What do you want? I don’t mean what fantastic things do you wish you owned or could do or could be. What reasonable things do you want in life that you do not currently have?
Do you want to be healthier?
Do you want to spend more wisely?
Do you want a nicer car or better [...]

It is hard for me to believe that I have been writing here at Saving Advice for close to two years now. After about 150 columns, I am pleased to count many of you among my new friends! I’ve also developed a sense of how readers are likely to react to anything that [...]

Several years ago I started looking for alternatives to commercial laundry products. I had two main reasons for doing this. First, commercial products were becoming more and more expensive and I was having trouble finding ones that worked well, or at least well enough to justify their price tags. Second, I wanted products that were [...]

By Jeff Apton
In today’s healthcare debate nobody seems to be talking much about the high cost of dentistry, or the lack of insurance coverage. Maybe you’re lucky and squeak by with a few cleanings and a filling here and there. For those who are not so lucky, the cost of dentistry can be devastating, [...]

When a foot injury (and bitterly cold weather) recently sidelined me from my regular running routine, the doctor suggested that I find some low impact exercise to see me through my recovery time. Biking was out, at least for a while, because biking in sub-zero temperatures holds no appeal for me. I was already doing [...]

We’re heading toward the time of year when thoughts turn to New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’re making some specific financial resolutions: To get out of debt, save for a home, increase your retirement savings, or cut your grocery spending. Those are great ideas, but even if your resolutions aren’t specifically financial, your hard work to [...]

We don’t like to think about our parents getting older, facing illness, and their eventual deaths. We also don’t like to think about having to care for them and make financial decisions for them. It seems unnatural somehow. Parents care for us; it’s not supposed to be the other way around. But like it or [...]

One of the biggest excuses that I hear for spending money you don’t have is that you might die tomorrow. “What if I’m hit by a bus tomorrow and I didn’t go on that vacation, or have that car, or own that bag?” The thinking is that it would be a shame to die without [...]

With H1N1 going around and the vaccine in short supply (even the seasonal flu vaccine is hard to come by in some areas), you may want to find other ways to protect yourself this season. While nothing (not even the vaccine) is 100% guaranteed to keep you from getting the flu, there are many steps [...]

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 [...]