I know, I know. I said I’d never buy a Wii. Funny how never comes around sooner than you think. A few weeks ago I stayed with some family members who have a Wii and I realized just how much fun one could be. I was used to the passive gaming experience where you sit [...]

It’s no secret that college costs are rising to ridiculous levels. Kids are graduating with huge debt loads. Even if their parents have saved for their schooling since birth, costs are rising so fast they’re still likely to have to take on debt or work during school. In the last twenty years or so we’ve [...]

We just had our first cool snap of the year. While it will be hot again by the end of the week, the cool weather reminded me of the things I need to do to get my home and family ready for the colder months ahead. Some simple preparation and prevention efforts now will save [...]

In financial circles the big push is to get people to save enough money so that they can retire in comfort. That’s a noble goal, but the fact is that more and more people aren’t going to be able to retire, at least not in the way that they dream about. Pensions are a thing [...]

When money gets tight, lessons and coaching for the kids often end up on the chopping block. Whether it’s sports, music, or dance, these extracurricular activities are often costly and expendable in hard times. If your child is already in training to be an Olympic athlete or halfway to Julliard these strategies may not work, [...]

Most of us who like to save money will, at some point, find ourselves faced with a chance to save money that is ethically questionable. Especially in a down economy when people are trying to save on everything, it is easy to fall into frugal ideas that stretch the bounds of legality. I see this [...]

The mail comes, you glance at your bills and drop them in the “To Be Paid” pile. Then, on the appointed day, you write out the checks or direct the online bill pay to do its thing and then you forget about it until next month. In the process of paying your bills, do you [...]

Take a minute and think about how many web sites for which you have passwords and user names set up. Now think about how many of those are financial sites. In our age of online everything, many of us now do most of our banking and investing solely online. We may never even receive paper [...]

Last week my colleague here at SavingAdvice, David, wrote about the financial benefits of Facebook. His piece contained some valuable information for those looking to join Facebook. However, I’m of a different opinion with regards to Facebook and social networking in general. So, with apologies and respectful disagreement to David, and in the interest of [...]

If you’re looking to cut your spending in a hurry, one way to do that is to stop buying so many disposable products. Disposables may seem like a good deal because, for example, a pack of paper plates costs $2.00 and a set of durable plates costs $40. However, the durable plates will last you [...]