Personal Finance Advice

There are plenty of organizations out there that claim that it’s worthwhile joining their ranks. It’s important to evaluate a membership to make sure it makes sense for your particular needs. Even when you have to pay, there are times when a membership makes sense and you can get much more value back than you [...]

On one of the board gaming forums I frequent the term, “Cult of the new” is frequently tossed about by posters. What they’re referring to are all the new games that come out each year. They’re new, hot, and hyped to the max. People pay exorbitant amounts of money to get their hands on the [...]

I hear from people who are struggling with money that one of the things that bothers them the most is their inability to financially help their favorite nonprofits and charities. The view that the only way to help these organizations is through a monetary donation is one that is far too prevalent. I hope this [...]

I recently received an email asking me if I could give some pointers on how to get a free turkey for Thanksgiving since I’d managed to buy and cook a full Thanksgiving meal for six people for under one dollar (this is what it looked like). One of the biggest obstacles that I faced with [...]

People spend a fortune trying to “improve” the air quality in their homes. They buy fabric sprays, air fresheners, candles, special vacuum cleaners, and expensive purification machines. Unfortunately, most of the candles, plug-ins, and sprays just make things worse. They don’t eliminate odors; they simply mask them. As for the expensive machines, many don’t work [...]

Everyone would like to save money on food if it means they can still get the same quality for a better price. One are where most people can save on their food bill is to reduce the amount of food they waste. Americans through out as much as 40% of their food according to a [...]

How many times have you brought home a new appliance, electronic gizmo, or power tool and promptly tossed the instruction manual without reading it. “I’ll just wing it,” you say to yourself. You may be able to do that, but chances are that reading the manual is still a worthwhile thing to do. Instruction manuals [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s that time of the year again with Halloween less than a month away. That means that you will soon need to decide on a costume, and the more time you take to prepare, the better chance you have of keeping down the costs associated with it. Here are some ways that you can save [...]

The sounds coming from our eighteen year old refrigerator have recently changed. There’s more moaning and banging now instead of the smooth hum that has always been there. I’ve taken this as the cue to begin the search for a replacement, after attempting to solve the problem myself. The search has been depressing in more [...]

This summer in our area has been a terrible one for rabies. At least three dogs have had to be put down because their owners didn’t get them a rabies shot and the dogs later came into contact with rabid wildlife. While I won’t argue about what constitutes responsible pet ownership, I will argue about [...]

The Rafflecopter Cash Giveaway Project is a free, ongoing, bi-monthly giveaway that is open to all personal finance and money bloggers. Each giveaway has a different personal finance theme. The goal of the giveaway is to encourage blog readers to find ways to improve their finances to help them reach their financial goal as quickly [...]

If you’ve ever eaten at a fast food or casual restaurant, you’ve probably ended up with extra napkins. You know how it goes. You go to the dispenser and grab a few but don’t use them all. Or the dispenser is jammed up so you dig at it and end up getting a huge handful [...]

More and more parents are deciding that homeschooling is the correct choice for their kids. Those that do decide to homeschool soon discover that it can be an expensive endeavor. It doesn’t have to be that way. There are a number of simple steps that can be taken to reduce the cost of homeschooling. Here [...]

One of the best ways to save money is to Do It Yourself. Whether it’s home or car maintenance, repairs, cleaning, or crafting usable items out of trash, the more you can do yourself, the more money you can save. It is almost always cheaper to buy materials and do the labor yourself than to [...]

Over the years, I’ve made many purchases that I wouldn’t have made if I’d just tired the item before I bought it. Sometimes the item hasn’t lived up to my expectations (video games that turn out not to be fun or challenging, for example) or it’s had unexpected downsides (the refrigerator that was incredibly loud). [...]

I think that most people have either a love-hate or hate-hate relationship with their hair. It’s certainly one of personal hygiene habit that most people take extremely seriously (and there are a lot of hair myths that cost us all a fortune and hair can teach us a lot about personal finance). A hairstyle is [...]