Articles on General Tips

Designing your life

Key decisions that you make—especially when you're young, but also later—have implications that ripple through the whole rest of your life. People treat these early

Passport Pictures for Under a Dollar

Use this technique to produce passport pictures, visa pictures, and any other required id photos, all for under a dollar.

When Should You Say No to Those Who Want to Borrow Money from You?

I think most of us have been asked to lend money to someone we know. No matter how close you are with the potential borrower, there are certain situations when you just have to sa

Ten Tenets for "Arranging Your Rich" - Part 1: Rich is Relative

There are some guiding principles to arranging your own wealth. Ten, in fact. Ten important "tenets" to keep you grounded and on track as you begin the "arranging your rich" proces

Do not buy something just because you can afford it

Since I got married people have been constantly asking me two questions. One is, "are you pregnant yet?", and the other is "are you going to buy a house?" One

So you bought an HD DVD player. Now what?

It’s gone. HD DVD lost the war, Blu-Ray is the winner. Toshiba has admitted defeat and will discontinue all of its HD DVD products. No more players, no more recorders, no more disc

What Can You Do With Unwanted Gift Cards?

In my house we try to spend gift cards as soon as possible because the longer they are held the less purchasing power they have. Sometimes there are just cards you are not interest

Cheap and Romantic Ideas for Valentine's Day (And Any Other Day of the Year)

I have always loathed Valentine's day because everywhere I went I would see gaudy pink and red balloons and roses and men who are literally suckered into buying the useless thi

Get Some Rest!

In an unofficial survey, 99% of my friends said they need more rest. By "rest," I don't mean sleep, but time that is refreshing and rejuvenating, time that gives and

Let things go

Two of the unhappiest people I ever knew lived in the apartment below mine when I lived for two years in Salt Lake City. They acted as on-site managers--collected rent checks in

Six Ways to Stay Warm and Reduce the Heating Bill

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.

Keeping Your Head (when all around you are losing theirs)

I'm going to be honest with you--the last three weeks have been the most stressful I've ever experienced at work. Between moving into a new po

Help yourself to amazing photos from The Library Of Congress

I'm must confess, I'm a bit of a history junkie. I can often be found digging through The History Channel On Demand shows, all too often because we can learn valuable lesso

How often do you get your paycheck?

One of the BlogHer featured posts talked about a mis-match between pay dates and credit card due dates. It reminded me of just how much I used to agonize over this issue, back bef

What You Need vs. What You Want and How to Tell the Difference

Learn to distinguish between what you need, what you need in certain conditions, and what you want.

And did you do it with respect?

A few years back, I read a profile of a holistic fitness guru.  There was a sidebar with a little quiz

Get enough sleep

I have a theory about sleep. My theory is this: everyone who routinely uses an alarm clock suffers from chronic sleep deprivation. Using an alarm clock a few times a year (to c

I'm Tired!: 25 Awesome Ways to Beat Holiday Exhaustion

The holidays are fun but, honestly, they're exhausting. It seems like there is more of everything than at any other time of year: more social events, more items on the to-do l

How to wrap gifts with leftovers.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m no fan of the greeting card and gift wrapping industries. Not only are their products way over-priced, they’re also less than original in most cases.

Stick With It (Even Though its Christmas)

"I know I've been eating so well and losing weight, but it's a holiday party and those desserts look excellent...it's just this once." "I said