Free CFL's

This afternoon I was surprised when my mail person knocked on the door and handed me a package. I hadn't ordered anything, yet the package was clearly addressed to me. What was inside? A compact fluorescent light. I had filled out a form at yahoo, in a contest trying to get my city named as a green city. In return, Yahoo was mailing everyone a compact fluorescent light. Well today I received it. In addition, when it was announced a while back, that Topeka was one of the top 5, the city received a whole bunch to hand out, which according to the newspaper were to be distributed to the various community centers. In addition, some of them would be put to use in the cities own buildings.

However, a week from tomorrow (sat. Aug 11) I will be receiving another one free. As part of National Night Out, Westar (WR), the local electric company will be handing out free CFL's with one condition. That condition, is that those receiving a free bulb, sign an agreement to buy at least one more CFL within the next year.

An 84 square foot Home?

Did you see this story. I seen this video on CNN yesterday. The video comes from:Katu.com


TreeHugger.com wrote:

Dee Williams wanted "a simpler life, time, more money. I don't have a mortgage. I don't have a big utility bill." So she built herself an 84 square foot house- "Not much to it. Simple. Small. A dream house tinier than a parking spot." Her monthly heating bill is $6 bucks and electricity is free from the solar panels.

Dee built the tiny cabin herself out of salvaged material. She picked the door out of a dumpster and retrieved the floors from a house fire. Dee's new tiny home sits in her friend's backyard.

To our eye it looks suspiciously like Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Home but no credit is given in the article or video; that is the way of the world. Nonetheless Dee is happy in her knockoff home. "Right now there's nowhere else I want to be!" Watch the video at ::Katu.com

Now thats what I call thrifty. That's what I call frugal. Maybe i should consider finishing up my tool shed. Turning it into a small home. Then I can rent out the larger house.

Now i realize that I can't do it at this time. I have to pay off to many debts at the moment, but when I do, it would be a great way to save money in the long haul. I mean $6/month electric bills. Wow! That would be awesome.

Hmm, I will have to think about this more. What do you think?

Paper or Plastic? Environmental or Economical

I have to confess something. I am only an environmentalist, when it is economically feasible to me. That is why I have over the past couple of years, have tried to avoid using plastic bags. All because of all the oil used in those plastic bags. Less oil we use, I figure, the less gas eventually will be. However, Americans continue to use on average more gas and oil based products. Perhaps they don't understand that they are driving the gas prices up themselves.

Let's take a look at the numbers, according to NBC,

To make all the bags we use each year, it takes 14 million trees for paper and 12 million barrels of oil for plastic. The production of paper bags creates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic, but plastic bags create four times the solid waste — enough to fill the Empire State Building two and a half times. And they can last up to a thousand years.

From an environmental point of view, neither option is good. From an economic consumer paper is slightly better. However, from a business point of view plastic is cheaper, so if consumers start using more paper, then retail prices will go up to pay for those bags. There is, of course another option, using cloth or canvass bags, and taking the bags with you when you go shopping.

As you can tell, this is a bit of dilemma for me. Do I pollute the air and use paper or do I fill up the land fills and use plastic? What I really need to do is, make a stronger effort and use canvass bags more.

How to Enjoy Baseball Games Cheaply (Frugally)

Baseball season will be here in less then a month, and I recently found (again) an article Penny Nickel wrote on her Money and Values Blog last year. I thought it would be a great article to include snippets of here.

Save money on parking

Take public transit if you can. Getting in and out of the ballpark area by car is not only pricey but a big hassle.

ark farther away from the stadium. If you're willing to walk a little (you'll get a better experience of the neighborhood and its atmosphere-- a plus at Wrigley, not-so-much in Detroit

Save money on tickets

Consider the cheap seats. Especially if you're going to a game that won't be well-attended, you may have ample opportunity to relocate to better seats once you're inside the park

Look for days when tickets are cheaper. Nowadays most ballparks have some sort of tiered pricing system; games during the summer, on weekend days, and/or against popular opponents will cost you extra, while if you try spring or fall, weekdays, and/or a non-rival, your cost drops right off the bat.

Don't pay Ticketmaster fees if you don't have to.

Look into standing-room-only tickets. If standing will ruin your enjoyment then don't bother. But one alternative to buying pricey tickets to a popular game ahead of time is to get standing-room tickets the day of. They're cheap, and you may be able to grab someones empty seats mid-game.

Save money on food

Bring food and drinks from home. Ballpark food can get really pricey, but most stadiums don't care if you bring in your own food. (Kansas City area is one place where they do care.) One thing Penny does note is that glass bottles are not allowed in any stadium.

Eat before you leave. Games are long, so you'll probably want a snack of some kind, but filling up before you head out makes the whole process easier.

Buy food and drinks outside the ballpark. If you haven't prepared in advance, don't want to lug the stuff from home, or are just craving something freshly cooked, you can stop somewhere just before you enter. (I remember when I lived in Chicago and would take "the El" aka the train to see the Cubs, as soon as I left the subway station vendors were selling the exact same bags of peanuts sold in the stadium. Only difference, was each vendor closer to the stadium was 50 cents more. First one was $1.50, but across the street from and in Wrigley they were $3.)

Save money on souvenirs

Check the promotion schedule. From hats and bats to figurines and bobble-heads, you can pick up a souvenir just for walking through the gate.

Grab souvenir cups after the game. Most ballparks sell soda in souvenir cups, and many of the cups can be very neat. If you want to nab one (or more), you've got two options-- buy the cup with soda inside, or wait until the game's over and then grab yourself one, two, six of the cups that are inevitably left behind all around you.

25 Frugal Tips To Save Money

The 25 Frugal Tips I Attempt to Follow are as follows:

1. I am in the process of changing my light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights (C.F.L.) bulbs to save money.
2. In the cold months I keep my furnace setting at 67 degrees.
3. I am in the process installing outlet insulation. These little babies, help prevent drafts around your outlets and light switches. My first planed major spending this year is getting insulation into my attic. The cost will be around $600 to buy about 20 rolls of insulation, but should save quite a bit in my heating bill. (Not to mention the $500 credit on my 2007 taxes.)
4. I pay nearly all my bills online eliminating the cost of stamps and checks, not to mention gas if you are one to pay in person.
5. Reuse the plastic margarine, cottage cheese, etc, etc bowls to store leftover food in.
6. Turn off all lights when not in a room
7. Cook my own meals at home, rather then eating out.
8. Take my lunch to work.
9. Wash clothes in cold water to save on heat
10. Pick up money from the ground and save in my change jar
11. Round up in check book and place excess in savings at end of the month. My new bank actually does this for me, with their keep the change program.
12. Put raises or bonuses in savings or apply towards debt
13. I only cut my hair 3-4 times a year...this last year I got a crew cut and was able to go six months before getting another hair cut. This year, I am thinking about doing the same only shaving it bald, and sort of get a feel what it will be like when I go completely bald. (LOL)
14. Go to thrift stores, yard sales, and auctions, rather then buying new.
15. Refrain as much as possible from buying things in vending machines
16. Buy generic (store brands) over name-brand
    
17. Pay more than the minimum on my debts.
18. Re-use the plastic grocery bags as trash bags (especially in the smaller bathroom/bedroom cans). I do the same with paper bags in my kitchen trash can.
19. I use 1/2 of a dryer sheet per load.
    
20. Stock up on non-perishable sale items.
21. Train myself that my house is not a museum. I don't need to own everything cool that I discover. I can just admire it in the store.
22. When weather is nice, I walk the 3 blocks to church rather then driving (I usually would have to park 2 blocks away anyway).I do the same thing (or bicycle to neighborhood meetings.
23. I pop my own popcorn, rather then buying microwave popcorn. I think it tastes better anyway.
24. Don't go to movie theaters
    
25. Buy sodas from the supermarket when they’re on sale instead of from the office vending machine. (I have also started trying to limit myself to one soda a day).

In addition, I want to get a clothes line installed in my back yard.

Electric Bill

I received my electric bill a couple of days ago. When I opened it, I was quite shocked. Not in the amount due, but the kilowatts used. I use average pay, so my monthly amount due is $69.79. This billing cycle was 32 days using 686 kilowatts translating in 21.6 kilowatts per day. Those figures are up from last year when I was billed for 29 days, 636 kilowatts which translated into 21.2 kilowatts per day.
I don't understand, since over the past few months I have been diligent about turning lights off when I leave a room, watching TV less. Actually, the only light burning more often is the yard light, that didn't exist last year at this time. It has a compact fluorescent bulb and comes on at dusk and turns off automatically at dawn. However, over the last couple months the electric bill has been smaller then the previous year.
Also in the last month especially I have replaced 3 burnt out incandescents with compact fluorescent. More bulb changes will occur as more bulbs burn out. I am hoping to eventually get the electric rate down to $50/month.
While I complain in this post about the rising kilowatt usage, I realize the bill could be a lot worst. Still, I am stumped why it was higher this month then previous months when compared to the year previous.
Any other ideas to get my bill down to the target of $50/month? I expect to be 100% compact fluorescent in the next year.

How Many Ways to Cook An Egg, Let me Count the Ways

Eggs are cheap and economical. Besides that they are good for you to with enough protein and calories to fill you up. Besides it’s versatile too. So just how many ways to cook an egg are there? Lets count the ways.

1. Scrambled - A common favorite at breakfast.


2. Over easy


3. Poached - I would fix this kind often, if i had the right kind of pan.


4. Sunny Side Up - My personal favorite.


5. Hard boiled - They make a great anytime snack.


6. Egg sandwich - great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner


7. Egg salad - delicious, quick and easy


8. Omelets - the possibilities are endless on this one; add whatever you want - I prefer potatoes and ham (and/or bacon)


9. Deviled eggs - I absolutely love Deviled Eggs.


10. French toast- bread dipped in eggs- how frugal can you get?


11. Egg’s nest (aka Bull’s-Eyes) - cut a hole in a piece of bread, put contents of egg inside hole, cook in pan.




12. Add eggs to skillet bags from the grocery store


13. Breakfast burrito - cook eggs, put in tortilla, eat.


14. Chillaquillas - scrambled eggs mixed with cut up corn tortillas; add salsa and green chili for taste


15. Eggs in Raman Noodles - the combinations of two extremely frugal equals a frugal dynamo


16. Eggs in spaghetti noodles


17. Quiche


18. Eggs mixed with chorrizo - chorizzo is a delicious Mexican sausage; can be served by itself or wrapped in a burrito


19. Eggs in a pita


20. Huevos rancheros


21. Eggs scrambled with rice


22. Eggs scrambled with beans


23. Pasta carbonara- cook some noodles, beat some eggs, pour egg mixture over cooked noodles; the noodles will cook the egg mixture; add come bacon and garlic.


24. Eggs scrambled in shrimp


25. Substitute eggs for meat in Hamburger Helper


26. Slice a hard boiled egg in your salad


27. Egg drop soup


28. Egg Curry


29. souffle

Some of the ways I enjoy, while others don't fit in my taste buds. Thanks frugal law student, for inspiring this list. So there are 29 ways, did i miss any? Let me know if I did. Got to run, I have eggs boiling.

Patching Holey Clothes

It seems, that my pants love to get holes in the pockets. Especially the jeans that come from that evil Wal-Mart. People claim that the store is cheaper then everyone else. However, how much cheaper are they, if you wear their jeans once, before holes develop in the pockets?
Really, this isn't a post about how bad Wally World is. Instead, I need to figure out how to sew, so that I can replace those holes in my khaki's and jeans. In the past I have taken them to a nearby seamstress who charges me about $4/pair to repair the pockets. Not very frugal.
Any idea, how I can learn to sew? I learned to sew 20 years ago in my independent living class in high school, but never have used it. When I have tried to sew the threading is loose and quickly falls out. I need to re-learn how to sew and get a good tight threading so it will actually patch what needs to be repaired.

Frugal Living As A Form Of Tax Resistance

I recently read a couple of articles by David Gross, that I found very informative. His tips are geared towards resisting taxes legally, however, even if you aren't trying to make a statement, his methods are fantastic tips to remember so that we can all save on our taxes.
Here is how Mr. Gross says it works:

It starts by noticing that the federal income tax isn’t designed to tax all of your income, just your “taxable income.” So path #1 involves removing as much
of your income as possible from the “taxable income” category.


Once you’ve done this, you’ll end up with a certain amount of “taxable income” and a certain amount of tax owed on it. But that’s not the end of the story. This tax can be offset, eliminated or even reversed into a “refund” by using various credits. Path #2 is qualifying for these credits.


Then, once you run the numbers and figure out how much money you can earn and
spend without owing taxes, you need to take a look at your lifestyle and your
goals and adjust them if necessary so that you’re living in your means
at this income level.


That’s it, in a nutshell.

Some income is invisible to the tax man. For instance, if you had money
deducted from your paycheck before taxes are deducted from your check.

• 401-K
• Health Savings Account
• Some companies may withhold money from your paycheck to buy bus and subway
• passes
• Check your company to see what is available to you



• Your “total income” also includes any “capital gains” you might have made during the year — for instance, if you sold stock
  or property at a profit. On the other hand, if you sold stock at a loss you
  can subtract this loss when calculating the “total income” (up to
  $3,000 — don’t worry if you lost more than this because you can
  save up the rest of the loss to use in future tax years).



• Business owners can deduct business losses.



• other deductions may apply to you as well

Now that you have your "Total income" it's time to get to your "Adjusted Gross Income"

By “adjusted” they mean “lowered” because all of the
adjustments are deductions (so use as many of these as you can). Your
“adjusted gross income” is what is used to calculate some of the
credits that I cover in “Path 2” below — and the lower it
is, the better. For myself, the key to qualifying for credits that brought
my taxes down to zero was to get my “adjusted gross income” under
$15,000.

• a tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account (IRA) — not only because the money you put in (up to $4,000) is deducted right away from your “total income” but because by putting money in a retirement account, you can qualify for a generous credit. Beware, though, that there are forms of IRA, such as the “Roth IRA,” that aren’t tax-deferred and that won’t lower your adjusted gross income. Ask about the tax ramifications before you invest.
  



• You can also “adjust” up to $4,000 off of your income by spending
  money on tuition for higher education.



• If you run your own business or are otherwise self-employed, you may be able to take a number of deductions here on things like your health insurance costs, and part of the cost of your payroll taxes (FICA)



• Other deductions are available for interest paid on student loans and on
  educational supplies bought by teachers. These aren’t the only
  deductions, and I haven’t covered any of them in much depth or detail.
  It’s just an overview to give you a feel for what is available.

From “adjusted gross income” to “taxable income”

There are two remaining deductions: the personal exemption, and the itemized
or standard deduction. Once these are subtracted, you are left with your
“taxable income.”

• The personal exemption is just a certain amount of income that the law lets
  you have tax-free, no questions asked. Don’t get too excited —
  it’s only a little over $3,000. You also get a similarly-sized
  exemption for each of your dependents



• The standard deduction is similar, and somewhat larger, but you have the
  option of either taking it or “itemizing.” By itemizing,
  you can take a whole mess of deductions for things like charitable donations,
  medical expenses, interest paid on loans, job expenses, tax preparation fees,
  and such. Even so, for a lot of people, the standard deduction is higher than
  their itemized deductions would be, so they’re better off taking the
  standard deduction instead

(Itemization note) A few years ago, when my grandmother died, I inherited a few thousand dollars, I donated a percentage of that to charity, however, the donation was large enough that I couldn't deduct the everything at once. The law allowed me to carry that deduction over, I was able to deduct that one donation (or a piece of it) over the course of three (3) years.

Finally, Mr. Gross touches on tax credits:

There are a handful of ways you can get tax credits. These credits are not
deductions that are subtracted from your income, but they are subtracted
directly from the tax you would otherwise owe. For instance, if you looked
up your taxable income in the tax table and found that you should owe $750,
but you qualify for a $500 credit — that credit is subtracted directly
from the owed tax: $750 − $500 = $250.


Among these credits is one for education expenses (but note you can either
take this credit or the deduction on tuition I mentioned in
“Path 1” above — not both). Another gives you a credit for
income tax you’ve paid to a foreign government. Another gives you a
credit if you spent money on child care or dependent care. You also get a
per-child “Child Tax Credit” — and that is higher now than
it has been in recent years. My favorite credit, though (childless as I am),
is the retirement savings credit.


Remember how when you put money into a 401k or an
IRA, you
were able to deduct that amount from your income before calculating your tax?
Well now it gets better. You can take a certain percentage of the first
$2,000 you put into retirement accounts as a credit. If your “adjusted
gross income” is under $15,000, that percentage is 50%, and your credit
is as much as $1,000, which is guaranteed to drop your tax burden down to
zero. That’s how I did it.


The “Earned Income Tax Credit” is a special creature. Most other
credits allow you, at best, to lower your tax to zero. The Earned Income Tax
Credit allows you to lower your tax below zero so that the government
actually owes you money.


In order to qualify for this, your adjusted gross income has to be very low
(but you must have earned some income during the year). It’s also
easier to qualify if you have at least one dependent child. Millions of
people do qualify for the
EITC (and
many of them fail to take advantage of it), but it does typically require
having a very low income

Free 4 -1-1

Did you know that you could call information for free? Yep, you read that right. I said that could call information for FREE.
When I first heard about it, I couldn't believe it. However, it looks to be true. Here is the details, that I learned from Fire Finance.

Often when we have no access to the Internet and we need to look up a business we dial 411 on our cell phones. Most carriers continue to charge an average of $1.25 for each 411 call. But now we can call 411 FREE! Thanks to a couple of services by different providers namely 1-800-FREE-411 (Jingle Networks) and 1-800-411-SAVE.

1-800-411-SAVE works in this way:

1. Call 1-800-411-SAVE for a phone number for any business, government or residential listing nationwide.
2. Search by name or business category
3. Give your request for any US listing
4. Listen to a brief sponsored message (10-15 seconds) for a special offer
5. Receive the number you requested -- it comes from the same national database used by the carriers

Similarly 1-800-FREE-411 works this way:

Simply dial 1-800-FREE411 and get the listing you need for free. It’s just like 411, only better because it doesn't cost anything. So who pays, you ask? Our advertisers do. And should you be interested in one of their great offers, we’ll connect you free of charge.

or

Want to look online? No problem. At Free411.com, you’ll get the most accurate residential and business listings on the Web. That’s because we use the same real-time data as the phone companies.

What a great idea. One or both of these numbers would be great to save in your cell phone or put on speed dial for your home phone. If you don't have speed dial, put it with you list of emergency numbers by the phone.

Homemade Soap

So I have been considering making my own soap. Well sort of. I have a bunch of soap scraps saved up (not to mention some barely used "hotel" soap), and thought I would melt them into new bars of soap to save money. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so how difficult is the process?

Where can I get the soap molds from? What is the process? What about liquid hand soap, would that be easier/cheaper?

New Ebay Auction & Other Thoughts

It's time for to again try to help out my personal finances with some eBay sales, so after a few months break from the eBay selling, I am back to it again. I stopped a when a box of computer parts didn't sell twice. This time I have listed a brand new, unopened, still in the box Magic bullet to get the sales started off. I have two computer monitors, that I will probably be adding soon, as well.

My AdSense spots are doing OK. I don't have enough visitors to make them as profitable as I really need, but that is OK. They are doing better, then I had originally expected. I need them to be clicked on 3-21 times each day just to get a monthly check. That will come in time, as my readership increases. So far I have received one $100 check for the period between April and September. For the period since October 1st to present, I am half towards my 2ND check. It appears hat currently Google will be paying me twice a year. Every little bit helps.

Other sources of revenue are also sporadic, but as I have said every little bit help. That reminds me, I need to go and update the "Thank You Blog."

You Still Have a Chance to Watch the Buffett Special

If you missed the interview with Warren Buffett that I discussed a few days ago. You still have an opprtunity to watch it this weekend.

WARREN BUFFETT: THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR not only airs on November 20th at 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM, but it will be rebroadcast on Friday, November 24th at 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM ET and on Sunday, November 26th at 10:00 PM and 1:00 AM ET.

http://www.nolimitsladies.com/2006/11/warren_buffett_the_billionaire.html