As a kid I hated hand-me-downs. You know, the clothes, toys, or shoes that your older siblings would get brand new, but you’d receive after they outgrew them?Every pair of jeans seemed to have a whole in the knee, every shirt had something on the front that I would have never picked out, and every…
Everyone needs a side-hustle today – it’s the only way to guarantee any semblance of financial security in an economy where jobs can disappear without warning. The even bigger benefit, though, has less to do with your bank account and more to do with your happiness level: Launching a side-business might be the most professionally…
Several months ago, my cable/internet bill went up suddenly. After over a year of paying about $120 per month for cable, internet, and our home phone, I discovered that our cable bill was suddenly $30 more expensive. It only took a little digging for me to realize that our introductory bundle price had expired.Even though…
Our family lives in plenty of luxury but people who really know our situation sees me as someone who’s fairly frugal. “Why do you sacrifice to save when you can afford more?” is a question my friends often ask me. It’s a pretty pointed question, but what they really want to know is how they…
Of course you can.If celebrity culture is teaching us anything, it is that yes, you can have lots of money and still be miserable, so miserable in fact that you ruin your life with addictions, even lose your life to them.I recently watched an interesting movie on DVD, Meet Bill. Not a masterpiece but certainly…
Money is such a complicated subject because there are so many emotions around it. Most of the decisions we make concerning it are personal, and therefore affect us in a personal way. The way we view money is influenced by our upbringing, culture, family, friends, and relationships.Our past directly relates to our money mindset and…
“Money does not buy happiness.”How many times have you heard this? Lots of times, I am willing to bet. Our culture sends us two very conflicting messages about money. The first, a message that tells us money is everything. Celebrity culture, the rich and famous, Wall Street greediness, the twinge of jealousy we feel when…
When you live on the other side of the country from your extended family, it’s a special treat when they come to spend a few weeks with you for the first time. Not only do you get to spend quality time together, but you get to show them your neck of the woods and play…
Encouraged by my dear husband’s post on How to Save Money on Weddings last week, I’m going to dive deeper into wedding invitations and in particular, whether you should buy or create your own. For many of us budget folks, this is one of the easiest ways to save some money but obviously, we need…
You’ve always purchased whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. It’s part of your mentality: you “deserve” to have the things you want because you work so hard.Adding another $100 to your credit card bill thinking you’ll “pay it off” with your next check is perfectly normal. Um, what about the other $10,987 you said that…
