Key Bank is encouraging people to designate a SaveDay, where “you take what you would have spent.. and don’t.” The idea is to cut out optional purchases on one day of the week, and instead save it. It’s a nice idea. Here’s the commercial:

I guess they saw the news that we are spending more than we make. Note to KeyBank: Give me better interest rates than 0.25% APY, and maybe I’ll save with your bank 🙂

I’m no Casanova by any stretch of the imagination, but I have managed to navigate and survive my share of Valentine’s Days so far. Some were extravagant, some were very simple, but they were all great. Here are five tips from my own experiences, with the primary goal being to improve the experience and any money saved money merely a happy side effect.

1. Food cooked for you by your Valentine is always better than from any restaurant. When someone takes the time and effort to cook you a meal from scratch, how can it not be great? There’s no need to achieve culinary perfection here; Some simple and successful recipes I’ve tried include this pasta with vodka cream sauce, or perhaps grilling up some salmon and asparagus. You can even add a great wine and candles for less than the tip would be at a nice restaurant.

2. The same goes for Valentine’s candy. A $20 box of Russell Stover’s? Yawn. Try dipping your own chocolate-covered strawberries, it’s easy. Rice Krispie treats shaped into hearts. Cookies. If it’s chilly out, I highly recommend making your own hot chocolate. The possibilities are endless. For an added touch, make it together.

3. Movies are a horrible date activity. I love movies, but let’s see, you sit the dark and never look at each other for 2 hours. How is that romantic? Take the afternoon off and go hiking somewhere. Take a walk in the park or along the waterfront. Find a bar or restaurant with a view, and just go for a drink while watching the sunset. All these ideas will cost less than two movie tickets, and you’ll actually be able to talk to each other.
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AllFreeCalls.net is offering free international calls to select countries. All you have to do is call this Iowa phone number: (712) 858-8094, and then enter the usual 011 + Country Code + Phone Number. How do they make money? Via TechCrunch:

Iowa is apparently the only state taking advantage of an FCC kickback scheme that gives telco?s a portion of the fees generated from every inbound call to an Iowa number. So when you call the AllFreeCalls phone number, a portion of any long distance fees you are paying go to the company. The kickback is apparently authorized via the Universal Service Fund. These kickbacks are enough on average to more than cover the international outbound calling fees.

Is your water bill higher than it should be? Toilet leaks may be silent, but account for about 95% of increased water use that shows up on bills. How to tell if you have a leak in your plumbing:

1. Turn off all the water inside and outside the house, including showers, sinks, washing machines, and anything else that uses fresh water.
2. Take the lid off the water meter box. Be careful – lids can be heavy and bugs or small animals can hide inside.
3. Watch the meter. If the hand is moving, you have a leak. If the hand is not moving, note the position of the meter and check again in 10 minutes. If it moved, you have a slow leak. If it didn’t, no leak!
4. Got a leak? For how to determine if the leak is inside or outside and tips on how to fix it, continue reading here.

Not only will fixing a leak save you money on future water bills, but you may receive a partial refund on your previous water bills if you discover a leak and then fix it? Contact your water department for more information. I think this is a very fair way to help encourage water conservation. You must usually take action soon after finding out about the leak and prove that they were fixed.
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We just cleaned up at the After-Christmas sale at a local drugstore chain (Longs Drugs). They had everything marked down for 10 cents each! We stocked up on enough tissue paper, holiday gift bags, and rolls of wrapping paper to last us for years for only $5. All the holiday candy was marked down really low too, but we skipped that as we already gained enough weight the last few weeks. And to think, we only went there to buy some last-minute garlic salt for a potluck dish we were making.

I’ve seen 75% off at other drugstores and Wal-marts, so it’s worth a look if you’re there.

J.D. of GetRichSlowly was looking for some guest authors during his break, so I submitted a short piece on How To Prevent Lifestyle Inflation, or the vicious cycle of Earn More, Spend More. We are successfully living on one income right now, but doing that in the future may be tough, primarily due to housing costs where we want to live.

Well, Friday was a interesting day. An accident on the freeway almost keeps us from making it to the airport on time, and then when we do get there we are almost bumped off our flight for $600.

Did you know that airlines regularly overbook their flights on purpose? It’s all a numbers game, and perfectly legal. They know that statistically a certain percentage of people will not show up on time. The result is that every so often, everyone will show up on time and they will have to to bump passengers onto later flights. By law, they must compensate you if they do this, and they also ask for volunteers before forcing anyone to be bumped. You usually get about $200-$400 credit or a free flight voucher, in addition to a confirmed seat on a later flight. They don’t mind; Extra passengers are really cheap for them, as they simply take up seats that would be empty otherwise.

The key is to getting bumped is to get on their “bump list” first:
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I’ve regifted. I’ve been regifted. Now there’s Regiftable.com, complete with a helpful Regifting 101 guide.

Is the gift regiftable? Never regift handmade or one-of-a-kind items. Signed books and monogrammed items are off-limits. Do you have to be told not to regift free promotional items? Some gifts that are good candidates for regifting include good (unopened!) bottles of wine, new household items and inexpensive jewelry.

How is the condition? Only new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don?t give items that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you have to dust it off, it is not regiftable.

There is even a repository of some awful regifting stories. They should start a photo gallery of examples of hideous un-regiftable items. I’m trying to find this tacky jumbo-sized Bass Pro Shops cup that a friend must have gotten free with their large drink!