Personal Finance Advice

It’s pretty hard to lose me as a customer. I am usually quite forgiving and realize that everyone has their bad days and things can go wrong that are not the fault of the person I’m dealing with. I almost always give a company a chance to rectify the issue at hand and in most [...]

Fall and spring are big times for festivals, state fairs, and carnivals. Many people assume that these offerings are cheaper than visiting a major theme park. That’s not always the case. Most theme park admissions are all inclusive. You pay at the gate and then all of the rides and shows are included (except for [...]

Target is one of those stores you visit when you’re looking to do most of your shopping in one place. They have food, clothing, furniture, and most household amenities. However, even though many of those items are fairly inexpensive, your final bill can still end up being quite high. Fortunately, there are some good ways [...]

A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece about how to prevent kids from getting bored. The point was that when kids get bored, they get expensive. It’s tempting to give into the whining and take them to the movies, buy them a new toy, or take them to a paid play space. Well, [...]

When I first started working, I pursued jobs that forced me to deal with the public. First I worked in a town inspection department where the public came in for building permits, home inspections, and to ask questions about zoning regulations and town projects. After that, I worked in a marketing department where I had [...]

Does it ever seem like you have too much stuff and no room to store it? When that happens, buying or renting a storage unit might seem like your only option. However, paying for a storage unit can be expensive and is often a waste of money. It might also be a waste of money [...]

A membership to a warehouse club like Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s is something that you have to evaluate carefully, both before you sign up and each year at renewal time. If you’re going to pay to shop somewhere, you need to make certain that your savings will offset the membership fees. When we first joined [...]

Anyone who uses birth control knows that while it’s such a great thing to have, certain brands can get expensive, especially if you don’t have health insurance that covers it. For instance, Ortho Tri-Cyclen costs around $50 a month. That’s $600 for an entire year’s worth of prescriptions! Birth control costs can range from $100 [...]

I recently wrote a piece about not being embarrassed to walk away from a bad deal. It’s better to deal with the embarrassment than to get stuck with something you hate. Deal making is a tricky business. You don’t want to get stuck in a bad deal and you don’t want to let other people [...]

We all tend to take our independence for granted. We take for granted our ability to make decisions just for us, to spend our money how we want, to go where we want, and do what we want. We take it all for granted until, for whatever reason, it’s gone. I have a relative that [...]

This is a guest post by Jason Price from OneMoneyDesign.com. Jason is a husband, dad, soccer fan and blogger on the journey to true financial freedom. He enjoys sharing tips and ideas about money, career and more. I can’t think of anyone I know who doesn’t have a cell phone and has to account for [...]

I was talking to a friend about her recent home buying experience. Things were going well in the beginning, but as closing approached more and more issues came up. They decided they didn’t like certain aspects of the house as much as they thought they would. Some of the renovations that they wanted to do [...]

By Bethy Hardeman for Credit Karma You’ve heard it before: You should improve your credit. But do you know just why you should focus on your credit health? It’s not just because you can qualify for credit cards with great rewards — though that’s a nice perk. A great credit score can actually save you [...]

I used to be a huge nerd. I was the kid who actually liked school and homework. Somewhere along the line, though, I lost my inner nerd. I conformed in order to fit in during high school. I still studied, but less than I had before. It just wasn’t “cool” to be studious. I carried [...]

Continuing with our small amounts are important series, we have a new giveaway. We changed things up a bit and will be giving one $25 prize, as well as five $5 prizes. One of the ways to enter is to leave a comment on how you save small amounts of money, and I would love [...]

Yet another one of my friends had a computer hard drive fail recently. And, of course, she didn’t have her data backed up. A very expensive service (upwards of $1,000) was ultimately able to recover about sixty percent of her photos and other work, but much of it is simply gone. This happens often. Hard [...]

Most people are well aware of all the common household items that can be recycled – whether by sending them off on the local recycling day or by repurposing them. However, there are plenty of items that you may own that you have never given a second thought about recycling, but you should. Here are [...]

Long-term disability insurance is one of those financial instruments that most people should have, yet few people do. It’s designed to pay you in the event that you become so injured or ill that you can no longer work. How much you’ll get will depend on the type of policy you have (generally sixty to [...]

Farmer’s markets are wonderful things. They range from fresh, local produce to homemade sweets and breads to interesting craft products to brighten up any room in your house. It can be a great way to pick up healthy food and fresh food from local vendors. Unfortunately, if you’re not careful, you can end up spending [...]

Over the years I’ve grown wary of using plastic containers for food storage and cooking. Concerns over BPA and other chemicals that leach from plastics have made me shift from plastic to glass or ceramic cookware for most of my cooking and storage needs. That leaves me with a cabinet full of plastic ware that [...]