This post comes from Linsey Knerl at partner blog Wise Bread.

It’s a common practice: You leave the office for any amount of time (a week, an hour, etc.) and you set up a nice little out-of-office e-mail reply so people don’t wonder why you haven’t responded in a timely fashion. You think you’re being proactive, even professional.

But could you be risking your personal information and possibly even your safety?

This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.

In recent decades, with many Americans covered by some sort of health benefit, consumers are quick to head for their doctor's office for all sorts of complaints. Some see that tendency as one of the drivers of rising health care costs.

Could it be that consumers could save time, money and strain on the health care system if they paid a little closer attention to what's in their medicine chest at home? Doctors at the Mayo Clinic suggest they can.

In the war between the sexes, it's never easy to say who's winning. Now, though, you can see who's spending. And it might not be who you think.

According to Bundle -- a brand-new partner site of MSN Money that lets users investigate spending trends by age, household, income and geography -- single men outspend single women in almost every category. Yes, men make more than women do -- about 25% more, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

But even among men and women with similar household incomes, men spent about 19% more than women on food and

In doing research for my latest book, "Life or Debt 2010," I explored virtually every way to deal with debt, from the do-it-yourself method most would prefer to more extreme methods like credit counseling and debt settlement. This story is about the nuclear bomb of debt destruction: bankruptcy.

When I produced the news story you’re about to see, I was just looking for the down-and-dirty facts from a lawyer about who should file for bankruptcy and why. What I got was a heartbreaking, personal story from just one of the 1.4 million Americans who filed for bankruptcy last year.   

Last Sunday’s Parade magazine told the story of a family who decided to sell their house, buy one half the size and give all their profits, about $800,000, to charity.

Ten years ago, Kevin and Joan Salwen bought their dream house, a 6,500-square-foot historic home in Atlanta. Except it didn’t bring the joy they had expected to the family, which included daughter Hannah and son Joseph, Kevin wrote in Parade:

We love that TV show “Man v. Food,” where Adam Richman stuffs his face with hot wings by the truckload or enough oysters to clog the Panama Canal. (OK, we exaggerate somewhat.) In many of these settings, you don’t have to pay if you can meet the restaurant’s challenge.

Better yet, sometimes you can win cash.

Now you can easily find many of these "deals," thanks to a post (with photos!) at Coupon Sherpa. The first stop is Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pa., where two people can chow down for free on the 15-pound Belly Buster burger -- if the entire thing is gone in three hours. 

You may think you can walk and chew gum at the same time, but you’d better think twice before you add talking on the phone or texting.

We all know about the dangers of distracted driving. But even on foot, our ability to multitask may not be what we think it is, The New York Times reports.

The number of people injured while walking and texting or talking on a cell phone is on the rise, The Times reports, citing a study by Ohio State University professor Jack L. Nasar.

This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.

A few years ago, my former company began offering prepaid legal plans as an employee benefit. I forget the exact terms of the deal but it worked a lot like medical insurance. You paid a set amount each month and you had access to the plan’s pool of lawyers. The pool could prepare certain documents for you, such as a will, and you could have consultations several times a year.

As young professionals, none of my friends took advantage of the plan because there didn’t seem to be a need for it, but I wondered whether prepaid legal plans were worth it.