Self-Help Freebies:
Relationship Questionaire:
"Getting Acquainted"
Understanding a serious relationship seriously.
Simple little questionnaire. You can use it with a wide variety of relationships. No guarantees, but I think you'll be amazed what you can learn with this simple exercise. I've used it with engaged and married couples, brothers and sisters, parents and children, and just close friends.
(Just open each of these pages and print out two copies.)
The credit card trap:
Credit cards can be a major convenience, but they also make it far too easy to overspend. Many users wind up taking years and years to pay off a major purchase, and paying an enormous amount in interest, by paying only the minimum due each month.
It's important to know your interest rate and the minimum payment, as a percentage of the balance and the dollars and cents minimum payment. To learn how long it will take you to pay off a particular amount making only the miminum payments, you can use the calculator below. Then you can see how much you'd save if you paid a certain amount more than the minimum; just run the figures again, with the larger amount entered as the minimum payment.
To learn more about the seriousness of credit card debt, read The Plastic Crime Starter.