Your description of yours at 32 months sounds like mine at 20 months. She will usually fall asleep for a nap if it is her nap time and we are driving around town. But if we are going long distance with family members in the back of the car with her, she will resist going to sleep. I swear, she has a huge fear of…

I thought it was just the overall utilization that mattered. Good to know. I try to spread it out between different cards, mostly because they have due dates that are about 2 weeks apart, so it lessens the blow of having one massive bill due.

Any suggestions on how to travel with toddlers (under age 2)? I have a wedding coming up that is 6.5 hours away by car. I am thinking multiple stops with at least one longer break for food. I would love to try to plan the drive around nap time, but my daughter usually does not want to go to sleep when there are other…

Any negative effect the new card would create would most likely be minimal. In fact, the new card may even help your credit, both by increasing the number of accounts you have (more is better, at least according to Credit Karma) and by decreasing your utilization. I have a Discover card, which tells you your FICO…

You can always go out and get another credit card with another company. I was having that problem with one of my cards. I got a second card from a different company and have been able to steadily increase my overall credit limit. I’m now up to $9,500 on one and $12,500 on another. I only put maybe $2-3k combined on…

7-11 has a decent rewards program. Every 7th drink (coffee, fountain soda, slurpee, etc.) is free. Also, they usually have a coupon or two where you can get a discount or a free item with a specific purchase. A few weeks back, they had a customer appreciation week where you could get a free $2 and under 7-11 brand…

I thought the same thing, but it appears that it is truly a 50% discount as both the 20% and the 30% are applied to the original price, and not applied in succession.

I thought the same thing, but it appears that it is truly a 50% discount as both the 20% and the 30% are applied to…

That was my exact thought. Granted Mitsubishi shouldn’t have been cheating the emissions tests all that time, but it still seems odd that the offer to buy such a large portion of the company comes now once the stock has tanked.

That can be great if you have the funds to be able to fully fund your retirement account at the beginning of each year. Hell, I would be thrilled to be able to fully fund my 401k at any point throughout the year. Assuming a decent return, the up front savings would be beneficial. However, since you are most likely…

Somewhat ironic that the ‘04 Crown Vic takes the #1 spot as I’ve got an ‘03 Grand Marquis that is proving to be pretty undependable right now. It’s been in the shop twice already this year and it’s looking like it might be headed there again soon.

I would imagine that the answers to those questions can be whatever you want them to be. If you want to consider retirement savings and FSAs as part of your savings totals, then by all means, include them. If you want to gauge how you are doing with savings for more immediate purposes like emergency funds, etc. then…

I’m basically in the same boat. I have right around a year left on my wife’s car loan and her student loans. We have two 0% interest loans for a mattress and some other furniture that will be paid off in 1-3 years (1 for mattress, 3 for other furniture). I was hoping to be able to wait until next year to retire my…

I would take that to mean that you have no debt to your name (car loan, mortgage, student loans, credit card debt, etc.) Depending on your situation, it might be worthwhile to look at two separate numbers for months to be debt free, one that takes your mortgage (assuming you have one) into account and one that does…

One piece of advice I know my wife wish she had before having our daughter is to go in and have an anesthesiologist find the best location for the epidural before you go to the hospital to give birth. They will put that info in your file so it can be used when the time comes to actually put the epidural in. While this…

I guess I’m the exception to that rule.

It’s a hole because a credit score is not an ever updating piece of information. It is a snapshot in time. If you apply for a loan, your credit is checked at that time. Because of this, credit card companies are not continuously updating the information that the credit agencies have about your various accounts. Your…

Exactly. Plus, many companies will work with you if you even if you pay more than 30 days late. Not so much if you are a year behind, but if for some reason you just forgot to pay a bill one month and you realize it shortly thereafter and give that company a call, they will usually work with you to make sure it does…

Just speaking from experience. Not that long ago, I had no credit score and since then, I have worked very diligently to build my credit score to be as high as possible. If the credit agencies had been looking at regularly paid bills as part of the credit assessment back then I would have been building credit for a…

The credit agencies do not issue loans. They simply gather data which is used by various banks, loan companies, etc. to determine how much of a credit risk you may be. You could have a perfect credit score and apply for a great interest rate and never pay a dime on that loan. On the flip side, you could have a…

Or... You could not miss a payment and not have to worry about your credit score dropping. A missed payment will greatly negatively effect your score with all 3 credit agencies, not just Equifax. However, over time, that missed payment has less and less weight, until after 7 years, it is no longer reported on your…