The Bargain Hunters Guide to Christmas Shopping by Kristen Math

It's only March 1st, and I’m almost done with next year’s Christmas shopping. I have sweaters for my husband, and a new Christmas serving set for my mom. Hidden away in my treasures are shirts for my dad and step-mom and a beautiful leather-bound Texas Hold’em poker chips set for my brother. I have already picked up some games and books for the children. I even have many stocking stuffers tucked away for St. Nick .It’s almost embarrassing that I’m such a penny pincher. Getting through...

In the winter, when you hear the term “digging out” you think of large snowfalls and sore shoulders. Every January, a different kind of digging out begins in households across the nation – digging out of the hole you got into with Christmas spending. For medical residents, that hole can be enormous. With educational debt already high and your time and earning potential limited, consumer debt can seem insurmountable.

How’d We Get In This Mess In The First Place? First of al...

First, a bit of an introduction. I am Jenn Hussey, and I have been glued to the iMSN site since my husband’s internship year. Yes, another spouse surfing the web at 2am, bored and lonely. Since then, the iMSN family has held my hand through all of life’s great adventures, including the April 2005 adoption of our son Nikolai from Perm, Russia. Prior to the adoption, I had a job that required weekly travel. I did this for two and a half years and packed on about 20 pounds. I worked out wheneve...

The plan was to live as if we were still in training once fellowship was over. My husband and I imagined paying off all of our debt in the first 5 years and accumulating enough savings to buy land, a house in Germany and travel to Disney World each year. Do you see where this is going? Obviously, our expectations were a little high. Because we also are poor managers of money, we haven’t saved a dime. If our retirement money wasn’t automatically deducted each month, we might be looking at a card...

When my husband started residency, the last thing on our minds was balancing our checkbooks. With the stress of q3 call looming over our heads and the challenges of being parents to small children, we embraced the attitude “we will get by”. Of course, it’s true that we all find a way to navigate the financial challenges that arise during residency and fellowship. With the cost of interviewing, moving and medical board exams and state license fees that approach $1000, just getting by can be...