advice

How To Make Sure You Get Paid What You're Worth

How To Make Sure You Get Paid What You're Worth

Wired has put together a Wiki called a “Get Paid What You’re Worth” that lists seven strategies to help you maximize your salary. To start off, use a salary calculator or report to get a ballpark estimate of the going rate in your area, and remember that you have to learn to negotiate if you want to make more money. [More]

Don't Call The Police To Complain About The Prostitute You Tried To Hire

Don't Call The Police To Complain About The Prostitute You Tried To Hire

A man in New Hampshire called the police earlier this week to report a theft of services complaint. Unfortunately for him, the services happened to be sexual, which meant he was also basically turning himself in for soliciting prostitution. Both he and the alleged prostitute were arrested. [More]

Experts Answer Credit Questions From Average Americans

Experts Answer Credit Questions From Average Americans

Henry Unger at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has put together a multi-part series of questions and answers from readers. The detailed answers are provided by Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta, and the questions–which I’ve listed below–cover a broad spectrum of personal finance issues, including credit cards, mortgages, and credit reports. [More]

Tips For Making Brownbagging More Interesting

Tips For Making Brownbagging More Interesting

Here’s my tip: change the definition of “brownbagging” to something dirty. But if that’s not going to catch on, and you want to continue to think of it as “bringing my lunch to school/work,” then here are a couple of tips from Wise Bread on how to avoid lunchtime boredom. [More]

Here's A Possible Way To Avoid Citibank's New Account Fees

Here's A Possible Way To Avoid Citibank's New Account Fees

Next month, Citibank will implement its new $7.50 fee on what were formerly free checking and savings accounts. The only way to avoid the fee is to keep a total of $1500 minimum in your linked accounts. John wrote in to tell us that when he went to his branch and asked about the new fee, they found a way to get around it. It may not work for anyone else, but it’s worth sharing. [More]

Don't Buy This Stuff In 2010

Don't Buy This Stuff In 2010

A SmartMoney story on Yahoo Finance declares 10 products as officially “out” for 2010. [More]

Hungry McDonald's Customer Throws Mop Water At Cashiers

Hungry McDonald's Customer Throws Mop Water At Cashiers

A bucket of dirty mop water is nobody’s friend, which is exactly why you shouldn’t leave it out where customers can reach it. Because eventually someone will get angry over an order and feel a need to throw something, and oh look, mop water. [More]

Do Not Punch Out A Drive Thru Window Because There Are No McNuggets

Do Not Punch Out A Drive Thru Window Because There Are No McNuggets

Here is a suggestion from the experts here at Consumerist. Do not punch out the drive thru window of your local McDonald’s because they are unable to provide you with McNuggets. [More]

83 Ways To Be Smarter With Money While You're Still Young

83 Ways To Be Smarter With Money While You're Still Young

Hank from Own the Dollar has put together a common-sense guide of 83 money moves to make while you’re in your 20s. [More]

Learn What Candy To Eat With This Flowchart

Learn What Candy To Eat With This Flowchart

The blog Eating The Road continues to churn out amazingly helpful flowcharts to guide you with pretty much everything you can put in your belly. The latest is the Candy Edition, and you probably won’t be surprised to see where candy corn and circus peanuts end up.

Others we’ve missed since we last checked in: the Beer Edition and the Freezer Aisle Edition.

Terrible Ideas For Secret Santa Gifts

Terrible Ideas For Secret Santa Gifts

I know, you’re on a tight budget this year, and office Secret Santa exchanges are tedious and awkward. But please don’t fill a hot dog bun with cat food and then top it off with ketchup, then wrap that up in gift wrap and call it your gift. Because someone already did that. Someone at a Sunday School. MainStreet.com has a list of 13 of the worst Secret Santa gift ideas if you want to know what else has already been attempted. [More]

Another Example Of How To Go Cable-Free

Another Example Of How To Go Cable-Free

We’ve posted before about how to break your cable habit without giving up on TV altogether–it’s possible, but can’t happen without some work on your end. This week, the New York Times’ Nick Bilton explained how he and his wife have combined their existing devices with a few new ones to create a content stream that enables them to watch what they want without cable. [More]

How To Make Sure Your Next Plastic Surgery Is Safe

How To Make Sure Your Next Plastic Surgery Is Safe

If you’re dumb, you forget that plastic surgery is surgery with an extra word in front of it, a doctor tells CNN in their article on getting nip/tucked safely. As with any surgery, there’s no real way to make it completely safe, but here are five tips from their article that you should follow to improve your odds. In fact, they’re probably good tips for any kind of surgical procedure. [More]

20 Tips To Ready You For Black Friday

20 Tips To Ready You For Black Friday

Budgets Are Sexy’s J. Money put together a list of 20 ways to prep yourself for Friday’s shopping frenzy. Here’s a taste of the post: [More]

Warning Signs That Your Mechanic Is Scamming You

Warning Signs That Your Mechanic Is Scamming You

Mint has a great article on how to protect yourself from getting ripped off by a mechanic. First and foremost, read your car’s manual and learn what to ask for when you take it in. Just saying you need a tune up with a modern car flags you as an easy mark.

Free Thanksgiving Tips Book Download

Free Thanksgiving Tips Book Download

Here’s a free Thanksgiving-themed PDF booklet from Money Management International, a non-profit that focuses on financial literacy. The booklet contains some guidelines on how to plan out the big event, how to save money on decor, and tips on shopping and saving money.

Am I Responsible For My Parents' Debt?

Am I Responsible For My Parents' Debt?

Jay’s parents have gotten quite, uh, spendy with their retirement income, and now they’ve got a lot of debt they can’t pay off. This has become Jay’s problem not because he’s a party to any of the debt, but because they’ve put him down as a reference and now bill collectors are harassing him.

10 Strategies To Lower Your Auto Insurance

10 Strategies To Lower Your Auto Insurance

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.