Recession vocabulary is everywhere—“recessionista”, “staycation”—but when it comes to changing habits, how can we actually go from being shopaholics to penny pinchers?

The answer comes from a surprising source—bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer’s new novel THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB. In it, Kat Griffiths has never saved a penny in her life. But when she begins to think that her husband is leaving her, she decides to kick her spending habits and prepare for divorce. What ensues is a hilarious, uplifting and heartwarming story about how hardship can lead to happiness.

THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB is the perfect beach read for those in a funk about the recession.

I’m giving away TWO copies of this book. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. The contest will end next Friday at 5pm EST.

Related Posts

• Nothing Much
• Book Giveaway!
• Book Giveaway!

It seems like Mr. Savvy and I have a jillion accounts between the two of us.  However, I added one more account to the mix last night.  I opened a SEP-IRA for myself.  Mr. Savvy already had one and I decided to get one as well.  We both have side businesses and while mine isn’t nearly as profitable as  his, I want to be able to shelter all the income we can.

Taxes are a bear and I just found out that property taxes will be increasing statewide this year.  Ugh.  So every little bit counts.  Not to mention, we have ~18 years until retirement and compounding interest is your friend.

How many accounts (banking and retirement) do you have?  Are there any that could be consolidated in order to simplify your finances?

Related Posts

• What to Do in this Financial Climate?
• Retirement Plans for the Self-Employed and Small Business Owners
• Saving for retirement on $20 a week

photo credit: Tessss

All for the low price of $25 -

25th Burt Day Celebration Grab Bag

Celebrate our 25th Burt Day with a bag full of goodies!

How it Works

It’s our 25th Burt Day and we’re ready to celebrate with a gift – just for you! We’ve mixed and matched our most popular natural products and other special gifts into our premium Burt Day Celebration Grab Bag. A bag full of these goodies sells for over $50 MSRP, but we’ve lowered the price especially for our birthday.

You’ll get 6 regular-sized products: 4 lip products, a 4 oz. spearmint lime body wash and a 3 oz. nourishing body lotion; 12 mini-size products; and 4 special gifts!

Give the gift of well-being to others or keep them all for yourself. And of course, Happy Burt Day!

• 6 Regular-Sized Products:
• Lip Shimmer Merlot
• Lip Shimmer Toffee
• Replenishing Lip Balm
• Beeswax Lip Balm
• Spearmint & Lime Body Wash (4 oz)
• Nourishing Body Lotion (3 oz)
• 12 Mini-size:
• Baby Bee Buttermilk Bath
• All-in-One Wash
• Lip Gloss Red
• Lip Gloss Nude
• Natural Skin Care for Men Soap
• Peppermint Soap
• Citrus Spice Soap
• Baby Bee Buttermilk Soap
• Orange Essence Facial Cleanser
• Peppermint Foot Lotion
• Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar
• Therapeutic Bath Crystals
• 4 Special Gifts:
• Bamboo Poof
• Burt’s Bees Gardener’s Gloves
• Red Wristlet Bag
• Lip Balm Clip-On
• Items may vary. All sales final. No returns or replacements.

Other Posts

• The Second Step to Financial Success
• Credit Report Codes Explained
• Money Magazine Giveaway!

photo credit: zolierdos

I received notice a few days ago that Microsoft is discontinuing it’s Money software.  I’ve used MS Money since the mid to late 90s (am I dating myself?) and have always liked it.  The question is what do I do once Money goes away?

I like being able to automatically download my transactions, stock prices, etc.  Not to mention I currently have at least 10 years of data store.  Though I hear good things about mint.com and similar programs, I’m not comfortable with all my financial data being online like that.

The obvious replacement would be Quicken but I’m not sure how well Microsoft’s and Intuit’s products will be to interface with each other.  Do you use financial software (online or desktop)?  If so, what do you use and why?

Related Posts

• Target Makes It Easier to Keep Track of Your Spending
• Coming Soon – Learning About Munipal Bonds

photo credit: m.a.r.k

Is it ethical to accept financial if you don’t need the funds?

Related Posts

• Top Ten facts about the Tuition and Fees Deduction
• Eight Ways to Earn Extra Income

photo credit: DRB62

Spring is coming to an end and the weather is definitely getting warmer. If you’re like me, you try to resist turning on the AC as long as possible. However, that’s only delaying the inevitable. So here are some ways to keep cool AND save money.

• Increase the temperature on your thermostat – There’s no need to keep your home like an icebox. Instead of cranking the AC down to 70 degrees, try 78 and see how you feel. I promise, unless you’re in direct sunlight, it’s not that bad
• Install ceiling fans – Feeling a cool breeze across your skin makes you feel several degrees cooler than you are. The electricity used to power a ceiling fan in the room you’re in is much less than trying to cool your whole house.
• Close vents in rooms you don’t use – Why pay to cool rooms that you’re not in. Close those vents and the doors to those rooms as well. Because you’re cooling a smaller portion of your home, your electricity bill will be smaller as well.
• Get a programmable thermostat – This way you can regulate your AC use. There’s no point in running the AC when you aren’t home. That’s a pure waste of money. I set the AC to go off around 7am when I leave home in the morning and to come back on about an half hour before I get home. This way, the house is cool when I arrive but I haven’t wasted any power cooling an empty house.
• Clean your air filters – Clean or replace your air filters once a month or whenever they look dirty. Your AC unit has to work harder to draw air through a dirty filter and this lessens its efficiency. Trust me, air filters cost much less than electricity.
• Use curtains to block the sunlight – While I love natural sunlight, I keep my curtains drawn when I’m away from home. This lessens the amount of sunlight (meaning HEAT) that comes into my home, keeping it cooler overall.
• Insulate your attic – If your attic doesn’t have the proper amount of insulation, you can lose a lot of your cooled air, forcing your air conditioner to work harder.  Increasing your insulation is not very expensive and an easy DIY project.  You’ll soon recoup the cost as you can save ~$100/yr on your energy bills.
• Install an attic fan – This is something I’m considering doing.  To get even more bang for the buck, I’m looking at solar attic fans.  Attic fans draw hot air out of the attic which has a cooling effect on your home.  If you install a solar model, there is no added electricity cost.

What are ways you’re saving money and staying cool this year?

Related Posts

• DIY Savings

photo credit: wayneandwax

Unless the people in my previous post, Mr. Savvy and I generally have great success with our DIY projects.  Case in point, for the last few weeks, there has been a strong gas smell when we use the oven.  I finally decided to call the gas company, sooner rather than later, as I don’t want to blow up our house.

Friday, the gas company rep came out and said the issue was with the oven, most likely the ignitor.  So Monday, an appliance repairman came out.  He confirmed it was the ignitor and told me it would be $210 (parts and labor) to fix it.  He didn’t have the part with him but said he would return later.  I didn’t like the idea of paying that much for what looked like a simple fix (I could see the ignitor when he dismantled the oven to diagnose the problem).  So when he called back to reschedule, Mr. Savvy declined.

After locating an appliance parts store, we were able to purchase a new ignitor for $32.  After about an hour of Mr. Savvy’s time, the oven was fixed.  So instead of paying $49.95 for the service call and $210 for the repair, we paid $49.95 and $32.  We saved $178, almost 70%, by doing it ourselves.  How have you saved money by DIYing?

Related Posts

• DIY Madness
• Another DIY Project
• DIY Savings

photo credit: superk8nyc

In these tough economic times, many people are starting to DIY.  However, some things are best left to the professionals.  A recent NY Times article provides a humorous example -

“One of my clients decided to bleach her hair all over instead of coming in to get a full head of highlights,” said Sunny Brewer, a stylist in St. Clair, Mich. “She put bleach on her scalp and pulled it through to the ends and left it on for an hour. She had hair down past the middle of her back and now she’s sporting a chin-length bob because her hair broke off.”

Have you had any DIY disasters?  Thankfully I haven’t because Google is my friend.  Google twice, cut once.  LOL.

Related Posts

• DIY Success
• Another DIY Project
• DIY Savings