With broadcasters moving to digital TV next month, you won’t need to pay for cable to get a lot of TV channels. Digital allows your local stations to put out more signals – for instance, my public TV station has five different signals. You’ll need a tuner if your TV does not have a digital [...]
Tightwad Assignment
Jax Beach Journal articles on surviving the Great Recession of 2008
Tightwad Assignment – Avoid bank fees
(May 12, 2009) – I’m old enough to remember Savings and Loan Associations – you had a document called a passbook, you took in in to the S&L, added money to your account, and the S&L computed your balance and entered it in the passbook. You generally earned 5% interest. Because of changes in financial [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Buy gasoline early
(May 11, 2009) – Here’s a tip for buying gas – buy early in the morning. As the temperature rises, the gasoline in the pump (yeah, I know it’s actually in a tank in the ground) expands. The pump thinks it’s giving you more gas than you are actually getting, and the error increases as [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Extending your car warranty
(April 29, 2009) – A long time ago, I bought a new station wagon for my then wife. A month after the warranty ran out, one of the shock absorbers punched it’s way through the floor into the luggage area. Clearly a manufacturing defect. I went to the dealer and complained. The service manager was [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Sprinkler season
(April 28, 2009) – Folks here in northeast Florida have been under water restrictions for years. Now the lessons leaned in saving water can apply to everyone in a down economy. The folks at Rainbird have a number of tips for saving water – including the following. THE INTELLIGENT USE OF WATER™ Tips From Rain [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Shaving update
(April 27, 2009) – Back in February, I began an experiment. A caller to The Clark Howard Show said that he had been able to use a cheap razor for months simply by drying it, then immersing it in mineral oil. The idea is that humidity causes corrosion and destroys the sharpness of the blade. [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Stay safe when buying used
(March 21, 2009) – The government has published a list of safety tips when shopping thrift stores and yard sales. The tips cover everything from cribs to lamps to bean bag chairs. Take a look at the entire list.
Tightwad Assignment – Stay married
(March 20, 2009) – As someone who has been divorced twice, this sounds funny coming from me, but one way to save a lot of money is to stay married. I know from experience that divorce causes a lot of financial hardship – even when there is no alimony. Folks frequently have to sell their [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Get organized
(March 19, 2009)One tightwad tip probably costs you nothing – get yourself organized. Don’t miss payments and have to pay late fees. Don’t overdraft accounts and pay fees. Organizing yourself can prevent these added, and wasteful, expenses. Plan your trips to the ATM so you can go to one that charges no fee. Paying ATM [...]
Tightwad Assignment – Should you buy an extended warranty?
(March 17, 2009) – When I worked in retail, the managers pushed us to offer extended warranties on our products. To me, that was a sure sign that the store made a lot of money from them. Think about it – paying a lot of money for a warranty on a relatively inexpensive product just [...]