I thought I was prepared for winter. I took some steps to winterize my house, we’ve added insulated curtains, and have been wearing our smart wool socks we got for Christmas. But now I hear that according to Punxsutawney Phil, we’ll have 6 more weeks of winter. Thank goodness! I can’t wait for Spring to get here. I’ve already mentioned how my back is tired from all the shoveling, now my wallet is ailing from the high electric bills. I don’t know what the first thing you would do if you got a $485 electric bill, but the first thing I [...]
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I used to think “generic” was a derogatory term. It probably stems from a childhood visit from my snobbish cousin who called everything I had or liked “generic” and everything he had or liked “special.” Kids can be cruel. But that was a long time ago. I’d like to think I moved on as soon as I hit adulthood, but I didn’t. All during college I held on to my trusty name brands. Perhaps buying them was like having a little piece of home in my dorm/apartment. Or maybe I was just a sucker for the clever marketing. Who [...]
Read MoreAs most of you know, I list my monthly expenses ( here is last month’s) to help track where my family is spending our money. Not only is it good for us to see where improvements can be made, but posting them online has also allowed me to gather money saving tips from all of you. THANK YOU! One of the most common areas where readers say we could lower our expense was our “Phone & Internet” bill. We’ve been paying $115.75 a month to Qwest for quite some time now. This included unlimited local and long distance calling, a bunch [...]
Read MoreFor months we have had a very squeaky fan in our bathroom. The task of fixing the fan has haunted my todo list for months. It drained my energy and laughed as each day passed that I consciously put it off. The fan is a 10 year old contractor grade fan and my initial thought was just to get a new one, but the idea of spending money is what caused the task to languish. Spending money is an ordeal for the frugal at heart. It means researching prices, fan quality, and proper sizing…none of which I know anything about [...]
Read MoreFor those that don’t know about Hulu.com yet, here is the inside scoop. Hulu offers TV shows, movies, and clips direct through the internet to your computer screen for free. It was founded by NBC but is managed independently and the content is kept free through tactful advertising. Content: Hulu brings together a large selection of videos from more than 100 content providers, including FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. and more. Users can choose from more than 900 current primetime TV hits such as The Simpsons, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Office the [...]
Read MoreHarsh? I don’t think so. An estimated $97 billion dollars were spent on gift cards in 2007 and companies were able to keep almost $8 billion dollars in breakage, fees or unused money. It is one of the first things they teach you when opening a business, sell gift cards. Any unused money is pure profit and even if they use it they are forced to use you service or store. Brilliant business, but not good personal finance. The real brilliance in the gift card business came when they were able to convince us that the gift of cash was [...]
Read MoreHere are a 5 ways that I have saved money over the last few Christmas seasons : Skip the Gifts – Don’t try and buy significance and meaning, it doesn’t come from gifts. Talk to family and friends and see who is open to cutting back on gifts amounts or even take the plunge and see if they are willing to skip gifts altogether. I would recommend trying to replace the gifts with something significant that deepens your relationships: a heartfelt card, special dinner or get together, a family day. Here is my Christmas gift journey from the last few [...]
Read MoreI’m sure by now a lot of you have heard about the couple who for a month ate on only $1 a day. If you haven’t, check out their blog. I guess they have some new projects in the works for 2009 and a book will follow. Talk about a strict budget. I say good for them. As you long time readers know, I too am trying to shrink down my family’s food budget. Nothing as extreme as $1/day, but when you break down the numbers, we’re not too far off. Our current budget is $4.25/day. [$425 grocery + $75 dinning [...]
Read MoreThat’s right, the saga of my brain dead late 12 hour late payment continues. When I went to pay my bill for the month I noticed that Chase had charged me over $38 in finance charges. The finance charges shocked me, because my old Sunoco Mastercard didn’t charge backfinance charges only charges going forward. Well I already got the late fee removed, so I tried the finance charges. I sent a few stern email and even asked to talk to the supervisor to no avail. Does anyone have experience with the Chase Freedom card customer service? Should I try again [...]
Read MoreFor those that are interested, ChristianAudio.com offers at least on free full length audio book for download each month. Dec. 2008 is 90 Days of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. Check back at the start of each month to see what the new selection is. They also having a growing collection of free books, interviews, and podcasts that also can be downloaded for free. Click here to search the list. Enjoy. Don’t forget there is only a few hours left to enter the contest for DD’s free Time Magazine subscription.
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