This is a guest post from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a Canadian financial writer and host of the television series ‘Til Debt Do Us Part. Experts have been touting the importance of having an emergency fund since Moses was a lad. So why is it that so many people still don’t have enough (or any?) money set aside just in case? Reasons and rationales abound.

Kathryn in Canada found a simple and basic toy storage solution. She says, "I found a huge stack of Ikea's Pax wardrobe shelves in the As-is section. At $1 a package and 2 shelves per pack, I ended up buying each package. I think it was 30 or 32 packages in all, which left me with 60-some of these Pax shelves.

Once again, I would like to welcome Lauren Halagarda as a guest author on Unclutterer. Her ROI advice is perfect for the tax season. Lauren is a spectacular professional organizer living in the Washington, D.C., area.

Stoicism was born on the porch of Zeno, but it can be used in the concrete jungle. (Photo: Blue Cinderella) “There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing harder to learn.” -Seneca Few of us would consider ourselves philosophers.

Whew! Already up to one hundred Freelance Freedom strips. Seems like only a few months ago I was scattered and behind, and rushing to get FF #50 done. Now I’m scattered, behind and rushing to finish up the article for #100. Some things never change.

By Linsey KnerlIn honor of Financial Literacy Month, Money Management International has created a microsite that offers 30 simple steps to financial wellness–one for each day of the month. To enrich the experience, they have asked 30 amazing bloggers to guest post at the blog during the month on a topic that is related to the day’s step.

So I'm watching a brand new documentary--Tapped--by director Stephanie Soechtig about the perils of the bottled water industry to people and the planet, and I hear that Robert S. Morrison, vice chairman of PepsiCo--which owns Aquafina--said in 2000, ''The biggest enemy is tap water'' (i.e. the water we get at a much lower cost from our municipalities).

By Philip BrewerThere are things the rich do that working class and middle class folks don't. Some of them--living off the return on capital rather than wages or salary--are only available to the rich. Others--seeking a first-rate education for your kids, working for yourself rather than others--are things that ordinary folks do to the extent that they can, but their ability is limited.

Over the next several months, I’m giving several presentations and speeches on my story and what I learned about personal finance along the way. Some of these engagements will be paid ones, thus this may be the beginning of a new revenue stream in my life.

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails.

For the past two years, one of my top financial goals has been to save for a Mini Cooper. Just like a child with a toy catalog, I’ve spent hours on the Mini website playing with colors and options packages, building my own dream vehicle. Whenever I’m tempted to buy small indulgences, I ask myself, “Would I rather have this or a Mini?”

A few years ago, articles of this sort were all about building one’s mailing list. And we in the design field knew the drill quite well. We’d create a list of likely prospects, design something cool to send out, and then wait for the phone to ring. Sometimes it rang, sometimes it didn’t. A-a-a-ah, the olden days.

2008 A simple way to simplify email — From Stowe BoydOnline social networking guru Stowe Boyd offers advice on curbing e-mail clutter. Unitasker Wednesday: The egg crackerMust this five second process constitute a gadget that takes up more drawer space? Unclutterer in the newsUnclutterer on NYTimes.com, Slate.com, and in the Washington Post.

On Wednesday, I took my son to get his hair cut. We’ve been trying several local barbers/hairstylists to find someone who can cut his hair well at a reasonable price. What I’ve found during this experience is that when you go to get your hair cut, you usually choose at most two out of three factors: a good haircut, a cheap price, and the ability to actually get an appointment.