A Super Bowl Party Is Nothing Without Good Wings

Guest post written by Allen King

I remember a few years ago I went to a Super Bowl party at a friend's house who was trying to eat really healthy. I understood it because he needed to make some eating changes for his health, but I wish I had known that they were going to be serving things like carrots and hummus. That stuff is okay, just not when I'm watching the Super Bowl! So when I volunteered to host our friends' party at my place, I decided to make sure that I had some healthy food, but also the traditional Super Bowl foods.

I looked online to see if I could find some good recipes for some really spicy buffalo wings. When I was searching for a recipe, I saw the websitedebtcounseling.bankrupt.com. I read through it some and decided that I need to come back to it later because our family is in debt and we need to consult our options.

I did track down a really good bufalo chicken wings recipe and it got the approval from me and then by all of my guests too. The Super Bowl is about as good of a reason to eat bad food as Thanksgiving.

Starting To Invest On My Own

I have two 401Ks, one from my previous job and another at my present job. So, I have been investing in a sense, but with mutual funds it seems as if you are investing at arm's length.

I recently opened a sharebuilder account and have been buying some stock here and there. Nothing to write home about, but I have had fun researching the stock and buying investments on my own. Some of what I buy might be considered penny stocks. I heard a lot about penny stocks when I worked at the business school, but to be honest, I didn't pay attention to the topic as well as I should have.

Apparently, the definition of a penny stock is a stock that is under $5 per share or even $1 per share. And it doesn't sound like they are traded on the stock exchange. I have one stock in my portfolio that is currently 69 cents a share (sounds like one of the penny stocks for sure!) and another that is $1.98 per share (another good candidate). But they are traded on the exchange, so maybe they are not???

Anyway, I have been having fun trying my hand at it, and hopefully my nestegg will grow. I need that to happen for sure!

Cutting Costs

Thanks for the article from Jermaine Haynes

I have really been trying hard to cut my costs around the house. Last year I took a pay cut, and things have been really hard on me. I have tried to find another job that paid more, but I haven’t had any luck yet. I guess I should feel lucky that I am staying afloat, but living paycheck to paycheck with absolutely no wiggle room is getting old. I’ve been looking for ways to cut back that won’t be so painful. One of the things I’ve been considering is scaling back my Dish TV package. I’m not sure how much I’ll save, but even $20 a month might make a difference at this point. I’ve also been trying to cut coupons after I was inspired by the show “Extreme Couponing”. I don’t think I have as much time as the women in the show have for clipping and organizing, but I figure I might be able to save a good amount if I try a little harder. I am just so tired of being worried aboutmoney, and I am dying to be comfortable again. At this point, I don’t care what it takes.

Law And Technology

I am not a technology lawyer, but I wish I were. I worked at a business school for quite a while and was exposed to all of the excitement of start-ups and technology transfer. There is a lot to think about when it comes to technology, including nondisclosure agreements, fair use and copyright, ownership rights and disputes, and risk management.

I know some about fair use and copyright from all of my years as a journalist. That knowledge has held me in good stead as a blogger and attorney. I really know nothing about ownership rights, and a smidgen about risk management.

I learned about nondisclosure agreements in my remedies class in law school. The idea of a non-disclosure makes sense, because you don't want others to learn your secrets and then pass them on inappropriately and financially benefit from that. That is why some companies ask independent contractors to sign such agreements. I have been asked to sign nondisclosure agreements for some of my freelance assignments. It has been kind of funny, though, because in the course of my work, I didn't learn anything that I could have passed on. So the nondisclosure agreement was unnecessary. I wondered why they asked me to sign one, unless they don't really know how to use such an agreement, or maybe they weren't sure of the scope of the project at first. But I signed it, and the freelance gig went nowhere. Go figure.

Figure It Out

Guest post of the week by Brittany Booker

I wanted to figure out how to help save electricity around the house because man, our bills had gotten so high. I started turning off lights left and right AND I’ve become that person who unplugs all her appliances when she’s not using them – that’s the type of responsible citizen I want to be. Who am I kidding, I didn’t start doing this out of any eco-concious breakthrough, I just didn’t want to have to break the bank paying my utilities each month! A friend told me about a website where I could get fixed rate energy and I jumped on that chance…it really helped me narrow down my options and save some money right off the bat. It’s still up to me though to try and curb my usage which is hard in this huge old house – the electricity seems to just leak right out of the walls or something. I’m going to keep doing what I can though and we’ll see how that ultimately works out for me.

I Am Gazelle Intense!

For those of you who listen to the Dave Ramsey radio show, you know the phrase "gazelle intent."  Dave encourages his listeners to be gazelle intent in getting rid of debt, using the metaphor of the gazelle as its intent on running away from lions and tigers on the savannah in Africa. He wants you to be that focused on it.

I feel as if I have truly been gazelle intent in the last several months. I am working at my regular job, doing a little legal work part time, doing freelance writing, and mystery shopping. Whew--that is a lot of work. I do feel like I am working all of the time. I am making great progress in paying off my debt, even though it is not as fast as Dave would like. I still have a nasty little habit of meeting friends for dinner too much and blowing my budget. But I am working on scaling that back. And I need to stop overdrafting. I still do that from time to time, and that sets me back and runs counter to my goal of being debt free.

Sometimes I feel like I am working too much, and that has me worried. Like, I am not exercising as much, or sleeping enough, or stressing too much on all the work I have to do. And yes, people have made fun of me being on my computer so much. I have tried to tell them that part of the reason I am on the computer a lot is because of my internet businesses. But they don't get it.

I think within a year and a half, I will have my debt paid off and will be able to slow down. But also what I would like is for my internet businesses to take off, and I could make more money with less work. A dual goal. I am gazelle intent.