Blog Posts by Esquire.com

Things are getting better all the time, but it never hurts to get back a buck on your house, your car, your dinner, or your wardrobe. Here are some essential tricks of the everyday financial trade from a helpful new guide, The Cheapskate Next Door by Jeff Yeager.
(PLUS: Enter now to win $250,000 and change your life with Esquire.)

1. BYOB (Be Your Own Butcher)
Learning to cut up a whole chicken, clean your own fish and grind your own hamburger will save you big money - and it's kind of fun.
(Don't know which meat to buy or how to cook it? Here are some suggestions for great, inexpensive steaks.)




2. Cut Your Commute
Move close enough to your office to walk or bike. You'll save $4,000 per year, which adds up to $535,500 when invested at 5 percent over a typical forty-year career.

3. Spend Less Than Your Age
A few decades ago "earning your age" ($30,000 by thirty, $40,000 by forty, and so forth) was the gold standard for measuring success. Inflation made it obsolete, but here's a new

Read More »from 11 Quick Ways to Save Money Right Now

Breaking up is a little like field-dressing your own chest wound. You don't have a choice. Your heart's still thumping in there somewhere. Do it right and the damage might be negligible, the scar insignificant. You'll be back in the s--- before you know it. Do it poorly and you'll be left lying around for weeks in a bed somewhere, pondering your future in an emotional wheelchair, with this nasty weeping gash over your heart. And eventually that will start to smell.

It really doesn't matter who breaks up with whom. Whether you're pitching or catching, dumping or getting the heave, there are only five things you need to remember, according to Esquire writer-at-large Tom Chiarella. (Read more of Chiarella's advice on Esquire.com.)

1. Operate quickly.

If you're the one doing it, do it now. Do it tonight. Don't wait. Don't over-plan, or rehearse excessively. Quit Googling, you putz. Don't read any more Web pages promising to help you with the perfect breakup. Get moving. Time

Read More »from 5 Rules for Breaking Up with Someone

For some expectant fathers, being in the labor room can be a life-changing experience. For others, it can be a disaster. We asked four OBs what they would tell the FOB ("father of baby") if they got the chance. Here's what they told us.

(PLUS: Once they're born, how to raise your kids well.)

1. Keep Your Mouth Shut

Doctor Brown:"Men will say inappropriate things about the woman's body. This is usually the really immature young dad. I have heard, no kidding, 'Her belly won't stay like that, will it?' and 'Now her boobs will get even bigger, awesome!'"

2. There's a Chair for a Reason

Doctor Pink:"FOBs climb into the bed - a single hospital bed. So there's the sweaty guy with his half-open boxer shorts when I come in to round. This is a hospital not a 'hoptel.'"

3. Don't Knock Over the Equipment

Doctor Blonde:"It's not enough that it's somewhat unhygienic, half the time the guy ends up tangled in the IV or something. More than a few times I've heard

Read More »from 5 Things Your Husband Should Never Do in the Delivery Room

Men should pull themselves together always and everywhere, but there are exactly six times a week when the way they dress really, really matters. Five of those are when they're working (which can be pretty tough - check out our office style tips here). But the sixth is date night, and it is not to be underestimated. Especially when it's first-date night. Because an impression, like a good outfit, is difficult to make, but a good one shows his respect for her, and... See? We're already dropping tips before the list actually starts. Esquire's online style editor Josh Peskowitz breaks down how a man should act:

1. Women are obsessed with shoes. Not just their own shoes or shoes on other women (which, of course, they are, as we found out from a Dutch neuroscientist) - they're obsessed with men's shoes. So a guy should wear nice ones, because her judging them is unavoidable. It's best to pick an appropriate pair - lace-ups or loafers for the evening; driving shoes, moccasins, or simple

Read More »from 10 Ways a Man Should Dress for His Date

Believe it or not, the time has come to start transitioning your wardrobe for fall. The good news: Half the stuff you need is already in your closet. We've picked out the essentials you should already have - and the ones worth picking up today.

1. You Should Have: The Army Jacket

You, your father, your mother, or brother probably already have one of these. Hell, your girlfriend might have stolen yours. You should take it back - the M-65 field jacket is an undisputed classic, and it's never been more appropriate that right now, both for style and for temperature. They only get better with age so your old one - provided you didn't draw flaming skulls on it in high school - is the one you want

Don't have one lurking in your closet? You can get the original from Alpha at soldiercity.com for $99.99.

(The Army-Navy store is full of great, inexpensive finds. Read about more here.)

2. You Should Get: The Sweatshirt

It's kind of weird to get sweatshirt envy, but it's happened

Read More »from 5 Fall Clothing Items You Need to Get Now

As Jersey Shore returns for a second season, we asked a five-year veteran producer of reality TV shows, including competitions and semi-scripted dramas, to tell us the truth about what goes on behind the scenes. Here's what our anonymous source had to say:

1. Everything you see has been mapped out. We design it, we build it, we know what it's going to be. It's a maze; my job is to pop the mice in and watch the reaction. But the mice are manipulated. We've written everything.

2. You can make a big storyline from the littlest thing - a tense moment, something minor. It's water-cooler talk for the rest of the country, but it's just some tiny, nothing incident.

3. Jersey Shore is not about talent. It's about getting attention because you're young and stupid and arrogant. The more obnoxious you are, the more airtime you get. I can't stand it, even though some people in my industry love it as a guilty pleasure. (Is the new season of Jersey Shore one of the best on TV right now? Read More »from 10 Confessions of a Reality TV Mastermind

When men look at Angelina Jolie, they see legs. Women see shoes. A man might, however, look directly at Brad Pitt's shoes - or his three-piece from Tom Ford (another celebrity who always dons a near-perfect appearance, as in this best-dressed Oscars gallery). (Or wonder which brand of razor he used to shave that beard.) Turns out men's brains aren't that different from women's after all... (Maybe the secrets of the female brain, revealed in Esquire's 75 Things You Don't Know About Women, aren't so secret, after all.)

Dutch neuroscientists recently released a study that more or less confirmed the obvious: not only do women love examining celebrity fashion, their brains actually light up when Julia Roberts is wearing a pair of Louboutins as opposed to, say, a single mother on a check-out line. Clothes officially don't make the woman; the woman makes the clothes. But when Esquire's daily Style Blog asked the researchers on Monday whether men transfer the same kind of "positive

Read More »from Science: Men Stare at Celebrity Shoes Just Like Women

It's easy to assume that Mad Men can't teach you anything. Yet the show is rife with lessons, and not just for white guys who secretly wish that all men still wore hats. Here are some small tips, from Esquire's Tom Chiarella:

Always keep a stack of clean dress shirts on hand.

(And take some damn good advice: Here's what you should be wearing for your post-summer return to the office.)












Brylcreem is acceptable, since that stuff signifies sincerity.

(But in case you're looking for something more modern, find out how to duplicate the haircut of your favorite celebrity.)













The way you deal with an ashtray is as important as the way you hold a cigarette.

(And if you're not a smoker, well, hey, it's never too late to learn how.)











Wearing a bathrobe signifies the absolute absence of work.

(A great suit, however, signifies pure business. Find the right one for you.)













A glare has more influence than a smile.

(And silence carries the most influence of all.)













There are large lessons, too:

Don't

Read More »from 8 Life Lessons Learned from Mad Men's Don Draper