Recent comments

  • Ask the Readers: How Do You Save Money When Dining Out?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    sign up for cooupons from resturants and usually take family if they send us one. Ruby Tuesday sends free meal once a month and kids eat free at chilis many times

  • Ask the Readers: How Do You Save Money When Dining Out?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I sign up for frequent diner cards and similar reward programs. If we frequent the same establishments, (which we tend to do), we can rack up points for free food. Also, a lot of these places offer free food for birthdays and other occasions. It doesn't save a ton of money, but it helps a little.

    If we want to try someplace new I often buy groupons and other collective buying discounts. We do this less frequently, but it's a good way to sample a new place without spending a lot of money. Just check out the prices on the menu before buying. Sometimes the cost of the groupon will barely cover drinks and appetizers.

  • Ask the Readers: How Do You Save Money When Dining Out?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    My husband and I either get one appetizer and one entree and split both, or we bag half of our meals for the next day. We also almost always just drink water with our meal.

  • How to Make Moonshine   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Rebel,
    The recipe sounds fine. The yeast was not bloomed ahead of time? Did you add it in dry? What was the temp when you added the yeast? When you stirred, did you agitate it or just push down the floating top? You should have kept it after the heads were tossed. You let it air a little before capping it. Have you had shine before? Maybe you were just not prepared for the unaged smell. Try again, start with a sugar wash, no fancy yeast. Then move up to the corn. When you try it, let it breath a few days, filter it, too.

  • Ask the Readers: How Do You Save Money When Dining Out?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Here are some of the things I do to bring down the cost of eating out:

    Split meals with my daughter
    Eat an appetizer for my dinner
    Order water instead of a drink
    Order the special (one local restaurant has $5 steak dinners on Sundays)
    Take home of the leftovers for another meal or two
    Eat a late lunch/early dinner and get the lunch special

  • The 4 Most Common Unnecessary "Needs"   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Our television (which is only for Netflix and gaming since we ditched cable) is a hand-me-down from my parents. We've looked at TVs, but if we bought one of those new HD thinner ones we'd have to go WAY down in screen size. Our TV actually has a pretty decent sized screen, it is just extremely old.

    And you know what? I'm fine with that. Our friends occasionally comment on how our TV is so fat it'd kill someone if it fell down, but we don't NEED a new one. I'd rather save for a house, and keep our 6 month emergency fund intact than take advice from broke people. ;)

  • Going Short at Starbucks: Worth It?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I don't understand how or why it would take longer to pour considering that it comes out of a 1 gallon urn. There is no "making" involved in pouring a half-caf`.

  • How to Allocate Your Cash When You Are Broke   14 years 4 weeks ago

    What if there is 0 cash, no job, and can't seem to get any sort of job? There are still about 15 people, unemployed, temp, or part-time workers looking for every full-time job available.

  • How to Make Moonshine   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Ran first batch and it did not turn out. Smelled like a cross between rotten corn and vomit. I used 5 lbs. of cracked corn, 5 lbs. of white sugar, 10 gallons water and 1 pkg of turbo yeast. I disolved the sugar in the water added the corn and rest of the water and then the yeast. I kept it covered with airlock and blanket around it so the temp never dropped under 70. Started fermenting on Wed at 5:30pm, stirred once daily, ran it on Saturday at 4:30pm. Using tower bought online with water line cooling jacket hooked up, started to drip at 5:30. Smelled the same or worse coming out. The first measuring of alcohol content was 145 proof, but smelled bad and I threw it out. Kept running and the smell never got better and I dumped it all. After researching I think I know at least three things wrong. Anybody have any suggestions.

  • Help Your Teenager Earn Their First Million   14 years 4 weeks ago

    This would be great advice if they weren't considering their education after high school. Considering the average amount of student loan debt (at least for my college) is around $25,000, and the interest rate on loans is higher than the interest you would gain from a Roth IRA, it would be more beneficial to put extra earnings toward paying off debts before saving for retirement.

  • 10 Ways to Reuse Common Household Items   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Egg cartons are not a great way to start most seedlings: they need room to get their roots started, and many seedlings are not ready for transplanting until they have at least two "true" leaves on them, a sign that additional roots have developed after germination. If you look at the actual depth of soil you'll have for them, there's not much there.

    Yogurt cups with holes drilled in them are much, much better. Even paper cups or those made from rolled newspaper.

    I have approximately 1000 seedlings goings right now, and have tried egg cartons. Never again.

  • How Your Last Name Affects Your Spending Habits   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Any mention of effect size? Even if the study determines that there is a statistically significant difference amongst names, that hardly means it is a large difference. IN other words, it may not be significant in the colloquial sense of the term. Could be only 0.001% greater likelihood than chance, but with a large enough number of study subjects that could still be considered statistically significant.

  • Best Money Tips: Secrets of a Rewarding Career   14 years 4 weeks ago

    You are welcome! Same to you!!!

  • Save Money on Shaving With These Razor Tricks   14 years 4 weeks ago

    It works! See the Microscope proof here http://teamdonline.com/technology/extend-life-razor-blades/

  • 10 Cheap, Tasty Wines to Get You Through Tax Season   14 years 4 weeks ago

    VERY hard work. :)

  • 10 Cheap, Tasty Wines to Get You Through Tax Season   14 years 4 weeks ago

    You are so brave to suffer through tastings for this article, Mikey! Bless you. ;)

  • 25 Things to Throw Out Today   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I JUST did this! After the annual Valentine's date "I have nothing to wear" meltdown I realised I was still somehow running out of wardrobe space, so I went through EVERYTHING and threw out anything I didn't wear or that didn't fit any more, or that was starting to look raggedy. I did it in stages and that made it easier to buy replacement stuff, so over the last few weeks I've been systematically upgrading all my stuff. I replaced my old jeans first, then my shoes, handbags, etc. until all my stuff had been sorted through. When I was finished I had about a dozen nice new things, and 9 bin liners of stuff to donate to charity.
    I went through my food after that and threw out any old tinned stuff that had been lurking in the press for 10 years, or jars of sauces that are well past their use by date.
    I did the same thing with my make-up, perfume, and hair products this weekend, and replaced anything I'd had for over 18 months. Now I've nice new everything (plus, I saved about 50 euro when I was replacing it, because the make-up counter had a three for two offer this week- happy coincidence there).
    It really makes you feel better, it's like a total life-spring clean.
    I didn't donate my books though, I just organised my bookshelf better so that the ones I have't read yet are on the top shelf so as to give me more incentive to pick one up and read while I'm waiting as I head out the door to the dentists or the airport.
    Next thing I'm going to attack is my linens because I know I have some in the press that definitely need replacing.
    I recommend everyone to do this, it makes you feel so weirdly free.

  • Great Summer Jobs for Kids and Adults   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Adults can definitely look at amusement park work too, if there's a park in the area. The park I worked at all through high school had certain departments that were mostly staffed by adults. The pay isn't amazing, but it can be fun.

  • 35 Mouth Watering Lentil Recipes   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I've been having a bit of a lentil revival recently. One of my favorite lunch recipes right now is this: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/eggplant-lentil-salad

    I usually add some chopped cucumbers and green pepper as well to up the vegetable content.

  • Best Money Tips: Secrets of a Rewarding Career   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Thanks for the shout out! Hope y'all had a great Easter :)

  • Secret Lawn Tonic Recipe From Golf Course Groundskeeper   14 years 4 weeks ago

    Recipe makes 36 oz of concentrated 'Secret Lawn Tonic,' and the auther states, "should give you enough for 10 gallons of the diluted mixture."

    36 oz / 10 gallons = 3.6 oz per gallon

    Assuming your hose end sprayer's concentration settings are per gallon, I would set it somewhere at or between 3-4 oz and see what happens.

    I haven't tried this yet, but I will be this coming weekend. I don't know if it will work, but it's cheap to find out and it's fun to try stuff like this. I can't find a downside.

    Maybe I'll be the proud owner of the greenest lawn in NW Austin. Take that neighbors!

  • Ask the Readers: What Is Your Biggest Financial Accomplishment?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I already liked your Facebook page

  • Ask the Readers: What Is Your Biggest Financial Accomplishment?   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I'd say our biggest accomplishment is stopping our use of credit cards. We still have some credit card debt to pay down, but we're not adding to it.

  • netSpend: The Story of the Visa Debit Card We Did Not Apply For   14 years 4 weeks ago

    I have used a Netspend card for years without any setbacks or dissappointments,their fee's are told up front and are no more rediculous than a banking institution(i.e.-having to pay a fee to cash 1 of their own checks recieved from someone with an account there) or credit card company,its all in what you personally manage.

  • Free Prescription Drugs for Those Who Qualify   14 years 4 weeks ago

    For anyone still seeking help, I would check out some of the free prescription discount card programs out there. They certainly don't make your drugs free, but they can help alot (mostly for people who have no insurance)

    Here's a couple that I know of:
    http://rxfuse.org
    http://www.medsavercard.com