Personal Finance Advice

An insurance company has recently been running a television commercial in which it notes that saving money is now a very popular topic of conversation. One incidental character in the commercial tells a friend that since he stopped buying lunch each day and started bringing lunch from home, he is putting fifty dollars each week [...]

Plastic bags of all descriptions make up more of our budgets than we would like. Sandwich bags, storage bags, trash bags, and yard waste bags all contribute to our monthly spending. However, I have a friend who claims to have spent nothing on storage or trash bags for over two years. How does she do [...]

The mercury has reached about 96 degrees each of the past two days. With the beginning of July on us, we move deeper into hurricane season and that will have a very clear effect on my household buying patterns for the next few months. Peak hurricane season is July and August, but the season, which [...]

Summer is coming to the Northern hemisphere so, for most of us, we are going to be feeling the heat very soon. If you live in a climate that is already hot, as I do, the heat will be even more intense. No matter where you live, you will need to drink more, and more [...]

If you live in a small town, you probably know all of the good places to eat. Indeed, you might know all of the places to eat. The McDonald’s just off the highway. Maybe a locally owned restaurant or two. In small towns, there just are not a lot of options and that makes choosing [...]

Frugal living does not need to be Spartan and cost efficiency does not require huge sacrifice. Rather, in seeking to stretch our dollars we are attempting to get more, have more and, at least for many us, share more, than we would if we did not pay attention to our spending habits. Warren Buffet, for [...]

When it comes to saving money, one of the best things you can do is to use less of the products you do buy. Using less means the product lasts longer, which means you buy replacements and refills less often. We can use less of many products and still achieve the same (or better) results. [...]

Eating out is often an indulgence, sometimes a necessity, and usually costly. It can also be a lot of fun. Where we choose to dine out is a personal decision but most of us can be helped in our decision making if we can find good food in a good venue that offers good value. [...]

A couple of years ago, I bought two cases of drinking straws. When they arrived, I had something like three thousand straws taking up space in the back of my utility closet. My wife raised an eyebrow and wondered aloud whether I might be anticipating a great and imminent straw shortage. I explained that they [...]

This month, I have the pleasure of bringing you the wisdom of Stephan Iscoe, the visionary behind Big City Coffee. Stephan is a Renaissance man — musician, author, business consultant, serial entrepreneur and CEO. His story is fascinating and his advice well worth learning. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Stephan about his [...]

Most ice cream stores shops will allow customers to sample flavors before making a purchase. It makes perfect sense for ice cream stores to do that because it lets the ice cream sell itself. The same is true in cheese shops and many other specialty stores. Free samples are great, but they are just that [...]

If you spend more than a token amount of time either grocery shopping or cooking, you have probably noticed the Box Tops for Education and Campbell’s Labels for Education labels on certain grocery products. Box Tops for Education is a program sponsored by General Mills and it has returned over $300 million dollars to schools [...]

You’ve arrived at the grocery store with no plan. You didn’t review the sales flyer and you don’t have any coupons. Maybe you’re on vacation in a strange place, or maybe you’re just in a hurry and you didn’t have time to prepare. You may not even have a well thought out list. Is this [...]

In the current economy, many people have started cooking more at home. Many more people wish they could cook, but are intimidated or frustrated by cooking. It doesn’t have to be that way. Cooking at home doesn’t have to be difficult or even that much more time consuming than driving to a restaurant and waiting [...]

Are you overwhelmed and horrified by the prices you’ve been quoted to provide food and drinks for your wedding guests? It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some options to keep food and drink costs within your wedding budget. Choose a wedding venue that lets you choose the caterer: Many wedding reception sites [...]

A shopping list sounds like such a simple thing to do, but how many times have you arrived at the store with no list and no idea what you really need? It leads to frustration and overspending, doesn’t it? I hear you now: “A list takes too long to get together. When I need to [...]

Regardless of whether you are looking to reduce spending for the purposes of debt reduction, or for saving, the first thing that must be done is to identify where you are spending money unwisely. If you are not ready to be honest about a budget breaker, a vice, or a ‘treat,’ then you are not [...]

I’m terrible with coupons, but this week I managed to get get $45.48 worth of food for $3.50 — if you have a Safeway (or Safeway affiliated) grocery store near you, I will show you exactly how to do it. This week Safeway is offering Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups for $1.00 each if you use [...]

I know quite a few people who have tried to use coupons but ended up quitting because they got discouraged. They felt like they weren’t saving enough, or that somehow they weren’t doing it “right.” One woman put it simply when she explained, “I see these people on TV who get $600 worth of food [...]

Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint.com, thinks that for 20 and 30 year olds, the major savings problem is the cost of socially going out — dinners at restaurants, drinks with friends and the daily coffee at the local coffee shop. As we get older, the savings problem becomes one of trying to impress others [...]