http://www.moneyaftercollege.com Financial Advice for Students and Recent Grads Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:37:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Buying healthy and cheap food can be really difficult. Especially during college when you have very little time, and probably a very tiny refrigerator. We’ve all heard of the terrible Freshman Fifteen, and while we try to avoid it, we just can’t figure out how to make it ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/12/31/food-how-to-keep-it-cheap-and-healthy/ I have a confession to make. I am an organizational freak with my finances. I over-organize everything when it comes to money.  I have so many charts, budgets, graphs, and lists; you would not believe it. I spend entirely too much time thinking about money.  So what's my point? Feeling organized ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/12/16/financial-organization-how-do-you-do-it/ I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of myself right now.  Today I've been struggling with feeling like I'm getting nowhere in regards to my debt payments, and this has been a bright spot for me.  My FICO score is now 747, which is much higher than it has ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/12/15/my-2008-fico-scores-december-is-my-record-high/ Photography has always been a passion of mine, however I haven't been able to invest in the really expensive equipment needed to make a living from my photos.  This is a problem that many photographers face; how can we make money without putting down a huge investment? It's also a problem ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/12/11/how-im-getting-passive-income-from-my-photography/ I got my student loan consolidation verification forms in the mail yesterday, and I am officially saving myself $110 per month on my loans.  Yay!!!  :D This means I will be able to pay off the rest of my credit card debt within the next 6 months or so.  I'm so ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/12/11/consolidating-my-student-loans-is-saving-me-110-per-month/ Last year I made a list of 101 Things in 1001 Days.  That is, a list of 101 specific goals that I want to accomplish in 1001 days.  Here's my list.  It has been a huge motivator for me in the last year, and I'm definitely planning on starting another list ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/10/01/wheres-your-list-of-goals/ *Updated 12/31/2008* At the beginning of this year I opened a high-yield savings account, something that has been a goal of mine for a long time. After much research on the best high-yield savings programs, I chose to open my account with ING Direct. One of the reasons I ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/09/10/ing-direct-free-25-deal/ Last month I felt paralyzed by my debt. I felt like I was getting nowhere.  I was worried and stressed out all the time.  I had over $20,000 of student loans entering repayment, and a monthly budget that was already stretched to the max.  After recalculating my budget ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/09/09/what-to-do-when-you-feel-defeated-by-your-debt/ I recently checked my full FICO score out, and noticed there were 2 delinquencies on my account. I’m very good about paying my bills on time, so I did some digging and found out where they came from. What happened? Both delinquencies were from ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/07/22/how-i-increased-my-fico-score-by-27-points-in-just-5-minutes/ If you know what your FICO score is, you’re already way ahead of the game. If not, don’t worry, because you’re definitely not alone. What is a FICO score and why is it so important? Your FICO score is that magical 3 digit number calculated by Fair Isaac that ... http://www.moneyaftercollege.com/2008/07/21/all-about-your-fico-score/