This is a guest post from Betsy Rosenfeld, who writes a blog called Love Thy Dog and just published a book, The Complete Single’s Guide to Dog Ownership.
When choosing a dog food, picking the more expensive bag may actually save you money in the long run!
Cheaper dog pet food is often bulked up with fillers that do add weight but don’t add nutritional value and can even compromise your pet’s health. I’m not just talking about the poison situation from the pet food crisis in 2007. I’m also talking about things like wheat and corn gluten that while not poisonous, are not a natural or needed part of a canine diet. And just like humans don’t do well eating tons of corn or wheat- think Oprah and Dr. Oz, and other anti-inflammatory diets- an excess of these ingredients can trigger expensive canine conditions too including allergies, skin conditions, eye and eye conditions and some experts think even cancer.
So be safe, and use the first five ingredients in a pet food as an indicator of the food’s nutritive value. The primary source should be a quality animal protein and not vegetable protein or grain. Avoid foods that list 2 or more grains in the first 5 ingredients.
You’ll be spending more per bag on a nutritionally dense food, but you may actually end up spending less on a cup by cup basis because these foods are more nutritionally dense so you’ll have to feed your dog less of it. To find out even more about the issue of pet food safety and value per cup visit DogFoodProject and or visit your local pet food store, I’m talking the mom and pop shop that doesn’t sell puppies. Their primary business is food (not puppies) and they will know the most about the different food options.
If you’re a little more adventurous consider a raw diet. My rescue partner feeds her dogs a diet based around turkey necks. This often discarded part of the bird is cheap and highly nutritious. Visit BarfWorld to find out how to healthfully start your pet on a raw diet!
A few good, nutritionally dense, high quality brands include: Evo, Merrick, and Innova. There are many more out there including a few such as Life’s Abundance which is only sold online. All dogs have their preferences and whichever dog food you choose be sure of a couple more things:
1. When changing your dog’s food, transition them slowly. Otherwise you can upset their stomachs and maybe cost you a trip to the vet.
2. Always include kibble or another crunchy item in their diet. This helps keep their teeth clean and dental disease in dogs can lead to big vet bills.
3. Feed your dog the right amount. Ask your vet and take into account your dog’s age and activity level. Not that you should be starving your dog, but I do feel it’s safer to err on the low side of the recommended serving. Companies are trying to sell more product after all and like their parents, we all need to take a look at portion control.
4. Not all dogs can eat all foods. If your dog isn’t reacting well to a food (constant gas is a good indicator,) don’t force the issue. Find a food that works!
Oh, and p.s. growing up I had a dog who lived to be 16 who ate vile looking Ken-L-Ration “burgers” that were the color of a basketball. Some dogs, often mutts, just have a strong constitution and can live eating the equivalent of spam every day of their lives. But if you love your dog like I love mine, I recommend not assuming you’ll be so lucky!
We are focusing a LOT on crafting five-minute pitches for our businesses at the USC News Entrepreneur Boot Camp I am attending this week (hence all the guest posts). But before you can create a five-minute pitch, you need a sizzling 30-second pitch. UPDATE: I’m giving my pitch to four potential funders.
[poll id="22"]
Can you think of a better pitch for Bargainbabe.com? Your input makes this site better.
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Which 30-second pitch for BargainBabe.com is the best?
Dispatch from boot camp: work smarter
Off to news entrepreneur boot camp
This is a guest post from my frugal pop.
Some years ago I read a column by a nationally syndicated writer which described how he learned, at the age of 40, to fix things. He said he met a neighbor who was working on his lawnmower, and he remarked to the neighbor that he didn’t know how to fix things. His neighbor’s reply was “That’s because you don’t take the time.” That struck a chord with me. My own version of that line is “If you look at things carefully, they will show you how they work.”
The world seems to be divided into two groups: those who are “handy” and can fix things and those who aren’t and can’t – and most people seem to automatically assign themselves to the second group, as though being handy is some kind of genetic trait, like perfect pitch or 20-20 vision. In fact, no one is born handy, knowing how things work; the ability to fix things is the result of experience, trial and error, patience, and study.
By taking the time to learn a bit about how things work in your home, you can avoid some costly repair services and impress your friends. Here are some common things that can go wrong and what can sometimes take care of the problem.
1. Toilets. Sooner or later you’re probably going to have your toilet start leaking water from the tank into the bowl or the tank won’t fill to the proper level, which can cause it not to flush properly (not enough water in the tank) or to waste water (too much water in the tank.) If the toilet runs constantly after a flush or periodically you hear water running when the toilet hasn’t been flushed, the problem is probably the seal that closes the tank. There are a lot of different toilet flow control mechanisms, but with most, there is a flap that is lifted by the handle and drops back into place when the water level drops low enough. After enough use, this flap will no longer seal completely, allowing a leak from tank to bowl. Sometimes just wiping it will solve the problem. If this doesn’t work, you may be able to replace the flap. In a worst case, you can replace the entire tank mechanism for a lot less than the cost of a plumber coming and doing it for you. Just look very carefully at the existing mechanism and compare it to your new one (it will usually not be exactly the same), and you will see how to take the old one out and install the new. No special tools (or even any tools )are needed.
If the water level isn’t right, there will be some way to adjust the mechanism to change it. There has to be a way for the water to be shut off when the tank has refilled. Old toilets had a float attached to a metal rod, and you controlled the water level by bending the rod. ‘Newer ones have various methods, including dials you can turn. Study and experiment.
2. Clogged sink or bathtub drains. Hair is usually the culprit in the bathroom. It the kitchen, it’s just the accumulation of grease and “gunk.” There are two inexpensive tools to own: a small pipe wrench and a 10 or 15 foot drain snake. The wrench is for taking the pipes under the sink apart. (When taking apart chromed parts, wrap an old rag around the coupling so the wrench won’t mar it.) Bathroom sinks often have a stopper mechanism, which you raise and lower to seal the sink outlet. Most of these seem designed to most effectively trap hair and clog the drain. You will need to disassemble this first, and this will often solve your problem. There are many types of these mechanisms, so you’ll have to study yours until you see how it comes apart.
If this isn’t sufficient, usually the case for a kitchen sink, the problem is in the drain itself. If you are lucky (you usually will be), the blockage will be within reach of your snake. Disassemble all the pieces of the gooseneck under the sink until you have access to the drain pipe that goes into the wall. The snake you feed into the drain, a little bit at a time. Mine has a handle that allows the snake to be rotated inside the pipe, scouring the walls of the pipe, and a corkscrew at the end. If the screw encounters a wad of hair, it will snag it, and you can pull the nasty thing out. (Kids love to go Ooh, Yuck! when you pull it out.) Run the snake several times into the pipe as far as it will go. You will probably have some sharp bends in the pipe that it will be hard to get the snake past. Just keep turning the handle and working it in and out until it makes it past.
Before you start this project, always remove everything from the space under the sink and put a large pan or bucket under the drain to catch the mess when you take the drain apart.
Bathtub blockages can sometimes be solved with chemicals, which are usually essentially sodium hydroxide, which will dissolve almost anything organic, including human skin and tissue. These products will also sometimes damage chrome finishes, so use a funnel ( get a cheap plastic one) to pour it in the drain. If several applications of this don’t work (the drain usually has to be flowing at least a little, so the chemical can reach the gunk), bring out the snake.
For bigger jobs, where you have access to a cleanout, a place where you can unscrew a cap and get access to the main drain, you can rent a power snake and pretend you’re the roto rooter man, for a couple of hundred bucks less.
3. Garbage disposals. In my experience, these usually last 5-8 years and have to be replaced. They’re easy to change. You have to first turn off the electricity to the disposal and disconnect the power wires; you’ll need to locate your circuit breaker box. If you’re not sure which breaker controls the disposal (a problem if it’s completely dead, and it may not be on the same circuit as the kitchen lights), there may be a breaker for the entire house. The disposal basically hangs from the bottom of the sink. If you get the same brand as you currently have, you can probably just slip the new one onto the flange that supports the old one. If they’re different, you’ll probably have to first install a piece on the bottom of the sink drain, then attach the disposal and reattach the power wires.
Something I just learned recently is that some disposals have a mechanism that shuts them down if you try to grind up too much at once. This prevents the motor from getting too hot and being destroyed. If your disposal just suddenly “dies,” look and feel around the sides of the body for a button, usually red and about the diameter of a dime. Press this button and your disposal may return to life.
4. Door locks and hinges. You can’t really repair either of these, but you can keep them working better with two things: a small can of machine oil and a tube of graphite powder. If you have a lock that you have trouble removing the key from, get a tube of graphite. Spraying a little into the key slot and working the key in and out usually helps. Several applications may be necessary. If a door lock becomes too much trouble, it isn’t hard to replace. Start by taking the old handle apart and removing it from the door. There are lots of different kinds, but if you study the part on the inside, away from the keyed side, you can probably figure out how to remove it. Measure the holes in your door and take the old mechanism to the hardware store, to be sure you get a new one that fits.
About the only thing you can do with hinges is oil them to eliminate squeaks. They almost never wear out, and installing door hinges is a quite advanced topic. Some door hinges are “loose pin,” and you can lift the pin a bit with a screw driver, to make it easier for the oil to get to the inside of the hinge. (If you take the pins completely out, you can remove the door temporarily. Knowing this is handy if you buy a new couch that’s bigger than you expected.)
5. Small electrical appliances. First, whenever you buy any appliance, file away all the papers that came with it because they will have warranty data and info about ordering spare parts. Whenever anything electric isn’t working, the first question should always be “Is it plugged it?” It is truly amazing how many things electric have been fixed by being plugged back in. If that’s not the problem, the device may have a fuse, or it may have tripped the circuit breaker. If another device works in the same plug, the problem is in your device. If it’s not a fuse, examine the power cord. It may have become disconnected, either at the device or the plug. Frayed cords are dangerous and should be replaced. If you can’t solve it with this, read any manual that came with it. Sometimes there’s a number you can call and actually talk to someone you can suggest additional tests and sell you replacement parts. Some devices can be shipped to a repair center and fixed for less than the cost of a replacement.
This is a guest blog post from reader Renee MacLaughlan Bozarth, who says she is a big coupon and bargain shopper. “My 16 year old asked me once why I needed a coupon to shop everywhere,” Renee said, “and I taught her about double coupons!”
When meal preparation businesses opened, I jumped on the bandwagon. I enjoyed the convenience and variety, as well as being able to bring my family members to help me. I’d pay $225 for 10 to 12 meals; each served 4 to 6 people. I would use 3 meals every week; leftovers, sandwiches and other items made up the rest of my menus.
When I got word that my favorite meal preparation location was going out of business, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Comparable locations didn’t have family friendly recipes and cost a lot more than what I had been paying. My husband suggested that I make the meals at home, using our kids and himself as labor. This was going to require a lot of planning! I’d have to find recipes that my family would like, make a grocery list, and find containers that would hold the prepared meals and hope that they would freeze well. I didn’t think that I could accomplish all of that on my own.
My first challenge was to find containers. I bought them online at www.webstaurantstore.com. A set of 100 full size aluminum pans and lids were $70 with shipping. I also stocked up on 1 gallon freezer bags from the grocery store for meals that could be stored that way.
I have a few places I visit for recipes. Kraft has a great site at www.foodandfamily.com. My newest find is a Campbell’s Soup site called www.campbellkitchen.com. Both have easy searches for just about any recipe you might want. Pick the recipes you like, print them and then start your grocery list. I make my meals once a month, so I shop once a month for the ingredients. My store of choice is Win Co Foods, because I can buy items in bulk, such as pasta, rice, potatoes and spices. They also have a great store brand product for most name brand items, such as stuffing mix, soups and frozen vegetables. These items are usually $.30 to $.50 less expensive than the name brand item.
Once I have my shopping done, I set aside 2 to 3 hours on a Saturday to put the meals together. Some recipes may require that you cook the ground beef, for example, so I will do that before making the meal. If a recipe requires cooked chicken cubed or sliced, you can purchase cooked chicken in the deli aisle that will work just as well. I try to keep my meal preparation as simple as possible! Each family member helps. Dishes and utensils are washed and re-used right away. For example, one of my family’s favorite meals is Meatball Sandwiches. I buy prepared meatballs, put them in a gallon bag (put the gallon bag in a pitcher for less spilling), along with spaghetti sauce, and freeze the mixture, along with sandwich rolls. When the meal is ready to be prepared, it requires defrosting, re-heating and some Mozzarella cheese on top of the meatball/sauce mixture. Add your chosen sides, and you are ready to eat.
Once the meal is done and in its’ container, I use scotch tape to secure the recipe to the lid of the aluminum pan. If the recipe is stored in a gallon freezer bag, I fold the recipe in a zipped sandwich bag and place it inside of the freezer bag before I close it. All of my meals are in the freezer until they are brought out for that week’s meals. There are some things that don’t freeze well, such as potatoes and green peppers. If I happen to pick a recipe with those items, I use that meal during the first week so it doesn’t have to be frozen. Also, some recipes don’t pass my family’s taste test. We’ll vote on favorites and also on those we don’t like. I keep the names of both categories in a binder, along with the recipes of the ones I want to repeat.
On Sundays, I take out 3 meals to defrost. My family has a system we use that works well for us. Each night, one of our children will make dinner. Another child will clean up and do dishes – in our house, whoever makes dinner does not clean up that night. I assign meals to each evening, filling in nights with no prepared meals with spaghetti (I always have extra pasta and sauce), grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, leftover night or on-your-own night. The prepared meal will sometimes require the meal maker to prepare sides, such as rice, potatoes or vegetables. I will put serving suggestions on the recipe and allow the preparer to decide what to make. My 7-year-old daughter just entered the meal-making rotation. Last week, she made individual pizzas using English muffins as the “dough,” a bottle of squeezable pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese on top. Add a bag of salad mix and you have dinner made by a very proud 7-year-old.
My cost for the items to prepare my meals ranges from $100 to $140, depending on the ingredients. I do additional shopping during the month for staples such as milk, bread, eggs and personal items. I also buy canned goods and side items, such as rice, potatoes and rolls at a low price warehouse store that stocks cosmetically dented and damaged items. For my family of 5, I spend no more than $300 for groceries. I’ve been preparing my own meals for over a year. Considering that I was spending $225 or more for 12 meals, I am very happy with my meal preparation decision.
This is a guest post from a reader named Peter.
When Bargain Babe asked me to jot down a few words about Frugality I was impressed. This girl really understands how to save money. Get other people to write your blog while you are off on vacation…what a babe!
So, here are a few ideas from an old lifetime Frugalitarian.
1. Record every cent you spend. Yes, I know it’s a PIA, but it is also a Zen-like exercise in consciousness about money. It’s easy to forget what we spent three days ago, but with a written record we can keep an actual budgetary record of every cent spent. Read your check book (credit card statement) and it will tell you what your priorities are. Like many good habits, this one gets easier with time. And, you can do it on your iPhone.
2. Read The Millionaire Next Door. You will learn that your money life is not about earning and spending. It is about accumulating assets. The only proven way to do this is to save and invest a little bit over a long period of time at reasonable rates of return.
3. Think about your financial life in terms of one hundred years or more. That’s right, think beyond your own life time. This will help you get a big picture idea about what happens if you save and invest $10 now and then calculate how it compounds at 7% over an 100 year lifetime. The result is $8,677.00 That’s just one ten dollar bill.
The power of compounding is amazing. My bet is that once you get the idea of how much wealth you can accumulate you may want to try living a bit more frugally. One iPhone invested under the same terms is worth $346,218.00. You too can become a Frugalitarian and accumulate millions.
This is a guest post from a reader named Chalice.
Have you ever heard of a “Really, Really Free Market”? It’s a community event held in a public place where people are invited to bring usable household items and make them available to any attendee to take home at no cost.There is no bartering or swapping. Anyone can take anything they like, for free, with no limits. Thus, stuff is Really, REALLY free. Often, participants also contribute services, talents, or skill instruction freely as well. The website for the Blacksburg, Virginia RRFM home page says: “The RRFM movement is a non-hierarchical collective of individuals who form a temporary market based on an alternative gift economy.”
I attended my first Really, Really Free Market last month in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park after snagging the e-flyer through a dumpster-diving Meetup.com group. The event was hosted by an anarchist collective, composed of mainly college-age activists. A well-known organization called Food Not Bombs offered free, hot vegan food to everyone, which they traditionally cook from salvaged groceries. I met new people and enjoyed the feeling of fun and camaraderie, despite the park’s usually overcrowded state.
There have been free market events held across the United States (read NPR’s story on RRFMs) and in other countries in the last few years. Some large cities with past or continuing RRFM’s include Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Reno, Minneapolis, Richmond, and Washington, DC. These markets are usually organized by those motivated to empower the citizenry and protect animals and the environment, so don’t be surprised to be offered a petition to sign or a vegan bumper sticker. You’ll also be encouraged to minimize your transit carbon footprint. But, these events include people of all ages and bents, including students, hippies, yuppies, frugals, greenies, dumpster-divers, yard-salers, arty bohemians, the unemployed, the homeless, and the just plain curious.
Wish there was a market in your neighborhood? In theory, it’s not hard to start your own event. You need a central, public space with parking and wheelchair access that is close to public transportation. Restrooms, garbage and water fountains are nice bonuses.
Old-fashioned paper flyers and local word-of-mouth keep the event rooted in the community, but online marketing can be utilized as well, including group boards and social networking services. Inviting a cross section of people from your community will ensure a rich diversity of resources and talents.
You will need a few volunteers to market the event, recruit contributors, set-up the space, clean-up, and supervise. Any items left over at the end of the event can be retrieved by their original owners or donated to charity.
The main requirement is providing space for merchandise display and service stations. Blankets, baskets, chairs, and picnic tables are helpful. Performances may need to be placed on a timed, posted schedule. It’s important to hang a large banner. Typically, there is an element of free food and drink offered by someone at these events.
The two tricky issues in hosting RRFM’s are permission to use public space and liability insurance. Some markets are held without event permits or public food distribution permits. But some groups have been known to rent a private space or request a park party permit. Liability waivers might be an option for those participating. One way to circumvent this issue is to host this as a private event within an established social group, such as a church or community center. You might be able to arrange for the organization to provide their space and offer insurance. One last idea is called a “micro-RRFM”, where a few friends throw a “free yard sale” on their property and give things away to those on their block.
Here is a list of services, skill instruction, and activities that have been photographed at markets around the country: chess games, chair massage, haircuts, bike repair, dance performances, free hugs, artwork, juggling, origami, children’s games, group jump rope, hula hooping, beading, drum circles, stand-up comedy, recipes, balloon animals, letter writing campaigns, tarot card readings, tai chi, plant seedling giveaways, language lessons, poetry reading, face-painting, and puppet shows.
Another option, if you have cooperation from non-profits or city departments, is to allow the distribution of free items at the market to benefit the community, such as water or power-saving devices, compost bins or mulch, instant AIDS health tests or condoms, bicycle or bus maps, library bookmarks, children’s ID kits, or women’s personal safety whistles. The possibilities are endless!
The experience of sharing, receiving, and connecting with the community at your local Really, Really Free Market can be very fulfilling. Whether your event is within legal boundaries or “under the radar”, you might make a friend, find a treasure, munch a snack, finally pass off that white elephant gift, and enjoy a bit of fun, all for FREEEEE!
I was worried my week-long training program at USC, called News Entrepreneur Boot Camp, would bomb after I set such lofty goals (at one point I referred to it as a one-week MBA). But so far the program has exceeded my expectations in every way.
The schedule is very well organized and the speakers are amazing. My fellow participants have a tremendous variety of experience and expertise. The hotel is quite swanky and in addition to meals the drinks are included. Score!
A few things I have learned so far:
- Online journalists need to keep the principles of print but toss (many of) the rules.
- An entrepreneur is not a risk taker but a risk manager.
- Upbeat folks like myself need to be a loudspeaker for successful journalism paths.
- I must meet 250 strangers and talk to them about my business.
- On the Web no one knows you’re a newspaper (a take off on a cartoon of a dog sitting at a computer with the caption “On the Web no one knows you’re a dog.”)
- Before I sell an ad I need to know how the advertiser measures success.
- Decide how I want people to interact with my site and take steps to reach those goals.
- Do more marketing to broaden my exposure (which means more gift card giveaways are coming!)
- Be willing to change course.
- Dream big but take small steps.
All this in just the first two days! Everything I am learning is working toward the culminating event at boot camp: Thursday morning we each have five minutes to pitch our businesses to four big wigs (one venture capitalist, two bankers, and one “angel”). Holy $*&#^@!
Aside from THAT surprise, the biggest thing that has happened to me at boot camp is that I walked in identifying myself as a blogger, but now I know I am an entrepreneur. And I am at the beginning of something very exciting. Doh! I hope I didn’t just jinx myself.
Related posts:
Off to news entrepreneur boot camp
Which 30-second pitch for BargainBabe.com is the best?
I’m starting a week-long training program at USC called News Entrepreneur Boot Camp this Saturday, which means:
- For the next six days I’m going to be learning business skills from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (I like to think of it as a one-week MBA)
- I’ll be blogging a bit about what I’m learning
- A fabulous selection of readers and guest bloggers will be sharing money-saving tips every day
- Bargain Babe emails will continue uninterrupted (sign up here if you don’t already receive them)
- I will respond to email as soon as I can but expect some delay
- I’m taking Friday afternoon off to rest up for boot camp!
This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. A blog called Scavenging has step-by-step directions to turn your credit card into a bracelet, ring, or earrings. Check it out! Below is one of their creations.
Reader Lynda added so many fabulous tips to my post about preparing for a garage sale that I’m highlighting her comment this week. (A very close runner-up was a comment left by Frugal Dad about the priceless gift I gave my Mom). If you want to be featured as commenter of the week, leave a great comment in the next seven days! Here are Lynda’s tips:
- I read craigslist days before the weekend so if there’s something in particular I’m looking for, I might plan the rest of my browsing around it…I’d say post on Wednesday, and again on Friday (for Saturday sale). If you have specific items listed, it also gives interested buyers a chance to ask a question (say it’s an article of furniture, appliance, etc.)
- When in doubt, list neighborhood AND City area, not just ‘Los Angeles’, ‘Hollywood’, ‘Oakland’.
- Doesn’t hurt to specify CASH ONLY. Yes, some people show up and want to pay by check!!
- Bring out a couple of extra chairs, put a ‘not for sale’ sign on them and let people use them when they’re waiting to pay/for a friend/etc.
- Let the neighbors know about the sale and ask if they can let you keep the parking spaces open during the time of the sale…some people won’t stop if there isn’t convenient parking. To sweeten the deal, let each pick one item from a pile of a certain price….ask them to come over early, create the buzz of having people checking the goods out. You know how sales in stores work…nothing like the sense of a little competition to bring out the shopping urge…you can even ask friends to stop by and act as shills…(they may find something to buy also).
- When it comes time to cut prices, try using the $__ per bag approach….and you might let shoppers know what time the discount starts….IF they want to risk someone else buying the article they have their eye on…
- If you’re not selling children’s articles, keep your kids away….have them play inside, etc…..even well mannered kids can be distracting and confusing….that way if there ARE kids there, you know there should also be an adult to look after them…don’t see one? Ask them who they’re with, and chase them off if they’re by themselves (does not apply to teenagers with money).
- Selling DVDs or CDs? Put a rubber band around the package…enough to keep someone from slipping the disk out, but easy enough for you to open it if they want to check the condition. Or you can tape them closed, and just cut thru the tape. Selling old LPs? If the slip cover is in good condition, don’t tape it….but maybe do something to keep the vinyl inside so someone doesn’t switch records…
- If you’re going to let a child sell cookies/candy/etc for scouts/school/etc, please have their table a certain distance from the rest of the stuff so interested parties can purchase but uninterested parties won’t feel the pressure. I may be a complete stranger and will never see you again but I still don’t like to have a small smiling face asking me if I wouldn’t like to buy some _____ to benefit____. It’s pressure. Who feels good saying no?
- Provide boxes or bags for people to purchases in to make it easier for them to carry the goods around. Also means more difficult to pilfer…..when paying, unload the box/bag on a table, count out the prices so there’s no questions, then when the total is agreed on and paid, put them back in the box/bag.
- Hand held calculators are nice but you can have plain paper and just write down the prices and then total them. Give it to the customer.
- If you’re washing clothing before the sale, please don’t use a strong fabric softener….same thing if you polish wood furniture…keep odors to a minimum…even out of doors they linger.
- If you’re in charge, wear a hat or something with an identifying device, like ASK ME….
- If you’re selling large items, make certain the craigslisting says something about ‘can help load’ or ‘can’t help load’ and if it will need a truck (not the back end of a stationwagon, let them know that also.
- TRY to keep the cellphone off….it may be your yard, your garage, and your sale…but i’m the customer and I want to pay you and leave, not wait while you talk to ______ about _______. Also, if you don’t have yours, if one rings, you know you don’t have to answer.
- Do your homework before the event…check out local sales for a weekend or two…and check out thrift stores to see the going rate for items you’re thinking of selling. Good bargain hunters will already have an idea (from thrift stores) what something should cost…price it too high and if the quality is the same, they’ll wait and go back to the thrift store…where they can shop for others things…on any week day OR weekend…
- If you have things which you think are collectibles, use eBay to research going prices…use Advance Search and select the CLOSED ITEMS only option….you’ll see what they started at, and what they sold for…or didn’t sell.
- and above all: DON’T TRY TO SELL ME SOMETHING I’M NOT LOOKING AT ALREADY…this could be subheaded: why I walked away from your yard sale without buying anything….especially now, the urge to shop CAN be curbed and limited. Give shoppers a good reason to spend and a good environment…we’ll spend….and spend. Hope your sale went well Julia, love reading your blog.
In these hard economic times, it is sometimes difficult to make ends meet and we often need some help. There are services available to us that can help us when we feel there are no options and bills are piling up. We can get loans to assist us from many different sources, at the bank and even online.
If you have a job and just cannot wait until payday, payday loans are a great source of immediate funds for any financial hardships you may face. You can receive the money almost immediately and have ample time in which to pay back the loan. You are charged interest like any other loan, but the flexibility is really what set these loans apart from traditional sources of funds. In some cases, you can even extend the loan past your original loan date to give you ample time in which to catch up, financially speaking.
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To entertain myself on the long drive from my Mom’s house in the Bay Area to my home in LA, I conducted a science experiment. How much more efficient was my 2003 MINI Cooper at various speeds and how much money did that translate into?
Step 1. Measure the average miles per gallon (a statistic my car tracks) at six different speeds for a distance of two miles. Repeat twice so there are three sets of data for each speed (see chart below).
Step 2. Average the miles per gallon at each speed.
Step 3. Extrapolate the cost of the trip per mile at each of the six speeds based on the average miles per gallon for that speed. I paid $2.63 a gallon when I filled up before driving home so this is the price I used. The formula looks like this:
1 mile x 1Â gallon/average miles at a particular speed x $2.63/1 gallon of gas =
Driving one mile at 85 mph costs $.095.
Driving one mile at 80 mph costs $.085.
Driving one mile at 75 mph costs $.086.
Driving one mile at 70 mph costs $.075.
Driving one mile at 65 mph costs $.068.
Driving one mile at 60 mph costs $.068.
Step 3 raised a few questions, namely why the cost of driving at 75 mph was slightly higher than driving at 80. And is my car really as efficient when I drive at 65 mph as when I drive at 60 mph? More testing is needed to answer these questions.
Step 4. Determine the time it takes to drive one mile at each speed. The formula looks like this:
1 mile x 1 /miles per hour x 60 minutes / 1 hour x 60 seconds / 1 minute =
At 85 mph one miles takes 42 seconds.
At 80 mph one miles takes 45 seconds.
At 75 mph one miles takes 48 seconds.
At 70 mph one miles takes 51 seconds.
At 65 mph one miles takes 55 seconds.
At 60 mph one miles takes 60 seconds. (This is also the speed at which trucks will pass you en masse.)
Step 5. Compare gas costs with time savings.
Driving at 85 mph costs $.027 more per mile than driving at 65 mph but saves you 13 seconds.
For a 30 mile commute, this adds up to $.81 more at a savings of 6 minutes and 30 seconds.
For a 400 mile road trip, this adds up to $10.80 more in gas but cuts one hour and 27 minutes off the trip.
For a driver who puts 10,000 miles on their car each year, driving at 85 mph costs an extra $270 but saves 36 hours.
Conclusion: The cost of driving fast – at 85 mph instead of 65 mph – is roughly $.03 more per mile, or about 40 percent more. The actual difference, $.027, looks small but adds up quickly. Slow down and drive at 65 mph, which is the speed limit on California state highways (with a few exceptions), and you will save roughly 30 percent.
During the tests the terrain was mostly flat and wind was minimal. I collected data while driving but did the calculations in the safety of my non-motorized home.
Questions. What are the indirect costs of driving fast or of driving slow? Did you cause an accident or get a ticket for driving at 85? If you slowed down to 60, did other drivers honk at you? I noticed my car was so much quieter at 60!
Here’s a cool map and chart that shows which cities have the most job postings per 1,000 people. Washington D.C. tops the list (144), followed by Baltimore, MD (89), and San Jose, CA (76).
Umm, where’s Los Angeles? Oh yes, there we are at No. 45.
The map is part of a story from MainStreet.com about where the jobs are by state. They considered the number of job postings as a percentage of the state population and unemployment to determine state rankings for their job opportunity index.
Just found out I’ve been ranked No. 2 in a list of the best 10 personal finance blogs you’ve never heard of. Pretty exciting.
The list comes from Viralogy.com, a social media ranking site. Viralogy’s post about the ranking says:
The personal finance blogging world is dominated by players like I Will Teach You to be Rich, Get Rich Slowly, and the Simple Dollar. Though these bloggers have extremely valuable content, we feel that there are other lesser known bloggers that write posts that are of equal quality. I scoured the internet to find the best personal finance bloggers that you’ve never heard of.
Viralogy looked at six key metrics. Here are the stats for Bargainbabe.com:
- Linkbacks: 852
- Average comments per post: 4
- Compete traffic: 20,075
- Twitter followers: 605
- Following/Followers ratio: 2.3
- Retweets in the past month: 52
I outranked the No. 1 pick in every criteria except Twitter followers (she has 800) and average comments per post (15!). Hmmm…how do I get more followers and get you guys to comment more?!
Instead of buying an expensive safe, here are six hot spots to hide your money at home, courtesy of Wise Bread’s 10,001 ways to live large on a small budget.
1. Tampon box – “By leaving a little ‘product’ in the box for authenticity and taping a wad of cash to the inside, you can be sure a robber won’t think to look there. (Ladies can be certain that a husband or boyfriend won’t find it, either.)”
2. Fake drain – “By constructing a false drain in the floor of your garage or basement, you can place a pipe full of money where no one can see. (Just make sure your cash is stored in a waterproof container or baggie, in case an unknowing person tries to use the drain!)”
3. The yard – “Digging holes and hiding money is an age old practice. The key is to remember where you put the cash and keeping it safe from the elements. Most experts recommend using some kind of PVC piping to keep the dirt away from the stash and to discourage the ground from caving in. This will also prevent a pesky underground burrowing creature from discovering your secret.”
4. Return-air vent – For detailed directions pick up November 2008 issue of The Family Handyman magazine. The set up involves magnets and sawed-off screw heads.
5. Frozen food – A wad of twenties will find a cozy home in a box of cold grub, empty or not!
6. Fake electrical outlet – No need to rig one yourself, stores sell them pre-made.
The chapter also suggests NOT hiding cash in three obvious places like under the mattress, in the toilet bowl, and in a purse. If you have a significant amount of cash at home, add it to your home owner’s insurance policy.
Now that you’ve hidden so much cash at home, how to you remember where it is stored?
