Blog
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Parts of Frugality
How I became Frugal- I would have to say I am one of the lucky ones, in that I grew up in a house where my Mom made things last and recycled what she could and my Dad fixed many things on his own. This was either out of necessity or convenience, depending on the…
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Hanging Out at the (Virtual) Mall
“If I don’t stop shopping, I’ll end up a bag lady; a Fendi bag lady, but a bag lady…” — Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw I believe I’m one of the few women that hate to shop. If I am lured to the mall, it’s because my partner, Jeanine, has dangled the “food” carrot.…
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Creativity and Vehicles
One of the ways that Surfgirl and I save money is by only having one car. This was a conscience decision to reduce expenses. It is also helpful that surfgirl is a SAHW (stay at home wife). Even when we both had jobs, we tried to work it out that our schedules didn’t conflict so…
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Saving Money: The Art of Business Travel
“Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation.” — Elizabeth Drew I travel quite often for my job so I’m always on the prowl for ways to save money en route. Even though it’s funded by my corporate expense account, I pride myself on ways to cut costs. I’ve always treated…
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A Few Clothing Tips
Any way you can reduce little expenses, do it. It is the little stuff that adds up and causes your wallet to leak money when you aren’t looking. Every now and then I will add to the list of tips, you are welcome to use them, abuse them or laugh at them. Even better, you…
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No Life Insurance for Us
We started contemplating term life insurance about four years ago. LaLa had just been laid off from our company and we were about to close on our first house purchase. Oh, and having poured all our savings into the purchase, we had no emergency fund (can you tell the layoff happened after the purchase, and…
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Weekend: Forget The Hustle Of Your Workweek
“I believe you are your work. Don’t trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That’s a rotten bargain.” — Rita Mae Brown Last night at the hair salon while spending my hard earned dollars on overpriced services (partial weave and cut = $165 + tip), I had a couple of…
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Our Credit Card Debt Story
Debt Hater recently asked me how I paid down my credit card debt so quickly. First let me correct what I stated in that post about how much debt got paid off when. At the end of 2004 we had over $11,000 in credit card debt…most of it had been aquired in the preceding 3…
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Advantages of Buying a Duplex
“Friendship make prosperity brighter, while it lightens adversity by sharing its griefs and anxieties.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero My friend, Brian, was interviewed about his experience with buying a duplex in the Bay Area. He bought it with a new friend last year. Eve Mitchell writes, “Families have long purchased duplexes to live in, especially…
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6 Meals From a Costco Chicken
If you have a Costco membership you probably already know about the chickens. A hot, plump, juicy, rotisseried bird for about $5 that has a lot of rapturous fans. Including me. LaLa and I can typically squeeze about 5-6 meals out of one chicken using a few simple recipes. Now that we are attempting to…
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