Decisions

Statue blindfolded

How I tried to buy something totally anonymously online

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My experiences with trying to buy something online without revealing anything about my identity, and why this is so difficult. (I talk about using products or services, but I received no commission for this. I do not do affiliate marketing. … Read More … Read More

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Mask ornament

Why it’s so hard to buy online and maintain any privacy

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In a perfect world, no one would have any right to know what I buy, where I go, and what I do unless I gave them that access. This seems rather quaint now. Today, everything you do is scrutinized, advertised, … Read More … Read More

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Tug of war

How not getting the sale can still be successful haggling

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Haggling for purchases is a great idea. Not only does it allow the obvious benefit of getting something for less than the original price, but it also forces you to decide how much you want something, and forces you out … Read More … Read More

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Bank Vault

Here are some better ways to spend $600 than on hard drive recovery

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I spent roughly $600 to recover personal files from a dead hard drive. Now, $600 is a lot of money. It was half of the price of my first car when I bought it. It was more than what my … Read More … Read More

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À la recherche du hard drives perdu: my data recovery experience

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So as I reported earlier, a hard drive containing valuable personal files died on me recently. I thought I hadn’t backed up in a few months, which would have been hard enough, but it turns out that I hadn’t backed … Read More … Read More

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ATM withdrawal

Another way to track cash expenses

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People have very widely varying attitudes toward cash. While some people feel money more when they spend cash, other people don’t feel it at all. In fact, the way some people have explained it to me, if the transaction doesn’t … Read More … Read More

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Windfall apples

What to do with the extra tax money in your new paycheck

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I really tried to avoid talking about the tax plan, and couldn’t help myself. But that was more of a “feelings” piece, and less practical. This article is coming from the other, more practical side. In the U.S., our new tax … Read More … Read More

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Future painting

Years from now, you’ll wish you started today

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If there’s one thing I hear from so many people, it’s that they wish they started something years ago. Often it’s saving for retirement. “I just think of all those years I could have been saving, and I wasn’t doing … Read More … Read More

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Five years in review: Your top 10 favorite posts from 2012-2017

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And just like how I detailed my all-time top 10 favorite posts, I decided to do the same with yours. Now, I know this couldn’t really be a good list of everyone’s “favorite” posts. But Google Analytics does a good … Read More … Read More

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Five years in review: My top 10 favorite posts from 2012-2017

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I’ve been writing this site for over five years. Wow. Every year I do a round up of both my favorite posts and your favorite posts. But with the five-year mark passed, I decided to take a look back. All the … Read More … Read More

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