What Do You Get a Man Turning 100?

  Why, a Mustang rental, of course! I was looking through a friend’s scrapbook last night and there was a picture of a very old man sitting in the seat of a car.  It was her husband’s grandfather, who was turning 100.  Apparently he’d always wanted a Mustang (he still jokes that someday he’s going [...]

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Give Your Mom an Experience This Mother’s Day

Every year at the beginning of May, websites and newspaper ads offer Mother’s Day gift ideas. These oh-so-helpful lists always include a version of the following list: Flowers (or alternately, the hanging basket of flowers – my mom’s Mother’s Day present for 15 consecutive years) A spa gift certificate / massage An iPod (yes, this is [...]

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A Guilt-Free Way to Reduce the Gift Budget and Snowflake the Difference

Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’re planning on giving your sister a $20 birthday present – probably a DVD that she’s been wanting. You get to the store, and the DVD is on sale for $9.99. “Great,” you think, “Now I can buy her the DVD and a CD.” Stop right there. If you [...]

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Making Your Kids Save Half the Money They Are Given

I have a nine-year-old stepson who receives an allowance of $9 every two weeks. Out of his $9, $2 goes to savings and $1 goes to the charity of his choice, leaving him $6. So, from his allowance, he is able to save $52 per year – not bad, but at that rate, he’ll be [...]

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