Have you ever watched your family open up Christmas gifts while mentally calculating how much each gift cost and comparing that against the amount you have in your checking?  Have you dreaded opening the bills in January because you know the credit card statement from holiday shopping will be coming soon and you do not [...]

Common financial advice is to pay yourself first; set aside your own savings before you pay any bills.  Yet, what happens if you don’t have enough money to pay yourself first?  What if you can’t set aside $100 or more each month?  How can you continue to save for your goals whether they are establishing [...]

If you’re even slightly interested in the US economy, and, let’s face it, most of the world is, then you’ve likely been at least marginally following the last few weeks worth of debt ceiling news.  The quick and dirty of it is that the US government has a debt ceiling that puts a cap on [...]

According to a new report by the American Express Spending and Saving Tracker, 15% of the American citizens plan to augment their savings in 2011; as compared to a poll in 2010 and 40% say there will be no changes in their spending behavior this year. Are the Americans planning to spend more dollars in [...]

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you know all the tips and tricks associated with spending less. But everyone needs to spend money sooner or later. So when you know you’ll have to open up the wallet, spending smarter is your last defense against wasting your hard earned cash and maintaining a contribution to [...]

We talked last time about why you should create a menu plan.  Today, we will tackle how to menu plan.  Honestly, there is no correct way to menu plan, but here are some of the most common methods: Assign a Meal to a Day of the Week Some people make it very easy on themselves and create [...]

Does this sound familiar?  It is 5 p.m., and you stop by the grocery store after work.  You don’t have much time to make dinner before you have to go to a parent/teacher conference at 7 p.m., so you buy some carrot sticks, a pound of meat, whole wheat buns and sloppy joe mix from [...]

Not to be confused with the scales that our friend Lady Justice carries around with her everywhere, the scales of finance are a bit different in function.  To truly weigh something, using a scale, you load up one side of the scale with that which you want to weigh and then put weights of a [...]

Are you shocked by the recent high price of groceries?  Have you noticed a jump in your grocery bill?  I have noticed a jump of about $20 a week that I am paying now for the same groceries I used to buy for much less.  Unfortunately, I am not much of a coupon diva, and [...]

If you’re one of the millions of people that has been negatively impacted by the global financial crisis, then you may find that your credit rating has suffered. Realize though that no amount of good advice can be a replacement for responsibility. Living within your means and giving a proper amount of deference to your [...]