holidash

Once upon a time, I was the sort of girl who believed in "retail therapy." When I was particularly sad, I would get in my cushy SUV and drive to the mall (I was living in Northern Virginia at the time so my mall of choice was the lux Tysons Corner), and charge $300 or $400 worth of fabulously...

One of my friends Twittered Monday that should would have to work over 10 hours each day -- including Christmas -- for the rest of the month in order to make her billable hours quota for the year. Meanwhile, I'm typing as fast as I can to make my December freelancing commitments. I had planned to...

This Christmas, it seems that shoppers just can't get into the competitive holiday spirit, the one that has lifted many a seller's year-end income and seems linked to "patriotism" and "the American dream," on eBay. In fact, according to Comscore, the online seller is reporting an unprecedented...

Yesterday, I received a phone call asking for "Mr. or Mrs. Hanson" -- my husband's last name, which I generally attribute to either telemarketers or those affiliated with the Army Reserves, for which he's a Specialist. The woman said she was with the American Legion, and wanted to talk about a gift...

Now that I've self-identified with the "frugalista," it's already time to buckle down and start budgeting for the rest of the holiday season. Frugalistas are known for spending little on typical consumer goods (think expensive decorations, electronics and clothing) but maybe a little more on good...

Last night I watched the latest episode of Life, which described a murder shortly before a mall opens on Black Friday. The detectives are standing in the path of shoppers who flood the mall at 6 a.m. and all any fiscally sensible person can ask herself is: why? At least, that's what I ask myself,...

It was sticker shock that had me talking my six-year-old into helping me gather sunflower and calendula seeds from our yard a few weeks ago. A few dozen sunflower seeds had been nearly $3; same with the calendula, seeds so impossibly lightweight that the paper packet must have weighed four or five...

Even though summer isn't over yet, for those of you who travel over Thanksgiving, it is already time to start thinking about booking your flights.Thanksgiving is one of the busiest flying times of the year and this year there are going to be a lot fewer flights available. In an effort to save on...

I was thinking last night about how much debt people go into to make sure that Santa is generous with their kids during the holidays. How many bankruptcies do you think Jolly Ol' St. Nick has caused? If you add up the holiday extravagances that have burdened families with debt in this country over...

As the holiday season approaches, we thought you might appreciate some gift suggestions with a twist, appropriate for those on your list who aren't satisfied with the same old, same old. For those of you with friends/gift obligations who are troublingly unaware of just what whackos they are, we...