The current economy has taught a lot of us that we're not saving enough money for that proverbial (and inevitable) rainy day. Still, there are folks who could easily retire at 40 and never look back.

During the past decade, lenders and the media had us believe that affordability simply meant qualifying to buy it with a loan. Of course, that era ended with dire consequences, so that can't be right. What is true affordability anyway? Can you spot it if you come across it?

There are many times in my life when I have a compulsive urge to buy things. I am definitely a borderline compulsive spender and an impulse shopper. My wife will surely attest to that. But, I have managed to curb my desire to buy something on impulse over the years as I have grown older. One way that I have curb my shopping cravings is through the 30 Day Rule.

Think you know the single best thing you can do to save energy?  A recent survey shows that most people don’t.  The single best thing you can do to conserve energy and save money on your power bill is to swap out all of your light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.  While you can certainly save money by vigilantly turning off lights around your house, you get much bigger savings by actually using CFL bulbs.  If you think about it, it kind of makes sense.  While you might save some money only using a 60 watt bulb 75% as long, you can save much more by using 15 w

 
There are only a few things in life that are as easy as calculating a 10% discount.  I think I grasped the concept at about age 7.  Look at the total and move the decimal point one digit to the left to figure out what a 10% discount would be.  For example a $10.00 total would yield a $1 discount.  A $100.00 total would yield a $10 discount.  If you are out here surfing through personal finance websites, I’m sure you didn’t just learn something new.  If you happen to be Forest Gump, you also probably didn’t learn anything new here.