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.

Restaurant.com

Even in the midst of making and saving a living, I don't always want to go home and dig into my 20 lb bag of rice.

Sometimes me and the missus want to get out of the house and go for a nice dinner. Prices at restaurants are coming down but we have a way to take even more advantage of restaurant prices.


Restaurant.com

For the time being you can get $25 food coupons for $10. Do the math. That's a 60% savings. Nose around the website, you can even more. You can get a restaurant.com gift card or e-gift card, worth $100, for only $40.

Was just given the heads up about this by my wife and a friend.

You read it correctly. Those of us with restaurant.com profiles can enjoy $25 gift certs for only $2. Go and set up an account, so you can be privy to these kinds of deals.

I mean, c'mon. You can be frugal but still enjoy.

Now . . . enjoy . . . NOW!