This is about green not green.

Starbucks recently rebranded or relogoed. If that's a  word. They're still very much the same brand.

Anyway, a re-logoing for any company means the added expense of all new logoed materials. For starbucks, I would think (perhaps naively) the brunt of this would come in the form of napkins and cups. I would be really interested to know how they dealt with that. That would be so cool, if they dwindled their inventory before the relaunch.

Speaking of paper cups, I've likely mentioned here before that we make 95% of the coffee I drink at our place and I often have a travel mug in my bag. It bears repeating, some chains give a dime discount when you bring your own cup (akin to certain grocery stores when you bring your own bags). However if you're forgetful, like me, and you think you'll lose your travel mug, as I have before, do NOT fret.

One of our friends bought a sleeve of paper cups and lids because he realized it was cheaper to make at home and take in that disposable cup than to buy a disposable cup at Starbucks.

So in short: If you don't trust yourself to not lose your travel mug but still want to enjoy something of the savings for home brewing, pick up a sleeve of the paper cups with lids. Its still likely cheaper than the coffee shop and you can "pitch in" when you're done. No travel mug to remember or lose.

free samples ...

We'd get little packets of cinnamon cream of wheat, or gum or instant coffee or this or that and my wife would ask where they came from.

They're everywhere and for everything, these free samples. The simplest aggregate listing of daily free samples, or at least my favorite, is posted daily on the gizmodo.com blog. Find "The Best Deal of the Day" entry and scroll to the bottom to find the Hobomodo heading for their list of free sample sites. On the scroll down, also enjoy some pretty sweet deals on home entertainment, electronics, computers, gaming and peripherals.

In short:

Gizmodo.com


and enter "dealzmodo" in the search field for their latest deals OR;

Like the Dealzmodo on the Facebook.

Good night.

Portable and cheap snack.

Don't want to buy a snack in the middle of the day but want something the slightest bit substantive?

Boil an egg. Keep it in the shell. Put it in your bag.

Why?

The shell is strong. The egg is reasonably priced as part of a dozen. The stomach is fed.

Keep a few little salt or pepper packets in the bag for seasoning.

Overdue fees ...

If you rent, borrow, or use something that's not yours, there is potential for you to return it later then you should.

For example, here in the NY Public Library, they have a wide selection of movies but if you keep them beyond their due date, you'll be dinged 3 dollars. So what was once free is now infinitely more expensive.

If you borrow, rent, or use something that is not yours, upon rental, put a reminder in your phone, day planner or email that will notify you in advance of it's due date so that you can enjoy your borrowed goods to their fullest and still return them to their rightful owner.

Late fees add up, don't think they don't.

But if you find yourself the recipient of a late fee, make sure when you pay it, you get a receipt acknowledging closure of that debt. I've heard of people paying their library fines (up to 8 or 10 dollars) not getting a receipt, only to find out payment wasn't recorded. Boo.

In short: Return things on time. But if you don't and you have to pay a fine, get a receipt. Everybody wins. The lending body gets theirs and you get record of your payment.

Fly me to the ... Gateway to the West!

Despite airline baggage increasing in price (very rarely and under certain conditions do you get free baggage; some even charge for carry-on.) people are turning to air travel more and more. Airlines are making profits again and know their services are in demand. So what is a cost concerned customer to do.

The cost of air travel and our current subjective and corporate economic status found us contemplating not flying to see family over Christmas. Tickets were 600-700 on a good day and often more, particularly as the season got close, prohibitively so.

What are a couple of newlyweds trying to be responsible in the face of high flight prices to do?

This instant, found us dabbling with Priceline. You know the ones where Bill Shatner goes to bat for you.

Actually, we had used other discount flight aggregators before but my wife was browsing around Priceline to see what it was about. She found flights for almost half of what they cost on other sites. The only cost, in my mind, was one of convenience. You wouldn't know when you were flying until you booked. Small price to pay to spend Christmas with part of the family.

The key; bid low. If your bid is rejected, they'll tell you and you can bid again. Simple as pie. Is that an expression?

In short: If you're flexible and like taking a chance, Priceline has saved us, and could save you, hundreds of dollars on flights.

Loyalty programs ...

Loyalty is one of my favorite traits. I won't anthropomorphize corporations to suggest they exhibit something resembling human loyalty but they require our patronage and it would be an incredible adjustment to live without some of their services.

A lot of them will reward you (so to speak) for your patronage. I think this is likely because for these financial decisions, economy will often trump loyalty. Can you blame us?

One of those corporations that tries to reward you, I was happy to learn, is my bank.

Bank of America offers free admission to museums across the country. What this means is that if you are a holder of one of their debit or credit account and go to these museums on the first weekend of the month, POW! free.

What kind of perks do your cards and memberships have?

Here's one that was staring me in the desk the whole time ...

I'm not sure of the monetary savings (specifically) involved in this one but it is good for the pocket book and the earth.

At work or at home, it's likely you've begun recycling paper. Very often, that recycled paper only has print on one side. What about that other side? What about it indeed? For the last couple of years, we've been trying to use both sides of the paper, for writing and computer printing. Rather than putting a (half-used) piece of paper directly into the blue bin, begin a pile of the stuff to put that other side to good use.

I would not, however, use recycled paper for documents I need to mail to government or business offices, or for resumes. Maybe that's just me. But in general, you'll get twice as much use from a sheet of paper.

shed a little light . . .

Anything that doesn't need power over night or when you're away from your home, put on an easily accessible power bar and turn it off during those times. Or better yet, unplug it.

This is a pretty small idea but over time it can make a surprisingly big difference. I like how simple it is. I just have to remember to do it. I think we cut our monthly power by 5 or 10 bucks when I'm diligent about it. You never know when 60 or 120 bucks extra a year will come in handy.

I'll give you a good price ...

Some people are just down right dishonest in their attempt to take you money.

It was autumn 2004 and I had just moved here from Toronto. In the interest of convenience, I packed and travelled relatively light. I had my discman and earphones but no speakers. So one night, I was wandering around the area by the building where I worked and I walked into one of these no name or generically named camera, luggage, souvenir, electronics stores, kind of looking for a small set of speakers.

I'm browsing beneath the glass of the display cases and the man behind the counter strikes up a conversation with me about the upcoming election asking me who I would vote for. I explain I am not from here and, thus, cannot vote. So he asks, if I had to, who would I vote for. Maybe he was wondering, but I think he was just trying to put me into a comfort zone. He asked what I was looking for and I told him, a small set of speakers for my discman. He shows me this one set. I'd never heard of the brand before. He told me the price. I believe it was pushing 70 bucks but he said he'd give it to me for 40. Now that's a steal of a deal.

Well, after paying for them and taking them home I did a little online research. Those telescoping bass boosting speakers had a suggested retail price 12 dollars. Cue slide trombone.

Don't buy from these places, buy from stores, chains even, that you trust.

fin

take care, brush your hair ...

Here's one of the best parts with the way hair styles go these days. You just have to own it. And hairstyles are not as conservative or fastidious as they once were. So there should be a through line or some rhyme or reason to it but there's also a little more elbow room for creativity.

"Where's he going with this," you're probably asking yourself. You'd be right to ask that.

All this means is that if you're really looking for more ways to cut overhead expenses, save money and you think you're running out of options, try cutting your own hair.

My wife cuts both hers and mine. And she's getting better at it too. I was hesitant at first, I don't know that she's received professional training (though she does have math degree) so I reluctantly said, "what the hay?" And to be honest, it's good.

If this is something you want to do, here's a "training wheel" tip. Get a haircut at your regular place and just practice keeping it trimmed to get used to the idea and better at the actual cutting.

Buy our estimate, we can easily save between 1000 and 1500 dollars a year by doing this. Your savings may be more or less depending on hair length and city of residence but you get my drift.

"cut it out"

Hello, hello, hellooooooo..............

Brad's wife here - I decided to step in when I read his original post.  I'm the one who teaches finance classes around the city and teaches get out of debt workshops - so I want to address something here.  This suggestion is NOT something I teach or talk about when I'm giving workshops.  This is one of those EXTREME money saving tips - this is something I would share with friends and people who are DESPERATELY trying to find a way to have some extra cash and just cannot find any way to cut and snip any more than they already have.  Think of this tip as coming out of the Get of Debt Master Class.  It's one of the crazier, last suggestions I would give.  Here's why - It's difficult, it will mean experimenting for a while (unless you already know how to professionally cut hair)  It means watching those awesome youtube videos on style and haircut to get some tips.  It is not for the faint of heart.  I have definitely messed up both my and my husband's hair on MANY occasions.  And luckily, we sort of just laugh at it and then wait for it to grow back.  If it's important to you - your hair, your appearance - I would probably not embark on this journey.

But Brad's right - we do save quite a bit.  Not so much on his hair as we do on mine.  I've spent everywhere from $40 to $250 on haircuts.  And spending anything from $40 to $100 has always left me unpleased with my hair stylist and his/her happy scissors.  And this is not without me trying.  If you know me at all, you know my persistence.  I had spent the last 6 years trying to find a hair stylist I could be loyal to.  I found only 1 who could do my hair well, but unfortunately, she charges $250 for a cut.  So my options - spend upwards of $1500 on my hair a year, or learn to do it myself.  I obviously chose the latter.

As for my husband, I'll admit, it began as a fun little game on a Friday night.   'Let's cut your hair!'  and that first hair cut was pretty darn good.  Then a few cuts in, I lost my touch and left him with a not so good cut.  So he went to go get a professional cut - which he hadn't had to do in 5 years because he was consistently working a hosting job that had a stylist on site every month to touch up his hair (hard life for him, right?)  So off he went, spent $45 and came home with this.  

Yikes.  We let it grow out and then I recut it to look like this.

It's not perfect, but I'll keep working at it.

-VR

***** Phone Shot: self
----- Headshot: Peter Hurley peterhurley.com

I get around ...

sometimes for the sake of convenience (which almost always means more money) and time (which if the saying is correct is also money) you find yourself needing to get somewhere faster than public transportation can get you there. Bus and subway aren't going to cut the muster and you need the good old fashioned taxi cab.

Well, if you're using a taxi for speed, it's likely unbearably early in the morning or the same at night when your thoughts are most likely preoccupied with getting to wherever you're going and getting some shut eye. At least, that's my experience.

If the situation and destination is a normal conundrum for you, may I suggest this little chestnut. Know about the route you are likely to travel and/or the quickest way there. On accident or purpose of the driver, my wife and I have been in cabs that did not take the 'crow flies' route as it were and were able to suggest a preferable route for our driver.

If you are travelling on a route with which you are unfamiliar and your phone has GPS or a searchable map program, consider mapping it out. This way, you can bring any concerns about route to your driver and find out if there is reason or not to their navigating.

In short: when taking a cab, know the route you prefer to take by heart (or GPS) and if the route is avoided, politely ask why you're being taken for this ride. There may be a good reason (construction or reports of severe traffic) or there may not. It's simply good to be aware.

The price on the box ...

Something is wrong in the state of shopping, said Marcellus to Horatio, or something like that.

I have shopped at convenience stores, bodegas, those drug/convenience/groceries that a lot of places are changing into, and regular supermarkets. I have, in each of these styles of stores, experienced one thing that TOTALLY rankles me.

Ignorance might be bliss in this situation but it would eventually be a costly joy. You see, in each of these styles of stores, I have picked items off the shelves, mindful of their posted shelf price, went to the counter to purchase said items, only to find out when they are rung up by the cashier, they are "conveniently" more expensive.

Now if you don't notice, and they don't say anything, and you compound that .25 on your one item by the hundreds of other customers who will buy a little or a lot, well . . . the store is making a tidy little profit.

I am always hesitant to cast motives on other people's (or in this case, businesses') actions but it happens so often where we live that you really have to wonder if these are intentional decisions to price an item lower on the shelf and higher in the register.

That aside, I think it's not an unreasonable desire to want to pay the cashier the price on the shelf.

In short:

-keep in mind shelf prices (write them down if you're really worried) especially if part of your intent to buy was based on the lure of a low price.
-pay attention at the cash register, particularly to those items that show 'sale' shelf prices.
-hopefully, keep that money . . . for other things.

Dismissed.

More on vehicle rental ...

Again, I can't ascribe motivation but I'm pretty sure there's an accepted gain on the company's behalf when it comes to their vehicle's gas tank upon the vehicle's return.

There are the obvious ones, which you can't knock because they are there in print on your agreement. If you return a vehicle with less gas than you picked it up, they will charge you, it seems, upwards of 175% of the price of a gallon to refuel it. And that is sometimes on top of a service fee. One vehicle rental place starts with a $30 service fee when you don't return the vehicle with the same amount of gas. That's before their severely marked-up price of gas comes into play. It doesn't mean it's not ridiculous. But they tell you that. So? House rules, I guess.

Then there's the art of gas gauge literacy. Does an employee check it and note it before you take the car? Does the gauge read the same level as is noted on the rental agreement?

That wasn't our most recent experience. We agreed to refuel a vehicle ourselves before we returned it and the agreement printed up and given to us at the counter read "8/8 tank" meaning the tank was full upon release and should be returned as such.

We got in the vehicle and, to our surprise, it was only 3/4 full meaning if we had not noticed this, we'd be on the hook for that 1/4 tank, putting us out 12 or 13 bucks for their oversight. We had to bring this up with the lot attendant and get them to vouch with their signature.

And when we returned it, refueled, we were still issued a refueling charge which they admitted was incorrect and refunded. But it still means an unnecessary hold on my credit card.

On gas in rental cars:

-check to see the recorded level of fuel agrees with what you see on your gauge.
-read your receipt upon return to prevent unnecessary charges that you did nothing to incur.
-READ THE FINE PRINT.

Good night everybody.

Rentals

I'm not going to project an attitude or motivation on them but one way that vehicle rental companies take advantage of, intentionally or unwittingly, your carelessness or haste or lack of attention is by not doing the walk around with you (I've seen this more with cars. They still do this with rental moving trucks in my experience). If they and you do not do this, you can return the car (incident and accident free) and find yourself with a damage claim on your hands.

Insist they do and if they won't but you are stuck renting there, insist on a means to agree on existing damage ... because there will likely be exisiting dings or scratches. We ended up writing on a car rental agreement and having it signed by the lot attendant. Get their signature and printed name (first and last). If they don't stand behind their product with their name, complain and/or go somewhere else.

Anyway, I think most people are trying to cover their bumper, so you have to cover yours.

It's like free money . . .

which as we all know does not exist.

However, it's possible that you have some unclaimed money somewhere as a result of oversight on yours or your employer's part.

Look up in the hypertext! It's a link, it's a bookmark . . . it's . . . it's missingmoney.com.

You might have money in :
-Common types of unclaimed property include:
-Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
-Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
-Uncashed checks and wages
-Insurance policies, CD's, trust funds
-Utility deposits, escrow accounts
-A government sock drawer

(the first six are cribbed from missingmoney.com but you never know about the sock drawer.)

Just enter your name and state or province to find out if there's some money of yours somewhere that needs to be returned to it's rightful owner. Or join for free and it will search it's vast provincial and state databases on your behalf and save your search profile to simplify future repeated searches.

I knew that money was hiding here somewhere.

Shelf life

Anything that has an expiry date will eventually have to come off the shelf of the grocery store. And when it gets close to the date, just like a 'going out of business'sale, everything must go.

My wife and I have benefited from close to date meats, picked them up for 30-40% off. I know bread comes down drastically in price when it's approaching the date.

Keep your eyes peeled for expiry dates and ask your local grocer if they mark down on near date items.

If you don't plan to consume immediately, and it's appropriate, put it in the freezer.

The grocery store still moves product, you walk away with a discount. I think everyone might win.

Those tacks aren't just holding up the map.

As long as I have lived in New York, and in Toronto before that, I've lived in relatively central apartments, very often for convenience's sake. The biggest advantage was convenience. The biggest disadvantage, of course, was the high cost of rent. Gosh. Big money, no whammies rent.

Now, of course, you can split rent by having roommates but if you want to compound the savings even more, you might want to look at the outer edges of the map. I hope you're sitting down, that means you got on early enough in the route. In Winnipeg, we called it Transit Tom, in Toronto, it was the Rocket, actually not that one this one, and in New York, it's the MTA. I think you see where I'm going with this. I'm asking you to consider neighborhoods in the outer limits or boroughs of you city.

There are express routes that take you, likely, further than you've ever been before. But out there, there's more for less. Or the same for less. And you might get a patch of grass, or a balcony, or parking. And with monthly transit passes and departures from near the beginning/end of a particular route, you can definitely find a seat and listen to those podcasts I was telling you about.

You can put the money you save in a high interest online savings account.

Here's your homework. Visit a neighborhood somewhere "out there". Who knows? You might like it.

Just something to consider.

Papa Smurf always says; or New Style Book Learning for the listening watching busy crowd

Isn't that how Brainy would open most of his pontifications? Now if the Smurfs were introduced in 1958 and almost all of them were 100 years old, that would make Brainy around 153-ish. If they're like most animated characters and maintain their age without getting older or younger, dude's still 100 and has been for a long time. You have to believe there was (and continues to be) some serious learning in that mushroom house of his. Either the print was really small, he used the local branch of the SPL, or they also eventually got the internet.

At any rate, there are plenty of health benefits to formal and informal learning. It, along with sleep, exercise, a good diet, and manageable stress levels can contribute to stave off the mental effects of aging, dementia, and alzheimer's.

Can't make it to the library, or your favorite book on hold for someone else? Do you have a long commute or like to listen to something while you're working? Don't have the time and money to audit or take classes at a local school? Maybe, just maybe, iTunesU could be for you. You can learn from over 350,000 lectures spread over countless museums, schools, faculties, focii, and learning levels. If you can't find something that peaks your interest, you aren't trying. Yeah, I said it. It hurts a little, doesn't it? To feel like you're not trying.

I used to live in Banff. They have a world-renowned Arts Centre there. We spell it 'centre'. Don't get weirded out. I'm going to go listen to a discussion on Hope and Imagination with an artist of whom I am a fan, and I'm doing this, wait for it, from the comfort of our old office chair.

Just in case you don't have iTunes.

Now go build some synaptic bridges.

Oh, you're from Vegetaria?

Our pastor was making an illustration today about love and asked what people "love about thanksgiving?" I don't know if people were trying to be hotshots or we're just a bunch of weirdos but it was a good minute before we'd gotten through everything else (including Black Friday, family, and sweet potato casserole) and came up with turkey. To which she responded, "if you loved turkey, you wouldn't kill it and eat it." Touche . . . touche. The point was about the nature of love more than turkeys but it was cause to think.

It's true. If you loved turkey, or chicken, or cows, you would not eat them. I still eat them. I like how they taste cooked. I have the occasional brief philosophical dialogue in my head about it from time to time but, I guess, not enough to give it up cold . . . vegetable.

Here's the strange thing. I know you'll be shocked (not). It's cheaper to not eat meat. I will go so far as to say without exception, it is cheaper to not eat meat. My wife tries it sometimes. I'm thinking about giving it a shot. Perhaps do a little more reading. Review my findings, that sort of thing. And whatever my wife tells me of her own experience with that, I'll pass it on to you.

Some of my friends do a great job of cutting out the meat from their diet.

What's one easy way to see the savings? When you eat out, order vegetarian.

Just something to think about.

Talk and talk and talk and talk ...

It's a small world and a global village and the continent ain't as big as it used to be and people like to keep in touch.

I moved to New York back in twenty-ought-four and most of the people I wanted to keep in touch with (if they weren't where I live) were back in Canada. I didn't have a landline but I had a decent cell phone deal with amazing long distance rates to north of the 49th parallel, so sweet that when the provider realized it's sweetness and the work-arounds some people from Canada were attempting, they shipped that package ... well, it wasn't long for this world.

So what kind of deal is there to be had if you live in the US and want to call Canada or any other part of the US for free and other parts of the world for cheap?

Google Voice sets you up with a custom number, and free texting and voicemail to other parts of the US and Canada. You can access it from your Gmail or Google account on your computer but if you don't want to sit in front of your computer to make free calls, plenty of mobile phones allow you to download the app and take it with you.

All you need is a data plan and with so many flat rate data packages for phones and so many areas with free wifi, you don't have to be held to the long distance minutes of your mobile plan. Simply, through the app on your data network or wifi it turns calls from the US to other parts of the US and Canada into local calls.

But maybe they put it better.