Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Life

Earth Day Freebies and Deals – and a Little History Too

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Earth Day was first held on April 22, 1970, and it was lead by Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin.

Nearly 20 million people participated and today, 42 years later, we still celebrate Earth Day, but now, 175 countries celebrate Earth Day.

Earth Day 2012 will also be celebrated on April 22nd (and will be celebrated on that date at least until 2015).

The primary purpose of the day is to bring awareness to environmental issues as well as to focus on reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Of course, proponents of frugality recognize that the things we do to keep Mother Earth healthy are the same things we can do to keep our finances healthy.  By reducing, reusing and recycling, we become more financially conservative.

When you buy a used car, shop at garage sales or your thrift stores or hold your own garage sale or donate items you no longer use, you are saving money and keeping items out of the landfill, which is a win-win.

To celebrate Earth Day this year, several retailers are offering freebies or discounts.  There are plenty of great offers to take advantage of:

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Should I Climb The Corporate Ladder Or Start My Own Business?

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When it comes to accumulating wealth, there are 3 main ways to go about it.

  • One, you can work for someone else, get paid a salary and try to save some money with every paycheck;
  • Two, you can make your money work for itself by investing it wisely;
  • And three, you can start your own business and become your own boss.

The 3 choices above are not all equally effective.  In fact, I would say that investing your money wisely and starting your own business are the only truly scalable ways to make money.

First off, what do I mean by scalable?

Let’s take your day job as an example.  If you work for someone else, chances are you are either paid by the hour or paid a fixed salary.  As a result, since there are only 24 hours in a day, there’s is only a finite amount of money that you can possibly make in a given year.

Sure, you might get a small raise from year to year, but in reality you will never be able to make “life changing” money with just your day job.

Now I’m not saying that having a day job is bad.

After all, having a steady salary is an excellent way to make ends meet and pay the bills.  But the best way to expand your pool of wealth is by starting your own business and investing the money that you do accumulate.

The Trap Of Working For Someone Else

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Contemplating Marriage? Love Is Not All You Need

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The Beatles famously sang, “All you need is love, love, love, love is all you need.”

So many of us buy into this simplistic belief and think that love conquers all.

Many of us rush into marriage and ignore the red flags that are before us, thinking problems will work themselves out after we are married.  The sad truth is that marriage often serves to amplify problems, not solve them.

Kathy Chu of USA Today puts it perfectly when she states,

“If love is the tie that binds couples together, money is often the wrench that pries them apart.”

Maybe in the past arguments about money in marriage could be blamed on societal pressures for people to marry early and for the expectation of the wife to quietly allow her husband to make the financial decisions, but those days are long gone in our society.

Now, women often make more than the men they marry.
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Is Your High Power Job Worth the Sacrifice?

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Many students go to college and pursue known money-making degrees—engineering, computer science, and business among a few of them.

They may pursue these career tracks because they are truly interested in the field, or they may choose them because they want to be financially comfortable during their lifetimes and they know that a lowly English major, while pursuing her passion, will never be rich.  (Ask me how I know.)

Follow these individuals 20 years later when they have achieved a great deal of financial success, and you may find them less delighted with both their lives and their chosen career paths.

A High Power Corporate Job Isn’t All It Seems

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Don’t Underestimate the Cost of Living When Deciding Where to Live

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I live in the suburbs of Chicago, and recently, after 11 years in the same apartment building, my husband and I re-entered the renter’s market.

When we first began renting at our last apartment, the two bedroom apartment was a bit too big for us.  Three kids later, we were bursting at the seams.

However, we were shocked to see that 3 bedroom apartments in our location rent for $1,300 to $1,800 a month.  Houses can rent for as much as $2,500 to $2,800 a month.

Houses Are Often Out of Reach

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