Frustrated with poor returns from the stock market, investors are increasingly turning to a conventional strategy that can promise security at 0 percent interest rates. I am talking about piggy banks.



According to Reuters, sales of the novelty banks are rising as the economy continues to worsen. Exact figures are hard to come by but several retailers report rising demand. Piggy Bank World.com reported a strong holiday season, according to Michael Gehi, one of the owners. Companies are also increasingly using the banks for promotions.

Though my wife and I don't own a piggy bank, we have taken our loose change to Commerce Bank (now owned by TD Bank, which for years has counted people's spare change for free in a nifty computerized machine.

I bought myself a treadmill for Christmas.

For once, I didn't make the purchase on the secondary market. I didn't even do my usual due diligence and check with Consumer Reports. I'm half-embarrassed to say that I went out and bought a Gold's Gym treadmill at Walmart. I'll tell you in a year or two whether it was a good choice. The issue this time isn't about the quality of the treadmill but whether or not I'll actually do what I intend to do with it: use it regularly.

Like thousands of other Americans, I've had my share of gym memberships. I've joined for a month or a year or bought a punch card. In October, I joined the local senior center (sigh) because three days a week there's a resort with a pool midway between my condo and my office that I can use free now that I am of advanced age. I was enthusiastic about the idea. The only problem is that I haven't gotten there. I don't like to get wet when it's cold.

I am about to kick my financial self in the rear. Despite having made a neat and brilliantly-designed spreadsheet marking my budget for the transition between full-time employment and freelancing work, I have blown it big. Sure, part of it was the furnace ($484 for a new control panel, vital right before Arctic Blast 2008!), part of it was the family's need for dental work ($965 and counting), but a lot of it is the nickels and the dimes. Or, more realistically, the $2.75's and the $1.95's.

It's all in the pastries.

My budget is slayed, not due to the "Latte Factor" (a.k.a. the "Starbucks Factor," spending $4+ each day for pricey coffee beverages), but due to the extraneous purchases when I get my often-daily coffee. If any of my three boys accompanies me to the coffee shop when I buy 16 ounces of coffee for $1.75 plus tip, I end up turning an under-$3 budget item (or around $40 a month, as I don't go every day) into about $10; three times a week and I've suddenly tripled my monthly expenses. And from there, it's a slippery slope to getting my local coffee shop's fabulous pizza a few times a month ($22 with tip), and maybe a lunch here or there...

So one of my financial resolutions for the new year is to do a better job of removing the pastry expense from my budget. This can be accomplished by baking at night for the next morning's breakfast (especially if I'm sending my husband for coffee; he loves to make breakfast easy by swiping the debit card); leaving the kids at home when I go; and brewing at home whenever possible. I think I can save about $60-75 a month, or as much as $900 a year, if I make good. What are your financial resolutions?

On a recent CBS News Sunday Morning, an intelligent but little-known magazine show (which is sort of like NPR for your TV), contributor Nancy Giles set out to test a few of those old wives' tales about dishwashers. Like those nerdy goofs on Mythbusters, she put a few old saws to the test and found out that when it comes to cleaning up after meals, most of us are doing more work than we have to.

With the advice of an appliance expert at the Good Housekeeping Institute (yes, it exists -- it's the place that issues that famous seal of approval), Giles reversed a few bits of conventional wisdom about your dishwasher. To do less pre-washing and re-washing, it turns out you just have to use the machine the way it was designed to be used, and not load it the way you usually do.

The biggest revelation is that you don't have to pre-rinse anything. Just dump the big scraps in the garbage and go. To test that one, Giles sent a casserole dish of caked-on mac and cheese and an oatmeal-crusted saucepan into the dishwasher with no preamble. She set the dishwasher to high heat and let loose. Two hours later, they came out fine -- at least, they do in Giles' piece for CBS. What other dishwasher magic tricks are revealed?

It's that wonderful time of year where my wife and I participate in our annual tradition of purchasing a new TV. It's not that we want to buy a new TV every year but for the last 3 years our almost 1 year old TV set has died. Thankfully we purchased the TVs at a small chain in the Midwest, Rex Electronics, which offers an incredibly cheap extended warranty. Normally I would caution against wasting your money on an extended warranty but I've found cheap extended warranties to be invaluable when it comes to off brand TVs.

If we hadn't opted for the 2 year warranty, which only cost $20, we would have easily spent over $2,000 on no name HDTVs over the past few years. Alternately, we could have spent the money on one name brand 1080P HDTV and had money left over for surround sound! Thankfully when our last TV died on Friday, we were able to pay a little extra and get a Samsung with excellent reviews, something I wish we had done from the start. As an added bonus, the picture is 10 times better than the Soyo it replaced.

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 beautiful clothes.

Times have changed, and not just because I don't drive any more (I rock the bus and bike) and cut up all my credit cards years ago. We're all making our way toward a less-spendy future, one where we need to look elsewhere for our therapy.

Last week, much of the country was snowed in, and Portland, Oregon, where I live, was an unusual participant in the snow follies. While many shops remained open, we just couldn't get to them, and so I was faced with a Christmas where I was largely unable to go shopping.

According to a recent report by ConsumerWorld.org, a thorough and terrific consumer advocacy web site, the rules on returning gifts are getting a little more lenient. Eleven percent of stores are loosening their policies.

On the other hand, the rules are getting stricter, too. ConsumerWorld -- which got its numbers from the National Retail Federation -- says that 17% of stores are putting more strict rules in place.

Still, the takeaway from all this is that it's a good idea to know the store's return policies if you think there's any chance you may want to return a gift, or if you're giving a present that you're not sure how it'll be received.

I have a 4-year-old daughter who likes to watch videos: Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Elmo and lately, anything with a princess in it. The problem is at $19 or so each, buying the DVDs is insane, especially when she grows tired of them after a month or so.

My solution lately has been to go to our public library, where we can check out videos for a week at a time. We've been checking out books for her for years, but I just recently discovered videos at the library. It turns out I'm not the only person making this discovery, as library usage is increasing as people look to save money from buying books and movies, according to a Los Angeles Times story.

I checked with a few librarians where I live, and learned that many patrons have been telling staff at the desk that they are now choosing to borrow books instead of buying them and checking out DVDs instead of renting. Monthly circulation at the library in Danville, CA is up 15% to 30% each month from last year, Seng Lovan, a senior community library manager in Danville, told me in an e-mail.

The complicated, trendy gift guide is now a holiday staple. But us dog people are simple folk. And the animals we love are not swayed by the latest fashions.

Friends have tried to impress my dog Jolly with the latest dog bakery sort of treats. He scoffs at them. He leaves them in his bowl after his food. He doesn't want those desiccated red and green rawhides either. Or a sweater. Or squeeky toy that can be demolished in minutes. Well, actually Jolly does want that, but I don't.

So, here are a few simple gifts that will delight just about any dog or dog person in your life. Mostly, they're pretty cheap, too. If you're stopping by the house of someone with a dog and want to get something they will really appreciate, forget the wine or cookies. Try a present for their dog.

Imagine that you go into your favorite big box electronics store to shop for that flat screen television you want. Upon finding a model you like, you hold your cell phone camera up to the bar code on the television's packaging and enter that product code image into a comparison shopping program installed on your phone.

Within seconds, your phone informs you of the location of every available flat screen television matching that UPC code. You're given each store's location and it's current retail price on your desired television. It just so happens that the warehouse store five miles away is selling that same model with a $100 special discount. You slip your phone back in your pocket and make the short trip to save a hundred dollars on your new large screen TV.

Does this sound too good to be true? Does it sound too easy? Well, it's now becoming a reality.

A small flock of leading edge technology application companies have brought effective comparison shopping to our cell phones. One of those companies, Big in Japan Inc., located in Dallas, is the developer of ShopSavvy. This phone based program, which is receiving positive reviews, was the winner of Google's Android Developer Challenge, and was developed specifically for Google's Android mobile phone platform.

Utilizing your phone's GPS capability and online product availability information, these new smart shopping applications take the footwork out of shopping around. Although the technology is still in its infancy, Dallasnews.com quoted Alexander Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan as stating: "Right now, ShopSavvy only works on Android, but it should soon be available for iPhones, BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile handsets. We currently run about a million searches a day," Mr. Muse said, "but we expect that number to grow exponentially over the next year."

When most people think of TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshall's, AJ Wright, or other discount retailers, the first thing that comes to mind is cheap, name-brand clothing. This is quickly followed by visions of home decor, kitchen necessities, and the occasional framed print. However, the greatest bargains offered by these stores sometimes lie in their food sections. From top-notch olive oil to premium shortbread, discount retail stores often stock great ingredients at outstanding prices.

For me, the TJ Maxx food epiphany occurred when I was living in southwest Virginia. I like to cook, but found that it was hard to get reasonably-priced, high quality olive oil, chocolate, and balsamic vinegar. While my local gourmet grocery store stocked these items, I wasn't really inclined to pay $20 for a quart of extra virgin olive oil or $40 for a bottle of balsamic. On the other hand, my local grocery store carried Pompeiian and Goya olive oil, but wasn't really very much use if I was looking for something with a little more flavor.

My wife's was a huge fan of TJ Maxx, and would often drag me there to wander aimlessly while she perused the winter coats, purses or shoes. Admittedly, I enjoyed looking at the horrifying framed prints and scary mass-produced sculptures, but these delights quickly paled when I found the food section. There, on a top rack, the store had a nice selection of cheap, first-rate oils from Greece, Turkey, and Italy. Some of these were priced in the $11 range, but most were around $7. Meanwhile, a few steps away, there were gourmet mustards, balsamic vinegars, exotic chocolates, and a veritable cornucopia of reasonably-priced goodies. While some of these were from companies that I had never heard of, several were the same brands as my local gourmet grocery stocked; the only thing that was different was the price.

We all remember the bad haircut.

It's burned into our memories, like the braces and the polyester pants our moms made us wear to junior high that one time. Our parents were probably only trying to save money when they gave us that bowl cut. But what did a kid cut cost in the '70s or '80s? Under $10? Humiliated for pennies? It hardly seems fair.

OK I guess I'm on the other side of the fence now. I know for myself that kids' bangs will grow to their noses in the blink of an eye, and keeping them mullet-free is a study in ongoing vigilance. But seeing how bad a standard SuperCuts job usually is, I can hardly see spending even $12 on a trim when I could very well do it myself. With. Just. A. Little. Coaching.

In theory, everyone should be able to cut their child's hair. In practice, it doesn't always turn out well. But if your kid is under the age of 10, you'll probably be able to get away with uneven layers and asymetrical bangs. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

Fortunately, we now have Youtube. Lots of how-to-videos on how to cut your kids' hair. Watch and learn. And save.

Here's a great basic video on how to cut a child's hair. I found it extremely useful. And as soon as I bribe my kids to sit still for me, I plan on trying these techniques out on them and saving myself $40. Note: You can't do this once the kid hits junior high. Plan on having to spend for real cuts at that point.

People are turning to homemade gifts this year--both out of revulsion at the big box shopping experience and for the sake of their own budgets. This fall one survey showed that 58% of people said they were "more likely" to give a homemade gift this year. Nearly the same portion said they would buy fewer electronics for gifts this year.

Granted, the survey was done by Michael's, a craft store. You know who hangs out in Michael's, don't you? The Martha Stewart type who is skilled at turning any pile of junk into something wonderful. But other stories have shown that even the disorganized are turning to homemade this year. They're expanding the meaning of homemade to include things like photo gifts, pretzels that you cover with chocolate yourself (sheesh, even I can do that) and scrapbooking. None of those things require the skill that say, knitting a sweater or building a dollhouse does.

If you're a novice and want to attempt a new craft, there are a ton of websites with videos to teach you how. Perhaps even better there is etsy.com, the site where people sell their own homemade goods. You'll find earings, pillows, prints, clothing, whatever. And they encourage you to take the handmade pledge, a movement to get shoppers to return to handmade goods, both to support local little craftspeople (who are for the most part just ordinary folks doing this on the side) and to curb the invasion of corporate sameness.

The craftsy people who created the pledge, which 33,000 people have signed, say its "a call to action for consumers to be conscious of how they spend their money this holiday season. We want people, whenever possible, to support independent creators and shop outside the big boxes."

The book publishing business may be souring but, the New York Times says, in hard economic times, people need cookbooks -- pointing to research from May that showed an increase in cooking at home between December 2007 and May 2008. Now? That increase is sure to alter to an all-out dramatic rise, what with layoffs and a health care crisis. (In my life, I'm considering the tradeoff between paying for health insurance and paying for organic produce, raw milk, and other traditional, nourishing choices for a healthy lifestyle -- maybe I'm crazy but I'm really eating well.) The Times assembles a list of cookbook lists, but it's packed with celebrity options. The Alinea cookbook (in which you can learn to make asparagus tips with egg yolk foam and meyer lemon. Among other things) is probably not the choice for those seeking to save money by cooking at home. In fact, even if you used to eat out at elBulli before the recession hit, I'll bet you can't save any money by making the food at home, what with the requirement for the centrifuge, rotary evaporator, and vacuum chambers. And the 60 petri dishes.

In fact, though 2008 is the Year Of The Recession, you wouldn't know it from the glossy, celebrity-studded cookbooks in these lists. The only one I'd recommend is Lynne Rossetto Kasper's How to Eat Supper, a lovely tome filled with secrets, like the one for making your own salad dressing base that can be endlessly altered to please everyone in your house (and your every culinary whim). I am holding out hope for A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis; it seems to have the benefit of simplicity, and the requirement of few ingredients, on its side; but I fear the possibility of expensive ingredients.

Were I to make a list of cookbooks good for a recession, it would start many years in the past, with Sweet Basil, Garlic, Tomatoes and Chives, a vegetarian cookbook celebrating simple Italian and French cuisine. There are some expensive ingredients, but those that are asked for are required for many recipes, and are those that should be a part of any good home cook's kitchen essentials (extra-virgin olive oil and good parmesan-style cheese, for instance). Another French and Italian cookbook author, Patricia Wells, offers a number of country-style recipes in her Bistro Cooking and Trattoria collections; think whole chickens, carrots, potatoes, and cheaper cuts of beef and lamb. Though many of her recipes call for whole bottles of wine, I've had good results substituting homemade broth, a part of a bottle, or a little very good vinegar and water (to add a similar flavor without the cost). My mom bought me The Pepperidge Farm Cookbook a decade ago, and it's filled with traditional, very un-fussy, American and Irish recipes that use few specialty ingredients and value making things from scratch.

In hard times, people need cookbooks, but they need basic cookbooks. Skip the celebrity chefs and turn to the oldie-but-goodie collections of simple, traditional cuisine.

If you're anything like me, you have some trepidation that the New Year will swoop in and you'll miss some big financial deadline that will end up costing you a bundle. Thankfully there's Kiplinger's Save the Date guide to financial dates in 2009.

Some items won't apply to your situation, but what's important, however, is that you do take five minutes and figure out which of these tasks matter in your financial life.

Some of the prominent dates to remember:

• January 1 and June 30th - The first and last days you can file your FAFSA application for federal aid.
• January 15th - Estimated federal income tax due.
• February 23rd -Get an accountant or buy tax prep software.
• May 15th - Twenty-somethings prepare for wedding season.
• May 25th - Check your stock value when the market is closed to prevent rash decisions.
• November 9th - 1st payments due on student loans for May grads!
  

I can't stress enough the importance of remembering November 9th for college graduates and their parents. With student loan bills higher than some house payments, students who don't prepare for the end of deferment get hit hard! I don't have enough digits to count the fellow graduates who, even after exit loan interviews, didn't understand how much they would have to pay 6 months after graduation. Preparing for this date is an important way to start your post college life out on the right foot.