The Funeral Consumer Alliance says that funeral purchases are "unlike any in their potential to harm the consumer." Unnecessary funeral expenses cost thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars, not just an extra $5 on a $20 item. You thought car salespeople were bad? How about those who subtly guilt you into…

I'm not sure I believe in the idea that there's a "wrong cut" of pork. ;)

"I've got this friend, see; he's thinking of running away and joining the circus. What do you think of that?"

"Tell your 'friend' he needs to take the garbage out before he packs."

- A conversation not dissimilar to one my father and I had when I was a teenager.

This can also work in your work life. Often if you have an…

LOL. I love that song. I don't think it's very good advice, in the long run, if you aren't a Buddhist.

Treat your own projects like you are billing someone else. Time and money. Estimate how long it will take and add 25-30%; estimate how much it will cost and add 30%. That's the only way I got ahead of project creep. Still, though, you can get bit; pull up some floor to replace a pipe and discover three damaged…

These posts always fill me with nostalgia. I miss Enlightenment on this list. :D I started with Linux in 1995 with a stack of 32 Slackware floppies. I switched back and forth between windows and linux until OS X; then I switched. I run love OS X, but I swear, if the apps I use ran on linux, I'd be running that still.

I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean "are you actually giving up time you could have used making $25/hr?" then, maybe so, maybe no, depending on your resources. If you have a salary job, then it's clear you won't make more money, but it still represents a rule-of-thumb 'value' for your time in comparison to…

Well, the trick for me is not coupon-ing. My butcher has sales, but not coupons. In my area, they don't sell enough organic produce to publish coupons for them. The products we use are not often discounted. We pick up the flyer at the store when we walk in and see if there are any coupons for the brands and items we…

They hired REALLY TINY PEOPLE to play in the pool.

Great article! Much better than I expected when I saw the headline :D Thanks!

Exactly. Also whether or not it's something that you WANT to eat. They could give pop tarts away free at the store and I wouldn't take any of them home.

It's not just a wages vs hour equation. It's an opportunity cost equation as well. I make considerably more than that, but at no salary rate would you find me spending that much time doing this unless I had to in order to feed my family. There are about a billion things I'd rather spend my time doing :D

I've used some fine (high fold rate) damascus cooking knives before. I'm a big fan of damascus if you're willing to take the time to maintain it. It holds an edge very, very well.

That said, I don't know whether it would be more than marginally superior if at all to fine carbon blades.

I'm like, reading this post and wondering if it's spam or not. I don't need someone to encourage me to clip coupons... I don't want to do it at all :D

Absolutely. Even if all you can do is say, "I'm aware of the concern over X, but we have no current information about it; I'll update you as soon as I know anything." Even that little bit helps control rumors and panic.

Oh, our local paper drops the coupons "direct mail", so every week you get the "bundle of coupons and advertisements" that used to be in there with the funny papers when I was a kid. There are several sources of free coupons, too; she stops by each store on the way home from work and picks up their flyers - time I…

Exactly why I said it's gotta be an individual decision. If I had to do it to put food on the table, I would, of course, no question.

Excellent point, and why I said it's got to be a personal, case-by-case decision. I have the opposite problem - no time, sufficient money.

This brings to mind the fundamental question "what is healthy?" - a question with a surprisingly mercurial and fraught definition, or lack thereof.

We have a "cheat day". Saturdays, anything goes. The rest of the week? Strictly "good for you". Seems to work.

This is a great question. I think each individual has to decide this for themselves on a case by case basis. Take the canonical case of frugality illustrated by your picture - coupons. I know someone who is a radical coupon clipper. She saves quite a bit of money each week on groceries and home cleaning stuff. She…