MSN Money - Surviving and Thriving

The bank of BFFs.

April 9, 2016August 3, 2011 by Donna Freedman

Do you always grab for the tab, or do you and friends/roommates split even the smallest expenditures?

The first can leave you open to exploitation. The second can be aggravating if it becomes an exercise in, “SonyaAnn got the extra cup of ranch dressing so she owes 30 cents more.”

Treading that ticklish territory is the subject of my latest column over at MSN Money, “Your best friends’ bank: You.” (Edited to add: This article is no longer available since Microsoft changed platforms. Sorry about that.)

The $9 airline ticket, and other frugal travel hacks.

October 26, 2015May 29, 2011 by Donna Freedman

My current piece at MSN Money won’t show up in the RSS feed. That’s because it’s a slide show rather than a column.

“$9 airfare and 9 other travel hacks” offers the skinny on things like “news flash” alerts (e.g., a $9 flight from Boston to New York), ways to get a free flop anywhere from Anchorage to Amsterdam, and how to spend just $1 to journey from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia.

When the back 40 is the back yard.

May 4, 2011 by Donna Freedman

The urban homesteading movement is a growth enterprise (sorry) in the United States. My current column at MSN Money shows why.

“A chicken in every condo?” details some of the ways that let people with small urban properties — or those who don’t own property — produce food.

For Mother’s Day, think beyond flowers.

May 2, 2011 by Donna Freedman

Recently a site called Eversave ran a Mother’s Day survey. Of the 187 women who answered, just over 42 percent craved “a clean house” as much as a day at the spa.

Note: They did not say they craved to clean house, but to have a clean house. Big difference there.

14 frugal uses for an income tax refund.

January 24, 2016April 17, 2011 by Donna Freedman

I’m getting an income tax refund this year. Well, let me rephrase that. I would be getting a refund, except that I’m applying it toward the quarterly taxes I pay as a freelancer. Whee!

What are you going to do with your refund, if any? My former MSN Money colleague Liz Weston suggests spending 10% of any windfall on something non-essential. So go ahead: Treat yourself.

But don’t let the rest of the money trickle away. Invest it in something, or several somethings, that will benefit you for the rest of the year – or even for the rest of your life.

My day job, blog carnivals and funny potato-chip flavors.

March 3, 2011 by Donna Freedman

Now up at MSN Money is my latest column, “Useless Groupon? Cash it in.” It’s all about the secondary market for social commerce vouchers from places like Tippr, Buy With Me, Living Social and, of course, Groupon.

The advantage is twofold: You can unload deals you no longer want and, more to the point, you can look for deals you missed on the first go-round or that you didn’t know existed.

As one secondary-market host says, it’s “a catalog experience vs. an impulse buy.”

Blog roundup: Stupid virus edition.

February 10, 2011 by Donna Freedman

That’s me who’s sick, not the computer. I’m pretty sure it’s viral: Sore throat, slight cough, aches and malaise but no fever. Blech. This is one of those times when it’s not good to be single. If someone else were here I could ask him to please go get me a box of Popsicles.

I wanted to write something staggeringly clever and original but after a day of research/interviews for my day job, I’m feeling somewhat battered. Also acutely aware that I leave in, um, 13 days and have to turn in a lot more work unless I want to be writing from the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel. (Hint: I don’t.)

I’m going to bed early. The rest of you can read.

The price of everything at I Pick Up Pennies

Can’t control your finances? Get yourself a coach.

October 7, 2015June 23, 2010 by Donna Freedman

Not a counselor — a coach. That’s the subject of my latest “Living With Less” personal finance column, now up over at MSN Money. “Find a personal money coach, free” explains how you can work to make your finances match your dreams. Generally speaking, counseling is about an issue and coaching is about an individual. … Read more