This is the first of several weekly reminders that Get Rich Slowly is currently running a video contest in which you could win $500 — or a signed copy of Your Money: The Missing Manual. All you have to do is make a 2-minute video featuring either a personal-finance tip or your own financial success story and submit it by April 15th.
Winners in each category will win $500. Ten runners-up will each receive a copy of my book. (And if you have a website, you’re also eligible for a $500 prize in the bonus website category.)
Entries are beginning to trickle in — and I’m eager to see many more in the future. I love seeing what you folks come up with. For example, Jamison from Tech Tips for Parents just submitted his success story. I think it’s pretty good:
You can view all of the contest entries here. (There are just a few so far, so each entrant’s odds of winning are pretty good right now!)
For more details, see the announcement post, the contest page, or the official contest rules. And if you have questions, drop me a line!
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Good video. But I really don’t get the “make your own detergent” thing. Our monthly detergent spend is ~ 2/1000s of our mortgage payment. Making our own detergent will not move the needle.
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This is an awesome video and inspiring! It’s easy to get lost in the ‘materialism’ of society sometimes, but you clearly knew what mattered more to you. Thanks for sharing!
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Notice at 0:59 his allowance is $80, while hers is $250. And yes I realize she only spent $170 that but it is still more than twice as much as him.
Without reading his blog I assume he is the one pushing for frugal choices, more so than her
I am also assuming Jamison is the husband and Larissa is his wife.
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What a great success story and a great video! I’d been nervous about entering the contest, but Jamison’s catchy music and positive attitude have inspired me to work on one for myself.
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Really enjoyed the video! Thanks!
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for Jake – yes,the homemade laundry soap only saves a few dollars a month…but when it is one of many things done each month to save a few dollars – it adds up to hundreds of dollars that allow you to pay off your mortgage 20 years early!!
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Thanks so much for posting that video!
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Just viewed the video featured (where the family paid off 30-year mortgage early) Excellent! Good on them for living totally debt free.
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I LOVED this video… very clever. (Kind of intimidating, to be honest!!) Excited to see the rest!! Thanks for all the information.
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You should let him know it is not safe to mow the lawn in flip flops.
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Hi JD, I can’t see the videos! Do I need to update a player or something on my computer? Or could you load them to your youtube channel so I could watch them through youtube? Thanks!
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I love in Jamison’s video how me MAILS the mortgage payment. We can’t do that in Canada!
Hey JD can people from other countries enter even if we are not eligible for any prize money?
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@slackerjo (#12)
I’d love it if non-USians submitted videos, even though they’re not eligible for prizes. My hope is that there will be lots of tips and stories from all sorts of people to help each other…
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I think the video submission is such a great idea!! My husband and I are both planning on participating.
If my three year old had anything to say on the subject I’d get him to enter to.
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I’ll be submitting a video, too. Thanks for the reminder!
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Great video. With catchy music, a few slogans, and fewer words, gets the message simply across.
Im a regular reader of your site and find a lot of inspiration here.
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Where can you buy a house with that much land for $120,000? In my city, tiny 4000sq foot lots in the outskirts sell for $200,000. $120k will barely buy you a ratty old unrenovated 250 sq foot flat in a bad area of a miserable dump of a satellite town with no access to transport.
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@Ed, been mowing in flip flops for about 20 years. I know it isn’t safe, but my feet are ugly and if I damage them maybe the surgery will make them look better.
@Mark, Alabama baby! Plus, I dont live IN the city. I am about a 30 minute drive out. it is a 1/2 acre lot and actually it was bought for $118,900, not $120K. Alabama also has one of the nation’s lowest property taxes.
I realize my tips and my method will not work for everyone, but it works for us and our situation. It is IMPOSSIBLE to put in a 2 minute video all the things one does to meet the goal we met. I have an hour of footage and about 20 tips in them. What you see is what I was able to cut it down to. 90% of it came down to both of us working and BUDGETING!
And to the person who paused the video to take a gander at our budget, my wife pulled some overtime that month, so she had more money in her allowance.
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What song is that you’ve set the video to? It’s catchy.
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@Dove it is Happy Family by Mikey Dread.
I get music like this from:
http://iodapromonet.com/
It is Royalty Free music, meaning you can post it on videos, use it on websites, use it for ANYTHING and its free. You basically have to do this when putting a song on a video you post into YouTube otherwise it’s a copyright infringement and sometimes they remove your video, or at least remove the audio… :\
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