When I was in college, I was content to open my kitchen cupboard and find it full of Ramen. Every flavor – except shrimp (yuck) – was represented after a trip to the grocery store. Not only did I know where my next meal was coming from, but I had saved money. Never mind that [...]

Are you left with more month than paycheck? Are you trying to stick to a budget, but can’t understand where all your discretionary income is going? Do you always end up searching the couch cushion and car seats for extra change to make everyday purchases?
My husband and I had all of these problems and more.
We [...]

How does using cash or a debit card influence our spending?
About a month ago, I watched a video on Yahoo about an ordinary couple who were challenged to use cash for everything they bought for one week. The idea was to find out if they would spend less when using actual paper money.
How do you [...]

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

43 Mortgages Within Same Family
What really killed WaMu?
What Are the Economic Collapse Indicators to Watch For?
An odd welfare story
The Power of Negative Thinking
5 percent on CDs may not [...]

If you have kids, you have probably endured seasons of organized youth sports. Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, lacrosse, swimming, volleyball – the list of options for kids is seemingly endless and can keep them occupied from January to December. If your kid wants to play a lot of different sports, it can [...]

What do you usually have for a snack? Do you choose something healthy like fruit or veggies? Or is it more like a bag of chips or your favorite candy bar? How about dinner? Do you make dinner from scratch, or do you heat up something that is premade?
If [...]

One of the absolutely best things my wife and I ever participated in was premarital counseling with our pastor. Among other things, he brought the topic of finances to the forefront for discussion and helped us put the right plan together.
Not unlike other families, our biggest issue was that I am a saver [...]

You Clap On! the television and there it is. Yet another ad for a product that you never knew you wanted. You turn up the volume on your Personal Sound Amplifier. Did you hear the announcer correctly? Could it really be? All that and a free gift for only $19.99 plus shipping and handling? You [...]

In the last year, I’ve noticed a trend among the invitations I’ve been receiving in my mailbox: Rather than being simple invitations to celebrations, they are becoming thinly disguised money grabs. I have been invited to weddings and told (not requested, but told) to give cash. I’ve been invited to a “going away to college [...]

I received a letter from my electric power company recently encouraging me to sign up for the company’s “Green Generation” program. If I joined the “Green Team”, I could purchase energy generated from wind power and landfill gas for a mere .01667 cents per kilowatt hour. I could also purchase Green Blocks instead at $2.50 [...]