Sunday Morning Link Love ~ ING Direct Savings Referrals Edition
My last 6 ING Direct referrals were posted by Tricia at Blogging Away Debt today. Tricia has been wonderful hosting my referrals for me to give away on her site. I am truly grateful to her doing this for me. Each referral used goes to one of my kids’ college funds (I take turns back and forth). If you have been thinking about opening an ING Direct Savings account with an initial deposit of $250 or more, use one of the posted referrals and you will receive a $25 bonus. (I get $10 which goes into one of my kids’ college accounts.)
Tricia also very recently paid off half her credit card debt! Be sure to pop on over and congratulate her. 
On to more link love ~ Here are some posts this week that caught my eye from the M-Network and beyond:
- Being Frugal: Do You Know What Today Is? You still have a little time to win a book!
- Gather Little By Little: Investing The Easy Way. Great investment story!
- Moolanomy: Public Declaration. Awwww. Just… awwww. Warm and fuzzy story.
- Dough Roller: 7 Personal Finance Books That Can Change Your Life. I think I need to read most of these!
- Plonkee Money: What is the Bank of England base rate and why is it important? I learn something new every day from this site.
- My Two Dollars: You Think You Have Money Problems? Try Visiting Mexico… I just feel sad. Sigh.
- Single Guy Money: Paying Off Debt Makes You Feel… SGM just paid off all his credit card debt and he happily reflects on it.
- Wise Bread: 10 Tasty Ideas For Leftover Turkey. I am definitely trying some of these in the future!
- All Financial Matters: How Do You Calculate Compound Growth or Interest? This is exciting for growth and depressing for interest. I will get out of debt!! Soon.
And in the PaidTwice Rewind: I Just Made My Single Biggest Payment to Capital One. I’ve since made even larger single payments to the credit card, but I still remember the exhilarating feeling of knocking off a sizeable chunk of debt at once. And I still feel it.
I’ll be happy when I feel exhilarated by making a big savings deposit instead. Have a great rest of the weekend!!
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November 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I had a couple of ideas while reading your archives. You may have already thought of them, but I’ll share anyway just in case. These would help you pay your debt faster, but I’m not sure if it would work for you psychologically.
1) when paying your 0% credit card, pay only the minimums, and move the rest into a dedicated high interest savings account. Just before your rate goes up, send the payment + interest to the credit card. If you think of it as a payment when you transfer the money, maybe it would work for you. It’s not a huge extra amount of money, but maybe just enough to help you pay it off before the rate goes up.
2) transfer your high rate student loans to a lower rate credit card (like a 3.9% for the life of the loan, if you’re still getting those offers). If you hate credit cards so much that this isn’t an option, consider a personal loan or a home equity loan. Some people say never transfer unsecured debt (student loan) to secured (home), but I think that now that you’re responsibly paying it off, it’s all the same. I’m sure others disagree). I don’t remember what your loan rates are, but I remember it’s high. A quick and easy way to compare tax advantaged loans with regular loans is to subtract your tax rate. So, if you’re paying 10% and in the 25% tax bracket, compare to a 7.5% loan (it’s not perfectly accurate because of standard deductions and other things, but it’ll give you some idea).
Good luck! Your story is so inspirational
November 25th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Hi Jane!
I have thought about moving the student loan debt somewhere. We don’t have enough equity for me to do that but the credit card idea has crossed my mind. We do get a tax advantage right now to having the student loan debt where it is but I know a much better interest rate would trump that. I decided to wait until the credit card debt we have now is paid off and then think more about other options for the student loan debt. Thanks!
As for the holding the money for the current 0% credit card in a savings account and paying it all at once - I have thought about it. A lot. I don’t know how to make that feel as motivating to me for the time being. I’m not making the exact most profitable choices but at the same time, whatever works.
(I think i hate the student loan more than credit cards at this point though lol. how crazy is that?)
November 25th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Well, keeping yourself motivated is way more important than saving a few dollars. Since this is working so well for you, there’s no need to change. I assumed you’d have considered these things, but thought I’d mention them just in case.
November 25th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Thanks for the link love…er….love link….er….well, you know what I mean
November 25th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
@Jane - I appreciate you sharing the ideas! It is good to reconsider things even if i have considered them, and maybe someone else hasn’t considered them that could.
And I may still transfer some of the student loan in the future. It would make it a lot easier to pay off. Sallie Mae compounds interest every single day. Every. Single. day. And they make it as hard as possible to pay extra to the principal.
November 25th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
nice article - wouldn’t it be great if everyone would pay off their cards and stop using them - it’s so hard though. Anyway congrats on paying down your debt and good luck.
best regards
barry
November 26th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Thank you for the mention. I am glad you liked my warm and fuzzy post.