Did I happen to mention I’ve got the best wife ever? Monday was my birthday, and in celebration, Mrs MMD surprised me last weekend with a surprise trip to a bed and breakfast along the Michigan coast. What a great gift! It was a beautiful little place with a fireplace, hot-tub, champagne, and – of course - oven cooked French toast in the morning! Needless to say, I had a great birthday weekend and really enjoyed this getaway. Here are a few pictures if anyone would like to check it out: … [Read more...] about My Awesome Birthday Weekend and Finally a Google PageRank Increase!
Carnivals
Overestimating the Ideal Keyword Density and How I May Have Sabotaged My Own Blog
Probably one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to blogging is that there isn’t really someone to tell you when you’re messing up. You can ask your friends, you can read articles, but even sometimes that’s not always accurate. Ultimately there’s a lot of trial and error, and you don’t really know you’ve blown it until you actually are. It’s quite possible I may have done that very thing with trying to follow the myth of the ideal keyword density. … [Read more...] about Overestimating the Ideal Keyword Density and How I May Have Sabotaged My Own Blog
How I Made $1,200 with One Phone Call
Ask and you shall receive, right? Anyone who has never experimented with this mantra is missing out. It never ceases to amaze me how often I receive things at a discount simply because I asked for it. (Making deals with customers at my job has taught me that pretty much the price on anything is negotiable). Well … this one has got to be up there as a shinning example of why you need to try this. … [Read more...] about How I Made $1,200 with One Phone Call
Doing a Better Job Tracking My Passive Income Streams and Retirement Savings
I’ve got to admit: 2012 was not a bad year as far as my passive income streams go! Before blogging and investing, I was relying on sign-up bonuses, credit card rewards, and small stuff like online surveys to make a little side cash. A lot can change in a year and half … Since taking a leap of faith on blogging and investing, I’ve made a lot more money than I ever thought I would from passive income. Blogging has by far been the front-runner with its endless possibilities of advertising, affiliate sales, writing, etc. After a lot of research, I also laid the first brick of my soon-to-be castle of dividend paying stocks – an effort I expect to cross $100 per month mark in no time. But one thing I regret not doing since the beginning of … [Read more...] about Doing a Better Job Tracking My Passive Income Streams and Retirement Savings
So Long Current Bank Account and Your New Fees – I Found a Chase Bonus Coupon!
Want a chance to win $1,000 in cash? Keep reading and check out the free contest at the bottom of the post. So if you’re a bank, how do you reward someone who has had a bank account with you for the past 30 years or so? How about by sticking them with $11 per month account fees! Sounds like a solid business plan, right? Well, that’s exactly what my bank did! How to Lose a Life Long Customer: You read it right. The bank that I’ve used since I was a little boy called me up this week to tell me that they were involuntary switching over all their accounts in the new year, and that my new checking account would have a $11 a month fee unless I met certain minimums. Forget that! I flat out told them that this was disappointing … [Read more...] about So Long Current Bank Account and Your New Fees – I Found a Chase Bonus Coupon!
Welcome Back to Work – Did You Notice Your Paycheck is Lower?
If you haven’t already, it’s back to work! It was such a great and enjoyable break. Sometimes I think having a week off is worse than having one day off because you get far too comfortable waking up at your leisure, reading a book, drinking coffee, etc. If that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse: Your paycheck is lower! That’s right - the take-home from your paycheck is going to be lower because as part of the Fiscal Cliff, the payroll-tax cut didn’t get extended. That means the Social Security deduction for your Federal taxes went back to 6.2% from 4.2%. It was a nice two years at the lower rate, but it was always just a temporary band-aid as part of the Stimulus. Now it’s back to reality! … [Read more...] about Welcome Back to Work – Did You Notice Your Paycheck is Lower?
The Christmas Break and My Blog Updates
I hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas! We’re really digging having the week off. I couldn’t believe how quickly the holiday flew by. Didn’t we just buy all those presents? This was the year of the Lego sets for my kids. They got just a ridiculous amount of them. Does anyone else’s kids have those Monster Fighter sets? They’re kind of cool … My Blog Updates: You would NEVER guess it, but I’ve been really busy behind the scenes working on My Money Design. Here’s a few of the things that have been going on: … [Read more...] about The Christmas Break and My Blog Updates
What Do You Think is the Worst and Best Christmas Song?
What would the Christmas season be without the huge variety of Christmas songs out there. You’ve got your classics, your modern ones, funny ones, religious ones – there’s a little something for everyone. So which one do you think is the best Christmas song? Which one do you like the least? … [Read more...] about What Do You Think is the Worst and Best Christmas Song?
