It feels like at least once every week that I'm telling someone how much I love Craigslist. In the past year, I've gotten some really nice furniture from sellers on Craigslist (which you're about to get a glimpse at!) for a mere fraction of what I would have paid had I bought ... Read more...
Archives for May 2012
When a Good Life Decision is a Bad Financial Decision
I live alone. Well, except for my cat. But basically, I live alone. I have lived alone for the past 5 years, and in that time I've come to believe that living alone is a very, very important life experience. There's something indescribably gratifying about knowing that I can ... Read more...
Going Vegetarian to Save Money?
Let me just be clear about one thing: I. Love. Meat. Steak, chicken wings, grilled hot dogs, barbecued ribs….meat is delicious. Period. However. Meat is also very expensive, particularly lean cuts that haven't been treated with hormones or antibiotics. So as much as I love ... Read more...
Call Me Crazy, But I Think My Budget Gives Me Freedom
Yesterday I did a truly epic amount of errands. I made a lot of stops and bought a lot of stuff, everything from nail polish to eggs to toilet paper. And yes, I spent a lot of money. I suppose I could add it all up, but I'd estimate that I spent about $175 yesterday over the ... Read more...
What’s Your Favorite Money Aphorism?
As a corollary to my post about my own personal money rules, I wanted to compile a list of my readers' favorite cliche (but sometimes so true!) money sayings. I'll start with one from a great Pennsylvanian: "Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ... Read more...
I Have No Financial Ideology, But I Do Have a Few Money Rules
If you caught my post on Friday, you know that I'm a little disturbed at my lack of a financial ideology. It's true: I don't have any firm, overarching financial beliefs. No go-to money mantras. On the one hand, this sucks. When I have tough financial decisions to make, I have ... Read more...
What is Your Financial Ideology?
Yesterday, I proctored the A.P. English Literature exam. That means three and a half solid hours of doing nothing but walking around a big, silent room watching a bunch of 18-year-olds furiously writing. Left alone with my thoughts, I naturally started running numbers in my head. ... Read more...
Have You Heard About Coursera?
A few weeks ago, I caught the end of an NPR story about a start-up called Coursera. I missed most of the information in the story, but I inferred that Coursera is an online learning platform. Like, where you can take full courses online. Cool, right? But then last Thursday I ... Read more...
I Need an Emergency Fund. Help Me Decide How to Build One!
So, a series of recent events has proven to me that I can no longer get by without an emergency fund (I like to call mine a Freedom Fund, but I'll call it an emergency fund for the purposes of this post). First, there were the bills I accrued from the death of my cat. Then, I ... Read more...
Big-ish Purchases I Need to Make in the Near-ish Future
You know how it really sucks when you run out of shampoo, toothpaste, contact solution, mascara, and deodorant in the same week and before you know it you're in the check-out line at Target with $50 worth of beauty supplies in your basket? That's kinda where I'm at right now, ... Read more...