Use Multiple Motivations For Frugality: Environmental, Simplicity, Health, Spiritual, Philanthropy

Reaching financial independence faster boils down to either increasing your income or decreasing your expenses. This is why so many books and blogs focus on frugality and saving money. However, too often the term frugality conjurs up the image of … [Read the rest]

SunTrust Bank & Delta Check Card – 30,000 Bonus Miles Promotion

SunTrust Bank is offering 30,000 Delta Skymiles for opening a new checking account by 6/30 with qualifying direct deposit and choosing the Delta SkyMiles World Check Card. Available in AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA and Washington, … [Read the rest]

Hedging Gas Prices Revisited: Gasoline ETF UGA vs. Retail Gas Prices

Summer is coming, and that often mean rising gas prices. A comment from reader Thadf reminded me of an old post from late 2008 about hedging gas prices using ETFs. He points out that looking back, using the United States Gasoline ETF (UGA) was a … [Read the rest]

Maximizing Your Maternity and Paternity Leave Options

As new parents-to-be, we have been exploring our options for paid and unpaid family leave from work. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I was pretty surprised by all the possible permutations that you could do. I would add that while … [Read the rest]

Best BPA-Free Food Storage Containers For Baby Food and More

If you're like me, you have a cabinet in your kitchen stuffed with a scratched and stained mess of Gladware, Ziploc, or Tupperware food containers and an even larger stack of lids that never seem to fit. I even remember telling myself to stick with … [Read the rest]

Sell in May and Go Away? How About Remember To Rebalance In May and November

"Sell in May and go away" is a rhyming market-timing slogan that may never... go away. Here's a graphic that seems to support the idea that stocks have historically performed much worse between May and October than the rest of the year. Credit to … [Read the rest]

Chase Exclusives: 10% Extra Cash Back on Chase Freedom, 1% Cash Back on Chase Mortgage Payments

Chase Exclusives is a program that encourages you to open a Chase checking account whenever you have any other relationship with Chase. I closed my Chase (formerly WaMu) account a while back after they slowly started making it harder to keep as a … [Read the rest]

Obihai + Google Voice = Free VoIP Phone Until End of 2012

Update 12/26/12: Now good until the end of 2013. :) Are you still looking for a home phone solution that's cheaper than a landline? A new startup called Obihai has started making ATA VoIP boxes that are actually easy to set up. You buy their … [Read the rest]

Will Housing Prices Track Inflation Over The Long Run?

The Calculated Risk blog has shared an updated graph of inflation-adjusted housing prices through 2011, based on Prof. Shiller's data. Mr. McBride also digs a little deeper and argues that because Shiller changed up the data series he was … [Read the rest]

Why Mutual Fund Fees Are Important But Often Ignored + More Vanguard Fee Savings

I am often reminded when talking with friends and coworkers that most people don't understand the important of low fees when it comes to investing. The Vanguard blog had a recent post exploring why a 1% expense ratio is much more significant than … [Read the rest]

Earn 750 United MileagePlus Miles For Joining MyPoints.

Just received this e-mail, does not appear to be targeted. Earn 750 bonus MileagePlus miles when you sign up for MyPoints at their link and keep your membership active for 30 days. MyPoints is a program where you get points for reading … [Read the rest]

Amazon Instant Video Free $3 Credit with Twitter Link

Amazon is giving away a $3 credit towards Amazon Instant Video purchases if you connect your Amazon and Twitter accounts. Amazon will make you follow them @amazonvideo and tweet a message about the promo. It kind of worried me giving so much … [Read the rest]