Personal Finance Advice

Christmas is a time for giving, and it’s easy to get caught up in the spirit. Giving feels so good that it can easily result in overspending and sometimes stretching your credit to the limit. That means you might spend several months after the Holidays just taking care of debts you built up while the [...]

My friend is an aging veteran of WWII, having served in Europe and returned home with all of the horrific memories that combat service indelibly writes on the minds of those who experience it. After the war, he married a woman he loved and returned to a normal life, at least as normal as a [...]

Now that Halloween is over, the retailers have removed the gloves and stopped pretending like any other holiday matters. It’s now full speed ahead to Christmas. Usually I dread this time of year. I enjoy Christmas itself but I hate all the trappings that go along with it. I hate the marketing hype and the [...]

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but it can be stressful as well. Sometimes, people have expectations so high that they could never be met. Other times, it’s the little things that can pile up and just wear a person down. Here are some of those little things you probably want to avoid this [...]

As the years have gone on, I’ve grown tired of the Christmas retail madness. We are a family of all grown ups so gift buying is almost impossible. Everyone tends to buy what they need and want throughout the year, leaving little left for Christmas except an exchange of gift cards. (Which is kind of [...]

I spend a lot of time thinking about the holidays with thoughts about Christmas, cheap dates at Christmas (the holiday dates section), and the benefits of artificial Christmas trees among others. Whether you agree with my ideas or not, I believe that thinking about the holidays and how they affect your wallet is important. I [...]

Christmas and Chanukah and Kwanzaa are coming! That means that if you are a prudent shopper, you have been doing your holiday shopping for many months now. I am sure that all are doing a fine job of controlling their spending while they shop for holiday gifts but I wonder whether we are all spending [...]

Christmas cheer kicked in when I returned from my vacation and decorated my house. I emptied my Post Office box into a bag, then onto my table. Christmas cards (I scribble on a notebook some addresses before the envelopes disappear), bills (none unexpected), a couple of coupons, and junk mail galore. While booting my budget [...]

“Silver Bells” and “Silver and Gold”, some budgets just don’t allow a gift to all who deserve something for the holidays. You know how hungry animals in cartoons see our hero as a roast bird or some other tasty morsel? Throw open your pantry and see a stack full of sparkling gifts in tidy bows, [...]

I have never been able to make money online. I’m terrible at it. I’ve done survey sites, sign-up for stuff sites, read these email sites and rate our product sites. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m just not creative or persevering enough to read 500 2-cent emails to make the 10 dollar minimum that [...]

Bargain hunters looking for deeply discounted Christmas items and gift recipients eager to exchange their loot for something that better fits their bodies or personalities make the day after Christmas a busy one for retailers. With 364 shopping days until Christmas, those who work best under pressure might not have enough motivation to start shopping [...]