The Sun’s Financial Diary

Last week, I wrote a post about the $70 night out I had with my husband. In the cheap night out post I knocked myself for spending a week’s worth of grocery money on one dinner and a movie. Luckily, Len Penzo of Len Penzo dot Com stopped by and slapped a little bit of [...]

It’s common knowledge that everyone should save for and prepare for retirement. Most parents would like to be able to save towards their children’s future college costs as well. Problem is, in today’s economy, the vast majority of household budgets are stretched so incredibly thin, that there’s usually not even two cents left to rub [...]

“I want (fill in the blank)!”
If you’re a parent to young children, you’ve undoubtedly heard your little one utter this phrase many times.  Plus, it probably most often occurs at some pretty crowded locales such as the grocery store or Toys ‘R Us where the level of parental shame can be at its highest.  At [...]

I think the goal of almost every single person on Earth is to go through many stages of upgrading his or her life. Remember the car you drove when you were a teenager? Well there is no way you want to drive that car foreve – heck no, you want to upgrade. From the car [...]

You may be an introvert or an extrovert. Maybe you’re highly organized or barely able to stay afloat of the clutter. Whatever your personality type, you also have a spending type. Identifying and knowing your spending type and financial habits is one of the first steps to taking control of your monetary resources. Ignore or [...]

Surprisingly, many people do not realize that they can still get one last deduction out of 2009 even though their current calendar reads 2010. No, this isn’t fantasy or traffic grasping SEO hype — there really is one way for you to still get another deduction on your 2009 taxes. Ready? Here goes:
If you want [...]

Anyone who believes in the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” will also agree that the best way to save money is by managing what you already have well. Without some kind of organization in place, this can be easier said than done. That’s where a home directory comes [...]

If there were one phrase in life that sums up lessons learned the hard way, it would be the infamous “I told you so.”  At one point or another, you were informed by a friend, family member, or a professional, exactly what you should do, disregarded it, and paid the price.  So for your entertainment, [...]

When it comes to saving money (and even getting more for your money), the old saying is true: the squeaky wheel truly does get the oil. So speak up to make sure you’re getting your fair share and then some.
It’s amazing how simply being friendly and approachable can turn into real profits for your pocketbook. [...]

As news surfaced that some of the nation’s biggest financial institutions would be paying out record bonuses to executives in 2009 (AIG drew particular fire for planning on dishing out $165 million) following the federal government’s half trillion dollar TARP bailout, a growing and increasingly vocal movement of U.S. taxpayers are letting it be known [...]