While love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage, love and money can sometimes go together like oil and water.  I’m the first to say that money isn’t everything, and shouldn’t dictate your relationships… but if you are thinking of entering into a legal contract with someone for (hopefully) the rest of your life, money will inevitably be a big part of that.  I disagree that foreclosure or bankruptcy is a total deal-breaker, but I would not seriously date or marry someone whose money views were not at least compatible with my own.  Food for thought before you spend an average of about 30k on the wedding of your dreams at the expense of the happiness of your marriage!

Oh how I LOVE this article!  I know what your thinking, it’s easy to pay down six figures of debt on a six figure income, but it’s not.  In 7 months, this guy paid off a debt equal to more than a year of his take home salary.  That’s nothing short of amazing.  That means if you make about 50k, you too could pay down 35k in 7 months if you did what this guy did.  As someone who paid off six figures of student loan debt (in large part thanks to selling some real estate at the height of the market) and still has student loan debt in the mid-five figures I have nothing but applause and admiration for this guy.  What an inspiration for all of us!

Happy Mother’s Day! In honor of all the mother’s who want to raise financially independent children who will not need your hard saved retirement money to support them in adult-hood, this is for you.  I actually think most of these lessons are universal, so happy personal-financing to all the non-mom’s as well.

I like this article and I think it touches upon something that many of us struggle with- the gray line between wants and needs.  While I do need to eat, I choose to eat healthy foods that are local and/or organic and antibiotic and hormone free.  I need to wash my hair and body, but I choose to use pricey shampoo and organic goat’s milk soap.  Are these wants or needs?  A little of both for sure.  The idea of using an outside resource like the USDA’s food guide to help guide your budget is very appealing for sure.

I can only wish I was as smart as this writer!  As the student loan interest battle continues to heat up in Congress, I know that the luckiest students are the ones who don’t have to worry whether rates will double because they don’t have any student loan debt.  

What is scariest about compulsive shopping is how thin the line is between an ‘average’ shopper and a compulsive shopper.  I’d bet that at least 75% of us have one or more of these habits (online stalking, thinking things on clearance are necessities, not sticking to a budget).  I know I do several of the things listed on this list- something to work on for sure!

I HATE student loans.  Public, private, high interest rates, subsidized interest rates- they all have the ability to ruin your future and limit your choices.  Taking on debt that is inescapable before you are old enough to fully embrace the consequences is the biggest albatross you can saddle your future self with- run the repayment numbers, imagine living on only 75% of an entry level salary (especially in a bigger city) and see if it’s still worth it to go you an expensive school.  I’d wager it’s not.

While not a millennial, I’m firmly in the corner of the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ second hand market.  I buy a fair percentage of the things I choose to buy (furniture, clothes, household items like our recently acquired ice cream maker) at yard-sales or on ebay or craigslist.  With a little elbow grease, most things look better than brand new for pennies on the dollar.  I’m also a frequent seller, because I love that I can buy something, use it as long as I want and then sell it for what I bought it for.  Money in my pocket, less perfectly good stuff going into landfills, and a household and closet that meets my current needs.  What’s not to love?  Smart, frugal millennials, keep up the good work!

A lot of good reminders going into summer.  While I agree with some more than others (sometimes brand names are cheaper with sales and coupons and our house down-payment is sitting safely in a low interest savings account since we’ll be using it next summer, for example), cutting any costs that don’t add real value to your life so you can spend on the things that do matter to you is always a good move!  

While this blog is not about minimalism, I think there is alot of overlap between good financial practices and some of the themes of minimalism.  What I love about this feature story is that this is not simply a January purge- spending January repairing and maintaining ALL of the things you own and use throughout different seasons of the year means that when you go to use something later in the year, you don’t end up spending money to replace something that is easily fixable with some advanced warning.  That’s good for the budget, good for the planet and good for the soul.  Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.