I apologize for the recent dry spell here on Fiscal Musings. I flew out Saturday morning with my grandmother who is moving in with my parents. I fly home today and things should then be back to the usual. It’s been a nice weekend, and I’ve been able to see family and some friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Always a good time.

I will tell you one thing though. Saturday evening I went to Wendy’s with a friend on our way back home. As you’d expect, I ordered a couple things from the dollar value menu. A while back I remember that the price of some things on the value menu had gone up to somewhere around $1.39 or so. Not a huge deal really, but a 40% increase nonetheless. Well, the prices are now back to 99 cents, but something else has changed. The size of the burger I got was significantly smaller than it had been previously.

Apparently Wendy’s decided that the 99 cent price point was something they wanted to keep, so they instead changed the size. I’m saying this because the price of something isn’t always the determining factor we should be concerned with. We should focus more on value. This is usually measured as price per unit, size, amount, or quality. Keep this in mind the next time you’re trying to decide what to purchase among a few similar items. The cheapest isn’t always the best bang for your buck.

I got an email today from someone over at Wesabe. It is apparently a social personal finance site aimed at helping members gain a better understanding of their spending. To do this they offer a free web based tool which I assume is similar to Microsoft Money or Quicken. If you’ve been thinking about trying out a money management software tool, you might want to check them out. First of all, it’s free (at least as far as I know), and it’s another option that just might work for you.

Personally, I’m not really into the whole money management software thing. I find it to be quite time consuming and any data that it may track usually just reaffirms what I already know (i.e. little things really do add up and eating out is really expensive). You may be different though and find such a thing really useful. Thus I wanted to let you know about it. There is no one correct approach to personal finance and you can probably also gain quite a bit from the community aspect.

If you do happen to check it out, please let us all know what you think about it. I’m sure others would also be interested.

If you’ve never been to a bed and breakfast, you really out to check one out some time. It’s quite a different experience from a hotel stay with a more laid back atmosphere. If you’re ever in Scotland, you ought to check out a loch lomond bed and breakfast. There are a couple different ones to choose from and they offer many nice amenities. So go ahead and check them out.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are good that you’re trying to get ahead financially. There are a lot of things you’re probably doing right, and some things that you need to work on. Amongst all the other fiscally responsible things that you may be doing such as building an emergency fund and living frugally, you need to be investing in order to get ahead.

The next question is most likely, what should I invest in? And this is exactly the question that you should be asking yourself. If you’re looking for someone to tell you where the best place to put your money is, you’ll have no problem finding them. You can find brokers for stocks and bonds. Turn on the TV at night and you’ll almost surely find someone willing to show you how to invest in real estate. You could also find someone to help you invest in gold, silver, or commodities.

One of these is not necessarily better than the other. You need to find out what interests you and where you’d like to invest. Warren Buffett has made a ton of money investing in stocks. Donald Trump has done likewise mainly through real estate. Bill Gates and many others have gone the entrepreneurial route and invested in their own business. The point is that there are many different ways to invest and increase your wealth. If this weren’t the case, the Forbes 400 would be a very boring list.

I’ve written before about shopping for investments, and that we should put as much effort into researching where we put our money as we do comparing the different models of cars or flat panel televisions. If you’re interested in real estate, learn all you can about the industry and how to invest there. Take a trip to the library and check out all the books you can on the subject. There’s a wealth of information out there on the subject.

Perhaps you’re drawn more to the stock market and the opportunities that are offered there. There are also plenty of books, audio books, and websites where you can learn fundamentals and strategies of the stock market.

There are a lot of opportunities out there if you’re willing to look for them and seize them. You know you need to invest, so figure out what you’re style is and what type of investing interests you the most. You don’t have to invest in just one asset class, but start with one and branch out from there. And remember that no one else cares as much about your financial future as you do.

If you’re looking to upgrade your kitchen or bathroom you ought to check out the elegant line of Price Pfister faucets. They are available in many different designs and finishes to match most any decor. Take a look at what they have to offer, and add a sophisticated touch to your next remodel or upgrade.

This is a sponsored post.

You go to work everyday and nothing is out of the ordinary. You work on your projects and make significant headway. Perhaps you also help out a co-worker finish up an important task. You keep the customer happy by providing excellent service.

Suddenly the end of the year rolls around and it’s time for your annual performance review. Maybe you’ve also decided it’s time to look for another job and you need to update your resume. You then ask yourself the question, What have I been doing for the past year?

This scenario is more common than you might think. I’m revamping my resume currently in order to apply to business school. You won’t find yourself in this unsettling situation in the future however, if you take some time now to prepare for it.

You know that at some point you’re going to need to know what you’ve accomplished and what you’ve been working on so you should try and keep some sort of record of these things. There isn’t one “best” way to do this so I’ll offer a few suggestions that I’ve either used or seen.

Keep a work journal. At the end of each workday, take a few minutes to jot down what happened that day and what major tasks you either accomplished or made significant progress on. Reflect on how these experiences or tasks could benefit you on a resume, in an interview, or during your performance evaluation. Do this every day and you’ll never be caught without a great experience to demonstrate your skills and qualifications.

Archive your To Do lists. If you keep a task list or something similar to remind you of what you need to do, be sure to keep it even after you’ve accomplished what was on it. If it helped remind you to do something, you can be sure it’ll be able to remind you of what you’ve done. It’s a great resource to pull from when you’re gathering information.

Save your old appointment book or calendar. This is a great way to keep track of important meetings and dates. It can also serve as a backup record for important contact information.

Take some time to figure out how you can best keep track of your past accomplishments so you’ll have them when you need them. It’s much easier to pull from a source than to try and recreate and remember things from a long time ago.

This is a sponsored post.

A new service is being offered that allows you to get legal funding in order to keep pursuing your case. Oftentimes people are forced to accept a lower settlement because of their financial circumstances. You also are only obligated to pay the loan back after you win your case. I can’t imagine that any and all lawsuits would qualify for such funding, but it’s a service worth looking into if you’ve got a legit lawsuit that you’re financially unable to see through.