Posted April 22, 2008 - 05:12 by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Career and Income
Early retirement is a topic I've always been interested in. The particular version of it that this book deals with--living well on less money, as a means to getting by without having to work at a regular job--is not only interesting, it's the life I'm living. Allowing for the fact that it's aimed right at my own personal sweet spot, I liked it even better than I expected. It reads like the author started following me around a year ago, figured out exactly what questions I needed answered, then carefully and thoughtfully wrote a book to answer them.
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Posted March 5, 2008 - 19:50 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Shopping, Lifestyle, Real Estate and Housing, General Tips
I moved to the United States when I was a child from Yangzhou, China. After sixteen years, I could easily pass as an American because I speak English without an accent, and I am well versed with the popular culture. However, if you ever examined my attitudes toward money you will see that I am undeniably Chinese. Here are some of the principles I grew up with.
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Posted February 26, 2008 - 23:27 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Career and Income, Food and Drink, Lifestyle, General Tips
If you are a cube dweller like me you may be familiar with the usual benefits of a salary and paid days off, but there are many other ways you can benefit from your workplace. I am not talking about stealing pens or embezzling large sums of money. Read on for some of the practical and legal means I think you can use your work to squeeze just a little bit of extra savings for yourself.
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Posted February 8, 2008 - 00:10 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Shopping, Health and Beauty
Have you ever paid more than you normally would for something when you are trying to cheer yourself up? A recent study showed that a group of people who were sad offered almost four times more money for a bottle of water than a control group. Read on for more information about the "misery is not miserly" phenomenon.
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Posted January 22, 2008 - 14:48 by Philip Brewer
Frugal Living, Life Hacks
Are you tired of reading the same frugality suggestions? I'm talking about the repeated exhortations to eat out less, turn off your cable, and stop buying expensive coffee drinks. Tired as they are, these suggestions keep showing up for a reason: they're examples of the key insight that the best way to raise your standard of living is to focus your spending on the things that give you the most pleasure.
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Posted January 16, 2008 - 07:42 by Myscha Theriault
Food and Drink
In recent Wise Bread discussions and articles regarding the rising cost of bread and what to do about it, it's been clear that many of you want some serious strategies for getting the good stuff on the cheap. If you enjoy using make ahead mixes for the bread machine, but are still craving something more . . . shall we say exotic, you'll find major relief in this painstakingly researched St. Martin's Press title by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.
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Posted January 13, 2008 - 11:09 by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Frugal Living
You don't have to go very far down the path of being frugal to reach the point where people start questioning your sanity. (You bicycle to work? Even though you have a perfectly good car?) On the other hand, there's no idea so crazy that there aren't some frugal folks out there who swear by it. (I hesitate to suggest an example, for fear of offending some of our committed readers.) Still, there is a line where frugality becomes pathology. In fact, there are two lines. We have names for them. We call them stingy and miserly.
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Posted January 11, 2008 - 22:35 by Xin Lu
Extra Commentary
What if a magical spaceship from the planet Cheapos came to earth and brainwashed everyone so that every single American stopped buying useless junk and started to live way below their means? Here are some things that I think could happen if the denizens of the United States became tightwads over night. The effects will be global, and they are not all good.
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Posted January 11, 2008 - 10:45 by Philip Brewer
Frugal Living
I get a particular negative jolt when I review a credit card bill and find a charge for something that's already over and done--a meal already eaten, a vacation already taken, a tank of gas already burned up. I'm much happier paying a charge when I can pat the thing purchased and know that it'll be serving some useful purpose for years to come. Just recently, though, I've found that I'm beginning to have a little more appreciation for those purchases that are only memories before they're even paid for.
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Posted January 11, 2008 - 06:16 by Julie Rains
Lifestyle
Frugality can be fun and help you sleep peacefully. But don’t be fooled: as frugal days turn into frugal years and frugal decades, bag lunches can be become boring; smallish houses, confining; thrift shop clothing, unfashionable. And though you may not care what people think of your “voluntary simplicity,” it can become tiresome to always live outside of an acquisition-oriented, size-counts-the-most social norm. Here are ways to attract admirers, become and remain confident about your position in society, and persist in frugality.
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