budget

Budget Busters

Every day I read about 60-70 personal finance/frugal living blogs. Through the help of many of our online friends, I have been fortunate enough to put my personal finance position

Realistic Budgeting: The Marriage Saver

The road to divorce is not necessarily paved with infidelity, quite possibly it's paved with secretive purchases and a lack of budget that causes both parties resentment and st

How to wrap gifts with leftovers.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m no fan of the greeting card and gift wrapping industries. Not only are their products way over-priced, they’re also less than original in most cases.

This Year’s Hot Toy is Next Year’s Trash

Our commitment to saving money has always prevented my family from buying the current year’s “Hot” toys. Every year that I hold tight to the de

How the rich stay rich; a lesson in lateral thinking

A friend recently told me the story of how a millionaire thinks. Not every millionaire of course, just one in particular. It's ingenius, as you will discover. But it really mad

Debt repayment is not an expense

Over and over again, in budgeting articles and even books on personal finance, I see sample budgets that include debt repayment as if it were an expense. This shows a fundamental

Stash Your Cash: Utility Trailers As an Extra Vehicle Alternative

More often than not, if my husband and I need an extra vehicle on any given day, it’s for hauling one thing or another. Early in our marriage, we debated at length the wisdom of buying a truck as a back – up vehicle. [more]

Ten More Ways to Go Green and Save Money

Loved the last list of ideas for going green and saving money? Here are ten more strategies to expand your green repertoire.

Stash Your Cash: Developing a Replacement Plan for Emergency Savings

We all hear and respond to the popular advice of stashing away an emergency savings account for those unexpected bumps life throws our way. We tuck away tax returns, bonuses, rebates and any extra bit of cash we can carve out each month. [more]

What's Cooking? This Monday's Work at Home Meal Menu

Well, it's Monday and everything that brings along with it. So, we'll be digging out my favorite time saver again, the crockpot. This time, dinner's more Italian in nature. Haven't

10 Ways to Go Green and Save Money at the Same Time

Want to help the environment, but not too keen on all of the expensive suggestions floating around out there? Here are 10 frugal ways to incorporate green living into your life wit

101 things to do with a $1 bill.

What can a dollar buy you these days? Certainly not a gallon of gas, which it could have done 6 years ago. Anyway, this idea actually came out of a lunchtime chat with some friends. [more]

Ponder it: to budget or not to budget

Some of us need or want a budget, some of us don't. Here are some tips for deciding which category you're in. [more]

Budgeting for the rest of us, or How to follow a budget without breaking down in tears

Budgeting can be difficult. For some people (like me!), it brings up things that they may not want to see. For others, it's a necessary but frustrating tool to curtail spending, or a painful reminder of how much they overspent, yet again. [more]

Pet Peeves Part 1: Couture Critters Are Expensive!

All totaled, my dogs cost me $600 every month last year. [more]

Balancing Act: The Perils of Budgeting

For years, I've not had a budget because I didn't think I needed one. [more]