Cut Spending Tips that Work

Not being a frugalist by nature, I don’t spend a lot of my time searching for frugal ideas. Most of my recent cost-cutting efforts have been in reducing recurring monthly expenses. In the past few months, we have cut our landline telephone costs to the bone, killed the satellite radio, cancelled the daily newspaper (although they gave it back to us for free), and a few other things that I won’t further bore you with. Read more

Guilt May Be the Antidote for Debt Addiction

On the various personal finance message boards that I read regularly, it is easy to find posters who debate the wisdom of purchases of non-essential goods and services by use of credit cards and other consumer debt.  The defenders of such purchases are often debt or credit addicts, carrying large balances on multiple credit accounts.  Equally often, these debt addicts argue that their purchases are justified because they work hard and therefore “deserve” or are “entitled to” things that bring them pleasure, even if they do not have the money to pay for them. Read more