Personal Finance Advice

As predicted, eight of the last nine days have been no-spend-days as I continue to house sit and work on my writing. This has been great news for the minimum wage challenge. As mentioned before, I had everything that I really needed which gave me the opportunity to save a bit of money, although it [...]

“I’m so messed up. I’m going out for a little retail therapy. Wanna come?” So began a recent conversation with my neighbor. I’ll admit that she’s got every reason to be upset: Her kids are in trouble, there are financial problems in her house, her job is a mess, and her relatives are the sort [...]

A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece about how to prevent kids from getting bored. The point was that when kids get bored, they get expensive. It’s tempting to give into the whining and take them to the movies, buy them a new toy, or take them to a paid play space. Well, [...]

One of the best things you can do financially for yourself is be smart about the things that you do in the limited amount of time you have each day. Most people who decide that they need to get more exercise immediately think about joining a gym. While this is certainly one way to get [...]

You’d think that all anyone has to do these days to secure an enjoyable and comfortable retirement is save money. The media, financial gurus, and your employer harp on money as the end-all, be-all of retirement. Just get there with enough money, they say, and you’re all set. Well, money is certainly important to your [...]

It happens to all of us. A valued relationship ends. It may be a friendship, a marriage, or a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Maybe the relationship ends through death, or divorce, or a messy break-up. Maybe it ends more gradually and one day you wake up and realize you just have nothing in common anymore. Maybe one [...]

When most people first begin to think about overhauling our finances or saving money, they usuallyfocus on issues such as budgeting, cash flow analysis, and how to improve a credit score. But almost all aspects of your life can affect your cash flow, directly or indirectly. It’s serendipitous when a life-change can not only improve [...]

Last week, Beer Guy wrote an entertaining article about some sage financial advice his uncle gave him when he was a boy. The advice (more colorfully phrased) was to avoid getting a girl pregnant until such time as he could be financially responsible for that action. Getting a girl pregnant too young equals financial disaster. [...]

Recently I went through a very stressful period in my life. I usually handle stress pretty well, but for some reason this time was different. The stress was making me ill. I had gastric problems related to the stress, I got migraines for the first time, and I started grinding my teeth at night, ruining [...]

When we think in terms of improving ourselves, we tend to think of big things like going back to school, investing in expensive clothes, joining a gym, using expensive cosmetics, or indulging in expensive spa treatments or hair styles. But there are many free and low cost things you can do to improve yourself (both [...]

The people around me are struggling with cut hours and layoffs, and cutting back on finances is only part of the effect. My friends are suddenly finding themselves with less to do. More time with the kids is good, but when the kids are in school — watching TV only has so much interest, until [...]

One of the truths of getting older is that it takes a lot more work to maintain one’s fitness as compared to when we were younger. Not only do you need to be serious about watching what you eat, but what you eat is more likely to stick to unwanted places. Thus, began my search [...]

We all know that staying healthy saves us money. The healthier you are, the lower your insurance and medical expenses are likely to be. We are encouraged to eat right, exercise and sleep well in order to remain healthy. But one area that is often overlooked when we talk about the health/money relationship is keeping [...]

Many years ago, I started walking, then running, for fitness. I needed to exercise more and everyone told me how walking/running was such great exercise and, best of all, it was free! All I had to do, I was told, was put on a pair of sneakers that I already had and go. It wouldn’t [...]