I must say I am always disappointed with frugal wine pickings because I find nothing frugal about a $15 bottle of wine. I go to Trader Joe's and local wine shops and pay mostly less than $5 for a great bottle of wine and sometimes I will pick a $5-$10 bottle of wine that is just as good.
One of the gifts that I ever received about a year ago from one of my friends that has been happy to hear my feedback was an package of otaku items since I am an anime fan and they do podcasts every week. I do still have the item and just love what it contains for the most part.
Hi I'm having trouble finding a code for my Panasonic DMR-EZ28EB, I've been on a few sites but so far no searches have given an answer. Can anyone help please
A better method is to use high quality auto polish. Find one with a high carnauba wax content. I use McGuire's ( It is for my vintage Mercedes) it's used by almost all professional car finishing shops & collectors.
Interesting article! I recently bought a house and as a prospective buyer thought that all Realtors were playing games to increase the price of the house. Most of us buyers learned long ago that just because a listing agent says "...we have three cash offers and several additional offers above asking.." May really mean they have no offers on a house with 300 days on market and their next ploy will say "highest and best" where the highest bidder might be selected to be the most "upside down". In this common scenario many of us buyers later learn that we are bidding against ourselves. One of the trickiest gimmicks I have seen is that the listing agent will refuse to answer the telephone, FAX's or emails from Buyers agents, especially on the telephone number listed on advertising and marketing materials. As one listing agent told me "..there is no law that says I have to answer the telephone..." So why would a listing agent stall the sale of a house? To get BOTH SIDES OF THE DEAL...and double the commission. The Listing agent carefully checks out the calling party on the caller ID and carefully returns the call if they think the caller is an unrepresented buyer.
How did I learn this? By having this happen many times. I learned that listing agents do not want to talk to buyers agents because they want both sides of the deal. So who represents me? After being tricked so many times, I decided to play my own trick. I saw an interesting new listing and immediately called my buyers agent. We were pre-qualified we want to see the inside of the house and if interested make an offer. But big problem. The Listing agent would not return our Buyers agents calls! So why let the Realtors involved keep us from buying? The house was listed as "Active " which means it is NOT a Short, REO or other difficult to close property.
I went to a local discount super store and bought a prepaid cellphone with a telephone number area code and prefix for Beverly Hills. I called the Listing agent and she answered on the first ring. Imagine that! The First question of this Listing Agent was "Do you have to sell your home in Beverly Hills to buy this house?" Aha Gotcha! Why would a total stranger care unless she wanted to be my agent? Also how does she know where I live ( ha ha . Never been to Beverly Hills, but I saw 90210 on TV). I checked with the county and found another lie. The house was listed for auction in 3 days! It was an obvious short sale that the listing agent "forgot" to mention.
So the listed price was $325k and in 20 minutes I had her down to 200K and I never had looked at the house. Remember I am supposed to be in Beverly Hills. I told her I had a family member in the neighborhood and could they arrange to see thew house. The listing agent was SOOO busy she couldn't but had her husband show it to my relative that afternoon. Well needless to say I showed up looked art the house and made a WRITTEN offer through my wife (different last name) for 200K with NO contingencies. I knew that she would get the mail the next day and probably open it. I called her on the telephone and made an offer also with no contingencies for $5,000 more. $205k. Why did I offer more? Because I knew that if she were a moral person she might feel less guilty by offering the "best" of two offers. Why no contingencies (except mortgage funding) with no inspection? I knew I had at least a ten day rescission rate with the bank. So the listing agent got her $12,300 at a selling of $205,000 instead of the $9750 she would have made if it sold at $325k and she worked with a "buyers" agent. Our Buyers agent had an agreement with my wife ONLY and not me. Me and my wife easily qualified for our own 3% 15 year fixed loan. I only paid 63% of asking and all parties were happy. There is a sad side note. The listing agent was sneaky and "forgot" to tell me that the seller was living out of a car and tried to rent rooms to pay for the mortgage. The plan did not work because the renters didn't pay rent. It could have cost me tens of thousands of dollars to eject the non-paying freeloader tenants. I learned all this because of a NOSY neighbor who told all the gory details. I used a ruse to get the tenants out of the property one week before closing, and quickly put up a fence and Keep Out signs and hired a security service to sit outside of the property right next to the KEEP OUT signs. The deal closed and we moved in 3 days before the loan was funded. The Listing agent gave us the keys because she didn't want to get sued because of non disclosure of the tenants. When the dirt bag tenants tried to return they were met with either the private Security Guards or the Sheriff. The tenants were already "known" by local law enforcement.
Today Zillow shows us at Zindex of $471K. Not bad! YOU as a BUYER or SELLER MUST BE AN ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF or you will get eaten alive by these salesmen who will tell you anything to make a quick commish. Did these Realtors break the law? NO This is what they do. The REAL client of the salesmen is themselves FIRST.
I declutter as part of the regular housekeeping cycle. When I pack away clothes at the end of the season, I pull the ones that didn't get used. About once a month I go through part or all of my craft supplies to stay ahead of the game, and I pay close attention to what I bring into my house.
And all the better if it has a tricky clutch! : P This was my #1 requirement for the last car I bought (in a pinch, unfortunately after my truck was totaled). The standard, not a silly clutch : )
Meg, you can have Carlos update this article to be twice as long. :) Gamer's Gate and Desura are Steam alternatives; Humble Bundle, Indie Gala, Indie Royale, Bundle Stars are game deal sites that occasionally have gems (many of which can be activated on Steam).
Slickdeals.net (probably like FatWallet- never used it) and Kotaku.com's daily moneysaver posts are what I primarily use, and cheapassgamer.com is apparently another go-to place. Gamefly.com and EA.com also have occassional sales. For Steam, use the enhanced steam extension and/or steamgamesales.com to make sure you get the best deal.
Goozex doesn't work how you described. You "sell" games for points. Then exchange the points + trade tokens for other peoples games. Points can only be gained by "selling" games. You never get your game back, ie not lending.
I think you gave some really great advice. It's so easy to get caught up in expectations and grandeur this time of year, thanks for reminding us how we can take it easy and truly make the most out of the holidays. I especially appreciate #s 3 and 5 -- very meaningful.
I must say I am always disappointed with frugal wine pickings because I find nothing frugal about a $15 bottle of wine. I go to Trader Joe's and local wine shops and pay mostly less than $5 for a great bottle of wine and sometimes I will pick a $5-$10 bottle of wine that is just as good.
Good article! My advice is to put a leghold trap at your driver seat! Or to buy a Audi A4!
One of the gifts that I ever received about a year ago from one of my friends that has been happy to hear my feedback was an package of otaku items since I am an anime fan and they do podcasts every week. I do still have the item and just love what it contains for the most part.
I have the worst experience with Capital one 360. This is the worst place to bank with when you try to close your account and get your balance out.
Hi I'm having trouble finding a code for my Panasonic DMR-EZ28EB, I've been on a few sites but so far no searches have given an answer. Can anyone help please
A better method is to use high quality auto polish. Find one with a high carnauba wax content. I use McGuire's ( It is for my vintage Mercedes) it's used by almost all professional car finishing shops & collectors.
Look it upon Google, it's some really hard stuff.
Interesting article! I recently bought a house and as a prospective buyer thought that all Realtors were playing games to increase the price of the house. Most of us buyers learned long ago that just because a listing agent says "...we have three cash offers and several additional offers above asking.." May really mean they have no offers on a house with 300 days on market and their next ploy will say "highest and best" where the highest bidder might be selected to be the most "upside down". In this common scenario many of us buyers later learn that we are bidding against ourselves. One of the trickiest gimmicks I have seen is that the listing agent will refuse to answer the telephone, FAX's or emails from Buyers agents, especially on the telephone number listed on advertising and marketing materials. As one listing agent told me "..there is no law that says I have to answer the telephone..." So why would a listing agent stall the sale of a house? To get BOTH SIDES OF THE DEAL...and double the commission. The Listing agent carefully checks out the calling party on the caller ID and carefully returns the call if they think the caller is an unrepresented buyer.
How did I learn this? By having this happen many times. I learned that listing agents do not want to talk to buyers agents because they want both sides of the deal. So who represents me? After being tricked so many times, I decided to play my own trick. I saw an interesting new listing and immediately called my buyers agent. We were pre-qualified we want to see the inside of the house and if interested make an offer. But big problem. The Listing agent would not return our Buyers agents calls! So why let the Realtors involved keep us from buying? The house was listed as "Active " which means it is NOT a Short, REO or other difficult to close property.
I went to a local discount super store and bought a prepaid cellphone with a telephone number area code and prefix for Beverly Hills. I called the Listing agent and she answered on the first ring. Imagine that! The First question of this Listing Agent was "Do you have to sell your home in Beverly Hills to buy this house?" Aha Gotcha! Why would a total stranger care unless she wanted to be my agent? Also how does she know where I live ( ha ha . Never been to Beverly Hills, but I saw 90210 on TV). I checked with the county and found another lie. The house was listed for auction in 3 days! It was an obvious short sale that the listing agent "forgot" to mention.
So the listed price was $325k and in 20 minutes I had her down to 200K and I never had looked at the house. Remember I am supposed to be in Beverly Hills. I told her I had a family member in the neighborhood and could they arrange to see thew house. The listing agent was SOOO busy she couldn't but had her husband show it to my relative that afternoon. Well needless to say I showed up looked art the house and made a WRITTEN offer through my wife (different last name) for 200K with NO contingencies. I knew that she would get the mail the next day and probably open it. I called her on the telephone and made an offer also with no contingencies for $5,000 more. $205k. Why did I offer more? Because I knew that if she were a moral person she might feel less guilty by offering the "best" of two offers. Why no contingencies (except mortgage funding) with no inspection? I knew I had at least a ten day rescission rate with the bank. So the listing agent got her $12,300 at a selling of $205,000 instead of the $9750 she would have made if it sold at $325k and she worked with a "buyers" agent. Our Buyers agent had an agreement with my wife ONLY and not me. Me and my wife easily qualified for our own 3% 15 year fixed loan. I only paid 63% of asking and all parties were happy. There is a sad side note. The listing agent was sneaky and "forgot" to tell me that the seller was living out of a car and tried to rent rooms to pay for the mortgage. The plan did not work because the renters didn't pay rent. It could have cost me tens of thousands of dollars to eject the non-paying freeloader tenants. I learned all this because of a NOSY neighbor who told all the gory details. I used a ruse to get the tenants out of the property one week before closing, and quickly put up a fence and Keep Out signs and hired a security service to sit outside of the property right next to the KEEP OUT signs. The deal closed and we moved in 3 days before the loan was funded. The Listing agent gave us the keys because she didn't want to get sued because of non disclosure of the tenants. When the dirt bag tenants tried to return they were met with either the private Security Guards or the Sheriff. The tenants were already "known" by local law enforcement.
Today Zillow shows us at Zindex of $471K. Not bad! YOU as a BUYER or SELLER MUST BE AN ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF or you will get eaten alive by these salesmen who will tell you anything to make a quick commish. Did these Realtors break the law? NO This is what they do. The REAL client of the salesmen is themselves FIRST.
I declutter as part of the regular housekeeping cycle. When I pack away clothes at the end of the season, I pull the ones that didn't get used. About once a month I go through part or all of my craft supplies to stay ahead of the game, and I pay close attention to what I bring into my house.
And all the better if it has a tricky clutch! : P This was my #1 requirement for the last car I bought (in a pinch, unfortunately after my truck was totaled). The standard, not a silly clutch : )
How about just writing a thank you note with an invitation for a get together when they are in town......
Nice article and Great Book, looking forward to reading more
Meg, you can have Carlos update this article to be twice as long. :) Gamer's Gate and Desura are Steam alternatives; Humble Bundle, Indie Gala, Indie Royale, Bundle Stars are game deal sites that occasionally have gems (many of which can be activated on Steam).
Slickdeals.net (probably like FatWallet- never used it) and Kotaku.com's daily moneysaver posts are what I primarily use, and cheapassgamer.com is apparently another go-to place. Gamefly.com and EA.com also have occassional sales. For Steam, use the enhanced steam extension and/or steamgamesales.com to make sure you get the best deal.
Thanks for the heads up! We've updated the piece.
Good ones! My husband really gets irritated with the people who interrupt, too.
Well, I always did, but people get prickly about that one.
Goozex doesn't work how you described. You "sell" games for points. Then exchange the points + trade tokens for other peoples games. Points can only be gained by "selling" games. You never get your game back, ie not lending.
Kentin,
I think you gave some really great advice. It's so easy to get caught up in expectations and grandeur this time of year, thanks for reminding us how we can take it easy and truly make the most out of the holidays. I especially appreciate #s 3 and 5 -- very meaningful.
I would have to say a wallet, because I really needed one and wanted a leather one and received one for christmas
In Canada a 24 of beer is around $40 so it really does make a lot of sense to homebrew.
This book sounds like I need to read it!
How about excuse me, people bump into you, step on your foot, interrupt conversations without saying excuse me.
How about when breastfeeding, always have a small towel or blanket to cover yourself.
Buy a car with manual transmission!
Never heard of FatWallet or the CheapSkate so I'll definitely check those out.
But besides Steam and GOG's regular deals, the best community for getting tips on console gaming deals on physical products is:
CheapAssGamer.com
Your welcome!
Hey, you should definitely check out the Humble Bundle sales. Those are pretty much the best way for me to purchase games.