This article is the sixth of a thirteen-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly.
Last winter, Kris and I re-financed our mortgage. In one fell swoop, we trimmed our monthly payments for principal and interest from $1386.60 to $1137.69, boosting our cash flow by $248.91 per month.
If we had consumer debt, that’s $248.91 per month we have could used for our debt snowball. It’s $248.91 per month we could stick in our retirement accounts, or to put into savings accounts for our trip to France next year — or to pursue other hobbies and interests. Really, it’s $248.91 we could use for anything we wanted. (As it happens, we chose to use that money to accelerate our mortgage payments.)
Note: Sierra Black gave us a guest post on this subject in September when she described how she and her husband are sweating the big stuff. They made a big change that saved them [...]

This article is the fifth of a thirteen-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly.
Getting started with smart personal finance isn’t always easy. It’s one thing to read about the steps you should take, but it’s another thing to actually do them. Your debt is so overwhelming or your saving goals so lofty that you begin to believe that the only way you’ll ever get where you want to be is by winning the lottery.
Part of the problem is that we live in a society that idolizes the Big Winner. Nobody celebrates the guy next door who bikes to work, grows his own food and cooks his own meals, shops at the thrift store, and gets all his books from the library. That sort of life isn’t glitzy. Yet it’s that sort of life that can (and does) lead to true wealth.
This image was submitted by GRS reader Karen L.

Starting small
I can’t [...]

This article is the fourth of a thirteen-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly. It’s also a part of National Save for Retirement Week.
One of the oldest rules of personal finance is the simple admonition to pay yourself first. All the money books tell you to do it. All the personal finance blogs say it, too. Even your parents have given you the same advice.
But it’s hard. That money could be used someplace else. You could pay the phone bill, could pay down debt, could buy a new DVD player. You’ve tried once or twice in the past, but it’s so easy to forget. You don’t keep a budget, so when payday rolls around, the money just finds its way elsewhere.
And besides: What does “pay yourself first” even mean?
To pay yourself first means simply this: Before you pay your bills, before you buy groceries, before you do anything else, set [...]

This is the third of a thirteen-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

When people ask me for my top tip on personal finance, they’re often disappointed. My top tip isn’t sexy. “To get out of debt and to build wealth,” I say, “you must spend less than you earn.” People are hoping for something more — some sort of mystical secret. But you know what? As mundane as it sounds, that is the mystical secret of money.
If you want to get out of debt and build wealth, all you ever need to do is spend less than you earn. Everything else we talk about at Get Rich Slowly is window dressing, a prop in support of the fundamental equation of personal finance:

[WEALTH] [...]

This is a guest post from Leo Babauta of the simplicity blog, Zen Habits. Leo also recently started a new blog about minimalism, mnmlist.com.
Finances are one of the most complicated things in many people’s lives … and yet, they don’t have to be. With a little effort, you can simplify your financial life and end the money headaches most people face.
I consider myself a minimalist. As such, I shy from all kinds of complexities. I look for ways to simplify. I like worry-free solutions — I like to forget about it, so I can focus on things that are more important to me.
Here’s how I simplified my financial life:
Step one: I opted out of consumerism.
This is the first and most important step. If you’re a long-time GRS reader, you already know all about this — if you’re new, dig through the GRS archives for some great stuff about frugality and the consumerist mindset.
Too often, [...]

A couple of weeks ago, we had a fine discussion about how much we should save for retirement. But how much should we have saved for today? How much should we have in cash reserves?
As I write my own book, I’m reading (and re-reading) dozens of other money manuals. While perusing Bert Whitehead’s Why Smart People Do Stupid Things With Money, I came across his table of “minimum base liquidity”. (Whitehead is a highly-educated financial advisor. He uses terms like “minimum base liquidity” instead of “cash on hand”.)
Whitehead writes:

After making the commitment to save 10% of their income, the next question most people ask is, “Where should I be investing these savings?” The first goal is to have adequate cash reserves.
Many financial pundits in the media say everyone should have cash reserves equal to 3 to 6 months of income. For most middle-income people, that is simply a pipe dream…With our clients, I use a [...]