Yesterday I had the extreme pleasure of being able to be on the Mornings show again!

Great interview!

After eating Chinese over the weekend, I felt like the fortune I received was so fitting:

"You shouldn't overspend at the moment. Frugality is important."

Well put I must say.

I immediately felt guilty for eating out.

Hey guys. You may already know about this, but today is the big day. Election Day.

Beth and I voted absentee (we're leaving for a conference today), and because we (and hopefully you) voted, we can now get a free cup of coffee at Starbucks. I'd hope you want to vote anyways, but coffee is definitely a bonus!

So vote and pick up a hot cup of joe! (not the plumber)

Phil's awesome new post reminded me that I did leave out something in my last post: How do I save money on music despite my splurges?

How Can I Save Money and Still Love Music??

I've been feeling awfully convicted these past couple weeks. The week of the start of the Pay Yourself First Challenge, I fell to temptation.

I have to thank Parkey again so much for his help. He recently featured my story in his newsletter:

Let's Vote for Tim!!

One of the great things about being the financial coach for FamilyNet's Mornings with Lorri and Larry is that I get to meet many people.  Most are on the phone calling in with financial questions that we all would like to have answered.  In addition to Lorri and Larry, there are some great folks behind the scenes.  One is Tim Rhodes. 

Well you might not know Tim, but here is your chance.  See, we are not only in a Presidential election but we are in a Savings election and Tim is my candidate.

On a recent show, Tim listened to me sharing with viewers how they obtain a higher rate of return on their simple savings.  Tim, after asking some private questions, decided to check it out.  What he found was money and notoriety awaiting him and his wife.

You see, he happened upon a savings contest that is being held at FNBODirect.com.  Tim was able to submit an awesome video and is now one of the finalists!! 

You can help Tim and his wife by voting for him in the contest.  Lets do all we can to make sure one of our's is the winner!  Forward this newsletter to your friends and ask them to vote for Tim too!

Click here to see his winning video, read more and VOTE!!

Click here to hear Tim interviewed on Mornings.

I am Parkey Thompson and I approve of this message AND your vote for Tim Rhodes.

Thank you again Parkey!

And speaking of Mornings, I believe there are plans for me to be a guest on November 10, from 8:38 - 8:50 a.m. EST. Tune in if you can!

Since Beth and I have been married, I've had to cut back on my mint intake. Beth is allergic. I, however, love mint. So it's been hard resisting the delicious breath freshener, but out of love I manage to carry on (I hope she reads this!).

But now, I am happy that I can bring the joyous mouth-freshener back into my life--sort of. After posting the blog about budgeting software online, many people clued me in to this website:

Mint.com. And I have to say, when I saw all that it could do, I was immediately converted.

Similarly to mvelopes, you can use the software to track each of your financial accounts--banks, credit cards, student loans, etc. You can make a budget and it will automatically put each transaction in their respective categories. Mint will even alert you via e-mail when you are about to go over budget or when your bank accounts are low. Because it tracks not only what you make but also your debt, you can see where to cut back to eliminate that debt. You can even get graphs of your spending trends!

I'm absolutely fascinated with this website and have been on it for the past few days.

Do you know my favorite part about the budgeting software? It's FREE.

Thanks so much for all your input. If you have any other sites or ideas I don't know about, let me know!

Some of the best advice I've ever received concerning finances is something my mother has always told me: "Never spend money you don't have." As simple as this wisdom is, given the current economic times, it wouldn't hurt many people to use it.

I have taken this advice with me throughout my life. So you can imagine how hard it was to get student loans. It was torture. My first year of college (if my memory serves me well) I managed to avoid loans. I earned a couple scholarships here and there, and I took care of the remainder of the bill with monthly payments. It was a lot of work (I had to take on another job bagging groceries), and that college remainder bill was something I just was not physically able to completely pay for the next year.

During my junior and senior year of college, I finally decided to get a credit card. I figured it'd be good to have one for emergencies, but also to build up a credit score and all that confusing jazz. I was continually denied precisely because that's what I didn't have. It seemed cyclical--in order to have a credit card you must have a decent credit score; but in order to have a decent credit score you must have a credit card.

Luckily, there's always Wal-Mart. I was able to get a credit card with them (a $300 limit!), and that was the only card I had up until marriage. Beth's experience with credit cards was much more different from my own--even though both parents shared the same advice. Her mother had gotten her a couple credit cards during her teens and taught her financial responsibility. Beth is one of the most financially wise people I know.

I know there are many financial experts that would argue against doing this, but Beth and decided when we got married to keep and use a few credit cards. We have a Discover and Visa, and we use those pretty regularly. Although we use them often, we also make sure to only spend what we know we have in the bank. We do this because not only do we want to have a good credit score (which isn't a huge deal, but it's important), but also because of the cashback offers. Discover offers anywhere from 1 to 5% cashback-- sometimes more depending on where we buy from. As I always say, it's not much, but it definitely adds up. And we NEVER spend more than what's in our bank account.

In fact, we just bought a few Christmas presents with those points! We didn't have to pay a thing!

What do you think? Are you opposed to credit cards altogether? I don't think there's anything wrong with Dave Ramsey or others who are totally against credit cards as a whole, I just think that you can make credit cards work for you if you do things rightly. Let me know what you think!

Since this is going to be an ongoing topic (there are quite a few ways we're trying to save), I decided to separate the discussion into many different posts. The first of which I want to touch on one of the biggest money-savers going for us at the moment.

Meet David and Deana:

David is a guy I met at FamilyNet. He is pretty awesome and is one of the funniest guys I have ever known.

Deana is his wife. She is awesome as well, and reminds me a lot of my wife (the good things, I promise!).

Back in late August/early September, David and Deana were looking for a new apartment. After some thinking, Beth and I invited them to live with us while Deana earns her Masters degree. So far, things have been great and a lot of fun. One of the many upsides to the four of us living together, is that Beth and I have been saving money--even in some ways we didn't think we would initially.

-- We lately have been sharing food, so I am pretty sure (although have not verified) that it cuts food costs at least by a little.
-- Speaking of food, it does seem like we eat in more often than we used to. We'll share cooking responsibilities and spend time together.
-- We also share the costs on household supplies. Well, it's not really a deliberate thing, but we just kind of split whatever we get!
-- David and Deana also help out with the bills (electricity, water, gas).

We've also had to minimize what we own pretty significantly. It can be daunting, but was rewarding in the end. We were able to sell some of our items on Craigslist (the aforementioned tapes, books, vinyl, etc.), and we made sure to give some items to World Relief-- where Beth works, and Goodwill.

Lastly, and pretty significantly, David and I work together. OH YEAH. We have been able to carpool together which has probably saved us at least 100 bucks a month. And it's good company. AND instead of being out spending money, we rush home after work to annihilate each other in Mario Kart 64.

I really don't mean or intend to put some sort of monetary value on this relationship if that's how any of this may sound. David and Deana are fantastic, genuine people, and we would have done this regardless of any dollar amount. It's just neat that we happen to be saving money, especially for this PYF Challenge.

So pay yourself first! Especially if its with lasting relationships that ultimately mean infinitely more than money.

Meet David and Deana: