Personal Savings Rate

The Personal Savings Rate (PSR) has been talked about a lot in the news lately, especially now that our economy is in the middle of a recession and people are panicking about their immediate financial futures. Oddly enough, the PSR did not manage to make mainstream news back in 2005 when it dipped into the [...]

I Am Not a Crook

Summer 2008 Note: This was written in the summer of 2008 during my unemployment “vacation”.  Look at the end of the article for up to date information on deals you can score at CVS this week to start your own Drugstore Game! The first article in the series is here. I am not your average [...]

Update: The $6.00 Bottled Water at the San Antonio Hotel

To all of my readers who read through the bottled water fiasco from a weekend getaway trip to San Antonio Paul and I took, I have quite the humorous update! I received an email from this hotel with an offer for a free weekend night stay over the summer with the purchase of one night [...]

Increasing the Value of my Dollar Exchange Rate

Summer 2008 Note: This was written in the summer of 2008 during my unemployment “vacation”.  Look at the end of the article for up to date information on deals you can score at CVS this week to start your own Drugstore Game! The exchange rate has been against the favor of Americans for quite some [...]

My 2008 Spending

I love using credit cards. Before you fall off your chairs, let me explain. In the marketing world, I fall in the consumer category of Bang for the Buck. In other words, I don’t let credit card companies use me, I use them. I have thus far received over $800 in gift cards and two [...]

My Unemployment “Vacation” of 2008

Last year I found myself laid-off just weeks after my boyfriend lost his job. Being unemployed together at the start of summer certainly had its perks; that early June day when I came home with my belongings in a box and a few tears in my eyes, Paul decided we should head to Disneyworld on [...]

Frugal Living

All things considered—we were living in a foreign country that we only marginally spoke the language of and it was past midnight—we should have taken a taxi after missing the last train home from a late night in Tokyo. But with the promise of a $50 bill looming over our heads, the dark night sky [...]

Building a Nutwork

Open up my cupboards, freezer, and pantry, and you’ve caught me red-handed. I am a hoarder. Not a disorganized pack rat, nor a miser, but a person who takes advantage of bargains and stores them in case of need (with the foresight of the next 10 years). In my reserves you will find over six [...]

Enduring the Nondurables

Nondurable Goods: goods that are used up once, or that have a lifespan of less than 3 years. I own some items that I hope to bequeath in a will someday to survive me among a new generation of my family: a print of the parliament building in London signed to me by Tony Blair [...]

A Premium I am Unwilling to Pay

Last week my boyfriend and I escaped work a few hours early on a Friday and caught a nice easterly breeze out to San Antonio for a weekend getaway. We entered our home for the next three days at a beautiful hotel and everything appeared to be perfect, not least of all the severe discount [...]

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