Financial Education at Home As a personal financial coach, I work one-on-one with my clients teaching them how to create a unique budget for their future goals. Currently, only 44% of Americans have $1,000 saved for an emergency. That is the highest percentage since 2014. Recent...
Lessons From Having a Roommate I loved college. I was a student at Western Michigan University from 2002-2007. Yes, I was there for five years, and I graduated with a bachelor's degree. During my freshmen year, I lived in the dorms. The next four years, I...
[2022] [Author-Colleen Salchow] All Rights Reserved Average Cost of Not Cooking At Home Why cook at home with so many restaurants? According to recent studies, Americans spend about $3,000 a year eating at restaurants. Even during the shutdowns that occurred across the country in 2020 Americans would...
Moving Budget As a college student I moved four times within my five years as an under grad. I lived in the dorms my freshmen year, and off campus in two different town homes and one apartment. After college, I lived in two different apartments before...
Fraudulent $334.00 Charge In December of 2016, we were stationed in Okinawa, Japan. My husband and I had been saving receipts to check against our checking account for five years. It was one of the safety strategies for holiday shopping we learned through experience. The holiday...
[2021] [Author-Colleen Salchow] All Rights Reserved CBS News reported that prices on holiday goods are expected to rise 5-10%. That's a significant increase for holiday shopping 2021 budgets. So, if you are expecting to spend $100 on a new winter coat don’t be surprised if...
Flood Damage In Military Housing On January 16, 2021 our washing machine flooded the first floor of our house at Camp Pendleton. Lincoln Military Housing, LMH, owns the home. We had USAA renters insurance, but our flood damage was not initially covered. Then, on May 27,...
$60,000 In Debt My husband, Richard, and I were married in 2011. Shortly after our wedding we realized that we had $9 in our checking account, $100 in our savings account, and we owed $60,000 in debt. We took a personal budgeting class at Marine Corps...
Holiday Shopping It’s the middle of September, and I have started Christmas shopping. We have set aside money this month in a sinking fund for holiday gifts. A sinking fund is an area on your budget when you can gradually add money to for a larger...