The Happy RockThe Happy RockChange Your Self, Change Your Wealth - A personal finance and development blog dedicated to personal and financial growth. 
Articles
Paying Cash Saved Us Over $1,000
2008-06-06 13:20:00 I talk often about the benefits of paying cash and the credit card premium, but just recently The Rockette received a first hand lesson about how paying cash can save you money. The Rock Garden had to hire a new babysitter a few weeks back who wanted to get paid in cash rather than by check. ... More About: Cash
Free Cash: $50 SmartyPig Gift Card Giveaway
2008-06-06 04:03:00 SmartyPig gave my a $50 gift card a while back in order to help promote their site and I wanted to pass this great gift onto one of my readers. If you are not familiar with their service here is the description from their website. SmartyPig is a simple, smart, fun way to ... More About: Card , Misc , Free , Gift , Cash
The Benefits Of Personal Finance Blogging
2008-06-04 13:54:00 After posting about The Happy Rock’s need for another writer, I began thinking why someone would be interested in becoming a personal finance blogger. That ultimately lead me to think about the benefits of PF blogging I have received after a year plus of running a blog. Here are my top five reasons ... More About: Personal , Personal Finance , Finance , Misc , Blogging
Save Time, Gas, and Money By Training Your Grocery Store
2008-06-03 13:44:00 For those of us lucky enough to have multiple grocery stores around, we usually end up with a favorite store. The frustrating part is that your favorite store doesn’t carry the exact item that you can get at other stores. I used to make quick trips to the other store for the one ... More About: Food , Money , Time , Training , Store
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #6 : Wash And Reuse Plastic Baggies
2008-05-31 05:52:00 ?Cheap er Than Cheap? is a recurring tip series about frugality. The idea is to provide potentially helpful frugality tips that border on fanatical or fictitious to the point of becoming humorous. Love them or hate them, let?s hear what you think. Tip #5 was on Save Gas By Being Creative. It really is as simple as ... More About: Week , Plastic , Wash , Frugality
The Happy Rock Is Looking To Expand And Bring On Another Writer
2008-05-30 05:43:00 The Happy Rock is looking to expand and bring in a part time writer/blogger. Click here, to read more about the oppurtunity. I would love to find a reader who is in the trenches of debt reduction to augment the article base here at The Happy Rock. The further I am removed ... More About: Misc , Bloggers , Writer
Debt Reduction Is About Changing Your Behavior Not Switching Money Around
2008-05-28 12:53:00 Tom : I just paid off a nice chunk of my debt. Mark : Really. Tom : Yep, we paid off one of our credit cards! Mark : That’s great, how did you find the money? Tom : I used a balance transfer for a new credit card that my wife signed up for. Mark : So you didn’t ... More About: Money , Behavior , Changing , Debt , Switching
A Rolls Royce And Million Dollar House : Having Financial Vision
2008-05-27 13:36:00 I know that title probably doesn’t encompass your financial dreams, but take a second to think about your idea of financial success? A nice car, comfortable life, paid for house, retire at 50? We all usually have either vague notions or uber-grandiose ideas about our financial future. It is rare that I ... More About: House , Dollar , Financial , Rolls Royce , Vision
Slashing The Budget - What Can Go?
2008-05-25 13:44:00 Slashing the budget is one of the first tasks people usually tackle after they decide they want to get out out of debt. It is often a frustrating task, because of the stress of the debt and the lack of perspective on what is a need versus what is a want. Let’s start by reiterating that ... More About: Spending , Budget
Frugal Tool Chest Tip #2: The Dynamics Of Finding The Item You Want Cheaper
2008-05-23 13:16:00 The Frugal Tool Chest is a recurring series covering practical tips and tools that will arm you to save even more money on your online purchases. Frugal Chest Tip #1 covered using Price Protectr to save money by getting post purchase refunds on price drops. This tip will walk you through some of the tips ... More About: Dynamics , Item , Frugality
Save Money At The Library - How To Return And Renew Your Books On Time
2008-05-21 13:15:00 This tip comes from a reader, beth, on the library isn’t free post. Since most libraries are free to use if the books and other materials are returned on time, the way to save money is to make sure the books are returned on time. A lot of libraries have online access ... More About: Books , Money , Library , Save Money , Time
Step Towards Financial Simplicity - NJM Bank Account Closed
2008-05-20 15:57:00 I mentioned a few weeks that I wanted to further simplify my financial system and closing extra accounts is a big part of that. Well…I closed my NJM Bank Checking account. I have been putting this off for about a year, because the prospect of having to pay the occasional ATM fee made ... More About: Financial , Productivity , Simplicity , Step
Your Debt Makes Decisions For You
2008-05-16 14:59:00 The thing about debt is that our financial systems are setup to make it as easy as possible to spend money you don’t have. Your mailbox is littered with credit applications, and if you sign up at a store they give 15% and you are approved in about 3 minutes. At a car ... More About: Spending , Debt , Decisions
Cheaper Than Cheap Tip Of The Week #5 : Save Money On Gas The Creative Way
2008-05-15 12:22:00 ?Cheap er Than Cheap? is a recurring tip series about frugality. The idea is to provide potentially helpful frugality tips that border on fanaticaor fictitious to the point of being humorous. Love them or hate them, let?s hear what you think. Tip #4 was on Earn Free Money By Reusing Bags At Grocery Stores. This tip is ... More About: Creative , Save Money , Week
Free Iced Coffee - Dunkin Donuts - May 15th 10am - 10pm
2008-05-15 11:38:00 For those that like their coffee and caffeine, check out the advertisment on Dunkin Donuts . Free Iced Coffee on May 15th from 10am - 10pm. Related PostsFind Out The Delivery Date Of Your IRS Stimulus PackagePrinciples in Action #2 : Accountability and Friends Can Save Your FinancesThe Library Isn’t Free When You Pay $17 In FeesDoes TurboTax, ... More About: Food
What Exactly Is The Stimulus Check? Not A Rebate?
2008-05-14 13:05:00 As I discussed whether it’s our patriotic duty to consume our rebate checks, I started thinking that I didn’t fully understand what the ‘rebate’ check is anymore. Everyone calls it a tax rebate check, but it seems to have morphed into a handout or something else along the lines. Originally, it seemed ... More About: Taxes , Check , Spending , Rebate
To Stimulate Or Not To Stimulate?
2008-05-12 06:07:00 The Happy Rockette mentioned something about our stimulus check that got me thinking. We already have a plan to spend the money on some improvements to the condo. We can enjoy then for the next year our and they will help our house sell when the time comes. I mentioned ... More About: Taxes , Spending
Demystifying The Budget - Don?t Be Afraid
2008-05-10 06:23:00 I am not sure many other finance terms inspire more fear than the word ‘BUDGET’. Ok, well maybe bankruptcy, foreclosure, and a few others, but you get the point. Some people even will physically squirm when they think about having to adhere to a budget. I am here to squelch some of those fears ... More About: Planning , Budget
The Library Isn?t Free When You Pay $17 In Fees
2008-05-08 06:16:00 Just got back from getting another round of books for The Pebble, but I had to pay $16.95 in back fines/fees just to checkout. Being a couple days late when you have 2-3 books out isn’t too bad, but ever since The Pebble hit reading age we have been getting out 10 books ... More About: Library , Free , Fees , The Library
Vacation and Perspective - Simplify Your Finances
2008-05-07 05:38:00 The Rock Garden went vacationing this past weekend to Pocono Mountains of Pensylvania just outside of Jim Thorpe, PA. We got a great a good deal on a modern three bedroom house with a scenic view that I will post about later. Despite a wash out on Saturday and some allergies, it was ... More About: Finances , Vacation , Perspective
Community In Action - Pursue Your Dreams Edition
2008-05-02 05:18:00 First was an article on Life Hack called Personal Development, Canine-Style. It is a long read, but well worth the time. It is written from the perspective of a man’s dog while the owner’s life and finances grow over the years. It shares some of the potential dangers that come with chasing ... More About: Dreams , Action , Community , Links , Bloggers
The $400 Phil and Ted?s Stroller - Dissecting The Purchase
2008-04-29 05:42:00 Sticker shock. That is probably your first thought, I know it was mine when The Happy Rockette first told me about the stroller. A little more than 3 months later, we own one! See the picture below for a quick look or click here for an in depth look at Phil andTeds.com. Here ... More About: Spending , Cash , Purchase , Stroller
Sleep Your Way To Better Finances
2008-04-26 05:21:00 With the car breaking down on Sunday and still having a ton of work to do for the 149th Carnival of PF, I ended up only getting 8 hours of sleep on Sunday night. I can survive, and ten years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. The thing I noticed for ... More About: Health , Marriage , Finances , Careers , Happiness
Breakdown - Is Triple A(AAA) Worth The Money?
2008-04-25 05:18:00 As we were driving home from watching some of our nieces and nephews for the weekend, I realized that pushing on the gas pedal of our Nissan Murano was not doing ANYTHING! I quickly pulled over and coasted to a stop. I figured I would try a restart and see if that fixes ... More About: Cars , Money , Worth , Triple
149th Carnival of Personal Finance - Chasing Dreams Edition
2008-04-21 14:42:00 If this is your first time visiting, feel free to look around. You can join the others by subscribing to my RSS feed or you can receive updates via email so that you don’t miss The Happy Rock’s articles! Welcome to the 149th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance ! Below are 86 personal finance ... More About: Dreams , Personal Finance
Hosting The 149th Carnival Personal Finance On Monday
2008-04-19 07:39:00 Just a reminder that The Happy Rock is hosting the 149th Carnival of Personal Finance . Come back on Monday to view a collection of 100 or so of the best personal finance articles from the last week. The guidelines for submission can be found here. Use this form to submit your articles. I ... More About: Hosting , Personal Finance
Find Out The Delivery Date Of Your IRS Stimulus Package
2008-04-16 14:34:00 The IRS lists the schedule of the stimulus package checks for tax returns processed by April 15th. The dates are determined by the last two digits of you Social Security Number and whether you are using direct deposit or paper check. According to the schedule our $1500 rebate should be direct deposited on May 9th. ... More About: Taxes , Find , Package , Delivery
Check The Status Of Your Federal IRS Tax Refund
2008-04-16 04:33:00 I thought this was a useful little page provided by the IRS. With you Social Security Number, Tax filing status, and the refund amount you can find out the status of your 2008 Federal Government taxes. I got this message: We have received your tax return and it is being processed. Unless we find mistakes ... More About: Taxes , Check , Status
Just Ordered My $15 Entertainment Book
2008-04-15 05:46:00 Just $15 for a plethora of great coupons. For those that don’t know, the Entertainment book is a local book of coupons for everything from fast food to casual dining to theme parks and golf courses. It is $35 dollars when it first comes out, but gradually drops throughout the year. ... More About: Book , Frugality
Debt Is The Symptom - Fix The Problem
More articles from this author:2008-04-13 20:06:00 “Symptom - A characteristic sign or indication of the existence of something else” Source Picture yourself driving down a familiar street. Out of the corner of your eye you see a huge nail in the road. You swerve, but only enough to drive directly over the nail with your tire. Arghhhh! ... More About: Debt , Problem 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
|
 |
|
 |
