Frugal Friday Forever

Because we are always frugal here at BadMoneyAdvice global HQ, it is always Friday.

First, an apology. We have not managed to post our round-up of doings in the frugalosphere for a while. The cost of the extra electricity required to conduct our research was exceeding our frugal-by-choice budget limits. But now that we have our new-to-us steam turbine generator in the backyard up and running (it burns toilet paper tubes, egg cartons, and dryer sheets for fuel) we are back in business.

But where to start? How about birth? If you are thinking about reproducing, you might want to read Shopping Detox’s analysis Which are most frugal: cats, dogs, or babies? Spoiler alert: it is cats.

If you take that lesson to heart, you might be looking for frugal contraception. Of course, the the most frugal method is abstinence, something that comes naturally to many frugalists. But condoms are a good second choice and Wise Bread’s Mikey Rox points out that there is really no reason to pay for them.

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Credit Cards, Debit Cards, and Crazy Americans

As I have written several times in the past (e.g. here and here) there seems to be no subject on which I am more out of step with normal folks than those plastic cards, credit and debit, that we all use to buy stuff.

In the past I have politely implied that this is a failing of mine, that I am just too old or too dense to understand what everybody else does. I hope nobody was fooled by that. I really think I may be the last person in America who can think clearly about plastic.

A few weeks ago, SmartMoney ran a round-up of the best credit card deals. The listing of best offers for the various categories of credit cards was fine, but the introductory gloss managed to encapsulate just about all the craziness (and I do mean craziness) that clouds thinking about cards in America.

… credit cards have lately emerged as the surprise champs, offering fewer fees and better rewards than the typical debit card.

Surprise to who? As far as I know, credit cards, in general, have always had lower fees and better rewards than debit.

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