Package Therapy—How Marketing can put us More In Touch With Ourselves
What percentages of your purchases are made to quench an emotional thirst? I used to work in marketing and market research. It didn’t take me long to figure out how marketing works; you survey your target consumers and find out what their needs are, what their wants are, and you build these attributes into your [...]
Happy Monday!
Hello Frugal Confessions Readers! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday. Paul and I drove up to Arkansas to spend time with some of his family, and besides a general lack of sleep, it was wonderful. Well, I am having computer problems (as in my laptop caught a virus…and it ate its entire registry…), [...]
It’s Frugal Confessions Friday–Holiday Edition
Good morning Frugal Confessions Readers!! Happy Black Friday. If you are new to this series, check out the introduction here. Here’s my confession of the week: I am a big proponent of reusing items that are used to carry or hold other things, such as padded envelopes and bags. After each Christmas, I save all of [...]
How to Save Money on Your Wedding—Part I
According to Bridal Bargains and various other sources, the average 150-guest wedding in the United States costs around $30,000!! Ofcourse, this number is an average, so it includes the million dollar weddings as well as weddings that are $500 (as pointed out by the authors of Bridal Bargain). But based on this average, where is [...]
How I Handle Collection Agencies and How You Can Avoid them in the Future
I am sharing this experience with you to hopefully help you protect yourself from future, random calls from collection agents, like I received last week. Read through to the bottom for tips on how to avoid future headaches. Growing up, both sets of my parents declared bankruptcy within a few years of one another. This [...]
It’s Frugal Confessions Friday–Garage Sale Edition!!
Happy Friday Everyone! Today I thought we’d do something a little differently. I was approached from the author of GarageSalesTracker website to publish a short post on garage sales. In honor of that, I’d love to hear about the best item or worst item you have ever found at a garage sale, and what you [...]
A Tip for Anyone Expecting to Claim the Homebuyer Tax Credit
Do I have any readers looking to buy a home soon, or ones who have recently purchased a home? If you qualify for the Homebuyer’s Tax Credit, as Paul and I did, then I suggest that you claim it on your 2008 tax returns. In the rules, you are allowed to amend your 2008 tax [...]
My Date with Suze Orman, and her Advice in These Hard Financial Times
One of my greatest dreams was realized last week when I got to see Suze Orman live, for free, at the Texas Conference for Women!! (This only comes second to meeting Kenny G…yes, I am a Kenny G fan, and probably one of the only ones younger than 40, as evidenced by the other audience [...]
It’s Frugal Confessions Friday!!!
Good morning, and Happy Friday to everyone! If you are new to this series, here is the intro post. Here is my confession of the week: We are a two-car household. Admittedly, one of the cars (the mustang) is a gas guzzler (I know…it was one of Paul’s bachelor buys:)). When I am home on [...]
Freebies and Discounts on Veteran’s Day
Paul is a Veteran; he was a cryptologist in the Navy for six years. So Veteran’s Day in our household truly means something. As a thank you to all of you, I’d like to do a post on freebies that you can enjoy today for serving our country. Grace For Vets is Offering Free Car Washes [...]
I have Joined the Yakezie Challenge!
