Personal Finance Advice

Last week I was out walking my dog on trash day. As I was walking past my neighbor’s trash heap (I say heap because they always have more trash than will fit in the trash can and they just pile it up on the road), I noticed a cute wire basket that was decorated with [...]

When I was in college, my roommates and I didn’t think twice about picking sofas, coffee tables, and housewares out of other people’s trash. Don’t get grossed out. We always gave them a good scrubbing and disinfecting when we got home. We were definitely tried and true dumpster divers, mostly because we were too broke [...]

I love my blue jeans. They’re a pain to find and when I do, I pay top dollar for something that fits and isn’t too fashionable. I then wear them till they’re holding on by mere threads. I do get good use out of my jeans, but the price I end up paying after a [...]

I don’t need the media or the government to tell me that the economy is heading south. I have a foolproof barometer of economic health in my own town. It’s called the scrap heap, aka, the metal recycler.
For about ten years, I’ve been collecting my aluminum cans and taking them to the scrap heap [...]

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 them away. [...]

When people ask me about ways to save money, I give them the usual answers. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need, look for the best deal on what you do need, be conscious of your spending, etc. But I also throw in one more simple piece of advice. Don’t throw stuff away that you know [...]