When I was in college, my roommates and I didn’t think twice about picking sofas, coffee tables, and housewares out of other people’s trash. Don’t get grossed out. We always gave them a good scrubbing and disinfecting when we got home. We were definitely tried and true dumpster divers, mostly because we were too broke [...]

This past weekend the battery in my cordless phone died. I thought, “No problem. I’ll just run out and get a new battery.” When I got to the store I was disgusted to find that a new battery cost $18.99. My disgust grew when I turned around and looked at the phone display. I could [...]

As the child of people who lived through the Great Depression, I grew up on an “energy diet.” My parents encouraged us to turn off the lights when leaving the room, put on a sweater instead of turn up the heat, and walk to the store instead of drive.
My parents ingrained these habits into their [...]

In the previous article, I briefly described how I opened an internet Bakery. I didn’t go into the details on how I kept it running on a day to day basis or what products sold the best or even what kind of profits I made. Suffice it to say that my little domestic kitchen more [...]

I see many people worrying themselves sick over this economic crisis. Their worry is jeopardizing their health and happiness. They can’t sleep or eat (or they eat and sleep too much). They’ve stopped exercising. They aren’t taking care of themselves and their relationships. If their worry were a positive force for change, that would be [...]

At the beginning of this year, I was looking for a way to supplement our income. I do seasonal data processing and the spring season had not yet begun. I had prior experience with selling handmade jewelry on the internet and had all ready decided that I wanted to use the internet for my venue. [...]

I have a friend who is, shall we say, “crunchy” (in the best sense of the word). She and her family eschew many modern conveniences such as dishwashers, fast food, and big box stores in favor of doing things the old fashioned way. They are environmentally conscious to a fault and very outdoorsy. A few [...]

I love saving money. Ask my wife, she’d be the first to tell you. She thinks I’m a tightwad and that I wrote the book on skinning a flint. I like to think she is maybe a bit facetious. Maybe.
But then again, I am mature enough to see the grain of truth in such [...]

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

Americans finally start saving again
Tips for New Paupers
Searching For a Market Bottom? Keep Looking
10 more reasons you are not wealthy
Grain piles up in ports
Worst yearly slump for S&P [...]

I was chatting with a neighbor – Mike — over the weekend. Mike’s daughter is a senior in high school and looking at a lot of different colleges. Mike is a successful dentist but he is still worried about the economy and the costs of putting his daughter through school, even though he [...]