Sometimes you just want to spend some money. Sometimes, you have to.

Sometimes your kid comes to you and says “mom, I need a white, collared shirt for the school play” or “mom, I can’t button my jeans anymore.” Sometimes you get an invitation to an evening outdoor wedding in the springtime (what to wear?). Some of you are likely even dealing with prom expenses or upcoming graduation events.

Of all of the many frugal things I’ve done to get this far along in our debt freedom journey, embracing second-hand shopping has been the hardest part. It’s so much work, and well, sometimes kind of dingy.

But now, I’m in love.

Yes, in LOVE with thrift store shopping.

Normally a debit-card shopper, but for thrift stores, I load up my wallet with $20 bills and hit the chain thrift stores (like Goodwill) in the nicest neighborhoods. Bellevue, WA wi

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Last month, I enjoyed an afternoon Tweetup with IBN member Lela Barker and some of our Twitter friends at Blue Flour Best Baked Goods in Columbia, South Carolina. You can enjoy tasty photos of the event at the FaceBook Page, and check out my fun Blue Flour cookie video here. (The cookie colors in that video are not to be missed!) They say that all good things must come to an end, but that’s not true in the case of Blue Flour because yesterday, I got this sweet surprise in the mail.

Is it gorgeous or what? Of course I always think the Indie logo is gorgeous, but when it’s wrapped around a thick, sweet, soft, buttery cookie, it’s even better. Teri Pringle, Blue Flour’s founder and CEO, uses a fancy machine (have no idea what it’s called) to customize cookies to order. You can g

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Salute the general

Not all muni bonds are created equal when it comes to requiring repayment to investors. “General obligation” bonds are often the safest, analysts say, because even if the issuing government gets into financial trouble, it often cuts expenses or raises taxes to pay back the debt.

When water flows, cash flows. Many otherwise skeptical advisers say that bonds backed by water or sewer fees in an already developed part of a town are usually safe. “People will bitch and moan about an increase in sewer rates, but it’s not like they’re going to stop paying their bills,” says Carolyn Walder, a planner in Alexandria, Va.

Don’t bet on a local boom

Some of the most hazardous bonds are the ones that can meet their payments only if the issuer sees a lot of economic growth. Over the past year, dozens of muni bonds issued in Florida have defaulted because the housing developments they were supposed to finance were never finished. “Debt predicat

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Rob Cox and Rolfe Winkler penned an opinion piece in which they argue that GM (MTLQQ.PK) ought not re-enter the finance business (see Perils of Finance for Carmaker). They are absolutely right!

The carmaker [GM]…is weighing a return to the finance business, possibly by acquiring its former unit, GMAC. Such recidivism is troubling on many levels.

G.M.’s challenge was not to recreate its past footprint…but to slim it down. While G.M. jettisoned or pledged to shutter some of its smaller distractions, including Saab, Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn, it retained its biggest, Europe’s Opel.

That decision might have been defensible based on the remuneration G.M. would have received, the automotive technology it would have transferred and the prospect that it could turn this leg of its core car business around.

Despite the foregone revenue that its sale would have generated and the cost of restructuring/operating it, I agree that keeping Opel is strategically defensible. Opel is

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I have been going through my closet and cleaning out old clothes that don’t fit and packing away my winter clothes. I have started to unpack my summer outfits.

Rituals

When the seasons change I have a routine for changing out my closet. I pull the old season and check the pockets. I check them to make sure they are still in good condition and that they are getting stored clean. When the old season is packed up I pull out the new season. I try everything on to make sure it fits. The last few years I didn’t really fit into much but I still held on to most of the clothes.

Jackpot!

I was trying on a pair of shorts that I haven’t been able to wear in years. I reached my hand in the pocket and I felt some paper. I pulled it out and found three one hundred dollar bills. I couldn’t believe it. I thoug

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Credit.com and the free Credit Report Card were featured last night on Channel 2 KTVU’s special report by Pam Cook.  The report discussed why preserving good credit scores is key to surviving in a troubled economy.

Adam Levin, Chairman and Co-Founder of Credit.com, was interviewed for the piece and explains how your credit card balances are one of the keys to obtaining high credit scores. What is your credit score, how is it calculated and what does it mean? If you missed it, you can watch the full clip here: http://www.ktvu.com/video/23512512/index.html

Special thanks to Erin Smith, a local consumer in the San Francisco area who shared her personal credit story.  The fact that she used our free Credit Report Card before she went to apply for an auto loan makes everything we do at Credit.com worthwhile. C

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You must consider credit card debt reduction schemes seriously if you want to have a secure future. You may blow up money from your credit card account and make yourself believe that the money just came from nowhere. However, somewhere deep down you are sure to know better than that. Indulging yourself foolishly using your credit card will only heap up a huge debt account for you, which can land you into a big financial mess. Debt reduction or credit card debt consolidation must become a part of your other personal finance management programs. You can go for a number of online credit card debt elimination approaches as well. Help from a professional finance management firm can be of great help too.

Credit Card Debt Reduction Made Easy

You may think that debt reduction credit card consolidation is the most impossible option available, in which case you are highly mistaken. There are a number of simple ways in which you can move towards credit card debt reduction.

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Barney Frank Won’t Mess with VCs or Angels

Posted by: Nick Leiber on May 11, 2010

Barney Frank was very direct when I pressed him on the myriad restrictions that are being discussed in the Senate bill around angel investing and the discussions about taxing carried interest.

Barney Frank was crystal clear in his briefing with a group of CEOs that I participated in this afternoon: he is going to make sure that the final Financial Reform bill that gets worked out with the Senate won’t mess with the angel or VC communities.

I came to Washington DC today with the Progressive Business Leaders Network (PBLN) group that I co-chair. It was our group’s annual trek to DC where 80 CEOs and business leaders from Massachusetts had the opportunity to dialog with the leadership from the congressional and executive branch. We

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