Personal Finance Advice

I really wanted to go shopping over my lunch hour on Tuesday. I've recently lost some weight (go me!), so I've been trying to get some more wear out of my baggy shirts by wearing a camisole underneath them. That way, when my coworker comes up behind me to ask me some question, I'm not flashing the ladies at the poor unsuspecting soul. Right now I have one camisole that I have fallen in love wit [...]

When you think of panhandling, you probably think of the homeless and the desperate. It would never be something that a white collar professional would engage in. Would it? If you think the answer is, "No," here's a story for you. There is a man who panhandles near my office and I walk past him nearly everyday. He stands on his corner with his dog and asks for money. His sign simply says, "Need mo [...]

My husband and I are having an interesting conversation today over email ... I have a fire lit under my arse to see how quickly I can pay off my college debt ($37,500). He has come back and countered "what is the savings to paying off your college loans quickly as opposed to the normal schedule?" Here is my logic ... if I make two payments on each of my college loans every month, I will theore [...]

We all love our stuff. We like our clothes, our knick knacks, and our DVD's. We like our photographs, saved letters, mementos of our childhood (or our children's childhoods), and the stuff we inherit from others. As much as we like stuff, there are many problems with stuff, ranging from the money it costs to acquire and store the stuff, to cleaning the stuff. But a big problem with stuff comes whe [...]

By Karen Norling Eight months ago, my husband, Jim, lost his engineering job at GE Health care here in Ohio. In all those eight months --after dozens and dozens of resumes "snail-mailed" and emailed -- not one company has called him for an interview. Not one company has called me for an interview either, despite the many positions I've applied for (I have a Master's Degree in English). Perha [...]

I'll admit, right at the beginning of this post, that I may be looking at things in a stereotypical manner. I realize that everyone has different reasons for noticing certain things, but I ran into a situation the other day that made me think. I was in the local Applebee's and the two women in the booth in front of me were having a loud conversation. (I don't tend to eavesdrop, but good grief, if [...]

I have recently read a number of articles about the businesses which are being hit the hardest by the current downturn in US and well as the global economy. This got me thinking about the businesses that should be affected, even though apparently some of them aren't. Giant Gas Guzzling SUVs: Not only are they excessively expensive up front, but then there is the cost of the copious amounts a p [...]

If you've ever wanted to be paid for the time you spend surfing the Internet for porn, I've got good news for you. It is possible to get paid to look at porn on the Internet. We all know that the Internet is a big place and that it is difficult to police. User generated content sites that don't want any pornography on them such as YouTube, Facebook, PhotoBucket, and others have a hard time keeping [...]

You cannot recover the money that you spend, but you can always earn more. Money will come to you from hard work, good fortune and simple luck. You will spend all of it or some of it and often you will be able to control how you much of your money you give back to the economy. That is a good thing and it can give us a sense of control over our lives. We cannot control, however, the time that w [...]

I'm often puzzled when, in an effort to help someone else save money, I'm looked at like some sort of criminal or crazy person. Here's an example. This week I had a coupon for $5 off at TGI Friday's. The coupon explicitly stated that it could be used multiple times or given away to friends. So I printed one off and went for dinner. After we had eaten and paid, the waitress gave the coupon back to [...]