With all of my close friends, I have noticed a similarity.  My personal finances and financial decisions affect them. 
They say opposites attract and I guess that can be true of friendships as well.  I have had three close friendships.  I’m talking tight, share all secrets with girlfriends.  All three of these ladies had issues with spending.  After being friends with them for a while, I noticed that all of them began to tone down their spending, their impulsive shopping, their wild credit card spending, and they began to look for bargains on the things they purchased. 

Of course when you are …read more

Last year, I wrote numerous articles about grocery shopping, saving money with coupons, stockpiling, The Grocery Game, and getting groceries for next to nothing.  This year, I’m really struggling.

In December, our family moved to a very rural area.  It’s beautiful out here.  The neighbors have llamas, donkeys, horses, and cows.  It’s nice and quiet.  There’s just one problem . . . the only grocery store around is Food Lion. 
Food Lion does have some nice weekly specials that I like to stockpile, but I am really missing my Lowe’s Foods.  Each week, I would print out The Grocery Game list for …read more

“The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets.”
~Proverbs 21:20 TLB

I was listening to the Bob and Sheri this morning.  I heard Bob say that he had a friend who spent $5,000 to see the Panthers play in the Superbowl.  $5,000!!!!  Can you believe it?
Bob was questioning Sheri if she would ever spend $5,000 to go to a show, concert, or anything that she really wanted to see.  Sheri said she wouldn’t.  
$5,000?!!?  Seriously?  I am still blown away when I hear stuff like this.  I would have to be a millionaire to even consider blowing money like that.  Even then, I’d probably still feel totally guilty about the starving children in the world I could have saved. 
This …read more

Some of you may wonder how I learned to be so frugal.  To me, most of the tips that I write about seem like second nature or common sense. 
My knack for thriftiness was given to me by my mother.  We were not wealthy growing up and my mom did the best that she could to make her dollars stretch.  She would constantly scrutinize the cost of items.  I learned as I watched her read sales papers, clip coupons, check price per unit, scope out clearance sales, and go back to the customer service desk for a refund on overcharged items. 
There have been …read more

A new survey released by Visa Inc. shows that 73% of Americans celebrate and spend money on Halloween.  The average family will spend $40 on candy and decorations.  Parents with children under 18 will spend $54 on candy and decorations.  Dads are said to spend more than moms.
I guess how much you spend depends upon where you live.  I’m sure that in the last 10 years, we haven’t had more than 10 children at our house trick-or-treating.  Maybe it’s because there are so many church and school festivals and other activities going on.  
I have a friend that lives in a neighborhood that has a …read more

This week I was surprised when I heard someone saying that she needed to get a part-time job. 
Why does she need another job?  Her husband has a good job and has been employed at the same company for years.  She has been at the same well paying job for probably 15 years or more.  They have a nice house, but they have owned it for a while so their payments shouldn’t be much, probably even less than mine.

And so I wonder how does a family of four in which the parents have two really good paying jobs need more money?  I think …read more

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2006 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the average consumer will spend $100.89 on Valentine’s Day.  Wow, that was a mouth-full!  I bet you didn’t know there was such a survey.  I sure didn’t.  The survey shows spending will be up, from the average of $97.27 last year.
Almost 61% of consumers plan to celebrate the holiday and the NRK is predicting retail sales to reach $13.70 billion, up from $13.19 billion last year.
Please vote in our poll and let us know how much money you intend to spend for Valentine’s Day.
Here are some interesting facts for you:
The …read more