I want to thank those of you who have supported No Credit Needed during 2008. I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of the most popular posts from the past twelve months – the best of the best.

February 2008 –

February 2:  My Favorite Books About Debt Reduction

February 3:  Debt Cures For Living Debt Free – Here’s how I live without borrowing money.

February 7:  Living On A Budget: Don’t Knock It Until You Try It – I’ve been living on a budget for almost four years, and I couldn’t live without one.

February 18:  Paying For Three Kids To Go To College Is Going To Be Expensive

February 25:  10 Things To Do After You Get Out Of Debt -  Getting out of debt is only the beginning!

February 27:  Building An Emergency Fund: Where To Keep It?

February 28:  Facing The Frustrating Realities With Which We Must Deal – My reflections on the current economic meltdown.

2009 is shaping up to be another remarkable year for No Credit Needed.  I want to again thank all of you who have supported the site.

If you would like to help No Credit Needed reach an even larger audience, here are a few things that you can do.

You can subscribe to No Credit Needed via RSS or Email.  Either way, you will always have the freshest No Credit Needed content.  Click here for more information about subscribing to No Credit Needed.

You can comment.  I love to hear from my readers, and comments help create a conversation between you, me, and other readers.  Comments take two or three minutes to show up, so please be patient.

You can promote No Credit Needed and each post via social media sites.  At the bottom of each post, you’ll see a little reminder that reads -    Share: add to tip’d – digg this – stumble it – save to del.icio.us – where you can quickly and easily add posts to your favorite social media sites.  If you don’t have accounts with all of these services, consider signing up.  Each service is unique, and each service will help you promote the sites you like and find new sites to enjoy.

You can link to No Credit Needed.  Do you have a website?  Feel free to add No Credit Needed to your blogroll or list of links.  If you do, be sure to contact me and let me know!

You can follow my Twitter updates.  Twitter is a strange, wonderful, unique networking site.  I really can’t describe it, but I sure do like it.  Consider following me and creating your own Twitter profile.

I sincerely hope that you will continue to enjoy No Credit Needed.  Almost four years ago, when I sat down at my computer and started this site, I would never have dreamed, in a million years, the impact that it would have on me and my life.  I have met so many good people and I have learned so much from my readers.  You keep me motivated and you keep me involved.  I can’t think of a better way to put it – You ROCK!

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2008’s Best Of The Best – February

I want to thank those of you who have supported No Credit Needed during 2008. I thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of the most popular posts from the past twelve months – the best of the best.

January 2008 -

January 9:   Building A Better Budget With The New Baby On Board -  In April, my wife gave birth to our third child, a beautiful baby girl.  While preparing for the baby’s arrival, we created a brand new budget.  The baby is now eight months old, and she’s the sweetest thing in the whole wide world!

January 10:  Time To Call The Credit Card Company -  For those who are in credit card debt, this is a must-read.  Do not settle for your current interest rates!  Grab your phone and start making some calls.

January 25:  Back To The Basics : How To Get Out Of Debt -  Here you go, a super-simple guide for getting out of debt.  I’ve written about this subject, over and over, but with today’s economy, articles like this one are more important than ever.

2009 is shaping up to be another remarkable year for No Credit Needed.  I want to again thank all of you who have supported the site.

If you would like to help No Credit Needed reach an even larger audience, here are a few things that you can do.

You can subscribe to No Credit Needed via RSS or Email.  Either way, you will always have the freshest No Credit Needed content.  Click here for more information about subscribing to No Credit Needed.

You can comment.  I love to hear from my readers, and comments help create a conversation between you, me, and other readers.  Comments take two or three minutes to show up, so please be patient.

You can promote No Credit Needed and each post via social media sites.  At the bottom of each post, you’ll see a little reminder that reads -    Share: add to tip’d – digg this – stumble it – save to del.icio.us – where you can quickly and easily add posts to your favorite social media sites.  If you don’t have accounts with all of these services, consider signing up.  Each service is unique, and each service will help you promote the sites you like and find new sites to enjoy.

You can link to No Credit Needed.  Do you have a website?  Feel free to add No Credit Needed to your blogroll or list of links.  If you do, be sure to contact me and let me know!

You can follow my Twitter updates.  Twitter is a strange, wonderful, unique networking site.  I really can’t describe it, but I sure do like it.  Consider following me and creating your own Twitter profile.

I sincely hope that you will continue to enjoy No Credit Needed.  Almost four years ago, when I sat down at my computer and started this site, I would never have dreamed, in a million years, the impact that it would have on me and my life.  I have met so many good people and I have learned so much from my readers.  You keep me motivated and you keep me involved.  I can’t think of a better way to put it – You ROCK!

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2008’s Best Of The Best – January

For those of you who are new to my site, you might not realize that back in January I moved my site from “blogger” to “wordpress”. During the move, I lost most of the comments associated with my old posts. Also, many of the category listings failed to transfer. I’ve been combing through the archives, in search of my favorite “articles from the past”. Here are two of my favorites, one written in August of last year, and the other written two years ago.

10 Steps For Personal Finance Organization: If you struggle to keep your financial documents organized, join the club! Hopefully this article can help you manage your payments, organize your documents, and clean up your desk.

Simple, Simple, Simple: This is one of my favorite articles. If you are trying to figure out how to create a simple, easy-to-use budget, read this article. You’ll find out how to create a simple, zeroed-out budget.

If you are ready to move from pencil and paper, may I suggest long-time site sponsor, YNAB Personal Budget? I’ve been using Jesse’s products for almost two years, with great success.

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Creating A Basic Budget And Orgnizing Your Financial Documents

It’s always interesting to look back and see what I’ve written about in the past.

Two years ago I was still in debt but planning for the future when I wrote “Getting Ready For Freedom“. Check out this quote:

It will be fun to focus my energy on how to save my money, rather than on how to pay-off my debts. I can’t wait.

I also wrote about the personal side of personal finance in a post titled “More Than A+B“. It’s been so long since I used a credit card that I’ve almost forgotten how “addicted” to them I used to be. It’s affirming to read:

What has helped me the most is realizing that I was using credit as a crutch. As long as I was free to use my charge card, I did not have to have a budget, I did not have to watch what I was spending. Credit cards create a “fantasy” world where we “have” more money than we really have. We can live a lifestyle that is above and beyond what we can truly afford.

One of the coolest things that happened while I was getting out of debt was receiving an unexpected check from the state of Florida. Read this post “Found Money!! Wowser” to learn more about my long-lost paycheck and the website Missing Money.

Moving up-in-time just a bit, a year ago I had to dip into my Emergency Fund. Check out “Emergency Fund Invasion“. After having to use some of the money in my emergency fund, I wrote:

So, we used some of emergency fund savings, paid for the medical need and the automobile repair, and moved on. No interest to be paid. No bills to worry about. No middle-man.

One of the most popular (and controversial) articles I’ve ever written is “I Will Not Borrow Money“. This article received a ton of comments (which did not transfer when I moved from blogger to wordpress) and was the first article to receive “major” attention. What’s the big deal? It could be that I compared being in debt to “slavery” or it could be that I used a story about a brain-damaged kid to illustrate a point I was trying to make. Either way, this post is old-school-NCN, and new readers should get a kick out of my passionate anti-credit stance.

Now that we’ve traveled back in time, be sure to subscribe to the No Credit Needed RSS Feed. If your browser does not automatically open your feed reader, simply copy and past the following RSS url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ncnblog. You can also subscribe via EMAIL! That’s right. Instead of going through the process of using a feed reader, you can simply subscribe using your email address. Once a day, you’ll receive an email containing the latest posts from No Credit Needed. (You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will only be used for the purpose of subscribing to No Credit Needed.) There are 2 ways to subscribe via email. Simply fill out the form below OR click this link to subscribe via email.

Thank you for taking the time to subscribe to No Credit Needed. (After you enter your email address, you’ll need to check your email for a confirmation email from FeedBurner.)

I love writing about my personal finances and I hope you’ve enjoyed this “look-back”. It’s important to remind ourselves of where we’ve been so that we can understand where we are and plan for where we’re going.

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Three Summers Of Blogging: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Many months ago, I wrote a post entitled Your Very, Very Best Money Saving Tips. The idea behind the post was to get as many bloggers who would to write a post of their own about their single best tip for saving money. The response to the post was very positive. But, after moving from my old hosting to new hosting, many of the links to the various tips were mangled. But, I have taken the time to fix the links and I want to “revive” the post. Basically, my goal is to have over 100 bloggers submit their very, very best money saving tip. All that I ask is that after you write your post, leave a comment letting me know that you’ve written you post, and link-back to the “Tips” post. (If you do not have a blog, feel free to leave a comment at the original post, and I’ll include it in the list of 100!) Please read the entire original “Tips”post. Feel free to contact me with any and all questions. Remember, do not link to THIS post or comment on THIS post! Link to and comment on the ORIGINAL post! (At one time, I was going to run a “contest” in association with this post, but I’ve recently learned that there can be legal ramifications for running a contest online. Let’s put it this way, once I reach 100 posts, I’ll do “something” to celebrate. A donation to a worthy charity, perhaps?)

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Requesting Your Very, Very Best Money Saving Tip (Again!)

For those of you who are fans readers of No Credit Needed, now is the time to show some love.  Free Money Finance is running an NCAA-like contest among personal finance bloggers, and TWO of my posts have made it to the SWEET SIXTEEN.  Please, please, please take a second and go over to this post at Free Money Finance and vote for my two posts.   In game 2 my post is labeled Make Multiple Debt Payments  Every Month.  In game 3 my post is labeled Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes.  Please take a second and leave a comment (your vote) over at FMF.  Also, you might want to read the posts themselves.  All of the posts that have made it this far in the competition are informative.

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Vote For NCN At FMF (Initials Rock!)

Over the past few months, I’ve written several posts about debt payment (aka debt reduction). I thought that it might be helpful if I gathered them all in one place and put them in some kind of logical order. For those of you who are new to my blog, welcome! I’m glad that you’ve stopped by. Without further ado, here’s (almost) everything I know about debt repayment.

Creating a personal finance goal.

Getting prepared for debt repayment.

Debt repayment process.

10 mistakes that I would try to avoid while getting out of debt.

Great Technique: Making multiple debt payments every month.

Finally, here’s how I plan to STAY our of debt.

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(Almost) Everything I Know About Debt Repayment!

The past few days have been amazing. The No Credit Needed Blog and the No Credit Needed Network were recently mentioned in a N.Y. Times article about debt blogs. The article, written by John Leland of the N.Y. Times, has been picked up by several other news organizations, and both sites have been getting hits from around the world. Here’s just a brief list of the publications in which the article has appeared:

N.Y. Times

CNET News.Com

Wilmington, N.C. Star

International Herald Tribune

Seattle Times

ZD Net India

Spartanburg, S.C.

Alabama Times Daily

The News Tribune Tacoma, WA

Worcester Telegram

Austin American-Statesman

You get the picture! It’s been really cool to get emails and comments from brand new visitors and long time readers. I’d also like to take a second to mention the other awesome blogs mentioned in the article:

Blogging Away Debt (A member of the NCN Network!)

Poorer Than You

Save Leigh Ann

We’re In Debt

Defying Debt

Make Love, Not Debt

No Credit Needed Network

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll take some time to read the archives or leave a comment.

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No Credit Needed Article Circles The Globe!

I’d like to thank those of you who have clicked over from the N.Y. Times. John Leland recently interviewed me for an article about debt reduction blogs, and the article was published today! (Debtors Search For Discipline Via Blogs)

My archives are located at the left-hand side of this page. A brief summary of my progress from April of 2005 to February of 2007 can be found here.

Also mentioned in the article was the No Credit Needed Network. The NCN Network brings together bloggers from all over the world, united in a desire to get out of debt and save money. Currently, over 60 bloggers have posted their personal finance related progress charts. Click the link and check out some amazing progress!

I also have a podcast about debt reduction and a brand new weight loss blog. You can find more information about these projects here: No Credit Needed Podcast and here: No. Calories Needed.

Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to contact me, click the contact tab at the top of this page, or leave a comment on any post.

Click here to subscribe to No Credit Needed.

I’d like to take a second and thank John Leland for the interview and the article.

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Welcome N.Y. Times Readers!

If you want to get out of debt (and stay out of debt) pay close attention to the following:

1. Try not to tackle every debt at one time. Focus on a specific debt or debt category, and put all of your energy and extra income towards paying off that particular debt. (Of course, always pay your minimums!) Don’t be a spotlight, be a laser. By focusing on one debt, you will reap the psychological rewards of seeing substantial progress.

2. Do not cancel your credit card if it still has a balance. While I do not use credit cards, I waited until after I was finished paying my balances in full before I canceled my credit card accounts. Why? If you close an account before you pay your balance, you have no leverage with the credit card company. Why should they work with you if you are no longer a customer. Wait until the balance has been paid and then cancel the cards.

3. Do not build your debt reduction plan around unrealistic expectations. If you have never been on a budget, don’t expect to have a “perfect” month right off the bat. Realize that it takes time to change behaviors, attitudes, and habits. Create a realistic plan.

4. Try not to skimp on the emergency fund. I’m a big fan of having a “baby emergency fund” of at least $1000 in my savings account at all times. If you are going to get out of debt, you will be VERY tempted to empty out your cash savings and put every single available penny towards debt reduction. Resist this very powerful (and very real) temptation. Why? Just as soon as you empty that emergency fund for debt reduction, an unexpected expense will arise, and you’ll have to borrow money to pay for it. Instead, use your emergency fund for true emergencies, build it back up, and then continue with your debt reduction. It’s better to miss your goal date by a few months (like I did) than to live life without some emergency cash.

5. Do not listen to a thousand different voices saying a thousand different things about YOUR plan. This one may sound strange coming from a guy who writes about personal finance, but be careful about to whom you listen. The only person who can truly understand you is YOU. I used Dave Ramsey’s Snowball Method, and paid my debts smallest balance to largest balance. Others use a method whereby you pay your debts highest interest to lowest interest. Still others use a combination of the two. Whichever plan you adopt, or if you come up with your own plan, be faithful to yourself. Do what you know you will do! (This is NOT to say that you shouldn’t listen to SOME advice, but be smart about it. Not every personal finance book fits your particular situation. I had a friend who has 100,000 dollars in credit card debt try to tell ME how to manage my finances. I listened to what he had to say, nodded politely, and then changed the subject!)

6. Never allow your credit card company access to your savings or checking account. While I am sure that all credit card companies are honest and above aboard… ahem… I would never allow them to withdraw funds directly from my bank accounts. Instead, use online bill pay provided by your bank or send in a check to pay your bills.

7. Avoid using a second mortgage to consolidate automobile or credit card debt. Before you use any company to consolidate your debt, read the fine print! Personally, I find that most people who move debt from a credit card to a mortgage, without changing their behavior, end up with mortgage debt AND additional credit card debt. Plus, who wants to risk their home for the sake of paying off unsecured credit card debt?

8. Try not to make major purchases while you are getting out of debt. In some cases, making a major purchase in unavoidable. If the washing machine dies, it has to be replaced. But, one of the worst mistakes that you can make is to pay off one or two credit cards, get a little breathing room, and then go buy that television set, new car, or lawnmower that you’ve been wanting. Wait until you are debt free and THEN reward yourself by buying something nice. (I would almost guarantee, however, that once you get out of debt, the LAST thing you will want to do is go out and spend a lot of money. I spend LESS money now that I am debt free than I ever spent when I was in debt!)

9. Don’t argue with your spouse about money. It’s just not worth it. I’m very blessed to have a wife who has been “on board” throughout this whole process. I will confess, however, that we would have been debt free a month or two sooner had she been as crazy dedicated as I was to the plan. Once we created a budget, I never once criticized her for the purchases she made. There were things that she purchased that I would not have purchased, but I was so thankful for her love and support, I kept my mouth shut.

10. Never think that you are stuck with the life that you have right now. I find it amazing the number of people who don’t think they can do anything about their jobs, their health, their finances, or their futures. If you want a better life, you must choose a better life. Read a book. Write a resume. Find a church. Join a support group. Create a plan. If you are frustrated and feel like there is no hope, wake up! You can have an awesome life. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop worrying about your past, stop blaming yourself and others, stop making excuses, get up, get out, get going, and get a life! You can ROCK!

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Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes