Uncrustables and the Many Degrees of Frugality

At the recommendation of reader from one of my Cost of Convenience posts, I have been reading the book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese. In it, Reese does many similar cooking experiments where she decides whether it is better to … [Read the rest]

How Simple or Complex Are Your Finances?

Dan Kadlec of Time magazine offers up 9 Ways to Simplify Your Finances. I always swing back and forth, wanting a nice simple financial life one day, and the next day itching to try out all the cool new financial tools out there. I tend to split … [Read the rest]

TripAdvisor + American Express $5 Promo

Link your American Express card, write an approved review on TripAdvisor, get $5. Details at sync.americanexpress.com/tripadvisor: Get a $5 statement credit when you connect your eligible American Express Card with TripAdvisor and leave one … [Read the rest]

Gradsave Groupon: $50 Towards Any 529 College Savings Plan For $30

Groupon is currently offering a $50 Gradsave gift card for $30, which can be redeemed for a $50 deposit into any national 529 college savings plan. So if you're already meaning to contribute some money towards a 529 plan, it's basically at least … [Read the rest]

Ooma Phone Service Long Term Review + Referral Discount

The Ooma Telo is a VoIP system that creates a home phone service through your broadband internet. Just plug in your regular landline phones and go. Features include unlimited domestic long distance, 911 service, caller ID, voicemail, and call … [Read the rest]

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Shopping Bonus – 750 Miles

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Shopping program is like other cashback shopping portals (eBates $10 bonus, TopCashBack, etc), except that they give you Alaska Airlines miles per dollar spent as a reward. They just sent me a new promotion where … [Read the rest]

How Do You Compare? Retirement Plan Savings by Age

Vanguard, a big name in defined-contribution retirement plans like 401ks, recently released their How America Saves 2013 report (pdf) which included data from over a million retirement plan participants. The report itself is quite dense and a bit … [Read the rest]

Straight Talk SIM Card + Any iPhone 4 or 5 = $45 Unlimited Prepaid Plan

October 2013 Update: "Unlimited" has been clarified to mean 3G/4G data speeds for 2.5 GB per month, throttled to 2G data speed after that. Both AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards are now available, with the newer ones allowing 4G / LTE speeds if you … [Read the rest]

$30,000 Beat-the-Benchmark Experiment Update – October 2013

Here's the October 2013 update for my Beat the Market Experiment, a series of three portfolios started on November 1st, 2012: $10,000 Passive Benchmark Portfolio that would serve as both a performance benchmark and an real-world, low-cost … [Read the rest]

$10 off $50 at Lowes with American Express

Get $10 off any $50+ purchase at Lowes home improvement stores in-store or online. Expires 11/15/2013. Sign up for AmEx Sync first if you haven't already. Then tweet anything with #AmexLowes. You should get a confirmation reply quickly. Details … [Read the rest]

FreedomPop FREE Cell Phone Plan Review

Cell phone service seems to get cheaper each year. I still remember when a great deal was $40 a month for 1,000 minutes with no text and no data. So what about FREE cellular service? Well, it's here, but with a few important … [Read the rest]

California Obamacare Health Insurance Sample Quote

Open enrollment for individually-bought health insurance through state exchanges was supposed to start October 1, 2013, although several states experienced some delays and/or technical glitches. If your state exchange isn't up and running yet, you … [Read the rest]