Summer’s winding down, which means that certain states (though not mine) are having sales tax holidays for the back-to-school crowd. If you’re in need of stuff like clothes, school supplies, computers, and electronics, TaxAdmin.org has a nice table of all the holiday dates listed by state for 2007. A quick summary of eligible items and links to the official state websites are also included.

The last several weeks have been very hectic, and we just managed to visit our “new” Costco after moving. It may be a horror for some to hear, but sometimes a corporate chain can really give you a nice feeling of familiarity. While pushing the cart through the wide aisles, I noticed that I missed our monthly Costco run. In particular, we seem to have developed a routine for the food that we buy. Lest you think I am some sort of food snob that actually has the energy to cook a full meal every night, here are some products that we get that provide us with quick and easy meals for weeks. Don’t expect any gourmet tips here!

Today: Eat Lunch at Costco Food Court. My wife and I usually split a Hot Dog & Coke and a Chicken Bake. The hot dog comes with sauerkraut, which is key. I forget the total now, but I’m pretty sure it’s less than $5. You can buy the hot dogs and chicken bakes in the freezer section, but for health reasons we restrict our intake of these delicacies. If you still aren’t satisfied, you can always graze on the samples that they are giving out in the aisles.

Next Week: Buy Some Hot Dishes To Go. We always leave with a rotisserie chicken and one of the spinach salads. Much has been written about the many things you can do with that chicken, from quesadillas and sesame noodles to chicken salad and quiche.

First 2 meals – Chicken breast with spinach salad
Next 2 meals – Shredded chicken inside quesadillas with cheese and salsa
Last 2 meals – Take the bones and remaining meat on the bone, and make homemade stock for chicken and rice congee.

Long Term Staples: Minimal prep, on the table in 15 minutes or less

• Krusteaz Pancake Mix – Add water, stir, and spoon onto the griddle! Stir in chocolate chips, bananas, or berries if you got ’em.
• Individually Frozen Chicken Tenders – Lean protein, no preservatives, just chicken and salt. Although more expensive than the breasts, the tenders are more easy to portion, and cook faster without any extra work. Just grill/broil/saute and top with something: cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, cheese, gravy.
• Individually Frozen Salmon – Similar to chicken, just grill and add lemon juice.
• Paradise Valley Creamy Mash Potatoes – Instant mashed potatoes, but the only ingredients are potatoes, butter, and salt. Again, no additives or preservatives. Just add boiling water and butter, and you’ve got some carbs!
• 20 lb sack of rice – More tasty carbs via my trusty and easy-to-clean Zojirushi rice cooker.
• Dried pasta – Usually they have some sort of variety pack of shapes.
• Kirkland Four Cheese Ravioli – These are well-stuffed and all you have to do is boil water. Goes great with just olive oil or butter and some capers, or add some jarred sauce.
• Kirkland Lasagna, as well as other similar pre-cooked dishes – Just heat and serve.
• Frozen Pizza – Although we usually prefer the Trader Joe’s frozen pizza, Costco has some decent options as well.
• Frozen or Fresh Vegetables – They often have pre-cut carrots, blue lake beans, broccoli, and spinach in addition to their bagged frozen stuff. Just steam or stir-fry with some garlic.

Mix and match as needed, and you’ve got 20 different meals without breaking a sweat! For slightly fancier ideas, check out the recipes in the official Costco Cookbook.

Fellow blogger Mapgirl recently shared a list of what she does to live frugally. What I liked about it was that the list was done in a very positive light. Too often when you read about living frugally it feels like you are depriving yourself of something… I don’t buy this, I don’t buy that. I find it easier to save when I focus on the benefits of the action, in addition to saving money.

Everyone has their own way of living below their means (I absolutely refuse to give up my TiVo), but here’s a sample of things I do which don’t constantly remind me that I’m being frugal:

Buy dependable, quality, used cars. My wife and I both drive cars which were acquired when they where 3-5 years old, after most of the deprecation had kicked in, but while there was plenty of life left in them. Both have plenty of horsepower, run reliably and have never broken down, and have all the common features like keyless entry, air conditioning, and power everything. Accordingly, our cars depreciate in value by $1,000 a year or less, which keeps our total cost of ownership very low. Since the values are only about $3,000-$6,000, our insurance payments are only about $100 a month for both.

Take advantage of public parks and amenities. You’re already paying for them through your tax dollars, so why not also try to take advantage of all the public recreation opportunities available to us. For example, you could take a hike in a nearby trail, pack a bag lunch and take a picnic by a nearby lake/river/ocean, play some tennis at the park courts, or jog on the local high school track. Drive to the beach! Recently, we have also discovered the local public pool. I stopped looking for a local gym when I found that I could get a great workout by swimming laps for 30 minutes a day.

Along that same vein, I remain a huge fan of the public library and all it’s online perks.

Making cooking at home fun. Everyone knows that cooking at home is cheaper than eating out. But you can actually eat better tasting, customized food too if you’re willing to try. I buy fancy honey wheat walnut bread and make my own extra-thick peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – still less than $1 each. (I secretly like smoked turkey and peanut butter sandwiches as well.) Look up the recipe to real macaroni and cheese (not from a box!) and make it using all the cheddar you like…. so good. Buy some random veggies and try to make your own tempura. Craft a quick burger with whatever funky toppings you want – I like mine with slightly burnt onions and gobs of hot, melted blue cheese.

My next step is to get up the courage to invite my friends over to eat my cooking instead of meeting at a restaurant, I’m always afraid it’ll taste horrible but they’ll be too nice to tell me…

I was buying some snacks from a local convenience store today, and lo and behold, a tip jar! You want me to tip you for… what, taking my money and giving me change exceptionally well? Coincidentally, I just ran across this Christian Science Monitor article titled What’s up with all those tip jars? which ranted about the same thing:

I have yet to be shamed (if this is the right word) into casting my coin into the tip jar fountain. Perhaps it is the scientist in me, but I try to reason the situation out like this: I call in my order to the Chinese restaurant. I drive there to pick it up. I pay the menu price. Why on earth would I pay more than they are asking for their product? Doing so strikes me as positively un-American.

I used to be really annoyed by all these tip jars, silently making be feel bad for not tipping. You can’t even boycott places with tip jars anymore, because you’d die of hunger! But then I had a revelation. Unlike the quote above, I think it’s completely American! It’s simple capitalism – they have nothing to lose by putting it out there. However, customers have the same choice not to tip someone who is already being paid a full salary. Waitpeople are paid a lower wage because they are expected to make up their income on tips. Cashiers and food preparers are not. Still, I do put money in the tip jar on occasion. The same article above touches on why at the end:

As a teacher it had never occurred to me to put one of these jars on my desk. And so I decided to conduct an experiment. The next day, when I entered the classroom, I casually pulled a small jelly jar from my bag and placed it on my desk. On the front was a neat label, “Tips.” I didn’t do anything else to draw my students’ attention to it and ignored the low mumble that the act incited.

At the end of the lecture, as the students filed out, I’ll be darned if a few of them didn’t throw their loose change into the jar. I gave it all back, of course, but their quiet gestures did lend me a small thrill, a sense that my teaching efforts were worth more than my salary alone.

Well, I still don’t put money in tip jars, but I have put one of these jars in my son’s room. Sometimes, when he does something positive or helpful without being told, I throw a couple of quarters in. He appreciates this and looks for opportunities to lend a hand wherever he can. I think that as long as we can keep this under control, I will not have created unreasonable expectations. But mum’s the word.

To me, a tip jar is a voluntary thank you for something perhaps over and beyond what is expected. I usually only tip at pick-up or take-out restaurants where I am a regular. They may know how I like my favorite dish, always give me extra fries with my order, or simply always making me feel welcome. (Always being happy when you work in any customer service field is a great feat in itself.) But if you just fulfill your minimum job duties? I feel zero shame in not tipping.

I know you have an opinion on this. Share it below!

I have received several messages and comments this morning about how SunRocket has quietly shut down, with them no longer taking new customers or answering their phones (outside sources: NY Times and DSLReports), as I am have previously been a happy customer and even posted a review. I might have picked up on this earlier but my Gizmo VoIP box is on a moving truck somewhere right now so I have no idea if it still works. There appears to still be no mention on the main website, which makes it seem like they really don’t care anymore about customer service.

My current status: Still don’t have Gizmo so I can’t say about service. I set my Sunrocket number to forward to my cell phone and it works fine. Caller ID even transfers through. I can still check voicemail over the phone, but not online.

The NY Times article suggest that accounts will be taken over by another company, but other competitors are already trying to lure us with offers to port our numbers for free. If you’re a new customer, you may want to hurry up and dispute the charge with your credit card company before it’s too late. Refunds may or may not happen (It’s not looking good.) Here are some alternatives to waiting that come to mind:

» ViaTalk – 6 month now only 3 months contract buyout (print out your Sunrocket information), $199 for two phone lines for one year. You must also pay $10 for shipping and $30 for initial activation. However, I don’t know about their situation either and what’s to stop them from going belly-up as well? Shaky financials is probably the case for all the VoIP-only companies right now.

» Vonage – The embattled VoIP company is offering former Sunrocket customers two months free if the sign up for the Unlimited plan. More stable, but I wouldn’t say Vonage is a solid company right now given all it’s legal troubles from Verizon on top of plain old financial troubles.

» Skype: SkypeIn + SkypeOut + Skype Phone System – SkypeOut (unlimited calling out to US and Canada) is $30/year, SkypeIn (phone number + voicemail) is $60/year, and a phone system cost varies from $5 (just add headset to PC) to ~$200 (cordless phone w/o PC).

I’ve been using Skype more recently via headset and it’s not too bad, but I still like have a “real” phone. I need to do more research on the newer Skype phones that don’t need PCs to work or those boxes that replicate a phone jack – any experiences or recommendations? Update: I am looking at phone jack replicator for $60 that lets me use my traditional cordless phones.

After living with a basement for the last two years, it seems that we have really accumulated way too much stuff. Deuce Bigalow on DVD, REM on CD, Christmas decorations, three different rakes, two different types of fluorescent light bulbs, two right ski boots (the left ones were stolen)… packing is going to be painful.

Since we’re going to be wandering nomads for a few weeks, we are stripping ourselves down to:

– safe shelter with bed and hot shower
– a laptop with a wireless network card
– a week’s worth of clothes
– critical documents like passports
– wallet with credit cards and ID

It feels nice to celebrate our independence from clutter. You know, before I give in and buy the 2nd generation iPhone 😉 Happy 4th of July!

There are many reasons why people buy organics vegetables, and one of them is to avoid ingesting pesticides. While the benefits are not entirely proven, it is clear that buying organic can be pretty pricey – Whole Foods grocery is even dubbed “Whole Paycheck” for this reason. As found in Money magazine, the Environmental Working Group has a Shopper’s Guide that helps identify the fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides if you are faced with balancing the cost and benefits of buying organic. The top and bottom 12 are listed on the right.

An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead… soft-skinned fruits and veggies, like peaches, apples and bell peppers, retain the most amount of pesticides… Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled).

We ended up getting a huge Macy’s gift card for our wedding three years ago, and were dismayed when we realized that after 2 years it had died with about $100 still on it. The problem was that for a long time the closest Macy’s was an hour’s drive away, and every time we went we wanted to spend it all, but just couldn’t bring ourselves to buy junk we really didn’t need. The card had been sitting in my desk gathering dust until I remembered that gift cards and certificates aren’t allowed to expire in California. So I sent the card to my friend in San Francisco, they brought it into Macy’s, and after a quick phone call by the clerk a brand new gift card was re-issued. It was resurrected! I let her use it. 🙂

I’m not sure if this will work everywhere, but my friend and I mused that this could potentially be a business idea – “Send us our expired gift cards and we will save them… for a fee.”

Here’s are some links to states that I found with laws that restrict the expiration of gift cards, either with a minimum lifetime of X years or by banning expiration entirely – California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Washington. Let me know if I missed any.

Even though we’re still trying to avoid “lifestyle inflation”, we find that there are certain things that once you achieve, they are very, very hard to give up. Here’s just a few:

Living in a house, as opposed to an apartment
We started renting a single-family house two years ago, as opposed to a duplex or apartment complex. No more worrying about loud parties, television speakers, stomping feet, or people stealing my mail. No longer do I curse the invention of 5.1 surround sound and cheap speaker systems with subwoofers. I really don’t want to live in a condo again, but maybe I just need to live in nicer buildings than I used to…

Now I have to worry about not getting used to having too much square footage. I don’t think that’ll be a problem where we’re living, though.

Having your own washer and dryer
After having our own washer and dryer in the house, I don’t think I have ever go back to lugging 30 pounds of dirty laundry to the laundromat every few weeks. But somehow I did it for 7 years with no real ill effect. Of course, I did have to buy 30 pairs of boxers for those busy times when I couldn’t find time to make the trip.

Cellular phones
A few months ago I was actually trying to cancel my wireless service completely and have one less monthly bill, but I couldn’t pull the trigger. It’s actually pathetic how I use cell phones as a crutch for everything. Instead of actually making solid plans with people, everyone just wings it – “I’ll call you.” Instead of getting an address and using a map, you just call your friend once you get somewhere in the vicinity. I called a free 411 service about ten times this month alone when trying to find restaurant hours or locations. Good thing I found the Sprint SERO plan!

TiVo or other Digital VCR
I could probably live without cable TV, but if I have cable TV, I would need TiVo. I can’t really explain it. Just the idea of planning around commercial breaks or remembering to tape something every week seems completely alien to me now.

Is there an appliance, service, or other seemingly small thing that you now can’t live without?