The Buck List

Welcome to The Buck List

2011-07-20T16:12:00.000-05:00

Welcome to The Buck List! This site is designed with two main goals in mind: providing you with ideas to help you save money with proven frugal tips and helping you to make money by giving you useful and sometimes unusual ideas. While there are close to five hundred pages on this site the following 60 plus are a good introduction to the money making and saving ideas you will find here.

Money Making Ideas

Survey and Reward Sites – Are they worth the time and effort?

Virtual Assistant – Might be worth a try as a work from home option.

Mystery Shopping – If you enjoy shopping this could work for you.

Sell on Craigslist – A great idea and one I still use.

Sell by Consignment – How to squeeze that last bit of value from clothes no longer needed.

Find Missing Money – Where to look to find out if any of it belongs to you.

Find Seasonal Work – Some ideas on finding extra side work.

Sell Your Books – Make money from your unwanted books.

Micro Loans – Do some research to find out if this would work for you.

Gift Cards – Sell, trade or cash in your unused gift cards.

Work at Home – Here are a few legitimate work at home ideas.

Offer Your Services – Assess your skills and offer them for barter or cash.

Sell Your CD’s and DVD’s – Some online and offline ideas.

Investment Club – Sound interesting? Here are some resources to help you get started.

Make Some Side Cash – Ten interesting ways to make some extra moola.

Sell Your Crafts – Here are ten options to make money from your crafts.

Find a Job or Work from Home – Nine different ideas are offered here.

Sell Your Stuff Online – Nine alternative options to the big guys.

Sell Your Cameras and Gear – Make money selling your unwanted equipment.

Pick Up Cans – Get some exercise, keep your community clean, and make a little money doing it.

Make Money From Vacant Homes – It’s unusual, but I have made money doing this.

Scrap Lumber – Ideas to both make and save money with it.

Sell Vinyl Records – Where to sell them online and off.

Sell Exotic Fish – A little different, but true.

Sell House Plants – Make a little cash with that green thumb.

House Sitting – How to travel, live rent free and make some money doing it.

Focus Groups – What they are and how you can find them to make money.

Selling Bones – Another weird idea that you can make money doing.

Medical Tests – How to get paid to take part in clinical and medical tests and drug trials.

Metal Detector – With some patience and luck this could be a money maker.

Peer to Peer Lending – Find out if this would be a good option for you.

Content Sites – If you like to write here is a review of some sites to check out, as well as some to avoid.

Unusual Craigslist Ideas – Two different (and free) ways to make money with the site.

Homemade Candles – How to make them and where to sell them.

Sell Homemade Goods – Some ideas and resources to get you started.

Money Saving Ideas

Use Coupons – Here are some sites you have to check out.

Form a DIY Club – A great way to save money on home improvement projects.

Don’t Eat Out - Rather than eat out find a new recipe.

Use Your Library – How to get the most out of your library, including the Secret Library Tip.

Search for Scholarships – Some tips and ideas on how to find college scholarships.

Save Money on Meds – How you can save money on prescription medication.

Save Money on Sports Equipment – Some frugal ideas to equip the sport players in your family.

Does Fishing Save You Money? – An excellent question with a surprising answer.

Frugal Summer Activities for Kids – Twenty ways to keep them busy for little money.

Best Freebie Sites – Ten sites full of freebies and giveaways.

Cheap Summer Fun Ideas – Some frugal things to do this summer.

Save Money by Salvaging – Lots of great ideas on how to salvage to save money.

How to Camp on the Cheap – Packed full of ideas about how to save money when camping.

Find Food in Times of Need – When times get tough these resources can help put food on the table.

Free Movie and TV Sites – Over a dozen websites to watch free content.

Eat Out on the Cheap – A list of ideas for when the budget is a little tight.

Save Money by Foraging – How to find food in the great outdoors.

Save Money on Tools – How to borrow, rent or share tools you need.

Save Money by Staying Home – Ten frugal ways to entertain at home.

Can You Find Good Free Stuff on Craigslist? – A weeklong study produced some interesting answers.

How to Buy a Used Car – Some good tips along with one rule to never forget.

Save Money Using a Locker – How to save some serious money on your food budget.

Free or Cheap Health Care – How and where to find it.

Keep the Kids Busy This Winter – Ten ideas to get them outside and from under foot.

Curbing – Save and make money with curbside freebies.

Save Money With a CSA – Another way to eat frugally and healthy.

Save Money on a Wedding – Six great ideas that we used to save money.

Four Leading Causes of Overspending – What they are and how to avoid them.

Join a Time Bank – If you have more time than money this could be a great idea.

Save Money for Free – Money saving ideas that cost you nothing.

Conserve Water – The savings are potentially huge.

Save Money on Vacation – Lots of methods we have used that should help you trim that vacation budget.

For additional reading make sure to browse the topics column on the left for many more money making and saving ideas, frugal tips as well as quality guest posts, thought provoking essays, pithy and wise quotes, delicious recipes and more.

For links to hundreds of other useful websites visit the roundup pages.

Thanks for visiting, make sure to bookmark this site and stop by again soon.

Buck Weber

Goodbye

2011-06-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

When I created this blog in 2008 it was sort of an aimless, mist of an idea. I had some vague notion about trying to make money on the web by writing, but it had to be on a topic I knew something about. As I plodded ahead my confidence grew and the blog began to take form, truly a “List” of money making ideas and frugal tips, “The Buck List.”

Close to three years later I have to say it was a fun, challenging and interesting ride. It is also over, and I have no regrets except that I will miss you. Not many people write just for themselves, never expecting their jottings to be read by others. Most of us want people to read what we have to say, and I am no different. If a post meant enough to cause one, or more, of you to leave a comment…that was the best part of writing this blog. That we strangers could get to know each other just a little, and share some common bond…I don’t think I can fully explain how much that has meant to me. Thank you so much.

As for why I am moving on, I think the blog has pretty much run its course. I have grown a little tired of writing on the same topic, and while I have really enjoyed it I want to experience new opportunities. I don’t know for sure what I will do next but I have a list of ideas and plenty of interests to pursue.

I enjoy spending time with family, antiquing, freehand drawing, foraging, writing, target shooting, photography, fishing, reading, gardening, hiking, camping, cooking, traveling, curbing and, of course, making and saving money. So who knows what lies ahead…and isn’t that part of what makes life interesting?

Best Wishes,

Buck

Random Thoughts

2011-06-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

I was poking around in my ideas folder for The Buck List and came across some notes and blurbs that never got developed into full blown posts for the blog, and I figured why not just combine them all into one article of random thoughts. Sorry…

Don’t Dis Great Grandpa

I was reading something the other day about how lost our ancestors would be in the tech savvy world we currently live in. I don’t know if it was the smug tone that got to me or just the absurdness of making that kind of comparison but I got to wondering how well would we today fare if we suddenly had to live like our predecessors. While many of us today communicate with and are entertained by and even make a living using computers, watch lots of TV and can’t imagine life without a cell phone, most of our ancestors spent from before sun up to after sundown out of doors physically working. And while I imagine Great Grandpa would welcome a well deserved break to sit back and feed his face while watching American Idol he would probably soon grow bored and feel the need to get back to work and nature. Automation and technology have given we Americans so much leisure time that it is hard to imagine how much work our elders did and the knowledge needed to survive. Returning to the idea of having to do it that way again, here is a sampling of some skills needed just in the last 150 years.

Cooking on a wood burning stove, milking cows, plowing a field and harvesting crops by horse and by hand, making your own clothes, caring for and butchering livestock for meat, cooking three meals from scratch every day, living by lamp and candle light after dark, hunting for and cleaning small and large game, washing clothes by hand…the list really could go on and on.

I bet Great Grandpa wouldn’t have too much trouble learning to text or use a computer mouse, if his big calloused hands could even hold them. How well do you think you would do in his world?

Momentazations

Some moments and realizations that I thought I could liven up some blog posts with by working them into similes or metaphors or whatever but didn’t end up using.

The moment when you return home from a vacation and walk into your still house and take in the abandonment before it all comes alive again.

The moment while you are listening to music you have never heard before when you realize you really like it.

While driving the moment when you have almost been in an accident and then the realization that it did not happen.

The moment when, as a child, you see your favorite grandparent and anticipate the fun you will have, and the moment when you remember it years after they are gone and still feel the excitement.

While watching a rain storm coming your way the moment when the rain just begins to fall.

The Most Mysterious Things

This was to be the first installment of a monthly series that I thought would be fun and different, but I put it on the backburner and forgot about it. I only wrote this one, and I honestly was not consciously trying to imitate Andy Rooney. By the time you get to the end it’s pretty obvious why I decided not to use it.

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” – Albert Einstein –

They say everyone likes a good mystery. While true for me as well, I also dislike a lot of them. Missing people, for example. I would rather know what happened to Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Airhart. Missing links bug me too, such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. How hard can it be to find a gigantic fish-monster in a 20 square mile lake, or an 8 foot tall 500 pound ape-thing running around in the woods? Since most species on Earth take two to tango to keep procreating it would only make sense there would be at least a small population of these things to detect. And how about missing mysteries? Whatever happened to the Bermuda Triangle and spontaneous human combustion?

Pondering all this recently got me to thinking: what are the most mysterious things, phenomenon that truly cannot be explained? (Insert wife joke here. Or not.)

First up in this series: Dogs

My family had a dog when I was growing up, and as an adult I am now on dog number four. It is said we are genetically closer to primates but socially much closer to dogs than any other species, due to thousands of years of living with each other, as well as the fact that we created them from wolves. (For some fascinating reading on the subject Google “Jozsef Topal)

This intimate and ancient relationship between our two species still has its mysteries, though. Since most dogs can’t talk we can only speculate what might be the most mysterious aspect about us to them. My guess would be “Why can’t we just play and sleep all day?” If you ever get that questioning look from a dog, and you do every day if you own one, explanations of having to work or doing something else that does not involve them are met with sad eyes that show more pity for you than sadness by them.

There is no doubt what my mystery question would be for them: “Why, oh why, do you eat poop?” Every dog I have owned, from the first one that ate poopy diapers out of the trash whenever he could to the current dog that eats deer droppings in the woods, they have all ingested scat. To make an already disgusting subject slightly worse, they really seem to enjoy it, like a drunk eating sloppy Buffalo wings at the end of a hard night. Which is grosser is a tossup, but you wouldn’t want either one to lick your face when they are done.

Further Reading:

A Walk in the Woods

Weekly Roundup

2011-06-24T12:57:00.000-05:00

Lifesta “is a marketplace for people to buy and sell deals from "daily deal" sites such as Groupon, Living Social, BuyWithMe and 300+ others. Missed a deal? Find it here. Need to sell a deal? List it here.”

Pick Your Own will help you locate a pick your own farm near you. They provide local listings of pick your own farms in the United States and other countries. They also offer crop calendars for each local area so you know what is available to pick throughout the year. If you need help deciding what to do with your pickings there are illustrated directions to show you how to make over 150 recipes with step-by-step directions to can, freeze, dry or preserve the harvest.

Use radiotuna to locate a radio station online playing your favorite genre of music.

This small business owner writes about how she learned to love bartering.

UbuWeb “is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts.” This site is a huge, amazing resource that will be treasured by those who enjoy the unusual and underground arts.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post lists the power of peroxide.

Make it a great weekend!

How to Save Serious Money on Vacation

2011-06-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

Over the years my wife and kids and I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford, and take the time off, for some pretty memorable vacations. We have camped all over our state of Iowa as well as quite a few surrounding states. We have vacationed in the Black Hills, the Grand Teton Mountains and the Rockies, just for some highlights. During all these vacations (and the extensive preparations for them) we got to be pretty good at staying within a small budget. Following are some of the ways we learned to travel and lodge frugally while still having a good time. These tips are primarily for those that travel by car, so if you like planes, trains, bikes, busses or boats they might not work for you.

Bring Your Own Food – Depending on how long you will be gone, and how many there are, you might be able to cover the whole trip. We have been able to survive for a week with very few additional supplements to our menu (2 adults and 2 kids) before we had to break down and hit a local grocery store. We would take along food that didn’t need to be warmed such as salads, the fixings for sandwiches, cold chicken, chicken strips to make wraps, chips, fruit, etc. We would also budget in a few restaurant stops to break up the routine. Hey, it’s a vacation, not boot camp!

Cook Your Own Meals – This one is usually not a problem when tent or RV camping, but it is worth asking if it is allowed before booking a stay in a cabin or hotel. Most of the cabins we have stayed in would allow cooking inside (many had their own kitchens) while a hotel will usually only allow you to warm up food in the microwave, so plan accordingly. If we know we will be able to cook inside we always pack our electric skillet, in our experiences the single most versatile cooking appliance.

Stay In a Central Location – Many times when planning our vacations we would decide what attractions we wanted to see and then try to find a place to stay that was centered among them. That way we could stay in one cabin, hotel or campsite for several days and not have to move while making small road trips in different directions to take in the sites.

Travel In the Off Season – If you have kids in school this might not be an option unless you can plan time off around teacher in service days or holiday weekends. If kids are not a problem you could save a nice percentage off of hotel and cabin stays, as well as some attractions. Check the web to find what the off season is for where you want to go.

Reward Programs and Membership Discounts – Reward programs and membership discounts are offered by airlines, hotels, gas stations and AAA. Also make sure to check Groupon for discounts to restaurants, museums and other attractions where you will be visiting.

Have Your Car Tuned Up – There is nothing like breaking down in a strange town, or worse, in the middle of nowhere to kill the vacation mood, and if it is something serious the time and money spent to fix it could even kill the whole vacation. While some things can’t be planned for budgeting for a tune up just before you leave is well worth the money. It won’t hurt to also tell your mechanic where you are going, as he might pay special attention to certain parts. For example: do your breaks have plenty of life left, because you use them a lot while driving in the mountains? Or, will your vehicle coolant be able to handle desert temperatures and do you have decent tires for inclement weather?

Related Reading:

Is AAA Worth It?

How to Camp on the Cheap

Frugal Lessons From The Past

2011-06-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget. In this series we examined source materials for possible lessons from the past that we could learn to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

The Holy Bible – Provides lessons on stocking up our pantries, saving leftovers, working hard, staying focused, moderating our habits and to pay as we go.

Frugality in the Spiritual Life – This is an excerpt from a book that William L. Watkinson wrote. His plea from the year 1908 to open our eyes to the “common things” couldn’t be more timely, surrounded as we are today with so many distractions from what is truly important.

The Art of Gardening – This was written by Iowan and Pulitzer Prize winner Frank Luther Mott (1886-1964). He reminds us not only that gardening is a great frugal option to save money on groceries but also names some of the joys that come with growing your own food.

Soar Away from the Vise – Here is advice from a beat up little 46 page booklet I rescued out of a dumpster years ago. It was written by Fred Moller, Jr. and this passage is from the final chapter called “Our Secrets.”

Seymour on Work - John Seymour (1914-2004) was a soldier, miner, farm manager, fishing boat skipper, world traveler, author, radio and TV broadcaster, farmer, teacher, and protester and is known as the “Father of Self-Sufficiency.”

Hillard Green – In 1972 the first Firefox anthology was published. Here are a couple of excerpts from an interview with Hillard Green, who at that time was around eighty years old.

Economy in the Home - The following is taken from Book Two of The People’s Home Library, published in 1920 and written by Mrs. Alice Gitchell Kirk.

College During the Depression – This is taken from the book The Great Depression by David A. Shannon and is a list of some of the ways college students made and saved money during the 1930’s.

Old Mike - In the book “Little Heathens” there is a chapter on how the author and her family practiced thrift. After describing such things as homemade cleaners and health remedies and the many life cycles of socks she ends the chapter with a recycling technique probably not used by many anymore.

Carl Faber – This “desert rat” and artist describes his lifestyle and lack of need for money while living in a little house in the Mojave Desert.

Harlan Hubbard - In this excerpt from his book about drifting down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River to New Orleans in a homemade shantyboat Harlan explains why he wanted to undertake the journey.

Kate Sanborn - Kate Sanborn (1839 – 1917) purchased and moved onto an abandoned farm in Massachusetts in 1888 and here she writes of some of the pleasures and advantages of country living.

The Mail Order Catalog - Carl Hamilton wrote about history and his own memories of growing up on a farm. The following excerpts follow the lifespan of a mail order catalog on the farm.

Weekly Roundup

2011-06-17T15:25:00.000-05:00

Cost Helper “is a growing online community which provides objective information on more than 1,000 products and services, and lists what people are actually paying nationwide.”

Idealist “connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. Our work is guided by the common desire of our members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.” So what does that mean to you? Click to find out!

Clinical Trials “is a comprehensive resource for trusted information about medical research studies, also called clinical trials. Whether you’re interested in participating in a clinical trial or want to become a clinical trial investigator, find out how you can help advance health.”

This article addresses some of the financial mistakes newlyweds make.

Writer's Free Reference “was first published in August 1992 with 12 links to other websites providing free information for writers. Over the years, it has grown to over 200 links to a wide variety of information, not only for writers, but also for students, teachers, businessmen and women, researchers, and anyone looking for any type of data.”

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post explores how the older you get the better the deals.

Have a good weekend!

Increasing Your Net Worth: The Measurement of Real Wealth

2011-06-15T17:28:00.001-05:00

The following is a guest post contributed by Tom Cleveland, who writes for Forex Traders.

Each year, Forbes magazine publishes a list of the wealthiest people in the world. Of course, the names at the top of the list are household names—Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Forbes rates the wealthiest people in the world by their net worth. Net worth is simply a person’s total assets minus their liabilities. Although you may not be fighting to get your name on the Forbes’ list, chances are good that you have a definite interest in building your net worth.

Practical Step to Building Net Worth

Let’s return to the definition of net worth once more. It is defined as a person’s assets minus their liabilities. Now, this is important to understand. It doesn’t really matter how many assets a person has. If they have too many liabilities, the inflated assets will not mean anything. We see this play out in the business world all the time. A company may have hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, but it attempts to expand too fast and takes on unsustainable debts, which are liabilities. In corporate America, this eventually leads to bankruptcy. A company that has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, but also has $2 billion in outstanding liabilities, is headed for total collapse. Thus, the way to build net worth is not to necessarily focus on building assets or a forex account, but to rather eliminate liabilities.

Eliminating Liabilities

The three primary liabilities that most middle-class Americans have are a mortgage, a car loan, and credit card debt. The real way to build true, lasting wealth is to focus on eliminating the most destructive of these three types of liabilities—credit card debt.

Credit card debt is a major hindrance of wealth creation. Ultimately, it is wise to buy assets in order to build net worth. When hundreds of dollars are being spent each month paying credit cards off, this money could be going toward purchasing those assets. Thus, one of the first steps that must be taken to build real wealth is to pay off all credit card debts in order to eliminate this liability.

Adjust the Budget

The most practical way to quickly pay off credit card debt is to honestly analyze your monthly spending habits and discover every area that could be cut back and eliminated. Once you find out how much can be eliminated each month, then decide to shift this extra capital toward paying down your credit card debt. This will not necessarily be fun and exciting, but it will help put you into a place of financial strength once the liability is eliminated and you can direct that extra capital into purchasing assets.

Further Reading:

How to Fight a Credit Card Interest Rate Change

Should You Spend Money on Budgeting Software?

Frugal Recipe: Potato Salad

2011-06-13T12:27:00.000-05:00

This side dish probably has as many variations as chili, and as with my own chili recipe I don’t use measurements for the ingredients of my potato salad. In my family it’s usually called into action for picnics and summer holidays, but we have been known to whip up a batch any time of the year we get the desire.

Ingredients:

Red potatoes, diced and boiled until tender

Vidalia onion, chopped

Hard boiled eggs, sliced

Mayonnaise

Ranch dressing

Mustard

Parmesan cheese

To taste: ground thyme, dill weed, black pepper, paprika, caraway seed, parsley, celery seed.

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and chill until the big event. One note: I know some folks like to add bacon but I usually don’t, unless it is extra crispy. Nothing can ruin potato salad for me like the anticipation of a delicious bite only to find myself chewing on a big hunk of bacon fat. Yuck!

Related Reading:

Frugal Recipe: Mac ‘n’ Beef

Weekly Roundup

2011-06-10T17:31:00.000-05:00

Deal Radar provides “a free, fast and convenient way to stay on top of great savings opportunities and experiences available in your city. Each day we follow, index and categorize local deals to create a simple, time-saving way to find great savings in your city.” Subscribe, follow or visit the site to find your own local deals.

Local Dirt “is your place to find and buy fresh, local food directly from the family farm.” Click the link to find out how it works.

Hotel Spy claims they can find the best deals on cheap hotels.

This article lists nine ways for parents to help their job hunting kids.

Recall Warnings doesn’t list just auto recalls, they include everything from toys to clothing and operating equipment to musical instruments.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post gives advice on how to clean it before you replace it.

Have a good weekend!

My Favorite Personal Finance Sites

2011-06-08T13:59:00.000-05:00

When I was pondering what kind of a blog I was going to start I of course first thought about what I liked to read online, and that included several personal finance blogs and sites. Considering my attempts at the time to make money since losing my job I guess the subject matter sort of popped right out at me. I don’t consider this a “personal finance” blog because there are gaps in the subject that I don’t write about because they don’t interest me as much, such as credit cards, insurance, taxes, investing. I personally am interested in taxes (If the subject is lowering them! Otherwise it’s nap time) and investing (I have a tidy sum in my old 401k, mutual funds and a Roth IRA) but not enough to write about it. So The Buck List was never a traditional personal finance blog, just what interested one guy enough to want to share with others. Some of the sites on my list are like that, and others are a little more structured.

If you have any to add I would love to know about them!

The Dollar Stretcher – I found this site not too long after getting online in 1996 and I have been a newsletter subscriber ever since. The simple design and ever changing reader contributed content have kept this site at the top of my list. And to top it off editor Gary Foreman is a pretty nice guy, too.

Yahoo Personal Finance – They cover it all, and also offer calculators and how to guides to go along with their catchy, clickable headline stories.

Wise Bread – You just never know what to expect in your inbox from this group of close to fifty contributors. With that many points of view you can be assured that they keep it fresh and interesting.

Unusual Ways to Make Money – Steve Gillman is all about marketing, making money and self-promotion…all of which he shares with his readers. I have lost track of how many sites he has but I have bookmarked some of them, and I think this one was the first I came across. Beware: reading his stuff is VERY addictive.

Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator – As of this writing this free aggregator of personal finance blogs has 22,150 entries from 716 blogs, and counting. If you are looking for something new to read or a different voice in the field take some time to browse this site.

Further Reading:

Politics and Personal Finance: What Can One Tell Us About the Other?

Does a Financial Education Matter?

Quick and Painless Ways to Start Saving Money Regardless of Income Level

2011-06-06T13:01:00.000-05:00

The following is a guest post by Mick Archard.

With gas prices rising and the job market and economy unstable, most people are doing whatever they can to save money. There are some big changes people can make, such as renting a cheaper apartment, or small changes such as brown bagging lunches instead of eating out. Even people with small incomes can usually find a way to save, and small savings add up. Even just $10 per month adds up to $120 per year. The savings add up even faster if they are earning interest in a savings or investment account.

Rent a Smaller Apartment

Renting an apartment is a great way to save money. Renter's insurance is usually way cheaper than homeowner's insurance. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reported that rental insurance in Michigan costs an average of $164 year. This breaks down to just $13.67 per month. According to the Insurance Institute of Michigan, average premiums for homeowners insurance in MI were $797 in 2004. This breaks down to about $66.42 per month. If you are already renting, moving to a smaller place will usually result in lower monthly rent and lower utility costs because there is less space to heat and cool. There are many Edmonton apartments for rent that are in great locations and have low monthly rental fees.

Budget

Creating a budget is important whether the income level is $1,000 per month or $8,000 per month. Listing all monthly bills with amounts and due dates paints an accurate picture of your finances. Treating savings like a bill is important. There should be a line in the budget for savings, even if it's only $25 per month. Budgeting also gives consumers an idea of how much money they have available after the essential bills. It helps people to not overspend when they know there is only $75 a week in the budget for groceries, for example.

Pay Off Debt

According to Outlaw Finance freeing yourself of debt is one of the first steps you should take. Paying extra on your debts is will free up money faster and you will pay out less money in interest and fees. When one credit card is paid off, the payment you were making can be put toward the next debt to get it paid off sooner. Talking to credit card companies may not help, but it won't hurt. The companies may agree to lower interest rates or take less money than you owe in a lump sum payment. Credit card companies can be difficult to work with, but they don't want you to go bankrupt, so they will sometimes work with you on a payment plan.

Taking back items that still have tags on them or having a garage sale is a quick way to make money for debt payment. Many people are selling used items on online auction sites for extra money. It may not seem like much at first, but any payment that is more than the minimum usually goes straight to lowering the total amount owed.

Invest in a 401K

Having money taken out of each paycheck before it's deposited is a great way to save. This money is not part of the budget, so it's easier not to spend it on something else. Increasing 401k contributions with each raise adds even more money to savings without making a dent in your monthly budget. Many companies have a fund set aside to match the amount of money that employees deposit into their 401k accounts, up to a certain percentage. Talk to the human resources department of your company if you're unsure about a company match. This is free money that employees often turn down by not investing.

Set Goals

Saving money can be difficult, especially for people who need most of their income for necessary bills like rent, food, and gas. Setting a goal to save for something you really want makes it easier to save money. For example, people may be faced with the decision to buy a new pair of shoes or save that $75 toward the car they really want. Having pictures of the savings goal in prominent places will remind you what you're saving for. It's also helpful to break down the goal into manageable amounts per month. If the goal is to have $5,000 saved in a year from now, this breaks down to $416.67 per month or $96.15 per week.

Trim Expenses

Even small amounts of money add up. If someone spends $2 every week on movie rentals, this money adds up to $104 after one year. Switching to a cheaper cell phone or TV plan is another way to save money. Many people are not using the services they are paying for and can easily make cuts.

Eating out is one expense that most people can cut. Bringing lunch to work instead of buying lunch every day can save most people around $50 per week. Eating out is a social event for many people. Inviting friends over for dinner or drinks and rotating houses each month is a fun way to spend time with friends and save money. Soup and bread is a meal that feeds a large amount of people on a small budget. It's also nice to not have people you don't know interrupting the conversation of your group. Your house never closes, so friends can talk all night if they want to.

Additional Reading:

How to Avoid Crisis Living

Saving in 2011

Weekly Roundup

2011-06-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

June is Great Outdoors Month, National Camping Month and National Rivers Month. You know what that means…get outdoors and camp by a river!

There is something about signs and symbols that are intriguing to all of us at some level. Check out Symbols for “more than 1,600 articles about 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics.”

Yipit “aggregates and recommends the best daily deals in your city. We collect all the great daily deals from 528 services including Groupon, LivingSocial, Buy With Me, Tippr, Yelp and many more. We recommend the best of the daily deals to our users based on the preferences they have expressed to us.”

In his last Cheapskate column Neal Templin says goodbye to all that penny-pinching.

Thrifty Times offers all kinds of articles about how to save money, budgeting tips, finding free stuff, coupons and even inexpensive recipes. Worth a peek!

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post explores what to do when coupons aren’t enough.

Have a good weekend!

Happiness Is a By-Product

2011-06-01T10:20:00.000-05:00

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote this short but insightful line about how we achieve happiness.

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”

Weekly Roundup

2011-05-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

Uncyclopedia is a parody of Wikipedia that publishes user content that contributes to their “giant mass of misinformation and utter lies.” Visit the site and find out what it takes to become an “Uncyclopedian.”

TravelBlogs “brings you travel advice and stories from those who’ve been there and done that. We’ve brought together the internet’s finest travel bloggers and asked them to share their unique insight into all things travel.” Worth a peek for some interesting interviews with travel bloggers and plenty of travel content.

If you would like to search some U.S. online newspaper sites NewsVoyager is a good starting place.

This article proposes five myths about why women earn less than men.

Chowhound is known for its “voracious devotion to hyperdeliciousness!” This is a great site where “food-lovers worldwide gather here to swap expert tips about restaurants, foods, stores, and bars, as well as cooking, wine, beer, cookware, and more.” As they say, “Dig in ... and be prepared to get very, very hungry!”

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post lists nine ways to find cheap or free performances.

My wife and I are leaving town to visit family during this long holiday weekend and I won’t be posting on Monday. Make it a great weekend, and don’t forget to honor our fallen heroes.

Five Frugal Flicks

2011-05-25T15:18:00.001-05:00

You wouldn’t think it would be hard to come up with five flicks that deal with frugality, but most films that came to mind had frugal living as just a subplot to the main point of the movie. The following five picks either deal with frugality as a main theme or they offer it as a background to the story. If any of them sound interesting make sure to frugally check your library for a copy first, or search to find them online.

Immaterial John – This 2004 documentary is about how John van der Harst lives in a small apartment in Detroit on around $3,600 per year. He does not own a car but instead runs everywhere, recycles or reuses almost everything, forages for food, cuts his own hair, and on and on. He works when he wants to and devotes the rest of his time to his favorite environmental and social causes.

Off the Map – This quiet little 2003 movie is not really about frugality, but the subject does make its way through the storyline. A husband, wife and their daughter live off the grid in the desert gardening, salvaging and making do without. The plot is really what will pull you in, and it includes friendship, coming of age, crippling depression, spiritual and artistic awakening, death, and credit card fraud among other things. Maybe it doesn’t belong on this list but, hey, it’s my list!

Alone in the Wilderness – When Dick Proenneke (1916 – 2003) decided to retire in 1968 he didn’t head for a little house in Florida or Arizona (as many Iowans do) to play golf between naps. Instead he made for the mountains of Alaska, built a cabin and enjoyed the wildlife and scenery for the next 30 years. During his stay he wrote journals, took photos and shot a lot of film, which was turned into several books and a fascinating documentary.

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa – I watched this 2007 documentary last year and found myself increasingly fascinated with the story of how a group of people that includes misfits, patriots, survivalists, addicts, runaways, war vets, environmentalists, and various kooks lived their lives and ordered their “society” living off the grid in the New Mexico desert.

Frugal – This short 2010 documentary follows Kimberly Clancy and a friend as they hunt a grocery store searching for deals with coupons galore, until they finally checkout and you see how much money they saved.

Further Reading:

Best Free Movie and TV Sites

Five Interesting Frugal Videos

Sales Tax Meets the Internet

2011-05-23T10:49:00.001-05:00

The following is a guest post by Mariana Ashley, a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

Over the past few months, several states have been pushing legislation designed to tax online businesses. While online companies already pay state sales taxes to the state of their headquarters, The Main Street Fairness Act, as named by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D), proposes to collect taxes on all purchases made in states that have company affiliates.

For example, companies like Amazon.com with affiliates in Illinois, which already has the Fairness Act in effect, will experience tax for all sales to Illinois residents. Amazon severed its ties with affiliates in Illinois immediately after the bill, to escape the effects of the law.

Many fear that the effects of this bill nationwide will cause some companies to leave the United States, thus removing jobs from the company. Others are worried that the tax will decrease spending and destroy online retailers.

Proponents of the tax argue that tax-free online sales give an unfair advantage to Internet retailers that don't maintain operations in every state. And with some retail businesses closing down their brick-and-mortar locations but continuing online sales, states are looking for ways like this to retain any revenue possible.

I'm by no means a member or supporter of the Tea Party Movement. In fact, I support taxes in most cases. But this bill poses some problems that are a bit more alarming than simply paying another sales tax.

Think about the pros and cons of shopping online versus in a store. In a store, you get to test and touch merchandise, you have the item in your possession as soon as you buy it, and you can easily return it by going back to the store. Online, you have many resources for research and comparison (although those with smartphones have these in stores as well), but you have to pay for shipping, wait for the product to ship, and deal with the hassle of return-shipping if something is broken.

Consider how the added sales tax will affect people's shopping habits. There would be no benefit to shopping online unless online vendors had extremely low prices. Otherwise, you're pretty much paying the same price or more to have something shipped to your home instead of having it immediately once you leave a store.

Online retailers would also have to use more resources to simply comply with the bill. Online companies would be flooded with significant paperwork and periodic audits regarding all the new taxes from each state; this might be enough to make online retail simply out of the question for small or up-and-coming businesses.

While this proposed bill is aimed at providing fairness for small local business, its biggest supporters and lobbyers are paid by huge brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart. This is yet another reason to question who this bill will really help and whether it's worth the amount of businesses it may significantly hurt.

The bill has some time before it's in any position to come into effect, but in the meantime, I suggest people get their online shopping out of the way.

Further Reading:

Five Great Catalog Shopping Sites

Four Leading Causes of Overspending

Weekly Roundup

2011-05-20T12:26:00.000-05:00

If you keep backyard chickens, or would like to find locally produced eggs, check out Eggzy. The site helps you to “manage your flock, share pictures, eggs and stats with your friends and family, or, if you're a foodie, find local eggs — the freshest most delicious local eggs.”

StorkBrokers is an online marketplace that allows you to sell your no longer needed baby & kid items, or to buy used items you are looking for. You can also put in a request if you don’t find what you are looking for and they will notify you when someone lists it.

If you are interested in art museums, theater, classical music, opera, jazz, dance, and film make sure to visit Arts America for more than a thousand recommendations across more than eighty cities. They also list over 100 national and regional summer events and news about what's happening in the arts from more than 100 newspapers, magazines, blogs and RSS feeds.

This video shows how to make the most of daily deal sites.

Ready can help to prepare for the unexpected, such as making an emergency supply kit and developing a family communications plan in case of a natural or man-made emergency.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post examines how you can make money selling vinyl records.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Lessons From The Past: The Mail Order Catalog

2011-05-18T10:16:00.000-05:00

History can provide some of the best lessons to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget.

This post is part of a series that focuses on some of those principals by going to source materials for inspiration.

Carl Hamilton (1914 – 1991) served as vice president and administrator of Iowa State University, was an editor and publisher and late in life wrote about Iowa history and his own memories of growing up on an Iowa farm. The following excerpts are from one of his books, In No Time At All, and follow the lifespan of a mail order catalog on the farm.

“When the average farm home, uncluttered by radio or television, had only a weekly and possibly a daily newspaper and some magazines, the arrival of a Montgomery Ward or Sears and Roebuck catalog was a major event.”

“It was carefully studied by parents as they compared prices in their never-ending struggle to match resources with necessities. “Making out the order” was a project that might go on for some weeks and would include everything from long underwear to farm tools. Clearly desires must have been stimulated beyond means by the long hours of studying the vast array of merchandise with prices which ranged from Good to Better to Best.”

“The arrival of the catalog was even more of an event for the kids. Hours and hours of long winter evenings and rainy Sunday afternoons were spent thumbing through the catalog – a page at a time!”

“But what an ignominious end it had. One so in keeping with the times: waste nothing! Where did that valued, much-treasured book end up? In the privy! There, of course, it served a double purpose. It served as “tissue” – although hardly of the scented, soft textured brands of milady’s toilette. Also it provided one last chance to review the well-studied pages. And, providing the weather was right, meaning it wasn’t so cold as to bring chilblains to unaccustomed places or so warm as to encourage flies, the catalog added interest to that interlude in the day’s activities. Of course, it did have limitations even for that final purpose. Even under the most extreme circumstances, when nothing was being wasted, the slick paper sections did leave something to be desired as “tissue.” There came a time when the remains – the high fashion section – was consigned en masse to the lower regions! Ker-plop!”

How Do You Haggle?

2011-05-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

One frugal trait that I learned in childhood from my parents was to try to bargain around paying full price for something. They called it haggling, and the techniques they taught me worked amazingly well. Mom and Dad were antique collectors, buyers and sellers for both fun and profit, and this hobby of theirs took us all over the state on weekends to flea markets and antique shows and shops (this was before antique malls existed). Their passion wore off on me and I began collecting various things as well.

Their main advice was:

Know the true value of what you want to buy and offer a fair price.

Don’t be afraid to walk away if the answer is no.

I don’t know how many times I have turned to walk away, after saying thank you, only to have the seller stop me and agree to my offer.

Those two haggling tips have served me well over the years, but I’m curious as to what kind of haggling techniques you might use. How do you haggle?

Further Reading:

Do You Keep a Budget?

When Coupons Aren’t Enough

Weekly Roundup

2011-05-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

Visit Healthy Recipe for lots of recipes that are gluten or sugar free, high fiber, or are low in calories, carbs, cholesterol or fat.

If you are looking for part time work consider Groove Job, which focuses on part time jobs, teen and student jobs, weekend jobs, summer jobs and internships for students. Just type in your zip code to find what’s available.

Use 8coupons to find deals from “your neighborhood restaurants, bars, salons, and stores so that you can easily find the best deals near you. We have everything from exclusive mobile coupons that come directly from the restaurants, bars, salons, and stores themselves, to deals that are shared by you.” Search for specific deals or just type in your zip code.

Is Walmart really returning to its Buy American roots?

Black and WTF is an addictive photoblog of strange black and white photos.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post ponders whether or not you can save money by hunting.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Recipe: Mac ‘n’ Beef

2011-05-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

When we first came across this recipe our kids were still living at home and it became a real crowd pleaser. This meal is very quick to prepare and cook and hopefully your crew will like it too.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 can tomato soup

¾ cup water

1 tbsp prepared mustard

1 small can mushrooms, drained

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese

4 cups cooked elbow or shell macaroni

We have also added, in various combinations (depending on what we had on hand at the time): Velveeta cheese, parmesan cheese, green peppers, fresh garlic, 1 can whole corn, 1 can stewed tomatoes.

Directions

Cook beef and onion (and green peppers and fresh garlic if you decide to add them) until done, drain. Add the remaining ingredients and heat through. Yummy!

Further Reading:

Frugal Recipe: Chicken Creole with Chile Cream Sauce

Ten Restaurants Where Kids Eat Free

2011-05-09T12:40:00.001-05:00

The following is a guest post from Bailey Harris, who writes on many topics, including auto insurance for www.carinsurancequotes.net.

Taking the entire family out to eat can turn into a very expensive event. Fortunately, there are several restaurants that offer free meal specials for kids. Taking advantage of kids' meal deals can make family meals out more fun and frequent, and it will be easier on the wallet at the same time.

The following are 10 popular restaurants that offer free meals for kids. Some of these offers may vary depending on location, and not all restaurants may participate. It's always a good idea to call ahead of time to verify information with your local restaurants--this will save you time and money.

Golden Corral - At Golden Corral, children ages three and under can eat for free from the buffet with the purchase of one adult meal. This offer is good every day. On Mondays from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., kids ages 10 and under can eat for free. Two kids can eat for free for every adult meal that is purchased.

Denny's - On select nights that vary by location and restaurant participation, kids ages 10 and under can eat for free between the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. For every two kids eating free, one adult meal ($2.50 or more) must be purchased. Check with your local Denny's restaurant to find out which night this special is offered.

IHOP - On Monday evenings, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., IHOP offers specials for children 12 and under. For every adult entrée purchased, one child can eat for free. Beverages cost extra and are not included in the free meal.

Quiznos - At participating Quiznos locations, with the purchase of one adult meal, one Quiznos Kidz meal is free. This offer is for kids ages 12 and under--and the day that this special is offered varies depending on location.

Chick-fil-A - Tuesday nights at Chick-fil-A are family fun nights! On Tuesdays only, one kids meal is free per every adult combo meal purchased.

Marie Callender's - Select Marie Callender's restaurants offer kids ages 12 and under free meals. One kids meal is free for every adult meal purchased.

Planet Sub - On Tuesday evening from 4:00 p.m. until close, one kids meal per one adult meal purchase is free. This offer is good for kids ages 11 and under.

Damon's - At Damon's Sports Bar & Grill, Wednesday night is "kids' night!" With every adult meal purchased, one kid's meal is free.

Applebees - On Monday night at Applebees, kids can eat for free. With the purchase of one adult meal, one child's meal is free. If only one adult is present, each additional child's meal costs only $1.

Cici's Pizza - At Cici's Pizza, children ages three and under can eat for free from the buffet. This offer is good all day every day. Some locations also offer free meals to older kids on specific days of the week--call your local Cici's Pizza and find out more details.

Going out for dinner doesn't need to cost a fortune. With free meal deals for kids, the whole family can enjoy delicious meals out at some of your favorite restaurants!

Further Reading:

The 10 Best Freebie Sites

Nine Ways to Find Cheap or Free Performances

Weekly Roundup

2011-05-06T17:24:00.000-05:00

May is National Barbecue Month. Before heading outside and firing up the grill check out some of these barbecue facts, as well as a variety of barbecue recipes.

Homestar Runner is a fun little site to visit if you are looking for replicas of old school video games or short cartoons.

If you are looking for a part time job check out 10 til 2, a staffing firm “specializing in placing college-educated professionals into long-term, part-time positions.”

This article says there are two reasons why for the first time in 20 years the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped.

For English language news sites and magazines from around the world, sorted by country and region, check out World Newspapers.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post lists many reasons why you need WD-40.

Have a good weekend!

Make Money Selling Homemade Goods

2011-05-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

There is a large indoor flea market in our area that always has homemade goods spread out on certain strategically placed tables. There are usually pies, brownies, cookies and bread and sometimes jars of salsa, honey, jams and jellies, all homemade. During a recent visit while looking over that day’s spread I got to wondering how much money one could make producing and selling such items. While my wife has baked various things for potlucks and fundraisers over the years we have not really thought seriously of selling homemade goods for profit. I suppose it’s always a possibility if we ever decide to pursue the idea.

I have also seen homemade goods for sale at craft shows, farmers markets and local fairs and festivals. Some other homemade items you could consider making and selling are soap, candles, jewelry, woodworking projects, extra vegetables from your garden, the list could go on and on.

Make sure to check with your state’s health department for any applicable regulations and with local officials concerning any licenses or permits you might need.

If this is something you are interested in check out the following resources for some additional, more in depth reading on the subject.

Selling Your Home-Canned Salsa, Jams and Other Preserves

States Ease Restrictions on Selling Homemade Foods

Foodzie

Etsy

Related Reading:

Make Money by Selling Your Bones

Make Money Selling Plants

What to Aim For

2011-05-02T11:47:00.000-05:00

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946) wrote the following about the order in which we should set our goals.

“There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.”

Weekly Roundup

2011-04-29T10:24:00.000-05:00

Mevio is a free entertainment site with over forty shows in production, ranging from technology to comedy and general entertainment. Their top networks include technology, music, women's and men's content.

The Eating Well mission is “to provide the inspiration and information people need to make healthy eating a way of life.” To that end they offer recipes and menus, food news, diet, nutrition and health information as well as several free newsletters.

If you or someone you know are anticipating moving make sure to check out Movers Edge, which offers moving advice, packing tips, how to find professional movers, a weekly newsletter and the Ultimate Moving Checklist.

This article examines the top five signs that you’re wealthy.

Intelligent Travel “showcases the essence of place, what's unique and original, and what locals cherish most about where they live. And we highlight places, practices, and people that are on the front lines of sustainable travel—travel that preserves places’ essential uniqueness for future generations.” In other words this is not your typical travel site.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post gives some good tips on how to make and save money with scrap lumber.

Make it a great weekend!

Top 10 Ways Working from Home Saves You Money

2011-04-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

The following is a guest post by Ripley Daniels, an editor at Without The Stress, a passport, travel visa, and immigration advisory firm located in Los Angeles.

As a bona fide home-based business person, I know a thing or two about the benefits of commuting one flight of steps, working in my pajamas, going for a run in the middle of the day, and of course, saving a whole lot of dough. Anymore, it just doesn't make sense for me to show up at an office, especially considering how expensive that arrangement really is. Here are the top ten ways I have saved money by working from home, compared to my previous career as an office worker. While your own circumstances are likely to differ from my own, the savings are real.

Dry Cleaning - This used to be a big one since logo-ed shirts were part of my attire, making a weekly or bi-weekly trip for dry cleaning and laundry a regular expense. Annual savings: $240-360

Wardrobe - Not needing to "keep up appearances" on a daily basis has meant that most of my recent spending on clothes has been purely casual. Annual savings: $300 -$500.

Auto Insurance and Repairs - I didn't think much about this one at first, but it's big. Driving almost 5,000 fewer miles a year meant that one call to my auto insurer reduced my rate by 8%. I change my oil less often, and of course brakes, tires and other parts last longer. All told, my car expenses have dropped about $400 annually.

Do-It-Yourself Chores - Tired from a long day, slow commute, and feeling protective of time off, I was keen to outsource yard work, and other home-related jobs. Now I look forward to those things as a way to relax with productive, rewarding activities. No, I don't always love pulling weeds, but it's a great excuse to be outside and take a mental break. We've probably saved $600 a year, doing more tasks ourselves.

Gas - My commute to work used to be 13 miles each way, or about 6500 miles a year. At 22 mpg, that's 295 gallons of gas, or $1032.50 at $3.50/gal. That total is now reduced certainly by more than 75%, making my savings over $775 a year.

Day Care - Having a three year old around the house is not conducive to getting work done, and so we do send her to day care. However, I can take her in late, pick her up early, take random days off, and have even kept her out of day care altogether for a couple of spells, working reduced hours or swapping day care duties with friends. Shortened days don't affect the cost of day care, but extended absences do, and my flexibility meant I could choose a less expensive option. Total savings: about $1000.

Coffee - I do love my coffee, and still grab a big ol' latte from time to time. Used to be at least four each week, averaging $8 with tip and a snack. Substitute that with freshly ground coffee at home, and I'm saving more than $20 a week or $1000 annually.

Eating Out - While it's always possible to be responsible about workday meals, reality seldom cooperates. Packing a lunch or saving leftovers is an extra hassle, and it's more fun to eat out with the team. Estimating that I ate lunch out just three times in a typical work week, I now spend at least $30 less per week, or $1500 for the year.

Tax Deductions - As a consultant, a lot of the things that I would typically pay for outright now fall under the "business expense" category, such as a portion of my cell phone, internet and even mortgage. Of course I still pay for these things, but since they are required to do business, counting them against earnings saves me about $1600 in taxes.

Time - It's hard to quantify the value of the time saved by having my work with me. It is by far my most prized reward. True, balance can be a challenge, but how to deal with it is my choice, unlike the constraints of office work that are far less flexible. I don't have mindless meetings, 500 hours of commuting, or the daily drip of losing an hour or so to the chatter and "catching up" that being in a office entails. I find it a lot easier to catch up with friends now, instead. I get more work done in less time, and I spend more time on my home, my family and myself.

The truth is, you couldn't pay me to return to an office environment!

Further Reading:

What Would You Do With an Extra 35 Hours a Week?

10 Ways to Earn Fast Money

Can You Really Make Money Stuffing Envelopes?

2011-04-25T12:06:00.002-05:00

To start off I have to say I have actually made money stuffing envelopes, but it was for a full time employer at an hourly wage and not as a private contractor or part of a work at home offer. While thinking about different ways to make money that I have not written about yet I was reminded of the old comic book and magazine ads that would promise a great work at home opportunity for good money by stuffing envelopes. Almost anybody that you talked to back then would warn they were scams, and I wondered if such offers still existed today, and if so, were they legitimate. After some research into the possibilities here is what I found out:

All Scams

They still exist, and they are all scams. The way they usually work is you are asked to send money for instructions and maybe a starter kit. What you will receive are instructions telling you to place ads and ask for money, just like what happened to you. They might also offer to sell you a mailing list, in which case you would be stuffing envelopes with a scam letter that asks the recipients to send you money for instructions on how to make money stuffing envelopes. It is all dishonest and illegal.

An Alternative

Rather than respond to an ad consider contacting local print shops in your area and offering your services. This could involve working in their bindery department, maintaining mailing lists, collating marketing materials…maybe even operating their automatic envelope stuffing machine.

Further Reading:

My Worst Money Making Ideas

Can You Make Good Money Working As A Temp?

Weekly Roundup

2011-04-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

Big Think calls their site a knowledge forum, offering to “help you move above and beyond random information, toward real knowledge, offering big ideas from fields outside your own that you can apply toward the questions and challenges in your own life.” If that sounds a little vague just click on the link.

dealnews scours “over 2,000 online retailers and tens of thousands of deals to deliver the best 200+ deals each and every day — the kinds of deals you'd normally only see on Black Friday. We verify that each deal is valid, the lowest total price we could find, and from a reputable retailer. Then and only then do we post it for you. We take getting a bargain seriously, and then share what we find with you.”

HealthGuru offers health videos for people under 35 years of age, on topics including diet and fitness, mental and emotional health, sexual health, pregnancy, baby health and childcare, beauty and grooming, drugs and alcohol, and more. They explain that “individuals under 35 years old are used to an immersive, rich media experience on the web, not the text-centric offerings commonly found on other health sites. Health Guru was created with cutting edge media - like the largest health video library on the web and interactive applications - so we can offer the experience our audience expects.”

This article attempts to figure out which are the worst roads in the U.S.

When I was a kid you had to buy the book. Today, of course, Guinness World Records is online as well. The only bad thing I can see about making the book is as the oldest living person in the world. That usually means that, despite having managed to live for so many years, you now only have a few weeks left.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post asks how do you save money on eyewear and contacts. Make sure to read the comments, too.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Kate Sanborn

2011-04-20T13:16:00.001-05:00

History can provide some of the best lessons to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget.

This post is part of a series that focuses on some of those principals by going to source materials for inspiration.

Kate Sanborn (1839 – 1917) purchased and moved onto an abandoned farm in Massachusetts in 1888 and wrote about her trials and tribulations in a book entitled Adopting an Abandoned Farm published in 1891. In the following passage she writes of some of the pleasures and advantages of country living.

“I have told you of my mistakes, failures, losses, but have you any idea of my daily delights, my lasting gains?

From invalidism to health, from mental depression to exuberant spirits, that is the blessed record of two years of amateur farming. What has done this? Exercise, actual hard work, digging in the dirt. We are made of dust, and the closer our companionship with Mother Earth in summer time the longer we shall keep above ground. Then the freedom from conventional restraints of dress; no necessity for "crimps," no need of foreign hirsute adornment, no dresses with tight arm holes and trailing skirts, no high-heeled slippers with pointed toes, but comfort, clear comfort, indoors and out.

Plenty of rocking chairs, lounges that make one sleepy just to look at them, open fires in every room, and nothing too fine for the sun to glorify; butter, eggs, cream, vegetables, poultry--simply perfect, and the rare, ecstatic privilege of eating onions--onions raw, boiled, baked, and fried at any hour or all hours. I said comfort; it is luxury!

Dr. Holmes says: "I have seen respectability and amiability grouped over the air-tight stove, I have seen virtue and intelligence hovering over the register, but I have never seen true happiness in a family circle where the faces were not illuminated by the blaze of an open fireplace." And nature! I could fill pages with glowing descriptions of Days Outdoors. In my own homely pasture I have found the dainty wild rose, the little field

strawberries so fragrant and spicy, the blue berries high and low, so desirable for "pie-fodder," and daisies and ferns in abundance, and, in an adjoining meadow by the brookside, the cardinal flower and the blue gentian. All these simple pleasures seem better to me than sitting in heated, crowded rooms listening to interminable music, or to men or women who never know when to stop, or rushing round to gain more information on anything and everything from Alaska to Zululand, and wildly struggling to catch up with "social duties."

City friends, looking at the other side of the shield, marvel at my contentment, and regard me as buried alive. But when I go back for a short time to the old life I am fairly homesick. I miss my daily visit to the cows and the frolic with the dogs. All that has been unpleasant fades like a dream.

I think of the delicious morning hours on the broad vine-covered piazza, the evenings with their starry splendor or witching moonlight, the nights of sound sleep and refreshing rest, the all-day picnics, the jolly drives with friends as charmed with country life as myself, and I weary of social functions and overpowering intellectual privileges, and every other advantage of the metropolis, and long to migrate once more from Gotham to Gooseville.”

The Tornado

2011-04-18T15:23:00.001-05:00

Once in a great while I write completely off the usual topic of this blog, and I thought our recent experience of surviving a tornado might be a good candidate.

The Prelude

A few weeks ago my wife and I were reminded by our daughter that we had not been to visit her and her family since their baby boy was born in early December of last year. Since then they had made the 2 ½ hour trip to see us several times, but we were overdue to come visit them. They live in a small town of about 500 people in Northwest Iowa, and she is a stay at home mom who watches a few other kids during the day while her husband works as a car mechanic and is a volunteer fireman. They had made some improvements to the house since the last time we were there that they wanted us to see, and since it had long since been our turn to visit we gladly made the trip.

When we got there on Friday April 8^th there was the usual excitement of seeing all the new improvements to the house, visiting with them and their friends, and my wife and I just enjoying the getaway and being treated as guests for a change.

Saturday came and found us exploring a local state park for future camping possibilities. Next we drove to a couple of nearby towns for groceries and some thrift shop browsing. Then it was back to their house to relax and visit for the evening. On the way we noticed on the highway just outside of their town a storm chaser vehicle parked at the side of the road, loaded with various antennae and other hardware on the roof, looking out over a vast, empty field.

The Gathering

The temperature that day had been unseasonably warm and humid. Usually the sun will burn off the haze and fog, but the gray hung on all day and grew darker as the evening closed in. We set up a little storm watching area of our own on the kids back patio, looking directly south through their backyard and then hundreds of yards across the barren farm field that started where their lawn ended.

The horizon grew darker and slowly there arose one of the largest, blackest thunderheads I had ever seen. Lightning came from everywhere, striking the ground, backlighting the monster cloud, and sheeting across the entire sky. The rain began falling while the huge black cloud kept growing, and then the strobe-lightning began. That kind of lightning, constantly flashing like a strobe light, can be a precursor to a tornado. Combined with hail, which fell for about five minutes in pea to golf ball sizes, and the indicators really began to look ominous.

In the middle of their back yard is an ornamental windmill, about seven feet tall, which had been blowing hard from the south all night. At one point the wind stopped completely, and everything seemed frozen but the churning clouds and lightning. Suddenly the windmill completely changed its direction and was blowing hard from the north. The kids got a call that a tornado had blown through a friend’s property a few miles southwest and it was headed straight for us. We stepped out into the backyard for a better look and there it was, across the field, dipping down and sucking back up into the angry clouds. The temperature dropped 30 degrees, then rose to as hot as it had been during the day, then dropped again, like waves coming across us. The last time we looked at the windmill, as we bolted for the basement door, it was spinning in circles.

It Hits

By the time we made it down the stairs it hit. The lights flickered twice and the basement went dark, the only light now coming from the strobe lightning through the small windows. There was a solid thud and the entire house shuddered. When we talked about it later most of us agreed that at that point we were ready to see the house disappear from over top of us. It was happening too fast to think about dying, we were just part of the action and suspense of the moment. There seemed to be a breathing of the house, like it came alive briefly, almost as if the walls were sucking in and out. Then it let go and passed on, leaving us in the dark basement listening to the wind howl and watching the lightning flash.

Aftermath

Camper In Tree

We let a few minutes pass before creeping up the stairs and opening the back door. The first thing that greeted us was astonishing proof of the fury that had just passed: in one of the trees in their backyard was the next door neighbors RV camper, which had previously been parked at the edge of the field. That neighbor also had large tree limbs on his house and trees down in his front yard. The power was out all over town. Trees and limbs and debris were everywhere, in yards, the streets, wrapped around other trees and poles. The kids lost a few dozen shingles from their roof and a window awning. A homemade smoker made from an old stove had been thrown from behind their garage into the other neighbor’s backyard, while a shovel leaning against a shed not more than six feet away from where the smoker had been had not moved. One mystery was what had happened to the glass top patio table that had been just outside of the back door. It was later found in the front yard close to the street, on its top, no worse for the wear. The only way it could have reached that position was to have flown up over the top of their house.

In the morning an exploration of the rest of the town revealed how lucky we really were. The damage looked like a giant on a huge pogo stick had bounced his way through town, smashing down every fifth house or so, and then becoming airborne again. Maybe the damage was random and had no pattern but I was immediately reminded of what the tornado looked like when we saw it across the field, repeatedly dangling down from the clouds and then sucking back up as it made its way toward the town.

When we visited the kids last December we lost power and were snowed in by a blizzard. This time it was a tornado. Now they are joking about what we will bring with us the next time we come to see them.

Further Reading:

A Walk in the Woods

Weekly Roundup

2011-04-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

Visit Flixter to watch movie trailers, read reviews, find show times, network with other fans, take quizzes and polls and even watch movies and TV shows. Sign up for free and customize the site with your preferences.

Book Ase is a free service that allows you to compare prices of any textbook among major online bookstores worldwide. They claim you can buy books at 30% - 95% off the market list price. You can also use the site to find the best price for books you have to sell.

Job Doggy is designed to help teens and students throughout their job search, from beginning to end. Just type in your zip code to find out what is available. Register for free with the site for additional benefits.

This article ponders small purchases and when a cup of coffee is so much more than a cup of coffee.

Check out Spark Recipes for delicious, healthy recipes submitted by their 8 million members. They also have a resident chef that whips up original dishes and menu makeovers, and a recipe calculator gives you the calories, fat, and nutrition info for it all.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This article offers ideas on how to make money from vacant houses.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Recipe: Chicken Creole with Chile Cream Sauce

2011-04-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

If you like it a little spicy this might be a good dish to try. I got the original recipe from Campbell’s and added a few ingredients. The preparation and cooking time together is less than half an hour so this tasty meal can come in handy when time is short.

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breast halves

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, pressed or chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small can chopped green chilies

¼ cup sour cream

1 tbsp. olive oil

½ cup water

2 tsp. Creole seasoning

Cooked rice

Directions

Heat the oil in a skillet then add chicken, garlic and onion and sprinkle with seasoning. Cook until chicken is browned then add soup, chilies and water. Cook on low until done, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream and serve over rice.

Further Reading:

Frugal Recipe: Potato Pot Pie

How to Save Big Money on College Textbooks

2011-04-11T16:45:00.001-05:00

The following is a guest post by Brian Jenkins, who has been writing about various career and education topics for BrainTrack.com, including college degree programs in finance, for two years.

According to Elsa Magee, acting president of New York Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC), a report showed that the average college student spends $1,000 per year on books. That's a lot of money for college students on tight budgets. Fortunately, students can significantly cut costs by taking advantage of the growing market for used textbooks and rental textbooks.

Used Textbooks

Many campus bookstores sell used textbooks, but these usually fly off the shelves. Some college towns have independent book stores that sell used books.

Most major online booksellers carry used textbooks at competitive prices. Some of the leading online used book sellers are as follows:

half.com

ecampus.com

campusbooks.com. This website allows students search for used textbooks at numerous stores.

Rent Textbooks

Online book renting websites are increasingly popular with college students. They offer books at a fraction of what used they would cost at campus bookstores. Instead of buying textbooks and selling them back later, students can rent and save money now. Many of the websites (listed below) also provide free shipping.

Students are able to choose the amount of time they want to rent a book for. Some websites allow students to rent a book for 60, 90, or 130 days and extensions are available for an additional fee. These websites also buy used textbooks from students, and the average buyback price at one site (Chegg.com) is $40. Some colleges operate textbook rental programs, so make sure to check with your school if this is an option.

Here are a few of the popular online textbook renting companies:

Swap Textbooks with Other College Students

Find other college students who have the book you need. Students should be able to find other students who have completed the course and no longer need the book. Textbook Revolt helps students rent textbooks from other students or from bookstores.

eTextbooks

Online textbooks offer a number of useful conveniences, including high-speed searching and electronic note taking. Depending on the provider, you may not need a special reader to access the eTextbooks, which are usually sold at 50% of the print retail price. However, you may get a better deal by renting or purchasing a used book. eTextbooks typically expire after 180 days. Students can choose to either download the book onto their computer or read it online. Course Smart is one site that sells eTextbooks.

When you're in the market for textbooks, shop early and always compare prices of book rentals and used books.

Further Reading:

10 Places to Sell Books Online

Search for Scholarships

Weekly Roundup

2011-04-08T08:55:00.000-05:00

Consider Best Buy Drugs by Consumer Reports as a reliable source for drug news and updates, reports by drug category, drug advice, safety alerts and free guidance for consumers on prescription medicines. They also offer a free email newsletter.

Is the internet really the great healer of age old relationship problems? Can it replace just sitting down and talking things out? Tokii seems to think so, billing itself as “the world’s first relationship management platform.”

City Farmer is all about teaching city dwellers how to grow food at home in their back yards or in community gardens. They offer advice on how to grow vegetables, kitchen herbs and fruit in town.

Here is a video about 5 items that rarely lose value.

April is Financial Literacy Month. Visit the site and improve your financial wellness by using some of the free tools they offer, such as webinars, worksheets, eBooks, and their 30 Steps program.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This article asks if the new frugality will last.

Make it a great weekend!

What Failure Teaches

2011-04-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) wrote the following pithy quote about how we can figure out our way in life.

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do, by finding out what we will not do.”

Five Great News Sites

2011-04-04T12:06:00.000-05:00

In February I put together a list of five great weather sites. I mentioned that first thing in the morning I check the weather, then the news, then my email accounts. I suppose it was only logical for me to next list some of the news sites I check. Here are five of them, in no particular order.

Drudge Report – While it has been labeled a political news site I find that all of the other news he links to makes this one of the most interesting reads of the morning. The plain, clean layout and minimal advertising are also appealing.

The Christian Science Monitor – The website is the online presence of the 100 year old international news magazine. They rely more on their own writers rather than the wire services, which might help to explain the seven Pulitzer Prizes they have won to date.

Fark – If you are looking for something funny or weird to read about, Fark is the place. They select around 50 links each day, and categories range from Asinine to Obvious to Spiffy. Florida has a category all to itself.

New Scientist – The magazine was launched in 1956 "for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery, and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences". The website was created in 1996 and updates every day, and they have over 76,000 pieces archived.

Topix – This aggregate news site draws from over 50,000 sources, and what makes it different is that you can edit the news based on your location and interests.

Further Reading:

Five Great Weather Sites

Five Interesting Frugal Videos

Weekly Roundup

2011-04-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Full Fitness is a free fitness site that offers workout routines, exercises you can perform with weight machines, free-weights, or alone. You also might find a few tasty recipes!

Pogo offers free online games, including “puzzle games, word games, card games, and board games. Unlike other free online games sites, we offer a variety of classic Hasbro board games like RISK, Yahtzee, Scrabble, and Monopoly. We also have popular games like Chess, Spider Solitaire, Cribbage, and Bejeweled.” You can also enter to win prizes.

Voice America claims to have 2.5 million listeners and features Web-based talk radio programming and more than 200 hosts talking about topics from sports and finance to health, hobbies, pop culture and business. If you haven’t listened yet give them a try.

Most of us don’t think much about aging until it starts to become noticeable in our personal lives. When it’s about others, oh well; but when the shadow of mortality hangs over us, we start to pay attention. Stanford University is using a computer enhanced shock technique to help people pay more attention to their retirement needs.

I have featured a few sites exclusively for the ladies in the past, but this week it’s your turn men. In an ever more androgynous and morally neutral environment that has produced so many wimps or thugs as pop culture or sports idols, The Art of Manliness stands out like a saving beacon in the night. Their goal of “Reviving the lost art of manliness” will sound strangest to those most in need of help!

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.

This post ponders why a weekly menu matters and offers some delicious recipes.

Make it a great weekend!

Save Money by Conserving Water

2011-03-30T12:55:00.010-05:00

Water makes up most of what we are, covers the majority of Earth’s surface and sustains all living things while able to kill any of them. One of the costs of living in a civilized country is having to pay for water to be delivered to your home, and it is one of those bills that can vary wildly based on your use (or misuse). The following are some ideas on how to whittle down that expense.

Buy a water saving toilet flush system. Check with Fluidmaster to get an idea of what’s available.

Buy a new low flush toilet.

Put a full bottle of water in the tank so less water is used when flushing.

Use the “brown flush it down, yellow let it mellow” rule when using your toilet. Or not.

Adjust the filler mechanism in the tank so it stops at a lower level.

Replace leaky faucets with water efficient faucets, or at least replace the seals.

Install water efficient low flow shower heads.

Make sure to ask your water utility or city about possible rebates for any plumbing items you replace. You can also check WaterSense.

Consider investing in a tankless water heater.

When the time comes to replace any dishwashers and washing machines buy a brand with a good Energy Star rating. You can also use the site to read about possible tax credits and rebates.

Use your greywater (wash water) for watering plants and the garden.

Collect rain water in a rain barrel to water your garden and yard.

Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or shaving.

Run only full loads in your dishwasher and washing machine.

Use a broom or rake to remove leaves and debris from your driveway, patio and sidewalks instead of the hose.

I’m sure I’ve missed some so feel free to share your water saving ideas in the comment section below.

Further Reading:

Ten Ways to Save Money by Staying Home

Money Saving Secrets: A Review

Make Money Freelancing

2011-03-28T11:20:00.007-05:00

The following is a guest post by Lisa Shoreland, currently a resident blogger at Go College, where recently she's been researching chemistry scholarships as well as business administration scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing, practicing martial arts, and taking weekend trips.

At the beginning of my freelancing career, I knew nothing of the online writing world. SEO was a typo for CEO. HTML was something I learned to personalize my MySpace page in the 8^th grade. Blogs were online diaries for people without friends, not potential sources of income. Obviously, I know better now.

The online freelancing community has experienced an explosive growth in the past several years, especially since the economic recession put countless workers out of jobs. Because the webosphere is only growing with no sign of petering out anytime soon, jobs are always available for practically everyone, even a college graduate with very little experience in “the real world” and armed with an economically unviable major like creative writing (yours truly).

Although my major serves me in my career as a fiction writer and novelist, I never thought anything would come of it in the online community. That was until I stumbled across hundreds of creative writing blogs within my first few months of freelance blogging. Not only has my passion given me the tools to put a decent sentence together, it’s given me a commonality amongst others in the blogosphere. Even if you don’t have professional experience in writing, having expertise in something (or a willingness to learn about it) is often enough, such as personal finance or fashion.

Perks of Freelancing

As a freelance blogger, I have the daily opportunity to:

· Make money to put bread on the table,

· Gain experience in a growing industry,

· Add to my résumé, and

· Network amongst countless people from across the globe from my own desk chair, opening windows to new opportunities.

Whether you want income from a job separate from your office gig or you want work from home, freelancing is a valid and potentially lucrative neighborhood to explore. Here’s how I got started.

Steps to Freelancing

1. First, look at the water before taking the dive. Check out some websites like Freelance Writing Gigs to see what jobs are out there. Copyediting, content writing, blogging, and proofreading are skills often requested on freelancing websites.

2. Consider what marketable skills you have to offer. Are you proficient in HTML and SEO? Do you have experience in copyediting? Did you major in English or writing in college? Even fiction writers like me can use their skills as bloggers, content writers, or even technical writers for sizeable companies.

3. Decide what your standards are. I didn’t have any when I first started. I just wanted to make enough money to survive. Freelance Writing Gigs has some great advice on the matter:

· Decide how much money you need to make in one month and how much you want to make in one month. Add them together and divide by 2. (Ex: need $5,000 + want $10,000 / 2 = $7,500.) This is your target price.

· Then, take your target price and divide it by 22, which is the average number of working days a month. This number is how much money you need to make in a day of freelancing (if you’re hoping to go full-time).

· Stick to this number, and don’t stray, or you’re going to be doing your bank account a huge disservice.

4. Start small. It’s not exactly realistic to quit your day job on Friday and start earning the same as your previous paycheck by Monday. Start with an “this is just extra income” attitude and work your way up from there.

5. If you do decide to freelance full-time, make sure that, whatever you’re doing, it’s stimulating in some way. Sure, you can make considerable money writing instructions for working your sponsoring company’s microwave, but this isn’t terribly scintillating stuff. Remember that whatever skill you’re marketing should always be improving. If you find yourself treading in still water, change things up.

Further Reading:

Content Sites Review – Make Money Writing on the Web

Why Do So Many PF Bloggers Start Off As Financial Idiots?

Weekly Roundup

2011-03-25T12:07:00.002-05:00

WalkJogRun is a site you can use to “plan running routes by drawing them out on a map. It includes a distance/speed calculator and calorie burn estimator. Click on the map to set a starting point. Then keep clicking from point to point to draw a route. Click on any of the markers for your route and see how far this point is from the start and what the estimated time would be for a given speed.”

Crowdbeacon is “a location-based service focused on providing relevant, localized communication and information to users based on what they need and where they are.”

Miniclip is an online games site where “you can play a large range of free online games including action games, sports games, puzzle games, games for girls, games for kids, flash games and many more. Miniclip game players can compile games statistics such as high scores, rankings on their own player pages and can receive awards for playing games.”

This article lists 5 weird ways to pay for college.

The song Candy Everybody Wants by the band 10,000 Maniacs came on the radio the other day and even though I had heard the song many times I had never really listened to the lyrics. An internet search took me to Song Meanings, which offers song lyrics and comments about what they mean.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
This post asks if it is tougher to save money or make more.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Harlan Hubbard

2011-03-23T12:17:00.001-05:00

History can provide some of the best lessons to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget.

This post is part of a series that focuses on some of those principals by going to source materials for inspiration.

In the fall of 1944 Harlan Hubbard and his wife Anna began building a homemade boat, a shantyboat, the first step in actually accomplishing their long held dream of drifting down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River to New Orleans. After several summer long stops they reached their goal in March of 1950. In this excerpt from his book about the journey, Shantyboat, A River Way of Life, he explains why he wanted to undertake the journey.

“There were other and deeper reasons for my going down to the river. I thought I might be able to engage there in certain harmless and simple activities which town, and even country, interfered with. For where can one find more freedom than on the river? The fields and woods are all owned by someone, and beyond the narrow bounds of the public road the walker is trespassing. I do not say the river is entirely outside the law, although we have been told of certain sections that are, but it affords a chance for a more unhampered life than any other accessible region.”

“I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independent as far as possible from a system of division of labor in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smoke as it burned on the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, catch it in the river, or forage after it. In short, I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realized from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.”

Related Reading:

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Carl Faber

Should You Spend Money on Budgeting Software?

2011-03-21T10:42:00.002-05:00

Debbie Dragon is a professional freelance writer, specializing in personal finance. She frequently writes for Vertex42.com which offers a large selection of free spreadsheet templates and financial calculators.

When you are attempting to get back or stay on track financially, a budget is certainly one of the most important necessary components. A budget is your clear visual of exactly where you stand and where you can go with your income. Without it, you can easily overspend, forget to save, and essentially live paycheck to paycheck barely making ends meet.

There are many ways to budget your money, including top of the line budgeting software and other technology that is promoted to do the work for you. While some of the software and tools are free, many are getting more and more expensive. But is it really necessary to go the distance with these programs? Should we be investing our money in such high-powered technology?

Measuring One’s Personal Preferences

There are really no tried and true answers to this question because it typically comes down to the person’s preferences. Ultimately whatever it is that makes you stay committed to doing the budget each and every week is what should be implemented into your daily life. If you feel it is easier to do some data entry rather than take pen to paper, explore the free or at least inexpensive tools for budgeting being offered. Since all programs differ in how they operate, check out the free versions or the trial periods until you can find one that suits your financial needs.

Working the numbers in a notebook can be just as effective as entering your data into a more complicated system. But the reality is you do have to start somewhere if you have not yet developed a budgeting system. Without understanding your budget, you have no way of knowing if you can even afford to invest in expensive budgeting software.

Here is a refresher course on what you need to establish a budget:

Gather Your Accounts

Even if you plan to use budgeting software to maintain your numbers, it is best for you to write all of your information down in one place to make data entry more efficient. You need to collect all of your billing statements, account numbers, contact information, balance totals, monthly payments, and interest rates from every creditor you are currently paying on. A budget worksheet will make this easier and more organized for you.

Compile a List of Expenses

Once you have the information in front of you, you’ll need to make a list of all your expenses, creditors, and account information in one column. In a second column, write down the amount required for monthly payment and the date it is due. In the next column, write down the interest rate if applicable (for credit cards). The last column should contain the total outstanding balance on the account. When all monthly expenses and creditors have been listed, total the amounts of your monthly payments and the total outstanding balances on all accounts.

Tally Income

Get your paystubs and other records of reliable income and total the amount taken in for a month. You will then need to deduct your total monthly expenses from your total income. If the total you get after subtracting expenses from income is a negative number, it means you do not have enough to go around. Supplemental income or budgetary cuts are necessary to free up more cash. Any total left over after the subtraction is what is ‘extra’ and should be allocated wisely into a savings plan.

Set Goals

If you can get your budget to the point where you are spending less than you are earning, you can start working on becoming more financially free. Budgeting software will often help you track your savings goals, but you can also find many free tools that can help you set up debt reduction plans as well.

A budget is an ongoing thing, one that needs to remain flexible and constantly updated to be effective. Whether you continue to track expenses and income on spreadsheets or prefer to try specialized budgeting software is up to you. The most important point to remember is that no software can add money to your income nor can it do the work for you entirely. You have to be an active participant in your budgeting process.

Related Reading:

Ten Tips to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

Do You Keep a Budget?

Weekly Roundup

2011-03-18T10:11:00.001-05:00

iFreebies is a new site that brings you links to sweepstakes, samples and all kinds of freebies. While there are many of these kinds of websites I really like the clean and simple layout of this one. And…who doesn’t like freebies? Take a minute to pay them a visit.

Slickdeals is “a free, user-driven deal sharing site with a mission to provide consumers an avenue to collaborate and share information in order to make the best shopping decisions.” Not sure what exactly that means? Go check it out.

When I first came across the site TED I was a little worried it would be either overtly political or just plain kooky. I didn’t need to worry about a thing. The site offers video of interesting, sometimes fascinating talks given at the annual TED conference about Technology, Entertainment and Design, among other subjects.

Here is a useful article about the 10 things hotels won’t tell you.

Use the free Lemon Check if you are considering buying a used car to find out if “it has consistent and significant performance issues even after reasonable attempts have been made to repair identified mechanical problems.”

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
This article offers several tips on how to find free firewood.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Recipe: Potato Pot Pie

2011-03-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

While this is a delicious recipe to throw together anytime it sounds good, it is also one to keep in mind when you find yourself with leftover mashed potatoes or veggies. There is no need for a side dish with this recipe because it’s all in there. We have several versions of pot pies that we make from time to time but this is one of the few that has no crust.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken or turkey, chopped or 1 lb cooked ground beef

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1 pkg. frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained (or use leftovers)

½ onion, chopped

1 cup milk

1 tsp. basil leaves

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese (the last time I used ½ a jar of leftover cheese sauce)

2 cups mashed potatoes

Directions

Mix the first six ingredients together with 1 cup of the shredded cheese in a casserole dish. Cover with the mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for ½ hour, then sprinkle remaining cheese on top and continue baking until melted, about 5 minutes.

Further Reading:

Frugal Recipe: Kalamata Roast

Eight Great Homesteading Sites

2011-03-14T16:46:00.002-05:00

While very few of us go forth into the wilderness to build a life from the resources around us like the pioneers did, there are some of us who have inherited their spirit of resourcefulness. We enjoy getting every last pennies worth of value from whatever we spend our money on, and doing things that help us to avoid spending altogether. We buy food in bulk, garden, can and freeze it and whatever we can’t eat goes back into the garden as compost. We try to do it ourselves with inexpensive (or free) materials. We salvage, reuse, curb, glean and forage. Some of us even have websites sharing with others how we do it. There are around 130 homestead related sites I have bookmarked, so this list might turn into the first part of a series if there is any interest. In no order here are eight great homesteading sites.

Mother Earth News – The Grand Daddy (Granny?) of homesteading and self-sufficient living sites. The self described “Original Guide to Living Wisely” offers not a little about a lot but a lot about a lot. When I visit the site I end up clicking one page after the other and can spend quite a bit of time there, but I never feel like I have wasted my time.

Homestead.org – This site offers a nice variety of in depth articles on homesteading topics, a forum, a cookbook and a weekly newsletter.

Homesteading Today – This is an absolutely massive homesteading forum. The main topics are General, Livestock, Country Living, Country Homemaking, and a Specialty section. Some of the forums have hundreds of thousands of posts, making this site one that you just have to bookmark for future reference.

Countryside and Small Stock Journal – This is the online presence of the magazine. They offer about one third of the articles printed in the magazine, as well as several blogs, an online library and past issues. Well worth a visit.

Urban Homestead – This is a journal of four adults living on an urban homestead in Pasadena, Ca. that is one fifth of an acre in size but produces 6,000 pounds of food annually! While there make sure to visit their large archive to find out how they do it.

Backwoods Home Magazine – They cover all the bases and then some. Subjects include farm and garden, energy, self-reliance, homeschooling, making and saving money, recipes, firearms and hunting, tools, health and crafts. They also offer a newsletter, forum and several blogs.

Pioneer Living Survival Magazine – As you might be able to gather from the title this site has a slant towards survival techniques as well as homesteading and pioneer living. There are lots of good articles on back to the basics, living off the grid, gardening, cooking and more. Check out their videos and forum while you are there.

Hobby Farms – The website for the magazine for hobby farmers, small production farmers and those that love the country. Here you can find all kinds of information about rural life including small farm equipment, livestock and crops. Make sure to check out the resources section, as well as the community page.

Further Reading:

My Ten Favorite Homesteading Books

10 Books to Have Around When the Internet Goes Down

Weekly Roundup

2011-03-11T11:22:00.001-06:00

Vampire Power Sucks offers tips on how to save money by stopping the power loss caused by electronic devices running in standby mode. They also offer a blog and an energy loss calculator so you can see for yourself how much power you are wasting and how much you could save annually by just taking a few simple steps.

If you like sandwiches you are going to want to check out the Sandwich Project, where at the time of this writing they have recipes for 3,692 sandwiches. If you aren’t sure what to make just type in the ingredients you have on hand in their sandwich search engine.

Blorge is a technology news site “covering general technology and science, Windows, Macintosh, iPhone and Touch, IPad, tablets, gaming, photography, and buying guides.”

Here is a good article about 5 things worth haggling over and why.

Visit Dead Fred to trace your roots using their searchable database of thousands of identified and mystery photos. Anyone who finds a photo of a direct ancestor that is owned by the archive will receive the photo for free.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
I wrote this post offering some tips on how to find seasonal work.

Make it a great weekend!

Money Saving Ideas That Cost You Nothing

2011-03-09T10:27:00.002-06:00

Whenever I see articles with titles like this one I always have to at least skim them for some possible new ideas. While looking them over what many times catches my attention is that some of those tips cost you something to implement. Take the idea of growing a vegetable garden to supplement your food budget, which is an excellent idea. But you also have to consider the outlay for seeds or plants, cages depending on what you are growing, the proper gardening tools to both plant and weed and the money spent watering it all season long. If you want to save money watering your garden by collecting rain water you will need a rain barrel that is designed for the job of holding all of that weight, which start at around $30 each. A great idea that will eventually pay for itself, but you still have that initial cost.

Recently while reading yet another list of these ideas I got to thinking about what a person could do to save money that would cost nothing to implement. When taken to extremes you could say everything costs something, whether it is money or time. So to make my little exercise more workable I had to set up some parameters. Let’s say we are talking about the average size American family that has a dwelling with all the usual things found inside, a yard, a car, average income and expenses. How could they save money by not spending anything outside of their normal budget? I got the list started, but I’m really hoping for some help on this one.

Turn off the lights when leaving a room.

Open the southern facing blinds or curtains during sunny winter days to help heat the house and keep them closed during the summer to help keep it cool.

Take leftovers for lunch at work.

Eat smaller portions (more for lunch the next day!)

Wear an extra layer of clothing in the house in the winter and lower your thermostat a few degrees.

Hang up your clothes outside on a line to dry.

Use your library resources rather than purchasing items.

Walk to save on gas and for exercise.

If you garden compost your coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable scraps and shredded paper rather than buying fertilizer.

Unplug electrical devices (vampire electronics) when not in use to save money.

Okay, it’s a start, but I’m sure there are plenty more to add to the list. What money saving tips that cost nothing can you recommend?

Additional Reading:

Four Leading Causes of Overspending

What Would You Do with an Extra 35 Hours a Week?

Have Some Expertise to Share? Make Money Tutoring

2011-03-07T11:53:00.002-06:00

The following is a guest post by Raine Parker, who writes on the topic of accounting degree. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: raine.parker6@gmail.com.

After I first lost my job during the height of the recession, I was convinced that the world was over, that finding another job would be an uphill struggle. Once the grief over the loss subsided, I got to work. I knew I had so many skills to share, but no one was hiring at the time, and I struggled for almost a year to find another steady job. During that time, I explored several money-making options on my own, and I eventually began earning just as much as I was when I was officially employed. Sure, it was hard work, requiring discipline and initiative, but it paid off in the end. The one venture that brought in the most money for me was tutoring.

Tutoring is one thing that will always have some sort of demand. Whether it's tutoring school subjects, standardized tests, or even extra-curricular activities like golf, tennis, drawing, computer programming pretty much anything you'll always be able to find someone, somewhere who can use your services.

Of course, you can't tutor subjects that you don't have at least some sort of demonstrated expertise in. Since I majored in English in college, I used this credential to advertise my services in helping local college students edit research papers. Having also scored well on the SAT, I purchased a few SAT books and helped high school students prepare for their college entrance exams.

These gigs were just the tip of the iceberg. I eventually branched out into other tutoring endeavors, including giving beginner piano lessons. You don't have to be a leading expert in any activity to help out those who are just starting. Craigslist is a good place to begin advertising your services, but there are a host of other venues to get the word out as well. One good resource is WyzAnt, a website that connects tutors with students in any city. Placing ads in local college newspapers is also a good option.

Since I initially had very little previous experience tutoring, I charged a very small, competitive rate. Once I started getting many students who experienced success with my tutoring methods, I got more and more gigs as my former students advertised for me. If you have some trepidation about the actual tutoring process, check out Tutoring Matters: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about How to Tutor and Tutoring as a Successful Business: An Expert Tutor Shows You How. These are both excellent starting guides that give you practical information about every aspect of tutoring, from business considerations to practical advice on teaching.

Related Reading:

Search for Scholarships

10 Free Online Colleges and Courses

Weekly Roundup

2011-03-04T10:57:00.001-06:00

Relay Rides is a car sharing site that allows you to borrow a car from an owner in your area or to make money renting out your car. While currently available only in San Francisco and Boston it’s an idea that might catch on elsewhere.

Sports Reference says their primary aim is “to serve and delight our customers with the easiest-to-use, fastest, and most complete sports statistics.” I think they have achieved their goal.

To help alleviate the loneliness and boredom that many nursing home residents experience you might consider volunteering for the Bridge of Hope Nursing Home Pen Pal Program. To help out you commit to writing at least two letters a month to a nursing home resident. Visit the site for more information.

The rich are fully capable of making bad financial decisions. Here is the story of how a former billionaire’s wife ended up losing her antiques, her business and mansion and acquiring $66 million in debt in a matter of months.

Visit Phoneapps.com to search for the app you want, listed by platform. While I didn’t look at every app most of the ones I did included the word “free” in the description.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
In this post I compare what products we buy used vs. new.

Have a good weekend!

The Greatest Results

2011-03-02T10:12:00.001-06:00

In the 1600’s Owen Feltham wrote about the two human qualities that can produce the greatest results. His observation still rings true today.

“The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be summed in these two: common-sense and perseverance.”

10 Places to Sell Books Online

2011-02-28T13:06:00.002-06:00

The following is a guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for the Health Insurance Blog.

If you are looking for new ways to make money online, consider selling some of your used books. There are several different sites that will buy books directly from you and others that will let you list your books for free. In most cases, you can receive payment via PayPal, check, or direct deposit. Here are 10 great places to sell both fiction and non-fiction online.

Half.com - This eBay site is one of the better known places to sell books online. You don't have to pay any listing fees until your book sells. The buyer pays the shipping and your list price. Half.com makes sure you get the money, direct depositing funds into your checking account twice each month.

Amazon - After registering for an Amazon seller account, you can begin selling books in the Amazon marketplace. Your items will be displayed right along with all of the other products that Amazon sells. If you have a lot of inventory, you can get your own branded, custom online store. Any money that you make will be deposited (by Amazon) in your bank account.

Facebook Marketplace - You can sell almost anything, including books, in the Facebook Marketplace. There is no charge for listing your books. Listings will stay posted for 30 days and can even be displayed on your regular Facebook page.

Powell's Books - Powell's will buy your used books from you. Enter in the ISBN numbers of the books you want to sell. Powell's will make an offer on the books. If you like it, you can ship your books to the Powell's warehouse and collect your cash.

CKY Books - CKY Books will also buy your books directly from you. Some of the books you can sell include textbooks, religious books, self-help books, travel books, and current fiction. CKY takes care of shipping costs and pays via check or PayPal.

Cash4Books.net - This site specializes in fiction, non-fiction, and textbooks published after 2008. Enter in the ISBN of the book you want to sell and find out how much you will be paid for the books. Ship the books to Cash4Books.net for free and get paid via PayPal or check.

Paperback Swap - Paperback Swap is designed for people who want to sell books and get more books as payment. All you have to do is list books that you are willing to swap. When people request your books, you send them out and get a credit that can be used to request books from other Paperback Swap users.

Moola4Books - This site has paid out more than $13 million to private book sellers. You can ship your books to the site for free using FedEx and receive your payments via PayPal or check. Payments are usually made within one business day.

Sell Back Your Book - Sell Back Your Book will not only buy your books, but will also pay any shipping fees associated with the transaction. This site also buys used books from libraries.

BookScouter - You can't sell books on BookScouter, but you can use the site's comparison tool to see which book buyers will give you the best price on used books. BookScouter's tool searches 40 different buyer sites and works especially well for people who are trying to sell textbooks.

Related Reading:

Selling Your Books

10 Great Resources for Free Books

Weekly Roundup

2011-02-25T11:51:00.001-06:00

If you or someone you know is looking for a job make sure to check out Internet Inc.com for some ideas, as well as their list of the top 100 job search websites and categories.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging states that their primary mission “is to build the capacity of its members to help older persons and persons with disabilities live with dignity and choices in their homes and communities for as long as possible.” This site offers a wealth of information surrounding the care and well being of older people.

If you love movies you’ll want to spend some time at Movieclips, where they have collected clips and made them completely searchable by actor, title, genre, occasion, action, mood, character, theme, setting, prop, and even dialogue. With each clip they include links so you can buy or rent the feature-length movie.

Here is an interesting article about a dying banker’s last instructions.

15gifts allows you to fill out a brief survey about the person or couple you want to buy a gift for and they give you 15 recommendations. You enter their age, their relationship to you, the occasion, what they like and wear, and your budget and the site picks the results. You can remove any of the suggestions and they will be replaced with another. I think it’s very useful site because picking out gifts has always been a weak spot for me.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
Make sure to check out this article on the ten best home improvement and DIY sites.

Make it a great weekend!

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Carl Faber

2011-02-23T12:27:00.001-06:00

History can provide some of the best lessons to help us figure out solutions to today’s problems.

Concerning finances, thrift, frugality and simple living there are tried and true bedrock principals that we should never forget.

This post is part of a series that focuses on some of those principals by going to source materials for inspiration.

Recently while looking at some books I had decided to get rid of I picked up one titled “America’s Hidden Wilderness, Lands of Seclusion.” It was published by National Geographic in 1988 and while flipping through it I stopped at a chapter titled “Desert Splendor” by Suzanne Venino. She wrote about exploring the Mojave Desert and at one point she meets Carl Faber, a “desert rat” and artist who had been living in a little house in the desert for 16 years.

“I don’t have a gallery or an agent. I sell my paintings right from my door,” said Carl, a tall, lanky man of 50 with curly hair and a mustache. Working in acrylics, pen and ink, and colored pencil, he produces near photographic renderings of desert landscapes. “I’ve become a part of the landscape myself,” he says. “I’ve had had coyotes walk up to me when I’m painting, and I’ve had birds land on my head. I know the intimacies of light and dark, the shadings of the seasons. I know the postures of plants and how they grow in relation to one another. It’s subtle, but I see it because I’ve spent so much time sitting quietly in the desert painting.”

Carl paints when he feels like it or when he needs money. “By giving up the need for money,” he says, “I’ve simplified my life. And what I’ve gained is time, time that allows me to do the things that I want to do. There are no schedules to follow here, no deadlines to meet. I read. I hike. Right now I’m teaching myself Gershwin and Fats Waller on the guitar. I can just enjoy the heck out of a day.”

Related Reading:

Frugal Lessons From The Past: Old Mike

Five Great Weather Sites

2011-02-21T10:51:00.002-06:00

Call it compulsion or habit or whatever but when I first get online in the morning I check the weather, the news and my several email accounts, in that order. I remember catching the 10 PM news on TV with my parents as a kid and they would watch up to the end of the weather report then turn it off and go to bed. If the weather had been on first I’m pretty sure there would have been plenty of nights they would have just skipped the news altogether.

Checking the weather forecast in the morning of course provides fresher data than the night before, and because we get such a variety of weather here in Iowa (freezing rain, tornados, drought, floods, blizzards, thunderstorms, even thunder snow occasionally) keeping up with the conditions outside helps one to stay prepared. To that end here are five different weather sites that should help keep you aware of and ready for whatever blows your way.

Weather – Provided by The Weather Channel this site offers forecasts, maps, downloads and, of course, links to their shows.

AccuWeather – You can find news, videos and maps and can switch over to Canada and UK/Ireland forecasts.

National Weather Service – This is the federal government’s weather site and the information they provide is a little more extensive. While offering the usual maps and forecasts they also provide info on aviation and marine conditions, as well as a large educational section.

Intellicast – This one is my favorite, probably because I have been using it for several years now and I’m familiar with the layout. I saved the page to my favorites after bringing up my location, so now every time I check it the site loads with my local news, forecast and maps.

Finally, Time Temperature offers a valuable weather resource guide with loads of links to other weather and science sites.

Further Reading:

Six Great Gardening Sites

The 10 Best Freebie Sites

Weekly Roundup

2011-02-18T10:55:00.002-06:00

If you are an anxious gardener awaiting spring planting, like me, you might get some relief by browsing Cyndi’s Catalog of Garden Catalogs. They bill themselves as “the home gardener's one stop to find all the mail-order gardening catalogs in the US and Canada - over 2000 of them!”

Register with iGive, shop at brand name online stores through the iGive Mall and a portion of each purchase is donated to your favorite cause, which includes over 44,367 organizations.

“Friends and family have always shown support and compassion after significant life events through the delivery of meals. mealTrain.com is a free solution that simplifies the organization of giving and receiving meals. By allowing the giving party to take into account the recipient’s preferred meal times, food preferences, and available days, the site helps ensure that the recipient gets the meals they enjoy on the days that are most helpful.”

This article lists what they call the best part-time jobs for retirees. There are some good ideas for those not yet retired as well.

Radio-Locator says it is “the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. We have links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world.”

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
This post is a reminder of why you should check the newspaper for good deals.

Have a good weekend!

Frugal Recipe: Kalamata Roast

2011-02-16T10:08:00.002-06:00

As a New Year resolution for 2011 my wife and I decided to try one new recipe a week for the entire year. We have several file folders in the desk full of years of recipes given to us by friends, relatives and coworkers, torn from magazines and printed off of the internet. After several fits and starts trying to remember to use them when planning the weekly menu we just made it a resolution that we had to pick one a week. When going through the folders looking for a new recipe if one doesn’t sound good it gets plucked and sent to the circular file.

The recipe for this month is one of the new ones we tried and liked, and I will feature more in the future if they are really good. This one is from Boys Life magazine and I modified it from campfire cooking to an oven.

Ingredients

3 to 4 pound beef chuck roast

1 cup beef broth

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large garlic glove, chopped

½ cup kalamata olives

1 can diced tomatoes

1 jar or 1 cup of fresh or frozen pearl onions

Directions

Brown the roast in a Dutch oven. Pour the beef broth over the roast, then sprinkle the remaining ingredients evenly on the top. Cook on low (275 degrees) for 3 to 5 hours, depending on the thickness of the roast, until done. The slow cooking time and Dutch oven is what makes for one of the most tender, tasty roasts you will ever eat. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, a rice dish or just a big batch of mixed veggies.

Further Reading:

Celebrate National Soup Month

Confessions of a Cheap Dater

2011-02-14T11:58:00.004-06:00

The following is a guest post by Jim Riley, who writes about money saving ideas and other finance related topics, such as credit card debt relief.

It’s Friday afternoon, your mind has left the office a couple of hours ago and you sit wondering how to entertain your significant other for the weekend. It used to be easy, before your wife was laid off. A simple search of the latest movie previews, or checking out the week’s entertainment at your favorite comedy club would usually result in at least one fun-filled evening. Now, the thought of buying two movie tickets, a tub of popcorn and a pair of Cokes seems absurd. Heck, you could buy half a week’s groceries for that kind of money.

You’ve managed to pay the bills for the month (which means you’re back to sleeping all night) but a boring weekend stuck at home can soon lead to self-pity and strained relationships. It is imperative you get out of the house and do something fun, but you have $4.26 in your pocket and you don’t want any more credit card debt. What do you do?

Get a dog for the day

Don’t have one? Go borrow one from a friend or family member and take it on an adventure. Dogs are the easiest creatures in the world to please. A walk around town to a dog is like going to Disneyland for a kid. Have a beach or lake nearby? Take them there, undo the leash and make a best friend for life. Good karma AND good exercise.

Get an ice cream

Just because you can’t afford to take your sweetie out for a candle-lit dinner doesn’t mean you can’t take her out. Eat a nice dinner at home and then tell her you have a surprise for her – if she’s nice to you. There are a number of fast food chains that now serve soft-serve cones on the cheap. Like 79 cents cheap. Pick up your cones and choose a nice spot to sit and watch the world go by.

Borrow a movie

Someone in your circle is notorious for buying movies as soon as they become available. You’ve always wondered why someone would waste their money on something they could just rent, but now you know. They buy them so you can borrow them. Return them promptly, thank them sincerely and chances are they will ask if you’ve seen the others they own. You’re now set up with your own little ‘free-flix’.

Massage

Do I have to tell you the benefits of asking your wife to take off her clothes, lie on the bed and relax? Few things feel as good as a massage and it’s free! When you’re done giving the very best massage you can, simply peel off any remaining clothes you may have on and announce “My Turn”. Done correctly, this could lead to an entire afternoon of entertainment that cannot be had at any price (in most states).

Ok, that’s it, now my shoulders ache from all this typing. Honey!

Further Reading:

Ten Ways to Save Money by Staying Home

Nine Ways to Find Cheap or Free Performances

Weekly Roundup

2011-02-11T11:46:00.001-06:00

Technologizer is both a fun and interesting site. If you like keeping up with the newest gadgets, companies and services, this is a site you have to visit. Even if you don’t keep up to date with the latest tech it’s worth a visit for articles such as “When the Muppets Worked for IBM” and “How 1940s Whiskey Ads Predicted the Future.”

I have featured gift card resale sites before, and Swapagift is another option to check out.

If you are ever interested in reading news from around the world from a local perspective give Newspapers a look.

If you are not to this point yet, you might be someday. Here is a good article from Kiplinger about managing your parents’ money.

LinkUp is a job search engine with a different slant: they only list job openings from company websites. They say they currently “have over 20,749 companies in our database that we monitor every night. Companies range in size from the largest to the smallest, and from all locations across the United States.”

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
This post looks at five free programs for everyday use.

Make it a great weekend!

Make Money Selling Homemade Candles

2011-02-09T15:30:00.002-06:00

Years ago, when I was still a kid living at home, I remember my mother making long green taper candles from thin metal antique molds. One of the collections she maintained and added to over the years was early American lighting objects, such as the molds as well as colonial era candle holders, wick trimmers, lamps, and so on. Part of the enjoyment of collecting for her was not just buying and displaying these items but actually using them, which is what led to her candle making period.

While mom was into it just for the experience, anyone who can afford to buy the supplies and take the time to produce homemade candles could try making some money selling them to the public. Some possible outlets include sites such as Etsy, Art Fire, or Silkfair, as well as craft shows, flea markets and craft malls. To find out where and when these events are held near you, as well as loads of great tips and sites to explore, make sure to visit both Craft Site Directory and Free Craft Fair.

Candle making at home can help fill some spare time by making a quality product that could make you some side cash. Check out the following sites to help you get started…

Pioneer Living offers an extensive section on making candles of all kinds.

Candle Whiz is a large online eBook that starts with the history of candle making and proceeds with descriptions of equipment you will need and how to make over a dozen different kinds of candles.

Candle Instructions provides plenty of tips and instructions as well as free 12 part email course.

Related Reading:

Make Money Selling Exotic Fish

10 Craft Selling Options

How to Plan a Valentine’s Date You Can Afford

2011-02-08T11:30:00.002-06:00

The following is a guest post by Tara Alley, a freelance writer who enjoys writing about living a frugal life and encouraging others in the attempt to do the same. You can follow her @hopesiempre.

The average cost of a first date currently tops the $100 dollar mark, and I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty hard for me to put that and frugal in the same sentence. With Valentine’s Day approaching, the date we feel obligated to put even “more” into, I can’t help but cringe when I think of the money that’s going to be spent on uneaten chocolates, so-so meals at outrageously overpriced restaurants and the mildly funny, mildly crude flick. We tell ourselves over and over that “it’s the thought that counts” but then still manage to get sucked into showing that thought with our dollars. If you’re dreading Valentine’s Day because it’s just not fitting into your budget, don’t worry. There are plenty of alternatives out there, and in my opinion, most of them highly outrank an overpriced meal and a box of stale chocolates. Here’s a list of easily accomplished ideas & tips that won’t break your bank but do have the potential to sweep your date right off her feet!

Dinner & Dancing. In the comfort of your own home! Plan to cook a spectacular dinner together and make a whole evening of it. Pick something you’ve never made before but have both always wanted to try. You might totally blow it, and it just might taste horrible, but you’re guaranteed to have fun! Or you can skip dinner all together and do an assortment of delicious desserts! Ice cream sundaes smorgasbord! Finish up the night by popping in a rented movie of dancing lessons. Nothing better than learning some new moves without the embarrassment of a crowd of people AND for a couple dollars via the local movie store!

Hike & Picnic. Take a long walk together. If you can, get up on the top of a hilltop and spread a blanket out for a yummy spread of appetizers while watching a sunset. Exploring is always romantic. Accompanying gift: favorite wine/foodie snack.

Give a Coupon Book. Do you remember these? They’re incredibly thoughtful and any one will LOVE getting one. Make a collection of coupons for your date to cash in at their whim. Fun ideas: “I’ll Do the Dishes for You.” “Good for 1 Foot Massage.” “My Saturday is Your Saturday.” “One item off the Honey-Do List.”

Re-create Your First Date. If you’ve been together for awhile, this is a really fun idea, and chances are good that you didn’t spend $100 on that first date 10+ years ago. Accompanying gift: newly framed picture of your first picture taken together.

Plan your Dream Future. Spend the night in dream world and talk about your biggest dreams/hopes together. Plan what your dream house would look like, look at pictures in magazines, start a list of what you want to see and do together in the next year.

Coffee shop date. Catch up and enjoy each other’s company over a cup of espresso. It’s a splurge from the every day, but it’s not an $80 meal. Accompanying gift: their ultimate favorite coffee beans & a mug.

Find a local museum, a state park or outing area like an ice skating rink that doesn’t have an entrance fee and go take advantage of it! Surprise your date with doing your research ahead of time and showing her all the things you think she’d love. Accompanying gift: a scrapbook to keep track of all the future outings like this one.

Tips: Celebrate after Valentine’s Day. Everything’s cheaper: flowers, chocolates, etc., and if you do want to eat out, you can get into a restaurant easier. Skip the roses, they’re overpriced. Go for something more affordable and just as pretty (tulips). Make gourmet truffles. SO easy! And very impressive! Write out notes in advance and give one a day before Valentine’s Day. Surprise her with a handmade gift. Pick an activity like mini-golf, bowling, or the discount movie theatre.

It really is the thought that counts, so whatever you do, put some thought into it, starting now, and I guarantee you that you’ll impress your date infinitely more than you would with no thought and a large check.

Further Reading:

Best Free Movie and TV Sites

Six Great Ways to Save Money on a Wedding

The Law of Destiny

2011-02-07T11:05:00.001-06:00

The following quote by George Dana Boardman traces how the formation of our character leads eventually to our legacy. I think one could apply this law equally to everyone from Adolf Hitler to Mother Teresa.

“The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”

Weekly Roundup

2011-02-04T16:33:00.002-06:00

The winner of The Buck List $60 CSN Stores Gift Certificate Giveaway is Dakota S. Thanks to everyone for participating and keep an eye out for future giveaways.

Clicker describes their site as “one part directory, one part search engine, one part wiki, one part entertainment guide, and one part DVR.” As of this writing they say the site “contains more than 1,000,000 episodes from over 12,000 shows from over 2,500 networks, 30,000 movies, and 90,000 music videos from 20,000 artists.”

February is Library Lovers’ Month and this is a reminder to get out there and experience your local library and use the resources they offer. I visit my public library several times a month and a while back I wrote a post offering some tips on how best to use your library.

Like to play chess? Chess.com offers lessons, videos and tournaments…all for free.

Here are 22 ways to fight rising food prices.

If you have some gift cards lying around that you don’t think you’ll use why not cash them in? Check out Plastic Jungle to find out what they are worth.

Weekly Reminder – A reminder of a useful article you might have missed.
This post lists other uses for rubbing alcohol.

Have a good weekend!

DIY Gift Idea: Wall Art

2011-02-02T15:32:00.004-06:00

The following is a guest post by Maria Rainier, a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online degrees. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Got a friend’s birthday coming up? Chances are that there are some bare walls to be covered, so give your friend the gift of a creative piece of wall art. You won’t spend much (if anything) on the project, you’ll have fun, and your friend will appreciate the time and effort you put into making a thoughtful and useful gift. Don’t worry – you don’t have to be crafty. But watch out, because you might find yourself getting more creative than you thought possible. It’s easy to make these fun projects, and you might even want to make a few for yourself – so check out the following list of ideas to save money, nurture your creative side, and get started on your next DIY gift.

Painted Ceiling Medallions

If you’re having trouble getting a sense of your friend’s aesthetic when it comes to wall art, try something simple: ceiling medallions. You can find these for low prices at your local home improvement store in a variety of shapes and interesting designs. Simply choose one or more medallions and paint them using colors that go with your friend’s décor (spray paint works fine). To take this project a little further, grind up some colored chalk into a fine powder and use a makeup brush to dust it onto the painted medallion. It should settle into the recessed parts of the medallion, highlighting the design. Gently blow away any residual chalk dust and apply a clear fixative or lacquer, which can be found at your local craft store. Your friend will be delighted to hang these objets d’art on a lonely wall.

Picture Frame Collage

This project is only inexpensive if you happen to have access to three or four empty picture frames in varying sizes. You can try finding them at flea markets, antique stores, thrift stores, and even garage sales – you can also take a trip through your basement and attic to see if you have any unused frames. Once you’ve found a few, simply give them a new paint job (a color that contrasts starkly with the wall is very effective) and hang them close together as a collection.

Window Shutter Art: Form & Function

If you can find a window shutter, you can make this creative piece of wall art. Again, flea markets and the like are perfect places to find old rejected pieces that can be refurbished to create beautiful art. You can paint your shutter if you like, or if the finish is chipped and gives off a chic vintage vibe, you can leave it as is. If you choose to paint it, you’ll probably want to sand off the old paint and make sure you have a clean, smooth surface to work with. Spray paint is a great way to get in between the slats without spending a lot of time on brushing each one. Now, affix a hanger so your friend can display the shutter horizontally on the wall. One of the best ways to do this is to nail two sawtooth hangers onto the back of the shutter, one on each end. You can find these at your local craft or hardware store and they won’t cost you much at all. Finally, dig up some pictures of you and your friend (or print some if you keep digital photos) and slip them between the slats. Your friend can choose to display these and additional pictures, notes, postcards, or other items on the shutter.

No matter which project you choose, you’ll have a great gift that shows how much you care without burning through your wallet.

Further Reading:

Get a Free Loan from the NGA

10 Craft Selling Options

$60 Gift Certificate Giveaway

2011-01-31T10:48:00.002-06:00

Once again The Buck List is offering a $60 gift certificate from CSN Stores for their luggage stores or any of their other online stores. Just leave a comment below along with a way for me to contact you and I will choose at random one lucky reader to win. The winner will be notified when the giveaway ends on February 4th. If you win be aware there could be shipping charges and if you will be ordering from a Canadian address international fees could apply for certain products. Make sure to check that out when you are choosing your product.

Good Luck!