In an effort to talk about the power of goal-setting along with some methods of setting and achieving goals, I’m going to discuss my three resolutions for 2011 this week. Over time, any voracious reader winds up with a list of books that they intend to read someday, but they find themselves reading more urgent

In an effort to talk about the power of goal-setting along with some methods of setting and achieving goals, I’m going to discuss my three resolutions for 2011 this week. Another of my 2010 resolutions was to learn to play the piano, which is something I feel is coming along very well. For 2011, I’ve

Here’s hoping that your Christmas is a great one. Kick back, recharge with your family and loved ones, and enjoy the holiday season

In an effort to talk about the power of goal-setting along with some methods of setting and achieving goals, I’m going to discuss my three resolutions for 2011 this week. As many of you remember, I set a weight loss goal for 2010 that I exactly halfway achieved. I’m happy with that partial success. What

Happy Thanksgiving! Today’s a great day to step back and reflect on the positive things that have happened in our life over the past year and the things that bring joy into your life. Here are ten things I’m thankful for today. I’m thankful for the laughter of my infant son, the bright smile that

A few weeks ago, I made an offhand mention that I had switched to a plant-based diet due to medical concerns. Over the next week, I received a lot of questions about it. Why? What was it like? How was it working? Was it saving us money? Was it having positive health effects? I considered

Two or three times a week, I receive an email from someone who is trying to figure out how on earth I earn an income from The Simple Dollar (or some specific aspect of it). Sometimes, it’s because they have an idea for a site and would love to make a big chunk of money

Every Sunday morning for the next few months, I’m going to “riff” on a chapter from my book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams by reflecting on particular pieces of it that I’ve had further reflections on or particularly excite me, including some elements

As you might recall, last Sunday, I reviewed a book I quite liked entitled The Joy of Less by Francine Jay, who blogs over at the quite enjoyable miss minimalist. My book review got the attention of several more popular blogs, including Lifehacker, which chose to link to one of Jay’s more intriguing posts, 100

Every Sunday morning for the next few months, I’m going to “riff” on a chapter from my book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams by reflecting on particular pieces of it that I’ve had further reflections on or particularly excite me, including some elements

Over the past few years, several personal finance bloggers have written books, myself included. J.D. from Get Rich Slowly put out Your Money: The Missing Manual. Ramit from I Will Teach You to Be Rich put out a self-titled book. Just last Sunday, I reviewed a book by Rachel Singer Gordon (a.k.a. Mashup Mom). I

Every Sunday morning for the next few months, I’m going to “riff” on a chapter from my book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams by reflecting on particular pieces of it that I’ve had further reflections on or particularly excite me, including some elements

Every Sunday morning for the next few months, I’m going to “riff” on a chapter from my book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams by reflecting on particular pieces of it that I’ve had further reflections on or particularly excite me, including some elements

My new book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams, is now available in bookstores (I just saw it at a Barnes and Noble in the Des Moines, Iowa area and at the Borders in Ames, Iowa)! You can also buy it right now at

As many of you know, my new book, The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams is due to be released at the end of this month and should be available in bookstores all over the United States in early July. If you’d like, you can

A few days ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop (my once-every-two-months-or-so visit) reading some of the comments on The Simple Dollar with my laptop. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that someone was looking over my shoulder at the screen, so I glanced over at this fortysomething lady. She

I’m going to go a little bit off of the beaten path here and talk about something not directly related to personal finance, but something that has a strong indirect relationship: piracy of intellectual property. A week barely goes by when a person writes to me asking for some sort of justification for their piracy

Matthew is the newest addition to our family, having just recently arrived in the world. He has long toes, soft skin, and a deep enjoyment of warm blankets

As many of you know, over the last year, I’ve been writing a book outlining the specific details of how exactly I went from being tens of thousands of dollars in debt and working at a job that caused me to miss my family and made me long for the career I wanted to doing