May 6, 2008 | Everyday Wisdom, Groceries, Mindful Money

I have a confession to make.

Prior to the current financial situation in this country (you know, the whole “we’re not saying the ‘r-word’ therefore it’s not actually that thing that rhymes with concession!”), even as frugal as I generally am, I struggled to avoid falling into one of two extremely un-thrifty habits.

It seemed like I had two modes of operation: Either I went to the grocery store nearly every day, or—if I managed to keep my shopping to just once a week—I was constantly throwing away food that had gone bad before I had a chance to use it up.

Here’s another confession: I’m still struggling to figure out how to avoid doing this, and I do mean struggling. (more…)

February 26, 2008 | Big Picture, Mindful Money

Hey, remember when you were young and carefree and life insurance was for old people? No? That’s because now you’re old and senile. Ha!

Everything I want to tell you today can be summed up in this one sentence: You need to have life insurance. The end.

But if you want to get picky—and more specific—about it, read on.

If you have kids, you need life insurance. If you have a spouse, you need life insurance. If you are a single person old enough to not be on your parents’ health insurance anymore, you need life insurance. Have I covered everyone here, yet? You, in the back! You need life insurance! (The only exception here is children. Children do not need life insurance, no matter how many daytime television commercials tell you otherwise.)

The reasons vary, the amounts vary, how you handle it may vary, but you need it and you need it now. Yes. Repeat after me: I need life insurance. (more…)

January 29, 2008 | Big Picture, Mindful Money

This is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I’ve talked about it before, but I think it bears repeating.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for financial advisors like Dave Ramsey who have practical advice for people in dire financial straits. Truly, my admiration for them is vast and this is not about me saying “he’s wrong” or anything like that.

Nevertheless, I submit to you that any “cash only” plan for living is not only limiting, it potentially decreases how much money you have. (more…)

January 23, 2008 | Groceries, Mindful Money

Far and away the most common question I am emailed in association with this site is “How can I save money on groceries?” Most of us are feeding families, and most of us are dismayed by the rising costs of food.

Most of us would like to know how to feed our families on a shoestring budget, and I was the same way, for years. For some of us, it’s absolute necessity to bring the bill down. For others, we just have this notion that this is another place where we must save as much money as possible.

There are two things to remember when headed into this issue: First, that there are ways to keep the bill down; but second, that you probably should be spending more on food than you think. (more…)

January 15, 2008 | Mindful Money

Hopefully you read my recent post on tucking money away into savings regularly, and now you’re doing just that, even if you weren’t before. There were some great comments on that last post, some of which impelled me to say what I want to say today:

I don’t care if you work or you stay home; I don’t care if your spouse is a jerk or up for canonization; if you are married, you still need to have at least one bank account and one credit card in your name only.

There are a number of reasons why this is true (we’ll get to those in a minute), but the first thing you need to do in this matter is remember that money is money and love is love and confusing those two things never leads to anything good. I swear. (more…)

January 8, 2008 | Everyday Wisdom, Mindful Money

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and when you start talking about saving money they get that deer-in-the-headlights stare going on. “I can’t possibly put any money in the bank,” they say. “I’m barely making ends meet as it is.”

If it’s that difficult to make your ends meet, it’s time to start considering different ends.

How you plan your spending and reduce your expenditures is a whole ‘nother topic, of course, and one that deserves its own post (and may get one, at some point, but not right now). What I want to talk about right now is the money that’s going into your savings account on a regular basis. If you don’t have a regular savings plan, you need one. If you think you can’t afford one, you really need one.

Here’s the thing: Don’t tell me you can’t possible afford to save any money if you have a place to live and any income and a means to get to a computer and read this site. If you’re here, you can afford it. Period. (more…)

January 3, 2008 | For the kids, Mindful Money

Good morning! Might I just say that you are all looking ravishingly pretty today? Have you lost weight? You look marvelous.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to chime in on this post to let me know what you’re hoping to see here in the future. I love getting your feedback and I promise that I’m going to be addressing many of your requests/concerns in the coming weeks. One of the topics I saw come up several times, though, was one that I was planning to work on this month, anyway, so say hello to a new category here at Want Not: Mindful Money. There’s a lot of stuff that will go in here, over time, but I thought with a new year and all—and with so many of us being parents—I’d kick things off with a review of one of my favorite money topics: Giving kids allowance. (more…)