Buying wine at the grocery store can be a crapshoot. The local Safeway has hundreds to choose from, yet I know from experience that not all these wines are good. In fact, a few I hope never to drink again. Sometimes I try to increase the odds of turning up a good bottle buy paying $20 or $25, but even then I’m taking a risk. As disappointing as a bad $7 bottle of wine can be, a bad $28 bottle of wine is worse. What’s a frugal oenophile to do?
One solution is to visit The Budget Wino, a site devoted to “wine reviews and tips for the $10 and under crowd”. I mentioned this site in passing last week, but it’s worth a closer look. Dorian, the budget wino himself, explains his inspiration:

When I moved to California, I had limited to no wine experience. I knew that there was white wine, and I knew that [...]

Money Smart Life » Payback Time for Payday Loans – Share Your Story and win $50
Ben is taking $50 from a Payday loan advertiser and giving it to a commenter who has lost money to high interest borrowing in the past. Sneaky. DEADLINE IS TODAY.
(tags: pfblogs contests)

AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » Just How Expensive is a Payday Loan?
The verdict: VERY EXPENSIVE.
(tags: debt loans)

Frugal Lunch by Clever Dudette at Clever Dude
“I believe that to be frugal (and health-conscious) for lunch, it is imperative to pack your lunch!” [via Lifehacker]
(tags: food frugality frugal)

You might have noticed that the U.S. stock markets took a tumble today. In fact, the drop was the largest in five years. What does this stock market correction mean to the average investor? What does it mean for the fellow who’s just plugging a few hundred dollars a month into his IRA?
In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t mean much. The slow, sure path to investment success is to “buy and hold” your stocks. When you apply this strategy with discipline, then market fluctuations — even large swings such as happened today — are irrelevant. You’re in it for the long haul. It doesn’t matter what happens in the short term.
On the other hand, there’s always some market timing involved with investments. Here’s an example: I had planned to stick a few hundred dollars into my Sharebuilder IRA next Tuesday. Because of the way Sharebuilder works, this trade would only cost me $4. [...]

The latest issue of Money magazine has an article by Donna Rosato on how to file a tax return that won’t raise red flags with the IRS. (Curiously, the online version is slightly different than the magazine article.) Rosato writes:
Some 12 percent of people admit they think it’s acceptable to cheat on their taxes. No wonder IRS Commissioner Mark Everson has made it his top priority to go after those who shortchange the government. These few bad seeds can spell trouble for you, even if you play (mostly) on the right side of the rules. An iffy deduction here or a large write-off there could get your filing flagged for a time-consuming and potentially costly audit.
Rosato notes that while 1% of taxpayers are audited every year, a “middle-income wager earner with a straightforward return” probably doesn’t have to worry. Curious, I did a bit more research.
First, it’s helpful to know what an audit [...]

Warranties
Official FTC site, via Lifehacker.
(tags: consumer shopping warranty reference)

What Does it Mean to Be Rich? | Money for the Rest of Us
“If one of your goals is to ‘get rich,’ I would suggest trying to define what exactly you mean by this.”
(tags: wealth values philosophy)

How does a busy student turn more coin? | Ask MetaFilter
(tags: youngadults work school)

How an 8-year-old crafted a simple, winning, ‘lazy’ portfolio - MarketWatch
(tags: investing investments mutualfunds)

My sister-in-law, Tiffany, called yesterday. “Do you guys want to have lunch at the new Thai place?” she asked. We did. Kris and I are eager to find another cheap restauarant close by. We picked up Tiff and drove to the Thai place, but it wasn’t open. Instead, we walked over to Sully’s, a small diner nearby. The place was full.
“It’ll be ten or fifteen minutes,” the hostess told us. We didn’t want to wait.
“Let’s go to Hale’s,” suggested Kris. “They have good food.”
We climbed back in the car and drove ten minutes down the highway through heavy traffic. “We could eat at The Bomber,” I said, pointing out a local landmark. After World War II, Art Lacey bought a B-17, flew it to Portland, stood it on pillars, and built a gas station underneath it. He opened a restaurant next door.
“You don’t even like The Bomber,” Kris pointed out. “Every time we [...]