Smart Spending Blog: Money saving tips from around the web – MSN Money

Shoes, home arcades, Ethernet cables, TVs, electric bikes

Karen Datko — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:59:36 GMT

Here are today's hot deals from dealnews.com:

Vans shoes for $19.95. That's up to 75% off. With shipping at $6.95, it's the lowest total price we've seen for a majority of these styles, most of which are unisex.

Extreme Arcade home arcade for $399.88. Shipping adds $65, or choose in-store pickup. That's $40 more than our mention two weeks ago, since expired, but it's still easily the lowest total price we could find.

25-foot CAT5e Ethernet cable for $6.99. Apply coupon code ETHECABT5WH and it falls to $3.99. With free shipping, it's the lowest total price we've seen for an Ethernet cable of this length by $2.

Sony BRAVIA 40-inch 1080p 120Hz wide-screen LCD HD television for $1,199 with free shipping. It's a $100 drop since our mention from a month ago and the lowest total price we've seen for any Sony 40-inch 1080p 120Hz TV.

Mongoose CX200 Moto-X electric bike for $175. Shipping adds $21.97 or choose free in-store pickup. Even with shipping, that matches our mention from a week ago as the lowest total price we've seen.

An affordable approach to kids' extracurricular activities

Karen Datko — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:35:45 GMT

A lot has been written lately about kids' extracurricular or so-called enrichment activities, but the story that takes the cake is this one told by "Mighty Bargain Hunter": Parents bought a Steinway grand piano for their child "and built an addition on to their house to display it properly."

You guessed it. The kid quit piano lessons in two years. How do you provide your child with fulfilling structured time without going overboard on commitments and cost?

Here are the combined suggestions of several bloggers:

Can you actually afford it? You'll be paying for more than fees, equipment, uniforms and the like. Figure in the gas, plus what you'll be contributing for fundraisers. Tisha Kulak at American Consumer News writes that "parents tend to compensate financially during fundraisers and such because it is getting more and more difficult to sell fundraiser items to people who are living on a tight budget."

Narrow your focus. For young children, you can pick an activity based mostly on cost. For older kids who've shown talent or interest in a particular area, concentrate on that activity. Remember: During unscheduled time, your child can actually play alone or with other kids. In fact, according to a BusinessWeek story, that's just what the American Academy of Pediatrics has ordered more of -- unstructured playtime.

Is your child really interested? If your youngster is inclined to practice or pursue the activity without nagging from you, that's a good sign that the interest is worth your investment, Mighty Bargain Hunter says.

Buy used equipment/instruments/uniforms. Consult sources like Craigslist, used-equipment stores and other parents. For safety equipment, buy new.

Buy generic. Your child, subjected to marketing tactics since she or he became self-aware, may not believe it, but "a $200 pair of sneakers will most likely work no better than a $35 pair of sneakers," Tisha says.

Register early. Some organizations offer a discount if you sign up early.

Ask for a trial offer. "Ask your local dance studio or karate school if they will let you try out the class without an extensive commitment," says D.J. at The Family Wallet.

Volunteer. You may get a discount if you help coach or provide other volunteer help.

Have the kids chip in. If they're old enough to help clean the house or get an allowance, they can contribute.

We'll leave you with this parting advice from Laura Rowley's Money and Happiness Blog.

Overstimulation can backfire. ... The kids don't have the downtime to dream; they don't get the time or space to figure things out for themselves; they may develop an enormous sense of entitlement which will hurt them later in the workforce; and the time constraints divide families, making it nearly impossible to just enjoy each other. Meanwhile, parents spend to their own detriment -- living way beyond their means, leaving themselves unprepared for retirement.

5 tactics for people who fear managing their money

Karen Datko — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:49:58 GMT

This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.

If you're a regular reader of The Simple Dollar, you're probably not the person I'm writing about here. Instead, this article is appropriate for your brother or your sister or that friend of yours down the street.

We all know people who have the equipment they need to be a financial success. They have their wits about them, they're earning a solid income, and yet there's something that's keeping them from being a financial success -- and that's a fear of money management.

They'd rather do almost anything than deal with or think about money issues. Not only is it boring to them, it's often as scary as can be.

I can think of at least two people near and dear to me who fall into that category. One of them makes more than $100,000 a year. The other one is the best Trivial Pursuit opponent I've ever played against. So I know quite well that a fear or dislike of money management can occur even with the brightest people.

Here are five pieces of advice I'd give them:

Ask someone you trust for help. If you avoid taking a serious look at your money, ask for help. Start with your spouse. If you're unmarried, look at a close family member or a close friend you trust.

Open your entire financial situation to them and ask for help in setting up an easy-to-follow plan. Ask them if they’ll do it, then schedule an afternoon when they can help you with it. One good way to do this is to cap it off with a tasty dinner. A gift might also be appropriate if they help you set up such a plan.

If you don't have someone in your immediate circle who seems appropriate to entrust with this, then check out the fifth item on this list.

Spend a little less. This is one of the biggest keys to modern financial success. Cut back on your spending, just a little. Instead of stopping at the coffee shop every day, pick up a free cup at the office a few days a week. Cut back on your soda and instead drink a little water. Pull out your light bulbs and install some CFLs or LEDs.

One of the biggest things that tend to trip up people is the idea of shopping for entertainment's sake. If you tend to go shopping when you're together with friends, find something else -- anything else -- to do. Shopping for entertainment is a brutally effective way to get behind financially. Even if you don't spend anything, you're conditioning yourself to believe that you need stuff.

Make bill payment automatic. Make sure your bank has online bill pay, then use the automatic-payment feature. Just enter your account number for each bill, the address to send it to, the amount you want to pay and the date each month, and the bill will be paid automatically.

This is a very valuable tactic. Not only does it save substantial time once you get it set up (time you no longer have to spend worrying about it), it also saves on stamps. You also don't have to make yourself remember when the bill is due, and you won't miss that due date anymore because the bill is being paid automatically before it's due.

Put your money in places where you can forget about it until you need it -- and do it automatically. For most people who are afraid of personal-finance management, it's very hard to actually initiate a plan to save money. It's much easier to put it off and treat it as a someday thing.

Don't. It's incredibly easy to get started right now and have the whole thing done automatically. Then, in a few months, you'll begin to have some real savings built up -- and you didn't have to sweat it a bit. Just sign up for a high-interest online savings account like ING Direct (which I like), E-Trade, HSBC Direct, or one of their competitors. Set up that account so that a small amount is automatically transferred each week from your checking account -- say $25 or $50. Then just walk away and forget about it, until something comes along when you need a wad of cash. Then check that balance -- and smile. Your finances aren't tricking you anymore. You're in control.

If you need investing help, get a fee-only financial adviser. If you've got a substantial amount of money but don't know what to do about investing it (or you don't have anyone you can trust with basic financial questions, a la tip No. 1), it's well worth your while to talk to a financial adviser. Get a fee-only adviser -- one who does not earn commissions on the investments he or she recommends. Call a few and ask whether they're fee-only or not. Investopedia has a solid guide for finding a good financial adviser.

In a nutshell, spend a little less, save a little more (and make it automatic), and ask for help. You don't have to do this all yourself. There are people out there who can help you with your financial situation.

Other articles of interest at The Simple Dollar:

Finding motivation and meaning in the drudgery of personal finance

Educating children on fiscal responsibility

Personal finance and families: How much detail should the kids know?

Luggage sets, women's boots, cigars, RAM, jackets

Karen Datko — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:12:53 GMT

Here are today's hot deals from dealnews.com.

American Tourister four-piece luggage set for $59.72. Shipping adds $18, a $6 increase from our mention six weeks ago, or choose free in-store pickup. Even with shipping, it's the lowest total price we could find by $9.

Nine West women's boots for $29.95 plus $6.95 for shipping. That's up to 75% off and puts almost every style at the lowest total price we could find.

Thompson Cigar sampler packs from $19.95. With shipping at $4.95, most are at or near lowest-we've-seen prices.

Crucial 1GB PC-3200 DDR 184-pin desktop memory DIMM for $32.99. A $20 mail-in rebate drops it to $12.99. With free shipping, that's a $2 increase since our mention from three weeks ago, but it's still the lowest total price we could find by $23.

The North Face Photo Track jacket for $52.47. Apply coupon code 2X6-1-2BSWR to drop it to $44.97. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we've seen by $30.

Want fuel economy? Consider a good old stick shift

Karen Datko — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:12:00 GMT

Better gas mileage can be had from what used to be standard in cars -- the manual transmission, or stick shift. But how many drivers know how to use one these days?

It's a lost art, but a very efficient one. For its October issue, Consumer Reports bought two versions of seven different cars -- ranging from a $15,800 Scion to a $24,000 Mini Cooper -- and found a gain of 2 to 5 mpg with a standard versus automatic transmission in the same model.

Extra bonus: The three-pedal versions were not only faster, they were $800 to $1,200 cheaper.

This sounds great. A Green Lantern piece at Slate says a very proficient driver can improve gas mileage by about 15% -- cutting annual carbon dioxide emissions by two-thirds of a metric ton. (Green Lantern also informs us of this shocking fact: A gallon of gas puts out 19.564 pounds of carbon dioxide.) Plus, your brakes will last longer, and your transmission will be cheaper to repair or replace.

Also, we know from experience that stick shifts are more fun to drive. Our current new-to-us car, purchased about four years ago, is our very first automatic.

Plus, as this post at DigitalJournal.com suggests, run-of-the-mill car thieves don't know how to drive with a clutch.

But, as the Lantern says, don't count on the manual becoming the transmission of the future, at least in the U.S. "Fewer than 9% of new cars in the United States are manuals, and that figure is set to drop to 6% by 2012," the Lantern writes. (In more energy-savvy Europe, most cars have manual transmissions.)

Also, although stick shifts are more expensive to make, car companies can charge more for an automatic transmission "because it's a marketable creature comfort," wrote Tom Whitehurst of the Corpus Christi Caller.

Yet another reason stick shifts aren't popular: Fewer people know how to use them or are inclined to learn, even though Patrick at Just Wondering ... says it takes only 45 minutes. We like his instructions about what to do if you stall while trying to get moving after stopping on a hill. "Don't freak and don't let the guy with the horn bother you. Brake. Clutch. Key to restart and try again."

Sticker shock: That piece of coffeecake has 400 calories

Karen Datko — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:59:00 GMT

Because of a new law in New York City, "Frugal Zeitgeist" learned that the coffeecake she likes has a whopping 400 calories per slice, which makes her think twice about ordering it. Also, the bread basket option at her favorite brunch place has 1,100 calories. "For bread! Gaaah," she writes. (Or, as they say in northern Montana, "Uff da.")

The NYC law requiring chain restaurants to clearly display calorie contents on menus and menu boards was adopted to combat rampant obesity. (Similar rules are in the wings in San Francisco and Seattle.) But FZ's observations made us wonder: Is it possible that knowing the calorie content of the food we eat could have a positive effect on our bottom -- as well as waist -- lines?

For instance, Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom at Health Journal said you might choose to drink water when you see the number of calories in that super-sized soda, or that "an eight-piece bucket of KFC chicken (original recipe) with 1,700 calories might help you redo the math of how many people that bucket should feed."

Also consider the health care costs of overeating. Sean at Financial Ramblings writes that people with a higher-than-normal body mass index spend $1,748 more for health care a year, and extrapolates that every 300 surplus calories you consume increases your medical costs by $5.83. (People in Alabama have taken note. State employees there will begin paying more for health insurance in 2010 if they're fat.)

Not everyone thinks posting a calorie count for chain restaurant food is a good idea. "I feel almost bad for a muffin or piece of cake that has to sit in a window announcing how fat it is," wrote Michele Catalano at Pajamas Media. FZ says she doubts the new law will have a long-term health effect.

Hopefully, most consumers have more sense than that attributed to them by reader Wayne at The Wall Street Journal Health Blog, who wrote, "I bet most people will get the calorie count mixed up with the price."

10 secrets to grocery shopping on a budget

Karen Datko — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:02:03 GMT

This post comes from Carrie Kirby at partner blog Wise Bread.

I used to consider myself a frugal shopper, without following the cardinal rule of setting and sticking to a grocery budget. Inspired by Wise Bread and other personal-finance blogs, a few months ago I finally took the plunge and set an $80-a-week budget.

I know that some people manage to spend as little as half that to feed a family of four (the two kids are little enough that they don't eat much), but for us $80 has been a challenge.

Despite the challenges, I was pleased to find that the budget goal (some weeks it's been merely a goal) has taught me a few things about shopping and about myself.

Coupons really do make a difference. I used to think that coupons would only tempt you to buy more expensive name-brand items, but lately I've learned to do some online research, check my grocery fliers, and match up those coupons with items that are already discounted. I was delighted to learn that most stores will accept coupons even if the items are on clearance. The result is that on almost every shopping trip, I get a couple things for free.

You can get healthy food for cheap. It's true that a lot of the cheap food is unhealthy. But a lot of the healthy food is cheap.

When you're using coupons, you'll notice that some of those freebies are food that a health-oriented person would not touch. Then there's the fact that the meat that gets marked down to less than $1 a pound is often fattier and almost never hormone- or antibiotic-free, grass-fed or anything at all healthy.

But the flip side of this sad story is that some of the healthiest food is also some of the cheapest. I load up on in-season fruit (lately peaches have been 59 cents a pound) and dried beans, and try to save a little room in the budget for some wild-caught salmon ($4 a pound, frozen, at Aldi a couple weeks ago) or some grass-fed ground beef. If I can't spend $6 to $8 for a pound of the good stuff, I'd rather eat something else, at least when it comes to beef (that's a side effect of just having finished "The Omnivore's Dilemma").

When you buy less, less goes to waste. Seems obvious, no? But I used to feel that I should grab as much as I had time to buy at the grocery store. After all, getting to the store, waiting in line, etc., is time-consuming and I wanted to make as few trips as possible.

What I didn't account for is that when you buy more than you can eat fresh in a week, you have to take time to prepare it for the freezer, or you'll be spending time dumping it into the trash. Cleaning out the fridge is work, too -- and if you are regularly dumping leftovers, you are wasting money. Sometimes I open a friend's fridge and I can't see the back or the walls because there is so much food stuffed in there. They don't even know what they have -- so of course a lot of it is going to end up in the garbage.

A budget gets you excited about freebies again. Relive your college days. Remember when all a college group had to do to ensure turnout at a meeting was to post a flier offering free pizza? When I was a broke college student, nothing (well, almost nothing) made me smile more than a free meal.

This weekend, my in-laws visited and, while I was away for the day, they shopped and cooked barbecue at my house. I came home to a fridge full of leftovers, and I was just tickled pink that I didn't have to shop for a couple days. That means I'll be able to either go under budget or spend a few bucks on an indulgence. Which brings me to ...

Booze is expensive. Time and again, I find that the weeks we go over budget are the ones when we picked up some wine and beer. The hubs and I both enjoy a drink after the kids go to bed, and it's not an indulgence we're interested in sacrificing. I know that beer is cheaper than wine, but I've often wondered how a cocktail (we use store-brand seltzer water with a little liquor) compares with a glass of wine. Inevitably all my research notes get mixed up or spilled on and I've not been able to come up with a good economic model on this point.

Solutions? So far the only ones we have are: Get a case of Two Buck Chuck anytime we're near Trader Joe's. Get boxed wine (love the Target Wine Cube). And, be really nice to people who tend to bring a bottle when they come over.

Shopping frugally can lead to cultural adventures. I used to live in China, and oh, did we eat cheap over there. I can't figure out how to make biweekly shopping flights to Beijing work out economically, but I have found that exploring neighborhoods dominated by immigrants can be both money-saving and fun. The budget has pushed me to walk a little farther out of my neighborhood and check out the grocery store closer to a Hispanic community, where there is always fresh chorizo and menudo on display.

I love this store. One of the things I love is that instead of putting soon-to-expire foods in the Dumpster for the freegans, Fair Share Foods puts them on a fire sale. My kids love individual containers of yogurt, and I can usually get them at this store, with a coupon, for 25 cents or less. They'll expire in a couple of days, but they'll be gone by then and anyway, yogurt lasts awhile past the date.

Despite the fact that most of the other shoppers do not look or sound like me, I always feel comfortable and welcome there. So explore a little and, who knows, you might get to try some fun new foods too. In our former city, we also used to hit such a grocery store, and our daughter would have a good time riding the 25-cent merry-go-round with little Spanish-speaking friends. In toddlerese, it's all the same language, right?

Similarly, if you live in a city with a Chinatown, you will find produce markets with better prices and fresher goods than the supermarket.

Yes, we will eat all that cereal. When I stock up on a dozen boxes or more of on-sale cereal, friends always laugh and ask how on earth we will eat it all. C'mon. Cereal lasts forever, has a million uses (especially in a house with little kids), and is normally kind of expensive. Every once in a while, a store will have a great sale event where it goes for about $1 a box. When that happens, I'm yelling, "Buy, buy, buy!" I will go in with all the coupons I've been hoarding for weeks and I have never bought too much. After all, you can always donate any excess to the local food bank.

Keep a price book. All the smart frugal shoppers keep price books, where they note down the best price they can get for any given item. That's been on my to-do list for, oh, half my life. But since I started shopping on a budget, at least I've been looking over my receipts at the end of the week and getting a good idea of my target prices for the things I buy the most: cereal, milk, cage-free eggs, chicken and, of course, produce.

This is actually a big change for me, because in my old, "shop as frugally as possible" mode, I just compared prices in that store and on that day. That is, I figured I needed at least three pounds of meat for the week, so I would buy the three cheapest meats available. Now that I'm aware that I can pay $1 a pound or less for conventional meat and poultry, if there is nothing under $2 in the store, I just don't buy meat that day. This may seem like a waste of time because I'll have to hit a different store if we want any meat. But on the other hand, I spend a lot less time comparing price per ounce to find the absolute best value in the cooler.

Just because the caviar's half-price doesn't mean it's affordable. I used to bring all kinds of goodies back from Costco runs -- ready-to-heat organic mushroom ravioli, for instance. I figured that because I knew it was a good deal at Costco, I barely had to glance at the price. But that doesn't work with a limited amount to spend each week, and this has been one of the key reasons the budget helps me spend less. Instead of worrying about getting the best possible deal for a given item, I think more about how to get a week's worth of nutritious and filling meals on my budget.

That means some delicacies are never going to come home with me, unless it's New Year's Eve or it's practically free after a coupon. It also means that I buy a lot more chicken than beef, and that I almost never buy juice or soda.

Frugal shopping is worth the effort. Shopping frugally takes a lot of time, but it's the biggest economic impact I can make on my family without hiring a baby sitter.

A lot of my friends tell me they don't have time to be frugal. Actually, a friend who is unemployed and has no kids recently said the same thing, which kind of blew my mind. Personally, I sometimes worry that I'm spending too much time pinching pennies when I could be taking on more work from home and coming out ahead.

However, as a stay-at-home mom to two kids below school age, one thing is certain: I can't make more money than I already do without spending money on a baby sitter. Clipping coupons, making extra grocery trips (on foot with the stroller) to buy loss leaders, reading the sales fliers -- these are all things I can manage with the children with me. At first, flipping through a coupon file while controlling the kids in the store was difficult, but now I have the hang of it and it's working out. Actually, my 4-year-old has gotten into helping me, and this is how she now asks for something:

"Mommy, if such-and-such is on sale, and you have a coupon, can we get it?"

That's my girl.

Other articles of interest from Carrie Kirby:

5 things to get your preschoolers to do (so you don't have to)

Baby showers: Register smart to get what you really need

10 things no one ever told me about being a mom

Guitars, albums, wireless video eyewear, antennas, speakers

Karen Datko — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:54:13 GMT

Here are today's hot deals from dealnews.com:

Gibson Les Paul vintage mahogany electric guitar for $699.99. With free shipping, it's the lowest total price we could find by $150.

Downloads of INXS' "Kick" for $1.99. That's the lowest total price we could find for this 12-track, DRM-free album, released in 2002.

ITheater wireless video eyewear for $174.95. Add coupon code DN10 to your cart to cut it to $157.45. With free shipping, it's the lowest total price we've seen for the pair by $26.

Antennas Direct DB2 multi-directional HDTV antenna for $37.92. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we've seen by $2.

Klipsch five-speaker home theater speaker system for $299.88 with free shipping. That ties our June mention for the lowest total price we've seen by $300.

Do our jobs define us? Some thoughts on labor

Donna Freedman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:36:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to earn money -- and not just so I could buy penny candy. Working was a sign of being grown-up. I wanted badly to be a grownup.

That's why in elementary school I would pick and sell flowers and strawberries. It's why I rejoiced when it snowed -- the local doctor would pay a buck to have his sidewalk shoveled. It's why I started baby-sitting at age 11, when I was barely older than some of my charges.

It's the only possible reason I could have enjoyed my first "real" job, the summer of my 13th year: picking tomatoes inside an explosively hot greenhouse. It was a two-mile bike ride to get there, and I'd come home slimed with sap from being constantly brushed by tomato leaves. When I washed my hair, the shampoo bubbled green.

But I was making big money, baby: $1.35 an hour.

Other jobs I've held: housecleaner, glass factory worker, clerk at a big-city newspaper, pet-sitter, secretary, freelance writer, apartment house manager, produce stand salesgirl, typesetter-proofreader, doughnut seller and newspaper reporter. I've mystery-shopped, participated in medical research, typed term papers, sold my blood, and even baked cakes for a chicken farmer in exchange for free eggs.

When I graduated from high school in 1976, college was not a given. Going straight to work in a factory or a supermarket was not a fallback position -- it was proof that you were now an adult. It was still acceptable to finish high school, get a job, marry young and raise a family.

These days, it's considered financial suicide. Maybe social suicide, too.

A career, or just a job?
It's darned tough to make it on a service-industry wage. The phrase "working poor" doesn't begin to cover it. But it's more complicated than that. In this allegedly class-free country, one's job choice does make a difference.

Recently a woman I know was talking about her parents' work lives. Her father cooked hamburgers and her mother baked pies at the same restaurant. (The woman estimated that her mom baked about 250,000 pies in her lifetime.)

Fry cook and pie baker. Imagine admitting you were doing jobs like those today. You'd be derided as lacking ambition. You'd be told to go to school and make something of yourself. You'd be pitied.

But fry cook or pie baker isn’t what her parents were. It’s what they did. They did these jobs to support themselves and their children, and they did them with dignity.

Their daughter noted that we ask our kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" rather than "What do you want to do?" We may think we're asking them about their hopes and dreams, but in a sense we're asking them to have the right ambitions.

If your kid said, "I want to work at McDonald’s," you'd laugh it off as youthful immaturity plus one too many Happy Meals. After all, what's the job everyone scorns? Flipping burgers.

As though people who cook burgers are invariably stupid or slow. As though doctor, lawyer or entrepreneur were the only right answers.

As though work were only about the way others see us.

Work to live, or live to work?
It's true that job choice may mean the difference between financial security and chronic insolvency. It can also reflect what we feel we can offer others. A teacher loves helping students learn. A doctor takes pride in healing the sick. A lawyer finds joy in defending the underdog.

But a drywaller can, and should, feel proud of his role in building homes. A skilled and engaging waiter can make diners feel welcomed. A janitor leaves an office building clean and orderly and ready for the next day's business.

And yes, a fry cook can take pride in giving an honest day's work for his pay. Besides, what would we do without the guy who serves up Adam and Eve on a raft? Suppose we had to, heaven forbid, clean our own apartments instead of relying on once-a-week maid service? How would we manage without the guys and gals who install our sinks, fix our cars, haul our luggage at the airport, stock our favorite cereal on the supermarket shelves?

I spent part of Labor Day thinking about how the concept of work has changed. In my lifetime I've seen work morph from something everyone wanted into something that's to be minimized, if not avoided. Why else would book titles like "The 4-Hour Workweek" be so popular?

According to bumper stickers, work is either a four-letter word or it's for people who don't know how to fish. Today it's a given that people will steal every possible minute from the job to surf the Internet, send and answer e-mail, talk on the telephone, update their Facebook pages. Of course, they don't think of it as "stealing" time -- they think of it as a survival strategy.

I've got a radical notion for these folks: The people who sign your paychecks are entitled to eight hours of your day for every eight hours of pay. It doesn't matter whether you like the job or not. If you're accepting the check, then play by the rules and work for it.

That's why they call it 'work'
And if you loathe your job? By all means try to find one that suits you better. It may not be possible right away due to our uncertain economy or to your personal situation. For example, I'm pretty sure that my mother, with four kids of her own by age 24, didn't like watching up to four other tots at a time back in the days before disposable diapers. But she did it, because she had to do it. There were no other options.

She never stopped trying to improve herself, though, and in time she did. By word and example, both she and my dad impressed upon us the importance of striving for a better life. The secret ingredient: work. Lots of work.

Seem hard to you? Well, of course it's hard. As my dad says, "That's why they call it 'work.' If it were fun, they'd call it 'fun.'" A thankless or low-paying job can be especially bitter when we see other people who seem to have had everything handed to them.

Guess what? Some people do have everything handed to them. If that's you, well, congratulations -- I think. It's my opinion that the only things we can claim are the ones we have worked to achieve. The trust-fund babies of the world may never have to soil their hands. But they may also never know the satisfaction of an honest day's work.

Extreme clutter: His parents won't throw anything away

Karen Datko — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:11 GMT

Raymond at Money Blue Book recognized a troubling behavior during a visit with his parents: They've become compulsive hoarders. Nothing in their home gets thrown away.

"You can't walk into their apartment without immediately noticing the huge stacks of boxes and newspapers everywhere," Raymond writes. This behavior can be a problem on several levels, including financial well-being.

Let us count some of the ways:

You have no idea what you own. You'll lose track of where you're keeping a lifetime supply of rubber bands and pens, and you'll end up buying new.
It's difficult to manage your financial affairs. While his parents luckily still have a grip on their finances, Raymond says his mother has kept every receipt, bill and other types of documents far beyond their useful life.
You could be creating a fire hazard. We once knew a woman -- a respected professional -- whose home had a narrow pathway from the front door to the bathroom and bedroom. Otherwise you couldn't see the floor. When a fire started in her house, the stacks of paper and other clutter went up in a big blaze.

Raymond doesn't address solutions to compulsive hoarding (for more about that, click here and here), but he offers tips about how to de-clutter and organize.

Stop buying useless stuff. "Trust me, you're not going to use it someday," Raymond says.
With the exception of essential items like wedding photos, baby DVDs, tax records, birth certificates and the like, if you're not planning on wearing, using or eating it in the foreseeable future, you probably don't need it. Donate, recycle or sell it, or if it's broken and useless, throw it away.
Embrace paperless for banking and other financial transactions as a way to simplify your finances. If you can't force yourself to part with old receipts, use a scanner or digital camera to make images you can store on a disk.

Raymond also prefers to use credit cards instead of cash for all types of expenditures, a recommendation he knows won't be welcomed by everyone. He adds that "some people, due to their uncontrollable shopping habits and irresponsible use of credit, have no business even touching credit cards."