Talk about boring...these great tips from Freeshipping.org include some fantastic boring-but-effective ways to lost money. My favorite? Use the stovetop instead of the oven. Why? It consumes less energy. Zzzzz.......
These are all great ideas, and I'm curious to hear from people that don't practice any of these if they'd be willing to try any one of them for a week.
If I didn't pay for cable I'd save around $800/year. Then again, my wife would not be very happy....
I got one in the mail today. A bit perplexed I called them to ask them why I was receiving the card. I had used one in the past maybe 6 years ago but hated spending the money to add money. So I call the only number provided and it's the activation number. I don't enter the card acct # and try to get a live person. "Your hold time is 3 minutes" A guy by the name of "Ron" with an accent answers and asks for the account number. I ask him why I got it in the first place. I don't recall the answer but he continued with: "so anyways the card is inactive..." "But why are you wasting pap..." I was cut off. He threw me back into the main menu. So I called back and this this time the hold is going to be 5 minutes. Eleven minutes later and angry, I hang up. I don't know what else to think about the whole matter. It's all a bit shocking because a lot of weird little things have been happening ever since I signed up with one of those identity protection sites. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Shouldn't I be?
i can never near finish my rss feeds. i deal with people all day asking me stuff in person and by email.
so now i'm supposed to type out more stuff. and read more.
so how to choose what to and what not to read? i guess tweets sound shorter so do i shutdown my feeds and tweet instead?
is social media for anti-social grouchy types who quickly burn out on too much contact and need to retreat to solitude? guess they got a tweet for that, huh...
I like how you described acid reflux. You tell about it coming up the esophagus. Now think about it. Instead of battling that ordeal, why not sooth it faster by bringing the acid content down the esophagus. Things go down easier than they go up!!!
I have used Twitter for almost a year now and I find it to be a great source for find news and information and meeting others with similar interest. I was also a little hesitant when I first began to use it but it has become a part of my everyday life.
don't go to see movies in the theater - wait till they're out on dvd and/or cable. This usually works for me...except for Star Trek. I *really* wish I'd seen that one in the theater!
Libraries aren't just for books. CDs, DVD's....many public libraries have online access to eBooks and audio books that can even be uploaded to mp3 players.
Cancel your internet service and just use the library or another public hotspot (or find a neighbor willing to split the cost of cable internet and share the wi-fi).
In many ways, the boring lunch thing really appeals to me just because it would be so easy....but I need more variety and end up bringing leftovers from the night before. When I lived alone, I'd make a pot of spaghetti and eat for a week!
Who are we really helping? Can those who are out of work, because of our near depressive recession, brought on in part by Barney Frank and friends, who forced mortgage companies into making loans to those who they new were not truly qualified, afford to buy a new car of any kind? How many businesses is this really helping? What about the used car dealers? What about auto parts businesses? Seams that all their potential business from this law was crushed into a pile of metal. And where do all of these crushed cars go? Are they being sent over to china as scrap metal? Or are they being given to American smelters as a nice bonus of metal they didn't have to purchase. I haven't heard that that is the case. It would seem like a good idea to help as many businesses in this deal as they could. But I don't believe it is. It seems this bill is 'again' very selective to who it is really helping-at our, the tax payers expense, and that is to the auto labor unions of only certain auto companies, that also just happen to be political supports of our new president. Smells of a pay off to me! I would not support this program even if it saved me THOUSANDS of dollars.
Until I really realized how much I could use it for, especially finding new information and ideas, I did not like twitter at all. It took about a month or so, but now I do not go a day without it.
A word or warning about your CC payoff plan: credit cards are unsecured debt, which means if something unexpected an bad happens so you're out of work w/ no income, the worst that can happen is you file for bankruptcy and the debt is abolished.
With your home-equity line of credit (HELOC), the debt is secured...securely tied to your home. Fail to pay on your HELOC & the bank can come repo your house! Dangerous stuff...
As my father always said, "don't be penny wise and dollar foolish!" I don't mean to be your father, just make sure you know what you're getting into.
People don't 'get' Twitter because, in most cases, the only thing you hear about it in the mass media is either about Celebrities or people tweeting random nonsense- like what they're eating. That is true in some cases, but there's a lot more to Twitter than you think.
My main interests are Personal Finance, Sci-Fi & Science. About two-thirds of the people I follow give me Sci-Fi and Science news/updates and the other third are Personal Finance bloggers.
I tweet about all of it. Some days you'll see me tweeting about Sci-Fi TV shows/movies and other geeky interests...other days will be debate or conversations with professional and amateur scientists/astronomers/physicists about a range of topics. And then you'll have days where finances are my main tweet topics.
On several occasions, I've been asked why I tweet so much about Sci-Fi and Science instead of just Personal Finance. Well, although I enjoy tweeting with other Personal Finance experts, ultimately, they aren't the people who I'll ask to download or purchase my book.
I know my other discussions might turn off those who are only interested in Personal Finance information (which may be why I'm not on some Top Personal Finance Lists) but the Sci-Fi and Science lovers are my audience. They have the same interests I do...and some of them also have a desire to improve their financial situation but don't want to be blasted with constant Personal Finance information/links.
I am honored that my Sci-Fi and Science followers allow me to tweet some of the Personal Finance information I have to them. If it can help them in any way- then I've done exactly what I set out to do.
But no matter what your interests you can find groups of people on Twitter who have the same interests as you and I guarantee you will learn a lot more from them than you think...in 140 characters or less at a time!
Glad I'm still in your TweetDeck:) - Really, this is an excellent introduction and defense of Twitter, and I'd have to agree with it. I signed up back in June 2008, but it took me almost 8 months before I really started using it. Then I'd say it took a month to finally "get it" - including the basic guidelines of how to use it and benefit from it. I agree, it's been an enormous help with my own blog and for connecting with other bloggers (and readers!) and other amazing, productive people making exciting things happen.
I find twitter to be quite interesting. For me, it's a way of communicating with people who share an interest, Finance, and Personal Finance blogging. In my case, that focus means I'm not following some Bruins fans (nothing wrong with hockey, just not of interest to me) or other Tweeps who are focused on other issues. Like a club, but with no dues.
I have to say, I've learned quite a bit from those I follow, and hope others feel the same about me.
Like any social network, you can find focused people or those who just tweet where they are, what they are eating, etc. It's what you make of it.
I've found that another useful aspect of Twitter is keeping up with people I meet in person. At a professional networking event or conference, I often meet a number of new people. Twitter is an easy - and low commitment - way to maintain those new connections. I can follow people right after I meet them, get to know them better from their tweets, and next time I see them, we're much better acquainted. I actually have gotten to know a lot of colleagues much better because of our Twitter conversations.
Overall, I think the key to Twitter is to find your community. Once you do, it's an incredibly valuable communication tool.
I love going to thrift shops.
2-4 times a month I venture out.
It's like a tresure hunt.
So far this year I have not bought anything new.
All my clothes have been purchased this way.
I don't really miss paying full price.
This way I think twice about my finds.
Sometimes you find new books & other treasures.
Here's my first Twitter experience. Signed up followed some celebrities and followed a few friends. They tweet about once a month, and I got tweet overload from the celebrities about things most mundane. Then I tried again found some people that I liked what they had to say and started getting into it. No random people following you are just going to click on any link you send. They want to be comfortable with you, have interacted with you a bit and then lo and behold they're click on you, retweeting your stuff. It takes some time to build those relationships and to weed out those bad apples. It took me about a month to build up a decent community and then when twitter was down I felt helpless and unconnected. Lame, probably, but I'd recommend giving it a go, and if you are interested in Personal Finance the list of people I provided in the article just may prove me right.
My experience is that most twits don't really click on the links tweeted anyway. I have seen creative uses of twitter such as reporting traffic information or letting people know the location of a street food vendor. Personally I don't use it just because it seems like a waste of time.
I already do all of these things! Plus living at home/not paying any rent which ups the boringness factor in my life considerably. Which is good I suppose for my budget, but I will definitely have to think of some more creative ways to cut down even further...
One budget trick I use is I pay off my credit card weekly, because this allows me easily to budget
I use my credit often, because I love having a record and hate to carry a wallet
Daily, I check my charges to see how I am doing against daily checking my bank account--This spots any problems ASAP, as happen to me on eBay when someone got into my charge card
Master Card solved the problem with NO rigmarole
Mondays, I easily pay off my card balance
If I have an unexpected expense, I know till I get paid again, it is live off beans time :)
I am still not quite seeing why Twittering is helpful to the average joe. That is, unless you really care to know hot news about celebrities first.
After reading this, I can see its utility if you are trying to build a business or make money off a blog, but for me, I still don't see a point. The sort of blogs I read are ones written by friends, and the occasional blog of interest (like Wisebread), plus news sites. Twitter just seems like a way to waste more time on the 'net, because it's far too easy to do that already. I even stay clear of Facebook apps because they also seem pointless.
I usually ready posts but never respond because I doubt others really care about what little old me has to say. But, I must must respond to the previous post about Walmart being 'evil' and that unions being the last good thing left. God forbid I actually pay less for things my family needs. I think being an idiot would be going to a smaller store where they have zero selection and where they couldnt possibly carry everything I need in one trip so I could support a small business by paying 2 1/2 times more for the same exact product. Walmart is so popular because it allows the lower classes to actually SURVIVE. Not all of us are uber cheap, some of us are just plain poor. Heaven forbid we could actually afford to eat this week and possibly buy our children new shoes for school as well. And if you truly believe foreign cars are killing our economy, tell Chevy to build better vehicles that can actually compete with the price, quality, and fuel economy of a foreign car. And you know why they don't? Because of Unions. Unions are the evil in this country. Workers who are already over paid and get all the perks barely any of us Americans can even dream about anymore (ie insurance, 401k, retirement, vacation, sick leave...)sticking their heels in the mud and withholding work unless they get what they want. Its like a pack of toddlers at lunch time. They have no idea how great they have it and it's never enough. Let's have them work minimum wage with no benefits for a week or two. We will see how much they complain about their job after that.
Talk about boring...these great tips from Freeshipping.org include some fantastic boring-but-effective ways to lost money. My favorite? Use the stovetop instead of the oven. Why? It consumes less energy. Zzzzz.......
Can you find an even more boring tip?
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
These are all great ideas, and I'm curious to hear from people that don't practice any of these if they'd be willing to try any one of them for a week.
If I didn't pay for cable I'd save around $800/year. Then again, my wife would not be very happy....
The Writer's Coin | Follow me on Twitter
thank you for your sharing
I got one in the mail today. A bit perplexed I called them to ask them why I was receiving the card. I had used one in the past maybe 6 years ago but hated spending the money to add money. So I call the only number provided and it's the activation number. I don't enter the card acct # and try to get a live person. "Your hold time is 3 minutes" A guy by the name of "Ron" with an accent answers and asks for the account number. I ask him why I got it in the first place. I don't recall the answer but he continued with: "so anyways the card is inactive..." "But why are you wasting pap..." I was cut off. He threw me back into the main menu. So I called back and this this time the hold is going to be 5 minutes. Eleven minutes later and angry, I hang up. I don't know what else to think about the whole matter. It's all a bit shocking because a lot of weird little things have been happening ever since I signed up with one of those identity protection sites. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Shouldn't I be?
i can never near finish my rss feeds. i deal with people all day asking me stuff in person and by email.
so now i'm supposed to type out more stuff. and read more.
so how to choose what to and what not to read? i guess tweets sound shorter so do i shutdown my feeds and tweet instead?
is social media for anti-social grouchy types who quickly burn out on too much contact and need to retreat to solitude? guess they got a tweet for that, huh...
I like how you described acid reflux. You tell about it coming up the esophagus. Now think about it. Instead of battling that ordeal, why not sooth it faster by bringing the acid content down the esophagus. Things go down easier than they go up!!!
I have used Twitter for almost a year now and I find it to be a great source for find news and information and meeting others with similar interest. I was also a little hesitant when I first began to use it but it has become a part of my everyday life.
don't go to see movies in the theater - wait till they're out on dvd and/or cable. This usually works for me...except for Star Trek. I *really* wish I'd seen that one in the theater!
Libraries aren't just for books. CDs, DVD's....many public libraries have online access to eBooks and audio books that can even be uploaded to mp3 players.
Cancel your internet service and just use the library or another public hotspot (or find a neighbor willing to split the cost of cable internet and share the wi-fi).
In many ways, the boring lunch thing really appeals to me just because it would be so easy....but I need more variety and end up bringing leftovers from the night before. When I lived alone, I'd make a pot of spaghetti and eat for a week!
Who are we really helping? Can those who are out of work, because of our near depressive recession, brought on in part by Barney Frank and friends, who forced mortgage companies into making loans to those who they new were not truly qualified, afford to buy a new car of any kind? How many businesses is this really helping? What about the used car dealers? What about auto parts businesses? Seams that all their potential business from this law was crushed into a pile of metal. And where do all of these crushed cars go? Are they being sent over to china as scrap metal? Or are they being given to American smelters as a nice bonus of metal they didn't have to purchase. I haven't heard that that is the case. It would seem like a good idea to help as many businesses in this deal as they could. But I don't believe it is. It seems this bill is 'again' very selective to who it is really helping-at our, the tax payers expense, and that is to the auto labor unions of only certain auto companies, that also just happen to be political supports of our new president. Smells of a pay off to me! I would not support this program even if it saved me THOUSANDS of dollars.
Until I really realized how much I could use it for, especially finding new information and ideas, I did not like twitter at all. It took about a month or so, but now I do not go a day without it.
@BlogginNoggin
A word or warning about your CC payoff plan: credit cards are unsecured debt, which means if something unexpected an bad happens so you're out of work w/ no income, the worst that can happen is you file for bankruptcy and the debt is abolished.
With your home-equity line of credit (HELOC), the debt is secured...securely tied to your home. Fail to pay on your HELOC & the bank can come repo your house! Dangerous stuff...
As my father always said, "don't be penny wise and dollar foolish!" I don't mean to be your father, just make sure you know what you're getting into.
People don't 'get' Twitter because, in most cases, the only thing you hear about it in the mass media is either about Celebrities or people tweeting random nonsense- like what they're eating. That is true in some cases, but there's a lot more to Twitter than you think.
My main interests are Personal Finance, Sci-Fi & Science. About two-thirds of the people I follow give me Sci-Fi and Science news/updates and the other third are Personal Finance bloggers.
I tweet about all of it. Some days you'll see me tweeting about Sci-Fi TV shows/movies and other geeky interests...other days will be debate or conversations with professional and amateur scientists/astronomers/physicists about a range of topics. And then you'll have days where finances are my main tweet topics.
On several occasions, I've been asked why I tweet so much about Sci-Fi and Science instead of just Personal Finance. Well, although I enjoy tweeting with other Personal Finance experts, ultimately, they aren't the people who I'll ask to download or purchase my book.
I know my other discussions might turn off those who are only interested in Personal Finance information (which may be why I'm not on some Top Personal Finance Lists) but the Sci-Fi and Science lovers are my audience. They have the same interests I do...and some of them also have a desire to improve their financial situation but don't want to be blasted with constant Personal Finance information/links.
I am honored that my Sci-Fi and Science followers allow me to tweet some of the Personal Finance information I have to them. If it can help them in any way- then I've done exactly what I set out to do.
But no matter what your interests you can find groups of people on Twitter who have the same interests as you and I guarantee you will learn a lot more from them than you think...in 140 characters or less at a time!
Glad I'm still in your TweetDeck:) - Really, this is an excellent introduction and defense of Twitter, and I'd have to agree with it. I signed up back in June 2008, but it took me almost 8 months before I really started using it. Then I'd say it took a month to finally "get it" - including the basic guidelines of how to use it and benefit from it. I agree, it's been an enormous help with my own blog and for connecting with other bloggers (and readers!) and other amazing, productive people making exciting things happen.
I find twitter to be quite interesting. For me, it's a way of communicating with people who share an interest, Finance, and Personal Finance blogging. In my case, that focus means I'm not following some Bruins fans (nothing wrong with hockey, just not of interest to me) or other Tweeps who are focused on other issues. Like a club, but with no dues.
I have to say, I've learned quite a bit from those I follow, and hope others feel the same about me.
Like any social network, you can find focused people or those who just tweet where they are, what they are eating, etc. It's what you make of it.
Joe
I just tried this formula for the first time. I would like to know what the coverage area is for the lawn tonic?
I've found that another useful aspect of Twitter is keeping up with people I meet in person. At a professional networking event or conference, I often meet a number of new people. Twitter is an easy - and low commitment - way to maintain those new connections. I can follow people right after I meet them, get to know them better from their tweets, and next time I see them, we're much better acquainted. I actually have gotten to know a lot of colleagues much better because of our Twitter conversations.
Overall, I think the key to Twitter is to find your community. Once you do, it's an incredibly valuable communication tool.
I love going to thrift shops.
2-4 times a month I venture out.
It's like a tresure hunt.
So far this year I have not bought anything new.
All my clothes have been purchased this way.
I don't really miss paying full price.
This way I think twice about my finds.
Sometimes you find new books & other treasures.
Here's my first Twitter experience. Signed up followed some celebrities and followed a few friends. They tweet about once a month, and I got tweet overload from the celebrities about things most mundane. Then I tried again found some people that I liked what they had to say and started getting into it. No random people following you are just going to click on any link you send. They want to be comfortable with you, have interacted with you a bit and then lo and behold they're click on you, retweeting your stuff. It takes some time to build those relationships and to weed out those bad apples. It took me about a month to build up a decent community and then when twitter was down I felt helpless and unconnected. Lame, probably, but I'd recommend giving it a go, and if you are interested in Personal Finance the list of people I provided in the article just may prove me right.
My experience is that most twits don't really click on the links tweeted anyway. I have seen creative uses of twitter such as reporting traffic information or letting people know the location of a street food vendor. Personally I don't use it just because it seems like a waste of time.
I already do all of these things! Plus living at home/not paying any rent which ups the boringness factor in my life considerably. Which is good I suppose for my budget, but I will definitely have to think of some more creative ways to cut down even further...
One budget trick I use is I pay off my credit card weekly, because this allows me easily to budget
I use my credit often, because I love having a record and hate to carry a wallet
Daily, I check my charges to see how I am doing against daily checking my bank account--This spots any problems ASAP, as happen to me on eBay when someone got into my charge card
Master Card solved the problem with NO rigmarole
Mondays, I easily pay off my card balance
If I have an unexpected expense, I know till I get paid again, it is live off beans time :)
I am still not quite seeing why Twittering is helpful to the average joe. That is, unless you really care to know hot news about celebrities first.
After reading this, I can see its utility if you are trying to build a business or make money off a blog, but for me, I still don't see a point. The sort of blogs I read are ones written by friends, and the occasional blog of interest (like Wisebread), plus news sites. Twitter just seems like a way to waste more time on the 'net, because it's far too easy to do that already. I even stay clear of Facebook apps because they also seem pointless.
You didn't mention Over-the-Air TV instead of Cable. And now, a lot of networks put episodes online that can be watched for free.
I usually ready posts but never respond because I doubt others really care about what little old me has to say. But, I must must respond to the previous post about Walmart being 'evil' and that unions being the last good thing left. God forbid I actually pay less for things my family needs. I think being an idiot would be going to a smaller store where they have zero selection and where they couldnt possibly carry everything I need in one trip so I could support a small business by paying 2 1/2 times more for the same exact product. Walmart is so popular because it allows the lower classes to actually SURVIVE. Not all of us are uber cheap, some of us are just plain poor. Heaven forbid we could actually afford to eat this week and possibly buy our children new shoes for school as well. And if you truly believe foreign cars are killing our economy, tell Chevy to build better vehicles that can actually compete with the price, quality, and fuel economy of a foreign car. And you know why they don't? Because of Unions. Unions are the evil in this country. Workers who are already over paid and get all the perks barely any of us Americans can even dream about anymore (ie insurance, 401k, retirement, vacation, sick leave...)sticking their heels in the mud and withholding work unless they get what they want. Its like a pack of toddlers at lunch time. They have no idea how great they have it and it's never enough. Let's have them work minimum wage with no benefits for a week or two. We will see how much they complain about their job after that.