Tricia @ Blogging Away Debt is staying motivated through some setbacks. See what she is doing to cope with this situation! You may be able to relate.

Learn why and how to consolidate your Citi credit cards from Jim @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Citi cards users like myself can learn a thing or two from this article.

Consumerism Commentary’s Flexo posted about how his blog was mentioned on CNN Money! That is truly impressive and one day I wish to reach that level!

Here are 10 things Lazy Man hates about Monster.com. I can agree! I have posted resumes on there along with Career Builder and it’s been almost useless and a waste of my time and effort.

I just read that there is no such thing as bad debt. Is this true? Do you agree or disagree? Find out for yourself by checking out goldguru’s Money, Matter, and More Musings blog.

Enter to win some fantastic prizes at creditcard.com via an article on My Card Blog. Prizes are from $500.00 to $2,500.00 in prepaid VISA cards!

One of my favorite personal finance blogs to read, My Money Blog, just posted an article about Lending Club. Once I have enough money I to lend, I think I will join in this shindig

When I started this blog a little while ago, I realized that I should start reducing my debt. Here is an overview of what I have done.

Reduced Interest Rates on Credit Card Balances
Back then, I had only four credit cards. AmEx Blue Sky ( 12.74% APR), BofA World Points (7.99%), Citi Diamond Preferred (15.33%), and Capital One (14.98%). All of them carried a balance under 1,500 except Capital One, which has a zero balance. I called Citi Diamond Preferred to reduce my APR because of my payment history, and now it’s at a 10.9%! With a little bit of persuasion and persistence, I was able to bring my APR down almost 5 whole percent. I plan on doing this with my AmEx once I have a long enough payment history. Also, I applied for the Citi Driver’s Edge credit card (a very good card) that has 0% APR on balance transfers. I transfered my AmEx balance and now the only interest I pay are on my World Points and Diamond Preferred, which both have pretty good APRs. This means I don’t have to pay huge chunks of interest each month.

Other Sources of Income
Working one job simply isn’t enough. 80% of the time at work, I just sit down in front of my desk and browse the internet all day. Why waste time? I could be getting paid on top of what I’m already getting paid now with all this free time. I decided to try out some free online schemes to earn some extra cash on the side to negate the interest I was accruing on my credit cards. I did Sharedreviews.com (which just added another 10k to the cash giveaway drawer!), Triond.com, got a $25 bonus for signing up with ING Direct (email me if you want an invite), and sold some advertisement space to earn a decent chunk of change - more than enough to cover the interest.

Budgeting My Paycheck
This is from a previous post. I decided to budget my paycheck in order to be more organized. Here’s my paycheck’s break down:
22% into FNBO Direct (high yielding online savings account) - $184
27% into my CC bills - $225
- 21% into AmEx (now 2nd Citi) - $175
- 3% into BofA - $25
- 3% into Citi - $25
15% into rent (utilities included and only until January) - $123

The rest goes to food and recreational activities. Now, I know exactly where my money is being going and how much of it. It’s always good be organized.

Methods of Debt Reduction
Again, I went over this earlier in a previous post. There are three methods towards this: the mathematically better way, quickest way, or the psychologically better way. The first way is to purge the debt of the card with the highest interest since I’ll accrue more interest overtime. This method is what pretty much every financial adviser will tell you since it’s smart. The second way is something Dave Ramsey made it popular, and it’s known as the ” Debt Snowball Method.” You prioritize your debt in the order of smallest to the biggest balance and paying off the smallest ones first. The last option is to pick out the card that irritates me the most and paying that off as fast as I can.

Choose the one that fits you the best. Often times, going with the mathematically smart option isn’t for everyone.

Convenience
Nothing is more convenient than not having to worry about whether or not you got the correct change back, or if you dropped some money trying to get the crumbled up bills out of your wallet. Using a debit card is about convenience. Some stores don’t even ask for your PIN so it’s even faster (but don’t forget to make sure the total amount is correct!).

Security
From my experience, losing a debit card is more safe than losing a credit card. When using a credit card, many places don’t ask for a picture ID and don’t ever bother to match up the signatures together. One time, my friend drew a star instead and it was still accepted. A debit card is generally required a PIN. Only places I haven’t needed to enter a PIN was for places that I was a regular at.

Additionally, you can keep a more detailed track of your spendings therefore allowing you to create a budget, know where your money is being spent and for what, as well as shaping your financial responsibility mindset.

Rewards
BofA’s Keep the Change program is a nice feature. I’ve already talked about KtC before in a previous post but it’s worth mentioning again. And don’t worry about overdrafting with KtC. If you have insufficient funds in your account, the KtC transfer won’t happen until you have enough.

I heard this on the radio while I was driving back home on Sunday. Washington Mutual is giving members $.03 for each debit card transaction. Customers can earn up to $250 a year. To be able to earn the full maximum amount customers must use the debit card almost 23 times each day! I can’t imagine going a full week using my debit card more than 10 times. But I guess even using the card once a day for the entire 365 days of the year would still earn you nearly $11.

Well’s Fargo has a rewards system as well. One point for every $4 spent. And the types of rewards you can get are similar to the rewards for credit cards. Unfortunately, there is a $12 a year program fee, but it can be waived.

I’m finally in the positive net worth status.

My current net worth is $126.70. It feels really good to not see a negative balance and a lot of red font color.

What a great purchase: Costco’s filet mignon (6) wrapped in applewood smoked bacon for 12.99. Amazing.

I gave in and signed up for an ING Direct online savings account. I received $25 for the bonus sign up fee immediately after opening. The process was easy and fast. Not only did I receive a bonus, the person who referred me also received a $10 bonus. I just have to transfer $250 for the bonuses and keep it there for 30 days. The APY is at 4.20%. If you want to sign up for one and earn $25 for just moving some money over to a high yielding online savings account, then contact me and I can send you an invite: seankim at kittenpile dot com.

Sharedreviews.com approved another five of my reviews which earned me another $10. Yeah!

I’m not a professional financial adviser, but I can give some basic information on income.

Types of income:
Active
Portfolio
Passive

Active Income: This is pretty self explanatory - it’s income made through your job, or actively and directly doing something to generate income. Also, one other way to earn income is to do things like sign up for surveys, register for prize giving search engines, or using services like sharedreviews.com.
Personally: My active income is made through only two ways: my job and sharedreviews.com. My job is my main source of income and I do my reviews while at work, therefore maximizing my time efficiency and profit! I would love to find another alternate source of active income but most of these online gigs are busts.

Portfolio Income: This is income earned through your portfolio: bonds, stocks, interest, and dividends. This can be a much riskier way to earn income because of the volatile nature of the stock market, but it does have very large returns.
Personally: Only thing I have going for me right now is the high yield interest savings account. Although it’s not much, it’s still earning me monthly income. The interest keeps on growing as I contribute more to my balance.

Passive Income: When income is earned through you doing pretty much nothing, then it’s passive. It’s generally earned through rental properties, business partnerships without active involvement, or royalties. For bloggers, having AdSense, for example, is another passive income. I believe that passive income is the easiest way to earn money and save up for retirement.
Personally: Nothing. I don’t have enough money to be able to participate in renting out properties or such.

My biggest problem right now is that I don’t have a lot of money to invest or use for real estate. For the next five or so years of my life, my main source of income is going to come from my job.

I really liked this article regarding passive income. It lays down five easy to understand facts why passive income is key to success. Here’s another article about passive income: The Power of Passive Income