ArcaMax

What would we do if we actually had to use everything we own, including all that stuff in the drawers, cupboards, closets, shelves and boxes in our kitchen, bedrooms, living room, basement, attic, garage, rafters, driveway, patio, side yard and cars?

Could we do it? It's not likely. Instead, we pack it, stack it and pile it away -- we even pay ...Read more

I saw the funniest sign, but it wasn't funny for long because I started to think about it. Suddenly, the humor melted away. The sign read: "Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is, you're stupid and make bad decisions."

Ouch! Those 15 words hit hard because I've made more than my share of bad money decisions in my life.

I've ...Read more

Over the years, I've heard from dozens of readers who have lent money to friends and family members, only to have become outraged when the deal goes sour. The problem is, they write to me after they've made the loan. By now, they've been waiting months, even years, for repayment, without success, hoping I can wave a magic wand to get their money...Read more

Some people love meal prep. They plan every meal, color-code containers, and smile as they portion out grilled chicken and broccoli like a seasoned chef. This article is not for them.

This is for the rest of us. The folks who want dinner on the table but without surrendering their entire weekend to a week's worth of meals all neatly loaded into...Read more

If you assume the inside of your washer is the cleanest place in your home because you put detergent through it with every load of laundry, join the club. Most people think that -- and that's a really bad assumption.

Have you ever wondered why there's dirty residue on the agitator? Why do washed clothes sometimes come out with stains they didn'...Read more

You hear it all the time, but do you know what it means to live below your means? Have you figured out how to do that?

To live below your means is to choose a lifestyle you can pay for with the money you have and still have some left over.

Living below your means that in this high-pressure, credit-based, gotta-have-it-all-right-now culture is ...Read more

Fundraisers and requests from charities used to bother me. So did the collection plate at church. I felt guilty because no matter how much money we made, there was never enough to give any of it away. And with all the debt we had (it was plenty!), how could I be expected to help others when I couldn't even help myself?

Then our financial house ...Read more

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about food expiration dates, I could afford to buy a lot of the milk that gets tossed each week just for being one day "past."

These questions come in by the dozen -- from readers, neighbors and once from a stranger in the dairy aisle holding a suspicious-looking yogurt cup like it was a ticking...Read more

It was a dumb mistake. I grabbed the biggest package of coffee filters -- a pack of 1,000 -- only to discover much later that I'd picked up the wrong size for my coffeemaker.

Coffee filters are not expensive, which is probably the reason I didn't bother returning them to the store. I suppose I should have tried, but I didn't. Instead, I began ...Read more

I was way off base when I guessed "egg-gathering basket." Leslie Hindman, host of the TV show "Appraisal Fair," held up this round cage contraption with folding sides and asked us to guess, "What the Heck Is It?" Salad spinner was the right choice, but who knew people were wasting their money on needless pieces of kitchen equipment back in the ...Read more

Over the years, I've noticed a growing trend in my mailbox: readers in search of financial planners or advisers -- or assistants. When taken in the message's context, it's pretty clear that not everyone means the same thing when they refer to a financial planner-adviser-assistant-helper.

One reader wanted to know where to find a financial ...Read more