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.
Selling Books We have too many books. Not nearly as many as some people I've spoken to, but too many to fit nicely on our bookshelves. We haven't bought many books recently (we just don't have time for leisure reading anymore), but we have a lot of … [Read more...] about Selling books and Borrowing wheelchairs
When I was accepted to graduate school a year ago, I had an ambitious plan to finish the degree in 2 years. That means 4 semesters of 2 classes and 2 summers of 1 class. The whole program is 10 classes (30 credits). After completing 4 semesters, … [Read more...] about Graduate School: Change of Plans
June was a rough month for traffic, mostly due to summer vacations kicking in. But I don't mind because I'm still maintaining readership, advertising revenue and a few decent articles here and there :) Also, I still have over double the traffic … [Read more...] about Thanks for the Hits! June 2008 Traffic and Referral Numbers
A short while ago, we decided to donate our tax stimulus check, rather than go on a spending spree, invest it or stick it in savings. Stacie and I had budgeted about a grand to pay her dad for the work he did to install our new flooring (pictures … [Read more...] about Handed over $850. Received a grumpy look.
Credit • Debt • Finances & Money
Way back when I was a kid, like 20 years ago, I wanted everything. I would scan through the Sears and JCPenney catalogs, circling about half the items on the pages, even the lingerie (I thought they were swimsuits for mom). For good and bad, my … [Read more...] about Wanting Too Much
This is a reprint of my original guest post at Budgets Are Sexy, with a few edits. Prior to starting CleverDude.com, I thought nothing of just letting the car idle when I was waiting outside of a store, parked in my driveway, or waiting to pick up … [Read more...] about Save Money, Save Gas, Save Your Car’s Engine When Idling
I won't count the number of times I use the phrase "save money" on this site, when in reality, I'm not saving a single penny at all. In fact, my whole Ways to Save Money series is named completely wrong. So what should it be called? Ways to Avoid … [Read more...] about Saving Money versus Avoiding Spending
By J. Savings The following is a guest post from “J†from Budgets are Sexy. J definitely puts personality into his financial articles, which makes his site a great read. Head over and consider subscribing to his RSS feed! Oh yeah, that's … [Read more...] about Populating Your [Fish] Tank
