Personal Finance Advice

If you knew that a friend busted their budget in order to invite you over for dinner, would you enjoy the dinner? Probably not. Keep this thought in mind when you entertain.
When preparing for dinner guests, wondering, “What will they think about the water stains on the ceilings?” is normal. Hoping the [...]

By Keith Brainard from Brainard Brewing
Editor’s Note: This guest post came about from discussion of the article Life Is Far Too Short To Drink Cheap Beer - 10 Ways To Maximize Your Beer Value where several readers commented that brewing your own beer gives the best value for your money
I have to admit, I have [...]

My husband and I just returned from a 17 day, 5,500-mile road trip westward from our home in South Carolina. Even though 4.5 million visit the Grand Canyon every year, we still felt like bold adventurers because it was all new to us.
And, I have learned that as a white person, apparently I can [...]

Last week, I thought I had found a great deal on 12-packs of 7-Up and A & W root beer ($2 each) but my total grocery bill seemed high, and when I checked my receipt at home, I found I had paid $3.99 for each case of soda. When I remembered looking at the [...]

When money gets tight, one place that many people try to save money is on food. The problem is that this often means sacrificing healthy food. Therefore when the food budget is tight, a question that is often asked is whether it is possible to eat health food and still stay within budget? That is [...]

Leftovers used to make me gag. Unfortunately, I was too cheap to eat out frequently, and too lazy to cook a completely new meal every night. This caused internal conflicts. I had to find creative ways to enjoy eating at home more often. Here are some ideas I experimented with that finally convinced my [...]

By Al at Hop Talk
Editors Note: I wrote a piece on how to save money on beer awhile back and Al chasized me for only considering how to save money and not about how to get true value. In response, he has put together this list of how to get the best value out of [...]

I once saw a T.V. chef - he had the hat and the accent so I guess he was legit - make an Asian dish with toasted sesame seeds. The recipe was so simple and tasty - he said so, so I knew it was true - that I decided to give it a try. [...]

When self-checkouts started to appear everywhere a few years ago, I balked at using them, despite the retail industry’s promises of shorter lines and lower prices. Call me a Luddite, but I believed (and still do believe) that this technology puts people out of work. A 2004 article in eWEEK.com’s special report on self-checkouts, [...]

If you want to save money, watch your prices! Watch them figuratively by shopping around for the best deals, but also watch them literally when they are rung up at the cash register. If a scanned price is different from the price marked on the shelf, you may get that item free.
Mass [...]

Sometimes the best ways to save depends on the number of people involved. That is the question that a single reader has about the cost of food:
I’m single male and I keep reading that it’s less expensive to cook your own food. I would love to save money, but I find that it is [...]

By Shannon Christman
Are free-after-rebate offers really free? Sometimes. In fact, sometimes you - the consumer - can actually make a little money on the deal.
“What Does That Free Item Really Cost Me?
Free-after-rebate refunds generally come in two forms: check or store credit in the amount of the purchase price. When [...]

By S. Shugars
Many people don’t like coupons. I’m one of them. But with BBQ season now upon us, this is the one time of the year that I do use coupons. If you go to the alcohol section of the grocery store, you will see that many of the wines, hard liquors and beers will [...]

By S Shugars, special to pfadvice
Conventional wisdom says that paying to have your groceries delivered to your door is a waste of money. I have to disagree with this assessment. I have found that having my groceries delivered has saved me far more time and money than I could have ever done by shopping [...]

The following was sent in by Dave, a reader that doesn’t have his own blog, but thought people might find this information interesting. I agree and so here are the confessions of a dumpster diver:
If you have never dumpster dived, then you probably have an image that isn’t too positive about this activity. I [...]

One of the most frustrating wastes of money is when you buy produce that ends up not tasting good. In most cases, I simply chalk it up to bad luck and take the loss. Part of the problem is that I’ve never known how to pick fruit to get the best of the bunch. Now [...]

While you probably don’t think a whole lot about it when you go shopping, stores are set up to manipulate all of your senses and to try and get you to spend as much money as possible. The store may appear to have been thrown together, but in reality they spent thousands of dollars on [...]

To save money on groceries, you can do lots of things besides clipping coupons (which I never do). Here are a few ideas to help you save money and add some spice to your routine.
Shop at ethnic markets: I find that a lot of really wonderful, exotic, and flavorful dishes can be recreated rather simply [...]

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. Weight loss is also big business — Americans spend tons of money on diet pills, weight loss surgeries, gym memberships, and special diet foods each and every year.
Losing weight when you are medically overweight can go a long way towards saving you money, [...]

I’m usually on a health kick in some form or fashion and regardless of whether my diet works, the one constant is that being healthy is expensive. One of the big areas that I’ve been able to manage costs is with my vitamin purchases. Luckily, with a little planning, consultation with a doctor [...]