Hints and Tips


If you’re new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Happy New Year!
As we say “good-bye” to the old year and “hello” to the new, it’s a great chance to look ahead to our plans for the future. I [...]

[read all of The Benefits of Looking Ahead: Success Tips from 1950]

This is a guest post from Daiko, who previously shared how to feed yourself on $15 a week.
Asking questions can be a powerful tool for developing financial resilience. Two weeks ago, for example, I received an overdraft charge from my bank. My first reaction was to curse and pound my head against the desk, but [...]

[read all of Asking for a Better Financial Future]

Did you get a lot of gift cards for Christmas? Would you rather have cash? Would you rather have a card for another store? Richard O. Johnson at the fascinating Beyond Barter has created a page highlighting smart gift card strategies: how to best acquire or dispose of them.
This page offers a wealth of sound, [...]

[read all of How to Buy and Sell Gift Cards]

The one-year warranty on my MacBook Pro expired last week, presenting me with a choice: sign up for an extended warranty or live without it? I’ve never been an extended warranty kind of guy. They’re cash cows for the companies that sell them. Anything that is a cash cow for manufacturers and retailers is generally [...]

[read all of Reader Tip: The Warranty Scam Buster Account]

This is a guest post from Stephen Ward, who writes at Project Paradox.
Although many frugality experts decry the need for television, my wife and I enjoy it too much to give it up.  That didn’t stop me from getting a better deal, though!  Just the other day, I called up my provider to get my [...]

[read all of How 15 Minutes Saved Me 15% on My Television Bill]

It’s been an annoying day here at the box factory. November 15th must be some sort of telemarketing celebration day. I’ve been handling three or four calls an hour from these bozos all day long. It drives me nuts.
I have little patience for spammers of any sort. Telemarketers are the worst. I have filters that [...]

[read all of Turning the Tables on Telemarketers]

Earlier today I wrote that I like to prepay my monthly bills. I acknowledged that some people might think this was dumb, but that I liked to do it anyhow. It’s not often that I share something with which GRS readers vehemently disagree. This is one of those rare cases.
Because there’s so much opposition [...]

[read all of Why You SHOULDN’T Prepay Your Monthly Bills]

Here’s the longest “money hack” I’ve ever posted. This is another reader comment from our recent discussion about the transition from “becoming debt-free” to “living debt-free”. In this guest-post from James, who is new to GRS, he describes how he created a “virtual employer” in order to limit his natural spending habits. By playing games [...]

[read all of Build Wealth with a “Virtual Employer”]

Kris and I joined some friends last weekend for a 40th birthday celebration at Bluehour, a swanky Portland restaurant. While the other couples spent $150 to $250 for their meals, we escaped paying only $52, including tip. We hadn’t planned to do this, but our unintentional parsimony taught us a few ways to save [...]

[read all of How to Eat at a Swanky Restaurant Without Blowing Your Monthly Food Budget]

It’s always fun to find new ways to save time and money in the kitchen. Here are two simple ideas to help reduce clutter on the counters.
Let the library store your cookbooks
During my recent fight to reduce clutter in the house, Kris pointed out that I had a shelf full of cookbooks that I rarely [...]

[read all of Two Quick Kitchen Hacks]

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