My youngest daughter sure is earning her wings this summer.
You: What do you mean?
In the last month, she’s flown to Florida and Arizona.
You: And how old is she?
One and a half.
You: Isn’t it crazy expensive to be flying your daughter around the country?
Crazy? Somewhat, although she was pretty well-behaved for me. Expensive? Actually. it’s free.
You: [...]
Continue reading about Taking Advantage of the Rules to Save a Few Bucks: Airline Edition
I’m not a fan of traditional budgeting.
You: What do you mean when you say “traditional budgeting?”
I’m talking about where you make a list of all of your expenses and try to ensure that you don’t spend more than, say $35 on entertainment or $50 on groceries for a week.
You: Sounds like classic budgeting to me. [...]
Rather then focus on cutting costs to the bare bone, I try to ensure that I maximize the value I receive out of every dollar I spend.
You: Every dollar?
Not really.
You: Good. After all, you’re the one who wrote Your Problem Isn’t Starbucks. I would hope you still stand by it.
I do. But I’ll give you [...]
I wrote last week about how to negotiate your cable bill, a process that, while painful, was rather lucrative. Today I share with you a couple of other additional phone calls I made to save some dough and the lessons we can learn as a result.
Rubin v. The Bank Soon to be Formerly Known as [...]
I don’t want you to wait any longer to negotiate your cable bill.
Personally, I waited too long to try to lower my cable bill. I try my best to follow my own advice. But, as a long-time reader named Jeff recently pointed out, I, like nearly everyone, can lose the forest for the trees when [...]
Continue reading about Negotiate your cable bill – How I lowered my cable bill
I received an email the other day from Jenny F. of New York City:
Hey,
Was thinking of you yesterday as I was bragging to my husband that I saved us $350/year just by switching my drug store prescription into a mail away one. Not only am I saving money but it’s so much more convenient, arrives [...]
I’m often asked if the emotional separation inherent in credit card usage also applies to debit cards. To the dismay of avid debit card users everywhere, I believe it does.
You: Why?
Debit cards are made of plastic.
You: The material matters?
No, it’s not the material that’s at issue. Debit cards are superior to credit cards since, for [...]
Continue reading about Do Debit Cards Separate You From Your Money Emotionally?
Last night, I read Jason Zweig’s WSJ column Using the Lottery Effect to Make People Save. He highlights how people save more money when they have a chance (not a certainty) of receiving a cash prize. Despite the fact that their odds of winning were low, savers squirreled money away more aggressively due to the [...]
Continue reading about Is our savings rate as high as our government tells us?
Maybe it’s the part of me that remembers how excited I felt to still be awake at 12:30 AM as a teenager, but I still think Top 10 lists are fun. From those I’ve created here, two of my favorites are:
Top 10 Most Annoying Ways to Lose A Little Money – an article that garnered [...]
Continue reading about Top Ten Ways to Save Money While Ruining Your Life
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance features my Top 10 Most Annoying Ways to Lose A Little Money. Among the 70+ solid financial articles in the carnival is Fiscal Fizzle’s Getting the Best Car Insurance Rates.
Among Fiscal Fizzle’s top tips are:
Home Situation, noting that often homeowners are given better auto quotes because their homeownership indicates [...]
Continue reading about Another dumb way to lose a little bit of money
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