This post comes from MSN Money contributor Marilyn Lewis.

There's no middle ground when it comes to the matchbox-size apartments springing up in cities around the country. You love them or you hate them. They're tiny and cheap, and that's both the appeal and the problem.

 

Itty-bitty apartments with 150 to 300 square feet of total living space are a fast-growing trend in high-priced cities. A space 15 by 17 feet, for example, provides 255 square feet of living area. The biggest micros are 500 square feet. That's half the size of a two-car garage. High-priced custom homes often have closets vastly larger.

 

Demand for micro apartments is strong in cities such as Boston, New York, Montreal, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, where rents are rising fast. There, micro apartments constitute a new kind of affordable housing -- minus the government subsidies. (The photo shows a micro apartment unit in Boston.)

 

 

I've been a "Star Trek" fan since elementary school. While I don't dress in costume or attend conferences, I'm definitely a ST geek.

But I'm also a PF geek, which leads me to look for personal finance resonance just about everywhere. If I could turn out a piece like "8 personal finance lessons from 'Gotterdammerung'," you just know I'll find some pecuniary reverb in "Star Trek: Into Darkness."

One of the most important lessons comes from the filmmakers' audacity in rebooting a legend:  

This post is by Danielle Warchol of SavingAdvice.com

You don’t have to be a wine expert to get nice quality wines at a decent price. There are plenty of wonderful wines that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and no matter what level your wine expertise, there are some simple steps that you can take to save money without compromising on quality. Here are 10 that you can take to save money the next time you purchase wine.

1. Don't buy by the glass
If you’re at a restaurant with a couple of friends or family members, it might seem tempting to buy wine by the glass instead of ordering a bottle. Most bottles of wine will give you four or five glasses. If you buy a $25 bottle of wine, that should be about $5 a glass which is much cheaper than the $7 (or more) a restaurant may charge for a single glass of that same wine.

2. Try the house wine
Lately, more restaurants are trying to offer a house wine. House wines are often cheaper than ordering bottled wines, but the wine is often just as good. If you’re a casual drinker, what’s the harm of trying out the house wine? Sometimes it can be cheaper by as much as $10. 

This post is by Michele Lerner at partner site HSH.com

While many of us have grown accustomed to paying bills, income taxes and shopping online, the mortgage process, for the most part, has yet to fully step into the digital age. But the piles of paperwork and countless signatures could soon become old news as new technology allows for the majority of the mortgage process -- even the closing in some cases -- to be done in front of a computer screen.

"We recently launched new online capabilities that make applying for a mortgage, an experience that's notoriously painful, much easier," says Jerry Gross, chief information officer of Guaranteed Rate, a mortgage company in Chicago. "We're deploying document synchronization and sharing and electronic signatures to streamline the mortgage process."

Convenience
The main benefit of online mortgage applications is convenience for the customer, says Gross. Guaranteed Rate's customers can submit an application, allow instant access to their financial information, put the data through an automated underwriting system and receive a home loan approval in as little as 15 minutes, he says. 

This post comes from Adam Levin at Credit.com.

Some call it the Student Loan Bubble -- I call it crazy. And what better time to discuss student debt insanity than now, as countless soon-to-be graduates prepare to slip on their caps and gowns? An estimated 1.8 million students are graduating this year, many with degrees that perhaps aren’t worth a damn when it comes to actually getting a job.

Nevertheless, many of them will soon be paying back the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars they borrowed to get those nice degrees, and I wonder how many will regret the decision to spend what they spent as they see their interest compound and principals skyrocket through cycles of deferment and forbearance. The college experience can be an amazing one, but is it really worth the cost? (And I’m not talking about just tuition.)

To get at the heart of this question, I recently commissioned a poll that asked adults of all ages about student loans. We asked how much student debt is OK, and how much is too much. One in five senior citizens and almost a quarter of adults between the ages of 35 to 49 agree that $20,000 to $50,000 in student loan debt is too much to borrow. People of college age, between 18 and 24, disagreed; only 16% said graduating with that much debt is too much. Many respondents believe there should be no limits at all.

Borrow now, pay later

Among recent graduates, 22% agreed that students “should borrow as much as they need,” and “no amount is too much.” Baby boomers and seniors overwhelmingly disagree -- only 7.9% of people age 65 and up agreed that college students should borrow to the hilt.

Clearly, many college students and recent grads take a more cavalier approach to student loans than their parents and grandparents. Research shows that many consider high debt loads  to be empowering and give them higher self-esteem.

 

This is a post by Janna Herron from partner site Bankrate.com.

Dear Credit Card Adviser, 
I have been receiving letters from a debt collector for about 20 years saying I owe a balance of $18,000 on a credit card. I have never responded to them and there is nothing on my credit report. In the 20 years they have been after me, I have moved four times and each time they find me. What is this, and what can I do to stop them? 
-- Ginny

Dear Ginny,

Unfortunately, creditors and debt collectors can attempt to collect an old debt ad infinitum. What they can't do is sue you for the debt after your state's statute of limitations has passed, which has probably happened in your case. The debt collector -- which probably bought your debt from the credit card issuer for pennies on the dollar -- is hoping you don't know that or that you will satisfy an old debt out of some lingering moral obligation.

Here's the thing: This debt can't hurt you. It's too old. The collector can't get a judgment against you from the courts, and the bad history of that debt is too old to be found on your credit report. Negative items fall off your credit report after seven years from the date of the first delinquency (bankruptcies take 10 years from the court filing), under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. So, the debt collector can't say the debt will hurt your credit, because that is a lie and a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA.
 

This post comes from Gary Foreman at U.S. News & World Report.

Once you’ve settled on the price for a new car, you’ll meet with the business manager for some "paperwork," and the negotiating starts all over again.

The business manager isn't just there to help you fill out the forms. He is she is a trained salesperson, with the goal of getting you to pay for as many dealership fees and services as possible.

The business manager isn't there just to help you fill out the forms. He is she is a trained salesperson, with the goal of getting you to pay for as many dealership fees and services as possible.

When you meet with the business manager, be prepared to negotiate these fees and service offers.

1. The processing fee

Every dealership has one; some call it a documentation fee. Regardless of the name, it's meant to cover their cost of paperwork. Expect the cost to be between $100 and $400.

Like most fees, business managers will tell you it's non-negotiable, and it is -- if you don't negotiate it. How willing they are to lower it depends on how good a deal you got on the car. If you cut their profit to the bone, they'll fight for every dollar. If they give in easily, it could be a sign you overpaid on the car.

2. Dealer preparation

Does the dealer need to prepare the car for you? Sure. Do you need to pay for it? It depends.

 

With the number of consumers falling victim to phishing attacks on the rise, there is a renewed push to get people to recognize the warning signs.

Phishing — typically emails that fool the victim into believing they're answering a request for information from a company they do business with — is one of the most common and longest running types of internet scams. Yet losses increased by more than 20% in 2012, according to the security firm RSA.

So the Consumer Federation of America and Visa Inc. are trying to bring more attention to the problem.