Warning: The Government Mail You Received Might Be a Scam

Posted November 16, 2009 - 08:27 by Will Chen

Small Business Resource Center, Consumer Affairs

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For Love or Money: Must It Be One or the Other?

Posted November 16, 2009 - 06:00 by Nora Dunn

Career and Income

A recent Wise Bread article explored whether the career advice “do what you love” is idealistic or sensible. I don’t see it as black or white; this article examines a few x-factors that might determine the sort of person who does what they love, and why we all have a disadvantage when it comes to career choices.

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Celebrate Your Life (and Help Others do the Same) with Bcelebrated – Plus a Discount for Wise Bread Readers

Posted November 15, 2009 - 08:00 by Nora Dunn

Personal Finance

Bcelebrated is a unique service that allows you to create your own online autobiographical legacy, communicate your last wishes to those you have something to say to, organize your estate, and make life easy for those you leave behind when you die. Not to be morbid, but if you care about who you leave behind, you may want to read this article.

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Join Wise Bread at the Miami Book Fair This Sunday!

Posted November 14, 2009 - 01:19 by Will Chen

Art and Leisure

Myscha and Sharon will be on hand to sign books and and answer questions. Fair also features Nobel laureates, hot novelists, rock stars, and celebrity chefs. Stop by the book signing for a chance to win $20 Amazon gift certificate.

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Dream Job or Day Job?

Posted November 13, 2009 - 08:29 by Philip Brewer

Career Building

Most people I know have a frustrated passion. There's something they'd rather do a lot more of, but making a living gets in the way. Some people simply accept that their passion will get short shrift, while other people make great efforts to arrange their life so they can follow their passion. For the latter folks, I'm familiar with three general strategies: dream job, day job, and early retirement.

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Stock a Natural Food Pantry for Less

Posted November 13, 2009 - 08:00 by Sarah Winfrey

Food and Drink

Most people are under the impression that, while eating natural is better, it's also more expensive. And I'll grant that, sometimes, this is true. However, while having processed food on hand for snacks and recipes will cost you more (because you pay for the preparation), having natural ingredients is often cheaper simply because they aren't prepared. Read on for tips on what these cheaper items are, where to get the best deals, and why you might want to find them.

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How Foreclosure, Deed in Lieu, and Short Sale Affect Credit Scores

Posted November 13, 2009 - 07:00 by Xin Lu

Real Estate and Housing

Currently millions of Americans are delinquent on their home loans or facing foreclosure. Foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, and short sales are several ways for borrowers to get out of a mortgage that is no longer affordable. Here is a quick guide to what these options are, and how much they could affect one's credit score.

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Start Stockpiling Now: Four Cheap Christmas Gifts to Make

Posted November 13, 2009 - 06:00 by Marla Walters

Food and Drink

I love receiving homemade Christmas gifts, and also enjoy making my own. However, a homemade gift can be really expensive if you pay full price for the ingredients. Fortunately, a lot of the ingredients listed below are on sale now. I like to “stockpile them,” so I am ready to go when I have time. Most of the recipes are also pretty easy.

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How to Buy Personal Carbon Credits That Count

Posted November 12, 2009 - 08:00 by Sierra Black

Green Living, Cars and Transportation

Even in this tough economy, there's a booming market in personal carbon credits. People are realizing that being "green" in an environmental sense is as valuable as being "green" in a financial one. Carbon offsets can be a great tool to reveal the true cost of our consumer choices. But they can also be fraudulent or foolish. Here's how to find the good ones.

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The Debt Trap: Factors That Have Led Us To Our Debt

Posted November 12, 2009 - 07:00 by Silicon Valley Blogger

Credit Cards

We're a nation of borrowers. This reality is quite well illustrated by the personal stories and profiles covered by various media publications on the subject of consumer debt. Recently, The New York Times published a series on debt, which I found to be both highly intriguing and sobering, as it shed light on the plight of debtors and took a peek at our saving and borrowing habits. So how did we get caught in so much debt?

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Do What You Love: Idealistic Nonsense Or Good Advice?

Posted November 12, 2009 - 06:00 by WC Porter

Career Building

"Do what you love" has always been the cheesiest advice you can give a young person, but can it really be solid advice? In anything you do, there's the struggle of between paying the bills and doing something you're passionate about. Can you have your cake and eat it too? Gary Vaynerchuk sure seems to think so.

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Best of Personal Finance: 12 Surprising Uses for Vick VapoRub

Posted November 11, 2009 - 10:36 by Linsey Knerl

Personal Finance

Welcome to Wise Bread’s Best of Personal Finance Roundup. This week, we look at outrageous ways to use Vick's VapoRub, 23 ways to decorate that bedroom, and 10 of the best brands to follow on Twitter.

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Coming Soon: Good Times for Temp Workers

Posted November 11, 2009 - 08:09 by Philip Brewer

Career and Income

During a recession is the worst time to be a temp -- whatever work companies have will go to employees, as a way to avoid having to lay them off. Another bad time is middle of a recovery -- things are going so well that managers figure it's safe to hire new permanent employees. Still, there are two good times to look for temp work, and we're coming up on one of them.

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The High Cost of Music

Posted November 11, 2009 - 07:00 by Lain Ehmann

Art and Leisure

I’m all for the arts. I try to encourage my kids to express themselves: I hang all their “masterpieces” on the fridge, I listen to their kazoo solos, and I even let them play with Play-Doh (though I hate the stuff). But I had to balk when my nine-year-old told me she wanted to play the piano. It wasn’t the playing, per se. It was the learning. Why is it so darned expensive to hire a piano teacher?

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Super Sports Gear for Less

Posted November 11, 2009 - 06:00 by Sasha A. Rae

Art and Leisure

Itching to hit the woods, but don’t have the right gear for it? Worried about being decked out in low priced (and low quality gear)? There’s nothing worse than freezing on the slopes or feeling the rain trickle inside your clothing while bicycling. But the best clothes and equipment don’t have to come at the highest prices. With a little bit of field research and some time spent surfing online, you can find everything you need for less.

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Ask the Readers: Do You Have the Tools? (Chance to win MS Office!)

Posted November 10, 2009 - 10:35 by Linsey Knerl

Giveaways

Since sharing is really what we want to be about, we don't just want to give you ideas -- we want to equip you with tools, as well! That's why in addition to this week's prizes of Amazon Gift Cards (which are perfect for stocking up on paper, pens, or any other "tools" you use to stay organized), we are giving one lucky reader their own copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac or PC, compliments of SlideShare and Microsoft.

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