saving
Posted 6 days 8 hours ago by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Frugal Living
My brother told me once that, when he was in college, he handled money this way: "When I got paid, I set aside enough money for cigarettes, then spent the rest buying pizza and beer for everyone until the money ran out. The other people I hung around with did the same."
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Posted 1 week 2 days ago by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Entrepreneurship
Suppose you and your friends all want to start small businesses. You've all got money coming in, you're all in a position to save up some capital, but it would take you a year to all save up enough--and you'd rather not wait. There's a solution to this problem that's so obvious its been reinvented all over the world.
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Posted 4 weeks 1 day ago by Linsey Knerl
Frugal Living, Food and Drink, Budgeting
The economy and rising gas costs have consumed at least 60% of my regular news and public television broadcast programming. While I’ve heard all there is to hear about how bad food prices are getting, why can’t someone give me some real tips on how to cope? Maybe if things get bad enough, I could take a lesson or two from the late 1800’s Prairie Farmer magazine.
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Posted 6 weeks 3 days ago by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Life Hacks
Is there an amount of money that's too small to concern yourself with? People make that case, usually saying something like "Life is too short to waste time counting pennies." They're missing the point, though, because they're focusing on the wrong thing.
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Posted 17 weeks 4 days ago by Linsey Knerl
Personal Finance, Career and Income
A four-year college degree can be one of the most expensive purchases in a person’s lifetime. In fact, many hard-working professionals continue to pay for their college education long after graduation. Here are six ways you can expect to pay less money for a traditional four-year college degree.
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Posted 17 weeks 5 days ago by Xin Lu
Lifestyle
Eight years ago my family purchased our dog Happy on a total whim. Since then we have made some mistakes in raising him that cost us quite a bit. We also faced other challenges in raising him but we would not give him up for another dog. However, I have learned many lessons in pet ownership and if I do acquire another pet I will be doing my research. Read on for some of the things you must consider before becoming a pet owner.
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Posted 18 weeks 1 day ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Cars and Transportation
When I lived in Berkeley I loved taking public transportation, and since I was such a bus aficionado I did not learn to drive until I was 20. Right now I live in San Mateo where the public transit is not as prevalent, and I really miss the days when I got everywhere with a bus pass. Since I am feeling nostalgic today I am going to write down why I love public transportation, and I hope some of you will also discover the joy of riding a bus or train.
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Posted 18 weeks 4 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Career and Income, General Tips, Lifestyle, Food and Drink
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 18 weeks 6 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Announcements
This week is officially America Saves Week 2008. This is a campaign started in 2007 by many government agencies and private entities to encourage Americans to save because the personal savings rate of Americans is nearly zero. This year the focus is on automatic savings. Read on to see what the campaign is all about!
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Posted 19 weeks 3 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Lifestyle, Real Estate and Housing, Investment
My goal has always been to work for ten years and then have enough financial freedom to do whatever I want to do. Whenever I tell people this they seem to be rather incredulous and sometimes say things like, "sure, you could try." Even though I am quite young, I have met enough people to see what keeps them from quitting their jobs and living a life of financial independence. Read on for a few of my observations.
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Posted 19 weeks 6 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Deals and Coupons, Freebies, Deals, Coupons, Shopping, Food and Drink, Budgeting
Right now Safeway is having an event called Savings Rally which lasts until February 26th. The deal is that you get a dollar off coupon for buying a number of items off a list of 2000 participating items. If you buy 25 or more items you will get a coupon for $20 off the next purchase. If you buy 20 to 24 items you get a coupon for $10 off the next purchase, and if you buy 10 to 19 items you get a coupon for $5 off on the next purchase. Read on for my story of getting a carload of groceries for $13.
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Posted 21 weeks 2 days ago 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 21 weeks 6 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, General Tips
Are you paying through your nose to heat your home this winter? Is your heater broken? Read on for some practical tips to reduce your energy bill and stay warm at the same time.
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Posted 22 weeks 3 days ago by Kate Luther
Budgeting
Feel like you're just living payday-to-payday? Having trouble figuring out where all your money goes? Then a zero-based budget just might be for you.
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Posted 23 weeks 1 day ago by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance
Every book on personal finance says that you should pay yourself first--get the money out of your checking account and you won't even know it's missing. There's a lot of truth to that, but the pay-yourself-first model has some downsides, as well. I found that paying myself last actually worked better.
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Posted 23 weeks 3 days ago by Anthony Marrone
Personal Finance
Since posting the first part of my list of 25 ideas and goals that I want to live by and be able to look back on with pride when it comes time for me to "hang it up". I've reformed the list in the past couple days, especially after reading all of your great comments. Without further ado, the exciting conclusion of "25 Things I Don't Want to Regret Once I Retire"
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Posted 26 weeks 6 days ago by Lana Goodrich
Lifestyle
How do you resist the urge to spend money when you're with less-than-frugal friends? 5 tips inside.
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Posted 38 weeks 5 hours ago by Paul Michael
Entrepreneurship, Lifestyle
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 made me ponder about the decisions I make every day, and if I could make better ones just be exercising that underused part of my anatomy - my brain.
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Posted 40 weeks 3 days ago by Nora Dunn
Personal Finance, Budgeting
My introduction to David Bach was when I saw him speak at a financial conference a few years ago. He told an interesting story about a couple who came in for a consultation with him when he first worked in personal finance. They were in their mid 50s, had two children who were fully put through college, had two properties fully paid off, and were ready to retire with over $1 million in savings. The impressive factor was that they had managed to build and sustain this comfortable financial position with a relatively small family income.
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You know what I love? Getting something for nothing. Oh, it's rare. It's also sort of greedy and raises all kinds of ethical questions. How far would YOU go to save, or make, a dollar or two?
Here are some examples of 'something for nothing' that fall into a morally gray area. I'm not endorsing, advocating, recommending, encouraging, or promoting any of these, but I'm curious as to how our readers feel about them. Like taking an extra piece of candy from the porch bowl in Halloween, everyone probably has a different perception of what constitutes right or wrong.
Where would you draw the line on these examples? Would you...
Continue reading "Frugal... or just plain wrong?"
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