Several ladies in my neighborhood have recently gotten involved with direct selling organizations like Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and Usborne Books. As a result, my mailbox overflows with invitations to all of their “parties.” While I’m happy that they’ve found something to bring in some extra money, these invitations are tricky because I’m just not interested [...]
Someone asked me the other day whether every purchase and financial transaction has to have deep meaning. “To hear you talk sometimes,” this person said, “no one should ever buy anything unless they’ve carefully researched it, dissected it, and tallied the impact on the budget. Doesn’t anyone get to have any fun with their money?” [...]
When a cashier hands you your receipt, you probably just think of it as one more annoying piece of paper. Many people toss their receipts in the nearest garbage can on their way out of the store. It’s particularly tempting to toss it when you paid cash and you don’t even have to enter it [...]
A coworker of mine recently decided to get her finances in order. She admitted her debt troubles and her concerns that they don’t have anything saved for the future, let alone emergencies. While I applaud her desire to fix things, I question the method and the seriousness of her effort. I had to hide a [...]
Most people get many offers for various memberships. Health clubs, warehouse clubs, hobby groups, country clubs, alumni groups, auto clubs, and professional organizations all want us to be members. Unfortunately, very few clubs are free to join. Many come with hefty dues. While you’ll probably get some benefits from joining the organization, the main question [...]
While watching the train wreck that is “Extreme Couponing” the other day, I was struck by how so many of these people seemed to have become confused about the difference between saving money and not spending money. One woman was claiming that she’d saved $40,000 on her family’s grocery bill in one year. But would [...]
When you and all of your friends or family are deeply in debt, you can all be miserable together. You can gripe about your finances, complain about how there’s never enough money for everything, and then go shopping anyway. You can egg each other into further debt by saying things like, “You’re only young once,” [...]
As a wardrobe stylist and personal shopper, one of my jobs is to help people create their seasonal or annual clothing budget. For many new clients, who normally shop here and there throughout the year, they sometimes have sticker shock when they start shopping “in bulk” twice a year. Although they have more than likely [...]
Places like airports, businesses, theme parks, and even the post office are often stuck with property that cannot be returned or delivered to its proper owner. Baggage turns up at the airport and no one claims it. The mail service has packages that go unclaimed or things that become damaged in handling and separated from [...]
Clothing is expensive. When you’re buying clothes for two adults and a couple of kids, it becomes even more so. Enter the idea of sharing a wardrobe. Or at least parts of a wardrobe. While things like underwear should never be shared, it may be possible to share shirts and pants. How? Elastic and unisex [...]
