Gas mileage: we’re doing it wrong
Gasoline prices are on the mind of nearly every American right now. Here in Seattle, where gas is currently climbing past the $4.50 mark, we like our hybrid cars. A lot. But Seattle had an...
View ArticleAvoid the high cost of premium gas
A friend of mine has begun posting photos of gas pump digital displays after each fillup, which costs her an astonishing $70-$80 now. I noticed that she’s been consistently buying the middle grade of...
View ArticleCredit cards (part three): use ’em … and lose ’em anyway
It was a brief segment on NPR’s Marketplace last month that alerted me to the newest scary thing about credit cards: banks have begun to curtail or withdraw credit based on where you shop and what you...
View ArticleSpending money to save money
We’ve done a pretty good job of cutting back on unnecessary expenses during this period of reduced income. ‘Magazine subscriptions’ seems like an obvious category to eliminate, right? Yet I kept mine....
View ArticleReader case study: short sales and debt
After I posted What to do — and not do — with your former mortgage dollars, I received a request for advice on a strategic default from a woman I’ll call Tricia. I agreed to give her some (friendly,...
View ArticleOptimize your car insurance: strategies to protect yourself while saving money
Insurance companies often advise you to purchase auto coverage at “as high a limit as you can afford”. This is singularly unhelpful. For one thing, how do you decide what you can afford? Not to mention...
View ArticleGasoline spending: the problem
This is the first of two posts about how I adapted our budget system to control our gasoline expenses. When I set up our budget in July 2011, Jak and I both had contract jobs. That meant two things...
View Article
