This year, I have gotten rid of a lot of junk. I look around my house now, and I see fewer things, but the things I see, I enjoy and value. I'm trying these days not to let anymore junk into my life. What's some of the junk that has left my life in 2009? Damp, empty boxes that had sat in my basement...

I like to make pronouncements. It's easier for me to adopt or give up something altogether, rather than piecemeal. So my latest pronouncement is this: I'm not going out to eat anymore, unless I'm away from home and can't prepare something myself. I'm a vegetarian, so my dining out...

I just read an AP article in my local newspaper about "Transumers" -- people who are transient consumers. They don't purchase and consume things, they rent or lease consumer items that are then passed on to the next transumer. Sounds sort of green and sustainable, right? It was billed as...

As I was clearing out my penultimate remaining junk room (such a danger in a big house -- just stashing stuff in piles and closing the door to deal with "later"), I was listening to NPR and there was a feature on people who are called "the new simplifiers " -- people choosing to get...

Well, my friends and I are not exchanging gifts (and I have no family), so that's a big expense gone. But there are lots of other things that creep in during the holidays that often tempt me to spend money that could otherwise be put towards bills, debt, savings, all sorts of things. So here's...

I really hope that whoever buys my house will fall so deeply in love with my furniture and furnishings that they'll want to take the place lock, stock, and barrel. Highly unlikely, though. So now I'm looking into how to get rid of all the stuff that I have amassed over the past nearly 40 years...

I moved into my dream house almost seven years ago -- it's a four-storey Victorian row house with marble fireplaces, pocket doors, mahogany banisters... it's gorgeous! It needed a lot of work, and I have it about half-renovated. Brand-new kitchen, gorgeous historic wallpaper, stripped wood-work...

There I was, watching the Antiques Roadshow on my 10+ year old televsion (tuned in through rabbit ears, as I cancelled cable this summer), and when some boring sports item came on, I flipped to one of the other three channels I get. And thre I saw two ads in a row for food items that were being marketed...

I'm always on the lookout for quick cash schemes. Craigslist is a main source of ideas, and as I've been looking at the postings on CL over the past few months, I keep seeing posts for different "sleep studies" at a nearby University hospital. They usually require that participants...

As I was writing my last blog post, I received an email from someone responding to one of my many Craigslist postings offering stuff for sale that I don't use and have hanging around the house. This particular item was a Regina Carpet Steamer (that I had bought used at a tag sale several years ago...