She does not like to call herself a financial guru; neither is she a frugal queen. But yes she is almost frugal. You have guessed it right. I am talking about Kelly Rigotti of Almost Frugal, a frugality and personal finance blog written from the perspective of someone who almost has it all together. Though she writes on frugality, still she believes that there are many other things to work upon to become the “perfect frugal”. Let’s read her interview and find out what’s her take on frugality and other financial issues.

Jason: From where did you get the idea of blogging?

Kelly: I was at home on maternity leave while pregnant with my third child. I decided to start a blog for the same reasons as so many other people: to keep far away family and friends informed of our lives. This is especially important for me as I’m American but live in France, so when I say ‘far away’, it really is far away.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance?

Kelly: After starting my personal blog, I got really into reading other blogs. And, as I was broke, really, really broke, I read a lot of personal finance and frugality blogs. I started learning more and more about the subject and began leaving longer and longer comments on some of my favorite blogs. Then I’d get frustrated when they didn’t publish new posts more frequently, so I decided to start my own, non personal, blog. I was obsessed with personal finance at that point in my life, so writing a blog on the topic was a logical leap.

Jason: What do you do in real life and how’d you get started?

Kelly: Up until about 2 years ago I taught English as a Second Language and American Culture here in France, but it’s a kind of dead end field (albeit quite interesting) and certainly very low paid! I wanted to change careers, so I decided to go back to school and now I’m a graduate student in marketing, finishing in about two weeks. I have learned a lot about marketing and communication through my blog, Almost Frugal, and thanks both to my masters degree and my blogging experience, I was recently hired as an online marketing and communication consultant for a software company in the region in which I live.

Jason: How long do you think this current economic situation will last and what do you think the answer to it is?

Kelly: You know, I’m not a financial expert, so I don’t have any good answers (neither do a lot of financial experts, on the other hand!). But I think it will last at least another year. Both my parents are still working, in the United States, and they are quite affected by the current state of the economy. Luckily, in France, neither my husband nor I have personally had to fear for our jobs, although had I stayed in my past position as a teacher in a private company, I almost certainly would have been laid off.

I don’t know what the solution to resolving the current financial crisis is, but my gut instinct tells me that it lays more in job creation and less in subsidies. If a person receives a one time $400 payment, that would be really nice, but it wouldn’t have much effect over the long term. On the other hand, if an unemployed person finds a job that makes a huge difference in their and their family’s lives.

Jason: We just noticed the tagline on your blog is, “Learning About Frugality.” Do you think you’ve learnt everything about frugality?

Kelly: Ooh, la, no! Otherwise my blog would be called ‘Perfect Frugally: I’ll teach you all there is to know about frugality’! I am very much like so many other people out there… trying to learn about how to be more frugal, save more money, pay less on debt, while still enjoying living life and fighting against the consumer culture that says more, more, more, spend, spend, spend.

Jason: What are the three biggest finance mistakes you have ever made?

Kelly: Well, by far the biggest was taking out student loans to go to college. I had a wonderful undergraduate experience, which I value very highly, and without which I would literally not be where I am today (it was thanks to a college trip to France in 2000 that I met my husband). However, I often took out loans for living expenses, instead of managing my money more carefully. While those weren’t responsible for all of my student loan debt, they tacked on about $10,000 worth, for a total now of about $57,000.

The second mistake was not educating me better about refinancing my student loans- I ended up having to do that because I stupidly got behind in my payments and I did it out of desperation. I didn’t take time to really think, and although I might still have chosen to consolidate and refinance if I had better thought about it in advance, I regret not learning more about it before signing.

And the third? Trading in my two year old, nearly paid for on zero percent financing two doors Ford Escort for a ten year old, broken down Jeep Cherokee with a 60 month loan at 17%. Ugh.

Jason: Where do you see yourself 10 years down the lane?

Kelly: I don’t think we’ll still be in France, although I don’t know if we’ll go back to the US. But I’d like for us to be debt free and have a good block of savings for retirement. I don’t know if we’ll own our own house, as we like to be footloose and fancy-free, but building and keeping a large emergency fund is definitely a priority.

Jason: Please advice our readers some great tips on how to pay off the debt?

Kelly: You have to start. I know how overwhelming it feels to be out of control, not to want to open the envelopes that arrive in the mail. To think that because you can’t save $500 a month, you shouldn’t save $5. But the most important thing is to start, to develop a commitment to yourself to paying off debt and managing your money. After that, you can always find the method of budgeting, or snowballing, or gaming the credit cards that works for you, but it all comes down to one thing: starting in the first place.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

Kelly: Blogging has very much changed my life. As I mentioned earlier, I now have a job that I wouldn’t have gotten were it not for my blogging experience. I’ve also met a huge number of people, both in real life and online, and gotten to do a lot of fun things (like this interview, for one!) that I would not have done otherwise. Writing a blog has enriched my life, literally and figuratively, in more ways than one.

Jason: How do feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

Kelly: It’s great. Being surrounded by others who think like me, and are working towards the same goals towards which I’m working, is great.

So, do you think that Kelly is really a frugal expert? Please provide us with your views and comments on the interview. If you want to ask any questions to Kelly then do post your questions in the comment box below and we will try our best that she answers to your questions.

Hi Everyone

Our community is always in the process of devising ways to solve your financial problems. In an attempt to do so, we have come up with the new concept of “Call me now”, where people who are in need of free debt counseling may provide their phone numbers in our website and debt counseling team will get in touch with them.

When you provide us with your phone number, a representative will call you back and talk to you regarding your debts. If you want to get professional guidance, they will even transfer the call to a debt consultant who will provide you with free debt counseling. You just need to give us your phone number and we will call you anywhere you would feel comfortable. A representative will get back to you at the earliest and your phone number will be kept completely secured as per our privacy policy.

Hope this new feature will be of great help to all of us.

Lets meet a man with a mission of making money, saving it, growing it by investing, and giving it away to help others. A man who thinks that God hasn’t put us on this earth to amass wheelbarrows full of cash to bathe ourselves in. He believe there is a much better and higher purpose for our money i.e. to build God’s Kingdom and help others. He is none other than Bob Lotich from ChristianPF. Let us know more about him and his views on personal finances in his interview below:

Jason: From where did you get the idea of blogging?

Bob: A friend of mine actually explained what a blog was to me about 2 years ago and I loved the idea.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance?

Bob: Personal Finance was something I was passionate about at the time and still am. There didn’t seem to be a better thing for me to write about!

Jason: What do you do in real life and how’d you get started?

Bob: I worked in banking for a couple years and then in the financial services industry for about 5 years and got laid off last June. Now, in real life, I am a full-time blogger.

Jason: How long do you think this current economic situation will last and what do you think the answer to it is?

Bob: Personally, I think that while the current situation will be over in the next year or so, I think the US has bigger issues that are going to be much larger problems in the future. I honestly think the answer to it is controlled spending – on the citizens’ parts and in the government. Everyone is out of control with their spending, and I personally believe that is a root cause of a lot of our issues.

Jason: We just noticed the tagline of your blog is, “Make it, Save it, Grow it, Give it ” What is the significance of this title?

Bob: Making money, saving it, growing it by investing, and giving it away to help others are the 4 main objectives I have with my finances and this is also the mission of ChristianPF as well.

Jason: Why do you think God will help everyone in managing their personal finances?

Bob: Just like any good father wants to see his children succeed, God is very interested in us succeeding in every area of our lives.

Jason: What is the biggest financial mistake you have made?

Bob: I did a pretty bad job at paying for college. I bounced around between a few different schools and in doing so, some credits didn’t transfer and I ended up paying twice for a lot of classes. That combined with my lack of concern for money at the time earned me a very costly bachelors degree.

Jason: Where do you see yourself 10 years down the lane?

Bob: I am not sure, but I see myself enjoying every minute of it.

Jason: Do you believe you are successful in providing a resource for Christians to get practical tips, biblical revelation, and wisdom about how to handle their personal finances?

Bob: While ChristianPF has not become everything I envisioned for it yet, I do feel that it is well on it’s way and does successfully do a lot of those things I intended for it to do.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

Bob: Absolutely, blogging has allowed me to follow my passion and get paid doing something I absolutely love doing, rather than just chasing a paycheck – like I was doing before.

Jason: Please advice our readers on how to pay off the debts?

Bob: From people I talk to, I find that they biggest hurdle for people paying off debts to to change their mindset. Most people look at it as how can I find $1000 each month to start paying off my debt. My suggestion is to find a way to just start making ANY forward progress. So if you are only paying down your debts by $20 each month -it is a start and it is so much better than digging the hole deeper. Amazingly once you get started in the right direction, you find ways to increase the speed and momentum.

Jason: How do you feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

Bob: Sounds great!!

So, I am sure all of you had splendid time reading Bob’s view on personal finances. We will come up with some more interviews next week. Till then keep enjoying reading our blog. Do not forget to leave a comment about your views on Bob’s idea and thinking.

Question of the Month:
Question of the Month is yet another effort by the debtcc team to enhance the community knowledge bank. It’s a monthly contest and every month a challenging question will be thrown before the members for responses. The best answer will be chosen collectively at the end of the month by the debtcc members and the admin panel of the site. The winner of this contest will receive a handsome reward of a $50.
The purpose behind this idea is to encourage the members to share their real life experiences in dealing with the financial challenges.
Though different financial issues are being discussed across the debtcc board, but it doesn’t leave much scope to the members to share their personal experiences. Here is the place where it can be done, and also that the new members can get the innovative ideas to deal with their debts along with the conventional ones.

Latest Question

Question 7: How do you think the tax rebates in Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan can help you?

Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan has announced $168 billion in tax rebates and tax breaks for both taxpayers and businesses. According to the plan an individual can get a tax rebate of up to $600 and a couple filing jointly can expect a rebate of up to $1200. Do you think it is going to help you? How?

Winner Post

Answer Posted by |True Freedom

The other answers worth mentioning are:

Answer 2:     What I plan to do is take the amount of the stimulus tax cut and use that to increase my % of pay into my retirement. I am a state employee and they match up to 4%. The extra money (about 14.00 a week) will just about take me to the max of the 4% match in my retirement account. This also lowers my taxes as we are taxed on amount after the % goes into the deferred retirement account. If you dont put the max match in, you are throwing away free money!!!! I am not sure how much it will lower my tax burden for the year.

Answer Posted by |dell hughes

Answer 3:     I certainly think the new "Stimulus" plan is something that will help millions of people, including myself. Before this plan was ever signed into law, it was scrtinized by many across these great states, but what these people failed to realize is that, looking at a grand scale, todays ecomony is struggling to stay afloat and to stay in competition with other global economies. Thus, giving this economy some sort of stimulus to encourage "at home" buying will help the betterment of our society.

When focusing on the small scale, it becomes quite evident that anyone would benefit from an additional $600 to $1200 of income during these trying times. Personally, I am overjoyed at the thought of having some additional income. I just recently purchased a new home, opened a business and refinanced my truck. Consequently, my pockets are being drained faster than I can fill them up and my sons birthday is this Saturday. So, I look at that question, "Do you think it is going to help you? How?," and I say, "YES!" I can take time to relax, at least for one month, and not be up in arms about bills and due dates, I can save some, I can buy some much needed articles of clothing or go over budget on food for one month…whatever it is I should choose to do with the money, it is a true blessing indeed to have a President that understands these harsh times and wants to do something about it instead of looking down on those less fortunate.

Way to go Obama, way to go!

Answer Posted by |Synamon Pennington1238005

Answer 4:     I was under the impression that the relief would come to about 15.00 a week and not in a lump sum which really would not help us much. But if something has changed were we will be recieving a rebate check in one lump sure it would help! If that would be the case, I would use the money to pay off my lowes card that i used to replace my furnace last summer! Then i would be back to no cc again!!!!!YEA!!

If its just 15.00 a week, I plan to pretend that i still get the same amount so that we can save to pay off that card and have it automaticly withdrawn from my checking to my savings and forget about it.

As much as i dont like obamas stimulus plan, it is what it is and every little bit helps and adds up. Every dollar counts in our household and it would be put to the best use possible as the money that we currently have comming in does. every dollar is accounted for around here. So to say that it wouldnt help at all is not true, but i feel it would be better in one lump sum to put twards something.

but even if i didnt put it away this is enough money that i could use for my gas everyweek. i dont go very many places but it would be enough to cover picking my son up from pre-k everyday!!

Answer Posted by |love_my_things

Answer 5:     The tax rebate will not help me in any way. Ooohhhh we get and extra $14 in our paychecks. Well thats only "IF" you are working. We make too much money to get any of his credits. Cant buy a house because credit sucks and the banks are not lending. Dont need a new car so cant get that credit either, banks wont lend for those either. Plus if any of the credits would hit home to us, it would just get eaten up by our state. They are raising taxes on EVERYTHING!!! So no matter what, we all will get shafted one way or another. If not this year, the years in where we have to repay all of this stimulus crap. Wish I could have gotten a bailout to go take a lavish vacation, oh wait, I wouldnt have taken the vacation. I would have paid my medical bills.

Answer Posted by |puddlejmpr

Answer 6:     The economic stimulus plan that President-Elect Obama is working is estimated to be between $675 and $775 Billion. The stimulus plan will be geared towards job growth and infrastructure. Some have argued that work should be done to increase short-term spending but Obama’s economic stimulus plan looks to have long-term effects. This sounds reasonable as short-term spending would only be a small band-aid at best. We have to move away from this idea that we can spend our way out of trouble!
The administration will look to give money to projects that have a plan to move us away from being energy dependent on other countries as well as projects to help build up schools. If done correctly this could be similar to what was achieved under FDR where many buildings and schools were built during the depression that are in use today.

Answer Posted by |Sudam Chakraborty

Answer 7:     Yes, it will help me. However:

The rebates will not be in the form of a paper check or electronic deposit using your direct deposit information from your 2008 taxes.
The tax rebates will be seen in your monthly paycheck as the federal income tax withheld from your earnings will be less. You can expect to see maybe 30 plus dollars more in your net pay. Use that extra cash for necessities and not luxuries as this economic downturn seems to go further down. Thank you….

Answer Posted by |Gerardo Romero

Answer 8:     I am not sure that it will actually help anyone in particular, but any type of "rebate" given by the federal government is a boost to my personal economy. Perhaps I would be willing to pay a little more for work clothes – instead of going to Goodwill or WalMart I would go to Pennys or Sears. I dont get to take my grandchildren out for treats much right now, or buy them trinkets to have on hand when they do something special. I guess I would buy a few things to have on hand for them, since their parents are struggling with lost jobs and unemployment. I would love to take my husband on a honeymoon – since we got married on January 17 this year and have not been able to afford some time alone and away – That would be nice!

Answer Posted by |go4pack54

Answer 9:     Yes i think it will help me because i can pay off some more debt in which i did with my tax return. If all people used their money wisely instead of just wasting it the rebate will help them too. This rebate is just like the one we recieved with bush and i felt it helped me last year just as this one is going to help me this year. Its all in the way you use your money instead of throwing your hard earned money to this clothing store and this shoe store. What about opening an cd when you get your stimulus if there is no back bills to pay?

Answer Posted by |KIMBERLY1237322621

Answer 10:     WE are not getting stimuless checks! We pay less taxes while we are working the w2 forms. We do not get it all at once. And only those with jobs get it, get it. How is that going to help anyone? When you work at a company and they complain things are bad and so you dont even get a .25cent raise an hour and they cut your health care off all together or charge a lot in deductables before you can benefit from any of That either! That means your income is going down down down . And the media announces an increase in the minimum wage so thats like saying olly olly olly time to raise your prices on goods and services and give your CEO millions for doing it and the Government will look the other way and politions know a trickle down affect will find its way into their bank accounts. The little people will keep us afloat.
Thas my take on it. If only Regan never took away our credit card interest deductions, we may have staved off such a melt down and the banks too. But they are always taking from us with out thinking for one minute hey if we take away their income how are they going to buy the things we pay a pitence for them to slave over? Pay them more money for working and they can spend and hopefully have enough left over to save for retirement and wsend the kids to school.
Thats how it is going to help us. Too little spread out over time is never seen or felt,. Give it too us all at once and We can choose to spend it( most will ) or invest it ( anyone that invests in anything less than a mere savings account will eventuall have it stolen from them by wall street) or hide it! ( thats my choice on all my disposable invcome!

Answer Posted by |Debbie Lockard

Read the rest of this entry »

Our second Interview with How I Save Money is a full time working lady and knows how to manage her budgets very well. The blogger has managed to pay off large credit card debts through her college days. She is working hard to pay off her remaining credit card debts and car debt. Her only advise to people is that they should pay all the bill on time without giving any excuse. To gain some more advices from her read the excerpt below.

Jason: From where did you get the idea of blogging?

LA: I actually found out about blogging when I was searching for contact lenses. Totally unrelated I know but that was my start. I saw that this girl was getting tons of traffic just writing about her daily life and I spoke to a friend of mine and he told me he had a blog too. I decided to start writing one then, we picked a topic, he helped me set it up and I was on my way.

Jason: There are so many topics on which you can blog. But why Personal Finance?

LA: I am not into makeup or shopping or technical issues so I cannot write about those. I grew up without much money so I always had to look for a way to save money. This seemed to be the easiest thing to talk about since I could really talk about things I have personally tried and I could sound like I know what I am talking about.

Jason: What do you do in real life and how’d you get started?

LA: I am a teacher in real life and work with students who have behavior problems. My degree is in business and I was in a job that was not really suited for me. A friend of mine told me about Special Education and I decided to change careers.

Jason: What advice you would like to give to the people in this economic recession?

LA: Pay your bills on time, there is no excuse for having to deal with late fees. Use online banking like ING (I have referrals if your readers need any) and save money on bank fees. Pay the minimum on all credit cards and then throw extra money on your debt snowball.

Jason: You are working on a very tight budget, how do you manage your college as well as your budget?

LA: I have my cash flow set up now so that I don’t have to worry about money. I place restrictions on how much money I can spend in each category, track what I spend and bring my lunch to work.

Jason: What are the three biggest finance mistakes you have ever made?

LA: Running up my credit cards while in college. Not opening an online savings account earlier. Not having a budget.

Jason: Where do you see yourself in 10 years down the lane?

LA: I see myself with all my debt fully paid off (except for maybe a mortgage) and with a nice amount in retirement. I envision having the freedom to spend as I please with a bigger budget but having that safety for my family. I also see the blog as being a go to place for a large audience that is looking for real tips and not just a guru spouting generalities.

Jason: How do you feel after paying off your debt?

LA: Every time I get a debt paid off I feel relieved. I am one step closer to not owing anyone and to being able to build up my retirement money.

Jason: Do you think blogging has changed your life in some way or the other?

LA: Blogging has made me more aware of the fact that I was really not as good with managing my money as I thought I was. It has introduced me to some GREAT people online and opened my eyes up to some new technology that I was not aware of before.

Jason: Please advice our readers how to pay off the debt?

LA: For me the first step in paying off debt is to know how much you actually owe. List ALL of your obligations from credit cards to cable. Use your free ING account to pay bills and earn interest on the money while you pay those bills. The next step is to track your spending. You can use Quicken online or Mint (those are the free ones I use) to track what you spend for a month. You might be surprised at where your money goes. After you track for a month, then you can set up a budget based on the amount you spend. As time goes by you can tweak this to spend less in some areas and more in others. Once you have your budget set up you can allocate money for paying off debt in an aggressive manner, using a debt snowball.

Jason: What’s a major personal finance issue that is on your mind now?

LA: Right now my biggest concern is getting rid of my debt so I can really bolster my savings and plan for retirement.

Jason: How do feel by becoming a part of world’s largest debt consolidation community now?

LA: Hmmmm…I have been consolidating my debt already using another provider so I will have to pass on this question.