Financial freedom — that’s the American dream, isn’t it? But how many of us actually stand any chance of achieving this grand and glorious goal? Buried in credit card debt, living in houses we can barely afford, spending more than we make and putting nothing away for the future — I don’t see it happening.…

Let�s face it�we love our stuff! We are a society of consumers. That�s one of the benefits of living in a prosperous capitalistic country �- we have a lot of disposable income and a wide variety of ways in which to spend it. Americans, in particular, shell out a tremendous amount of money each year…