Financial Words in the Dictionary Define Our Culture’s Spending Habits

When we think about trusted sources of the English language, the two dictionaries that come to mind are The Oxford English Dictionary (checkout The Professor and the Madman for a fascinating read on OED history) and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Both of these have been around since the 19th century, and each has a meticulous, almost [...]

Forced Donations: A Nuisance or a Necessity

Charities have taken quite a hit in the last few years. As American’s wallets became more and more pinched, donating to the Salvation Army at Christmas time or to the food bank became a luxury item. What is the result? While alcohol consumption remained largely unchanged throughout the recession, charitable donations decreased by 3.6%. On [...]

Sales Pressure Tactics

I dedicate this article to a person I can only describe as “the Mattress Man”. A few weeks before graduating college, my mother and I went to a local mattress store to start shopping for something I would need for my first apartment: a bed to sleep on. We entered one of those strip mall-mattress [...]

Frugal is In Vogue After the Recession

This is a guest post from Squirrelers who blogs about helping you save, protect, and grow your hard-earned money. Do you consider yourself to be a frugal person? If you enjoy reading about frugality, and living happily and responsibly within your means, it’s ok to label yourself as frugal. Go ahead, you can do it:) [...]

Tips on Building Credit from Money 411

Amanda’s note: This is a sponsored post I invited from Money 411, a FREE personal finance resource provided by AccountNow. For more credit tips and other useful money advice, visit Money 411 at www.accountnow.com. Credit Building Tips When a person is turned down for a credit card it is usually due to two different reasons. [...]

A Trade Secret of Frugality

Much of personal finance is really quite simple. Earn money. Spend less than you earn. Save the extra. However, mastering these seemingly easy concepts is difficult for many people. You know you should set a budget, but it seems so complicated and limiting that you never quite sit down to do it. You have a [...]

I Shopped Around for a Hernia Operation

Amanda’s Note: Do not shop around if you have an emergency. Shopping around is a luxury for procedures where you have a few days to a week at least to do some investigative work. Your health is your number one asset in life, so please be responsible with it.                 In the beginning of August [...]

We Are Not Going to Help Them Make Vegetable Soup out of a Stone and Water

Read the original Timeshare Story, as well as Timeshare Part 1 posted earlier this week. Talking with the agent from Casablanca Express was a little like the folk story of Stone Soup. Here’s the synopsis: a hungry foreigner comes upon a village with only a pot and no one will share their food with him. [...]

Deal or No Deal or Which Deal?: Our Timeshare Update

Featured on Eventual Millionaire for the Carnival of Money Stories. Read about our decision on the Timeshare Prize here. Do you ever get that feeling that you don’t quite know if you’ve been snowballed or not…but you suspect that you have? Let me pose the scenario to you. On a Friday last fall, I became [...]

Scan Artist

“Ma’am, it won’t take this coupon.” After scanning the coupon for the third time and hearing an annoying beep, the cashier presses the total button on the cash register and hands me back my coupon with a sorry-can’t-help-you smile dripping off of his face. I hold my hand out towards his, pushing the coupon back. [...]

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