Rather-Be-Shopping.comRather-Be-Shopping.comThe idea behind this blog is to save you a few bucks with online coupons, get out of debt , and live frugally. Articles
Festival of Frugality #101 - Highway To Frugal Living Edition
2007-11-20 10:05:00 Growing up in central California, my frugal Dad and Mom would always take my sister and I on summer vacations up and down Highway 101, which stretches 1,540 miles from Olympia, Washington, all the way to the East Los Angeles Freeway Interchange in southern California. Since this is the 101st edition of the Festival of Frugal ity , I thought it would be fun to ... More About: Living , Carnivals
Black Friday Temptations?.I Am So Weak!
2007-11-19 10:25:00 Rewind, Thanksgiving 2006, there I was checking out all of the ‘Black Friday ’ ads in my local newspaper. I am pretty confident that is not what the Pilgrims and Indians had in mind. But being a major bargain shopper, my curiosity was peeked, and the ads section had been calling my name all morning. Family had arrived, ... More About: Black Friday , Temptations , Temp
Big Coupons Only, Little Ones Go Home
2007-11-17 10:09:00 Talking about coupons bores me to tears. But I blog about them from time to time when I have some that are really good and have the potential to save you quite a bit of money. So, with that said, here are some online coupons with savings worth mentioning: Fashion Bug.com Save 40% OFF your ENTIRE order thru this ... More About: Home , Coupons
A Tip To Rebuild Good Credit
2007-11-16 10:19:00 As I mentioned in an earlier post, a few years ago I was able to come out from under a huge amount of credit card debt. But my credit was shot, I was 120 days late on a couple cards and did a one-time ”payoff” payment on a couple others for less than the original balance. All of which shot my ... More About: Personal Finance , Credit , Good
eBay Users?.Stop Sniping For a Second and Listen Up
2007-11-15 10:16:00 I wrote an article awhile back that was published by The Dollar Stretcher that talked about, among other things, eBay bargain secrets. In it, I discussed how I often will wait until the last 30 seconds of an eBay auction before I bid, which almost always guarantees that I will not be outbid and get the best deal possible. ... More About: Sniping , Ebay , Listen , Stop , Users
Frugal Travel Tips From My Dad!
2007-11-14 10:02:00 As many of you know, and as I have documented on this blog, my Dad is a pretty frugal guy! In early October, he flew from San Jose, CA to Portland, Maine and spent 23 days with a good friend touring New England, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C. His total bill for this great vacation was just ... More About: Travel , Travel Tips , Tips , Frugal
A Caffeinated Update
2007-11-13 10:40:00 **PUBLIC DECLARATION UPDATE** About 6 days into my quest to remove my dependency to caffeine. As stated in my original post, along with using smaller coffee mugs, I am using a 25% decaf, 75% caffeine coffee blend to start. What can I say, the idea of going cold turkey gives me the shivers. Here are a couple benefits I ... More About: Update , Caff
Kids Lose When You Keep Up With The Jones?
2007-11-12 10:11:00 As I see it, the main problem with a consumerism lifestyle of trying to keep up in the race to accumulate “stuff” are the innocent bystanders, kids. My reasoning: Both parents are working. It is hard to keep up with the Jones ’ with only one income. As a result, often both parents work and leave their kids in daycare ... More About: Kids
Good Sunday Reading
2007-11-11 10:09:00 Please take a moment today to think of, or thank, any Veterans that you know personally that have fought to insure this country’s safety and freedom. Stumbled across some excellent nuggets of blogging goodness this past week that I felt compelled to pass along. So grab a normal sized cup of your 25% decaf and enjoy. ... More About: Reviews , Reading , Sunday , Good
Holiday Coupons Rolling In?
2007-11-10 10:23:00 Dang, I have been overwhelmed with online coupons the first 10 days of November. Free shipping, 15% off your order, on and on and on for 100’s of online retailers. As many of you know, my main online business and source of income is my coupon website which I have been doing full-time for a few ... More About: Holiday , Coupons , Rolling
Has The Price Of Gas Changed Your Lifestyle?
2007-11-09 17:44:00 Here in Northern California, I paid $3.27 per gallon for regular unleaded gas yesterday. Cost me $82 to fill up my truck. I feel like such an idiot when I am at the pump, and actually look around for somebody else filling up a big truck or SUV to make me not feel alone! My wife and I ... More About: Lifestyle , Price
Frugal or Cheap? - When To Spend The Extra Money
2007-11-08 10:34:00 On the heels of my website hosting debacle, I have been giving some thought to things in my life that are worth spending a little extra money on in order to save money and time in the long run. As a Dad to 3 young kids ranging from 6 years old to 5 months, time is a ... More About: Money , Cheap , Extra , Frugal
Give Caffeine The Ax - A Public Declaration
2007-11-07 09:07:00 I was tagged by Brip Blap on his noble cause of doing a public declaration on a goal that you always wanted to accomplish. I really like this idea and have been giving it some thought lately. Finally, it hit me like a ton of coffee beans, I want to get off my caffeine addiction by the ... More About: Declaration , Public , Productivity , Give , Lara
5 Things I Have Learned About Blogging
2007-11-06 09:22:00 So I have been doing the whole blogging thing for a couple months now and have really enjoyed it. I want to take a moment and go over 5 things that I have learned and wished I knew when I started doing this. Hopefully these tips will make it easier for somebody else who is thinking ... More About: Blogging , Things , Learned
Holy Crap?I Want to Throw My Computer Out The Window
2007-11-05 22:43:00 So, if you are one of the 5 people that visit my site regularly, you noticed that I was out of commission this weekend and most of today. Apparently my hosting company decided to do a huge server migration over to some new state of the art system. It was suppose to only take a few hours ... More About: Rants , Computer , Crap , Throw , Window
Pitfalls of Online Shopping?
2007-11-02 17:12:00 My Dad picked up the recent issue of Smart Money (November 2007) for me because it has an article titled Hassle-Free Web Shopping where it discusses why the online shopping boom has slowed down. I was curious if you agree with the 2 main reasons for the slowdown that Smart Money documents. Iffy Customer Service - In your experience, has online customer service slipped in the past couple years? I have had 1 bad customer service experience from 1-800-Flowers.com on a Thanksgiving centerpiece that I ordered last year that did not arrive, as promised, before turkey day. I had to essentially argue with a customer service rep as to why this was not OK. She blamed UPS and did everything possible to not accept responsibility. Finally, I talked to her manager and my account was credited but they would not give me my money back. For this one bad experience, I have probably had 30 online transactions go smoothly and received excellent customer service. Your thoughts? Does bad customer ser... More About: Online , Online shopping , Online Shop
Good Reading From The Blogosphere
2007-11-01 09:22:00 Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween yesterday. If your pumpkins are starting to rot and look like this sorry guy sitting on our front porch it may be time to put it out of its misery! Anyways, I have been bookmarking some great articles from other blogs that I wanted to pass along. So, with no further-ado here we go: Cheap as Chips has an article titled 2nd Birthday where he documents some ways to save money on birthday parties. We just celebrated our son’s 6th birthday and I have some of the same feelings on birthday parties as the author. Clever Dude’s post titled Calculate Financial AND Opportunity Costs of Your Decision really made me ponder some of the opportunity costs involved in everyday life that I never considered before. Chief Family Officer (CFO) has a very informative post about getting the most out of having to make a customer service call in her post, Six tips for making dreaded calls to customer service a little easier. Like her, I hate having to... More About: Reading , Blogosphere , Good
6 Easy Ways To Lower Heating Costs This Winter
2007-10-31 09:43:00 Our house is a little over 2600 square feet, single level, with a kid in each bedroom that needs heat. I have discovered some frugal ways to keep our home warm all winter long. Took me about 5 years to figure out some of these tips, what can I say, I am a slow learner, but they have all combined to lower my heating bill by close to 50%. Our furnace uses propane gas which costs us $2.55 per gallon. It typically costs close to $300 to fill up our tank, so it is nice to only see the propane truck once all winter long! Hope these tips can help you as well. Alternative sources of heat. If your home has a wood burning stove, use it! When our home was being built we upgraded the decorative fireplace into one that actually served a purpose. Also, keep your eye out for good deals on firewood in your local newspaper or at the bulletin board at the grocery store. The best deals are obviously going to be found in summer, so be sure to stock up next year. If you have a chain saw you can o... More About: Winter , Lower , Easy , Costs , Heating
5 Life Classes To Fix Me
2007-10-30 09:33:00 Got tagged by my online coupons buddy, Andrew, over at his blog Everybody Loves Coupons with a meme about going back to school and picking 5 classes to fix my sorry existence. Apparently the rules go like this, “Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It?s more fun to be in ... More About: Life , Classes
Real Value Vs. Perceived Value
2007-10-29 09:22:00 I have a friend who thinks the more expensive an item is, the better it must be. Her perceived value is forged by advertisers and marketers and it is kinda sad to watch. She is the type who will shop at the grocery store and pick the most expensive jar of peanut butter because she ... More About: Real
If I Became Debt Free?I Would Screw It Up
2007-10-28 09:37:00 Melissa over at A Penny Closer sucker punched, err, tagged me again on a meme. This one started at Debt FREE-Revolution and she asked: If I Were Debt Free I Would…. As one who cannot handle success very well I am going to take a contrarian approach to this one. Here are the 5 things I would do upon becoming ... More About: Personal Finance , Screw
Free Shipping at Lands End.com
2007-10-27 10:31:00 If you are one to get your Christmas shopping done early this free shipping offer at Lands End.com may be useful. They typically only offer free shipping a couple times a year so I thought I would pass this coupon along. Lands End.com Free Shipping on your ENTIRE order thru Monday Coupon Code: See Site For Details Expiration: 10/29/07 If ... More About: Coupons
Define Your Goals, The Wealthy Janitor, Part 4 of 10
2007-10-26 10:33:00 Part 4 - Define Your Goals . My friend, ‘The Wealthy Janitor’, and I, always end of talking about investing and retirement savings as I love to pick his brain about this stuff. He always talks about the importance of defining your goals and what retirement means to you. Why Define Your Retirement Goals? He has told me to define what I actually ... More About: Personal Finance , Part
Random Frugal Thoughts (Help Needed)
2007-10-25 10:33:00 Over the past 24 hours I have done some staring off into space in search of answers. Frugal answers of course. Here is what I need help with, as the staring off into space has only given me drool spots on my shirt collar. Kill the ants NOW. How can I kill the ants that are ... More About: Random , Thoughts
Find Free Money and Conquer Mr. Cheese
2007-10-24 19:24:00 Tiffany over at Nature Moms did a nice job hosting the 97th Festival of Frugality this week. I was excited to see my article 5 Things I Bought New and Wish I Hadn?t included and was doubly excited to see it selected as an Editor’s Pick, thanks Tiffany! I found some other articles from this week’s festival ... More About: Money , Carnivals , Free , Find , Cheese
Frugal Halloween Tips
2007-10-24 10:25:00 On the heels of my expensive family outing to the local harvest farm I have come up with some tips on keeping Halloween fun but not at the expense of your wallet. Some of these tips we have used and some I have seen done by friends and family. Please leave your tips in the comments ... More About: Tips , Frugal , Ween , Allo
Halloween Is Expensive - Trip To The Farm Left My Pockets Empty!
2007-10-23 10:37:00 So on Sunday my wife and I rounded up our three kids and headed to Hawes Farm , a local harvest farm, pumpkin patch, corn maze, hay ride, $3 bottle of water, $6 pumpkin, kinda place. I knew my wallet was in for a beating when I stepped up to the window to pay and was told each ... More About: Left , Trip , Halloween , Ween
Live Frugal, Stop Complaining, and Be Happy
2007-10-22 10:25:00 I once read a study that people that complain about their health are those with more health problems. Over the past couple years, I have been trying to complain less and instead focus on what I do have in my life and not what I do not have. To me, this is a major essence of frugal living. Since I have done this I have noticed that my complaining has reduced. I use to complain to my wife and friends as a way of excusing myself from doing anything to make my situation better. And it did not matter what the situation was, could be my financial situation, my situation at work, whatever. So I picked up the tip of focusing on how I want things to be rather than how they actually are. By doing this, I was finally in charge of my lifestyle and my own happiness. By NO means am I saying I never complain. My wife can vouch for that one! But I have learned to take my complaint to the correct person. If I am unhappy with something at work, I don’t complain to my wife. Likewise, if I... More About: Happy , Live , Stop , Frugal
Nothing Better Than A Relaxing Sunday Morning
2007-10-21 11:16:00 Grab a cup of coffee and check out some of the better reading that I have discovered this past week. It continues to amaze me how many great blogs are out there. My blog reader is getting pretty unruly and I will have to somehow organize it in the future or weed it out a bit. But for now, go check out these great blog posts. Some make you think, some make you laugh, and all make you read. Lynnae from Being Frugal offers some great advice on What to do when you lose your income. She and her husband are going through this right now and her candor and advice are greatly appreciated. I always like blogs that are genuine, and offer real world advice like Being Frugal. David at My Two Dollars offers some great frugal living advice in his post Save Money - Buy A Computer Monitor And Buy A TV At The Same Time. Excellent advice and something I will consider in the future. I always like the 2-in-1 option. Lazy Man and Money posted about one of my favorite topics, beer! He wrote Save Mone... More About: Sunday , Morning , Sunday morning , Relaxing
Fix It Yourself and Save 10% w/ a Home Depot Coupon
More articles from this author:2007-10-20 10:17:00 Yesterday, The Home Depot.com gave me a rare coupon for 10% off your entire online order. I use to work at ‘The Depot’ and wore the orange apron with pride (great way to get the ladies), and while the stores are cavernous and quite easy to get lost in (tip: bring bread crumbs so you can leave ... More About: Coupons , Save , Coupon , Home Depot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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