Category — Cost Cutting

So I have this empty space in front of the kitchen sink with 2 holes where a paper towel hanger used to be. It was too tacky to stay there. I usually cover it up with a nice calendar, sometimes a free one from my car repair shop or local Chinese restaurant. This year they had none to give away, probably due to the economy. So I tried using a printing a free one from My Free Calendar Maker. I think the towel hanger was less cheesy. I broke down and went online to buy a 2009 wall calendar with some nice photos. I went to Barnes and Noble and saw that most of their 2009 calendars were 50% off. Since I have a B&N Membership, I got an additional 10% discount. With my Upromise account, I also received a 3% credit towards my student loan. Since I used my Discover credit card, I got 10% cash back on the price of the item. Sure the calendar only cost $6.49, but you see how I maximized my savings and rewards. Remember, if you don’t have a student loan or don’t know any one who is going to get a student loan, then maybe you can help me out by signing up and donating any rewards to pay off my loan. It’s secure and anonymous, so I don’t see what you’ve been purchasing. I can send you an invitation ASAP.

Speaking of Upromise, I also filled up the tank at ExxonMobil, so I get Upromise credits and Discover cash back. Plus, the profit goes to a US company instead of Lukoil (Russia) or Citgo (Venezuala). I signed up for a Netflix trial. I get $12 Upromise credit to my student loan with my subscription, if I choose to keep it. If I rent only 1 DVD per week, it will be better than the 2 On Demand movies I rent every month and pummels any premium cable channel deal.

I also recharged my 1-HR quick charge 4AA Duracell rechargeable batteries. I remember paying around $25 for the batteries and charger at Eckerd. After more than 10 charges, they have paid for themselves at least 3x compared to the purchase price of a 40-pack of Duracell alkaline batteries.

As for food, I did my usual splurge of Indian food on Saturday, but I used a Buy One Get One Free coupon at Burger King and stretched that to 2 meals. The Indian food lasted me 3 meals for an average of about $15 per meal. Yeah, yeah, I did say splurge didn’t I? I eat 4 Lean Cuisine frozen meals at $1.24 each per day during the work week, so I have cut down drastically. I used to eat out every single meal, with dinners costing $30 per meal on average, so this is a huge change for me.

Have you seen the commercials for the noise-canceling around-the-ear headphones from Bose? They pretty much shut out all the environmental noise, so it is great for listening to music while on the train, plane, or in the car. The QuietComfort 2 headphones cost around $299 from the Bose website. Well, how would you like to make your own around-the-ear noise-canceling headphones for about $30 and 4 minutes of work?

Kip Kay from the Science Channel’s TV show, Brink, shows viewers how to make fun things out of cheap items. He uses a typical headphone and removes the headset portion, so all that is left is the speakers with ear pads. He then uses the Leightning LOF Earmuff. It is rated to block up to 23dB, so hunters and target shooters use them. They can be found online for about $20. Really, it’s just snap off a couple of things and insert the earphone pieces and snap back on. Voila. He has video and instructions. Let me know how they work out for you.

Also, in the latest episode, there’s a story of the MIT students that hacked the Boston transit system’s RFID fare card as a class project. With a card reader/writer purchased of eBay, they were able to refill their RFID fare card for free. When they submitted the findings to the manufacturer of the fare system for them to address the security hole, the FBI was called in to investigate the students.

Cheating the fare has been around for a long time. I remember guys selling “slugs” , which are fake NYC subway tokens that weighed and measured the same as real tokens, back in the day. Now, I’m not suggesting you go out an try to cheat the system. I’m just telling you about security breaches that exist, especially since this was an electronic form of breach. My identity was stolen a few years ago, so I will be sharing my experience with that whole ordeal, and how to prevent it, in future posts.

Bartering. Money’s tight, I need work done, but all I can offer are piano lessons. Sound familiar? Deals like this are done daily on Craigslist and other websites. Here’s an old article from the NY Times about batering and Craigslist. I have done website work in exchange for business advice, advertising, and referrals through Craigslist. I have even taken the contents out of a vacated apartment in exchange for keeping any proceeds from the sale of those contents. I did OK money-wise, so I think it was worth the time and labor. Sometimes you’ll see listings that are scams or imply some sexual services (wink, wink), so be careful. Take a look at the current bartering deals in your area.

Feel free to comment or share some of your bartering deals.

P.S. – After reading that NY Times article, I ended up joining the Soap of the Month Club organic soap from Dirt Bag Soap. They do feel and smell all natural.

In this economy, we all probably know someone who is unemployed. Since I work on Wall Street, I know a lot of people out of work. In fact, we laid off 40% of our staff, so it really hits close to home. Well, my sister is also unemployed and she has been on a few interviews, but the rest of her days are filled with playing the Wii or watching DVDs from Netflix. Why not go out and have some cheap fun in the city while you have plenty of free time?

There are lots of free activities, especially in New York City. I got her tickets to the David Letterman taping and Martha Stewart taping. She was upgraded to the front row at both tapings and received free goodie bags at the Martha Stewart show. I got tickets to the Antiques Roadshow tour last year in Baltimore. You can fill in your application for the random drawing here. While walking around NBC studios, they give out tickets to fill their studio audiences for lesser known or new shows. She still has her college student ID, so she can get into museums for free, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hey, you can always grab a NYC hot dog and just people watch.

There are some events that actually pay to to participate, like focus groups, surveys/taste tests, and being an extra in a film or TV show. You can find these listings on Craigslist, usually under the ‘etc.‘ subcategory of jobs. Some are medical tests, so you might want to think twice about those, but I’ve done a few of them in college and I turned out fine…I think.

It’s a good idea to update your skillset in between interviews and sending out resumes, but you also need to blow off some steam and do something fun, especially for free. What do or did you do for free fun while unemployed?

To pay off my debt faster, I need to either increase my income or reduce my expenses. Today, I will discuss reducing my expenses. It’s the fastest and easiest (well, we’ll see how easy) way to increase my payments to slay the credit card beast. I have cancelled my Platinum cable package. I don’t know the exact savings yet because of all the little fees, surcharges, and taxes that Comcast charges. I’ll post my exact savings when I receive my next invoice, but I estimate it to be around $50. I will replace the premium channels with more online content from Hulu, Fancast, and borrowing DVD’s from friends. I started watching all the MacGyver episodes this weekend. We’ll see if I can cancel cable altogether, but…baby steps, baby steps.

I have reduced my food costs by buying frozen and canned foods instead of eating out. In the past few days, I’ve saved over $200 by not ordering takeout and eating in restaurants my fellow Wall Streeters frequent. Man, I miss the raw bar and steakhouses. I will continue to splurge on my weekend Indian buffet. I have to draw the line somewhere. I am using my supermarket club/rewards card, which is also tied to my Upromise account (will post about that in the future). I also used some coupons from various websites.

I have a Blackberry through my day job. I have a personal cell phone through a shared family plan, so I get that for free as well. I pay for a land line and Verizon Fios Internet service. I was one of the first to get that in my area at the time and I got a substantial discount. I know I can save much more by choosing a triple play package, so I will begin investigating that. It also makes billing easier.

I reduced my programmable thermostat to hold at 66 degrees, but if it very windy, the wind just cuts through the west-facing wall, so I increase it to 68 degrees in that situation. I reduced the water heater temp a little. I’ll investigate the plastic that people put up around their windows to reduce the wind cutting through the walls/windows. I installed weatherstripping around the front door. I didn’t install a storm door after doing some cost analysis. You can’t beat a $3 roll of weatherstripping. Even if you replace it every year, it’s cheaper than the storm door and installation costs. I also turn off the surge protector/power strip when I’m not using the entertainment center or any other appliance. I only run the dishwasher and washer/dryer when full.

Well, that’s it for now. I think I’ve accomplished a lot in a few days. Anyone have any other tips to share?