People make fun of me because I always have NPR, CNBC or The Nightly Business Report on in the background when I’m working. They tell me I’m a finance junkie, and they’re not far off. But, it’s entertainment for me and every now and then I get to hear someone utter words that are so [...]

I’m sure I’m dating myself by telling you that I remember the days when boys in high school took shop and the girls took home economics. I don’t know what went on in shop class, but I know that home economics, as it was taught then in my school, was a joke. We did learn [...]

I have been walking regularly to many errands to save money on gas, wear-and-tear on the car, and to tamp down the urge to spend money on a gym membership. While an energizing and cleansing experience, these walks reveal unpleasant sights in my city: litter, leaves clogging street drains, and stray shopping carts.
These are not [...]

Although we are financially secure and tend to make wise decisions regarding our finances, we still screw up sometimes and do things that we later regret. We’re human. However, while we may have regrets I choose to look at them as learning opportunities. Whatever we regret from this past year is something that can be [...]

It’s become quite fashionable to attack credit card companies or banks who hold our mortgages, especially with the recent turmoil in the financial market. While talk of increased regulation and pointing the finger of blame may each have their place in how we deal with such situations, both psychologically and fiscally, they can quickly overwhelm [...]

Now that back to school season is upon us, my state and many others are promoting their upcoming tax free weekends. These are the weekends where you can buy items from certain categories and escape the state and/or local sales taxes on those items. The rules vary by state, but typically the items you can [...]

It seems everything is taxable — even coupons! I never questioned the small print on the coupons I use, at least not the part about the customer paying sales tax. (I don’t understand why a manufacturer can say a coupon shouldn’t be doubled when it’s the retailer that makes a doubling offer, but [...]

“Falling housing market.” “Possible recession.” “Troubled economy.” These phrases have been buzzing around lately in the media. Real estate prices were going up and many people decided to buy more house than they could afford with unconventional mortgage terms. Now the house prices are falling in many areas and people can’t [...]

If you haven’t heard, the government is devising an “economic stimulus package” to jump start the economy. While the details aren’t yet final, it appears that the majority of American workers and retirees will be getting some rebate money from Uncle Sam. The latest figures to be tossed around are $1,000 per couple, $500 per [...]

Before money existed, people exchanged goods and services through bartering. Even after money became the logical solution to the problem of finding someone who could offer what you wanted and wanted what you had to offer, bartering remained a viable alternative way to do business.
Today, as the Internet has enabled more [...]