Helaine Olen tackles saving for retirement (or saving for anything, really) in her Guardian column today, and one of our very own editors makes an appearance.

1. You can dress nice for that big dance by buying swanky clothes and then just returning them when the dance is over. Ditto patio furniture and a cookout.

In the Bucks blog, Carl Richards says we can learn a lot about ourselves and make improvements when we track our spending.

Are you feeling good about your financial outlook this year?

Money from dad from Gran.

Broke Person: So, I'm 25, I live in the Midwest, I work and live at a camp/environmental learning center, and I earn just shy of $15,000 a year. It's pretty seasonal work, so I earn most of that between late April and early November.

Adam and I hit the ground running in January, meeting the promise of the New Year with renewed grit and determination. We are back on track.

What are some useful secrets from your job, Redditors?

March was rough in places, but we wrangled ourselves back together and fought for good things.

February is the best month for not spending money.