Recent comments

  • 10 Safest Cities in America from Natural Disasters   13 years 42 weeks ago

    I disagree. I live in central phoenix and superstition mountains are over an hour drive for me. Mostly all phoenix residents would go to Camelback, Phoenix Mountain Preserves (Squaw/Piestewa peak) or South Mountain. Even McDowell Mountain and Pinnacle Peak (in Scottsdale) are way closer than Superstition.

  • 25 Things You Shouldn't Buy at the Grocery Store   13 years 42 weeks ago

    The only problem with buying at Bulk Stores is you usually have to have a membership card and those can be expensive. And in certain areas they have restrictions on who can apply. Another place to get creal cheap is dollar stores or even Aldi's if you have one near you.
    And I found you can buy spices at Goodwill really cheap. That works if you don't have a health food store near you.

  • 8 Cheap Ways to Update a Wardrobe You Hate   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Thanks Steve! Every day in my sewing studio I see students of all ages increasing their confidence operating a sewing machine, and loving the unique, creative look they are able to craft with their new skills. It's what I am all about - transforming how people view sewing!

  • 25 Great Gifts for $5 or Less   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Try the website: half.com for great movie deals.

  • Why You Should Do Things You're Bad At   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Thanks for your article.

    I'm not a math person. Balancing a checkbook or doing taxes is very, very painful. It always seems to come out wrong. Once I married, Sweetie took over our taxes and checkbook. (YES!) However, I do most of the household shopping, so the budget books naturally falls to me. Which involves loads of math. One fateful, frantic day the calculator disappeared.... It's been a couple months. Math doesn't hurt quite as much anymore.

    Maybe Yoga is next....

  • 10 Things You Should Do Immediately After Losing Your Wallet   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Anyone ever used lifelock,had my credit cards and Id stolen. It seems I just might need it with all this info

  • 8 Cheap Ways to Update a Wardrobe You Hate   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Maris Olsen is right. Why not let your creativity out? You could do better and have better results as well.

  • Why We Spend More When We Pay With Credit Cards   13 years 42 weeks ago

    After I cut my 3 credit cards, I avoid using it to purchase anything in the store or to use for dinner at the restaurant. Now I have only 1 credit card, I used it to pay online for our utility bill like internet, water, electricity and plane tickets as well for my family.

    Based on my personal experience as we develop the habits of paying cash every time we buy goods or personal items, we will not feel the pain of paying immediately.

  • 25 Things You Shouldn't Buy at the Grocery Store   13 years 42 weeks ago

    No. 4 – Cake: My usually bake cake at home, because it is cheaper that what we find in the store. She is improving her baking skill while we are savings money from buying commercial cake.
    No. 12 - Bottled Water: Yeah Tap water is safe and that is why we bought a water filter. We used to filter water from the faucet then transfer it to clean container as simple as that we have our drinking water.
    No. 17 – Party Supplies: Actually we buy local brand and the price is lower than the branded one.
    We usually buy fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat in the local markets and the price is lower than we found it the grocery store.

  • The Best Secured Credit Cards   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Ok im new to this credit card stuff i need good advice and real help i have no credit and looking to build an i dont know who to go with and i heard doing secured is good to start and how much perecntage do i look for? is chase good?

  • Give Your Career a Boost With One Skill   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Code Academy is my personal favorite, but here's one I recently discovered that takes more of a "game-y" approach and still manages to get the job done: http://www.codeschool.com/

  • Give Your Career a Boost With One Skill   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Yeah if you are any good at this stuff, you won't have trouble getting a job. That's been my experience tracking these kinds of roles. And like I said, you don't have to become a pro, but even a high level understanding can go a long way.

  • Give Your Career a Boost With One Skill   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Yeah it's amazing how quickly kids pick this stuff up. Lynda is great as long as you actually take advantage of that monthly payment you're making.

  • Ask the Readers: What Are the Best Gifts for Teens?   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Cash. That way they can buy exactly what they want instead of returning what you purchased.

  • 9 Ways to Earn Extra Cash When Money Is Tight   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Great article. Just a short comment regarding "Seek Out Odd Jobs on the Internet" or Cash Crate. I agree that nowadays taking online surveys on your spare time is quite interesting but some of them are scams. As a starter, I check survey review sites like ratethissurvey.com in deciding if a survey site is good and it helps me a lot. I hope this helps.

  • Ask the Readers: What Are the Best Gifts for Teens?   13 years 42 weeks ago

    When I was a teenager, I kept telling my mom that all I wanted was gift cards. That way, I could pick out things I wanted. To cover very different tastes, gift cards to places like Amazon.com and Target would be big hits. Also gift cards to movie theaters would be nice.

  • Give Your Career a Boost With One Skill   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Learning to program (A student) and actually developing applications for my employer(s), on top of my regular duties as clerks of various sorts got me a few raises and some recognition. BUT ultimately because I grew up poor and got married/children and full time (60hrs a week doing both clerk/computer guy work) BEFORE I could get a degree, these skills (including Hardware/Active directory/Security/Administration both Microsoft from DOS-Windows 7 and Unix) that I tought myself and took college courses, HURT me and my career. By one employer I was told "buy your degree, steel your degree" because we will not bring you on without it as you may embaress those that have the degrees and don't know as much as you. And throughout the last 20 years of working extra hard to prove I could do it, I have run into nothing but resistance and smearing and picking me apart for anything fault they could find. Some critisisms were valid but most, I came to find out were just covert manipulators setting up an honest hard worker. I exposed some of them after previous experiences and I proved myself over and over but because I could not afford the degree either dollar or time wise I was befriended long enough to learn what I know but then then thrown away several times. Now I have a huge history of successes technically but was targeted by narcisists and users and now am unemployed through a layoff and feel defeated/burn out and so many of my efforts were a complete waste of time and I have lost so much knowledge because of not using it. Frustrating. You can get a degree in ART and have a better chance and succeeding in development than if your and expert and aren't "allowed" to use it. So if you don't have a degree in something, don't bother unless you are a super connected or know how to manipulate the feelings of those in power and have the personality type that works with theirs. I am an ISTJ personality type that supposedly can be a good boss but I have never had the opportunity to even try being one. Just another loser I guess. Now I'm 53 and don't have anywhere to utilize all this history of technical experience. I wrote 3 major software programs for 3 employers and ultimatley was run in the ground/burnt out and when asked to turn one of these apps into a web program, I simply said I would need some additional training to port the programs and instead of helping me, they made me give my intellectual knowledge to someone else who later told me I was only missing a very small bit of knowledge and I would have done fine. Frustrated.

  • Dealing with Nasty Debt Collectors   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Hey, skimbucket..guess what? A debt collection company can be sued for calling a neighbor, a relative and harrass them for information...I should know...I am in a lawsuit right now with a collection agency that would not stop calling me about my niece who I had not seen in over 7 years. Called several times a day...using local numbers. Caused me to lose my job...Guess what....consumers have rights and if they can do a little research...most collection companies would be out of business Bro!

  • 11 Simple Rules of Excellent Houseguest Etiquette   13 years 42 weeks ago

    No one should have to be forced to eat what you cook, if you are really curteous and polite, you would respect their wishes.

    This depends on the relationship, I feel sorry for those who visit your home. :(

  • Ask the Readers: What Are the Best Gifts for Teens?   13 years 42 weeks ago

    Speaking as a mom that has had 4 teens I'd say gift cards were the way to go unless you know the specific teen in question. Teens all seem to have their own style and what you may think is awesome they may not agree. Fandango, Itunes, or the Gap seem to work for both genders.

  • How Much Does Your Credit Card Debt Cost You?   13 years 42 weeks ago

    It's called an EMERGENCY and you NOT having the money and needing the money NOW. Bills and car payments don't wait a month and the gas tank doesn't give you a month to fill it up.

  • Lessons We Can Learn From Blockbuster's Demise   13 years 42 weeks ago

    In the end I think they could have saved themselves if they offered better video game rentals. Movie rentals were dead but retro gaming was huge, it still is. Many people would pay a decent price to rent games from older systems, Blockbuster instantly stopped renting old games as soon as a new system came out. I have read that online piracy killed Blockbuster, but in actually only accumulated to around 1% of total sales lost in any industry. Blockbuster killed itself.

  • Frugal Gluten-Free Living: Easy Pizza Crust   13 years 42 weeks ago

    are you sure u got the liquid amount right cuz the dough was like soup?

  • 5 Ways That Charitable Giving Can Improve Your Finances   13 years 42 weeks ago

    This was such an interesting read. You first point, 1. Match Financial Habits With Personal Priorities, touches on the complacency that we all sometimes fall into. We get accustomed to our lifestyle but we forget that financial goals are always evolving, whether its because of a change in career, birth of a child, rising housing cost, etc. If giving helps draw attention to this, that's a great added benefit -- everyone wins!

  • 25 Ways to Take Five Minutes for Yourself   13 years 43 weeks ago

    I think a lot of people set relaxation goals that are far too high - I must go to a spa or I have to get away on vacation. These five minute tips are a perfect way to build relaxation and stress reduction into our day to day life.