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

Big Three auto CEOs flew private jets to ask for taxpayer money
This is when you know the Economy is Doomed!
Savers caused the financial crisis
Worst Year Ever for Stocks: ‘Irrational Exuberance’ [...]

Automate your payments? Automate your life. Put everything on autopilot and just sail on up that river. Sounds convenient and easy, doesn’t it? Yep. That’s what they want you to think.
I have to admit that automatic payments can make your life easier if, and this is a big if, you are organized and able to [...]

My wife and I will do just about anything for each other. We have a great relationship and complement each other’s strengths. I fold the laundry. She puts it away. I do the grocery shopping. She puts the groceries away. I clean the bathrooms while she does the floors.
I [...]

If you celebrate Christmas, chances are good that you decorate a Christmas tree. Whatever other decorations, ornaments and other seasonal reminders with which you adorn your home, your Christmas tree is probably the focal point. You may decorate your tree on Christmas Eve, as one of my neighbours used to do, or you [...]

Is this a recession or opportunity knocking? I’ve seen this question posed all over the media. A lot of the articles are aimed at higher income execs who work the stock markets. But I’m beginning to see front porch lights coming on in businesses everywhere.
Yes, we’re all still feeling the pinch of high unemployment and [...]

Having a hobby (or several) can be a great thing. Hobbies give us a creative outlet or a way to meet new people. We learn new skills through hobbies and some of them can even earn us extra money. Several articles have appeared here at Saving Advice about how to save money on hobby expenses [...]

I recently mentioned Martha, my trash-exploring next door neighbor when I was a child. Martha always found creative ways to make money, whether it was through her yard sales, plant sales or barn-based general store. She made money on her crafts and her preserves. If she touched it, she found a way [...]

When I was a boy, tipping in a restaurant was always a discretionary expense. As a general rule, one was expected to tip 15% of the pre-tax bill as long as good service and good food was delivered. I lived in a state with a 5% meals tax so calculating the tip for [...]

I’m sure you’ve heard that if you want to be successful in getting or staying out of debt, you should craft a budget and stick to it. Does this really work? I suppose for some people it does, but it’s really never worked for me. That is until I stopped caring so much.
The problem for [...]

In my house we’ve had a tough couple of months with deaths, health scares, and general work-related stress. We’ve been tired, sad, and angry. There’s been a definite need in this house to feel better. We’ve needed some cheering up and calming down. In our spendier days we would have gone out to eat, gone [...]