Quite frequently, if I have on The Today Show as I’m floating around the house pretending to get ready for work, there’s a “consumer alert” story about how food prices are going up but the food manufacturers are actually giving us less. This is supposed to horrify us and perhaps instigate a letter-writing campaign. Yes, it’s probably not very cool of them, but most of these items seem to be the stuff we need less of anyway. Which is a nice segueway into the purpose of this post:

Some things you might do to save money in the food/kitchen department.

Continue Reading »

In these hard economic times, with snow coming down outside my window, my thoughts turn to Russia. Minneapolis can’t be that different in climate from Moscow, can it? But the people of Russia have surely endured harder times than we have. What with a history of pogroms, famine, purges and Communism, perhaps we could learn a thing or two about how to get by from studying Russian survival tactics during the late-19th to roughly mid- 20th century.

Continue Reading »

Know what’s been on my mind lately? Money. Minnesota has a 5 kabillion dollar deficit and I work for an organization that gets most of its money from the state (although not all so maybe we’re better off than some will be). My strategy is to try to squirrel some money away in a coffee can and hope for the best, which means cutting corners.

Many might be in the same gun boat right now, so I’m launching a series on money-saving tips. First, we visit Entertainment.

Continue Reading »