Monthly Archives: September 2011

Master Bartering: Strange Ways to Save Money

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece about how to master haggling to save money. This week I’m giving tips on how to barter successfully. Like haggling, bartering isn’t often done in the U.S. I think part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged barter, barter skills, barter trade, barter value, bartering, how to barter, save money | 3 Comments

How the Financial News Media is Costing You Money

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Guest Writer

Are you a news junkie? If you are, hopefully you’re not making investment decisions based solely on the financial news or stock market analysis that the media provides all day and every day. When the stock market goes down, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Personal Finance | Tagged financial media, fundamental analysis, high frequency trading, investment decisions, market investing, stock market, technical analysis | Leave a comment

How to Solve the Eating Out Problem

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

Eating out is a budget leak for a lot of people. It’s just so easy to grab something and it’s nice not to have to clean up. The problem is, though, that eating out is expensive compared to eating at … Continue reading →

Posted in Budgeting, Food / Groceries, Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged budget leak, cost of eating out, eating at home, eating out, poor service, sub-par food | 4 Comments

Smart Indulgences

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

We all feel the need to indulge sometimes. Even the most disciplined budgeters occasionally feel the need to spend on something that’s not in the budget, just for the heck of it. The occasional indulgence is fine as long as … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Finance, Shopping | Tagged indulge, indulgences, smart indulgence, unplanned spending | 3 Comments

Watch Cable TV for Free (Legally) – Strange Ways to Save Money

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

There are few ways to save on TV viewing in your own home. You can cut back your cable service to the minimum, or use a service like Netflix to supplement or replace your cable. You can buy DVD’s of … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged babysit, cable service, cable TV, free cable TV, housesit, TV for free | 7 Comments

The Demise of the Savings Account is Greatly Exaggerated

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Guest Writer

The savings account is about as in style as 90′s rock sensation Pearl Jam (Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of them) but much like some of those same 90s fads, the savings account is making a reemergence. Everybody … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged interest rate yields, interest rates, Investing, investing fees, savings account demise, savings accounts | 4 Comments

The Financial Benefits of a Repetitive Life

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

I like adventure and trying new things. Sometimes. I also find comfort in the tried, true and familiar. I tend do do a lot of the same things over and over. I suspect many people are like this. We all … Continue reading →

Posted in Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged best deals, familiar life, financial benefits, less expensive, repetitive life, upgrade cycles | Leave a comment

Is Your Defensiveness Trying to Tell You Something?

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

I read a lot of different financial message boards. I’m always amused when someone in a thread gets incredibly defensive over something that was posted. The latest example was a thread about luxury handbags. The original poster inquired about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Finance, Shopping | Tagged brand products, defensiveness, financial choices, rationalizing money choices, spending money | 2 Comments

Tiny Housing: Strange Ways to Save Money

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

I may be late to the party, but I discovered the Tiny House Blog the other day. The author features all kinds of tiny houses, including homes made from storage sheds, campers, freight cars, and other unconventional materials. At first … Continue reading →

Posted in Budgeting, Frugal, Housing, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged camper house, freight car house, small houses, storage shed house, tiny house blog, tiny houses, unconventional house | 5 Comments

The Free Saving Advice Coupon Class

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

In an earlier article, I talked about the pros and cons of signing up for a coupon class. While there are some plusses to such classes, much of what you will learn can be found online for free. Even better, … Continue reading →

Posted in Food / Groceries, Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged basic coupon information, coupon articles, coupon class, coupon information, coupon secrets, free coupon class, how to coupon | 2 Comments

Invest in Weight Loss: Some Obesity Facts

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Guest Writer

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” is what you’re thinking. Here come all of the obesity facts. You think I’m going to talk about all of the money you spend on fast food, junk food, and those other sinful pleasures, or at least … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Investing, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged cost of being fat, cost of being overweight, cost of obesity, men's salaries, obesity facts, weight loss, women's salaries | 4 Comments

Ways to Get Cheap Books When Your Library is Dying

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

My local library is dying and, with it, my best source of free books. Thanks to the crummy economy, the library’s budget has been cut to almost nothing. They have no money for new acquisitions. Old books are being sold … Continue reading →

Posted in Frugal, Personal Finance | Tagged book sales, book swaps, cheap books, dying library, eReaders, finding books, free books, interlibrary loan, library books, university library, used books | 9 Comments

Is a Coupon Class Worth The Price of Admission?

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

Classes run by “coupon experts” that promise to teach you how to maximize your coupon savings have been around for a while. With the recent popularity of couponing thanks to the TLC show, “Extreme Couponing,” I’ve noticed a surge in … Continue reading →

Posted in Food / Groceries, Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money | Tagged coupon class, coupon teacher, double coupons, drug store coupons, extreme couponing, super couponing, triple coupons | 4 Comments

Haggle: Strange Ways to Save Money

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

Haggling isn’t widely practiced in the United States. Sure, sometimes you haggle at the car dealer or maybe with some local craftsperson at the craft fair, but it’s not a big part of our culture. Most people are too embarrassed … Continue reading →

Posted in Frugal, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged ask for a discount, cash deals, fair deals, haggle, haggling, know your price, shut up, walk away | 2 Comments

Don’t Let Your College Student Graduate with Debt

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Guest Writer

Financial responsibility is a crucial part of the college experience for those attending both university online and on campus, yet some personal finance skills remain foreign to students as they prepare for college. Parents have the task of preparing their … Continue reading →

Posted in Credit Cards, Debt, Education, Personal Finance | Tagged college credit cards, college debt, credit card debt, credit card fees, Credit Cards, credit score, university credit cards, university debt | 1 Comment

The Dangers of Daily Deals

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

It seems like daily deals are everywhere these days. Amazon has it’s Gold Box, there are plenty of sites like Woot.com that offer one-day deals on specific items, and the group coupon deal sites like Groupon are proliferating like mad. … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged Amazon, camel camel camel, daily deals, daily specials, free Amazon price checker, Gold Box, great deals, groupon, Woot | 2 Comments

The Benefits of Organic and Natural Cleansers

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

A couple of years ago, I wrote about some simple recipes for natural homemade cleansers. These are some very simple concoctions that you can make with ingredients like baking soda, white vinegar, and essential oils that will clean and disinfect … Continue reading →

Posted in Frugal, Health, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged baking soda, environmental benefits, less chemicals, natural cleaners, organic cleaners, reduced allergies, septic tank care, vinegar | 3 Comments

Alternative Furnishings: Strange Ways to Save Money

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Jennifer Derrick

Furniture is expensive. Even “cheap” furniture is expensive, and if you want high quality furniture prepare for sticker shock. While many people have an ultimate goal of having a nicely furnished home, some people don’t share that desire or have … Continue reading →

Posted in Budgeting, Frugal, Housing, Personal Finance, Saving Money, Shopping | Tagged alternative furnishings, build you own furniture, flea market furniture, furniture, plastic furniture, salvaged furniture, thrift store, used furniture | 3 Comments

Monthly Archives: September 2011

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