Thanks for visiting Ultimate Money Blog! If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. A few weeks ago I listed an old tv armoire on our local Craig’s List.  It didn’t bring any interest at $125, so I dropped the price to $100.  After a few days of no interest, I deleted the listing.  A couple days later, I relisted the item at $75.  I received a few emails, and one was from a woman who wanted to know if I still had the item.  I told her I did and she emailed me back that evening apologizing for the late response, and would I hold the item until her friend can help her come pick it up.  She also gave me her phone number in the email and asked me for my address.  She then told me that I didn’t need to be afraid because she is a 40 year old Japanese woman. That kind of weirded me out.  I guess her saying that I shouldn’t be afraid has made me afraid!  Is it [...]

Mr. Money and I will be celebrating our five year wedding anniversary this September.  We went on our honeymoon to Hawaii, and said that we’d go back for our five year anniversary.  Of course, we also said we’d go back for our one year, but that obviously didn’t happen because, hello, Hawaii is expensive! We’ve been kicking around the idea of going back to Hawaii for our five year anniversary.  This could possibly be our last big trip before we become parents.  We’re not sold on the idea that we need to vacation to Hawaii because our frugal side is speaking louder than our fun side. photo credit: rawtrigger We figure it would probably cost around $2,500 to $3,000 for the whole trip.  That is a lot of money, especially considering that I want to stay at home with our baby when the time comes.  I feel like if we spend that money on a trip, that may hinder my dream of staying at home.  I would not feel good about that. On the other hand, we have paid off [...]

Sometimes I think that I have an obsession with money. I work at a bank, blog about personal finance, and need money to live.  Needless to say, sometimes I get tired of thinking about money.  Thinking about the amount of money I need to save gets to be a chore, and can be stressful. I have to work hard to realize that we have enough money and that we’ll be fine.  We’re doing everything we can to live frugally and save as much money as possible. Sometimes I feel like giving up.  We work hard at trying to live on one paycheck so that it’s easier for me to be a stay at home mom when the time comes (if we can figure out health insurance.  We were on vacation last week and I worried about how much money we were spending.  A lot of the time spending money stresses me out, even if it’s for necessities.  I hate paying a lot of money for a huge electric bill, for example. Stressed about money? Here are some solutions I’ve come [...]