March 2008

Reader Question: Should $15,000 be invested in P2P Lending or in a Better Mortgage?

March 31, 2008

A new reader of The Dough Roller sent me an email asking how she should invest $15,000. She initially considered investing in P2P loans with Lending Club or Prosper, which is how she found my site. But now she wonders if she should use the money to refinance her mortgage instead. Here are the details [...]

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Here’s the Real Deal on Dave Ramsey and Debt

March 28, 2008

As much good as he does, Dave Ramsey drives me nuts with his views on debt. Dave Ramsey, as he readily admits, did some really stupid things with debt. Leveraged to the hilt on bad real estate deals, he went bust in a way most of us could never imagine. Even as a real estate [...]

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3 Simple Questions That Can Change Your Life

March 26, 2008

If you haven’t figured it out by now, The Dough Roller isn’t really about money; it’s about life. More specifically, it’s about how money affects our lives, and how we can leverage money to live and achieve our life’s goals. To reduce all of this to a single tagline is tough, but I try with [...]

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Why Don’t More Americans Give a Damn About the Environment?

March 24, 2008

  Photo Credit: 708718Last week I launched a new blog called Energy Saving Gadgets. As the name suggests, the site is focused on eco-friendly gadgets of all kinds. I’ve written generally about how being energy efficient can save you money (check out Money Saving Tips and 20 Inexpensive Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills), but [...]

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How to outsource parenting: a guide to letting somebody else raise your child

March 21, 2008

When I started this blog nearly 1 year ago, there were two words I was certain I’d never utter on these hallowed pages — lactation consultant.  Yes, this is a very dark day for the dough roller.  Indeed, this is a very dark day for parenting.  Need a lactation consultant?  That will be $85 per [...]

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20 Inexpensive Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills

March 19, 2008

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the typical American family spends over $1,600.00 a year on utilities. We all could probably save significant amounts on our utilities by buying the newest and most efficient appliances, heaters and boilers. But the amount of money we’d have to pay up front is sometimes prohibitive, and it’s [...]

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Credit Card Reform Act of 2008 – Congress to the Rescue

March 16, 2008

  Update: The new credit card law goes into effect in February 2009. Here’s an analysis of how it will affect balance transfer offers. The House and Senate last week introduced two bills aimed at protecting consumers, especially young consumers, from “skyrocketing credit card debt, unfair credit card practices, and deceptive credit offers.” Senator Menendez [...]

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The Ultimate Guide to Credit Card Balance Transfers

March 14, 2008

I have saved thousands of dollars in interest charges using 0% credit card balance transfers. In fact, I have over $100,000 in available credit on our credit cards from taking advantage of 0% balance transfer offers (by the way, here are some excellent 0% balance transfer credit cards, some with 0% for 15 months!). Because [...]

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8 Articles to Help Motivate You to Improve Your Finances

March 13, 2008

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. –Winston Churchill   Gaining control of your finances and moving toward financial freedom requires motivation. Motivation is that burning desire in some of us to better our lives and to achieve more than we have achieved thus far. Motivation [...]

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