Landline Downsize – The Saga Continues

As part of our drive to reduce unnecessary recurring monthly expenses, Mr. ToughMoneyLove has been trying to downsize our landline telephone service to the bare minimum. I want a single residential phone line with no call waiting, caller idea, or other features. Read more

The Dirty Side of Frugal

Intrigued by that title?

First I will concede that the title of this post – the “dirty” side of frugalism – is literally accurate but somewhat misleading. I’m not offering up celebrity gossip or stories of crime and deceit.

Instead, I’m going to tell you about my visit to the local dry cleaner. But stay with me – it’s relevant. Read more

Buying Quality to Save Money – The Grill

These past two weeks I’ve been playing musical chairs with our backyard grills. It culminated with a trip to the county dump where I discarded the grill loser. But this post is more about buying quality to save money. Read more

Reason Prevails over Spending Temptation

You may recall that Mr. ToughMoneyLove had a little cell phone vs. water episode during last week’s vacation. After a brief period of anxious withdrawal, I enjoyed several stress-free days of life without a phone in my pocket. Read more

Personal Finance Payoff – the Vacation

I am on vacation this week with Mrs. ToughMoneyLove and members of our nuclear and extended families.  That is why my postings this week are short and sporadic. I did want to take a minute to say something about vacations and how they relate to the world of personal finance. Read more

Diesel Passenger Cars – Time for a U.S. Comeback?

I drove by a discount gas station today and noticed something relatively new: The price of diesel was lower than that of regular gasoline. That’s the way it used to be in the way back machine. That has not been the case in recent years. No one can provide an explanation for this flip-flopping that makes consistent sense to me. Read more

Gadget Lust and Envy: The Tradition Continues

You have to hand it to American consumers. They aren’t going to let a little thing like a severe economic recession get between them and their lust for personal gadgets.  Case in point: cell phones.
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Chipping Away at Senior Discounts

One of the benefits of being a baby boomer is that we know more than most of the younger people.

OK – I take that statement back. The collapse of the housing and credit bubbles and our pathetic savings rates are evidence that many baby boomers didn’t know much at all about personal finance. Read more

Another Weapon in the Battle Against Media Fees

If you are a regular reader, you know that lately Mrs. ToughMoneyLove and I have been working on cutting the monthly fees that we pay for electronic media and communication services.

Yesterday our oldest son tipped me off to a new online TV offering from Hulu. Read more

Battling Conventional Telecom and Media Providers

Yesterday I prevailed in my little struggle with AT&T over saving money on our landline telephone. Since I was unable to fully downgrade our service using online account management, I connected to the site as a potential new customer so I could engage the online, real-time chat person/robot. When she/it responded with an oh-so-charming “how can I help you today”, I hit her with the query: “I want to fully downsize my account to the bare minimum.” Her response: “I do not have the resources to help you with this issue – please call ……”  Nice. Not having the “resources” is an obfuscatory way of saying “it’s not gonna be that easy sucker.” Read more

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