Spending Less 101 » Personal Items

Now that the holidays are over…

John — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:41:42 +0000

Make sure you lock your doors and windows, leave a radio on low volume when you leave the house unoccupied, and report any strange activity in your neighborhood. The thieves will be out in force because the things you bought for Christmas are no longer safe in a secure warehouse or locked and alarmed department store. Those things are now in your mostly-unsecured homes.

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The economy is in the midst of her death throes. Violence and crime are projected to escalate as people begin to lose their jobs. The waning days of the credit frenzy is causing many to realize there life has had no real meaning. The consumer based economy is over and people are beginning to panic. The criminals are salivating at the realization that people’s distrust of banks are causing them to store their money at home.

Burglary is the act of entering a building with the intention of committing theft. These crimes may escalate as the economy collapses further. While insidious, burglaries are often crimes of opportunity and are not usually planned in advance. Because of this, you can often thwart burglars with very simple precautions. I have included six basic steps to prevent your home from being broken into.

1. Present your home as if it is occupied at all times. Burglars will often bypass occupied homes for vacant ones.

2. Use automatic timers on lights when you will not be at home. Try to arrange the lights so that they come on and off based on the normal pattern you usually follow when you are home.

3. Always use your garage when parking cars. Make sure all windows have curtains drawn at all times so that a potential burglar cannot look into your garage window and determine if you are home or not.

4. Do not create patterns. If you open a certain curtain only when your home you could be signaling a person who is staking you out that you are not home.

5. Place radios on automatic timers and turn the volume up so that they can be heard outside.

6. Lower the ringer of your phone and voicemail machine so that no one can hear it from outside your window. A constantly ringing phone or a voicemail message will signal that no one is home.

7. Never leave notes on your door letting people know when you will be back.

8. If you are going to be away for a few days suspend all newspaper and mail deliveries. Nothing says ‘vacant house’ louder than a pile of unread newspaper in your driveway.

By following these simple 8 steps you will be better prepared to survive the worst attack a burglar can throw at you.

Robert Padgett is the author of a blog called, Survive the Worst. This site is dedicated to surviving the worst conditions imaginable. From man-made disasters such as war, terrorism, civil unrest,industrial accidents and power failures to Natural disasters such as Storms, Blizzards, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Floods, and Fires we will offer insight into how to prepare for any situation.

http://survivetheworst.blogspot.com/2008/12/survival-panic-expected-to-spur-crime.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Padgett

Saving Money on Clothes

John — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:25:53 +0000

Since clothing is an area where I don’t have a lot of expertise (at least that is what my last few girlfriends have told me), here are some videos containing ways you can save money on clothes, but keep from looking like bum:

How To Save Money on Back To School Clothes
Save Money on Clothes – From GoodHouseKeeping
How To Make A Hem
Swap Those Clothes
Get Custom Made Shirts Cheap
How To Wash Ties – I used to just throw mine away when they developed stains
Shoe and Sandal Repair
Clothing Care

If you have any tips on saving money on clothes, please leave it in the comments…

There really are ways to save on prescriptions

John — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Prescription costs are high these days so here are some ways to save money on prescriptions:

Shop around – You may have to give up a little loyalty to your pharmacy if you want to save some money. A lot of pharmacies have deals if you transfer. They tend to offer gift cards of $5, $10, $20, or more.
Check price – Yes, the cost of a prescription can vary from place to place. Check around to find out the true cost.
Get generic scripts – Make sure your doctor has checked the “substitutions allowed” box on your prescription. Sometimes, doctors over look this and if the doctor does not have a specific reason for having you take the name brand, you want to make sure you are taking the generic.
Get it for free – There are grocery stores that are offering free generic prescriptions. They do this to get you into the store, but the benefit is still good.
Ask for samples – The drug companies have reps that go from doctor’s office to doctor’s office trying to get them to push their medications. As an incentive, they give the doctor’s office samples. Sometimes, the doctors don’t even thing to give out the samples and they end up being taking by the office staff. Ask the doctor to give you samples.

Save Money On Injuries

John — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:09:16 +0000

Here is one I read in Seth Godin’s book “if you’re clueless about saving money and want to know more“. I never really thought about this, but it makes a lot of sense. If you are injured, unless it’s an emergency, don’t go to the hospital on a Friday. Wait until Tuesday, if you can. Doctors and nurses will be all caught up from the weekend by then. If you go to the ER on a Friday, you will sit there all weekend, probably not being treated. Why is this? This is because hospitals are staffed pretty low on weekends. Cha-ching. Cha-ching.

Another money-saving tip for your stay in the hospital, once you get there, is to bring your own stuff. The mark-up on things given to you in the hospital is extremely high. Some of the things you can bring that wil cut down on the cost are linen, night gowns, slippers, tissues, pillows, etc. This will take a chunk our of the final bill.

Save Money!!! Go Bald!!!

John — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:06:00 +0000

I found a way to save a ton of money about 15 years ago. I was going through a rough time in my life and while I was visiting a friend, I decided to shave my head. I was already getting my hair cut short, and I figured it couldn’t hurt my situation. He helped me shave it all of the first time. It was a strange sensation. My head was cold. I’ve had a shaved head ever since.

In thinking about what I did, I realized that I saved a lot of money by making that move. At $20 per cut, and a cut every two weeks for 15 years, that adds up to a lot of dough.

($20 * 26 weeks * 15 years = $7,800 in savings)

I’m sure that money went to a great cause, but for the life of me, I can’t think of what it was.

The moral of the story is: Go bald and save a ton of cash on hair cuts…