Resources

Blogroll of Interesting Sites

Posted by Jean

Here are a variety of news and opinion sites that offer information and provocative discussion about the world we live in. Whether you (or I) always agree with their points of view, it’s always stimulating to get new ideas. The full list is after the break.

$5 Dinners
All Financial Matters
AOL Money & Finance
Bargaineering
Being Frugal
Big Money (Salon)
Big Picture
Bitter Wallet
Bottom Line (San Francisco Chronicle)
Business Pundit
CNN
CNN Money
Common Sense With Money
Consumerism Commentary
Consumerist
Curious Capitalist (Time.com)
Daily Finance
Daily Kos
Deal Seeking Mom
Economic’s Unbound (Business Week)
Economix (New York Times)
Fox Business
Fox Nation
Fox News Online
Freakonomics (New York Times)
Get Rich Slowly
Huffington Post Business
It’s Only Money (Portland Oregonian)
Jane Bryant Quinn
Ka-Blog! (Star Tribune)
Kiplingers
Lazy Man And Money
Money & Company (Los Angeles Times)
Money Culture (Newsweek)
Money Saving Mom
Money Smart Life
Moneybox (Slate)
MSNBC
On Money (Chicago Tribune)
OppenheimerFunds Keeping College Within Reach
Portfolio’s Market Movers
Seth’s Blog
Simple Dollar
Small Change (Washington Post)
Smart Money
Sound Economy (Seattle Times)
Terry Savage Blog (Chicago Sun-Times)
TODAYS Mama
The Street
The Sun’s Financial Diary
The Wallet (Wall Street Journal)
Wallet Pop
Wise Bread
Women on Business
Women’s Leadership Exchange
Women’s Net
WowOwow Money
Yahoo Finance
Your Money (Boston Globe)
Your Money (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Permalink
Posted April 22, 2009

COMMENTS | 2 comments so far

1
Hi Jean,

Our family is like many others who have gotten in over our heads and looking for a way to dig out. We do not want to file bankruptcy or short sale our property, nor do we want to stop paying any of our debts. But right now we are living month to month and supporting huge interest payments that we can’t get out from under.

I have contacted several credit counseling agencies, but they said that our monthly payments and interest rates are already low and they couldn’t lower it anymore. They said they are set up to help people who have stopped paying their mortgage or credit cards — or who are willing to stop paying — and we don’t want to do either.

Our interest rates are fair to low on all our debt, we just have more than we can support to get out from under. Right now we are just living month to month.

We would like to refinance or get a consolidation loan, but we are underwater on our properties, and have no equity to work with, so the mortgage companies won’t even refinance the debt we have even though we have never been late and both my husband and I have credit ratings in the 780s to 790s.

Do we have any other options other than bankruptcy or short sale?

Thanks for any thoughts
- Posted June 28, 2010 by najet
2
To najet:
First: Identify the behavior that put you into debt and stop doing it. Then: Get additional part time jobs and dedicate any income to paying down debt. Cook at home. Find main dish recipes with beans as a base and have a weekly or bi-weekly bean night. Cancel cable tv and rent $1 movies instead. Do you get a big tax refund each year? If so, adjust your withholding and put the additional against debt. Try a zero spending month. Buy nothing except perishable food and gas enough only to travel to work and back. Make it a game to see how little you can spend. Carry only a specific amount of cash and no plastic with you when you go shopping. Even now that we’re “comfortable” we carry very little cash. It’s so easy to break a $20. Once you do, it’s gone in a flash. Find monthly expenses for “wants” that you can eliminate until you get back on your feet: the gym, piano lessons, etc. Good luck and I hope this helps.
- Posted July 2, 2010 by pinch