Help Over Hype

Please enjoy this guest blog by fellow author, Amy Wood. Be back soon! Everywhere we go – the internet, the book store, the grocery store check-out line – carefully crafted headlines fight to sell us on the implausible yet tempting idea that we can have, be, and do whatever we want by next month, this Friday, right this minute. …

Save and pay down debt?

While I’m on vacation, I hope you find this guest blog by financial blogger Donna Nell interesting. After the recent financial turmoil of 2008, a large number of Americans are facing an incredible amount of credit card debt. The loads they carry and the trauma they experience may at times become overwhelming.…

Crime Tide

Have you heard that Tide laundry detergent is the hottest thing on the black market. Seems pretty odd to me but it seems the reason why is because it’s relatively expensive(about $10 for a small bottle, $20 for a large one), it doesn’t spoil, you can’t trace it, and it’s the most popular brand of something everybody needs.…

Pink Slime Filter

This morning’s paper had an article about the uprising over ammonia-treated pink slime and the fact that it’s on the menu in many of our nation’s schools. The pile of tiny pink sticks of pseudo-beef filler in the accompanying photo did nothing to quell the uneasy feeling in my gut as I read the article.…

Breaking Bad

This morning I was trying to figure out how I would confess to breaking my string of “sort of weekly” blogs. You may not have noticed (although I hope you did) that you haven’t heard anything from me for awhile. In fact, I think this is the longest stretch I have gone.…

The Big Gift Repurposed

Over two years ago I wrote this blog. After a too busy last week and even busier start to this week, I decided to repurpose it in honor of Valentine’s Day – hope you enjoy it! Today is Valentine’s Day; the day to honor love.…

Let’s Talk

Sex and Money, the last two topics we don’t talk openly about in America. I first wrote this in my 2nd blog post almost three years ago. You know what? Things haven’t gotten much better. Sure, we have the surface conversations about what we or the government should do with our money—but do we ever really talk about how our beliefs and values show up?…

Harm Reduction: Nice Idea!

Recently I was introduced to the concept of harm reduction. It was offered to me in the context of food, but the term was first used in the field of alcohol and drug addiction. But to be brutally honest, food and money are  just another form of addiction and so I decided to investigate this concept further.…

High on Overindulgence

Okay, I’m coming clean. I overindulged during the holidays and not just with food. I overindulged with spending, with giving (and receiving), with socializing and with time off. When I look back over the last two weeks, I’m not sure I did anything in moderation.…

New Year’s Solutions

I think this year I’ll commit to a New Year’s Solution instead of a New Year’s Resolution.  Resolutions don’t seem to work for me.  Somehow resolving to make a change isn’t enough.  But, acting like I already have the answer feels like a better chance for success.…