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Double Swagbucks bonus!
Swago is on again through 1/28/2019. Earn up to 500 SB with Swago and 300 SB extra for signing up …
There are lots of “get paid to” (GPT) sites out there, but I haven't run across anyone that makes it as much fun as the guys at Prodege, the parent company that runs Swagbucks.
Swago (think “Swagbucks Bingo”) is just one of the ways that they make getting gift cards for what you do every day a bit more fun!
Over $1,000 in gift cards
My lifetime earnings on Swagbucks are over 97,000 SB. Each SB (the point system that Swagbucks uses) is worth about a cent, so 97,000 SB translates to $970.
Treat yourself to a great can opener
Saving money by cooking at home more? Don't suffer with a lousy can opener …
Preparing more meals at home is one of the most straightforward ways to save money. It's also the key to making dinners that suit picky or otherwise restricted diets.
A lot of the common staples for home-prepared meals come in cans. And cans, like any packaging, need to be opened.
When did can openers begin to suck?
Growing up, my parents cooked nearly all of our meals. Restaurants – even McDonald's – were reserved for special occasions.
They had a Rival (I think) electric can opener that just wouldn't quit. Year after year, can after can, it just kept opening them. Like a can opener should, honestly.
The real cost of entertainment
The cost of entertainment shouldn't be too high. But it's also very easy to underestimate the real cost …
One of my longtime-favorite personal finance bloggers J. Money over at Budgets Are Sexy wrote a post on the “Buck an Hour” rule cost of entertainment, based on a prompting from one of his readers.
The premise of the rule is that you should get one hour of enjoyment for each dollar you spend (hence “buck an hour”).
By this measure, the $15 Spotify Premium subscription our family has should give us at least 15 hours of enjoyment per month (which it does). Our $60/month internet service gives us (at least) 60 hours of enjoyment between us.
Not all of our entertainment purchases have passed this test. Our cable television bill gave us next to no enjoyment because we hardly ever watch TV.
Unit pricing by the cup and by the pound
Unit pricing is helpful, but it's only useful if the comparison is apples to apples, and as long as you don't really want oranges …
Even though our $80 Keurig machine isn't ending up to be much of a bargain, we do still buy K-cups for the thing. They're convenient and decent in a pinch, and cost less than buying coffee out.
Costco regularly has good deals on K-cups. They end up being about half the price of what we'd pay in a grocery store.
Costco sells several brands. We looked at the unit pricing, and almost bought one kind based on the favorable unit pricing. But the unit prices didn't quite tell us what we needed to know.
Unit pricing usually helps
Just in case you're not familiar with unit pricing, here's a brief explanation. Consider two sizes of cans of tomato paste: an 8-ounce can, and a gallon can. The 8-ounce can is priced at $0.47, and the gallon can (128 ounces) is priced at $7.79.
How to save money almost by accident
On our trip to Florida this week, we saved some money literally by accident! Here's how we did it, along with some other ways that are almost by accident …
This past week, we took a family vacation down to the gulf side of Florida, in Indian Rocks Beach.
The first night we went across the street to TJ's Italian Cafe; they make a great pasta Alfredo and a delicious grouper plate. (Oh, and a fantastic tiramisu!)
We had budgeted for a few meals out, and this was one of them. After the meal, we paid with a credit card and figured that was that.
What I did when my wife lost her wallet
There's never a good time to lose a wallet or a purse. Here are the steps we went through when we had a lost wallet to deal with …
“I lost my wallet.”
Not the worst words to hear over the phone on a Friday afternoon, of course, but certainly not the best, either.
Almost ten years ago to the day, my wife lost her wallet while visiting some friends in DC. She had all of her credit cards, her ATM/debit cards, and her driver's license in that wallet. I found this out about 1:30 PM Friday, right before the weekend.
What to do if you have a lost wallet
Here are the steps I went through:
Living within your means when you’re not Warren Buffett
Living within your means is trivial if you're a billionaire (or at least, it should be!) But what about the rest of us non-billionaires?
Spending less than you earn is one of the most important things you can do to become financially independent. There has to be more coming in than going out.
It's definitely easier to live within your means if you have a lot more money coming in. It's good raw material, and a great recipe, for having money left over.
Twelve tips for installing and maintaining an electric water heater
Installing and maintaining an electric water heater is often a part of home ownership. Here are some tips we learned in the process of replacing one …
Some time ago, our electric water heater began leaking out the bottom. I had an older copy of Black & Decker Complete Home Repair and it told me a couple of things. First, there was no repairing mine; it needed to be replaced. Second, it appeared that I could do it myself, or at least try.
We bought a unit and tried to put it in ourselves, but we ended up hiring someone to help us with it. The folks who installed it answered a lot of our questions and shared a bunch of tips.
Tips for installing and maintaining an electric water heater
Here's what we learned from the experience:
12+ ways to save money around the house
There are lots of ways to save money around the house. Here are a bunch that you can add to your collection of money-saving tips …
Learn how to do your own repairs
YouTube is your friend. There are so many tutorials on YouTube for pretty much any kind of repair you want to do that it is very difficult to justify not trying it. If it doesn't work out, at least you tried, and hopefully learned something. We've tried to repair washers, dryers, refrigerators, and more (with varying degrees of success).
12+ ways to save money eating out
Eating at home is one of the surer ways to save money, but you can save money eating out, too. Here are a few ways to do it …
1. Order water instead of soda
Order water. Once in a while, we'll get a special drink, but more often than not we just get water because it's free. (I have to remember that it's often not free in North Carolina, which is annoying.) Paying $2 or more for a soda in a restaurant, even with unlimited refills, is a huge markup, and therefore a huge profit center for the restaurant.
2. Don't buy alcohol
Don’t buy alcohol. Like sodas, alcohol is a huge profit center for the restaurant. If the restaurant has a lot of weird beers on tap, OK, I'll bite, but if it's just the usual suspects then no. Another trick if you really like trying beers is to ask for a sampler tray, which gives a taste of five or six beers five ounces at a time.
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