Now that back to school season is upon us, my state and many others are promoting their upcoming tax free weekends. These are the weekends where you can buy items from certain categories and escape the state and/or local sales taxes on those items. The rules vary by state, but typically the items you can [...]

Someone told me the other day that I should want to earn more money so that I could afford the “finer things” in life. I responded by saying that yes, more money would be nice (isn’t it always?), but that the tradeoffs (working longer hours, more stress, more time away from my family) wouldn’t be [...]

It was recently announced in the news that Starbucks (SBUX) will be closing over 600 stores due to a phenomenon nicknamed “The Latte Effect.” This basically describes the actions people often take when economic times are tough and money is tight, which includes cutting back on extra expenses like coffee, manicures and hair treatments. [...]

Last weekend I got a call from my mom. She was cleaning out her house and came across my old Atari 2600. She asked if I wanted it back. I said heck yeah and took off to retrieve it. I’d forgotten all about the thing, but the minute I saw it the memories rushed back. [...]

It seems that many businesses and stores these days are willing to fight hard for your patronage. I’ve noticed a lot more stores lately that now offer price matching on equal items from a different store. You simply show the ad or online printout showing the item that is less expensive at the [...]

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I saw an ad looking for an tutor for English as a Second Language. School-age boy, in town about a month, rate $50/hr. In less than four hours, I determined it was a scam. Crud. That could have been a good job, had it [...]

Weekend reading is a round-up of personal finance and money related stories that caught the eye of our forum members this week:

Are We a Nation of Financial Illiterates?
411 Calls Reveal How People Are Saving Money
Why does the price increase of gas feel so enormous?
How much you earn (and how you compare [...]

We still pay most of our bills manually, by which I mean we don’t have automatic payments set up. While I recognize the advantages of automatic bill pay (no postage, time saved in writing out checks, etc.), I actually enjoy the task of paying bills the old-fashioned way. I like writing out checks [...]

I recently visited the dentist and learned that I had a cavity and needed a filling. My insurance would only pay a portion of what the filling would cost, so I would need to fork out $70 out of my own pocket. Paying money to sit through getting a filling is not something [...]

The question to get your morning rolling today is, What tricks help you from spending money?
I was talking with a friend who is super frugal except when it comes to traveling. It seems that he spends virtually all his extra money on traveling either to new countries or to visit friends. I asked him how [...]