Another gal does this, only her ultimate goal is to make them healthier. She's done everything from the BK Whopper to Starbucks Frappuccinos. Check out Hungry-girl.com.
Great post! I stopped indulging in Twinkies b/c they're chock full of preservatives. I assume this "secret recipe" leaves those out. I can't wait to try it. Thanks!
Sign-up at easystockalerts.com to be ALERTED to any Insider Trades BEFORE they appear on the web! This can be market moving news which can make you Mad Money.
If you own stocks then you can't afford to get news later than everyone else. Try easystockalerts.com for a week and you'll see what I mean. There is no fee and no spam...so make money now and sign up for easystockalerts.com
I just think the author is just ignorant to the uses of some of this stuff. When my sister got married and was moving out, she had me and my brother grab these two old beat-up couches from a neighbor's trash. Her in-laws own an upholstery shop and they fixed up those couches to pretty much brand new condition for free. Seeing it on craigslist, one might assume it was just "junk" or "garbage" because they were pretty bad looking, but to you never know what connections or situations there are where someone might want it. Deeming something "useful" is a value judgment, and as many people have commented so far, a lot of that stuff it very useful to other people.
My hometown in Ohio is very small and rural. Our trash pickup allows "one large item" per week or something and so we tend to put things we no longer need out at the end of our long driveway to be picked up.
However, other people come and pick the items up before the trash service ever gets there! It's kind of an inside joke now that we time how long it takes for items to "disappear" from the end of our driveway.... the fastest has been 2 hours! Our home is on a pretty main road so I think that's part of the reason it works out so well.
Here's my free story. When my husband and I moved into our house, there was dryer in basement that tumbled but didn't heat up. We posted it on CL and it was taken by a guy whose father has alzheimers. The father was always a "fixer". He still remembers how to fix things (or figures can still figure it out). So they pick up broken stuff for him to fix. It fills his days and he doesn't wander off and get lost as much now.
I'm not a huge BOGO shopper partly because I live by myself and partly because I'm fickle. I don't trust myself to use up 2 of the same item before they go bad, and even if they don't go bad, sometimes I just get bored and it goes to waste.
Most of the BOGO's I've seen around here are good deals though... no huge markups are put on the items before the deal is made.
I hadn't thought to mention the disaster-preparedness aspect of not letting your tank get empty, but it's a good point, Julia. In the United States, people have gotten used to that sort of thing working smoothly, so it's a great shock when there's any kind of disruption to the system. The fact is, though, the "gasoline delivery system" is highly complex, and vulnerable to various kinds of glitches. Keeping a few extra gallons in your tank can turn a minor supply disruption into a non-issue.
I think the best way that I saved on my heating costs was simply by having my apartment be on the top floor. All the heat wafted up into my apartment which meant it was hot all the time. I would end up with windows open all day and night and still having to walk around in my underwear...
But that was last year. This year I've been living abroad in Austria, where almost all of the buildings are made of stone, not wood, which means they don't insulate well at all. My roommate told me that his room, where the thermostat is located, is the coldest room in the house, so he kept the temp low there so the heat would go on if it ever dipped below that temp. I still disagree with him. To stay warm in my bedroom this winter was a real challenge. I ended up wearing 2 pairs of wool socks, slippers, long underwear, sweat pants, a tshirt, a sweater, and a hoody over that just to stay warm. The worst part is my hands, as I can't sit at the computer and type if I'm wearing gloves, so then my hands still got cold. It was horrible.
I found that sitting in my bed with the blanket over me and my laptop on top of the blanket was also a great way to warm up. And oh ya, my roommates got me one of those water bottles too, and I would boil water and dump it in about twice a day and keep it in the bed to fall asleep more easily too.
Thank you for emphasizing driving less! It's a simple solution to higher gas prices, and one that we all should have been doing when gas was less expensive.
zack's got it right about bicycling, and ra has an interesting point about having plenty of gas in case there's a natural disaster.
I live in Texas where Katrina was one of our more recent disasters. People left Houston, primarily by car. The highways were so jammed, there wasn't much progress on the roads. So many evacuees ran out of gas, stalling all the people behind them. It really wasn't their fault, many gas stations in Houston and most along the way were all out of gas. The government sent gas tankers to help, but it was a mess and took a long time. What if instead of hopping in your car only to be stalled on a highway or freeway, you put essentials in a backpack and hopped on your bike and rode pass the traffic jam via a highway or back road? Then you would no longer be dependent upon oil to escape the disaster. Sure it wouldn't work in every case, but I think it's a good possibility to consider. Our legs can take us far (so many people have proved that by running 26 miles in a day!), and with the help of a bike, we can travel even further.
Hey Peter, I know that proverb! To explain it further, it compares the money consumers spend to the wool, and the consumers are the sheep. So basically it means as you said, the markets and promoters ultimately get their profit from the consumers even though they make us think they are giving us a good deal.
If you've got a relatively consistent weekly commute I highly suggest filling up all the way and driving until almost empty. The less time you spend going out of your way to fill up and waiting at your local crowded station (it would be pretty crowded if it's the best priced one), the less gas you waste.
Doing this, I am also more able to track my gas mileage from week to week fully. By being able to accurately track, I've gotten 36mpg consistently for two weeks now when my car's EPA estimated highway mpg is 35 (and I'm not on the highway 100% of the time), and my old average combined mileage was around 30-33 (average for everyone was around 29). That's a 20% increase in efficiency, or about 10 dollars saved every week!
the important place to look is the price per unit (either per item, per pound, ounce, gallon, etc). the stores I go to break this down and I see where the real deals are, but if your store doesn't, please invest some time to learning simple math. B1G1 may not be the best, but it's not worth ignoring outright.
First I try to sell just to see if I can get some return on the item, but if not, I then try to give it away on CL. We got rid of our old couch and loveseat that way, as well as mattresses and an old but working TV (almost all of these were also bought on CL or hand-me-downs. Yay college!). I always try to stipulate that they needed to pick it up and carry it out of my apartment themselves, though oftentimes I help out anyway.
Oftentimes the stuff being given away is snapped up too fast or not worth the gas to pick up, but it's certainly on the whole worth trying to see if anyone could have any use for it (even if it's just to be a prop in a local play or movie). Recycling goes a long way towards keeping waste and pollution down, so why not see if you can prevent someone from having to waste money and buy something new?
There is a Chinese saying that says "The sheep's hair grows on the sheep's back." It essentially means that when a seller tries to give you promotional gifts, or buy one get one free, they are actually just folding in their profits into the joint sale. They're trying to fake us into believing that the value is higher than it really is.
Chinese culture already instills these little wisebread-ish tidbits of information into their culture. I hope one day Americans will have more sayings that promote frugality.
I gave away a broken TV to an eager Freecycler whose teenage son was taking an electronics class in high school. They were going to see if they could fix it as a class project.
Gardeners building raised beds will go ga-ga for free clean dirt, scrap lumber ("old decks") and/or landscaping rocks.
People going to Burning Man are often looking for ratty old couches to bring along so they don't end up ruining a perfectly good one.
People going camping are often looking for firewood. Some people even still keep their homes warm with it.
If I were filling something with concrete, I would certainly be interested in concrete chunks to take up some of the volume so I wouldn't have to use as much new concrete.
Our landfills are full enough. I think it's admirable to try to find a new life for things that may at first seem to be worthless. You never know what "crap" will be just what someone is looking for.
My wife and I recently laid down some decent money on a couple of bicycles. It turns out (despite what all the naysayers around me said) that EVERYWHERE I go to on a daily basis is very well within reach. I even biked 15 miles in one trip on Saturday-- just on a "casual ride"!!
biking through downtown- normally a painful experience of stop-and-go, fear-for-your-life moments, was turned into a great experience that made me feel not only liberated from the shackles of the car, but also saved time!
You're right - the key really is in being aware of what a "good" price for each item is. The stores (and now apparently housing developers) are counting on consumers being uninformed and carried away by the thrill of getting an item on SALE. I often look at the BOGO or the 10 for $10 deals, and walk right by because on another day these same items would be on sale for much less.
I am a servicemember stationed overseas. When I filed my 2007 TR, my wife didn't have her SSN. Nobody told me I would be disqualified for filing with an ITIN. Now I received word that I am not eligible for stimulus. I heard I can submit a 1040x with her SSN when she receives it and I will get reimbursement. Is this true? Is there a time I must have the 1040X submitted by?
im a military member stationed overseas. my wife only has an ITIN now but has applied for her SSN. i didnt have it in time for filing my taxes tho. i found out i wasnt eligible for the stimulus because my wife was using an ITIN. if ill have her social before the end of the year, can i submit a 1040X and include her SSN and still get my rebate? by what time must I do this? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Another gal does this, only her ultimate goal is to make them healthier. She's done everything from the BK Whopper to Starbucks Frappuccinos. Check out Hungry-girl.com.
Great post! I stopped indulging in Twinkies b/c they're chock full of preservatives. I assume this "secret recipe" leaves those out. I can't wait to try it. Thanks!
Sign-up at easystockalerts.com to be ALERTED to any Insider Trades BEFORE they appear on the web! This can be market moving news which can make you Mad Money.
If you own stocks then you can't afford to get news later than everyone else. Try easystockalerts.com for a week and you'll see what I mean. There is no fee and no spam...so make money now and sign up for easystockalerts.com
I just think the author is just ignorant to the uses of some of this stuff. When my sister got married and was moving out, she had me and my brother grab these two old beat-up couches from a neighbor's trash. Her in-laws own an upholstery shop and they fixed up those couches to pretty much brand new condition for free. Seeing it on craigslist, one might assume it was just "junk" or "garbage" because they were pretty bad looking, but to you never know what connections or situations there are where someone might want it. Deeming something "useful" is a value judgment, and as many people have commented so far, a lot of that stuff it very useful to other people.
My hometown in Ohio is very small and rural. Our trash pickup allows "one large item" per week or something and so we tend to put things we no longer need out at the end of our long driveway to be picked up.
However, other people come and pick the items up before the trash service ever gets there! It's kind of an inside joke now that we time how long it takes for items to "disappear" from the end of our driveway.... the fastest has been 2 hours! Our home is on a pretty main road so I think that's part of the reason it works out so well.
Driving on fumes is not good for the fuel pump which is cooled by gas in your tank. Replacing a fried fuel pump is very expensive.
Here's my free story. When my husband and I moved into our house, there was dryer in basement that tumbled but didn't heat up. We posted it on CL and it was taken by a guy whose father has alzheimers. The father was always a "fixer". He still remembers how to fix things (or figures can still figure it out). So they pick up broken stuff for him to fix. It fills his days and he doesn't wander off and get lost as much now.
I'm not a huge BOGO shopper partly because I live by myself and partly because I'm fickle. I don't trust myself to use up 2 of the same item before they go bad, and even if they don't go bad, sometimes I just get bored and it goes to waste.
Most of the BOGO's I've seen around here are good deals though... no huge markups are put on the items before the deal is made.
Thanks, everyone, for all the good comments.
I hadn't thought to mention the disaster-preparedness aspect of not letting your tank get empty, but it's a good point, Julia. In the United States, people have gotten used to that sort of thing working smoothly, so it's a great shock when there's any kind of disruption to the system. The fact is, though, the "gasoline delivery system" is highly complex, and vulnerable to various kinds of glitches. Keeping a few extra gallons in your tank can turn a minor supply disruption into a non-issue.
They trick us with these sales....I now know what to avoid.
Thanks
I think the best way that I saved on my heating costs was simply by having my apartment be on the top floor. All the heat wafted up into my apartment which meant it was hot all the time. I would end up with windows open all day and night and still having to walk around in my underwear...
But that was last year. This year I've been living abroad in Austria, where almost all of the buildings are made of stone, not wood, which means they don't insulate well at all. My roommate told me that his room, where the thermostat is located, is the coldest room in the house, so he kept the temp low there so the heat would go on if it ever dipped below that temp. I still disagree with him. To stay warm in my bedroom this winter was a real challenge. I ended up wearing 2 pairs of wool socks, slippers, long underwear, sweat pants, a tshirt, a sweater, and a hoody over that just to stay warm. The worst part is my hands, as I can't sit at the computer and type if I'm wearing gloves, so then my hands still got cold. It was horrible.
I found that sitting in my bed with the blanket over me and my laptop on top of the blanket was also a great way to warm up. And oh ya, my roommates got me one of those water bottles too, and I would boil water and dump it in about twice a day and keep it in the bed to fall asleep more easily too.
Thank you for emphasizing driving less! It's a simple solution to higher gas prices, and one that we all should have been doing when gas was less expensive.
zack's got it right about bicycling, and ra has an interesting point about having plenty of gas in case there's a natural disaster.
I live in Texas where Katrina was one of our more recent disasters. People left Houston, primarily by car. The highways were so jammed, there wasn't much progress on the roads. So many evacuees ran out of gas, stalling all the people behind them. It really wasn't their fault, many gas stations in Houston and most along the way were all out of gas. The government sent gas tankers to help, but it was a mess and took a long time. What if instead of hopping in your car only to be stalled on a highway or freeway, you put essentials in a backpack and hopped on your bike and rode pass the traffic jam via a highway or back road? Then you would no longer be dependent upon oil to escape the disaster. Sure it wouldn't work in every case, but I think it's a good possibility to consider. Our legs can take us far (so many people have proved that by running 26 miles in a day!), and with the help of a bike, we can travel even further.
Hey Peter, I know that proverb! To explain it further, it compares the money consumers spend to the wool, and the consumers are the sheep. So basically it means as you said, the markets and promoters ultimately get their profit from the consumers even though they make us think they are giving us a good deal.
If you've got a relatively consistent weekly commute I highly suggest filling up all the way and driving until almost empty. The less time you spend going out of your way to fill up and waiting at your local crowded station (it would be pretty crowded if it's the best priced one), the less gas you waste.
Doing this, I am also more able to track my gas mileage from week to week fully. By being able to accurately track, I've gotten 36mpg consistently for two weeks now when my car's EPA estimated highway mpg is 35 (and I'm not on the highway 100% of the time), and my old average combined mileage was around 30-33 (average for everyone was around 29). That's a 20% increase in efficiency, or about 10 dollars saved every week!
the important place to look is the price per unit (either per item, per pound, ounce, gallon, etc). the stores I go to break this down and I see where the real deals are, but if your store doesn't, please invest some time to learning simple math. B1G1 may not be the best, but it's not worth ignoring outright.
First I try to sell just to see if I can get some return on the item, but if not, I then try to give it away on CL. We got rid of our old couch and loveseat that way, as well as mattresses and an old but working TV (almost all of these were also bought on CL or hand-me-downs. Yay college!). I always try to stipulate that they needed to pick it up and carry it out of my apartment themselves, though oftentimes I help out anyway.
Oftentimes the stuff being given away is snapped up too fast or not worth the gas to pick up, but it's certainly on the whole worth trying to see if anyone could have any use for it (even if it's just to be a prop in a local play or movie). Recycling goes a long way towards keeping waste and pollution down, so why not see if you can prevent someone from having to waste money and buy something new?
There is a Chinese saying that says "The sheep's hair grows on the sheep's back." It essentially means that when a seller tries to give you promotional gifts, or buy one get one free, they are actually just folding in their profits into the joint sale. They're trying to fake us into believing that the value is higher than it really is.
Chinese culture already instills these little wisebread-ish tidbits of information into their culture. I hope one day Americans will have more sayings that promote frugality.
Who are you to say what nobody will want?
I gave away a broken TV to an eager Freecycler whose teenage son was taking an electronics class in high school. They were going to see if they could fix it as a class project.
Gardeners building raised beds will go ga-ga for free clean dirt, scrap lumber ("old decks") and/or landscaping rocks.
People going to Burning Man are often looking for ratty old couches to bring along so they don't end up ruining a perfectly good one.
People going camping are often looking for firewood. Some people even still keep their homes warm with it.
If I were filling something with concrete, I would certainly be interested in concrete chunks to take up some of the volume so I wouldn't have to use as much new concrete.
Our landfills are full enough. I think it's admirable to try to find a new life for things that may at first seem to be worthless. You never know what "crap" will be just what someone is looking for.
This is really a good article. It is very common sense but I think this is a must read by all.
I always keep my tank at minimum half full. Just in case there is a disaster that requires I need to travel a good distance without access to fuel.
Also, we had only filled the gas tank once the entire month of May, making for a 50% decrease in our gas bill!
Driving less. . . Never were truer words spoken.
My wife and I recently laid down some decent money on a couple of bicycles. It turns out (despite what all the naysayers around me said) that EVERYWHERE I go to on a daily basis is very well within reach. I even biked 15 miles in one trip on Saturday-- just on a "casual ride"!!
biking through downtown- normally a painful experience of stop-and-go, fear-for-your-life moments, was turned into a great experience that made me feel not only liberated from the shackles of the car, but also saved time!
Bicycling is completely awesome, IMO
zach
pennywise-poundfoolish.typepad.com
You're right - the key really is in being aware of what a "good" price for each item is. The stores (and now apparently housing developers) are counting on consumers being uninformed and carried away by the thrill of getting an item on SALE. I often look at the BOGO or the 10 for $10 deals, and walk right by because on another day these same items would be on sale for much less.
I am a servicemember stationed overseas. When I filed my 2007 TR, my wife didn't have her SSN. Nobody told me I would be disqualified for filing with an ITIN. Now I received word that I am not eligible for stimulus. I heard I can submit a 1040x with her SSN when she receives it and I will get reimbursement. Is this true? Is there a time I must have the 1040X submitted by?
im a military member stationed overseas. my wife only has an ITIN now but has applied for her SSN. i didnt have it in time for filing my taxes tho. i found out i wasnt eligible for the stimulus because my wife was using an ITIN. if ill have her social before the end of the year, can i submit a 1040X and include her SSN and still get my rebate? by what time must I do this? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks