More bad news. BusinessWeek reports that the IRS is starting to scrutinize the massive amounts of money (and therefore potential taxes) that people are making on eBay. I knew that this would happen some day, with the explosion of eBay and the ability of anyone to buy something cheap (like toast) and resell it at a profit. I think it’s a matter of time before eBay must report sales figures directly to the IRS. I’ve easily sold over $10,000 of stuff on eBay.
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After my post/rant about how Americans don’t get enough vacation and the fact that I hadn’t done anything memorable since January, I just returned from a two day “mini-vacation”, which unfortunately seems to be the most popular way for people to take a break these days, especially on those sacred three day weekends. Well, I already missed President’s Day weekend, so I skipped out of work a couple hours early on Friday and we just set off to a nice, nearby coastal town for a couple nights.
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(Note: This post is a continuation of Part 1)

First, I just want to make it clear that these are what *I* think is reasonable. Tipping is inherently a fuzzy thing – I’ve been working and travelling for business for about 2 years, and this is what I’ve picked up so far. At first I admit I was clueless on many things, and have stiffed at least 1 skycap and a few hotel maids. The first part of this post has some sites that offer tipping guidelines as well, and you’ll notice that they don’t all agree with each other either. Here are a couple more situations:
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I wasn’t sure where to file this, but I guess “Frugal Living” will do. That’s mainly because I do not equate frugal with cheap or stingy. Frugal to me means living simply and doing smart things with your money, not stealing or stiffing people working hard.

As suggested by a reader, I thought I’d go over my thoughts on tipping. First, there are a bunch of websites that offer tipping guidelines, such as Tipping.org and this one and this one.
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The wife cut my hair again tonight, it’s something we’ve been trying to avoid the now $15-20 places are charging for a guy’s haircut these days. I mean, usually they can be done with me in 5 minutes, but then there’s always another 5 minutes of close scrutiny and “fine-tuning”. Seriously, at the rate my hair grows I’ll be back in two weeks anyways. This is about the fifth time that she’s done it, and she’s definitely getting better. 80% clippers, 20% scissor action.

Of course, I am not allowed to come near her hair. I think the $20-$30 she spends on her hair is probably worth it, she only goes every other month or so anyways. On the other hand, those $12 a piece hair products – *ouch*. Ok, I’m not allowed to write about those.

Got extra hair? Try donating it here.

Back in college, since I had no car and ate cheap take-out 5 days a week, I never went to warehouse clubs. But since getting married, my wife’s family extended their “business” membership to us, and we now go to Costco once every 2-3 weeks. These stores are enormous, and always seem to be located on the edge of town. Our is about a 20 minutes drive away. At first, I thought it was pretty cool, being able to buy soap and toilet paper once a decade. But after my last run, I’ve been analyzing it further…
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I just finished replacing all of my 60-watt regular incandescent light bulbs in my place with the equivalent 11-watt fluorescent ones. I had been waiting for each to burn out one-by-one, but after finding a bunch on sale at Ikea I just decided to do them all. After crunching some numbers, it seems like that would be the best decision anyways. Here are my calculations:

10 bulbs x ~4 hours a day x 1 year = 14,600 hours of lighting.
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I just finished replacing all of my 60-watt regular incandescent light bulbs in my place with the equivalent 11-watt fluorescent ones. I had been waiting for each to burn out one-by-one, but after finding a bunch on sale at Ikea I just decided to do them all. After crunching some numbers, it seems like that would be the best decision anyways. Here are my calculations:

10 bulbs x ~4 hours a day x 1 year = 14,600 hours of lighting.
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Update: I made a True Cost of Holiday Shopping Calculator to go along with this saving idea.

There are so many temptations in our consumer-driven society. I mean, I already have an iPod Mini and I still want a iPod shuffle! And who doesn’t need another banana case? One of the ways I keep myself from spending too frivolously, other than the frugalness instilled by parents of limited means, is to keep in mind the magnificent wonder of compounding.
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I don’t really write much about frugal living ideas like making bag lunches or taking 5 minutes showers, not because I don’t think it’s important but mostly because there are a lot of other sites that do it very well (and have ideas I’d never think of). However, I also feel that some things are just worth the money, even if not essential.

One of these things for me is the daily newspaper. This is one of those things that seems like an easy thing to stop receiving and save yourself $10-$15/month. I mean, Cnn.com is a click away! But I can’t.
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Whew! All the boxes are unpacked (Well, 95%) and the cable guy came by today. I have been pretty unhappy with my telephone provider for the last year, with them double-billing me for 4 months and then disconnecting me last week on Thursday instead of the requested Saturday. On top of that I still don’t have a dial tone. I had set up an appointment for Cable TV previously for today since I had to be home when they came. He showed up on time (plus), installed my cable tv promptly (plus), and afterwards I asked him about Cable High-speed internet. It was priced about the same as my DSL, and he said he could hook me up right then and there. Sold!
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I don’t have internet. Moving really stinks. Everythings a mess, I don’t even have a dial tone let alone DSL, so not even a free AOL disc can help me.

Did you know that Kinko’s offers free internet at their stores, as long as you provide your own laptop? Good deal. However, printing costs $0.49/sheet for black & white. Not a good deal. I had to pop in for work, so at least I’m not paying for it. Gotta run!