By Jennifer Derrick
I love to read and will read just about anything. Needless to say, before I turned frugal I spent a lot of money on books and magazines. I solved the book problem by frequenting my local library. Magazines were a bit more difficult. Sure, I can read them at the library (and sometimes […]

By Shannon Christman
Other than our mortgage and utilities, the majority of our regular spending goes to consumables. It’s amazing to think how much it costs to keep our bodies fed, clean, and healthy. Penny pincher that I am, I try to squeeze every last bit out of our consumable items before I throw […]

By Marilyn Brodeur
The other day on the light rail I sat near a woman. Let’s call her Sally Jesse. Sally Jesse spun her head around every time we stopped, asked everyone around her what station we were at, and promptly swiveled around to stare at the roadmap. Then a full 3 stops before Sally […]

By David John Marotta
With the end of the year quickly approaching, how do things look? Specifically, are you on track to meet your goals? Have you measured? What gets measured is more likely to be accomplished. Computing your net worth once a year is the first and most important step toward financial security.
Net worth […]

By Ann Hartter
Do you want to know what I dislike more than grocery shopping? Coming home with more grocery bags. Plastic or paper, it doesn’t matter. I just don’t reuse all those bags, and the piles keep stacking up. So I started searching for some clever reusable and recycling grocery bag ideas, and I’m passing […]

By Jennifer Derrick
I was talking with a group of friends about the upcoming holidays and one said, “I’m so afraid of Christmas. I don’t know how we’re going to afford it and I just know we’re going to end up in financial trouble because of it. It terrifies me, but there’s nothing I can do […]

This is my project for the weekend - to build a solar window heater (shown in the video below). It’s been a fairly mild winter here in Japan thus far and I have managed not to take out the space heater, but it’s been getting colder and it is just a matter of time. With […]

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 […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
When I got married 2 years ago, I wanted a beautiful wedding (like most girls do). But we also had to pay for most of the wedding ourselves, which many couples have to do. So one our first big decisions as a new couple was to decide how extravagant, or how […]

By Shannon Christman
EBay and its competitors have renewed the popularity of auction-style sales, but many online auction devotees have been too busy or too intimidated to try the real thing - a live auction. They are the equivalent of football fans who have never seen their team play in the stadium.
Even if […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
I never pay any of our bills. Neither does my husband. But they get paid. Every month and on time.
Now I’m not advocating ignoring your bills and racking up a ton of debt. That would be stupid and begging for bankruptcy. What I am advocating is never physically […]

By J. Alan Maguire
Working in the web development industry, I get a chance to go to at least one conference, seminar, or training class every year. This way I can keep up with the latest technologies and our company benefits from my acquired knowledge. However, convincing the company my conference of choice is worthwhile […]

By Shannon Christman
“You’re causing me social stress!” was a common complaint of my college roommate, who liked solitude. I, on the other hand, loved the social life of the dorms and the wide activities college offered. I knew what she meant by “social stress,” though, and I still occasionally experience it today, often due […]

By Ann Hartter
Do you ever wander by an empty house for sale or rent and wonder what kinds of treasures it may hold? You might be surprised.
Once, I had my secrets about houses, but now that I’m a homeowner and won’t be house-hopping anymore, I’ll share them with you. People lose the strangest […]

By Ann Hartter
The older the artist, the smaller the crayons become. Many kids don’t have a problem with broken crayons. Many kids ignore them. Many kids get gifted several boxes of crayons in a year, or build up a collection over time. Throwing crayon pieces away is one of the most dissatisfying clean-up jobs to […]

By Shannon Christman
The growing problem of landfills is a bit too abstract and remote in my mind for it to keep me from throwing things away. And I’ve even climbed one, Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach, now a city park. Far more effective at helping me keep down my personal waste is possibility of […]

By Shannon Christman
In today’s climate of big business and automated customer service, nearly everyone has at least one story to tell about getting nowhere when complaining to a company about its products, services, or practices. Just like person-to-person relationships, person-to-company relationships have much potential for miscommunication, mistrust, and misunderstanding.
So what do you do when you […]

By Amy L. Fontinelle, Special Contributor
I seem to have inherited the garage sale gene from my grandparents. Every time I went to their house as a kid, they would show off their latest garage sale finds — puzzles, wall art, books, and whatever knickknacks struck their fancy. I never went to many garage sales as […]

By Shannon Christman
The old adage says that a toddler (or baby) would rather play with the box a toy comes in than with the toy itself. If the adage is true (which it usually is), why not save some money and give your young children what they really want? Make toys from the […]

By Shannon Christman
As I price items for our community’s yard sale this weekend, I try not to think of the difference between the original price and the price I’m writing on the sticker. My primary goal with the yard sale is to get rid of some clutter, but the extra cash will be nice, […]