In the do-it-yourself world, saving money is dependant on if you can actually get the job done without ending up doing more harm than there originally was in the beginning. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and this email from a reader wants to know how to discourage the problem:
I have a big problem […]

There is often confusion with bi-weekly mortgage plans. Many people hear about them for the first time and assume that all they have to do is pay their mortgage 2 times a month and they will get these incredible savings. The key, however, is in the subtle difference between paying twice a month and paying […]

Too much stuff. Most of us can probably relate to it. Martha Stewart claims that we don’t use 80% of the stuff that we own. When it is time to clear out some it it, what is the best way to go about it? This is the question I received from this reader over the […]

There is rarely a single answer in personal finances that fits for everyone. Due to this, issues that you always assumed were easy to answer may be more difficult that your thought. That is a question I received from a woman wanting to know whether or not purchasing a house was the right move for […]

Junk. We all accumulate more of it than we probably need to, but what if it is someone else’s junk that is causing a problem? That is the question that this reader sent in hoping for some advice:
I visit my parents house on a regular basis to help them clean and all I can […]

By Teri Newton
The state of California recently reviewed a sample of state tax returns which claimed large mortgage interest deductions and found that 75% of the tax returns had claimed excessive interest deductions. There are rules that limit how much interest you can deduct for your mortgage and other monies borrowed against your house. However, […]

Trying to evaluate when it is worthwhile to pay somebody to come in and help or do it yourself is sometimes difficult. The following reader has a question about what is the best option for improving the resale value of her house:
I have a question that I hope that you can help me with. […]

When purchasing a house, there are a lot of considerations to take into account before making the purchase. This reader writes wondering if their dream house is ruined by a single (but major) fault.
We have been looking for a new house for about six months now. We finally found what I would consider […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle
Since I live in an area of the country where housing prices are higher than what I can afford, I was considering buying property in a very affordable state where I used to live and renting the property out. That city has a lot of available duplexes and quadraplexes, so I decided […]

If you have extra space in your house, you may have considered renting out a room to bring in some extra cash and share the utility bill costs. One reader is thinking about doing such a thing, but wants to know if there are any hidden costs that he should be aware of:
I am curious […]

With the price of hotels eating up a larger piece of overall travel expenses, finding good accommodations at reasonable prices has become an important factor when planning any vacation. It is no longer unusual to have accommodation expenses amount to more than half of the total cost of a vacation. Not having to pay for […]

By Teri Newton
Hanging around the frugal online personal finance communities I see the general advice to buy the cheapest house you can afford. I disagree with this pretty heavily. We moved to a lower cost of living area in our early 20s because it was frankly the only way we could have the […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle
Since I live in an expensive part of the country, I never gave a thought to buying a home. Everyone I knew, even successful people in their mid-thirties, rented. Then I started reading personal finance books, all of which said that I needed to quit renting yesterday. At first I just dismissed […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle
Many of us feel like there’s little point in preparing for a disaster because we never know when something might happen and it’s impossible to be perfectly prepared. If you back up your computer every Friday and it gets stolen on a Thursday, you’ve still lost an entire week’s worth of […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle
If you’re a potential first time homebuyer, you may be confused about those mysterious closing costs — the expense that means that when you think you’ve finally saved up enough for a down payment, you really haven’t. Closing costs can add 2% to 5% to the purchase price of your home, which […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle
The first time a realtor explained the home inspection process to me, I thought, “What a load of crap! I can test the dishwasher and make sure all the outlets work myself! Why would I pay someone else $450 to do those things?” If you, like me, aren’t sure […]

My wife loves the smell of lemons so she incorporates them whenever possible to make our house smell lemony. An added benefit is that using lemons instead of store bought house cleaners and fresheners is a lot less expensive and better for the environment. Here are some of many ways she uses lemons around our […]

When you’re in the market for a new home, it’s easy to spend hours pouring over online listings. But don’t get too excited about that dream home that meets all of your criteria on paper: the listing is just the beginning.
Think of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service, an online database of homes for sale) […]

Hold on and gain your breath. Before you discount this idea from the beginning simply from the title, bear with me on this one and know that this does work. Most people have to step out of their comfort zone and even those of you who consider yourselves outgoing, might feel a bit odd about […]

There is yet another shady deal going around with mortgage loans these days. If you receive an offer from a lender or mortgage broker under a “Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Program” endorsed by the Federal Reserve Board, raise that red flag right away. First and foremost, the Federal Reserve does not endorse or sponsor any […]