If you don’t have Comcast yet, don’t just call them and sign up. Be sure to get one of their own new customer sign-up deals, you can get $19.99 for 6 months, $75 in rebates, free wireless router,and cable modem! That’s well over $200 in savings.

If you’re already paying regular price for Cable Broadband Internet, then keep reading. I’ve been paying $42.95 a month for Cable Broadband Internet for the last couple of months after my initial sign-up offer expired. But after reading posts by Jim and Cap, I decided it was time to save some money:

1. Call 1-800-COMCAST
2. Enter Phone Number
3. Go to Billing Dept.
4. Ask for discount. Insert competitor’s deal here. SBC is offering 1 year for $14.95/month
5. Listen to them talk about how DSL is slow, they require a contract…
[Read more…]

You always see posts with people recommending Craigslist to sell your stuff at, or find a job, or even a mate. I’m not here to debunk that, I’ve sold lots of stuff successfully locally using Craigslist. But after some recent experiences, I’ve realized it’s definitely not perfect. Mostly, it can be such a huge waste of time. Why?

As a seller: Flakey people. I had to get rid of some baseball tickets, so I put them on Craiglist. I set the price fair, and got some offers immediately. Of course, all the emailers wrote “I’ll take them”, “I definitely want them”, or “Yes please please hold them for me, I’ll pick them up tomorrow/later/soon”.
[Read more…]

I’ve mentioned Couponing before in passing. For those that aren’t familiar with it, it’s like a cult of grocery shopping that can save you tons of money. Here’s a quick example:

1) Visit this DietCoke.com link and click on ‘Print Coupon’ to print out a coupon good for 75 cents off of a 2-liter of Diet Coke with Splenda.

2) Find a store in your area that “doubles” coupons. That is, if you use a coupon for 50 cents an item, then they will give you double that, or $1, off instead. Here is a resource that provides a decent list of chains in each state that do this. Some places may require a coupon from their weekly newspaper ad, or only do it on certain days of the week.
[Read more…]

Here we are, all trying to either retire comfortably or be filthy rich. But what are we rollin’ in now? I just bought a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix. It’s got a somewhat peppy V6, and is a great highway cruiser. My wife drives a ’95 Nissan. I’m always lookin’ at other people’s cars. So what’s everyone else driving? In no particular order:

Michael rolls in a ’95 Accord & a ’95 Nissan pickup.
Hazzard has a ’97 Toyota Tacoma pickup for his ride.

Monty Loree cruises in his ’03 Cadillac CTS.
Kate and her husband propel themselves in a ’03 Honda Accord and a ’04 Ford F-150.
MM motors in a ’02 BMW 525i and a ’00 Toyota Camry.
Savvy Saver tours in a ’01 Honda Civic EX coupe.
Murray traded in his “German sports car” for a “cheaper Japanese import”.
Flexo has a ’04 Honda Civic LX grocery-getter.
B is jeepin’ in a Cherokee.

…there’s more, but Blogger really needs to add search functionality! I mean, come on, it’s owned by Google! Anyways, my apologies if I messed up your car type, it’s late and I was bored. I just spent 30 minutes looking up synonyms for driving. And not very well. Post a comment if I missed you!

Here we are, all trying to either retire comfortably or be filthy rich. But what are we rollin’ in now? I just bought a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix. It’s got a somewhat peppy V6, and is a great highway cruiser. My wife drives a ’95 Nissan. I’m always lookin’ at other people’s cars. So what’s everyone else driving? In no particular order:

Michael rolls in a ’95 Accord & a ’95 Nissan pickup.
Hazzard has a ’97 Toyota Tacoma pickup for his ride.

Monty Loree cruises in his ’03 Cadillac CTS.
Kate and her husband propel themselves in a ’03 Honda Accord and a ’04 Ford F-150.
Pfblog motors in a ’02 BMW 525i and a ’00 Toyota Camry.
Savvy Saver tours in a ’01 Honda Civic EX coupe.
Murray traded in his “German sports car” for a “cheaper Japanese import”.
Flexo has a ’04 Honda Civic LX grocery-getter.
B is jeepin’ in a Cherokee.

…there’s more, but Blogger really needs to add search functionality! I mean, come on, it’s owned by Google! Anyways, my apologies if I messed up your car type, it’s late and I was bored. I just spent 30 minutes looking up synonyms for driving. And not very well. Post a comment if I missed you!

Day 10 of this suffocating heat wave. If you are in part of the country which is mosty-toasty right now, you understand. Oh, wait. Only if you don’t have air conditioning like us do you really understand! Here is our advanced high-tech setup:

[Read more…]

Now, this may not seem significant, but it was a very hard decision for me. I love cars. I especially have been eyeing the BMW 3-series since I was about, oh… 8. Maybe earlier, I remember when it was the 2002. Most of my friends either also want one or already have one.

I’ve also been reading The Millionaire Next Door, which reveals interesting characteristics of wealthy people. What’s the most popular car driven by millionaires? A Ford. An F-150 to be more exact. The wife and I are planning to have kids in a few years, and we want them to grow up not feeling entitled to things like luxury vehicles. The nicest cars both of our families ever owned growing up was a Ford Taurus or similar. Up until we helped her dad buy a car (Ford Ranger interestingly enough) last year, he was driving a ~1980 El Camino!

Now, I know that there are plenty of families with nice cars that have kids that are perfectly good with money and happy and well-adjusted and all that. But I also would rather drive a perfectly adequate car, and take my kids traveling around the world with the difference. And I can probably have just as much fun car-wise by buying an old car and fixing it up.

Anyways, a Sunday morning epiphany. Maybe I ate too many eggs?

*until the kids are graduated from college.

Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend – my sister came into town to visit, and usually this is a time when spending increases – eating out, visiting touristy spots, buying souvenirs, etc. But instead, we bought our first little grill and are eating outside all weekend! The grill set us back about $25, but we’d spend that much even on a single fast food meal for us. We’ve got cedar plank griled salmon, beer-marinated brats, and steaks wrapped with bacon on the menu, all at prices much less than any comparable restaurant. And to be patriotic, it’s Bud Light all the way. Careful with those fireworks!

Saw this article on Fatwallet – Modest Millionaire, thought it’d be good to share. See more discussion here. I won’t judge the guy (who’s now deceased), but it’s an interesting story of how another person handled their money.

This reminds of when I was a little kid, I remember reading in the Guinness Book of World Records that the richest woman in the world ate gruel everyday and left hundreds of millions of dollars when she died. For some reason that stuck with me.

Man, I ran across this hilarious and witty blog called Waiter Rant today, and I’ve already wasted way too much time reading it. My entire lunch (brown-bagged) actually, and then some.

Check out this post called Cheap Bastards, and you can see what waiters have to deal with. It’s the other side of tipping. It reminded me of my post on tipping guidelines. Just because you have a gift certificate doesn’t mean you don’t have to tip!!! And don’t be like Dr. Zamir. Anyways, watch out, it’s addictive reading.

So I just saw a new purchase of a co-worker: a Metallic Black 2005 BMW 330Ci with Performance Package (basically the M3 minus the 333HP motor). We’re talking a $45,000 MSRP car here. And this is no GM $3k-below-invoice vehicle, this car commands MSRP. Envious? Uh, Yes. I like cars, but my 95 Nissan is all stock, and my only indulgence is my $10/yr Car and Driver subscription.

According to BMWUSA.com, I can lease this puppy for $2,500 down and $540 a month. I can swing that, right?

[Insert text about how this is a bad idea here.] I still want one.
[Read more…]