Items packed, but not used, on my trip to Syracuse, New York:
Workout clothes (2 pr shorts, 2 shirts, 1 exercise bra, 4 pr socks)
2 work-related books
2 work-related files
Why do we think we’ll work and exercise according to our everyday schedules while we’re on vacation?
It may give you comfort (or an increasing sense of fatalism) to [...]
Entries from May 27th, 2009
Why It’s So Hard to Pack Light and Spend Well
May 27th, 2009 1 Comment
Tags: money · relative comparisons · time
Where We Are Now, and How We Got Here
May 27th, 2009 No Comments
If you’ve got a little time, I have seen no better example that encapsulates, in one man’s story, the mania that preceded the housing bubble and its very painful aftermath.
His story is jaw-dropping. A financial correspondent for the NY Times Washington bureau, Edmund L. Andrews’s $120,000 salary was never going to support $4,000 in monthly [...]
Tags:
Gamers and Those Who Stop Playing: A Story Behind the Story
May 26th, 2009 1 Comment
In this story I wrote for CreditCards.com on which cards personal finance experts use themselves, Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money columnist, and Ron Lieber, NY Times columnist, are both whip-smart and serious about leveraging their credit cards rewards programs.
In the course of my conversation with Lieber, I asked something about how the card issuers figure [...]
Tags: cash economy · Chris Farrell · creditcards.com · Liz Pulliam Weston · Ron Lieber
Credit News Roundup: What The New Law Means for You
May 22nd, 2009 1 Comment
Your Money: Guide to New Credit Card Rules, NY Times
President Obama signs the new credit law (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act) this weekend, which means that by mid-August consumers will be spared some of the most egregious fee charges and rate hikes. (This article by the Christian Science Monitor breaks it all down [...]
Tags: credit card law · credit card legislation · credit card rules
Wells Fargo: A Rant Over ‘Sellthis,’ Not Service
May 20th, 2009 5 Comments
In ordering my fourth debit card in less than a year from Wells Fargo, I have gotten very familiar with its brand of customer service, which is, there is no “service” as you and I understand the term. Let’s call it “sellthis.” The commitment, first and foremost, to the upsell.
“I see you qualify for [...]
Tags: Wells Fargo
Paper, Pen, Stapler: Poor Woman’s GPS
May 19th, 2009 1 Comment
Until we can afford GPS, or until such time when this technology is implanted in our bodies, I’ve come up with this system:
Tired of finding eight different scraps of paper in your glove department, all with directions to the same place?
Grab thee they stapler, and make for thyself an ugly, yet functional, guidebook.
Bonus frugal hack: [...]
Tags: frugal hack · GPS
Cash Poor? Try a Time Bank
May 18th, 2009 7 Comments
I have just joined a time bank. In exchange for the hours I deposit offering, say, editing services or making ice cream, I will withdraw an equal number of hours in (I hope) yard work.
The bank is called Hour Dollars, and they’re up to around 100 members — probably at least 20 or so more [...]
Tags: alternative economy · frugal hack · Hour Dollars · time bank
Frugal Fail: DIY Disasters
May 18th, 2009 No Comments
Laugh-out-loud funny examples from frugal’s dark side in today’s New York Times, including:
A poor Minneapolis woman whose attempted DIY toilet fix cost her a ceiling, a car bumper, and some garage shelves and gardening supplies;
Another woman who bleached her hair so badly that it broke off; and
Several wicked cases of food poisoning.
Tags: Frugal fail · fun · New York Times
I Love Me, Man: The True Target-Minnesota Connection
May 13th, 2009 2 Comments
Why do Minnesotans love Target so much? Recently, the Star Tribune reported that despite Target’s losses to Wal-Mart in the rest of the country, it was still holding its own here.
To many Minnesotans, the equation is not “MN-heart-Target.” It’s “MN = Target,” says a University of Minnesota researcher. Carlos Torelli, assistant professor of marketing at [...]
Tags: Minnesota identity · Target
Minneapolis School Board Says ‘Do Over’
May 7th, 2009 No Comments
The Southwest Journal and the Star Tribune report today that the school district’s plan to close and “demagnetize” some schools for fall 2010 is “dead on arrival,” and that they want more specifics on the redrawing of district boundaries — particularly for open areas — before they vote on May 26th.
From the Strib:
(Board Chair Tom) [...]
