If you’ve read my articles for any length of time, you may have noticed I’ve leaned toward the frugal side of spending for well, most of my life. Recently though I’ve learned to loosen up and allow myself some wants as well as needs, and to spend a little extra for things that add beauty […]
You likely have heard the news about the Equifax security breach, but in case you haven’t, hackers gained access to the personal credit information one half to possibly 2/3 of the American adult population. The stolen information is sufficient to steal your identity and open credit in your name. With a breach this big, you […]
It seems almost inevitable these days that your credit card information will be at risk from a retailer’s system breach or worse, your card number stolen and used for fraudulent purchases. Clearly the established credit payment systems are lacking. Next generation payment methods like mobile pay and chipped credit cards promise improvement; whether they will […]
This fall our family tackled a project I dubbed “let’s pretend we’re moving.” We did a whole house cleanup, and got rid of a huge amount of stuff that was weighing us down. We’ve had several years of health issues in our family, and when those types of things come along, it can put you […]
We’ve had lots of movement in our family lately— literally. My daughter moved out of an apartment, my son moved into one, and we moved our office. It occurred to me as I was lugging boxes and wondering whose bright idea moving the office was, that moving is like childbirth. It’s difficult to go through, […]
The past few years have been downright pitiful when it comes to earning interest on bank accounts. With the average savings account paying close to zero, and some even charging fees, which puts your return in the negative, it can be discouraging to see your savings sit idle. But what options are there? With some […]
For years, I have waited in vain each night for the dinner fairy to appear; alas, she did not and I would yet again accept that I would need to come up with a meal myself. Cooking is not high on my list of fun things to do, and as my days got busier and […]
When you think about budget breakers, do you think of things like vacations and big-screen TVs? While those surely can be expensive purchases, from my experience of working with folks on their finances, I’ve found it’s the relatively smaller category of convenience food that does the most damage to our finances on a regular basis. […]
~by Andra Baehr, Shopping on a Shoestring with Kids in Velcro Shoes I’ve gone back to the drawing board in an attempt to revamp my budget and save some extra money in 2014. I figured a fresh look at some of my family’s largest expenses couldn’t hurt. The grocery bill is always one of the […]
Were you one of the 40 million people who shopped at Target with a debit or credit card between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15? I was, and so were a lot of other people I know. I don’t shop in stores much, but I happened to be in Target with both my business debit card […]
