I recently shared the story of a woman who wondered, “I make $6.50 an hour — am I poor?” The author had lost a good-paying job, moved to rural Montana, and was struggling to get by. Several readers forwarded a similar story about a woman who is surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year.
The authors of both articles live on about the same income. What is remarkable to me is the difference in the women’s attitudes. Karen, who makes $6.50 an hour, complains about work conditions (she feels like a “slave”), seems unwilling to make sacrifices, and glosses over the fact that she owns a home. Donna, who makes $12,000 a year, has a positive and active attitude regarding her situation despite similar hardships:

Make no mistake: I’m poor by choice, because I needed to change my life. I chose to leave my marriage, and I chose to become a student. I can live this way [...]

Liz Pulliam Weston — one of my favorite professional personal finance writers — has a warning regarding the three worst money moves you can make.
Sound financial advice doesn’t change much from year to year. Bad money management ideas, however, seem to mutate and flourish with each passing season…Ultimately, it’s up to you to resist bad advice and protect your own financial futures.
She writes that the three pieces of bad money advice currently en vogue are:
Use a home equity loan to pay off credit-card debt
This is tempting because home equity rates are lower than credit card rates and the interest is tax deductible. But if you make this move without ditching the credit cards, you risk digging yourself into a deeper hole. “Nearly two-thirds of the people who borrowed against their home equity to pay off credit cards had run up more card debt within two years,” writes Weston.
I’m one of the minority: [...]

Should my wife and I (with drastically different incomes ) file taxes together or seperate? | Ask MetaFilter
It’s AskMetafilter Day in the daily links…
(tags: taxes tips)

RESP…still don’t know what it means for me | Ask MetaFilter
“College savings: Does the government care how you spend a college savings plan in Canada?”
(tags: college savings planning)

Living in a Van | Ask MetaFilter
“I want to quit my job and travel around living in a van. I dont like material possesions. I like simlicity and freedom…. I want to live cheaply.” I’ve known people who did this…
(tags: travel simplicity consumerism askme)

Raising your own berries, fruits, and vegetables is a fun and rewarding way to save money. Our grocery bills drop dramatically during harvest season, and the food cannot be beat. (I love our salsa recipe.) But my wife notes, “February is the time to start planning your vegetable garden.” This post contains her advice for starting a garden that will produce a bounty of delicious food.
This was an actual weekend harvest from our garden last August.

At Get Rich Slowly, we get many requests for information about starting a vegetable garden. This is huge topic, and really enough fodder for an entire website. If you’re a novice gardener you will benefit by asking yourself six questions before mail-ordering seeds or heading to your local nursery. Now is the time to do your research so that you’ll be ready for planting season.
Do you actually like to eat vegetables?
If not, focus on fruits and herbs, edible and [...]

Stylehive - Blog: Top 5:  Piggy Banks, Stylish Savings
Me? I use a Mason jar.
(tags: funnymoney change)

Senate targets credit card practices - Jan. 26, 2007
“Restoring small annual fees on cards used by ‘non-revolvers’ would bolster revenues for card issuers, who then in turn might not make life so expensive for those with revolving balances.”
(tags: politics creditcards news)

Lifehacker points to a MSN Real Estate piece listing the 15 tools every homeowner should own. I’m working on a longer article about home workshops, but this is a good introduction to the subject.
If you don’t have a handyman in your family and don’t have a clue where to begin when it comes to assembling a proper home-repair tool kit, there’s good news: For $200, you can buy 90% of all the tools you’ll ever need to repair and maintain your home.
The article lists fifteen essential items and six “nice-to-haves”. The essentials are:

Toolbox (~$30): You don’t even need to spend money on a toolbox. We use a cheap Rubbermaid tub that Kris picked up for a couple bucks.
Hammer (~15): The article recommends a rubber grip, but I prefer a wooden handle.
Pry bar (~$15): I didn’t have one of these at the old house — I have two now (of different sizes).
Vise-grips (~$10)
Needle-nose pliers (~$8)
Screwdriver set [...]