Welcome back friends and followers! In PART 1 of this series, I gave you the scoop on where to access free copies of your credit reports and on why checking these on a regular basis is so important. Today, I am going to walk through each credit report section to help you check for mistakes. While…

I had been looking for a bigger car for a while.  Being stuck inside a small sedan with a very active four-year-old was feeling quite tight.  We needed more SPACE! But I also wanted to make sure this change in transportation would not break the bank. So, I evaluated my budget, created my wish list,…

Hello loyal readers! This week, I’m back with another cooking tip! The Life-Skills Workshop coming up in October will be full of great tips from yours truly, but I know not everyone can come so I wanted to share something on our blog as well! One of the hardest things about trying to eat healthy…

  So, here we are, headed toward pumpkin spice and everything nice!  The Kansas State Fair has come and gone (for those of you who cannot get enough fried food or food on a stick), football season is upon us, kids are back in school, and the holidays are right around the corner.  As much…

Hello again friends and followers, I shared some credit score basics in my blog The Fico 5! last month. Today, I am going to begin talking about the most overlooked piece of the credit puzzle – the CREDIT REPORT. First of all, let’s dispel the myth that looking at your credit report hurts your credit score.…

  Seventy percent of students who graduate from public and nonprofit colleges have student loan debt.  In the state of Kansas, the average student loan debt is $25,521 for a 4-year college.  Many students are unaware of how much debt they are acquiring during college. KNOW YOUR STUDENT LOAN DEBT and have a plan to repay the…

Hello again from your Small-Business Coordinator! If you are looking for a loan to expand your business, be wary about where you go for financing. For small business loans, high-cost, short-term loans are becoming much more common. These loans can have extremely high interest rates, averaging 94%! Try to avoid these expensive alternative lenders. When a lender…

Over the course of 20 plus years of home ownership , I have come to understand that home maintenance requires using my home maintenance “senses”–sight, smell, touch, hearing, and last but not least, common sense. About a month after we moved into our current home four years ago, my husband decided to investigate a clogged sink…

Hiya folks! “It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it“. Throughout my childhood, my father ingrained this phrase into my heart, soul, and mind. Seriously! He said it ALL the time, and it drove me nuts! At that time, I thought this catchy phrase was…