This is a guest post from Kim McGrigg of Money Management International, the nation’s largest nonprofit credit and debt counseling firm.
I often warn consumers about the little things that can have a big impact on their credit score. Today, I’m in more of a “don’t sweat the small stuff” kind of a mood.
It is apparent that some people take this credit reporting stuff very seriously. In fact, one consumer recently took time out of his busy schedule to write to my advice column asking why, despite his many efforts, he couldn’t get his score above 812. Apparently, people have a thing about being “graded.”
It is true that your credit score can have a big impact on your financial life; however, it is important to keep these things in perspective. Good people sometimes have bad credit scores. Besides, no one’s obituary should ever read: “Stan was well respected [...]

He’s back! The ever-controversial Tynan offers today’s guest entry on downsizing from an expensive condo to a 21-foot RV.
On April 20th at 3am I was still awake. I stood on the balcony of my penthouse in downtown Austin and watched the traffic drive by. We were supposed to leave the next day, but I was too excited to sleep. I called my girlfriend.
“Are you ready to leave now?”
“Haha, sure,” she replied.
I stuffed myself and a bag of clothes into the small car I’d rented and picked her up. Twelve hours later we arrived in Albuquerque.
One day earlier I was idly browsing eBay, as I’m known to do. I had this fantasy that I would give up all of my stuff and move into a smaller place. This notion was born when I moved from a larger house into the condo and was made acutely aware by the moving process of just how much junk [...]

This is a guest post by Mehdi, author of StrongLifts.com. If you enjoy this post, check out his site.
Eating healthy is important. Eating healthy:

Lowers disease risks
Increases productivity
Gives you more energy
Makes you stronger

You probably think eating healthy is expensive. I’ll be honest — it is. But there are tricks to keep it low cost. Here are sixteen ways to eat more healthy while keeping it cheap.
What is Healthy Food? Before we start, let’s define healthy food. It consists of:

Protein. The building blocks of muscles, needed for strength.
Fat. A balanced intake of omega 3, 6 & 9.
Veggies. All kinds, especially green fibrous veggies.
Fruit. Full of vitamins.
Water. 1 liter per 1000 calories you expend.
Whole grain food. Oats, rice, pasta, breads, …

On with the tips.
1. Switch to Water. I drank huge amounts of soda daily for more than 15 years. Then I started Strength Training and switched to water:

It’s healthier
It’s cheaper

Quit the soda & [...]

Greetings from Ireland!
Earlier this week we flew from London to Dublin, and for the past few days we’ve been exploring the Emerald Isle. My wife’s parents, who have generously funded the bulk of this trip, booked us on a series of rail-and-bus tours of Cork, Cobh (Queenstown), Killarney, Waterford, Kilkenny, and the ring of Kerry. As a result, I’m getting a crash course in rail travel, which is something new to me. (I’m also reading a lot of personal finance books — there are huge blocks of downtime on these trips.)
The Irish countryside is beautiful — very much like Oregon.

I’ve been impressed with the mass transit systems in both London and Dublin. Portland has a network of buses and light-rail trains, but I rarely use them, so I’m not able to speak to their cost or convenience. (In the next decade, the light-rail line may extend to within a few miles of our home, making [...]

This is a guest post from JerichoHill.
Last week I introduced the first of a three-part series on my experiences with building a major home addition. It dealt with defining your objectives and determining if the necessary resources were available and where they were located.
To Recap: Because my fiancée, Julie, bought before housing prices rapidly appreciated, we had a large amount of equity to fund our addition, so we wanted to use a home equity loan product. We leveraged our strength towards its best use. Your financial picture will be different, but the key tenet is to utilize your unique strengths.
I next had to navigate the mine-ridden battlefield of loan applications. What was the best deal? How do I find it? And how would I know when I did find it?
We checked with our respective banks, thinking that our existing relationships with these behemoths (Julie and I had separate accounts in [...]

This guest post from Terry M. contains strong language.
Most readers of this blog are from the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. We have an extraordinarily high standard of living compared to most of the world, and I feel there are a lot of lessons to be learned from how people live in developing countries.
I have traveled a bit, mainly in Latin America, southeast Asia, and India. In most of these regions, the middle class earns $500-$1000 per month, and this is considered quite a good income. At world standards, income of $1/day brings you above extreme poverty. $2/day puts you above poverty level. Something to think about.
Driving in India
I spent a month working in Bangalore, India, last year, and it has had a tremendous impact on how I view the way I live. At the time I had been driving my SUV eight miles each way to work, alone. In Bangalore, [...]