Browse by Tags

Sort by: Date | Rating | Most viewed | Most commented

• Beginning to look a lot like (a glum) Christmas? Don't let it

  Posted Oct 10 2008, 08:47 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: family, giving, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Some experts predict that the current economic upheaval will result in anemic holiday shopping. That's certainly what I heard from readers of the Smart Spending message board.
  

  Most of the 100 folks who responded to a holiday spending thread say they'll scale back, sometimes way back, and pay cash. A couple of them are skipping the holidays altogether.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 24 comments) 4,196 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• We'll be home for Christmas -- if we can afford it

  Posted Oct 03 2008, 08:43 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: travel, family, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  About a month ago I booked a trip from Seattle to South Jersey to see my dad at the end of December. With taxes and fees, it came to $400. When I did a price search two weeks later, the cheapest ticket I could find was $97 more.
  

  It's important to me to visit family, so I would have bought it anyway. Then again, there's only one of me. If I had a spouse and kids, that $97 per ticket would have been a problem.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 28 comments) 5,006 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Family matters more than finance

  Posted Aug 29 2008, 09:33 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: travel, family, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Last night I bought a plane ticket to New Jersey for the holidays. I'll stay about a week so I can work at my dad's annual New Year's Eve country line dance party: help set up tables, take care of the food, refill the cooler with soda and bottled water, and pitch in to clean up afterwards.
  

  Here's the kicker: I don't particularly like country music. In fact, I listen exclusively to KING-FM, Seattle's classical station. Nor am I going to South Jersey in December because it's beautiful there at that time of year. I'm visiting to spend time with my dad, my younger brother and other loved ones while I have the chance.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 24 comments) 7,645 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• 'An American Girl' is an American story -- a timely one

  Posted Jul 07 2008, 12:34 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: spending, family, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  It can take years for a big Hollywood movie to get approved, let alone filmed. That's why I think that the parallels between "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" and our current economic situation are probably coincidental.
  

  Foreclosures. Job loss. Hungry people lining up for food handouts. Families who can't make ends meet no matter how hard they work. But enough about today; let's talk about the Great Depression, the setting for "Kit Kittredge."   Read More...

  Discuss ( 12 comments) 4,371 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Putting the freeze on food prices

  Posted Jun 25 2008, 10:09 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: family, Donna Freedman, groceries, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Feeling pain at the supermarket checkout? Don't expect relief anytime soon. According to an Associated Press article, the Midwestern floods that destroyed soybean and corn crops will send the price of beef, pork, poultry, eggs, cheese and milk higher this fall.
  

  Anybody want to join me while I shop for flour and beans and a small freezer?   Read More...

  Discuss ( 19 comments) 6,555 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• I scream, you scream, we all scream (at $4) ice cream

  Posted Jun 18 2008, 08:35 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: spending, family, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that the Cold Stone Creamery franchise is in trouble. More than 100 stores closed last year, and just over 300 shops -- 20% of total Cold Stone outlets -- are for sale. The article quotes franchisees as claiming that the parent company provided misleading information and made unreasonable demands that ate into profits.
  

  I have a theory of my own: Their ice cream is really expensive.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 27 comments) 5,853 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Deprived? Not us

  Posted Jun 06 2008, 09:04 AM by Donna Freedman
  Rating:
  Filed under: housing, family, Donna Freedman, budgeting
  Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

  Emily, a personal-finance blogger at Remodeling This Life, was recently asked something all you frugalists have probably heard before: Don't you ever get tired of living this way? Don't you ever want to stop being deprived?
  

  (Haven't heard these questions? Don't worry. You will.)   Read More...

  Discuss ( 21 comments) 5,184 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this