My driveway is in serious need of pressure washing. The need is so serious that my homeowners association has sent me a nasty-gram telling me that if I do not pressure wash the driveway by tomorrow, the association will refer the matter to its attorneys. Yikes.
I have no desire to have to deal [...]

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

Black Friday 10: Retailers that may not survive until 2009
The Holiday Season Is Already Over For Retailers
Drinking tap water can save you $1,400 a year
20 tycoons who have lost billions [...]

I spend a lot of time outside and, if I’m inside working, my desk faces the road. As such, I know a lot about what goes on in my neighbor’s lives. (Disclaimer: I don’t spy on people, but when you’re driving back and forth in front of my house and piling your purchases in the [...]

If you came of age in the days when you might have had 8 or 9 channels that you received on your television, before cable and VHS, you remember that if you wanted to watch a movie, you had to see it in a cinema or wait for it to be rebroadcast. Sometimes, the [...]

Yesterday, I noted that although my wife and I will do just about anything for each other, my wife is not willing to buy my lottery tickets for me. I also have an errand that I cannot bring myself to perform for my wife. When I am in the grocery store, I won’t [...]

Ambition is one of the elements that made the United States an economic powerhouse. The drive to work hard and succeed spawned innovation, efficiency, and opportunity. Over the course of time ambition was a characteristic of millions of Americans and put them in positive financial situations. What some may not have known, [...]

While at a networking event the other day, I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation between two guys. The first guy was complaining about how much he hated his job. He said he couldn’t stand the job, the people, the commute, the stress, the hours, or any of it. The only thing he liked was [...]

The palm trees in my front yard are in need of trimming. I can trim the shortest of the three trees, but the other two trees are about 35 feet tall – about 10 feet taller than my courage will allow me to climb with a saw in my hand. My trees will [...]

I can see it. The end. It’s almost here. We only have one week left of no-spend month, where we vowed to only spend $400 for all of November on everything we need, including groceries, entertainment, and gas.
But it’s a big week, with Thanksgiving and all of the usually-oh-so-tempting Black Friday deals that I have [...]

As my father says, “When you own a home, there is always something to do.” I might add that there is always something to spend money on too. In fact, when money is tight, it’s often home maintenance that suffers.
Most people have at least half their wealth tied up in their home. Some of [...]