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Renters insurance doesn’t cost that much, and it can save you from a world of hurt …

I rented an apartment for six years.  My first year of graduate school I lived on campus and had about $15 of my teaching stipend left over every two weeks after paying for it.  And I hadn’t bought any food yet.  (Thank goodness I had some savings!)

For the remaining five years of grad school I rented apartments, both with and without roommates.  And my first year into my first big-boy job I rented an apartment.

Living on the edge (and not in a good way)

I lived in three different apartments for a total of six years, but was missing one thing the entire time.

Renters insurance.

I hadn’t even heard of renters insurance until a few years ago when I hired a property manager to help me rent out our first house.  None of my previous landlords required it, and I never bought it.

Discounted gift cards can be used to buy everything from groceries to clothing … to doggie treats!

The adult female in the house (aka my wife) left this weekend for an emotional and spiritual recharge in the Shenandoahs at a friend’s house.  Which means I got the weekend with my daughter, who’s currently growing up a lot faster than I’d like.

Discounted gift cards are a good teachable money moment

One of our activities this past Saturday was to head to the nearby shopping center.  One of the stores in there is a Petco.  They have a doggie treat bar where you can pick up goodies by the pound.  She enjoys giving our two beagle mixes treats, and she has been paying for the treats herself from her allowance.

Currency errors can be big bucks.  And they may already be in your wallet …

I’ve been in the habit of asking for funny money when I go to our credit union.  It’s fun to spend money that’s a little unusual.  In the past I’ve withdrawn a substantial number of $2 bills, a bunch of $1 bills, and a bunch of half dollars.

After getting the bills home, I could see that there weren’t any red-seal $2 bills, but they’re still neat to spend.  Since I didn’t really know too much about what kinds of currency errors were out there, I checked on eBay to see what people were selling.  Here’s what I found in the way of currency errors.

Buying in bulk is great if you can consume it all, of course.  But what if you can’t?

Quantity discounts, used appropriately, are one of the pillars of frugal living.  Why go to the store for one smallish package of toilet paper when you can hit Costco and be well-stocked for two months?

Buying in bulk makes perfect sense if the items you’re buying aren’t perishable.  But if the items will spoil, rot, or otherwise go bad, it’s not always a great idea to stock up.

Buying in bulk and tossing part of it

I recall an article in Wired magazine — didn’t realize it was from 2003! — that discussed among other things the relationship between Walmart and Vlasic, the pickle company.  Walmart sold a gallon of Vlasic pickles then for $2.97.