I recently surveyed my friends, business associates and long-time Bottom Line contributors asking them to share their favorite ways to save money. While I was looking for new ideas, nearly all of them were tips that we've already published over the years in our newsletter and I was ready to scrap the column.

I just received a wonderful -- and quite complimentary -- e-mail from Judith Fox, author of the new book I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer's, about an article that we ran with her in Bottom Line/Health. Being human, I must admit that it felt quite good to get that e-mail, so after responding to Judith, I immediately forwarded it to the newsletter's editor, Rebecca Shannonhouse, with the message to print it out and put it in her "Attagirl!" folder. Until today, Rebecca didn't have such a folder. I'm so sorry I never suggested it to her earlier, because I think everyone should have one. (Or "Attaboy," of course, for men.) I learned about this from a former boss. It's simply a folder where you collect nice things about yourself.

My father recently sent me an article from Commentary magazine entitled "Punctuality Improvement Program." I didn't take it in a bad way. He knows, and I know, that I am "time-challenged." In the end, this article was nothing but headline -- since it was actually the title of a short story rather than offering useful advice. But, believing that there was a message for me in this... I looked back into our archive for something we've done on this topic. Clearly, it's time (no pun intended) for me to refocus my efforts on timeliness.

I have a friend who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and who recently went through a very difficult divorce. Despite all this, she hasn't been able to cry.I have a friend who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and who recently went through a very difficult divorce. Despite all this, she hasn't been able to cry.

"Falling back" with the clocks, as we did this past weekend, always reminds me of a college friend who would not reset her watch until she came to a point later in the day when she really needed that extra hour. While the rest of us viewed it as simply an extra hour of sleep (and an excuse to stay up extra late), Susan saved that fall-back hour, protected it, relished it, and always put it to good and special use, be it to give herself a break from homework, an extra hour of cramming before a test, or the time to do final edits on a paper before handing it in.