Say hi and let the community know a little about yourself. What brought you here? What’s your latest financial win/fail? Anything else fun you’d like to share? 
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Hey Everybody! I’m Jon Moore. I have been a member of TPH Community since not long after it started. I look forward to getting to know everyone on here and sharing/learning as well.
My latest win I would say is the insurance payout I just got. I was rear ended a couple weeks ago (my trusty 2004 Honda Accord), while I am sad to lose my car, I got $3800 for a car I paid $1400 for a couple years ago so I would consider that to be a win. On the other hand, I doubt I will be able to find another Honda in that price range anytime soon.
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Hi, I’m Lisa. I live in Central Florida, and I work as a Librarian. I live paycheck to paycheck, no matter how hard I try. In my favor is I have very little debt (mostly credit card stuff). I am working to get better with money, but that will have to entail me securing cheaper housing, which is pretty hard in Central Florida. I’m glad to be here. I enjoy free things - like free gift cards from donating blood, free coffee drinks (Starbucks & Dunkin’), and free gift cards/cash from focus groups.
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Hi, I’m Barbara in southern Maryland. I’ve been a member for quite some time. I love discussion forums!
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Great to see some familiar faces on the new site! Thanks for sharing @mooreincome @lismox and @barbara.j.wheeler!
As for me, I’m originally from Omaha, Nebraska and currently live in Minneapolis. I’ve found myself with small mountain of credit card debt, which I’m budgeting to (hopefully) pay off by the end of next year.
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Hi Will! Sorry to hear about the credit card debt. Did it happen fairly slowly over the years? Or, was there some kind of misfortune that caused it to accumulate rapidly? Barbara
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Good luck in your search for a replacement…it is tough out there to find a bargain…
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Hi all , been here for awhile and I have learned a few things. Now more than ever we all need to be smart with our money and ride out this time period.
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@barbara.j.wheeler Oh, gradual. A few big expenses on top of having half the household income as the year before, plus the costs around having a new baby all kind of added up. But I’m on a stricter budget now, so things are looking good!
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Well, that’s great to hear - good job! I’m lucky to not be in much debt, but I like to hear about how people manage
their finances, and hear tips on saving and that sort of thing. I’m retired now and I’m sure you know that most people
can’t live off social security income alone. I’m blessed to have some savings to supplement the SS, and my dear Mom passed away in March and left me a bit of money, which I put in a CD since the market has been so volatile and the interest
rates are better now! Take care and see you in the PH community!
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Hi everyone, my name is Phillip and I live in Washington State. I am an Accredited Financial Counselor and work at a nonprofit in my county and also have my own financial coaching business called Reach Your Goals. I had a lot of debt as a young adult and learned all I could to teach myself about personal finance. After getting myself out of debt about 10 years ago, I’ve made it my mission to share everything I’ve learned with others. My latest financial win/fail is that I needed a new car for my daily commute – our original plan was to try to reduce our automobile budget category but a deer ran into the side of our van and took 3 weeks to fix so we decided to scrap that idea. I’m aggressively paying down the new car at a rate of about $2k per month. Something fun to share is that earlier this month we took our kids to Disneyland and Universal Studios in California. We used airline miles for the flight, points for the hotel, and plan to erase some of our other travel expenses using a travel rewards card. It still was an expensive trip but it was something my wife really wanted to do while our kids are young and mother-in-law is strong enough to make the trip with us.
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I really like the new site, especially the home page. It looks sort of like an old broadsheet. Anyway, I can’t figure out how to post. Help.
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Glad you like the new site, @sthom! If you want to start a new conversation, select the New Topic button on the home page.
Here’s a user guide for more info: How To & New Member Guide
Hope that helps!
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Hello!
I’m Kelly and for the last 20+ years I’m living in NH, but previously MA, CA, and TX.
I am a Social Worker and work at a local housing authority, and also do Housing Counseling after passing the HUD certification exam. Much of my job is financial coaching and I love that I benefit from all the education and training for this position as well!
I have been in this community almost since it started. My latest financial win? Well, it’s a steady climb and at this time of year I love that I saved all year for the holidays/birthdays and it is not a hardship.
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Hello. I’m Mia. I live in Maryland and I’ve been a member for about 10 years. I’m proud to say that my Mortgage is my only debt but, of course, not my only expense, however my struggle is saving and investing. I have the basics – a 401k and a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), but building a savings account and taking advantage of other investment strategies is hard for me. I’m sure it’s a mindset thing. And I’m sure I just need to be more intentional about saving, especially. I want to invest in things that can grow my money fast but don’t like the risks that are generally associated with investing – and to me, I’ve lost more than I ever wanted in the things I did invest in. And, EVERYTHING is soooo expensive! Looking forward to participating in community conversations and learning from all of you.
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Hi! Perry Meyer here, Senior Business Intelligence bubba and former TPH employee! Glad to see you guys are still kicking and creating new community initiatives!
Latest win is my new job with Warner Brothers Gaming Analytics. More money is always nice, but the people there are what make it special, much like the folks at TPH. I have TPH to thank for giving me the foundation of knowledge which landed me this awesome gig. Cheers!
EDIT: Still living across the bay in South Tampa. BOOOOOYA!
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Hi everyone! Donna here, and I have been a member of TPH for several years now and love all the hints and tips and juicy info I am able to gather from the site. My husband and I just received our discharge letter for CH.13 Bankruptcy and I am so glad. It is a very stressful process and seems you are left wondering for the majority of the case. We only filed in order to keep our home and the hindsight is 20-20, because we learned a few things that were never disclosed to us, for example, between the attorney fee and the trustee’s fee it was an extra $10,000 over what we owed in debt, so I advise anyone make sure you know what is going to take place, but I am so grateful it is over and we definitely learned credit is a luxury and you don’t have to have it and can survive just fine without it (of course everyone needs the one credit card for hotel rentals, etc…)
I am learning how to save more now than ever just because it has become the norm. I didnt want to ever be known as someone who didn’t pay their bills and I can honestly say we paid almost back there may have been 1 or 2 small things that got wiped but I don’t even think that was the case, we paid mostly all debt back 100% or at least a portion. I can say I would NEVER do it again.
Christmas approaching is one of my weaknesses because I want to give my kids and grandkids EVERYTHING they want but they know Momma/Mimi loves them and the dollar signs don’t equate to love, so I will be very mindful in the upcoming weeks to make my budget and stick to it like glue.
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Welcome @perry! Great to hear from you and so awesome you had a good time working at The Penny Hoarder! I’ve been on the staff for just over a year, so our paths never crossed, but glad to meet you here. 
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Hi I live in upstate New York have three grown children married three grandchildren married and 11 great grandchildren I love this community I learn so much from everyone and the staff is great looking forward to the new site
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