Disqus - Latest Comments for Eden

Re: Have You Cut Your Expenses Due to Gas Prices?

Eden — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:59:46 -0000

I am working to cut my expenses all of the time, but that has nothing to do with gas prices. I do that to save money and get out of debt. If I was so bad off financially that gas prices were going to break my budget, I could cut out cable TV, cell phones, subscriptions, and other unnecessary things to make up for it.

Re: The Four-Day Work Week: Is it a Good Idea?

Eden — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:00:49 -0000

I'm definitely in favor of that. Currently I work 4 days in the office and 1 day at home. So it's not exactly a 4 day work week, but it makes my work weeks much more enjoyable. Of course, my job isn't about logging hours, I have projects to finish and it is up to me to allocate hours in my week to get them done.

If you have a long commute, you are saving a good bit of time, even if it means logging 4 longer than normal days.

Re: Question From Reader: When Do You Record an Expense?

Eden — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:56:51 -0000

Was it just me or did that sound really complicated? I guess this is for the hardcore crowd.

I use Quicken and I update my transactions every day. I enter the actual dates that transactions occur and I use the appropriate account that the transaction came from. Then I run spending reports weekly or monthly. I thought I was being a bit anal, but maybe that is the simpletons approach. :)

Re: Payment Method Discrimination Strikes Again at the Gas Station

Eden — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:55:34 -0000

That sounds incredibly misleading- they obviously know what they are doing by positioning prices that way. I haven't seen this myself (or I haven't noticed it). I wouldn't mind so much if the clerk would come out to my car and process the cash transaction for me, but the best thing about paying at the pump is that I don't have to walk into the gas station and deal with people. I would definitely take my business elsewhere if I saw this happening.

Re: What Size Bonus Would Convince You to Sign Up for a Credit Card?

Eden — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:50:19 -0000

I was thinking like $500...$100 is definitely not enough, and considering that I don't want any credit cards, it would probably need to be much closer to $500, but I'm sure I'm being more picky than most would be.

Re: 5 Stupid Financial Mistakes I Made in 2007: Failing to Establish a Spending Budget

Eden — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:49:53 -0000

I'm surprised you've had a hard time trackiong your spending, being as detailed oriented as you are.

I enter everything I spend into Quicken and I have categories for my spending (of course), things like eating out (with sub categories for eating out at work and other things), entertainment, clothing, golf, etc...

I don't use Quicken to manage my budget though. I do that in Excel. I plan how much I will spend in each category and I run a Quicken report each week and import that data to Excel. That way I can't get too far off my budget, even if I have a really bad week. Lastly, I am very willing to shift budget limits during the month when needed- that's what makes it realistic to follow each month.

Re: Morning Roundup: Goals Across the Web

Eden — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:54:52 -0000

I'm a bit late to the party, but here are my 2008 goals.

http://www.financeandfat.com/archives/personal-...

Re: ING Direct Lowered Commissions for ShareBuilder Accounts

Eden — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:08:32 -0000

That's a good move. My only problem with Sharebuilder has been that they encourage small investments and a $4 charge on $100 or less is quite large.

Re: 2007: The End of TIAA-Cref for My Investments

Eden — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:33:20 -0000

Sounds like an awful company. Thanks for the warning!

Re: What’s in the Candidates’ Wallets?

Eden — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:52:50 -0000

Wow! That Romney dude is loaded! And he is probably the least well known of those listed (definitely the least known before the recent campaigns began).

Re: How to Turn $500 Into $7 The Hard Way

Eden — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:57:05 -0000

Sounds like any number of foolish things I have purchased in my life. So many mistakes and foolish ideas, I can't even believe it's true.

Sadly, I'm just now getting started on finally paying all the debt from all of the stupid stuff.

Re: Consumption Is Investment

Eden — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:29:35 -0000

Interesting take on spending. I like it.

Re: Credit Card Jacked Up Interest Rate: Cancel the Card?

Eden — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:15:43 -0000

I really hope people wouldn't accept a higher interest rate for the 'privilege' of continuing to use a credit card. I would only consider that as an option if I was about to buy a house and needed the absolute best credit score I could have at that point in time.

Re: Gift Cards: Customers Lost $8 Billion Last Year

Eden — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:02:42 -0000

For some reason, I thought gift cards were pretty cool when they started showing up everywhere, but I've soured on them lately.

Just yesterday I found a $50 gift card that I received for a gift about two years ago. I'm going to have to go check the balance, but I'm sure it has been reduced by inactivity fees by now- that really sucks!

Why don't people just give cash?

Re: Amazon Affiliates Burned At The Stake By Kindle?

Eden — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:20:32 -0000

The Kindle looks like a huge failure to me. I wouldn't be concerned. If you can get $40 from one of the 12 people who are going to buy one, take it!

Re: Amazon Affiliates Burned At The Stake By Kindle?

Eden — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:20:32 -0000

The Kindle looks like a huge failure to me. I wouldn't be concerned. If you can get $40 from one of the 12 people who are going to buy one, take it!

Re: louisgray.com: Twitter Finding New and More Creative Ways to Fail

Eden — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:37:34 -0000

Of course my numbers are much lower than yours, but I only noticed a small drop in my followers (like 6-10), which could definitely have been the removal spammers. On the other hand, I didn't check the list so it also could have been my closest friends who are no longer there- I better go look!

Re: louisgray.com: The Hubris of the Twitterati and Twitterati Wannabes

Eden — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:23:59 -0000

Interesting that the number of followers is so important to so many, especially considering how easily one could fake it.

Re: high quantity versus high quality

Eden — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:31:13 -0000

Well said!

This is something I've looked at a lot lately as I am planning the purchase of a new MacBook. I've looked at cheaper options- $500 laptops, used laptops for both Apple and Windows, yet I always come back to the new MacBook as being much higher in quality than any of those alternatives and it will last me a good number of years so the higher price now is actually the best deal.

Re: guest post: learning to truly love what you have

Eden — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:27:43 -0000

Great post. Cleaning out the clutter and getting rid of stuff I don't use is high on my to-do list. I have also discovered that it seems to be a never ending process!

It is amazing to me how much cash I can get out of this 'junk' that I would never miss anyway and that is great motivation to continue the storage bin purge.

Re: 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds

Eden — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:17:52 -0000

Great list!

I'm going through the process now of losing weight again- after getting really fat about 6 years ago I got my act together and lost 50 pounds. A couple of months ago I realized I had gained back 61 pounds! And I swore I would never get fat again after the first time...

Re: why do hippies hate the news?

Eden — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:56:19 -0000

I've given up on the news for the most part. In general, if something important happened, I will hear about it. I would guess that less than 10% of what is 'reported' on news stations or websites is actual news.

Ever notice how so many headlines these days are not statements of fact, but questions of what may happen or what could happen? Please explain to me how that is news.

The best part is the people who think they are brilliant because they listen to the current talking heads on TV or radio 'news' shows. They should try forming their own opinion and seeing the world through their own eyes - it's better!

Re: “the tool of the future” linklings

Eden — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:12:37 -0000

Cool, I'll have a look at diigo and see how it goes.