Pecuniarities

When our A/C went out two Sundays ago, my first reaction was panic. We live in the desert where we have been experiencing triple digit temperatures and we have esteemed air conditioning as one of the dire necessities of life. So when our central air went out last weekend, my first thought was that we [...]

Expansion Difficulty/Complexity: Medium-Hard
This is a credit card add-on for the game of Monopoly wherein players have both cash and credit and may opt to “charge” certain expenses in lieu of paying cash in order to keep the cash flow for investing in property and buildings. For being such a careful money saver in real life, [...]

Lesson 1: When Not to DIY
In the past year, we only went out an average of 1-2 times per month to run errands and our garage door therefore got very little exercise. One day last month, when I was leaving for my monthly grocery shopping trip, the door wouldn’t close. I left it to Madoline [...]

Next to the TV, DVD, flushing toilet, hot shower, computer and properly working automatic garage door, the internet is one of the best inventions ever. In fact, living in the desert as I do, I couldn’t get along without the internet. Even with the rising cost of internet service, the number of things it allows [...]

Now that tax time is coming around, I’ve noticed an increase in tax related scam emails in  my inbox and spam folder. They come in various forms with different sender names and subjects, claiming to be important notifications about your taxpayer account, your tax refund, and new this year, your economic stimulus or bailout check.
By [...]

As most of you must know, the California wildfires have been getting worse with each passing year. According to Peter Sanders of the Wall Street Journal, fire season has barely begun, but in the past 3 weeks, the fires have consumed 631,000 acres of and $112 million in State funds. In the past 12 months, [...]

It is not easy to be young, single and frugal these days when designer clothing and accessories, iPods and Blackberrys are king, and being cool and having fun is dependent on how much money you can spend. Frugal is not a word often associated with the first 2 traits – young and single – and [...]