If you’ve lived on a tight budget for a while because you’ve been out of work or gone back to school, it’s a little bewildering to start drawing paychecks from a new job. You may feel rich, but your wealth will be determined by your budget rather than your income. [More]
Money Maneuvers To Make By Year's End
By December 6, 2010
As 2010 winds down, your April 2011 self will thank you for making some moves to lighten your tax bill and set your finances in order for the year ahead. Decisions you make in the next few weeks will have implications that last for months. [More]
Mint Makes Saving More Fun With New "Goals" Dashboard
By June 30, 2010
Mint was the cool kid on the financial website block until it cut its hair and went corporate, but the Intuit-owned service can still roll out some nifty features now and then. The latest is a “goals” dashboard, which takes advantage of our natural tendency to try harder if there’s some way to see immediate feedback. Under your account there’s now a goals tab, where you can activate any of the default choices (“get out of debt,” “take a trip,” “buy a home”) or create your own (“laser hair removal,” “pvc bodysuit”). Then you can link your accounts to that goal, and have a quick visual metric you can use to stay focused. [More]
Stay On Budget By Maintaining One Indulgence
By February 18, 2010
Adam Baker at Get Rich Slowly suggests you’ll be able to better stick to a budget if you pick one non-essential hobby or interest instead of cutting them all out. The key to figuring out whether or not it’s something worth “wasting” money on is to identify any hidden benefits, and then to make sure there aren’t hidden drawbacks. [More]
5 Financial Tasks For Baby Boomers
By January 18, 2010
MSN Money offers financial goal-setting advice for Baby Boomers that can just as easily be applied to any other stage of life. [More]
Simple Ways To Slash Your Budget
By January 14, 2010
Bargain Babe shares 10 easy ways you can cut your budget. Forward the link to anyone who still clings to their land line, which the blogger insists — correctly, in my eyes — nobody with a cell phone needs. [More]
Time Your Purchases To Make Them Count
By January 8, 2010
Writing on Get Rich Slowly, April Dykman cobbled together of a list of the best times to buy everything. [More]
Save Money By Using Up Old Groceries
By January 6, 2010
Chances are you’ve got forgotten food supplies in your pantry, writes Herb Weisbaum, so why not feed your family some old food for a week and ban yourself from the grocery store? The woman in Weisbaum’s article tried it out, and found that there were enough unused items that when she was forced to make do, she figured out a way. [More]
5 Lies You Tell Yourself To Justify Dumb Spending
By January 4, 2010
Blogger Fabulously Broke lists five lies you use to trick yourself into overspending. [More]
Want To Save Money? Don't Be A Woman
By January 1, 2010
Not only are women paid less than men, but they have to pay more for lots of things, including clothes, haircuts and even soap. [More]
10 Strategies To Lower Your Auto Insurance
By November 10, 2009
Over at the Mint blog they’ve posted a list of 10 ways to reduce your car insurance premium. You’ll want to contact your current insurer and ask some questions, like whether they offer a discount for paying up front, or if they’ll cut you a deal for being a long-term customer.
Layaway Making A Comeback
By November 9, 2009
Sears and Toys R Us are among retailers who have brought back layaway programs to help boost sales, reports Eve Mitchell at the San Jose Mercury News. Not all stores think it’s worth the effort, so you won’t find it at JCPenney, Target, or Walmart. However, if you want to use layaway at retailers that don’t offer it, there are now websites that can help.
Take More Notes, Save Money
By November 2, 2009
Yesterday I grabbed a notebook app for my smartphone and spent a couple of hours organizing the various content folders—ideas for Consumerist, gift lists for Christmas, things to look up later on a computer—so that I could capture information more efficiently. Wait, why s ths n Cnsmrst? Because The Simple Dollar argues that by keeping a notebook and using it all the time (Lifehacker calls it “ubiquitous capture”), you can end up saving money.
Shop At A Dollar Store, Gamble On Quality
By October 8, 2009
Marlene Alexander will buy pretty much anything, at least once, from her local dollar store. Then depending on how well it holds up, she might write about it to warn others. She’s put together a list of some of the biggest dollar store failures she’s encountered over the past year.
Consumers Pay Down Credit Card Debt For 11th Straight Month
By October 8, 2009
The Federal Reserve has released data on consumer debt for August, and for the 11th month in a row we’ve paid down credit card debt and increased savings. Take that, rate-hiking credit card companies!
Where To Find Great Personal Finance Writing Online
By September 21, 2009
If you don’t know about the Carnival of Personal Finance, it’s a weekly round-up of interesting posts from the glut of personal finance blogs and websites that now litter the web. I discovered two of today’s posts—the 23 debt-saving tips and the the alkaline-vs-rechargeables story—through the most recent Carnival.
23 Tips On How To Pay Down Your Debt
By September 21, 2009
If you’re still floundering when it comes to paying off debt, here’s a great starting place for you. The blog DoughRoller has listed 23 ways to get started on freeing yourself from debt, along with lots of links to tools and other articles or websites that can help.
