If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can’t or won’t solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks: [More]
how-to
Save $100/Year By Retrofitting Your Toilet To Dual-Flush
By 5.19.10
You know, not everything that goes into your toilet requires the same amount of water to push it down the pipes. Wouldn’t it be better to use more water on the denser stuff, and vice versa? [More]
10 Ways You May Be Getting Hosed
By 5.19.10
Yahoo points out 10 money traps that are easy to fall into. Many are superstitious habits that you can easily shake off, including the one about overpaying for name-brand workout shoes: [More]
Watch Out For These Travel Scams
By 5.17.10
Kiplinger has posted six travel scams you should be aware of, including “Be your own travel agent!” and “Join our travel club!” The key thing to remember is to stay away from unfamiliar travel agencies or websites, or at least do some research and try to find evidence that they’re legit before handing over your money. You should also make sure that any travel insurance you buy comes from a licensed insurer. [More]
How To Spot Fakes When Shopping For Green Products
By 5.17.10
If you want to buy environmentally friendly products when you’re out shopping, you’ll find plenty of options these days. The trouble is that “green,” like “organic,” is considered a very loose concept by lots of manufacturers. The Chicago Tribune put together a list of ways you can spot the fakes on your next shopping trip. Here’s an easy rule of thumb: the words eco, earth, green, friendly, gentle and kind are all frequently used to give the impression of being environmentally friendly, but they’re essentially meaningless marketing words. [More]
Family Of Six Ditches Satellite TV, Gets All Shows Online
By 5.17.10
Three months ago, Larry made a bold move. An avid sports fan with a wife and four kids, he unplugged the satellite TV. Larry loves TV, so much that he once worked in a TV station for six years. But his wife made him do it. That $50/month fee had to go, so he learned how to hook up his TV to the internet. “We’ve had our challenges,” he writes, but, “even with March Madnes I’ve managed to save a ton of money and with a few small adjustments, not miss out on any of our entertainment.” Here’s what he did and how it worked out. There’s nothing super fancy here but for someone just trying to get their feet wet, it has some good ideas: [More]
Why Phishing Works Even If You're Not Normally Stupid
By 5.12.10
If you spend a lot of time online, you’re probably aware of phishing scams and know what to look out for. In other words, you’re not one of those ignorant types who clicks on links and starts entering personal information without hesitation. Writer and blogger Cory Doctorow is what you might call hyper-vigilant–he keeps unique passwords, uses a VPN when going online in public, and generally knows not to trust strangers. Still, he got phished a couple of weeks ago. [More]
Start A Tiny Awesome Garden
By 5.10.10
Just because you live in a small space doesn’t mean you can’t wiggle your greenthumb. WikiHow has some great suggestion on how people living in less spacious quarters, like students and urbanites, can still let their garden grow. To create the illusion of depth and space, put more eye-grabbing plants closer to where they’ll be veiwed, and put more muted plants farther away. Go vertical! Use an open structure with lots of shelves to stack lots of plants on top of each other. Start a Window Farm! Gardens are pretty, give you oxygen, and sometimes even low-cost fresh food. Do you garden in a shoebox? Leave your tips for maximizing your space in the comments. [WikiHow] [More]
Tips For Buying A Used Car This Year
By 5.4.10
The sorry state of the economy the past couple of years has actually led to higher prices for used cars, writes Kiplinger. That’s because more people started buying used cars, which tightened the supply while also reducing the number of fresh trade-ins. It may be a couple of years before prices drop again, but Kiplinger has some suggestions for saving money if you plan on buying a used car this year. [More]
How To Live Out Of Your Car
By 5.3.10
A few days ago, someone posted on reddit that he was divorced, unemployed, and now living out of his car. This prompted someone who’d already had the experience to post a list of tips for the (hopefully temporarily) homeless, including safe/legal places to park, strategies for staying clean, and how to maintain social connections. How does he know all this stuff? He lived out of his truck for over a year and saved his money to pay off $17k in debt. [More]
Cellphone: Go Prepaid Or Contract?
By 4.26.10
When shopping around for a new cellphone plan, or simply a cheaper one, consumers have more choices besides the standard 2-year contract wireless companies try to cram down your throat. But do you go prepaid or with a contract? Which company delivers the best value? It all depends on your usage and what you’re looking for. To help you decide, Lifehacker has put together a bangin’ guide on picking a new wireless plan. Check it.
How to Decide Between a Prepaid or Contract Wireless Plan [Lifehacker]
Save Money On Haircuts
By 4.26.10
Personally I can’t imagine a haircut costing much money, so MainStreet’s list of 18 ways to get a cheap haircut seems like frugal overkill to me. But then again I’m a guy and I’m going bald, so I just use clippers to avoid the sadness of listening to scissors snip away at nothing, and consequently I don’t really know much about the world of hair salons. Apparently a good haircut for a woman can cost a lot of money, unless you know how to find a bargain. [More]
Skip Pesky Trailers And Ads On DVDs With Not-So-Secret Codes
By 4.21.10
Sometimes the ads and trailers at the beginning of a DVD give you interesting information about upcoming releases you otherwise wouldn’t have heard of. Most of the time, though, they’re just annoying as all heck. Here are some not-so-secret remote control codes that can help you skip the ads and get right to the movie. [More]
Sell Better On Craigslist
By 4.21.10
If you have a digital camera and a computer, you can make some quick cash by turning your unwanted possessions into cold hard cash on Craigslist. But what makes a good Craigslist listing? How do you make your ad stand out? [More]
Delete Your Facebook Account Forever
By 4.20.10
Whether you’re trying to get a job and worried about snoopy new bosses, sick of maintaining a virtual profile constantly bombarded with increasingly useless updates and pings from people that you decreasingly actually know, fed up with Facebook’s attitude towards their users, disgusted with your addiction to it, or just want you, your personal details and habits, and photos, out, deleting your Facebook profile can be done in a few easy steps: [More]
Build Your Own Home Theater
By 4.20.10
Hi-fi curious? PC Perspective has posted the second of 6-part series that walks you through every detail of setting up your own ideal home theater setup, from the planning to stage to source materials to speaker configuration. Future installments will cover setting up a home media server as well. And if you need help picking out the components, bro-site Consumer Reports has an interactive home theater system buying guide that can help. DIY! It’s more fun and if you know what you’re doing, can be cheaper as well.
Building a Home Theater [PC Perspective via HardOCP]
Eat Organic For Cheap
By 4.19.10
Organic food is pesticide-free free of unorganic pesticides and saves baby unicorns from exploitation, but darnit if Whole Foods ain’t a pricey pack of provisioners. But there are ways to buy organic and still be frugal. [More]
Reach Toshiba Executive Customer Service
By 4.16.10
Your laptop is a craptop, the hold music won’t stop and the call center won’t talk, so you’re looking for a guy at the Toshiba top to get you back on top. Guy Lugo is that guy: [More]
