Personal Finance Advice

I recently came across an article on The Simple Dollar website entitled “Dealing With A Bad Day Without Spending Money.” The author, Trent Hamm, listed 6 things that help him to chill out after a bad day and don’t cost a thing. I was inspired by the suggestions he listed and came up with 13 [...]

This morning it was 2 degrees outside when I woke up. When it’s that cold outside, most people tend to want a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate to warm them up. However, I made myself an iced latte this morning. Most people think I’m crazy for drinking iced coffee when it’s hardly holding [...]

I know many kids who grow up and go to college on their own dime, spending all their own hard earned cash for the next twenty years getting out of that debt. I also know of several kids who had a stockpile of cash they could use for tuition, even if they skipped a couple [...]

As a child, I went grocery shopping with my adult sister at a store that didn’t exist in my hometown. When she checked out, the cashier gave her a number of stamps based on how much she had spent, and she discovered that she had enough saved to treat me to a toy chosen from [...]

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. Each little [...]

We recently had our first snow of the winter and now my city is under a blanket of white. Snow sure makes everything more beautiful (except the roads and my car). Many people take advantage of winter sports like skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, but these activities can come with quite a hefty price tag. If [...]

Some people are “pound wise and penny foolish.” That is, they focus their savings efforts only on big items while letting small amounts of money slip through their fingers. Having tallied up my “penny savings” from last year, I can tell you that small amounts of money can quickly add up to big savings. Last [...]

“Countercultural” is one of the last things most people would call me, but the description that fits me well. Chances are, if you are reading this article, you are countercultural, too. Living within your means and saving for the future are pretty radical ideas in our culture of easy credit and instant gratification. In addition [...]

Personal finance books and articles offer many simple ways to save money — cut out a daily trip to Starbucks, turn down the heat by one degree, order water at restaurants — and all of these tips are useful, but we often ignore the fact that the best way to save money is not so [...]

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 [...]

I try to live an environmentally friendly life. Among other things, I drive a smaller car, I recycle, and I use compact fluorescent light bulbs. I’m interested in doing more to help the environment, but sometimes I find myself stymied by the cost of becoming truly green. Environmentally friendly detergents, cleaning products, light bulbs, clothes [...]

I was recently on a lengthy cross-state drive with a few family members that took us through miles and miles of farmland. Along the way, my brother in law asked “What do farmers do in winter?” Now, I’m no farming expert, but I always like to share my ideas as possible answers when a question [...]

Some bits of advice are so common that they’re cliche – don’t put all your eggs in one basket, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and so forth. But have you ever thought about how advice for other areas of your life can apply to saving [...]

In recent weeks I’ve felt a distinct discomfort when listening to the media, the government, and even my acquaintances talk about money. It’s always been pretty clear that I’m not normal and that I don’t fit financially into this society. I’m a saver and a proponent of more frugal lifestyles. I’m not a big spender. [...]

Coupon clippers and other frugal types are under constant scrutiny by those who are eager to call them “penny wise but pound foolish.” “You might be saving pennies there,” the naysayers say, “but you waste dollars on the big things.” While penny pinchers who overlook big savings are common enough to make “penny wise but [...]

Creativity is vital for frugal living. No, you don’t need to be a poet or a sculptor to save money, but you do need to look at life a little differently from how most people do. One of the ways creativity comes into play when saving money is in problem solving. Trying to discover the [...]

The drumbeat of recession talk continues to grow louder in the media and amongst financial analysts. The housing crisis, the credit crunch, high energy prices, the falling dollar, inflation, and slowing consumer spending are all contributing to a troubled economy. While no one can see into the future and know for certain whether or not [...]

If I were to ask the average person what makes a Lexus better than a Kia, an outfit from Nordstrom better than one from WalMart or a Coach purse better than a Canyon River Blues one, the most common response I would probably get is “quality.” Now I’ve always been one to try to spend [...]