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  • Are dimes the new pennies?

    Posted Feb 20 2008, 09:12 AM by Donna Freedman
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    Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

    Just for the heck of it, I counted my "found money" collection. So far this year I've found $6.56. Yeah, I pick up change on the street -- and so do a lot of other people, judging from the response to "See a penny? Pick it up!"

    What surprised me was that $2 of the $6.56 total was made up of dimes. Twenty people dropped them and didn't retrieve them.

    Lately I've also seen dimes in the "need a penny, take a penny" cups found at many cash registers. What gives?   Read More...

    Discuss ( 22 comments) 10,646 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

  • 'Room to breathe has no price tag'

    Posted Nov 14 2007, 10:01 AM by Donna Freedman
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    Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
    A month ago today, I became debt-free – made the last payment to a relative who had lent me some money. This loan had allowed me to throw a big chunk of cash against credit card debt accrued during divorce proceedings. (Lawyers bill by the hour, you know.) Once the credit card was paid in full, I started repaying the family loan. As money came in through diligence or chance, I’d let it build to $300 and then write a check. I'm not sure why $300 became the magic number; it just sounded good. Now I'm debt-free: no student loans (I'm blessed with a scholarship), no car payment (please let it last another six or seven years), no credit card debt (and there won't be any more). It feels about how you'd think it would: pretty darned great. 'A perpetual grin' This relative wasn’t dunning me. But it bothered me to owe money. Some people count sheep; at night I would lie in bed counting ways to stretch available funds to reach the next $300. Reading some postings from a Smart Spending message board   Read More...
    Discuss ( 187 comments) 112,213 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

  • The 'aha' moment and frugality

    Posted Oct 19 2007, 09:41 AM by Donna Freedman
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    Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

    Losing a debit card. Cleaning out the garage. Buying a condo, or not being able to buy a condo. Living out of a suitcase. Wanting to stay home with the kids but fearing you can't afford it.

    All these were defining moments that turned spendthrifts into thrift-thrifts. A reader posting as "bigdreams" solicited such tales in a Smart Spending message board thread called "Switching from being a spender to a saver -- what was your 'aha' moment?" 

    Some "moments: were epiphanies, others slowly dawning realizations. Readers variously described their experiences as a slap in the face, a kick in the butt, a good hard look at oneself, a God-given wakeup call, the sudden glimpse of a bleak future.

    However they arrive, aha moments carry the same basic message: Something has to change.   Read More...

    Discuss ( 12 comments) 6,419 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

  • When little things mean a lot

    Posted Sep 27 2007, 04:14 PM by Donna Freedman
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    Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

    What I love about the Smart Spending message board is that it’s peopled with folks who are just as easily amused as I am. This group knows you don’t have to spend a bundle to have a ball.

    Take the reader posting as “chrisfan1958,” who has sworn off most desserts due to health concerns. Five or six times a year, she treats herself to an ice cream that’s not just a luxury -- it’s a time machine.

    “It's hot and ice cream is melting faster than I can eat it, dripping down the side of the cone, sticky fingers, and a messy face. Just like I was eight years old again!” Chrisfan posted on a thread about small luxuries.   Read More...

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  • Desperately seeking dinner

    Posted Sep 26 2007, 02:42 PM by Donna Freedman
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    Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

    I had a Desperation Dish the other night. It saved me from going out to eat, which is why I recommend the practice. It also helped me clean out the fridge – another point in its favor.

    The expression comes from the 1942 memoir "We Took to the Woods,” a delightful tale of living in the Maine backcountry. Author Louise Dickinson Rich described Desperation Dishes as "things we eat when we run out of food."

    Rich and her family weren’t completely out of food, but rather down to things like dried beans and cornmeal. But they must have been desperate if they were excited by DDs like "Mock Tripe," made with fish skin and seasoned leftover oatmeal. Yum.   Read More...

    Discuss ( 15 comments) 10,437 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this