photo credit: nedrichards

Starbucks announced yesterday that they will be closing another 300 stores as demand for the pricey coffee continues to decline. According to a memo sent out by Howard Schultz, Starbucks continues to be challenged in this tough economic time. I have written a couple posts about my Starbucks addiction and how I was spending over $2,000 a year on coffee. I guess more customers have taken business to Dunkin Donuts or now do what I do and brew Costco Starbucks beans. It’s actually more convenient to brew my own coffee as I don’t have to wait in line or drive to a local Starbucks. My beverage of choice back in 2007 was a cafe Americano which is espresso and hot water. I’ve downgraded a bit, but still love saving a ton of money by brewing my own morning Joe.

Are you a Starbucks addict? Will you miss your local Starbucks if it closed?

Please Share With A Friend:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This past week I was fortunate to have 3 of my articles featured on blog carnivals and also enjoyed finding some interesting posts from fellow personal finance bloggers. Be sure to check these out:

MoneyNing hosted the Festival of Frugality and included my article on Supermarket Money Saving Tips For 2009

Pecuniarities hosted The Carnival of Personal Finance #188: The Jane Austen Edition which featured my post My Latte Factor In 2008. Automatic Millionaire Goals for 2009

No Debt Plan hosted the Carnival of Debt Reduction #175 – Historic Moment Edition which featured my article Frugal Food Ideas For 2009

Please Share With A Friend:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The downturn in the housing market and recession are closing Home Depot Yardbirds and Expo Design Centers. The Yardbirds stores were a wonderful chain of hardware stores that had great customer service and carried items that were not found at Lowes or Home Depot. Home Depot purchased Yardbirds a couple years ago and made them into smaller Home Depot’s. It’s sad to see a local hardware store go out of business, especially when Yardbirds was so convenient to shop. Our local Home Depot can be a mess during normal business hours with all the contractors, so Yardbirds was a wonderful alternative for quick home projects. I hope that the thousands of employees can find work quickly, given the current economic outlook.

The Home Depot Expo was probably hit hard especially with the turn in the housing industry and the lack of interest in high end merchandise. I always enjoyed going to the Expo to get ideas for our bathroom remodel, but many of the items are priced for a mansion and not a typical household income. Now, our only options for hardware are Orchard Supply, Ace Hardware and Home Depot.

If you are looking for some deals on hardware, or have a home improvement project on your list, consider your local Yardbirds or Home Depot Expo Design center. These stores will be liquidating all inventory and will probably be offering some incredible deals.

Please Share With A Friend:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Looking for sources of passive income can be incredibly difficult at times, but if you enjoy writing or have a blog it can be very lucrative. If you don’t have a blog, consider writing for ehow as you own your own content, is free and you can make money. Have a great family recipe or a shortcut to save time washing a car, or maybe you have some great hack skills. Yes, many people search google for life hacks, money hacks, or computer hacks. People are always looking for shortcuts or ways to increase productivity or just plain make things easier. Here’s your chance to help and make some money too.

I’ve written 30 ehow articles in just 4 days and already have many of them indexed by google and making adsense revenue. I quickly found how much fun and addictive ehow can be for writers. After writing a few articles I wanted to learn from some of the pro’s on ehow and found a few who were making some serious passive income. A lady by the name of WriterGig has an ehow ebook that she wrote that offers some fantastic tips for generating passive income from writing articles on ehow. I’ve purchased the book and already have been able to implement many of her suggestions. WriterGig is one of the top passive income writers on ehow and makes over $1,500 a month on her articles. I love how she’s making money while she sleeps or goes on vacation. This is a great passive income idea and writing by someone who writes on ehow and has had incredible success with it. Her book is not filled with empty ideas or get rich quick ideas. WriterGig has compiled fantastic tips in a detailed book that will motivate and inspire you to write more effective ehow articles and earn more revenue. She even shares some ideas to help market your articles and ways to earn more money through ehow. If you are new to ehow or want to increase your passive income or residual income, check out WriterGig’s ebook.

Here are just a few of my 50 articles found on ehow:

How To Buy Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin
How To Make Extra Money At Home
How To Extend Battery On Nikon D40
How To Find Frugal Weight Loss Tips

If you’re on ehow, please add me as a friend or consider purchasing the ebook. It’s a great investment.

Please Share With A Friend:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

My wife has a friend coming over tomorrow to discuss our personal finance goals for 2009 including life insurance and I believe our investments as well. I’ve never heard of Primerica, did a quick google search, and found that they have been in business for years selling life insurance policies. Primerica also is part of Citigroup, so I’m surprised I’ve never heard of them before. My wife did not give me any other info other than we are meeting with her to discuss financial goals. Since I’m a “hand on” personal finance type, I’m curious what she will want to discuss. Since it’s the beginning of 2009, I figure now is a good time to review our insurance policies for home, autos, and life. Not sure what she can do with our investments, but won’t hurt to ask.

Has anyone used Primerica for life insurance or investments?

Please Share With A Friend:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!