I have been reading a lot about personal finances and investing at http://money.cnn.com the past few months. I’m convinced, educating yourself about money matters is the most important thing you can do to improve your financial situation. Since I started doing just casual reading a few hours a week here and there, I’ve saved up several hundred dollars, stopped charging, and also started contributing an extra 50 dollars a month to my Roth IRA. I’m not earning a dime more in income, but I’m not missing out on anything I used to think I enjoyed by overspending.

I was thinking about financing a car this year, and then I read something interesting at http://www.forbes.com/finance. What the article suggested was to pretend you’ve already made the purchase, but make the payment to yourself for a few months. I tried it, and I was surprised at what I learned.  What I discovered is that because I don’t have a car loan already, if I just keep saving up for a while, I’ll be in a much better position. With the hefty down payment I’m saving up, I’ll be able to afford a better car, or choose lower payments, or take a shorter-term loan.