Stop wasting your money!  The Today Show has the top 9 ways you’re wasting your own money.

1.)  Bottled Water-  I see this come up on money saving lists all of the time.  However, if you’ve ever lived in a community that has horrible tasting water, you know that tap water just won’t cut it.  Sometimes spending $4 for a case of water is just good money spent.

2.)  Energy Drinks-  Save your dough.  Take a nap.  Sign-off Facebook and go to bed at a decent hour.

3.)  Buying Coffee Out of the House-  Yeah…this is one I struggle with.  Because I stay up late at night, I’m usually not in the mood to make a pot of coffee in the morning, so I end up hitting the drive-thru.  This can be dangerous too especially if you’re tempted by the pastries and breakfast sandwiches.  Brew your coffee at home, save your money and the calories.

READ MORE: Check out the rest of the list by clicking here.

Yay Las Vegas, we did it!   Our metro area once again is on a list that we probably aren’t too thrilled about being associated with.  Our metro area was ranked the “dumbest” out of 55 metro areas by the Daily best website this week.

The website gave each metro area an IQ score. Las Vegas scored 3.33. The No. 1 city on the list, Boston, scored 176.68. A perfect score was 200 and the average was 100.  Better luck next time?

DIG DEEPER:  Click here to find out why our metro area is ‘dumb.’

Well, the title of this post might be over-dramatic, but McDonald’s has announced that they will be “tweaking” the prices on their Dollar Menu.  This news comes on the heals of the two year anniversary of McDonald’s removing the always delicious Double Cheeseburger from their dollar menu.

A lot of the cabs that I’ve ridden in carry a pungent smell anyway, so I don’t exactly see the big deal.

A woman’s six-year-old child vomited in the back of a cab.  The woman apologized profusely, offering to clean up the cab once they arrived at her destination.  The cabbie refused, demanding the woman pay $120 to have the vehicle cleaned by a professional.  The woman refused, so the cabbie called the police.  While waiting for the police, the woman began to clean the cab with Seventh Generation cleanser, paper towels and Febreze that her husband had brought down.  Police arrived, and an officer informed the driver he could make no demand for $120.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should the woman have paid up or is this just a cost of doing business as a cab driver?  Please post your comment below.

As posted here last week, Matt Hammitt from Sanctus Real tweeted that doctors believed his son Bowen had a stroke.  As a result, poor little Bowen was having seizures.  You can follow the time line of the story here, an update here, and the latest update here.

Basically, Bowen is doing great.  According to the blog, he’s happy, smiling, and making cute little baby sounds.  Doctors are actively monitoring his blood sugar and later this week will be meeting to discuss his future care.

Pray!

These upcoming meetings with physicians are extremely important and on the agenda is the discussion on transitioning Bowen to a place where he can be released to go home and continue to recuperate.  A complete outline on how you can pray and help can be found here.

I was a strange and unusual child. I didn’t like candy.

Candy wasn’t anything special in our house. My mom and dad loved candy, so there was always some sort of candy bowl or dish sitting on the counter. I could have easily had it if I so desired, but I chose not to delight in it. If at the store I came across a pack of candy that sounded tasty to me, all I had to do was ask politely and mom would let me throw it in the cart. I think I can count on one hand the number of candies that I have purchased throughout my lifetime. I just don’t really like candy.

Enter Halloween. Since I didn’t like candy, as a child I never understood the draw. But today, reflecting back on the spooky day, I really took it for granite as a child. Really, October 31st wasn’t about the candy or the costumes. It was about running around the neighborhood with your best of friends. Even though I was a boy that didn’t like candy, Halloween was wonderful as a child.

READ MORE!

Amy Fontinelle from Investopedia has the Top 8 Reasons Why You Should Ditch Coupons.

1. You have to buy a newspaper.
You then have to make up for that loss by using enough coupons to break even. Then, you have to use even more coupons to come out ahead. And that doesn’t even account for the value of the time you spend clipping and organizing them.

2. Clipping coupons takes time.
Your time might be better spent on another activity.

READ MORE: Dig Deeper into the 8 Reasons to ditch coupons after the jump

Apparently Al Qaeda’s human resources department is lacking.  A former member of Al Qaeda is telling journalists that he left the terror organization after they failed to pay for his pregnant wife’s medical bills.

L’Houssaine Kherchtou testified at a terrorism trial that he joined the terrorist group in 1991 and later became Osama bin Laden’s pilot after taking flying lessons and working his way up from training camp instructor.  Around 1995, when Al Qaeda moved operations to Sudan, money became scarce.

Apparently a number of businesses started by Bin Laden failed to bring in revenue and money became hard to come by.  Because Al Qaeda refused to pay for medical treatments, Kherchtou’s wife had to beg for money on the streets to pay for her c-section, which cost $500 at a Sudanese hospital.

READ MORE:  Dig deeper into this unusual story by clicking here.

Especially given the current employment stats, just about all of us will have that awkward conversation with our employer at one point or another about the termination of our employment.

For me, that awkward conversation went down a matter of months ago.  I knew my employment was in jeopardy when my supervisor came into the on-air studio and said, “Rick, please stop by my office before you go.”  Seconds later, I was handed documents outlining how to sign-up for COBRA.  My breathing got heavy as I saw my life flash before my eyes.  There is just about nothing worse in life than losing your job.

If you found yourself having that awkward and nightmare of a conversation with your job, here is a list of things that AOL Jobs says need to do!

1.)  Visit your local unemployment website.  There are resources available to you.  Take advantage of them.

2.)  Don’t sit at home-  Most career consultants recommend that you don’t sit around at home and mope.  Instead, they recommend that you face the reality of your situation and get out and network.  By removing yourself from the business world, you’re simply removing yourself from possible opportunities.

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with taking a few days off immediately after losing your job.  Give yourself a couple of days to relax, recover, regroup, and get ready to conquer your world!

2. Approach job searching as if it were your job- Make the most of this time in your life!  It’s time to sell YOU!

3. Sit down with a counselor and make a day-to-day plan to improve your skills and find a job.  Paid career counseling might even be a part of your severance agreement.  If not, your medical insurance’s mental health coverage might cover your counseling sessions.

For the rest of the list, click here.

Personally, I think the baby beat boxes better than the dad.