Recent comments

  • 8 Fancy Ways to Use Leftover Food   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Thanks for the suggestions! Stir fry and quiche are go-to recipes in my house, too!

  • 10 Things I Just Won’t Do to Save Money   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I suppose this might be accurately titled. When you have money, it's not hard to come up with a list of things you won't do to save money. It's a whole other story when you're faced with a situation of having to make the few dollars you have go a long, long way. 1, 2 and 3 are just plain stealing and shouldn't even make it to a discussion like this. To have the #5 issue, you have to go out to eat, which automatically puts you in the "don't REALLY need to save money" camp. #6 isn't about saving money, it's about avoiding stupid. The savings cited for letting the yellow mellow assume that the reader is using city water and sewer. For those using a tight septic tank (no leach field), avoiding filling that thing up with mostly water can save hundreds per year. Besides, peeing in a bottle and then resealing the bottle keeps the odor contained. #9 assumes that you have money to spend on getting your car clean before the rain will do it for you. #10 is just a sign of how spoiled we have become as a society. My house doesn't have AC, and I happen to like bundling up in the winter. This whole article begs the question -- what ARE you really willing to do to save money?

  • Ask the Readers: Who Taught You The Most About Personal Finance?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    My mom taught me how to save and to shop for sales. She showed me that if i saved every little bit of money I got from report cards, birthdays, allowances, ect. it eventually would add up to a lot by putting it in a savings.

  • 10 Smart Things to Do With $25   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Our shelter in Omaha (no kill) offers adult cats for little to nothing. They often do give them away with their shots and a spay or neuter. Unfortunately there are just too many for them to care for. Kittens are usually $75, but adults are often buy one get one free or just plain free. Thankfully they have an application process to make sure you will be a suitable cat mommy.

  • Best Money Tips: Grocery Saving Strategies   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Our grocery bill has almost tripled since last year! Thanks for the link!

  • Taming Your Debt: Aggressive Repayment Strategies   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Great post! The sense of "deserving" you talk about is a difficult hurdle to overcome, but doing so is half the battle. Years ago I found myself in a similar hole due to credit card debt. It was a very painful experience, but I learned so much through it. I overcame it through budgeting, which seemed like such a horrifying experience at the time, and reigning in my expenses. I look back at it now and am so thankful of the lessons I learned. My wife and I also use a variation of the envelope system and it works great for us. It is so freeing knowing that we have the freedom to spend our cash as we please as long as we stay disciplined.

  • 10 Things I Just Won’t Do to Save Money   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I so agree with this!!! A clean baby, saving .5 or .10 cents a gallon on gas, running the AC and to stretch out clothing!! Oh and there are ppl at work who steal ALL FORMS OF paper & cleaning products, hand soaps, personal food-drinks out of the fridge/freezer AND beg for handouts! I have witnessed this first hand! Pathetic to beg, borrow and steal only to go out for a night on the town the same day/night. SMDH!! Gotta laugh about it to keep from crying.

  • 12 Natural Remedies for Stomach Pain   13 years 38 weeks ago

    What about Green Tea? Is that good for stomach aches? I've heard that it is.

  • Taming Your Debt: Aggressive Repayment Strategies   13 years 38 weeks ago

    We only really started aggressively paying down debt once we sat down and laid it all out. We had a talk about all the factors that go into who we want to pay first - using interest rates, length of the loans, and who they are from (since one loan is from Mr PoP's parents).  http://www.plantingourpennies.com/2012/06/25/prioritizing-debt/

    Since then, we've kept up scheduled payments on everything, and put $8.5K in the last two months towards the principal on our highest priority debt. Fingers crossed we can stick to the game plan and stay on track. 

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Rent or Own Your Home?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I currently rent an apartment. I plan to buy a house when I have enough cash saved to forgo a mortgage.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Rent or Own Your Home?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I like WiseBread on Facebook.

  • Taming Your Debt: Aggressive Repayment Strategies   13 years 38 weeks ago

    It can be helpful to pay off the debts that can't be renewed first. For example, paying off the student loan first--even if it is at a lower interest rate than the credit card-- lowers the total amount owed and lets you see fast progress in paying off the entire amount. If you pay off the credit card first, you may just run it up again while paying off everything else. Reducing the total debt load first makes it easier to see an end in sight and therefore have the self-discipline to pay it all off.

  • 5 Essential Tools for Telecommuting   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Love the ideas you have here for telecommuting. Now if we could just find a way to get the coffee delivered via the Internet!

  • 5 Essential Tools for Telecommuting   13 years 38 weeks ago

    This is a good review. Thanks for the heads-up about the ePrint enabled printers - didn't know something like that was out there!

    I've used Google+ hangout a few times. It works well, except that if each of the callers has even a little background noise, it accumulates and with more than about 5 people, it can become bothersome.

  • 10 Things I Just Won’t Do to Save Money   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Not flushing the toilet stems from having a septic tank. I don't flush my toilet every time because it fills up my septic tank faster and I have to pay to have it pumped out to the tune of about $400.

  • Frugal Red Herrings: Money-Savers That Cost You in Other Ways   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I'm always falling victim to #7 at Starbucks. Since, the price difference is very small between tall and venti, I always buy a venti but I can't really finish it.

  • Maintaining Memories: How to Save Old Photographs   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I keep in a box my old photos from when I was young, as well as my parents' photographs from when they were young. I have scanned most of them since I have shared them to family and friends in my Facebook account so I have copies of them in my computer, too. As for recent pictures, they're mostly stored in my computer and CDs.

  • 8 Fancy Ways to Use Leftover Food   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I make omelettes out of leftover food, like corned beef and canned tuna/sardines.

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Rent or Own Your Home?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    own.....completely. We bought a small place and are mortgage free

  • How to Make Moonshine   13 years 38 weeks ago

    ya'll might want to watch out with this simplified process. If you just distill all the liquid until you get to water, you'll also get methanol (which can blind or kill you) along with your ethanol (which is what you want, that's the stuff that gets you drunk). you want to distill the ethanol alone, so only collect the liquid that distills while the vapor above the boiling liquid is outside of the boiling point of methanol. you can find that out with a google search i bet.

  • The Best and Worst Things to Buy in August   13 years 38 weeks ago

    About to buy a car. can't remember if aug is a good month or not but the '13 models are about to roll out... of course, I'd prefer to shop for a nice shiny used car but its looking more and more like a '12 might be in the store...

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Rent or Own Your Home?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    like on facebook- Kandace On-fb

  • Ask the Readers: Do You Rent or Own Your Home?   13 years 38 weeks ago

    We own. It's nice because we're totally in control, but it's stressful at times because we're fully responsible. Something breaks? We have to pay for it and fix it or hire someone who can. Regular maintenance- $. Repairs - $. It's always something.

  • 8 Fancy Ways to Use Leftover Food   13 years 38 weeks ago

    Many leftover foods can be frozen from long periods of time. That's something a lot of people don't think of.

    If you have leftover Mexican food, like fajitas, beans, and Spanish rice, these leftovers are perfect for making burritos. I'm reluctant to order them from Mexican restaurants for that exact same reason. I'm always suspicious that they're scraping food off of people's plates that doesn't get eaten to get most of the ingredients.

    If you bake a big ham, you can make lots of sandwiches and omelets out of that.

    You can make good stir fry out of leftover steak.

    You can make shepherd's pie, out of leftover ground beef.

    Any leftover vegetable is great for preparing quiche. I love quiche and prepare many different quiche recipes on a regular basis.

  • The Straight Talk on Working From Home   13 years 38 weeks ago

    I want to know about that, too. That is a goal of mine so I can be there to work and have my kid. I have two degrees and I am having a hard time seeing wha potential
    is out there. Also, I live on one of the more remote islands of Hawaii and maybe you need a big city near to get a job a home? Anyone have something to say about this?