Monday is Memorial Day, which the stores consider the official kick-off of the summer shopping season. You’ll see sales galore, but you can still be frugal if you try! Check for Deals If there are items you need for summer projects, check the store circulars for coupons and discounts. If the item you want is …
With home prices falling, people who were considering selling are now staying put and learning to live with what they have. But you don’t have to put up with stale design elements. If your home’s size and layout still works for you, here are some simple, mostly affordable fixes that can update your home and …
I spoke too soon! Shortly after I prepared my taxes, H&R Block offered me a copy of their online software to review. They also offered me five Premium edition codes to give away. This will allow you to file a free Federal online return using the Premium version of the software, a $55 value including sales tax. …
We’ve been using Quicken 2005 for several years, but recently it alerted us that it will no longer download our banking transactions after May 1. That means we either have to upgrade to Quicken 2008 or switch to one of the free personal finance software packages. I decided to check out Mint, Yodlee, and Wesabe …
This post is for the ladies. Men really only have one birth control method available to them: condoms. Women have many more options available, but as most women can tell you, birth control isn’t typically cheap. If you want to save a little money without risking parenthood (or another child), here are some cheap birth …
I read a story on NPR’s Marketplace today that really made me stabby. Apparently some banks are now charging fees for customers to receive monthly paper statements. Sure, most of us can access our accounts online and have opted out of paper statements, but that’s not everyone. Banks shouldn’t charge you a fee for providing a core service, …
Six months ago I wrote a post about calculating the benefits of dual coverage health insurance. At the time, my employer was switching health insurance plans so that my husband and I would both have Anthem through our employers, and he would have dual Anthem coverage with different benefit levels. Once we learned he was scheduled …
At the beginning of 2007, I set ten personal goals, about half of which were financial. I’ve achieved five of those goals, three are in progress, and two were intentionally delayed because the other goals are in progress. I like to call these goals rather than financial resolutions because people don’t keep resolutions. Goals are …
In addition to the new car tax credit I attempted to explain yesterday, the economic stimulus package also includes a new homebuyer tax credit. The credit has several restrictions, but it could save you a lot of money on your taxes if you haven’t owned a home in the last three years. Here’s how the first-time homebuyer …
It’s official. I can’t watch TV commercials anymore. Actually, I nitpick the shows, too, but these days a lot of commercials are ticking me off. Some commercials are pretty funny, but the rest I could do without. Especially the commercials that make things sound better than they are, or claim that they’ve started doing something …
