Recent comments

  • 12 Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive Snack Options   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Thanks for the snack list -- great way to get nutrients w/out constantly having to cook regular meals.

    I have become a smoothie fan. I keep stocked with frozen (peeled and in chunks) bananas, frozen fruit (blueberries, strawberries, mango, etc.), low-fat vanilla yogurt (Stonyfield), and orange juice. Then whenever I need a hefty snack or before/after a workout, I blend bananas, OJ, yogurt, and fruit. The ingredients are great for keeping me energized and not hungry. Some folks who want extra protein add in whey powder.  

  • Save Money by Rekindling the Art of Reusing your Stuff   16 years 26 weeks ago

    You can also fill old nylons with potpourri and scented oils and use ribbon to tie several together and hang somewhere. It looks great in a vintage style bath and helps the smell too. LOL

  • 12 Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive Snack Options   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Hummus is huge at our house. My kids, who are otherwise pretty picky, will dip anything into something that looks a lot like wallpaper paste. Go figure.

    And anything dipped in peanut butter is OK with them (and me, too). They can take a dollop of natural peanut butter on a plate and make it the body of a little stick person or animal, using pretzels and crudites. Then they get to eat it, one body part at a time. How Halloweeeny is that?

    As a nut grower, I'd also like to recommend almonds and walnuts. Way good for you, and tasty too.

  • 3 Ways Paying Off Credit Cards Is Like Playing Beer Pong   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I like the beer pong analogy brings back some good college days. But with regard to the budgets, most people can't stick to them. An easier way is just to go all cash. By doing that, you are totally limited to the cash you have in hand while you pay down your credit card. You can use the credit card for those things that nobody wants to use cash for (like the gas station, who wants to wait in line).

    Basically, your "budget" is the cash you take out of the ATM once a week. Your budget control is not going to the ATM again. You know you are over budget when you look in your wallet and see some dust or hair staring at you. Makes life really easy. Sure you pay your rent or your mortgage with your online banking. All your utilities and whatnot. But your discretionary income is all Dead Presidents. If you want to pay the credit card off faster, take out less dead white guys from the ATM. Let me tell you when you start paying with $20 bills, you just stop buying crap you don't need. Paying with a credit card is like paying with someone elses money, but unfortunately, its your money with interest added on.

    Good article on this here: A Quick Tip How To CUT your Spending and Credit Cards

    Seriously, some people have just obscene credit card rates. I thought 13% was high or maybe 18% but someone told me recently that they are paying 29.99%. That's criminal and stupid.

    SoCal
    __________
    LiveCheap.com Launches Today!!
    Live the Good Life....Cheaply!

  • 3 Ways Paying Off Credit Cards Is Like Playing Beer Pong   16 years 26 weeks ago

    What, no mention of reracking and how it relates to the debt snowball? It's like, when you've paid off a debt, you call for a rerack and adjust your "aim" to the next "cup!"

    Of course, I say this having gone to a geek school and only played beer pong twice in my life, and having only witnessed about three more games in addition to that. ;)

  • $80 for an HDMI Cable? Give Me a Break!   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I've bought HDMI and other cables from Cable Wholesale (http://www.cablewholesale.com) in the past and have had no problems. Worth checking them out, free shipping right now, too.

  • 17 Resources to Improve Your Small Business   16 years 26 weeks ago

    this will do a lot to increase my blog(read business) traffic and clout. thanks man for this resource. i have bookmarked the page :)

  • 12 Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive Snack Options   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Is candy corn a vegetable?

  • 17 Resources to Improve Your Small Business   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I would suggest you look at www.DocQ.com It is an online document site that allows you to create, send, and track forms. Get electronic signatures, and backup documents. There are also tools for commenting and marking up PDF's. There is even a mobile link to view on your phone.

    If you ask me, i think tools like this help your business more than sites like Delicious...

    I think the product is owned by Docudesk.com and it has been funded by some local VC.

  • 17 Resources to Improve Your Small Business   16 years 26 weeks ago

    nice list, I wasn't aware of Alltop, pretty cool site. I would heartily recommend ANYONE who uses their website for ecommerce to utilize StumbleUpon.com, it can really increase your traffic dramatically. LinkedIn is another good one.

    I write articles around social media tools and how to best use them for business on my personal blog: www.SocialMediaDefined.com.

    Check it out sometime, and thanks for the article!

    -b

  • 17 Resources to Improve Your Small Business   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I find that Reddit (along with Delicious) is a great place to stay on top of pretty much EVERYTHING out there. Great post.

  • Ask the Readers: Is Now the Time to Shop?   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I do enjoy shopping early in the morning on Black Friday, sometimes getting up at 3 am to do so. Every year, my husband and I set aside money for the holidays and decide in advance what we'll spend before we go shopping. We don't go all out, usually spending between $25 and $30 a person, not a lot, but enough to find some great gifts that each person will hopefully like. Some of the fun is the challenge of finding gifts that are meaningful, yet can fit in our budget. We realize that for us, going into debt would not be worth the headache and strain. So, we try to find creative ways to have fun without spending a lot of money. The most fun for our family is saving our wrapping paper as we unwrap the gifts, and when everyone is done, we have a "snowball" fight. For us, the time spent together over a nice dinner, a few gifts, and a great family movie are more important.

    As far as this year being different? I don't think so for us. We will still shop, still spend about the same amount, and still have a great time. I know that my family is not the norm, but I love that we are thankful for little things, enjoy each other's company, and, like the old book, can "have a great time and not even try".

  • 12 Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive Snack Options   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I have an old-school Stir Crazy popcorn maker, and my favorite way to make it is simply to use white popcorn and olive oil, with a little salt added after popping. Good stuff.

  • Ask the Readers: Is Now the Time to Shop?   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I'm really not seeing any deals this year. Black Friday has become more of a marketing shell game than any real deals to be had. The doorbuster type items either have only 2 per store, none at all or are not quite what they advertised it to be. I have seen plenty of deals turn out to be really shoddy sub standard products. So it just isn't worth getting out of bed for this.

    We are on the fence about buying anything at all this year. I am so turned off by the holidays and we really don't have the money to spend this year. If we do get anything it will probably be craft supplies (we all have hobbies) or things we made.

  • Ask the Readers: Is Now the Time to Shop?   16 years 26 weeks ago

    We use credit cards for everything; the catch is we pay it off FULL every month. We have talked about what would happen if they started charging for our credit- and we have agreed that we would just go to a cash based system. As far as holiday gifts are concerned, we try to give gifts that aren’t things that clutter up our lives. Tickets to exhibits, charity donations, making yummy treats or going out to a favorite restaurant are the ways we choose to recognize the people we love in our lives.

  • 13 Natural and Easy Ways to Lower Your Blood Sugar   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Ihate how my blood suger goes from high to low.I wake up in the morning and have a BS of around 140, I test about 1.5 H after I dose and its in the three hundreds. then after lunch I end up going into the 40 all afternoon and miss most of my 6th and 7th class periods, any tips to keep it around 130 all day?

  • 12 Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive Snack Options   16 years 26 weeks ago

    These are great tips, I personally love pretzels and carrots as a snack. Another thing I also like are nutrition bars. I've tried baking these myself, (think Clif Bars) but they just haven't quite come out right.

    Anyone have a great bar recipe?

  • $80 for an HDMI Cable? Give Me a Break!   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I just purchased a small HDTV from Amazon that qualified for free shipping. The cable for .01 was from another supplier and when added to my order brought the shipping to almost $20.

  • America Is the No Vacation Nation   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Pierre, you're being funny and I wish that were true, but really is exactly like guest # 42 is saying. I worked in US for 5 years and every job I had got me sick. Time off ( even for few hours in the morning or a long weekend) was frown upon, making you feel like you are not serious enough about your work or something. I had to get fired to finally have some time to breath, eat healthy, go to walk around malls to strech my legs instead of staying at my desk 9 hours per day ( lunch outside the work area was again seen as desertation of people who needed you every moment!). I really got sick and had to tell my boss that if thing don't change, I will need to quit. That's why I got fired- for wanting to live outside 50 hour work week...

  • The mystery shopping scam that could cost you a fortune.   16 years 26 weeks ago

    This comment is for the two individuals who made a posting regarding receiving a check in the mail. Please be careful. There have been numerous posting on the internet informing individuals that those checks are scams. If you want to really make sure if the check is legitimate, go to your bank and ask the bank if the check is legitimate. Do not deposit the check into your checking account. Most banks are aware of the scam checks and they will verify if the check is legitimate.

    DO NOT DEPOSIT THE CHECK!!!! It is better to get confirmation from your bank, before depositing it into your account the risk is too high. Also, anytime somebody wants you to send them money back in return for cashing a check and you do not know the recepient it is screaming SCAM...SCAM...SCAM....!!!!!

    Please be careful. If it too good to be true, then it isn't good....Theses are hard economic times for people and therefore you have more deceitful people out there trying to take advantage of people. It is unfortunate that good people are few and far between. I was raised by my mother on the truth and honor code, however, we have more bad individuals in the world than good. I was a victim for having too much trust in man. I haven't given up on the truth and honor code, however, I have become much wiser and alert. Nothing is free in the world and always be reminded to stay alert and use good common sense.

    I apologoize that I can not direct you to the website that I received this information from. I found them when I was researching mystery shopping agencies.
    However, I did find out they were scams. I hope this help you.....

    mysteryshopperguru

  • 5 More Fun Money-Making Ideas!   16 years 26 weeks ago

    Unique ideas. Another good way to earn some extra cash is by painting addresses for homeowners. It is simple to start and it doesn't take much cash to get started. You can also make some descent income by purchasing storage lockers and selling the items on ebay. Good Luck everyone ! www.goodextraincomeideas.com

  • Ask the Readers: Is Now the Time to Shop?   16 years 26 weeks ago

    I pretty much Christmas shop the same every year, no matter what the economy is like. I wait until after Black Friday (I just can't deal with getting up early and fighting crowds. Plus, I used to work retail and often was on the employee end of it. I'd rather just stay in bed and sleep off my Thanksgiving indulgences!), and I simply try to stick to a pre-determined budget per person, using all the coupons, deals, etc., that I can to save money. This holiday season will probably be a little less lucrative for retailers than last year, and I'm sure we'll see some stores come up with some pretty big deals to try to lure shoppers in.

  • Best Money Tips: Alaska Doesn't Want You   16 years 26 weeks ago

    the Alaska post was really eye opening but i think that those with big dreams must find other ways of accomplishing them other than having to travel to the ends of the world to get the dream jobs. It was just a matter of time before the economic upheavals caught up with the beautiful Alaska

  • The Power of Change: A Frugal Move to Wise Bread   16 years 27 weeks ago

     

    Thanks for the official welcome!  It's an honor to work with you, Will, Lynn, Linsey and the other members of the Wise Bread team.

    Thanks for helping me to get settled at my new online home.

    Sharon is the author of The Frugal Duchess: How to Live Well and Save Money.

  • The Power of Change: A Frugal Move to Wise Bread   16 years 27 weeks ago

     

    Your comment is so thoughtful and on target! I really admire the quality of work offered by the blogging team at Wise Bread  and the excellent  behind-the-scenes infrascture provided by the management team.

    It was hard to let go of my solo-blogging efforts, but I am so glad that I have made the switch!!!

    Thanks so much for your supportive comment. It means so much to me!

    Take Care,

    Sharon

     Sharon is the author of The Frugal Duchess: How to Live Well and Save Money.