Personal Finance Advice

In the last year, quite a few houses have gone up for sale in my neighborhood. Several have sold and several have languished. While price plays a big role in what sells and how quickly, most of the houses that languished in my neighborhood were priced competitively. So what made them unappealing to buyers? One [...]

Do you have a museum, zoo, or theme park nearby that you find yourself visiting more than once per year? If you do, you might want to look into the costs and benefits of buying a season pass or becoming a member. I was surprised recently to discover that a year long membership at my [...]

Unless you get your clothes dry cleaned, wire coat hangers are getting harder to find. Everyone seems to appreciate the plastic and wood models more these days and those are the hangers you’ll find in stores. I’ll bet, though, that you have a stash of old wire hangers in your closet. Wire hangers have a [...]

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about how to find cheap books if you need to feed your reading habit but your library is dying or dead. In the comment trail for that piece, several readers expressed disappointment that the piece wasn’t about how to keep such a frugal resource alive in the [...]

The holidays are approaching and with them comes the annual increase in scammers and con artists. One place to be especially wary is on Internet message forums. If you spend a lot of time on forums, particularly ones where people share intimate details of their their lives and issues, it’s easy sometimes to be fooled [...]

Sometimes, when you’re out and about, you see something that you think you just have to have. Maybe it’s a great skirt, or a DVD you can’t wait to get from the rental place. Whatever it is that you see, you buy it, bring it home and, often, experience regret later. You think, “Why did [...]

It’s only October and Halloween hasn’t even passed yet. However, it’s not too early to start planning your holiday meals and baking. I was in the store the other day and they already have the special center aisle display set up with all of the traditional baking ingredients. Things like stuffing mix, cranberries, pie shells, [...]

This is the time of year when one of my friends starts running around like a maniac trying to use up all of the coupons from her Entertainment Book. Most of the coupons expire in November, so we will spend the next month eating in all kinds of places and doing all sorts of activities [...]

No matter how little money you earn, there is almost always someone, somewhere (likely in your own area), who is managing to live well on less than what you make. Now, by living “well” I don’t necessarily mean having a three thousand square foot house, a Mercedes, a cruise every year, and a housekeeper. I’m [...]

When we go out to eat, I’m frequently annoyed by the menu. I’m not a big eater but most restaurant menus are designed for people with big appetites. This isn’t always a problem; there are doggie bags, after all. But sometimes I’m in a position where I can’t take a doggie bag. Maybe I’m running [...]

Back in the days before the Internet, it was rare to know what someone paid for a home, what their income was, what they paid in taxes, or how much they spent on their Christmas shopping. Finances were generally a private concern, discussed only amongst immediate family, if then. People who discussed money were considered [...]

I don’t know whether to classify the following as a strange way to save money, make money, or spend money, but it is definitely strange so I’ll leave it at that. I was out over the weekend with a friend trawling some yard sales. At one sale, the seller had a table set up with [...]

When it comes to financial problems, a lot of people tell you to, “Think positive.” Heck, if you read and believe, “The Secret,” all you have to do to be rich is to think positively. There’s some validity in this advice (although simply thinking about how much money you want will probably never make you [...]

With the economy in the doldrums, many people are getting their luxury fix by shopping at high end consignment stores. These stores specialize in luxury goods and brands. It’s possible to pick up Prada, Tiffany, Gucci, and other high end brands for a fraction of what they would cost new. Many items have been used [...]

If you have a dryer at home, you know that dryer lint is never in short supply. It seems like one of those things that should just always go into the trash, but there are ways to use it that might save you a little money (after you save money using your dryer), or at [...]

A long time ago, when I was starting to get my finances in order, I did everything I was supposed to do. I made out budgets, I tracked my spending, I watched all the small expenses, and I planned for the bigger expenses. This was all well and good, but something was still missing. I [...]

New legislation that took effect on October 1st means that banks can no longer collect exorbitant fees from merchants whenever you swipe your debit card. What does this mean for you? Your bank will now likely switch to collecting those fees from you, the customer. Several banks, including Bank of America, SunTrust, Chase, and Wells [...]

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 it is because, as with haggling, people are embarrassed to barter. Some people feel uncomfortable [...]

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 home. By the time you pay for overpriced drinks and then tip, you’ve spent three, [...]

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 you can absorb the loss. Even so, some people still feel guilty about spending on [...]