About Joel

If you are reading this you might be wondering, “who is this Aldi shopping fool?” Hold on, be nice. By day I am a producer on the Clark Howard Show – which is the greatest job ever. The things I have learned over these past 7 years are invaluable. I’m a lucky guy to get to work with such a great team. By night I like to drink beer and blog (not at the same time – drinking and blogging is not encouraged) about the things I am learning financially as things pop up in my life. I hope you can glean some helpful information from my successes and failures (I’ll be sharing both).

What makes me qualified? Well, working for one of the greatest consumer advocates in the land certainly helps. Also, saving money is in my blood. When I was a kid in my formative years our family went through some really hard financial times.  Those years really shaped who I am and how I approach money. For a while I was cheap and stingy, which isn’t becoming. I’m now trying to strike a balance of being a good saver while being generous with my money too.

Living life on the cheap is one of my passions. But that doesn’t mean I don’t live life! This blog is for anyone who doesn’t want to miss out on all that life has to offer because of their frugality. I’ll show you how to do it all and keep your money! You can’t find this type of money saving advice just anywhere.

covershotBut enough about me – if you have any topics you would like addressed or want to know how to advertise on this rapidly growing website where folks come for money saving advice I would love to hear from you. If you are interested in having me speak at one of your gatherings or just want more info about the site feel free to drop me a line. I usually respond quickly unless I am out of the country.

Contact me: joel@saveoutsidethebox.com

Follow me on twitter: @joellarsgaard

Check me out on Google Plus or Facebook too!

Disclaimer: There will be affiliate links on this site. The internet is a weird place. It is hard to know who to trust and and if you should really listen to what people are trying to tell you. I’ll try to always make it clear when there is an affiliate link on my page for the sake of my readers. I do NOT do sponsored posts and I do NOT write about things unless I personally use them or am intrigued by their benefit to the public as a whole. I will never write about anything for the sake of making money. I just really like sharing the things I’ve learned about money through the years with you, my faithful reader. Thanks so much for being here. And just remember that if you do like the advice, clicking on the link through my site as opposed to getting there another way helps to keep this train rolling. Thanks for being supportive! By the way, I’m also not an investment professional.

10 Comment responses

  1. Avatar
    February 07, 2013

    DUDZILLA!?!?! What kind of beer are you drinking?

    Reply

    • Avatar
      February 07, 2013

      hmmm. I think right there I was drinking a Rogue Shakespeare Stout. My wife and I took a trip to San Fran, found the Rogue bar, and decided to go every day. They are definitely one of my favorite breweries. Now I need to book a cheap trip to Colorado because I just have to see the Great Divide Brewery in person.

      Reply

      • Avatar
        October 18, 2014

        Agreed on the CO trip- Fresh Hop is currently on tap @ Great Divide, but they always seem to offer a one off of some sort that’s top notch. They will also be expanding to a new location come Spring 2015 which will include the Great Divide Barrel Bar- just in time for baseball season!

        Reply

  2. Avatar
    October 10, 2013

    You scored a $502 ticket to IRELAND?! I am very impressed. That is my number one destination I would like to go, and quite frankly $502.00 seems very reasonable. Congrats to you man!

    Reply

    • Avatar
      October 11, 2013

      I did. And that was only a year ago! We were pretty stoked when we saw that fare pop up and knew we couldn’t pass up on it. I hope you get there soon. It really is amazing. We very much enjoyed our trip. Thanks for stopping by Lauren!

      Reply

  3. Avatar
    October 21, 2013

    Love the reads. I have a question. I owe about 100,000 Mortgage. I want to pay it off by using a third of my retirement. I am just over 60 and must pay taxes but not penalties. I plan on working for several more years.
    Being debt free seems more important than my “mountain top to valley” volatile retirement portfolio. Let me know what you think. Thank you.
    Grandma

    Reply

    • Avatar
      October 22, 2013

      That’s a great question Glenda. I would advise against paying off your mortgage with retirement money. The market is certainly a bit volatile. But I think you’ll find that you will do well if you keep your money in the game. I definitely would advise a 50/50 ratio for you though. Plus, mortgage rates are incredibly low. What about refinancing into a 10 year (or less) mortgage at a rate of less than 3%? That is a strategy that will make sense all the way around. I really think retirement money should wait to be tapped until later on when you really need it.

      Reply

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