Not long after I graduated from college, I worked at a government agency. One of my co-workers was in the middle of a bitter divorce. Prior to the divorce, he stayed home caring for his two young sons. Once his wife left him, however, she filed for custody of the children. At the time, he did not contest the filing, as he did not want to upset his kids any more than they already were. However, he was clearly heartbroken and missed nurturing his children.

Despite my frantic pleading with my calendar to tell me something else, Thanksgiving is only a week away... and after that, it's the breakneck-pace Holiday Season until we hit 2010. It's the most wonderful frantic time of the year, and often one that ends up being expensive, too.

Fake plastic wishbones? Around Thanksgiving time last year, I read a post by blogger Rejin from Urban Botany blasting People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for promoting plastic Lucky Break Wishbones. She wrote: Hasn't PETA ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? They claim these wishbones and their packages are recyclable, but let's face it: 99.99% of them are going to end up in a landfill, or in the ocean, where they will probably be swallowed by sea turtles [And I would add baby albatross chicks] who will choke and die.... Animals, PETA, animals! Do you hear me? Apparently PETA did not because the organization promoted the wishbones again this year. Products like these are what blogger Linda Anderson from Citizen Green would call "stupid plastic crap."

I've done some unsubscribing to electronic communications that I consented to when I was trying on identities that I've since let go in an effort to tame my email inbox. Lately however I've begun to hit unsubscribe when the authors of those digital missives begin to annoy me. What does it take to get me to banish someone? Well, let me tell you...

The holidays are upon us. Christmas is less than two months away, and retailers are already decking the malls of boughs of holly.

Last week I wrote about looking for silver linings and finding gratitude even when we are feeling less than thankful. But is positive thinking always the right approach? Author Barbara Ehrenreich says no.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, and dare I say that only in America could a day meant to celebrate bounty and thankfulness much more commonly devolve into stress and overspending. True, it may be the norm, but it doesn't have to be -- why not try a few simple modifications this year to stay on budget? You'll be glad you did, and chances are you'll enjoy the holiday a lot more, too.

As I've been in the process of moving and putting most of my stuff into storage I've fantasized about getting rid of all my stuff so I could be unbound. It's a tempting idea but, as I thought, it is kind of time consuming and somewhat harder that it seems to execute. And though I like the idea of freedom, life on the road has never called to me. Thus I am all the more impressed by three women who've sold the stuff, hit the road and are blogging their adventures.

One side effect of the Great Recession is the return of the layaway. A layaway is a low-cost finance method for a customer to make a purchase in installments prior to buying the item. For example, a customer who is eying a $100 jacket might not have enough money to buy it at once, but under a layaway plan, she can put away $20 a week for 5 weeks until the jacket is paid in full. Usually there is also a fee associated with the program to compensate the store for putting the item on hold until the customer makes the final payment.

'Tis the season for those of us whose children tromp off to school two or three or five times a week to start thinking about the dreaded holiday teacher gifts. Why dreaded? Do we not appreciate our teachers? I know I can't speak for every parent, but I feel pretty confident speaking for most of us when I say it's really, really difficult to come up just the right teacher gift.

Amazon's new PayPhrase technology promises to speed up the buying process on Amazon. But it isn't only for Amazon. It also works for Amazon partner sites DKNY, Jockey, Patagonia, Buy.com, and J&R Electronics. I already had One-Click buying enabled on Amazon, and using PayPhrase on Amazon isn't much different. Instead of buying with the One-Click button, you buy with the PayPhrase button, and then enter a PIN to go with the PayPhrase.

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Single living is the wave of the present. To put that in perspective, census data shows that in Alexandria, Va (my current city) and Washington, DC (the nearby city I'd like to move to), half of all households are made up of just one person. HALF.