I’m sure this has been mentioned before, but the best way to be frugal is to understand where you spend your money. Doing so will help you know where to spend your time.

It really all depends on the type of market you are in. In a buyer’s market, sellers will be more likely to cover costs. In a hot, seller’s market, buyers will be expected to cover their costs, and add money in some cases.

Agreed... setting up some ear-marked savings (envelope method, etc.) for home care, car maintenance and replacement, medical costs, etc. helps smooth out the non-routine and unexpected expenses, and allows a person to keep a smaller emergency fund on hand to supplement these ear marked funds in times of a true…

Good discipline, but I would advise against suspending 401K contributions, especially if your employer doesn’t any kind of matching program. You don’t want to lose out on that match.

I would suggest a CapitalOne 360 account, or some other on-line bank of your choice. It really depends on how quickly you would need access to the funds, which depends on how much padding you have in your regular budget and credit cards. If you couldn’t pay for an emergency item with a credit card for whatever reason,…

Within the last 7 years I bought a home, sold the home, moved overseas, and I am in the process of trying find and buy some property back home. After giving a lot of thought to the real estate game, I’ve come to the following conclusions:

I think that 3-5% for maintenance is a top of the mark estimate. It is difficult to nail down a good go-by as it depends on the area of the country and your local housing market. If housing prices vary between $100/sq.ft and $200/sq.ft in a given metro area (for example), why should a house in an expensive area cost…

There are a lot of pro’s and con’s to buying a house, but I generally think of a house as the best investment that I can also live inside of. You’ve got to live somewhere, which is what Tim Lee’s article is really about. Being able to secure your cost of housing by buying allows you to have a place to live and avoid…

My wife and I recently sold our house. Housing prices had appreciated considerably in our neighborhood over the last few years thanks to a growing Houston market and the desirability of the location for recent grads and young couples. We knew we would do well, and my wife wanted to sell even sooner. My push back was…

The regular, unexpected expenses were killing me too. But I realized that if they are regular, then they can be budgeted for. Stuff like medical, car insurance, property tax, house/renters insurance, car repair, car registration, birthdays, christmas, clothes, etc. can all be budgeted for by looking at a year or two…

20 years ago when I was in high school, this may have been par for the course. I don’t know... I didn’t play sports and tried my best to avoid bullies. I wonder how many people will read about this and ask themselves if the hazing they experienced was, in fact, sexual assault or simply a “ritual” part of “growing up”.

My wife has a high school aged cousin, and she can’t be motivated with money. Another cousin offered her $60 to wash his truck... when I was in high school 20 years ago, I wouldn’t have accepted so much money to wash someone’s car. But my wife’s cousin doesn’t want to do the work, and doesn’t care about the money. I…

One other point on inflation... the monetary supply needs to inflate with population growth. Imagine a zero inflation scenario... If in 100 years a countries population doubles, then the monetary supply needs to at least double in order to support the increase in population.

I like this idea! I am looking at ways to restructure the budget, but not go so overboard that I spend all my free time managing and tracking the family’s budget. One or more funds like this would simplify budgeting and allow you to keep a smaller emergency fund set aside.

I had some friends that put themselves on a strict budget and operated on a cash basis in order to get themselves out of debt. It worked really well for them and I think they’ve kept it up after paying off all their high interest debt. While I haven’t done the same, I think it is a good idea. I just need to get my…

If you drive 15,000 miles per year at an average 25 MPG fuel economy you will burn 600 gallons. Your 9200 gallon tanker will last you 15 years. 15 years ago gas cost about $1.50 a gallon. Hmmm...

If I was in that situation, I would have just gone home and explained the situation to my wife, and offered to go back out to the nearest convenience store for the paper. I know my wife well, and she would do the same thing in that situation.

EV’s will never be able to fill up as conveniently as a fossil fuel powered car. If you can fill your car’s tank in 2 minutes, you are delivering energy to the car at the rate of 13 MW. That is enough energy to run 2000 typical home air conditioners. That is INSANE!

Surge pricing is genius... If there are no available drivers, then the prices are too low. Surge pricing gives more drivers an incentive to drive during peak times. It isn’t price gouging. No one is forcing this guy to take an Uber, nor is Uber (or a taxi company) “responsible” for driving someone home when they are…

My family moved to Singapore in June, and my wife has instituted a no shoes policy in the house as a way to be more like our Asian neighbors I guess. I’ve grown to like it. I have a pair of nice sandals that I keep just inside the door to put on as soon as I’m inside. Walking around barefoot is terrible for your feet…