Articles on General Tips

5 Personal Finance Tips You Don't Always Hear About

We have all read about the usual personal finance tips being offered by the writers of the personal finance blogs around the internet and from the experts on television. They usual

Security is an illusion. Freedom is real.

There's a seeming tradeoff between freedom and security: You can stick with the day job or chuck it to live your dream--if you're willing to give up the security of the regular pa

Making a good and memorable first impression.

As a professional ad man, I'm ashamed to say that I'm really not good at advertising, well, me. That goes double in social situations. I never know where to stand, how to eat, how

3 Cheap and Easy Formulas for Homemade Windshield De-Icer (Plus Bonus Tips)

It’s that dreaded time of year. Each trip to town requires a 10-minute pre-start on my car, and the hated task of scraping my windshield. There are several options to help you wi

Book Review: Rich Like Them by Ryan D'Agostino

One summer my mother showed me a series of articles in Money magazine by a reporter named Ryan D'Agostino who knocked on the doors of expensive homes to find out how the occupants

Bouncing Back When There's No "Bounce" Left

We all have our ups and downs. We've all faced some pretty depressing odds and come out on top. But sometimes, it feels like you just can't get ahead, no matter how hard you try

Back to Reality: Coming Down after the Holidays

Whatever holidays you celebrate in November, December, and January, they're over now. We spend November and December gearing up, getting ready, anticipating days off from work, tra

The Real Value of Forever Stamps

Considering that I pay most bills online, I don’t use a whole lot of postage stamps these days. When I do, however, it almost always involves me digging through piles of paperwork

The Best and Worst Places to Stash Cash in Your Home

We all agree that a buck has value, it is also a bit vulnerable when not hidden properly. Forget the $3000 hi-tech safe, and stick with these affordable tricks I picked up. Yo

Want a Company to Hear You? Talk to Their “People.”

Sure, you could call a company's customer service line in times of trouble. I've done it in the past with excellent results. I've also run into the occasional “I don't care.” Th

Getting by without a job, part 4--get free stuff

There are all kinds of ways to get stuff without money. You can grow it in a garden, gather it from the wild, make it yourself, get it as a gift, scavenge it from trash, or get it

Do you know how to use a parking meter? Serious question.

I thought I knew the answer to that. Admittedly, I’ve only been driving for seven years and rarely park in downtown Denver, where most of our parking meters are located. But I had

8 Spectacular Uses for that Lone Can of Fruit

It doesn’t matter what it is: plums, fruit cocktail, or an awkward can of cranberries – it can sit there for years if not put to a creative use. When pennies must be pinched, the

Use only what you need

That’s the advice from a beautifully-executed campaign from Denver Water, right here in my own backyard of Colorado. The campaign (created by Sukle Advertising, a very smart, strat

Hold Off On Heating with These 10 Warming Ways

It’s October. In Nebraska. We will see Halloween before we smell the crackling logs on our wood stove. Because it is such a big deal for many to finally crank on the heat, we’ve

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading: A Book Review

For many, time is money, and so it shouldn’t surprise me that there is now an official guide on how to read more in less time. I had always been curious about the science of speed

Five calls you can make now to save hundreds to thousands of dollars

In the current economic climate, everyone is trying to save a buck. I know some families that have budgets so tight that there is no room for saving, but I think it is possible for

Looking On The Bright Side: How to Find A Silver Lining In The Current Financial Crisis

While this might be the biggest economic disaster of our generation, it might not be the big bad wolf that we all think it is. Quite the contrary, this little financial lesson migh

That Age-Old Conundrum: Time vs. Money

It's your time and your money. But if you don't choose how you're going to think about them, you might end up frustrated and unsatisfied with the life you live. Here are some commo

When Good Cakes Go Bad: A Cheat Sheet for the Uninspired

I’m no cake professional. I can barely manage a Betty Crocker boxed mix with the fluffy frosting from a can. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into a professional piece (b