Category: saving

My Two Dollars Interview Over At Thrift Culture Now

An article containing an interview I did a few weeks ago is now published for your enjoyment over at Thrift Culture Now. The article is titled “Learn How to Get Rid of the Debt & Get Back to a More Sensible Way of Living” and is available here. A teaser:

When David totalled up his credit card bills and realized that he owed $20,000, he knew it was time to seriously re-evaluate his lifestyle.
“I had nothing to show for all that debt! It was years of just living high on the hog and spending money as if I were wealthy, when I was anything but.”

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saving

By David

How I Saved Money on My Rental Apartment Application & Credit Score Check

As I have mentioned lately, I am moving back to California in a few weeks. And in California, almost every single apartment/house/rental you apply for, you have to pay an application fee and a credit check fee to the landlord. Because I have been looking for (and finally found) a cool place to rent, I have been putting in applications for various houses, all of which initially required both the application the credit check fee. I don’t know if there is a standard charge for these fees, but the people I talked to wanted a $25 app fee and a $35 credit fee. Realizing this was going to get expensive, I decided to do something about it; I ran my own credit report and got a copy of my own credit score. I now had copies of information that landlords were going to charge me $35 for each time I applied for a place, and it only cost me a one time fee of about $7. Sweet!

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real estate • saving

By David

Comparison of Average Moving Cost Estimates for Different Methods

I hate moving. I hate packing, I hate unpacking, and I hate the entire process. A few years back I swore I would never do a move by myself again, and instead have been hiring guys to help put my belongings in the truck and to take them out at my new place. It has certainly made moving a little easier, but every time I move I have to decide whether to hire full-service movers, to go the “You pack, we drive” route, or to rent the truck and drive it myself. And guess what? It’s time to move again, so it’s time to compare and contrast different moving methods again.

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saving

By David

How to Make Your Own Homemade All-Purpose Household Cleaner – For Pennies!

Do you buy special cleaning products for every surface in your home? Does the kitchen get a different cleaner than the bathroom? How about your appliances? Every major company selling these products tries to market a different bottle of their cleaner for different purposes, but I use the exact same one for everything in my house. And the best part? I make a completely non-toxic one with very simple ingredients all by myself for only pennies instead of $2.99 and up per bottle. Let’s take a look at what I use to make this cleaner…

Here are the ingredients:

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saving

By David

5 Free Finance iPhone Apps That Can Save You Money

There used to be a time that you walked into a store, picked up what you wanted, and paid the person at the checkout stand. No instantaneous comparison shopping, no e-tailers to check first, and depending on where you lived, not even too many places to choose from. But with the internet and so many people carrying around miniature connected computers in the form of smartphones, shoppers can now check on a price of a product everywhere else before plunking down their hard earned cash. There are hundreds of apps to choose from, and while I can only recommend iPhone apps for comparison shopping (as that’s the phone I own), I am sure there are comparable apps for other phones as well. Let’s take a look at 6 free ones that can help you save money, along with the links to each (which open in iTunes).

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saving