I gave my father a puppy for Christmas.
Since my mom wanted a dog that does not shed and my dad wants a big dog (but not a standard poodle), we decided to look for a Labradoodle. Labradoodles pups are the result of cross-breeding a labrador retriever and a  standard poodle. While there are no guarantees, [...]

Merry Christmas Eve!
This is my first holiday season with a full time job, and I am a little sad to be working on Christmas Eve - I fly to Texas late in the afternoon and will be with my family on Christmas morning.
With everything going on in the world today, I am very grateful to [...]

A while ago, I wrote about my health insurance. For various reasons, I spent several hundred dollars out of pocket and had to file a claim form with my insurance company.
When a month after filing the forms I had not heard anything, I called the insurance company and then the billing departments of the doctor [...]

Tip from Janice:
Many of the stand-alone clothing stores (Ann Taylor, Banana Republic/Gap, etc) have a 14 day (2 week) price reduction policy.  It used to be printed on the receipt for Gap and Banana Republic, but is no longer.  If something you buy is discounted or is reduced in price within that 14 day period, [...]

As the weather has turned cold (I saw snow last week!), I am reminded of how unprepared I was for winter when I first moved to New Jersey from Texas. My first two winters were miserable.
During the first winter, the heat was shut off in my dorm for 24 hours. Feeling very cold that evening, [...]

A few weeks ago I attended a wonderful outdoor bbq with some new friends. I showed them my iPhone, and amid the admiring comments, someone asked “How much does it cost?” When I said that the total cost over two years is around $2,000, the admiring comments stopped.
This weekend I saw a few of those [...]

Splurge: $3 Chai Tea from the coffee stand outside the office

After my first month at the office, I found out that the orange coffee pot contained regular coffee. Instead of drinking 2-3 cups of decaf a day, I was drinking 2-3 cups of regular coffee. This would explain why I was slightly jittery all day [...]

I try not to be too judgmental about how people spend their money (when they can afford their purchases), but there are a few things that I think are pretty silly to spend money on. Here are two things I have never bought (and I cannot imagine ever buying these things).
Facebook presents
A 10×10 pixel birthday [...]

During the primaries last spring, I got into many discussions about the importance of voting. While voting is a part of civic duty, it is only one small part. I am slightly annoyed when people act patriotic because they voted. If you care about an issue, go spend one hour volunteering for that issue. Most [...]

Before moving to Virginia, I picked out my apartment complex online by reading reviews. When I visited my complex, I was sure to mention that I read about them on rent.com.
Rent.com has a reward program that gives $100 to anyone who signs a lease and moves into an apartment found through their site. Last week [...]