Joann Hong's blog

Holiday Lessons Learned: Advice To Avoid Rip-Offs NYC

This holiday season has been rough for me. I moved out to New York for a few months and thought I'd be set with my savings and supplementary, lucrative temp work. However, at t

Give Household Products New Use: Clever Cleaning Tips From the Motherland

Out of all the famous shows to come out of the UK, who would have thought my favorite would star two nanny-like figures clad with rubber gloves? But as a girl who moves around from

Can Black Google Save You Energy?

An Australian company, Heap, has come up with a search engine that could Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year. How will they do it? They've turned Google black. From what I've read, ther

DIY Berlin Style

I am a believer in the idea that wealth can stunt personal creativity. When you can buy it all, what’s the need to invent anything? When I was a kid my mother forbade me from playi

Five Beauty Products I've Learned To Live Without

Beauty products are my weakness. I don't feel as guilty spending money on them because they're always cheaper than 20 dollars (well, the ones I buy anyway). But this is a bad habit

Pure Genius - All In The Name Of Eco-Friendly

Ok, recycling is as eco-friendly as I get so far, and I'm even too lazy for that sometimes. [more]

Best Time For Summer Shopping In Europe!

Did your high season European flight take a huge chunk out of your savings? Well, at least the shopping doesn't have to be as painful, even with the weak dollar conversion rates. M

Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?

News about the "secret" Starbucks short cup is now over a year old, but people still don't believe me when I tell them about this little treasure. For those who may not have heard