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Posted
Jul 11 2008, 10:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
You don't have to travel to Eastern Kentucky to find rusting carcasses of cars and appliances that were pushed over the hill or into the creek. People who disrespect the land abound wherever you go. But that area of the country (and, we suspect, many others) is inadvertently undergoing beautification because scrap metal now commands pretty prices, a newspaper story says. People are finding there's much cash to be made from the junk in them thar hills.
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Posted
Jul 09 2008, 12:01 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Yesterday I was thinking about "hypermilers," those folks who go to great lengths to squeeze maximum mileage from their cars. While of course I strive for the best mileage possible, I don't hypermile -- with my car, that is. As a frugalist, I hypermile my whole life.
Meal plans, shopping, entertainment, transportation, utility usage, gift-giving -- all are done with an eye toward achieving maximum bang for the buck.
Plenty of you are right there with me, if posts on the Smart Spending message board and the comments about my articles are any indication.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 08:55 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
As yard sale experiences go, Saturday was just about perfect. The weather was beautiful and I not only found exactly what I was looking for, I scored a killer deal on it. While the low prices I saw all day were thrilling, they were also an object lesson as to why yard sales can be as dangerous as dollar stores: Things are so cheap that it's easy to overbuy.
Prime example: the foot-tall statue of a bull terrier, priced at a quarter, that reminded me of the classic "His master's voice" ads for RCA-Victor. There was something very appealing about the pup, yet I had no real need for such a thing and also no place to put it. Why in the world would I consider buying it? Because it was only 25 cents.
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Posted
Jun 19 2008, 06:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread. My husband and I often search online for fixes for our electronics problems because if a gadget is out of warranty it often costs quite a bit to get it fixed. When we find a solution that is not hard to implement, we figure we might as well try it. We have been able to fix many things, including computers and handhelds. Lately my husband's Nintendo DS Lite has been giving him problems. Namely, the shoulder buttons at the top of the portable gaming console have been sporadically unresponsive. He has been using my DS, and he was thinking of buying a new one. However, today he found a great low-tech fix on the Internet that saved us more than $100.
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Posted
Jun 05 2008, 04:55 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread. Once upon a time I sold a lot of stuff on eBay and Amazon, and I always needed envelopes, boxes and padding. The cost of these shipping supplies can really add up when you mail more than 1,000 things per year, so I looked into how to cut down my shipping costs. Here are some of the ways you can get supplies for free and lower your business overhead.
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Posted
May 30 2008, 07:31 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Recently, my wife and I kicked around the idea of installing a clothesline in our backyard. We both grew up in the country and we both had clotheslines for drying clothes in the spring, summer and fall. A quick cost analysis. An average dryer load costs about 30 to 40 cents to dry, so we'll give it an average of 35 cents a load. Given the installation cost of the clothesline we investigated (about $30, all told), we could recoup the cost of drying the clothes with about 89 loads, and after that it's gravy.
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Posted
May 29 2008, 03:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a super deal to keep kids entertained during summer months: Raising4Boys has provided a list of free or discount movie specials available at theater chains this summer. "Dad" (aka "Nickel" at FiveCentNickel) says, "In case you're not aware, theaters often have special summer promos where they show G or PG films on weekday mornings for free, or nearly so."
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Posted
May 21 2008, 09:17 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Thinking of giving somebody a coffee mug for Christmas? Don't do it. It'll probably end up at a yard sale.
That's what I inferred after reading a thread on the Smart Spending message board about a charity rummage sale. Reader "SC CDF," who with her daughter volunteered at the event, noted that 144 mugs were left unsold. So were beauty-product gift baskets, "a box the size of a refrigerator" full of decorative tins and enough clothes to fill three pickup truck beds.
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Posted
May 14 2008, 06:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
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We have to save vicariously through the superstars of drugstore shopping. The closest stores like CVS and Walgreens are 110 miles away. Bloggers at sites like The Centsible Sawyer, Mommy Making Money and Money Saving Mom are buying toiletries, diapers and other necessities for a teeny fraction of what they normally cost. Cathy at Chief Family Officer, a superstar-in-training, has dubbed their use of coupons, rebates and other store discounts "The Drugstore Game." As these champions of saving might say, the proof is in the free pudding.
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Posted
May 08 2008, 04:40 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Pinyo's wife thinks he's cheap. In his mind, he's frugal. Who's right? He scored a 20 on the cheap vs. frugal test he devised and posted at Moolanomy. That score indicates that he's neither, but that he "appears to be reasonable" with his spending. Take the test. It's fun. For example, here's Question No. 6. You have some old clothes. Do you ...? - What are you talking about? I don't have old clothes.
- I donate them when they get a little older.
- I turn them into rags.
- I am still wearing them.
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