Smart DIY Home Security Startups: Canary and Piper

Posted on August 26, 2013 // 8 Comments

I’ve written about my Simplisafe DIY security system which I still use and like, but Canary and Piper are two new startups that are trying to disrupt the industry even further. Similar to what Nest did to thermostats, they use a combination of sleek software, internet access, and compact sensors to create a sleek solution to an old problem.

Each “home security in a box” includes an HD camera, motion sensor, microphone, thermometer, siren, and Piper even adds home automation abilities (say, to turn your lights on or off remotely). Both cost around $200 and won’t require installation or monthly fees. Both will offer companion smartphone apps. Both are asking for funding (including pre-orders) on Indiegogo, with Canary already at over a million dollars and ending in less than 24 hours. I’ll probably wait until these hit the market first, as it’s not exactly clear how they replace a conventional call center. I’m not sure if just sending me text alerts is enough.

Below are the pitch videos for each product:

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Filed Under: Frugal Living //

Toys R Us, Babies R Us Price Match Policy Update

Posted on August 26, 2013 // 2 Comments

Toys R Us and Babies R Us recently improved its in-store Price Match Guarantee policy to include online retailer prices from select merchants (press release). Previously, it only matched price from other physical store. The eligible retailers include Walmart.com, Target.com, BestBuy.com, Sears.com, Kmart.com, buybuyBaby.com, Meijer.com, FredMeyer.com, diapers.com, BabyDepot.com and Amazon.com (excludes Amazon Marketplace items).

Customers can also receive a refund if they find an eligible lower price within a week of the purchase. If you have a smartphone, you can just pull up the website on your phone for price verification. Other exclusions apply, including 1-day sales and Black Friday promotions. Still, simply being able to price-match Amazon is a significant improvement. Here is the press release, plus full details at Toysrus.com/PriceMatch.

Prices are matched after deducting any Toys“R”Us coupons and all other offers from the price. In addition, shipping charges are calculated and factored into the cost of a competitor’s online price before a price match is completed.

I don’t usually shop at these places other than to use up gift cards and store credit, but due to their handy gift registries I do have a lot of those. This enhanced policy would have come in handy many times in the past year! See my baby registry comparison, and our baby registry experience.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

RedBox Instant by Verizon Free Trial Sign-Up

Posted on August 15, 2013 // 5 Comments

(Updated: Added details about newly-available Roku app.)

Redbox, famous for their $1 DVD rental kiosks ($1.20 now), recently launched a movie streaming service called RedBox Instant by Verizon. We like their kiosks and the fact that you can browse DVDs first and reserve them online before going to pick them up. There is currently a 1-month free trial that includes 4 free DVD rentals, so we paused our Netflix subscription (easy to pause, skip a month or more, and reactivate later) and signed up to try it out.

Redbox Movie Streaming Review

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Cost of Convenience: Homemade vs. Frozen Pizza

Posted on August 8, 2013 // 40 Comments

Inspired by both the book Cooked and my Live Below the Line experiment, I’m doing a series of posts investigating how much extra trouble it is to cook at home. How much time do you really save? How much more does it cost? Plus all the intangibles like taste, knowing what’s in your food, the lack of various food additives, and the feeling of self-sufficiency. I’ll try not to be too preachy, as I’ve eaten my share of prepared food and take-out. In fact, don’t be surprised if the food-in-a-box wins sometimes.

So what’s a good place to start? Pizza! It’s quite easy to make your own pizza, but yet the frozen food aisle is packed with shrink-wrapped dough discs. It’s time for a showdown.

Making Your Own Pizza

Pizza dough only has a few ingredients, most of which are probably already in your pantry. Here’s one sample recipe that we worked off originally, but have adapted over time to our preferences. As for toppings, let’s start with a simple mozzarella and basil pizza with tomato sauce. Here’s a table of the ingredients and their cost for two medium pizzas. Unlike my poverty challenge, in real life I can buy things in bulk like a Costco jug of olive oil.

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Filed Under: Frugal Living //

Cooked: A Book About Why You Should… Cook

Posted on July 28, 2013 // 8 Comments

Consider the following questions that you may have asked yourself recently:

  • What can you do to consume fewer calories while eating healthier food?
  • How do you get your family to spend more time together, talk, and connect?
  • How do you get the public to care more about what they are eating, which in turns forces the food corporations to improve their standards?
  • What can modern super-specialized citizens do to feel more in touch with nature and self-sufficient?
  • How can you save some money?

I’m sure the title has given it away by now, but the answer is to cook! Specifically, cook at home for yourself and your family, as close to from scratch as possible. At least, that’s the lesson from the book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan. A previous post expanded on the health benefits of cooking at home, and the book examines cooking as broken down into the four elements: Fire (BBQ), Water (Braises), Air (Bread), and Earth (Brewing).

Indeed, why is it that we seem more obsessed by food than ever (Food Network, Cooking Channel, Yelp, Food Bloggers Everywhere) at the exact same time that fewer and fewer people actually know how to cook? The food industry is betting that the current generation of kids will have hardly any idea of how to cook even basic dishes, as it means even more $$$ for them! A quote from consumer researcher Harry Balzer:

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Frugal Living, Simple Living //

Auto Insurance Quote Comparison Results: State Farm vs. GEICO vs. Allstate vs. Progressive vs. Liberty Mutual

Posted on July 25, 2013 // 67 Comments

Inspired by reader experiences, I set aside an hour today to obtain auto insurance quotes from the major providers in my area. Insurance companies provide different quotes for “new customers” and “renewals”. Guess which one is usually lower? Also, many insurers choose to focus on specific types of customers such young, high-risk, or low-risk. Finally, I’ve also moved around a lot so I’ve noticed that my quotes change significantly based on where I live. The bottom line is that insurance prices vary for a lot of different reasons, and the only way to know which one is cheapest for you is to compare quotes directly.

It will help to gather the following information first:

  • Personal information. Full name, birthdate, occupation, education level, accident history. None required Social Security Number, but others might.
  • Car information. Many pull this from DMV records automatically. Year, model, date of purchase, own/lease/finance, and security system details.
  • Driving patterns. Is the car primarily used for work/commute/pleasure? How many miles driver per year?
  • Insurance details. Have your current bill handy to know your specific coverages, limits, and deductibles.

The Results!

The totals shown are 6-month premiums for two cars and include liability, personal injury, collision, and comprehensive coverage. Exact same limits and deductibles for all insurers.

  • State Farm (existing) – $665 per 6-month period. This includes various discounts like accident-free, multiple-cars, etc.
  • GEICO – $479. The cheapest quote by far, beating State Farm by $186 per 6 months, or $372 a year. This follows anecdotal evidence that GEICO is pricing their insurance very aggressively for new customers.
  • Allstate – $693. Slightly more expensive than State Farm. I noticed that they have a lot of optional “bells and whistles” features like accident forgiveness. They also offer a discount for electronic bills and auto-pay from bank account. The price shown includes these discounts.
  • Progressive – $849. Way higher than State Farm. Their claim to also provide quotes from other car insurance companies was also very disappointing. They couldn’t provide any other quotes at all. After changing my existing insurer, they said State Farm’s rate would be between $696 – $5,922. Not helpful.
  • Liberty Mutual – $568. Cheaper than State Farm by $194 a year. Not bad but higher than GEICO for me.
  • USAA – ???. I tried as I’ve heard good things about USAA, but I do not have the proper military affiliation to be eligible for their car insurance.

$372 a year is pretty significant. I’m definitely intrigued by this cheap GEICO quote, but I have to do some more research as I also have homeowner’s and umbrella insurance from State Farm and I’m not sure how the total package price would differ.

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Insurance //

Optimize Your Cell Phone Plan: The Wireless Efficient Frontier

Posted on July 17, 2013 // 30 Comments

The other day while I was trying to help someone find a cheaper cell phone plan, I realized two things:

  1. There are way too many different options these days. Most are MVNOs that buy bulk minutes and data from the major providers, and many of those are simply clones of each other.
  2. Trying to find the best cell phone plan is similar to the efficient frontier concept in investing. There, you try to achieve the highest return for a given amount of risk, or you try to minimize the risk you have to take in order to get a given return. Anything else is sub-optimal; here’s a quick chart illustration.

In the case of cell phone plans, you’re either trying to maximize features (coverage, phone selection, minutes, texts, data allowance) for a given budget, or more often you’re trying to minimize the cost for the features that you “need”/want.

I’ve mentioned several good deals from various providers, covering everything from a $2.50 a month basic plan to simply saving $10 a month on your “name brand” major provider plan via corporate or student discounts. Below, I’ve placed them all on a single chart of cost vs. features. This is a work-in-progress, but hopefully this will help folks find better alternatives and save some serious money over time.

The Details

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Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Cooked: The Health Argument For Cooking At Home

Posted on July 10, 2013 // 13 Comments

I’m roughly halfway through Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan. Although the book covers a variety of topics ranging from chemistry to religion to anthropology, the overarching theme is examining the practice of cooking meals for yourself (and your family).

Cooking food has become one of our most outsourced tasks. Everyone is busy. But is letting huge for-profit corporations prepare what we eat really worth the time savings if it costs us our health? Consider what studies have found:

  • When we cook meals ourselves, we eat less than when we outsource to frozen meals or restaurants.
  • Obesity rates are inversely correlated with the amount of time spent on food preparation.
  • Regular cooking is correlated with superior health and longevity.
  • Poor women who routinely cooked tended to have a more healthy diet than richer women who did not.

In the book, food industry expert Harry Balzer (who knows exactly how often we actually eat out, not just how much we admit to… which is a lot!) put forth some insightful diet advice:

Cook it yourself. Eat anything you want – just as long as you’re willing to cook it yourself.

Essentially, eating unhealthily these days is mostly the byproduct of eating out, including meals-in-a-box and frozen dinners.

There are many other potential benefits of cooking for ourselves, stay tuned for a full review. Together, I’m hoping they’ll convince me to start cooking regularly again!

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Frugal Living, Simple Living //

Mint.com Budgeting Tips & Tricks

Posted on June 27, 2013 // 12 Comments

While I don’t believe everyone necessarily needs a tracked-down-to-the-dollar budget, I do think a major problem is that many people simply don’t know where their money goes. That makes it quite hard to know if your spending habits match up with your priorities. I’ve been using Mint.com (free, ad-supported) to track our household spending for a while. (I used to be a Yodlee guy, but they’ve been left behind with slow and clunky updates.) For those starting out, here are some practical tips that may be useful.

Using Credit and Debit Cards
The primary advantage of using a service like Mint.com is that if you pay for things with a linked credit or debit card, then important stuff like the date, merchant, and amount are immediately recorded so you don’t have to do it manually. No receipts, no typing, no writing. That’s a lot of time and mental energy saved.

Auto-categorization Training
After Mint imports your transaction information, it will provide its best guess as to the proper spending category. McDonald’s will be “Fast Food”, for example, but it also thought my water company was a clothing store. You can correct the category, and also create a rule that always changes the category to what you prefer. For example, I always set Sam’s Club and Costco as “Groceries” because that’s mostly what I buy there.

minty1

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Filed Under: Budgeting, Frugal Living //

The Perfect Thing: What Is Your Little Obsession?

Posted on June 20, 2013 // 9 Comments

I’ve been thinking about another excerpt from investor Charlie Munger’s biography about his father Al Munger:

Though he could not be described as a lavish spender, Al Munger savored just the perfect thing, whatever it was he needed. Al had learned the joy of artful living from his mother. She shopped for the very best coffee beans, then took great pleasure each morning in grinding them for fresh coffee. It was a Tao philosophy, Midwestern style. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tse urged seekers to regard the small as important and to make much of the little. “The little obsessions,” Charlie called them.

This is an appealing idea. Only a select few can afford a Ferrari or Bentley, but most people reading this can afford a great cup of coffee. Instead of focusing your energy on the crazy-stupid-expensive “bests” like an Hermes leather handbag or Patek Philippe watch, why not enjoy the best cheesecake in the city?

Personally, I’m not sure I connect with this philosophy. I like good coffee, but I just buy whatever is cheap and nearby on the days that I need it. I like craft beer, but will drink Bud Light happily. Maybe I have to work on this artful living thing. 🙂

On the other hand, I did buy what may be the world’s best nail clipper for under $16. Also, my wife makes what I truly think is the world’s best roast chicken based on a really simple recipe by famous chef Thomas Keller. Follow the directions carefully, and it will turn out amazing. Bake some root vegetables alongside it, and you have a perfect meal for under $10.

Do you have an example of something that you enjoy the best of, but it still costs say under $25?

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Simple Living //

Don’t Squander The Power of Adaptation

Posted on May 27, 2013 // 15 Comments

Over the weekend I read all 73 posts of Arctic Dream, a blog written by the family who took a DIY sabbatical from their comfortable American life and spent a year living on a small Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle with only 180 residents. Besides quaint stories of smoking fish, there were some life lessons:

And that’s probably our biggest lesson from this year: people adapt very fast — much faster than they think. The new normal sets in and new routines established quickly.

They had no car. No cell phone. No TV. The village had no cafe, no Wal-mart/Target, not even fresh beef. But they were very happy. From the post Learning To Live With Less:

Humans have an amazing skill: the ability to adapt to a new environment without affecting our mental well being. Our ancestors honed this skill for millions of years before we emerged and became the most adaptable species ever to roam the earth. But too often, we forget that we have this skill, this genetic gift, and we squander it and make decisions in life as if we’d fall apart under adversity. And many of us sacrifice gravely in order to “maintain standard of living.”

My feeling is that humans can adapt very quickly, but they usually only find this out if they are forced to. Studies have found that those with permanent disabilities like being confined to a wheelchair are often quite happy. Conjoined twins tend to be happy the way they are. Adaptation also works both ways. People who earn more than $60,000 don’t get any happier.

However, if we are given the option, usually we’ll stay with the status quo. But think of how much more flexible your life would be if you were more confident of your ability to adapt. You could live in a smaller house, live in a new state, live in a new country! You could drive a used car, drive one less car, or have no car at all. It’d feel weird at first, but you’d adapt and still be happy. By spending less, you could build some F-you money. Instead of constantly fretting about losing the steady paycheck of your current so-so job, you can spend your time reaching for that next, better job.

I need to remind myself not to be afraid of positive change. I can adapt.

Filed Under: Career, Frugal Living //

Best Sunscreens in 2013 – Consumer Reports

Posted on May 23, 2013 // 36 Comments

The problem with choosing between sunscreens is that they all claim to do everything. The July 2013 issue of Consumer Reports magazine again tested a variety of sunscreens against their claims. For example, one important thing that CR tested for was protection against both UVA and UVB rays. UVB causes sunburn, but UVA damages and ages skin on a deeper level. Some major brands are notably weaker in protecting the UVA part of the spectrum. New labeling and test requirements from the Food and Drug Administration have also added specific requirements before a sunscreen can claim “broad-spectrum protection” from UVA/UVB. Other factors like water-resistance were also tested, as there really is no such thing as “water proof” or “sweat proof”.

Consumer Reports used to say that anything above SPF 30 doesn’t get you much extra protection, but this year’s test results suggest that going up to SPF 40 can actually help. Above SPF 40, it will likely wear off before it makes any difference. Instead, reapply every 2 hours and after swimming or sweating.

2013 Consumer Reports Best Buys
Equate (Walmart) Ultra Protection Lotion (SPF 50, $0.47 per ounce)

2012 Consumer Reports Best Buys
No-Ad Lotion (SPF 45, $0.59 per ounce)
Walgreens Continuous Spray Sport (SPF 50, $1.30 per ounce)

2011 Consumer Reports Best Buys
The Target Up & Up spray (SPF 30, $1.16 per ounce)

The Consumer Reports test results haven’t always been consistent over the last few years. CR has noted that their testing on UVA/UVB effectiveness has varied from year-to-year with the exact same product, even though the manufacturers claim the formula hasn’t changed. A brand that had one of the highest tested SPF in 2012, tested last in 2013. In addition, I noted last year that the Target spray which was a 2011 Best Buy wasn’t even tested in the 2012 issue. It was included again in 2013, again taking the top score rated “Recommended” although it didn’t win the Best Buy rating due the higher per-ounce cost.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Frugal Living //
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