I use bill pay for everything except for my water/trash utility bill, which is processed by a third party biller for my apartment complex. They only take paper checks and that is the one time every month I write them.
It takes me about 2 and a half years to blow through one box of checks (I know, I've got about checks left right now). They are a big pain in the butt but it's the only way I can pay my rent without any extra fees. Since that's all I use it for for the most part (I used to use it to settle roommate bills, but now we've got billshare) the 20 dollars or so I spend on blank checks is an expense I'm okay enough with.
But yes, I wish everyone could just take payment electronically with no fees or hassles, it would be quicker and more convenient.
As long as my landlords refuse to accept any other form of payment (and it is impractical to withdraw and then hand over that much cash each month) I will continue to use checks.
Also, how else do you start getting direct deposit at work? You need a check, if only to cancel it and attach to the forms.
The vast majority of my banking is virtual (online) and other transactions are either cash or credit card. I only write checks in the rarest of occasions.
I write checks fairly often to people who do work on our house (say, the arborist, or the painter). Not too many of them are set up to take credit cards, and the amounts are too large to be convenient by cash.
I have a book of checks but only very very rarely write one. I used to do rent and also to settle payments with my boyfriend. Now we're married and all our payments are electronic, including between our separate accounts & joint. I believe he still writes the rent check manually. I transfer half of the rent into a joint account and then he withdraws to his personal.
Checks for paying vendors are definitely a thing of the past, but for paying individuals, it's still valuable. At least until Paypal or an equivalent really takes off.
The problem with scalping is not that the scalper makes a profit, nor that he's profiting from scarcity. The problem is that not everything in life should be priced at what the market will bear. We want fans of a band to have a chance to see them in concert. We want sports fans to be able to see a live game. If all tickets are priced to what the market will bear, only rich people get to see popular bands and sports, and in the long run, that's not good for anyone.
This concern just doesn't apply to office supplies.
i came a treasure of books that was passed on through family members for over 150 years. They were at a local second hand shop along with old family photos, postcards, etc. I bought all the books. it actually broke my heart to think that whomever owned all this, had no one else to leave it too. they passed away, and all there belongings were passed to the shop. well the books are here with me know. i have done some googling to find out that most of them are hard to find. who do i trust to look at these books? i live near London Ontario...
Blue book value generally has nothing to do with what the insurance carriers will pay you if your car is totaled. Usually they find similar vehicles near you for sale, say 3-5 of them and average that cost. It's the average cost to replace the car you had, not blue book.
I have been making as much use of networking as I can this year and it's working wonders.... I love my blog though so not sure how I could ever merge or abandon it but stranger things have happened :).
Great ideas! I use to leave my laptop on all night so it would be ready in the morning for me. Once I learned all of the energy I was wasting, I now turn it off and unplug. I do this for most of my electronics.
This is a great guide...if you eat at chain restaurants. For me, I don't eat at places that have salad bars and the waitstaff really are the most reliable resource for what's good...because they eat the food themselves and know first hand. Instead of worrying about squeezing every penny out of your meal, check out some local places. They usually offer a better quality meal for your money and you get a better experience because you're patronizing your community.
@blue, the new antennas are not that expensive. I paid $35 for a new post-conversion antenna on e-bay after determining that reception was inadequate with either the rooftop antenna or rabbit ears.
And to the person who scoffed at the anniversary gift, the most romantic gift my husband gave me was made of post-it notes.
when bush was in office he had the bankrupies laws changed to favor the banks so there is no or very little risk for them to rise your credit limit.can't pay now,pay later at these interest rates we can wait forever.but as you can see they went to far and they are now taking back what they give freely ruining your credit score.so please join your local credit union,you will be much happier for doing it.
I got in on my city's lawn mower exchange program a couple of years ago. You brought your gas powered lawn mower (working or not, old or new) in and they gave you a voucher for a cordless electric Neuton lawn mower for $100 (including shipping, which usually was about $35 then...might be more now). I've been pretty happy with my Neuton. It does have a small deck (14") but with my small yard that only added about 5 minutes to the total time it takes me to cut my lawn. The mower does bog down in really high, wet grass. But so did my gas powered one.
I like that the Neuton is light weight...the battery weighs about the same as the rest of the mower. So it's easy to push and maneuver around. It mulches as well as my old mower. I love that I don't have buy gas, tune up the engine, fuss with the pull start. It's also a lot quieter and I don't end up smelling like lawn mower when I get done.
Use all of it. Why waste all the alcohol you have in there now? It may be difficult to separate the small amounts, but when you add small bits together from multiple batches, it gets to be a big bit and easier to pull off. You do not want to do this indefinitely, since it will add up methanol also. 2, 3 or 4 times should be more then enough.
Right! But here again, it's even easier to do that in your home country, where you're already integrated into the local culture.
That's not to say that integrating into a new culture isn't fun and interesting—it's kind of the point of travel. But as a money-saving move, looking at how people live cheaply at home is hard to beat.
my wife and i received this mass promotion in the mail as well --i dont feel violated at all --they obviously check credit **** and people who may need this type of account which did make me feel a bit strange that our info could be seen somewhere ---but we had just gotten rooked hard by a bank called COMPASS BANK here in Florida --they took us and still are wanting more ---they are thieves !!!! but there was netspend to catch our butts basically ---we have been with them a little while now and we are extremely satisfied with them ---you can check every single transaction down to the penny online and balance inquiry is free --plus they have a sub company in the company called iadvance that fronted us 200 dollars till my next payday without any extra fees ---5 stars from us !!!
Binfire gives 10 GB free online storage with file size limit of 100MB. It has an easy multiple file upload interface plus file locking and group folder for collaboration.
I use bill pay for everything except for my water/trash utility bill, which is processed by a third party biller for my apartment complex. They only take paper checks and that is the one time every month I write them.
I actually opened a checking account just for paying bills. I still write on it (manually). I rarely use it now since I do online transactions.
It takes me about 2 and a half years to blow through one box of checks (I know, I've got about checks left right now). They are a big pain in the butt but it's the only way I can pay my rent without any extra fees. Since that's all I use it for for the most part (I used to use it to settle roommate bills, but now we've got billshare) the 20 dollars or so I spend on blank checks is an expense I'm okay enough with.
But yes, I wish everyone could just take payment electronically with no fees or hassles, it would be quicker and more convenient.
As long as my landlords refuse to accept any other form of payment (and it is impractical to withdraw and then hand over that much cash each month) I will continue to use checks.
Also, how else do you start getting direct deposit at work? You need a check, if only to cancel it and attach to the forms.
I very rarely write checks. So rarely, I get made fun of at work when I tell them my check number is still in the 200s.
I have to write a weekly check for my son's school lunch, so that gets done old school filling out every line.
The vast majority of my banking is virtual (online) and other transactions are either cash or credit card. I only write checks in the rarest of occasions.
I write checks fairly often to people who do work on our house (say, the arborist, or the painter). Not too many of them are set up to take credit cards, and the amounts are too large to be convenient by cash.
I have a book of checks but only very very rarely write one. I used to do rent and also to settle payments with my boyfriend. Now we're married and all our payments are electronic, including between our separate accounts & joint. I believe he still writes the rent check manually. I transfer half of the rent into a joint account and then he withdraws to his personal.
Checks for paying vendors are definitely a thing of the past, but for paying individuals, it's still valuable. At least until Paypal or an equivalent really takes off.
I write 1 check per month for my rent - the rest of my bills are paid electronically.
The problem with scalping is not that the scalper makes a profit, nor that he's profiting from scarcity. The problem is that not everything in life should be priced at what the market will bear. We want fans of a band to have a chance to see them in concert. We want sports fans to be able to see a live game. If all tickets are priced to what the market will bear, only rich people get to see popular bands and sports, and in the long run, that's not good for anyone.
This concern just doesn't apply to office supplies.
i came a treasure of books that was passed on through family members for over 150 years. They were at a local second hand shop along with old family photos, postcards, etc. I bought all the books. it actually broke my heart to think that whomever owned all this, had no one else to leave it too. they passed away, and all there belongings were passed to the shop. well the books are here with me know. i have done some googling to find out that most of them are hard to find. who do i trust to look at these books? i live near London Ontario...
Blue book value generally has nothing to do with what the insurance carriers will pay you if your car is totaled. Usually they find similar vehicles near you for sale, say 3-5 of them and average that cost. It's the average cost to replace the car you had, not blue book.
I have been making as much use of networking as I can this year and it's working wonders.... I love my blog though so not sure how I could ever merge or abandon it but stranger things have happened :).
Thanks,
Forest.
Great ideas! I use to leave my laptop on all night so it would be ready in the morning for me. Once I learned all of the energy I was wasting, I now turn it off and unplug. I do this for most of my electronics.
This is a great guide...if you eat at chain restaurants. For me, I don't eat at places that have salad bars and the waitstaff really are the most reliable resource for what's good...because they eat the food themselves and know first hand. Instead of worrying about squeezing every penny out of your meal, check out some local places. They usually offer a better quality meal for your money and you get a better experience because you're patronizing your community.
@blue, the new antennas are not that expensive. I paid $35 for a new post-conversion antenna on e-bay after determining that reception was inadequate with either the rooftop antenna or rabbit ears.
And to the person who scoffed at the anniversary gift, the most romantic gift my husband gave me was made of post-it notes.
when bush was in office he had the bankrupies laws changed to favor the banks so there is no or very little risk for them to rise your credit limit.can't pay now,pay later at these interest rates we can wait forever.but as you can see they went to far and they are now taking back what they give freely ruining your credit score.so please join your local credit union,you will be much happier for doing it.
I got in on my city's lawn mower exchange program a couple of years ago. You brought your gas powered lawn mower (working or not, old or new) in and they gave you a voucher for a cordless electric Neuton lawn mower for $100 (including shipping, which usually was about $35 then...might be more now). I've been pretty happy with my Neuton. It does have a small deck (14") but with my small yard that only added about 5 minutes to the total time it takes me to cut my lawn. The mower does bog down in really high, wet grass. But so did my gas powered one.
I like that the Neuton is light weight...the battery weighs about the same as the rest of the mower. So it's easy to push and maneuver around. It mulches as well as my old mower. I love that I don't have buy gas, tune up the engine, fuss with the pull start. It's also a lot quieter and I don't end up smelling like lawn mower when I get done.
Thanks Zorcy,
You have been a big big help.
On a quest for knowledge
Use all of it. Why waste all the alcohol you have in there now? It may be difficult to separate the small amounts, but when you add small bits together from multiple batches, it gets to be a big bit and easier to pull off. You do not want to do this indefinitely, since it will add up methanol also. 2, 3 or 4 times should be more then enough.
Right! But here again, it's even easier to do that in your home country, where you're already integrated into the local culture.
That's not to say that integrating into a new culture isn't fun and interesting—it's kind of the point of travel. But as a money-saving move, looking at how people live cheaply at home is hard to beat.
my wife and i received this mass promotion in the mail as well --i dont feel violated at all --they obviously check credit **** and people who may need this type of account which did make me feel a bit strange that our info could be seen somewhere ---but we had just gotten rooked hard by a bank called COMPASS BANK here in Florida --they took us and still are wanting more ---they are thieves !!!! but there was netspend to catch our butts basically ---we have been with them a little while now and we are extremely satisfied with them ---you can check every single transaction down to the penny online and balance inquiry is free --plus they have a sub company in the company called iadvance that fronted us 200 dollars till my next payday without any extra fees ---5 stars from us !!!
Binfire gives 10 GB free online storage with file size limit of 100MB. It has an easy multiple file upload interface plus file locking and group folder for collaboration.