I do a large portion of my holiday shopping (or any shopping, for that matter) online. Not only is it more convenient because I live about an hour away from the closest city, but I often find precisely what I need for a lot less. But there are, of course, some trade-offs in online shopping that […]
The holiday season is in full swing and with that comes the joyous music, sweet smells of delicious food, and precious family time. The holidays are a great time to relax and prepare for the New Year. However, this time of year has also turned into a consumerist frenzy, with many people stressing about money, running […]
Thanksgiving is only two short weeks away, and the air is filled with anticipation of the official start of the holiday shopping season. I’m obviously talking about Black Friday, when people stay up all night to get a shot at (self-proclaimed) once-a-year door-buster sales. I’ve heard people brag how large a percentage of their gift […]
Recently, I’ve been trying to phase out some of the big box stores where I can, and instead shop locally. Why? Because shopping locally has some great benefits. Firstly, you’re putting money back into your own community and promoting local job growth. Secondly, you might be keeping a small, family owned business from the brink of bankruptcy. […]
A situation at my job today made me realize just how electronic-dependent my financial information is. Our intranet system was down due to a router problem that won’t be fixed for a few days, debilitating and limiting many daily wireless functions we rely on to do business. An entire service department is down because they can’t use their […]
You’ve spent the past few years cleaning up your credit and stashing away enough cash to qualify for your dream home. And now, the time has come to seal the deal. But there’s only one problem: you only accounted for the monthly principal, interest, and property taxes, and overlooked a slew of other costs. Unfortunately, […]
