Earlier this week a friend asked me out for dinner at a pretty pricey restaurant. Having been there once before for a special occasion I knew that the food and service wasn’t that great and definitely not worth the price tag (at least to me). I declined my friend’s invitation. When she asked why, I [...]

Is it my imagination or are brands not nearly as big a deal today as they were thirty years ago? When I was growing up, there were endless discussions of Coke versus Pepsi, McDonalds versus Burger King, and Haagen Dazs versus Ben and Jerry’s. Over the past few years, however, I think that [...]

Up until a year or so ago I had a pretty bad soda habit. I guess there were others who have a bigger problem than I did, but mine was bad enough. I would routinely drink soda with lunch and dinner, and maybe one in between if the urge hit. I always drank diet so [...]

I like to sip iced coffee when I drive. I am not sure that I like the coffee as much as I like crunching on the coffee-flavored ice, but for whatever reason, I like to have an iced coffee in the car. Of course, as a responsible frugalista, I would never admit to [...]

You may recall that a labradoodle puppy joined my family earlier this year. Adding a dog to our household has brought many changes. Some have cost us money. Some have saved us money. Some just serve to demonstrate that it is easier for us to spoil our dog than it [...]

I was perusing the Saving Advice forums the other day and I noticed that Marla was aghast at having discovered pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in her grocery stores freezer section. Marla commented “Have we really become a nation that is so lazy we can no longer even make a peanut and jelly [...]

I’ve known Ben since 1969. In fact, I have it on the best authority that he attended my third birthday party that year. Ben has always been consistent. I could always rely on him to be loyal, genuine and completely scatterbrained at times.
Once, when he was about nineteen years old, Ben’s [...]

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 [...]

By Maureen K.
If you had asked me a year ago if I would like being poor, I would have called you crazy. Both my husband and I had just lost our jobs and we were just coming to the realization that we were no longer going to be able to live the life of luxury [...]

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 [...]