2007 has been an amazing year for me, NCN, and my site, No Credit Needed. I thought that it would be fun to take a month-by-month tour through my favorite posts from the last year. If you are a new reader, I hope these posts will give your a sense of who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m trying to go. If you are a long-time reader, thank you for your support.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from February of 2007

February 2 - Stop Feeling Guilty About Not Using Credit Cards - Being different rocks! Give it a try.

February 2 - Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month - This might be the most popular post here at No Credit Needed.

February 4 - Creating A Budget From Irregular Income - If your income fluctuates, this post is for you.

February 8 - Dumbest Debt Decision - I financed a new car, when I was 18 years old. Enough said.

February 9 - Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes - This might be my favorite post.

February 17 - Welcome N.Y. Times Readers! - My sites were mentioned, and I was quoted in the N.Y. Times! I must say, this is pretty awesome.

February 22 - PF Bloggers: Attitudes About Debt And Credit Cards - I asked several personal finance bloggers their opinions about debt and credit.

February 28 - A Bold Move - I purchased an ETF. (I highlight this post because I cannot believe that I chose to label THIS post ‘A Bold Move’. I am, still, such a dork.)

Throughout December, I’ll continue to highlight my favorite posts from 2007.

If you haven’t done so, please consider subscribing to No Credit Needed. (It’s free!)

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Thursday evening, my son and I went to a local restaurant for supper.  After eating, my son asked for some chewing gum - you know, the little round gum that you get for a quarter from one of the machines at the front of the store.  He’s three, so he wanted gum for our whole family - Mommy, Daddy, Sister, and himself.  I had four quarters, so we loaded up on gum and headed home.

When we got home, I opened up a spreadsheet and began playing around with a few scenarios.  What if, instead of spending that dollar on gum, I had saved it?  And, what if I saved a dollar, every day, for a year? for a decade? for 50 years?  Also, what if I save more than a dollar, say, two dollars, or five dollars or even 10 dollars, per day?

Check out this chart I created -

Note, the following numbers represent the total amounts contributed to savings (w/ no accounting for interest earned).

If I save $1 per day, for 50 years, I’ll have $18,000.

If I save $10 a day, for 50 years, I’ll have $180,000.

But, as I mentioned before, this chart represents contributions - and doesn’t calculate interest earned.

So, let’s kick it up a notch and do some calculations, assuming a 5% annual return.

If I contribute $1 per day ($360 per year) for 50 years, at 5%, I’ll have more than $79,000!

If I contribute $10 per day ($3600 per year) for 50 years at 5%, I’ll have more than $790,000!

(Please note, I used a very simplified formula to calculate interest, based on annual contributions.  In reality, if you made deposits throughout a calendar year, you would earn even more interest!)

Isn’t that cool?  I like to look at charts like these.  I am motivated by “what if”.

As a side note, my son will only be 4 once, so I’m still going to buy him the chewing gum!  But, I’m also going to pocket some additional savings, so that when the time comes, I can buy my grand-kids a warehouse full!

(If you want to get really “pumped” about saving money - checkout what happens if you max our your 401k and Roth IRA contributions.)

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2007 has been an amazing year for me, NCN, and my site, No Credit Needed.  I thought that it would be fun to take a month-by-month tour through my favorite posts from the last year.  If you are a new reader, I hope these posts will give your a sense of who I am, where I’ve come from, and where I’m trying to go.  If you are a long-time reader, thank you for your support.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from January of 2007

January 3 - Old Versus New: Figuring Out Where I Go From Here - What do you do when you’ve never been “debt-free”?

January 9 - No Credit Needed Has Moved - After a year with a basic ‘blogger’ blog, I decided to move to my own domain.  Anyone remember my super-cool, bright green layout?

January 14 - My Savings And Investment Goals For 2007 - I can remember when I wrote this post.  I could not believe the numbers I was writing down, considering the shape of my finances just two years before.

January 19 - 60 Personal Finance Charts - NCN Network Rocks! - I started the No Credit Needed Network so that folks could share their personal finance goals.  In January, there were 60 charts.  Now?  There are more than 300!

January 21 - Financial Reasons For Weight Loss - As many of you know, I also have weight-loss blog, No. Calories Needed, and I took a few minutes to write about the connection between healthy living and frugality.

January 22 - Budgeting By Percentages Does Not Work - I have my own budget, based own my own numbers.

Throughout December, I’ll continue to highlight my favorite posts from 2007.

If you haven’t done so, please consider subscribing to No Credit Needed.  (It’s free!)

Click here to subscribe via email.

Click here to subscribe via RSS.

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Click here to read all of the 33 Days And 33 Ways To Save Money And Reduce Debt posts.

Day 31:  Stay Away From The Mall

I am sitting in a hotel room near the Mall of Georgia.  Located near Atlanta, the Mall of Georgia is the “largest mall in Georgia and one of the largest malls in America”.  We have a family event planned for tomorrow morning, so our entire family is staying here tonight.  We have just returned from the mall - and I was inspired to write this post.

If you want to save money, stay away from the mall.  Just. Stay. Away.

Four years ago, before we started getting out of debt, we stayed in this same hotel and we went shopping at the Mall of Georgia.  I have no idea how much stuff we purchased - but I do remember that we had a difficult time squeezing it all into the trunk of our car.

Tonight, we went to the mall for ‘just a few minutes’ - ‘just to walk around’ - and I was shocked by the size of the place, the massive size of its parking lot, and the huge volume of people.  Once inside, we were bombarded by the sound of music, the smell of fast food, and the hum of conversation.

There were people everywhere, spending money, on everything from golf clubs to blue jeans, big cookies to washing machines.  And, for a moment, a single, solitary, moment, I wanted to be “one of them”.

I wanted to throw my budget out the window and buy, buy, buy!

But, of course, I didn’t.  I just walked around with my family, looked at a new set of golf clubs, did a little people-watching, and went back to the car.  Sure, it would have been fun to buy some ’stuff’ -  But, the truth is, I don’t really need anymore ’stuff’.

It’s easy to be content when we are at home, happy with our family.  But, when we surround ourselves with people who are spending money, it’s very, very easy to get ’sucked in’.  Instead of being happy with that ‘comfortable pair of shoes’ - we convince ourselves that our shoes ‘look bad and need replacing’.  That hand-me-down bike?  Looks great when Billy is riding it around in the backyard - not so great when compared to the brand new Z43X-W Super-Speed at the sporting goods store.

May I suggest that you do yourself a favor and avoid the pressure and temptation of the mall?  If you MUST go - go with a list, make your purchases, and get out as fast as is possible!

I look forward to reading your comments -

Click here to read all of the 33 Days And 33 Ways To Save Money And Reduce Debt posts.Observant readers will note that this series has taken much longer than 33 days. I can assure you, I am blogging as often as life permits.

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I think I might have a problem - I’m addicted to reading personal finance blogs!  I read more than 100 pf blogs every week!  Why?  Well, I spent the first thirty years of my life “just getting by”.  Now, I take every opportunity to learn from others - and share in their stories.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from my fellow members of the Money Blog Network:

All Financial Matters writes about Jesse Jackson, sub-prime mortgages and the Marshal plan!

Mighty Bargain Hunter has a post about parents who do not plan to help their kids go to college.  Be sure to read the comments!

Get Rich Slowly writes about Sharebuilder - a unique discount brokerage.

Consumerism Commentary (and Get Rich Slowly) were recently mentioned over at CNN Money!  Rock on!

Blueprint has suggestions for how to consolidate your credit cards.

FiveCentNickel has written about the sub-prime mortgage bailout.

FreeMoneyFinance tackles the age-old question - 401K match or debt reduction?

Here are a few of my favorite posts from my Blogroll:

Bank Deals does an awesome job of keeping up with interest rates and checking account bonuses.

Canadian Capitalist has an awesome article about actively managed mutual funds.  Index ETFs Rock!

Clever Dude just paid off an automobile loan.

Hazzard has been building a lake-house.

Gen X has a poll - How Do You Track Your Finances?

Lazy Man is thinking about transferring his retirement funds to Zecco - should he?

Punny finds nothing funny about the recent sub-prime mess.

Mapgirl writes about networking.

4M says there’s no such thing as bad debt.  (Reminds me of a joke - What’s the best kind of snake? A dead one.)

Money Smart Life has suggestions for preparing for the new financial year.

My Two Dollars has written a post about the silly pay-per-mile tax.

Single Guy has made some major changes - in just 6 months!

SVB has written an article about compounding - the first million is the toughest.

Happy Rock suggests that we reduce debt when we divide and attack!

The Simple Dollar asks about peer pressure and it’s role in our success or failure.

Sun is looking for funds that beat the S&P 500.

See, I TOLD you I was a pf blog junkie!  Happy reading.  Our family is headed to Atlanta for the weekend.

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