Personal Finance Advice

The library is an awesome, low cost place to hang out. But once you’ve read all the books, taken all the classes and surfed everything on the web, what else is there? Try these suggestions to make the most of your tax dollars.
Find a date – Forget online dating websites. Choose your next date [...]

Dear Mr. CEO of a fiction company that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the author’s current real-life employer:
We, your loyal employees, understand money is tight. We know you’re doing everything you can to keep the company running. But morale is down. Your employees think all you care about is meeting a sales number. Do [...]

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the library for the books they provide. But even I didn’t realize all the free resources and activities they have until I spent a week actively seeking out all they had to offer. I was surprised at how much I found and had to pinch myself [...]

I’ve recently discovered the joy of belonging to a special club that gives you discounts at restaurants of half off (and sometimes more). I want to share this saving opportunity with those who are not yet aware so they can save money at restaurants too. It doesn’t cost anything to join and it’s not [...]

When you take a vacation away from home, you spend enough to get there (especially with the higher gas prices this year) and to stay there (even if you camp) that you might not want to spend a whole lot on attractions. Thankfully, most areas have at least a few fun and interesting things [...]

It’s been said that when you take free advice, you should remember that you get what you pay for. I agree that it’s important to evaluate any advice — free or not — before following it, but rejecting all free advice because it is free is a really bad idea. (Unless you paid someone [...]

The boxes were gone. My three-year-old was crestfallen. He had looked forward to his regular job of returning the plastic bags from last week’s grocery shopping trip to the recycling boxes just inside the store. But the boxes are no longer there; an employee told us that the store had discontinued its recycling. [...]

A lot of people ask me: “If you don’t watch TV and you choose to limit movies, clubs, restaurants, etc. in order to save money, what do you do for entertainment? Aren’t you bored?” I usually look at them, dumbfounded, because to me there is too much to do and boredom is never a problem. [...]

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 I do), [...]

I became intrigued with collecting sheet music for various instruments, most of which I play, ever since my mom came home from an auction with a box full of sheet music in pristine condition, dated in a range of the past 100 years. She was really pleased with the score, no pun intended; it is [...]

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 [...]

We haven’t had a significant salary raise in this household for quite some time. Yet, despite the fact that our income hasn’t gone up very much, our standard of living has increased. We’re able to travel more and buy more of our wants. Not all, but some. I wondered how this could be. If our [...]