By 2 Cents on January 6th, 2012 | Category: Saving | The following is a guest post with some good advice to kick off 2012. Enjoy!
The New Year is upon us, and for many, this time of the year signifies a time of new beginnings. People strive to better themselves by creating New Year’s resolutions, many of which are focused on health. While trying to be a better person in the new year is nothing to scoff at, there are a few New Year’s resolutions that are good for you both physically and mentally, as well as financially.
Losing Weight
Obesity is one of the greatest epidemics plaguing America today, making losing weight one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions this year. However, losing weight isn’t just ideal for your health, it is also highly beneficial to your wallet. In addition to saving money with reduced eating out and grocery bills, losing weight will also [...]
Read on and enjoy … 5 New Year’s Resolutions that are Good for Your Wallet
By 2 Cents on June 7th, 2011 | Category: Money Psychology |  Tell your money where to go. Don’t ask where it went.
~ Unknown
We spend a lot of time here kicking around different ideas on how to manage your money. What’s the best way to spend it, save it, and invest it? It’s all about controlling your money rather than letting it control you.
From the beginning, I intended the “balance” part of Balance Junkie to be a bit of a double entendre. It refers to the quest for a healthy financial balance sheet as well as a well-rounded life balance sheet. Putting money in its place means paying enough attention to it to manage it wisely, but not enough to let it become more important than it is. Today we take a look at how to balance these dueling propositions.
Your Money: Micro Management
The term micro management usually [...]
Read on and enjoy … Putting Money In Its Place
By 2 Cents on March 23rd, 2011 | Category: BJ News |  Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
~Pauline R. Kezer
Spring has finally arrived, bringing with it all kinds of changes. We’ve had quite a few changes come up at my house over the past couple of weeks too. I’ll spare you the details, but the end result is that I won’t be able to write as regularly or as often here at Balance Junkie. For now, I’m committed to writing at least once a week instead of the three times per week you’ve been accustomed to. I may write more or less depending on time constraints.
I’ll continue to follow the economy and financial markets and you can expect the same type of articles on anything from monetary policy to book reviews to basic personal finance topics. I’ll also continue to point out interesting articles in my [...]
Read on and enjoy … Balance Junkie Update: Changes Coming
By 2 Cents on November 22nd, 2010 | Category: Economics |  Even when we know what is right, too often we fail to act. More often we grab greedily for the day, letting tomorrow bring what it will, putting off the unpleasant and unpopular.
~Bernard M. Baruch
We all knew the GM Initial Public Offering was coming. I was not a fan of bailing out the auto companies, but I thought I would feel at least a little happy to see them exit bankruptcy and list their shares again. After all, I live right across the river from Detroit. GM used to have a sizeable presence here in Windsor.
In fact, just a short drive from my home, I can stand at the edge of the Detroit river and look directly at GM headquarters. It used to be called the Renaissance Center. I can remember when it was built, although I was only in Grade 2 at the time. [...]
Read on and enjoy … Thoughts on the GM IPO
By 2 Cents on March 5th, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.
~ Bill Beattie
Update #1: This post was included in the Carnival of Money Stories 2: Disaster Issue posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking. Thank you!
Update #2: Thanks to the Mighty Bargain Hunter for choosing this post for inclusion in the Money Hacks Carnival: Middle Name Pride Day Edition.
It’s easy to think that we can’t control a great deal in terms of our financial position. After all, there’s only so much money coming in – and no amount of planning, coupon cutting or budgeting is going to get blood from [...]
Read on and enjoy … Financial Literacy Is Like Green Eggs and Ham
By 2 Cents on March 4th, 2010 | Category: Financial Literacy | Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
Update: This post is featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance – Women in History Edition posted at Simply Forties. Thanks!
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I often struggle with the knowledge-action gap. I know what needs to be done, but I don’t always do it. Why don’t I make the changes necessary to improve? Change is one of the founding principles of Balance Junkie and I wrote early on about 3 keys to change: education, effort and perseverence.
I’ve always been pretty good at gathering knowledge, but actually putting it into practice and sticking with it have been real stumbling blocks for me. [...]
Read on and enjoy … 5 Financial Toxins and Antidotes
By 2 Cents on January 5th, 2010 | Category: Money Psychology |  And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Oh the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That’s one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
~ Dr. Seuss, from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of my favourite holiday classics – both the book and the animated version. I know. Christmas is over. Still, I thought about the quote above because the New Year seems to bring with it even more noise than the day to day hum of advice, analysis and marketing that surround us throughout the year.
Every form of media from T.V. to print to, yes, the blogosphere is buzzing with predictions, recommendations, and information for us to use in 2010. Balance Junkie has been no different, although I hope you find the information useful.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to anyone. [...]
Read on and enjoy … How To Sample Wisely From the Noise Buffet
By 2 Cents on December 22nd, 2009 | Category: Life Balance | I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.
~ Charles Dickens
If you’re a Dickens fan as I am, you know that one of the central themes in a lot of his work is the idea of conversion. Some evil and/or misguided character sees the light in the end and becomes a better person. Everyone is familiar with the Christmas conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carolwhere he ecstatically throws open the shutters of his home on Christmas morning and asks [...]
Read on and enjoy … Christmas Conversion
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