Paul Michael's blog

"Stapler. Stapler." - FREE $20 Swingline Stapler

If you're a fan of Office Space (shame on you if you're not) you will know of Milton's obsession with his Swingline stapler. Well, in exchange for about 2 minutes of yo

5 Great Choices for Free Online Data Storage

I have one of those USB jump drives, but I wanted to know if there were free storage options online for me. I found a whole bunch. Here are my favorites.

Would you end your marriage for $100,000?

How about $200k? Or $500k? Well, I guess it all depends on the state of your marriage, but the bigger question is this: what would you do for money? I ask because I’m getting a lit

Filler Strategies for Amazon’s Free Super Saver Shipping

Here are my top three ways to find filler items on Amazon to get you to that magical $25 total.

How to get your car stolen

Every 26.4 seconds, a vehicle is stolen in the U.S.* If you want yours to be one of those vehicles, just follow these simple guidelines and the thief will be driving away in your n

90% off is not a deal if you don’t need it.

I found myself in a strange battle of wills last week. My favorite store, Target, was having another one of those spectacular sales. Red tags featuring the 75% off, and the rare 90

Do you trust ads from radio DJs?

The US radio airwaves are filled with endorsements from radio DJs, and the list of things they hawk is mind-blowing.  Coming from a country that doesn’t have these pai

Is daylight-saving time a complete waste of energy?

This weekend the clocks “spring forward.” I’m not a huge fan of DST . In fact, I’m not a fan of anything that steals

The stuff I try never to buy new

I don't like buying new. It's not that I consider myself to be some kind of Scrooge. I just have a hard time paying more for something than I need to, and often we take tha

21 great uses for beer

I’ll make no bones about it; I love beer. But you don’t just have to drink beer straight from the bottle. If you’re feeling experimental, here are 21 (the lega

419 baiting – keeping online scammers running in circles

How many of you have received an email telling you that you’ve one a lottery that you never even entered? Or, that a rich widow wants help distributing millions of dollars to the p

The one site you must visit before buying anything online. Period.

Friends, deal hounds, bargain hunters, lend me your ears; if ye don't know about the best coupon site on the web, bar none, then this will indeed be a most glorious day for the

Sound advice for winning on a game show

I've been a closet fan of game shows for years; most likely because I love the idea of getting something for nothing (hey, this is a frugal writer after all). I recently stumbl

I'll take a slice of lemon with fecal bacteria please.

I’ve never thought twice about the humble lemon slice. I’m sure most of you haven’t either. And as I’m partial to a slice of lemon in my water or iced tea, for added flavor, I usua

So you bought an HD DVD player. Now what?

It’s gone. HD DVD lost the war, Blu-Ray is the winner. Toshiba has admitted defeat and will discontinue all of its HD DVD products. No more players, no more recorders, no more disc

Can you guess what’s in the box?

Here’s a little help. It takes two people to lift and carry the box. It measures 47.2 inches in length, 35.4 inches in height and 31.5 inches in width. It's from Europe. Oh, an

Papa Murphy’s update: nice save.

As some of you are aware, I experienced the wait of all waits at Papa Murphy’s recently. Over one hour for a phone order, which left me fuming (partly at my own politeness for not

Take back St. Valentine’s Day from Hallmark and Hershey’s.

Today is St. Valentine’s Day. Delivery vans filled with flowers are passing each other on the highways; the supermarket aisles filled with pink and red cards are chock full of men

“If you've got an area of excellence…rich can be arranged.”

That’s part of a quote from a great Martin Scorcese movie – The Color Of Money. Certainly not in my top 10, it has Tom Cruise in it after all, but it had some sparkling dialogue fr

The story of a guy with Downs Syndrome, some grocery bags and an idea straight from the heart.

Something I have often heard from teachers, mentors and my own parents is the following phrase: “Be the best at what you do, whatever you do.” It’s a lesson I have tried to live up