Site to See: Debt-Proof Living

Debt-Proof Living may be known to some of you as Cheapskate Monthly: the site has been revamped and renamed. Written by the money editor for Women's Day, the site is busting at the seams with financial tips - along with personal notes from Mary Hunt about her quest for a debt-free lifestyle.

The Hunts have simplified their lives, and their initial motivation was financial. This may not be true for everyone (my initial motivation to simplify was not based upon money, for example), but Mary Hunt has a lot of good advice and encouragement for anyone in the midst of seeking a simpler life.

It's a great site. I think you'll find things there that you will use.

Online Calculator: Early Mortgage PIF

There's wisdom in the saying "in consistency is power," and if you're willing to add a couple of hundred bucks to your mortgage payment every month, you can pay off the house a lot faster than you think.

To figure out how much -- and how fast -- check out this online PIF calculator. Just $100/month can literally cut years off your payment schedule -- and save you $1000s in interest.

Very Skeery Stuff

Simplicity in Kansas has a great blog and one of its recent posts discusses this infamous housing bubble - a topic so big that Ben Jones has dedicated his entire blog to the topic, over at HousingBubbleBlog.com. (The bubble is deflating if not outright bursting, by the way.)

US Debt is monitored over at the US Debt Clock. As of September 9, 2006, at 5:16:33 pm GMT, the debt was $8,533,794,901,315.96 according to the clock - and it grows $1.75 billion a DAY.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis keeps track of savings. Savings have been at a negative since 2005 -- and prior to that, they hadn't been over 3% of disposable personal income since 2000. During this decade, at our best, the country was only saving 3 pennies out of every dollar.

Is all this skeery stuff news? No. MIT was calling the American economy a "Ponzi scheme" almost ten years ago - you can read the essay by F. Kreisel at MIT's site.

[Thanks to MBHunter for pointing out that the debt is growing by billions, not trillions, a day. I've edited this post accordingly. RK]

The Nest Egg Index & 12 Tips On Saving

Stockbrokerage firm AG Edwards has released its second Nest Egg Index. In it, they rank what they consider to be the 500 top-saving communities nationally.

Ranking is based upon 12 factors, retirement plans and home ownership being two of them. The report reveals what parts of the country are doing well -- and not so well -- in building financial "Nest Eggs", according to the company.

934 communities are included this year, with the top five states being: New Jersey, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maryland, and Massachusetts, and the top five cities: Los Alamos, New Mexico; Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut; San Jose, California; Torrington, Connecticut; and Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota.

In tandem with this, AGEdwards has compiled a list of 12 Tips on Savings, details on the site and headings shown below:

Start early.
Get over the planning hump.
Prioritize your long-term nest egg needs.
Pay yourself first.
Participate in employer-sponsored savings and retirement plans.
Diversify.
Control and reduce your debt.
Compare what you spend with what you want.
Monitor your savings plans and progress.
Review your income tax withholding.
Team up.
Expect the unexpected.

You can check your community online at their site as well as the criteria used for the study.

Site to See: The Ultimate Cheapskate

For those of you who don't watch the Today show, this will be news: a man named Jeff Yeager appears there regularly, dispensing frugal living tips under the nickname of the "Ultimate Cheapskate." He's also just landed a book deal with Broadway (to be published in Fall 2007), entitled "Laugh Your Assets Off: How to Spend Less and Enjoy Life More by America's Ultimate Cheapskate."

His website is HERE if you want to check him out.

On the Path to Simple Living: Sharing Stories

In January 2006, Amy started a blog entitled The Great Debt Payoff. She bravely posted her family's debt and made her commitment public to simple living. As of this post, Amy hadn't updated the blog since January 11th. Sometimes blogging is stressful, managing money is never entertaining (okay, maybe for the few). I'm hopeful Amy posts again soon, with good news.

Poe lives in California, and posts her financial trek on Budget Living in Orange County. She's moving to a new condo this month, had a great plan for a cheap vacation in Mexico, and actually shares her financials.

Sylver lives in the Netherlands and has a great blog, Journey to Frugality. He's dealing in euros, and he watches Oprah.

There are many like them - people sharing their personal highs and lows in frugal living. Boston's "Jane Dough" at Boston Gal's Open Wallet not only provides a good blog of her own experiences, she has a great collection of other folks' blogs of their personal journeys.

You're not alone in this.