Articles on Life Hacks

Our Productivity Obsession

I spent a few weeks being extremely productive. And by productive I mean that I worked many more hours than usual. I was consumed by work. I was focused, efficient, and produced go

How to refill an ink cartridge with a small piece of tape

Is your printer lying to you? If you own a Brother inkjet printer, that's probably a big yes. As Slate magazine reports, a clever chap over at fixyourownprinter.com has discovered

Opt-out of the wasteful $26 billion phone directory industry

In this day and age of the internet, free Google 411 and a host of other paperless directory services, what use do the big, fat phone directories serve? I don’t know about you, but

Three Quirky Search Tools to Help You Get Results

Has Google left you wanting? Do you dig fresh search results? Looking for a unique interface to interact with? Maybe one of my three new favorite search tools can give you a lif

Watching ads could be your ticket to a fortune.

Unless it’s Superbowl Sunday, most people don’t sit around watching ads (well, I do, it’s part of my job). But what if watching ads was turned into a lottery ticket? That’s the pre

We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

Today my friend sent me an article titled "We Have Met the Enemy" by Knight Kiplinger, the Editor in Chief of Kiplinger publications. It is a blunt article pointing out that Americ

Paint a Room and Wash Your Face: More Uses For Powdered Milk Than You Ever Imagined

Powdered milk has accrued a bad reputation over too many years of kids being forced to drink the stuff growing up. But it ain't so bad - especially when you can do over 20 things w

Are $1 homes worth buying?

This week a story from The Detroit News reported that homes are being listed in Detroit for $1. One particular $1 home sold for cash after being on the market for 19 days. The buye

The Jury Duty Scam – coming to a phone near you?

My wife forwarded me one of those “hey everyone, don’t fall for this” emails this morning. I get one from a friend or relative at least once a week, and usually they’re well-meanin

What clearance price is your Achilles Heel?

Some people are suckers for bargains of any kind. Others, well, even a genuine FREE offer is difficult for them to take up. But most of us, myself included, have a magic number. It

When MySpace Meets your Local Producer: Fresh Food Makes a Tech Leap

MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn are familiar (and often tired) ways to reach out to others with similar interests and goals. So why am I not surprised to see Social Networking hit

Having a baby? Nine financial considerations for new parents

My friend recently had a baby girl and she told me about the costs for a normal pregnancy and delivery. To say the least I was a bit flabbergasted that over $25000 was charged for

Soy Milk, Tofu, and Veggie Burgers for pennies, anyone?

You can make soy milk, veggie burgers, and tofu at home for literally pennies on the dollar. $1.50 in soy beans can produce 24 meals. It's fun and super nutritious. Learn exactly h

Will Guns Change the Way eBay Auctions Operate?

The more I talk to people about eBay, the more they are annoyed by one simple fact; the auctions are not, well, auctions any more. Auction sniping and the ensuing last-second biddi

Declare a Frugal Friday Fun Night

Ah, Friday nights. A time when we can relax and unwind without worry of going to work the next day (or the next). You walk in the door from work ready to kick off your shoes and

Guest post at Get Rich Slowly

J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly asked me for a guest post on personal finance. What it turned out I wanted to talk about next, though, was productivity--and in particular, my evolvin

Two Dozen Uses For Toothpaste (Aside From Cleaning Your Teeth)

Didn’t you know that toothpaste (despite its name) is for so much more than your teeth? It’s truly handy to have on hand (I pity the household - and their teeth - that has no tooth

Too many online accounts? You need an aggregator.

From Twitter to Digg, emails to IM and let's not forget all those social networking sites, its easy to get bogged down just by logging on. Fortunately, you can keep your online

Ugggh, (hic) I justss gotta eat some(hic)thing; my top 10 homemade drunk snacks.

Most of us have been there (when I was in college, I was there 3 times a week during my first year…sorry mum and dad). You go out with your buddies, have a few beers and by the tim

How Do You Deal With Family Members Who Are Bad At Managing Money?

You know who I am talking about. Most of us have that one brother who blows his paycheck in a day or a cousin that has no money for retirement. No family is perfect, and we all te