Diamonds in the Rough Roundup 12/13/13

Enjoy these great posts from great writers I’ve found this week:

–Reader Case Study: Hair on Fire! by Mr Money Mustache:  A fascinating post that analyzes the budget of a family that wants to retire but doesn’t think they ever will.  Sometimes it takes drastic changes to get where you want to go.  Those drastic changes can be really unpleasant at first, but staying the same will more than likely keep us in the same situation we are currently in.

–The FTC Sheds Light on the True Cost of Minimum Payments by Claire Murdough:  Have you ever looked at your credit card statement and seen the little box that says how long it will take to pay off the balance with minimum payments?  Don’t think Visa is doing you a favor by letting you know that.  You should do everything you can to avoid making only minimum payments, and this post goes into more detail why.

–Loosening My Purse Strings by Broke Millennial:  With all the focus on saving money and making more money, sometimes we need to take a step back and actually try to enjoy it  Money is made to be spent or given, and we can’t take it with us after we die, so it’s okay to spend once in a while on something we value.

–3 Unconventional Ways to Super-Charge Your Savings by Afford Anything:  Saving lots of money is the key to reaching your financial dreams.  No one can argue against that.  Being able to save a lot of money can be tricky though.  I think the best combination is to find ways to make more money and save more money.  The combination can be very powerful and can give you that extra savings boost you need.  This post does a great job in illustrating just that.  It also shows how you have you have to be willing to do some things you are not usually willing to do in order to save and earn more.

–Rules of Thumb to Ignore by The Wealth Gospel:  There are certain unalienable rules when it comes to finances (such as Financial Commandment #1).  But depending on your goals, some of these rules might not work for you.  This great post talks about a few of those rules.