Clever Dude founded CleverDude.com in June 2006 while working as a technical analyst in the Washington, D.C. area. A Penn State graduate, he built the site as a side project alongside a white-collar career that included earning a master’s degree and multiple promotions.
In five years he wrote nearly 1,300 articles on personal finance and life lessons drawn from his own experience. The blog grew from a hobby into a recognized early voice in the personal-finance community and generated meaningful revenue. He sold the site in 2010, continued as a guest contributor through 2015, and returned in 2023 after further career advances, paying off his home, and extensive travel.
Credit • Debt • Family or Marriage • Finances & Money • Frugality
So, I've laid out how we got to our total consumer debt of $113,000 (not counting our roughly $400,000 mortgage). Now it's time to explain how we began to dig our way out. First, though, let me take you back to May, 2001 when I graduated college … [Read more...] about Our Journey to Debt Freedom: Graduation through Engagement
Free Music I like Christmas music, and I like free, so it's a good thing Amazon has rolled out its 25 free MP3s in 25 days again this Christmas season. If you miss a day, you can still go back and download it. Downloading MP3s from Amazon … [Read more...] about Amazon Holiday Deals: Free or Cheap Music, Games and Books
Automotive • Credit • Debt • Finances & Money
As of November 12, 2009, we're free of consumer debt. In the article, I promised to tell you all how we got out of $113,000 in debt, but I realized that I first need to tell you how we got into the debt. I'll try to be brief with the story, which … [Read more...] about Our Journey to Debt Freedom: The Beginning
Debt • Finances & Money • Home
Actually, I'm pretty excited that our adjustable mortgage rate reset. A couple months ago, I wrote all about the details of our two mortgages. To recap, our primary mortgage, which is about $300,000, is a 5/1 interest-only ARM mortgage. The "5" means … [Read more...] about Our adjustable mortgage rate reset! Oh No!
Credit • Debt • Finances & Money
As of today, we have paid off all $113,000 of our student loans, auto loans and credit card debt. We are debt free!!! (except for that pesky mortgage) I sent the final check of about $3,000 off to pay off my student loan last week, and now the … [Read more...] about We’re Free of Consumer Debt!!!!!!
You've heard me complain about the cost of owning a pool before. Well, the problem of being a homeowner is that when something breaks, you're on the hook to fix it. Such was the case with our pool recently when we asked a couple contractors to come … [Read more...] about $7,000 We’ll Never Get Back
The following article is courtesy of Coppertone. I normally don't publish unsolicited articles sent to me, but this one caught my eye because of the items for hand sanitizer and sunscreen. I've added my own notes about each. The average American … [Read more...] about Clock is Ticking on ’09…Surprising Ways to Stretch Your Healthcare FSA
A story out of Reuters says the U.N. will begin sending food vouchers to Iraqi refugees via mobile phone text messages that they can redeem at local shops. The "virtual vouchers" worth $22 per family every two months will supplement traditional aid … [Read more...] about Food Stamps via Text Message?
