Recent comments

  • How to Make Moonshine   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Hi......I was at the 'free moonshine recipes website', and I noticed that nothing is said about distilling after fermenting. I liked the Welch's grape juice moonshine brandy. Do you have to distill it?
    If you had to distill it, I have an old style aluminum pressure cooker, could I use that?
    I'm worried about the hole plugging and blowing up. What risk is there?

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    I pick up pennies because even that helps make me one cent richer. OK, ok, go ahead and call me cheapskate!

  • Heat Maps Equate to Hot Property   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Good for you for taking your time! There's no rush at all. But, if you do find the right one, go for it. Life is too short to not live the way you want within your means.

    The housing stock is generally much better (quality) than the rental stock at least in SF. That's why we bought. We treat our house as a home. If in 10-20 years it's worth something, great!

    Sam

  • Heat Maps Equate to Hot Property   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Good for you for taking your time! There's no rush at all. But, if you do find the right one, go for it. Life is too short to not live the way you want within your means.

    The housing stock is generally much better (quality) than the rental stock at least in SF. That's why we bought. We treat our house as a home. If in 10-20 years it's worth something, great!

    Sam

  • 3 Reasons Not to Invest Now   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Does anyone know of a reason why letting my money sit around doing nothing would be better than putting it in a Sally Mae savings account at 1.40 APY? It sounds like a good deal, but is there some kind of catch?

    Now suppose my money is definitely going into some kind of high-yield FDIC-insured savings account and, barring unforeseen circumstances, staying there a while. Is there any reason to pick Capital One Direct (1.35 APY) or Ally Bank (formerly GMAC, 1.29 APY) over the higher rate offer?

  • Universal Life Insurance and Whole Life Insurance: A Comparison   15 years 44 weeks ago

    This post is wonderful. People have to take time to gain a reasonable knowledge about these topic.

  • Heat Maps Equate to Hot Property   15 years 44 weeks ago

    I've heard of and played with trulia before, but not the other 2! Sounds interesting, thanks for bringing them to light, I'll start tinkering with them too! Since I'm kind of interested in rental real estate, they will be handy :)

  • Heat Maps Equate to Hot Property   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Connie - I have to admit I haven't researched rentals and purchases outside the US area. However, this has inspired me to look into it.

  • Health Care Reform: Good for People Like Me   15 years 44 weeks ago

    No, I want insurance—real insurance that protects me in the event that I get sick. I'm perfectly willing to pay for it myself, just like I pay all my other expenses. But I'm unwilling to gamble my finances on a wager that I'll only get seriously ill or injured one time in my entire life, which is what health insurance has been in the US up to now.

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    I always try to match up coupons with store sales to get things for free or really cheap

  • Cleaning House With Dr. Bronner   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Are you serious? Maybe you should read up on how to make soap...that's how soap is made you dumbass.

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    I mend my clothes, even doing invisible patches - very fast and easy, to get at least several more wears out of the item. I also have cut back on using a drier - both saving me the cost of drying clothes, but also saving my clothes from extra wear and tear. (Extra plus - I don't have to go jeans shopping as often since they last longer!) My paper towels are actually absorbent cotton cloth and can get cleaned with the rest of the laundry. I make my own yogurt. I generally weigh the savings vs the time investment (plus any extra benefit like extra tasty yogurt) and amazingly a lot of frugal activities are quite worthwhile.

  • 3 Ways to Save Money on Maternity Dresses   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Great tips. Chances are, your friends and friends of friends are all getting pregnant around the same time you are. Just raid each other's closets. Don't we do that when we aren't pregnant anyway?

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    I always make my own lunch and I am also a chronic coupon cutter! I just call it smart.

  • Heat Maps Equate to Hot Property   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Hi Jennifer, As a lover of anything real estate, I appreciate the links to these handy tools. I can't wait to check them out! Thanks for a new view on an important topic. Keep it up! Best regards, Barb Friedberg

  • 5 Easy Ways to Save in 2010   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Here, you can get great deals on carry-out pizzas: a large one-topping pizza from Papa John's for 4.99 any Tuesday, a large one-topping from Domino's for $6.99 any day, a Little Caesar's hot-N-ready pizza for $5 any day. That's definitely a frugal choice to feed a family of 4, in my opinion. My time is worth more than the buck or two I could save by making it myself.

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    WE SAVE
    Entertainment: Hulu, library, parks, church activities, using pool for free at sister's apt complex, walking local greenways
    Food & Home: coupon matching with southernsavers.com, sharing bulk cooking with family, being a willing & appreciative recipient for gardeners & chicken farmers (eggs), keeping the A/C & heat usage to a minimum
    Insurance: shopping for the best deal regularly on home/auto, HSA with catastrophic Blue Cross medical coverage instead of signing up for regular plan thru husband's work

    WE NEED TO LEARN TO SAVE
    Appliance repair is killing us! We've paid for repairs to our garage door opening system, dishwasher, water filtration system, & A/C unit just in the past year. Not sure how to fix this!

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Boy, I'd love to win this book! I have it on my Paperbackswap.com wish list, which is how I get my books on the cheap (I don't have many used bookstores around my house and I'm pretty specific about what I want to get as far as books, so PBS works well!)

    We're pretty much hard core cheapskates, more out of necessity than anything. Shopping on Craigslist, freecycle and garage sales is how we get our furniture, our home decor, and our household necessities like pots and pans. I've put in gardens and canned the food, cook from scratch, and buy our (clearanced) clothes for the year with gift certificates given to us for Christmas and birthdays (and couple them with those $10 of $10 purchase coupons JCPenney and Kohls send out.) I coupon - and I'm starting to get good at getting stuff for free or just pennies on the dollar. Nothing that can be repurposed gets thrown out, and food is not wasted in this household! Not anymore! :)

  • 5 Easy Ways to Save in 2010   15 years 44 weeks ago

    oops! sorry! Didn't mean for this to post twice. The website prompted me for my CAPTCHA again, so I think re-completing that again caused the site to post it twice.

  • 5 Easy Ways to Save in 2010   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Eating out to save money is an interesting idea.
    One of my friends mentioned to me that she found buying her child's lunch through the school's food service program was cheaper than packing a lunch for him. The child was excited to have a new type of food every day, rather than the same old sandwich, and she saved money and time too!

  • 5 Easy Ways to Save in 2010   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Eating out to save money is an interesting idea.
    One of my friends mentioned to me that she found buying her child's lunch through the school's food service program was cheaper than packing a lunch for him. The child was excited to have a new type of food every day, rather than the same old sandwich, and she saved money and time too!

  • Uglify Your Stuff To Keep It Safe   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Those mold bags are hilarious! What a great idea!

    How do people to make their stuff look like junk feel about owning their stuff. Does the change in appearance psychologically change the value to the owner too? Would you feel embarrassed to show your "junky" stuff to your friends?

  • Ask the Readers: What Makes You a Cheapskate?   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Not only that, but the quotation marks are misplaced!

  • Health Care Reform: Good for People Like Me   15 years 44 weeks ago

    Maam - the government is not forcing you to buy a car, therefore it is entirely different than them forcing you to buy healthcare.

  • Health Care Reform: Good for People Like Me   15 years 44 weeks ago

    This article actually makes me sick. So basically you want to be a writer, but you are not talented or dont want to work hard enough to make a living on your own? THATS CALLED A HOBBY.

    Why are we paying taxes for you to practice your hobby instead of actually doing real work?

    If you can be a writer and make a living on your own, GREAT! If you just want to be a writer but can't make enough at it, well then get another job and stop asking for the rest of us to subsidize your hobby.