicious.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:36:28 +0000

Presumably #9 is for financial reasons, not just because its more fun trying to conceive than hanging round waiting for the baby to finally show up ;)

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:21:51 +0000

Stephanie, it’s easy! Call them up, get an operator and say “Hi! I was just looking at my bill and I see I’m paying X% interest. Is there any way you can lower it?”

That’s it. That’s all you have to say. They will put you on hold, review you and will get back to you. It’s that easy. You don’t have to say anything else. All you have to do is ask. It’s that simple.

You don’t have to pick a special time to call since most places are staffed 24-hours. I used to do it at 2am when I was still awake in college.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:08:47 +0000

I can relate to #10, I never wanted to wait.
Debt helped me get things as quicker

By: sc

sc — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:05:06 +0000

Regarding #2.

The emergency fund over credit debt logic here seems a little off. If you look at the numbers, putting money toward the credit card debt still saves you money, even if you end up having to put some of the money back on to the card. Better to “undo” work than to never have done it at all.

Example:
You have no emergency fund, and a large CC debt at 15%. At “month 1″ you have $1000 to invest toward your debt or toward an emergency fund.

Option A: Put it toward the debt. In 6 months you have an emergency and need 1000, which you charge to the card. You have saved about $75 in interest in the meantime, but are back where you started in terms of debt and still have no emergency fund.

Option B: Put it in emergency fund. In 6 months you have an emergency and spend the 1000 out of the emergency fund. Your debt is $75 more than the first scenario. Your emergency fund is now about $18 from the interest on the money from the bank.

In this situation the emergency fund option actually costs you $57.

Financially you’d be better off putting EVERYTHING toward the high interest debt, even if it meant maybe increasing the debt down the road sometime. Emotional reasons might make it better to go the “emergency fund” route though.

By: Brip Blap

Brip Blap — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:25:20 +0000

Good list. I still struggle with #3 – it took me a while to figure out that my favorite brand of cream cheese cost 3 times as much as the store brand and that they were barely indistinguishable. That sortof leads into #8 (gourmet eating) related to #4 (hobby spending). I like gourmet cooking, too, but if you want to save money you can’t eat filet mignon for dinner at home on a regular basis. I am trying to learn to cook fancy meals with non-fancy ingredients… not always easy, but doable.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:23:05 +0000

Just out of curiosity, how easy is it to get a rate reduction on my credit cards? How much should I ask for, what should I say? I pay my bill every month, but I don’t like the fear of accidentally not paying something and having a huge interest rate to deal with.

Any advice on when to call, who to call, what to ask, etc. would be awesome!
Thanks