Kris at Cheap Healthy Good recently wrote how 60 minutes a week can save hundreds of dollars on food.
This kind of stuff never occurred to me in my early ‘20s, and The Boyfriend and I are much better for it now. We eat like the dickens and haven’t had to sell any major organs to finance peanut butter purchases (lately).
To keep her costs down and to reduce the time involved, Kris has created her own system, drawing on a variety of tips from other sources. Before you begin, you must know what food you already have on hand, which grocery stores are nearest to you, and where to find coupons for these stores. Once you have this info, Kris says you can save lots of money on food with just an hour of work per week.

Scan the online circulars to find prices for only those foods you regularly eat. Watch for staples you can stockpile. [...]

This is a guest post from John Forman from The Essentials of Trading. Forman is the author of a book by the same name. He has been a trader of the stock and other markets for over 20 years, and is a professional stock market analyst for Thomson Reuters.
The wealth building potential of the stock market is enormous. I think we all realize that. The long-running debate, though, is whether one is better off investing in individual stocks (or funds that do just that), or whether it’s best to just put your money in an index fund. Most funds fail to beat the market, so it would seem index funds are the better choice.
While it is certainly true that index investing has some advantages, and some mutual funds do perform better than the indices, no index or fund will ever offer the upside potential of investing in individual stocks. It’s a matter of math.
Indices [...]

I’ve received several questions about credit cards recently, and have been struggling with how to handle them. When I started Get Rich Slowly two years ago, I was firmly in the anti-credit card camp. I still believe credit cards are dangerous, but now recognize that they can be cool tools if used responsibly. (”Credit cards don’t buy crap — people buy crap.”) But am I really ready to write a post about the best rewards credit cards, as Howard wants me to do? I don’t know.
What do you think? Would you like to see more information about responsible credit card use? Or would you rather I maintained my current policy of “credit card silence”?
For example, Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity recently posted a list of credit card offers, in which he shares those accounts currently offering sign-up bonuses of $50 or more. Do you find lists like this useful?
In other, non-credit card related news, [...]

The best part about running this site is reading stories from readers who have managed to take control of their finances and kick debt to the curb. Some people share their success in the comments, but many people e-mail me privately to celebrate. For example, Jodi wrote on Friday to say that after more than a year of focused intensity, she and her husband are debt-free:

Before we were introduced to Dave Ramsey in December of ‘06, we didn’t think that our financial situation was that bad.  We had a little bit of credit card debt (from lack of an emergency fund), a car loan, and student loans.  No big deal right?  Until you add it up and realize that you have $23,000 of debt on a $39,000 yearly salary.
So we went crazy and paid it off… in 16 months.
How?  We got on a budget, and then my husband took on (a lot of) extra [...]

Consumers underestimate the power of comparison shopping, claims a five-year-old report from the Consumer Federation of America. “Consumers often do not realize that, for most products, a wide range of prices are available and, therefore, consumers often pay too much for the items they buy.”

[The study] results show that most consumers need a far lower price savings to persuade them to comparison shop than can actually be obtained from shopping around. These findings are particularly significant, since the available consumer behavior research indicates that, on the average, only about 50% of people shop around. An important reason as to why consumers do not shop around is the perception that it is not worth the effort. They rationalize that the savings potential will not be greater than the desired 10% savings needed to motivate action.
“The fact is that shopping around for most products will yield savings far greater than 10%,” said Jack Gillis, Director of Public [...]

At this moment, Kris and I are driving home from a long weekend in Central Oregon. Every year, we rent a home in Sunriver, and spend three days with some of our best friends. It’s great fun. (Yesterday I played golf for the first time in eight years, and I have a nasty sunburn to show for it.)
We also use this trip as a chance to see one of Kris’ college roommates. Eila moved to Bend about a decade ago, and now we only see her once a year. At lunch Saturday, we caught up on each other’s lives.
“How’s the box factory?” Eila asked me.
“Well,” I said, “I’m not actually working at the box factory anymore.”
“What are you doing instead?” she asked.
“Do you know about Get Rich Slowly?” I asked. She shook her head. “I’m a writer now. I work from home,” I said. “I have a web site about personal finance.”
Eila chuckled. “That’s [...]