October 2009

Neighborly Hallowe’en

October 25, 2009

This Hallowe’en Cassie and I will hang out in the neighborhood just to the south of us, where a nifty thing goes on. The neighbors decorate their yards with orange lights and weird hoo-dahs. Then they bring tables and chairs out to the driveway or yard, stack the candy on the tables, and sit outside [...]

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How dumping your credit cards can keep you on budget…

October 24, 2009

…even if you’re a credit-card “deadbeat” who pays off all charges in full every month. As I was saying yesterday, if and when my credit-card issuers try to sock me with annual fees just for carrying their plastic around in my purse, the cards will go away. Substituting cash, purchasing cards, and checks for credit [...]

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Moments of Fame

October 24, 2009

This week Funny appeared in two carnivals: The 87th Money Hacks Carnival, hosted by Green Panda Treehouse, with A$k and Re¢eive, Revisited, and The 227th Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Fabulously Broke, with Do You Have to Be Wealthy to be Financially Independent? One of these links is out of whack for the time [...]

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Time to dump the credit cards?

October 23, 2009

Credit-card lenders, as predicted, are using the new credit-card consumer protection law to upgrade their profits. For a round-up of the latest “improvements,” take a look at Karen’s post at Smart Spending. Some of them are enough to make you consider canceling your credit cards altogether. Citibank, for example, has raised its interest rates to [...]

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Real estate prices gone nuts

October 22, 2009

Amusing myself in the wee hours by cruising real estate listings in my zip code, I came across one of the neighbor’s houses, comparable to mine, on the market for $199,000, some $36,000 less than I paid for my place.  The sales pitch shouts, UPGRADED CABINETS, JENN-AIR APPLIANCES, ENGINEERED WOOD FLOORS, NEW LUSH LANDSCAPING WITH [...]

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Chuck roasts, cheap: Safeway

October 21, 2009

Hey! Check your local Safeway today for its meat prices. Here in the arid Southwest, I just bought a ton of beautiful chuck roast for 99 cents a pound. Two of the roasts got ground into deee-licious hamburger. Another gigantic beauty will soon be basking in the crock pot with onions, carrots, celery, wine, and [...]

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