Stop Telemarketers and Scam Calls

The other day, I got an interesing voicemail message on my phone.

Stop Telemarketers and Scam Calls!

I noticed my phone was ringing, but I have stopped answering when I don't recognize the number since I get calls from so many telemarketers.  I even double checked to make sure that my number is registered on the National Do Not Call Registry.  It is, but sometimes telemarketers call anyway.

Since this call was from a "866" number, I was pretty sure it was a telemarketer, and I was pretty sure they wouldn't leave a message.  But they did.

The message was a voice synthesizer that read a message.  It said that my Windows license on my computer was expiring soon and that I should call the toll free number to renew it.

I decided to get right on that.  Of course I wasn't going to call and pay to renew my Windows license- this was obviously a scam.

I'm pretty sure the scam involves convincing people that their computer is about to become a useless paperweight unless they give their credit card number over the phone and pay $99 (or who knows how much) to renew their Windows license.  Windows licenses don't expire like that, and I'm sure the folks calling have no idea who I am or what kind of computer I have.

I mentioned the call to my son and he was pretty excited about giving them a call to find out more about the scam and to give them a hard time if possible.  My son gives me a hard time sometimes, and he likes me.  If I were a telemarketer, I wouldn't want to get a call from him...

We went in my son's room and closed the door.  We put the phone on speakerphone and set up another phone with a voice recorder app to record both sides of the conversation.  We talked about maybe saying we have a Mac or Linux computer and seeing if they would still try to take our money for a "Windows license renewal".

With the recorder rolling, we dialed the number from the scam voicemail.  But the toll free number in the spam message had already been disconnected.  This scam was so blatent that it must have been busted quickly.

Since I wasn't able to bust this scammer myself, I thought I would at least publish some tips to help everyone avoid phone scams.  This is my way of giving him a hard time since I couldn't reach him on the phone...

Here are some tips on cutting down on scam calls and telemarketers:

• Register your number on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) National Do Not Call Registry.  This doesn't stop all telemarketing calls, but I think it cuts down the number of calls significantly since it is illegal for telemarketers to call if you are on the Do Not Call List.
• If you do get a junk call, tell them to put you on their do not call list and hang up.
• If you don't recognize the number of an incoming call, let it go to voicemail.  Most telemarketers don't bother to leave a message.
• If you aren't sure whether a call is legitimate or not ask the caller to send their offer or request to you in the mail.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Can You Get Rich Selling Used Skis?

Today I made my way to the used sporting goods store to sell some old skis I found in my garage.  In yesterday's post, I ran through my thought process as I decided where to sell the skis.  The big question for today is:  How much would I get?

Can You Get Rich Selling Used Skis?

The skis were made in Austria and seemed to be in good condition, but I had no idea how much they were worth.  I briefly searched on eBay to get some idea of how much they could sell for, but I didn't find anything similar.

So this was going to be somewhat suspenseful.  I realized that the skis were pretty old- but maybe that would be a good thing.  Maybe they were collectible, or maybe even antiques.  Perhaps I would get really lucky and find out that I was the owner of some really valuable skis...

I carried the skis into the Play It Again Sports shop.  The man at the counter had me fill out a standard form with my name and address.  While I filled that out, he measured the skis and checked out the locking mechanism on them.  It was clear he knew how the skis were supposed to work.

I finished filling out the form about the same time he finished examining the skis.

"Okay," he announced.  I knew that the big reveal of the value of the skis was about to happen.  It reminded me of Antiques Roadshow where people take old items in to be appraised and are sometimes pleasantly surprised when the value turns out to be really high.

"I have a lot of skis and there hasn't been much snow, so I'm going to offer you store credit," he began.

This was not very encourgaing, but I was curious to know how much store credit we were talking about.

"Okay," I said.

"I would sell these for $20.  They are an older style with a gravity-operated mechanism, but it still works.  I can give you 40% of the price, $8 in store credit," he said.

This was not the big payday I was hoping for!  I told him I wanted to think about it for a minute.  I walked over to the ski section and did in fact find similar skis priced at $20.

I decided that I didn't want the skis, I would never use them and they were taking up space in my garage.  It seemed that the price he came up with was reasonable based on looking at the other skis for sale.  If I could get $8 that I could use to pay for a birthday present for my kids, or bicycling gear, etc. then I should go ahead and sell them.

I walked out with a $8 store credit certificate in hand.

It pays to sell unneeded items instead of throwing them away.  I got something for the skis, someone else will get to use them, and the store will make a little bit of money and stay in business.  It seems like everyone gets a (small) win.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Where To Sell My Old Sporting Goods?

How Can I Get the Most Money for My Used Sporting Goods?

Where Should I Sell My Used Sporting Goods?

When cleaning out my garage, I came across an old pair of cross-country skis that came with the house when we moved in.  These skis seem to be in good shape, but appear to require some kind of special shoes to use them.  Since I do not have this kind of shoes and have no plan to get special ski shoes, it is time to sell the skis.

So the question of the day is:  What is the best way to sell my old skis?

Of course, I want to get as much money as possible for the skis.  Also, I would prefer something quick and easy rather than slow and painful.  Here is what I am thinking-

I could list the skis for sale on craigslist, but I have no idea how much to ask for them and I couldn't answer any questions about them.

I could list the skis for sale on an eBay auction.  This would solve the problem of not knowing how much to ask for them.  But if they sell, I would have to deal with shipping a large item.  This seems like a lot of trouble.

I could take the skis to a local auction house to avoid shipping.  But it would probably cost me more to drive there than I would get for the skis.  Most people go to the auction to buy things such as tools, furniture, and antiques.

I could take the skis to my favorite consignment shop.  Again, the problem is that almost no one goes into the consignmet shop looking for skis.  Although there is a small sporting goods section in the store, most people buy housewares, furniture, and clothes at the consignment shop.  I fear my skis would sit on the shelf until summer and then sell for a very low price...

So a good place to sell the skis would be a consignmet shop where people go to buy sporting goods.  Fortunately for me, there is such a place:  Play It Again Sports.  They buy used sporting goods to resell.  And "skis" is on their list of desired items since it is still winter.  According to their website, they will pay cash for used sporting goods, or you can sell items on consignment.

I have the skis loaded up for a trip to the Play It Again Sports store that is not too far out of my way.

The best place to sell used sporting goods depends on the item and how much you know about it.  In this case, I decided to give a used sporting goods store a try.

Stay tuned to see how much I get for my old skis...

Penny Pincher Journal

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Car Stereo Upgrade FAIL

Sorry for the false alarm, but I decided to return the car stereo I bought to upgrade my older car.  How did such a great plan fail?

Car Stereo Upgrade FAIL!

The plan was that I would drive my wife's newer car (which had a modern stereo with bluetooth, XM, etc.) and she would drive my older car instead of buying a different (and likely newer and more expensive) car to drive.

The only problem was that she was not excited about the old school radio.  She would miss her XM satellite radio and streaming songs from her phone via Bluetooth.

Fortuately, the shortcomings of an older car radio are a pretty easy problem to solve by replacing the old radio with a new one.  For around $120 you can get a fancy new car radio with a USB port that supports Bluetooth streaming.  For about $80 more, you can add an XM satellite radio receiver.  Throw in about $100 more for cables and installation, and you can make an old car seem a lot newer.

So why did I decide to return the car stereo and get my money back?  The first problem was that the buttons on the steering wheel would no longer work.  It would cost over $100 extra to hook them up, so we decided to skip that feature.

The next problem was the total bill for the radio and installation was around $350 with taxes, fees, etc.

From my perspective, the new car radio wasn't really an upgrade since I listen to music on CDs:  the old radio had a 6 disc changer and the new radio only held 1 disc.  Plus, the steering wheel buttons would no longer work.

After further review, we decided to skip upgrading the radio.  My wife will continue to drive the newer car and I will continue to drive my older car.

This reminds me a lot of going with "Option 1" for my computer upgrade.  As you may remember, I decided to do nothing and not upgrade my computer.

Now I have decided to do nothing and not upgrade my car radio.  Do you sense a trend here?

Penny Pincher Journal

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Make Your Small Desk Seem HUGE

One of the ways I have been able to save money is by having less stuff.  Less stuff not only saves you the cost of buying the stuff, but also saves you the cost of paying for space to store your stuff.

Make a Small Desk Space Seem Like a Huge Desk!

In the bad old days when I had a lot more stuff, I also had a lot more stuff on my desk.  I had stacks of papers and equipment all over.  It didn't really matter how big my desk was, because it was covered with stuff anyway.

The past few years, I have applied the principles of having less stuff to maximize my desk space.  Over the years, I have downsized from having a large desk to having almost no desk surface now- yet I am more productive than ever.

How do I do so much with almost no desk space?

In my latest article published on Wise Bread, I lay out 11 ways to make a small desk space seem like a huge desk space.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Avoiding a Fleecing at Sport Clips

I Avoided a Fleecing at Sport Clips!

As you may know, I went 8 years without paying for a haricut at a barbershop.  I bought a $25 pair of buzzers so I could get all the free haircuts I want.  My winning streak came to an end this summer when I paid $12 plus a $3 tip at the local barbershop.  In my defense, I was tricked into going to the barbershop.

After about 6 months and one more DIY haircut with the buzzers at home, I was ready to go to a professional again.  They can do things in the barbershop with scissors that I can't do myself with the #8 buzzers.

Ready for another sharp haircut, I went to the nearest shop- a Sport Clips- and gave my information at the counter to get in line for a haircut.  While waiting, I remembered that waiting was one thing I didn't like about getting a haircut at a barbershop.

Next, I spotted the price board.  The lowest cost haircut was $18.  This was before a tip.  Since this was a pretty fancy shop, I am sure a pretty fancy tip would be expected.  This would put the total damage north of $20.

Plus, since this was a sports-themed shop, I imagined that the barber would try to make small talk about sports during the haircut.  This would be rough since I don't get many TV channels and don't really keep up on sports.

Enough was enough.  I fled.

I quietly gathered my coat from the coat rack and slipped out the door.  I figured they would simply call the next person waiting a few minutes early.  No harm done, and I would save $20+ dollars and most of my lunch break.

This experience got me thinking... How much money would I need to have right now to get haircuts for life?  Let's say I get a haircut once every 3 months at $15 per haircut and I plan to get haircuts for 40 years.  That works out to $2400.  If I had $2400 in a "haircut envelope", I could get haircuts for the next 40 years.

What if I put the money in something with a better rate of return than an envelope?  Let's say I were to put a sum of cash into a fund that averages a 4% rate of return.  How much cash would I need now to get haircuts for life?  The answer is provided using a annuity calculator.  I used an annuity calculator from bankrate.com.  The total works out to $1191.69. 

Of course no one knows what the rate of return will be over the next 40 years.  Plus, the price of haircuts is likely to go up over time due to inflation.  As a matter of fact, the price at my local barbershop went up 50 cents after the first of the year.

Looking at big numbers like $2400 and even $1200 for haircuts makes me think I should stay on course and keep using the buzzers at home for free.

I am not sure if I will cut my hair at home every time, but I am pretty sure I won't go back to Sport Clips.

Penny Pincher Journal

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved.  Privacy Policy

My New Car (Radio)

My 12 year old car has about everything I want- except for one thing.

It has 4 wheel drive, heated leather seats, sun roof, allow rims, rides great, and runs great.  What else is there?  It lacks a modern radio.  It does have a quality sound system with JBL radio which was top of the line in 2005.  But the OEM radio doesn't have a auxillary input, Bluetooth input, or XM radio.

My Old Car Radio Is Getting an Upgrade

Why does this matter?  My wife was looking at new cars that have a modern radio with these features, but has decided to drive my old car instead.  But what about the radio?  She wants to be able to listen to XM satellite radio and stream podcasts and music from her phone.

The good news is that you can buy a new radio with all of these features for under $200.  The new radio also has a USB port for charging and for receiving streaming music from a phone.  Add another $100 or so for installation and cables, and she's all set.

The Replacemet Radio with Bluetooth, USB, CD player, and Adjustable LED lighting effects

Of course, it would be less expensive to skip getting a new radio.  But spending $300 to fix the one thing wrong with the car seems like a good investment to make the old car more enjoyable reduce the risk of ending up buying a newer car which would cost over 100x more than upgrading the radio.

XM Receiver Module for Radio Upgrade

I haven't looked into this yet, but I might even be able to sell the old JBL radio with 6 disk CD player.  Why would anyone want to buy an old car radio?  Someone who has upgraded the radio in their car (like I am doing) may want to take out the upgraded radio when they sell the car.  I can use any proceeds from selling the old radio to offset the cost of the new radio.

I can't wait to get the new radio installed!  This reminds me of when I was 16 years old and installed a new stereo in my car with a cassette tape player and FM stereo.  This was a big upgrade to the original AM radio that came with the '81 Plymouth Horizon.

If you want to extend the life of your older car, upgrading the radio can be a cheap way to enjoy driving it for years longer and save money over buying a newer car.  The radio is one of the easiest tech items to upgrade.   I have been using my 10 year old Garmin GPS unit that attaches to the windshield with a succion cup, so it has a navigation system too.

Stay tuned for an update on how the car radio upgrade works out.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Too Much Money- My Problem Today...

Today I had an unusual problem.  I had too much money.  Allow me to explain...

When I pay cash for something and get change, I put the change in the center console of my car.  So there is a small amount of change flowing in every month.  But I almost never take change out and spend it.  It just slowly accumulates and fills up the space in my car.

I rounded up the change and put it in a big jar to take to the bank.  Here's a challenge for you:  look at the photo and try to guess how much change is in the jar...

How Much Change Did I End Up With In My Car?

Thankfully, my credit union has an automatic change counting machine.  You just dump the change in and the machine counts it.  The entire jar of change took only about a minute to count, and it was fun to watch.

Automatic Change Counting Machine

Turn Your Change into Bills the Easy Way

At the end of the process, you get a ticket printed out that you take to the teller window.  You can have the money deposited into your account, or you can get cash.

So how much change did I have?  $112.09!

If you are not a member at the credit union, it costs you a 10% fee for using the machine.  Fortunately, I did not have to pay the fee.  There are other automatic coin counting machines such as Coinstar at places like Walmart, but these machines also charge a fee to use if you want to get cash.  The current Coinstar fee is 10.9%.

My advice is to take your change to your bank and have it counted for free using an automatic change couting machine.  Hauling around about 10 pounds of change in my car wasn't doing me any good.  Now I have the change in the form of bills that I will actually use, and I didn't have to pay a 10% fee or spend a lot of time counting change.

Seeing the change build up over time and become a sizable amount of money is an interesting phenomena.  The flow rate of the change coming in exceeds the flow rate going out, so the total is going to grow.  This happens even without the benefit of compounding that you get from investments.

This is a nice reminder of the power of saving small amounts of money over time.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Who Buys This Stuff!?

I figured out why someone would buy a $198 sweater... and to my surprise, it makes sense now!

Today I was walking around the mall, mostly for exercise.  The windchill was below zero at noon, and I didn't feel like walking outside.  For some people, spending time in the mall would be a risky venture due to the risk of spending money, but it is pretty safe for me.

One of the few things I am at risk of buying is the clearance winter clothes that go on sale in the spring for up to 90% off, and maybe another clearance hat for my collection.

Clearance Hats Are A Weakness For Me!

I wandered into a nice store that I have only gone into a few times before.  I looked around just for fun, and saw a friendly sign inviting me to "Please touch the merchandise..."

Please touch the merchandise... you'll love it!

I have read that you are much more likely to buy something if you touch it.  I guess that makes sense... there is no way you can buy something if you don't touch it-how can you carry it to the checkout!  So naturally the only way you are going to buy something is if you touch it at some point.

I decided to take my chances and touch some nice sweaters they had on sale.  Very nice indeed.  But wait a minute, how much is that sweater!

This is what a $198 sweater looks like!

The sweater was originally priced at $198, marked down to $133.  While I do appreciate a good markdown, the price had too many digits in it for me either way!

It was a fine sweater, but what about it would make someone pay 5 to 10 times more for that sweater than a different one?

(Awkward silence)

Oh, you were expecting me to answer the question...  Well, I don't really have a solid answer since I really don't know who buys this stuff.   Here are my best guesses:

• Maybe the brand (which I didn't recognize) carries a lot of value to fans of that brand.  
• Maybe people see shopping at a fancy store as a form of entertainment that is more exciting than shopping at less expensive places.
• Maybe people are willing to pay a lot for something expensive to impress other people with their affluence or to make themselves feel better than other people.
• Maybe the sweater was made out of some sort of expensive material like cashmere (I didn't touch the sweater that much to check).

As I read my list of reasons I thought someone might buy a really expensive sweater, I realized something funny.  There are people who wouldn't understand some of the things I buy.

I recently bought a "golf jacket" on clearance for $41.  It is really sharp looking and I plan to wear it to work a lot instead of the cheap clearance fleece I used to wear that my family is so embarrased of.

I am sure some people would not be able to understand why I would spend $41 on a new jacket.  Why not just keep wearing the $13 clearance fleece (even though it is chartreuse green and people at work thought I could win the ugly sweater contest wearing it)?

• Did I buy my new jacket because of its fancy brand?  I can say no to that one, I don't even remember what brand it is.
• Did I buy my new jacket as a form of entertainment?  I would say maybe a little bit to this one.  It was fun trying it on with my family encouraging me to buy it.  OK, so I am probably guilty of this one.
• Did I buy my new jacket to impress other people or make me feel better about myself?  OK, you got me there too.  Yes.    The main reason I bought it was so I would look more expensive and less like a homeless person when I went to work.
• And for the last one, did I spend a lot on my new jacket because it was made from an expensive material?  Nope- 100% polyester!

My point here is that people buy really expensive stuff for mostly the same reasons as you buy the stuff that you buy.  The only difference really is the number of digits in the price tag.

So that stuff that you buy and think is "normal" may seem really fancy to someone else who would struggle to understand why you buy it.


Enough deep thoughts for today.  Now it's time to leave the mall and go out in the cold to my car.  Good thing I'm wearing my really warm new jacket!

Penny Pincher Journal

Copyright © 2017 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved.  Privacy Policy

You Gotta Check The Clearance Rack...

Today I came home to find the doors to the solarium open after dark on a cold day.  That isn't how you use a solarium.  You are supposed to open the doors when the sun is shining to provide free passive solar heating to the rest of the house.  So why were the solarium doors open?

My wife was eager to show me something new in the solarium.  She had hung some very nice looking curtains alongside some of the windows.  They were extra long 96 inch curtains and looked great in the space.

"Looks awesome!" I said as I was facing her and looking at the curtains hanging behind her.  It probably wasn't clear whether the complement was meant for the curtains or for her.  That's OK, both looked awesome.

The next thing she showed me was even more awesome- the price tag!  The curtains were regularly priced at over $45 and were marked down to under $8.

Clearance curtains from Target!

"You gotta check the clearance rack," she said.  "You never know when you'll find something good."

Sound advice indeed.

There was another great purchase in the solarium- a lamp that Mrs. Penny Pincher found at a thrift shop for only $2!

This is a nice looking, sturdy lamp that is probably from a hotel.  I like that it has the button to turn it on and off on its base where it is easy to reach.  And it is really heavy duty and will probably last forever.  Plus it was only $2 on clearance at the thrift shop.  Did I mention that it was only $2?

$2 Hotel Lamp from the Thrift Shop

"Beautiful!" I said as I looked at the lamp on the table behind my wife.  Again, it was probably not clear which I was complementing, but that's OK.

Gotta check those clearance racks!

Penny Pincher Journal

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Go With Option 1

If you read my last post, you'll know what the following cryptic statement means:
I'm going with Option 1.

I Am Not Buying A New Computer...

My old laptop is nearing (or past) the end of its useful life.  I considered several options to replace it ranging from a tablet computer, a Chromebook, a Windows 10 laptop, and even a Microsoft Surface.  I threw out an other option just in case:  Option 1.  Option 1 means to do nothing.  While this option does not improve my computer situation, it is the least expensive.  That, of course, is the only reason to go with Option 1.

What does this mean for you, a reader of Penny Pincher Journal?  You may have noticed that I haven't posted in a few months.  I was pretty frustrated with my computer and I was planning to get back to work on the blog after I got a better computer situation.  I also got distracted by some paid freelance writiing opportunities and ended up getting articles published on places like Time.com, Kiplinger, Business Insider, etc.

But now my computer situation is resolved in a sense.  I have decided not to get a new computer.  I went to Best Buy about five times, and looked around on Amazon and Ebay many nights to check out computers, and decided that a Microsoft Surface would be just right for me.  But in the end I decided not to spend that much money.  I just couldn't bring myself to borrow money and make payments on a computer when I have so many other bills to deal with.

Typing articles on a cell phone is possible.  I timed myself typing a passage of text on my cell phone and found that I can type about 20 words per minute.  This is about half as fast as I can type on a computer keyboard.

Back in May, I found myself on the road with an article due and only my cell phone with me.  I bought a bluetooth keyboard for about $20, so I can type articles on my phone with a keyboard.  That gets me back up to around 40 words per minute.  And my old laptop still sort-of works.  So I have some options to keep working that don't cost anything.

I am going to try to get back to work on Penny Pincher Journal using the equipment I have.  Sure it would be nice to have a newer computer, but I am not going to wait for a year (or more) to be able to do anything.

I think the point of this post is not to overlook the benefits of Option 1 (Do Nothing).  I can avoid spending money and keep doing everything I want to do, even if it is not ideal.  But nothing is really ideal anyway.

When you face a decision of whether to spend money or not, don't forget Option 1 - do nothing...  Sometimes this is the best option, especially if you make the best of it.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Cheap Computer Options: Laptop vs. Tablet vs. 2-in-1 vs. Chromebook

What To Do About A Slow Computer

Here I am waiting for the screen to update on my ancient computer...

My Computer is So Slow...
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

My first dilemma was figuring out how to spell "dilemma"...

But the real dilemma I am facing is what to do about my aging laptop computer.  I bought it in 2008, or maybe 2007.  It was so long ago that I don't remember.  It sports an Intel Centrino processor and runs Windows Vista.  I don't think runs is the right word, it is limping Windows Vista.  I have kept it going for so long by keeping the hard disk optimized, cleaning up the Windows registry, sweeping for malware, and keeping my anti-virus software up-to-date.

Recently I started getting warnings from my Chrome browser that Windows Vista is no longer supported and Chrome will no longer be updated.  This means that any newly discovered security vulnerabilities will not be fixed.

Even before this news about Vista no longer being supported, I was thinking about getting a different computer.  It takes almost forever to scroll down a page.  I sometimes get out my phone and read articles while waiting for the browser page on my laptop to scroll down.  I replaced the battery about 5 years ago, but this battery is now down to about 5 minutes of capacity after unplugging.

I mentioned that I look at web pages on my Android phone because it is a lot faster than my computer.  I even bought a $20 Bluetooth keyboard so I could use my phone as a sort of home-made Chromebook.  I have written several blog posts and even one of my articles on Wise Bread using my phone.  I like the portability and long battery life of my phone, but the screen is quite small.

Here are some options I am considering to solve my computer dilemma:

Option 1: Do nothing.  Sometimes not expending time and effort is the best option.  I have gotten this far with my old computer, why change now?  This option would cost nothing, but I would be left trudging along with a very old computer (see photo above).

Option 2: Switch to my phone.  I mentioned that my $20 Bluetooth keyboard with my Android phone works pretty well, except for the small screen.  I could just stop using my computer and use my phone/keyboard combo instead.  This is another zero cost option since I already have the keyboard.  But the screen on my phone is so small that I think my productivity would take a hit.

Details about how I made a "Chromebook" for $20.


Option 3: Get a Chromebook.  A Chromebook is a laptop that runs Android operating system.  It is basically like a tablet with a permanent keyboard.  Chromebooks have a small solid state memory rather than a spinning hard drive.  This makes Chromebooks better able to survive being dropped, but the storage capacity is much less than with a hard drive. The cost is under $200.

Chromebooks are also known as "netbooks" because they use cloud storage and apps running from the Internet in a Chrome browser window rather than having everything installed locally.  If you are interested in basic e-mail and web surfing, this may be the lowest cost option.

Option 4: Get an Android tablet.  For around $150, I could get a 10 inch tablet that would be a lot bigger than the screen on my phone.  I could use my existing Bluetooth keyboard with the new tablet.  My biggest concern with this option is that the relatively low memory and processing capability of an inexpensive tablet would quickly become obsolete.  My very cheap 7 inch Android tablet that I bought a few years ago ended up hanging on the wall of my garage running a clock app because it was too slow for much else.  It makes a nice clock, though...

My Android Tablet Wall Clock
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Option 5: Get a 2-in-1.  What's a 2-in-1?  This is a relatively new computer form factor that is essentially a laptop computer with a touch screen that allow it to function as a tablet computer too.  You can use it like a laptop, or you can flip the screen completely flat against the back of the keyboard and use it like a thick tablet.  Some models have detachable keyboards- Microsoft Surface is one such model.

Many of these 2-in-1 machines have powerful processors, abundant RAM, and run Windows 10.  I like the idea of being able to run the same types of software that I can run on my laptop now, but the price tag runs $500 to over $1,000 depending on the processor, memory, and screen quality.  The surface has a stylus so you can write on the screen which is cool, but I am not sure how much I would really use that feature.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Option 6: Get a newer Windows laptop.  I could skip the touch screen and just get a simple Windows 10 laptop with plenty of memory and processing power for what I do for around $500.


So what is the best option to replace an outdated computer?

I haven't made up my mind about my computer dilemma yet.  As I was typing this on my old laptop, I wanted to open up one of my articles to find a picture, but gave up after 5 minutes of waiting for the screen to load.  Option 1 isn't looking good...

Since I do make income blogging with my computer, I wouldn't feel too bad about spending a little money to boost productivity.  Stay tuned to find out how I resolve my computer dilemma!

Penny Pincher Journal

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A Cheap Bike... Your Ticket To Great Adventure

Cheapcycle (Cheap Bicycle): Biking For Almost Free

Break Away with a Cheap Bike
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The other day, I had the day off from work with no particular plans.  I ended up going for a 4 hour bike ride along the lake near my house.  This was a really fun way to spend an afternoon, plus it was almost free!

My bike is a 1972 Schwinn that my father gave me.  I am sure someone paid for it somewhere along the line, but I was happy to get it for free!  I did spend about $25 to outfit it with off-road tires for riding on trails along the lake.  I added an LED headlight/tail light for $15, and I ride with my $15 bike helmet.

My son gave my some biking gloves for my birthday last year which are great for long rides.  I have some lightweight shoes that I wear for cycling- I got these for $25 for my son about 4 years ago, but I ended up wearing them myself.  Now that the shoes are wearing out I try to save them mostly for bike riding.  

I have a nice Camelbak water bottle that the team at Wise Bread gave me as a gift one time.  I paid $8 for a fanny pack to carry my keys and cell phone while I ride.  Me wearing a fanny pack looks as ridiculous as it sounds, but things tend to fall out of my shorts pockets while I ride and hike...

As you can see, I have some pretty nice biking gear for almost free that allows me to go on virtually unlimited adventures.

Even if you aren't lucky enough to have someone give you a classic bike, you can find good bikes for cheap or even free.  I bought a 1983 Schwinn Caliente that I found for sale on someone's front porch.  I wanted a cheap bike to keep at work so I could go for a ride at lunch time.  The asking price for the bike was $35, but I bargained the price down to $28 since this was how much I had in my wallet.  After riding the bike for several years, I sold it for $35.

Check out cycling as a cheap hobby and good way to get exercise.

Penny Pincher Journal

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Why You Should Use Credit Cards...

Is Using Credit Cards a Good Idea?

Yes, if you do it right...

Why Using Credit Cards Is a Good Idea

One of the most controversial topics I have covered on my blog or in my books about saving money is credit cards.  Apparently suggesting that people use credit cards seems like bad financial advice!

I agree that using credit cards to buy things you can't afford can lead to financial disaster.  Even if you can make the minimum payment on a credit card balance, it can take around 20 years to pay off a credit card debt!  Over this time, the interest charges keep on piling up and you end up paying a very high price for whatever it was that you charged 20 years ago...

But that is not how I suggest using credit cards as part of a smart personal finance strategy.  I merely suggest taking advantage of the perks of using credit cards without paying anything.  How can you do this?  Easy- just pay your balance in full every month (or actually more like 25 days with most cards now).

For example, I was at Target with my wife buying some grocery items.  My wife had enough cash in her purse to pay for the items.  I had enough cash in my wallet to pay for the items.  But I whipped out a credit card to pay.  Why!?

Because I could save 5% off my purchase by using my Target card.  When the Target bill comes, I will pay the balance using the electronic bill pay feature from my credit union.  The result is that I just saved 5% and it didn't cost me anything.

I do the same thing at Lowes by using my Lowes credit card to save 5% on everything I buy there.  As long as you don't buy more stuff than you otherwise were planning to buy and pay your balance every billing cycle, you really do save 5%.

I sometimes use a credit card with rewards to make other purchases.  With the rewards on my credit card, I can get pretty much anything I want from Amazon for free.

So when I say to use credit cards, I mean to use them to save money- not to spend money!

Here is one of my statements about using credit cards that caused a kerfuffle:
Tip 15: Use Credit Cards

Penny Pincher Journal

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What To Do When the Store Won't Accept a Return

You Can't Return That!

Some Stores Make Returns Difficult!
Image Source: Dr. Penny PIncher

Yesterday after school, my teenage son went on a shopping trip without any parental supervision to buy some clothes for an upcoming school dance.  He also picked up a pair of casual canvas shoes for $15.

I thought the dress clothes were sharp, high quality items, but I was immediately skeptical of the shoes.   They seemed cheaply constructed and I wondered how much he would really wear them.

As my son was showing me the clothes that evening and removing the tags, I suggested he keep the receipts and tags from the clothes handy in case he wanted to return anything.

After he tried on the shoes again, he realized that they were a size too small and he didn't really need them anyway.

The next morning I took the shoes back to the store to return them for him since he was at school.

It was a small store at the mall, with a single cash register and no separate area to return things.  I pulled the shoes out of a bag, and the cashier said, "Footwear is not returnable."  She gestured toward a sign that said something to this effect to reinforce her point.

At this point, many people would probably accept being out $15 and being stuck with an item that is useless to them.

"I see," I said.  "Fortunately these haven't been worn yet."

The cashier sized me up and decided that a return was in order.  After explaining that she would make an exception to policy and do the return,  she took the shoes and gave me $15.

I think returning the shoes made sense for everyone involved.  The shoes were in new condition, never worn.  The store would be able to sell them again at a profit.  I had no use for the shoes and would have tried to sell them at a consignment shop and perhaps gotten a few dollars for them which would have been a waste of time and money.

Of course this experience made me think of a few lessons I could highlight for my son:

• Double check the size of clothes and shoes before buying
• Also check for any defects such as stains, rips, or missing buttons
• Hang on to receipts and tags for new clothes in case you need to return something
• Use common sense rather than following store policies that are designed to maximize profit and convenience for the store
• Politely explain the situation about your return and find someone who has authority to make a decision

This store return actually went relatively smoothly.  I spent a lot of time this summer working to get replacement plants from a mail order garden supply company.  Some of the plants I received were dead on arrival and I asked for replacements.  The initial response was that I needed to have the original invoice from the shipping package to get a return.  Of course, I had thrown away the packaging from the plants long ago.  It took weeks of writing back and forth to finally get replacement plants.  It would have saved everyone a lot of hassle if the company had a more reasonable return policy...

A few years ago, I bought a tree from a local store that didn't make it.  Good news:  the tree had a 1 year warranty.  Bad news: I couldn't find my receipt.  After several attempts to take the dead tree back and even working with the home office of the store to search through transaction records, the store manager finally went ahead and refunded my money even though my receipt was never found.  I walked directly to the garden department, picked out a replacement tree, and carefully filed the receipt away this time.

I think a couple additional lessons for me about returning items are:

• Keep track of receipts and invoices, especially for items that might be returned a long time later!
• If you have a legitimate issue with an item, don't give up on trying to return it

Penny Pincher Journal

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Can I Do Plumbing Myself?

Can I Do Plumbing Myself?

Let's go to the mailbag today for a question from a reader:

Do Plumbing Yourself and Save Money!
Image Courtesy of Pixabay

"Dear Dr. Penny Pincher, 

Read your article on updating older home inexpensively. Interesting and informative article. 

One thing that we need to do in our older home is to replace the bathroom sink pop up drain. Ours is old and discolored while the sink is old but in good shape. 

Is it difficult to do for someone with no plumbing experience??? Our plumber has a minimum charge which is expensive. Thank you"

Thanks for mentioning my article on cheap ways to update an older home!  As you may know, I am a staff writer at Wise Bread and my articles are syndicated on sites including time.com, Kiplinger, Christian Science Monitor, Money Magazine, and other top sites around the nets.  You can read the article 19 Frugal (And Easy) Ways To Upgrade An Old Home at Wise Bread.

In this article, I mentioned a couple plumbing-related upgrades, including replacing a bathroom sink and replacing a kitchen sink.  These projects involved working with both plumbing supply lines and the drain lines too.  Actually, the kitchen sink was an even bigger project than I indicated in the article.  We tore out the cabinets and cut off the copper supply pipes about a foot off the floor and rebuilt everything from there.

I agree that plumbers are expensive.  I have been billed around $75 to $100 per hour for plumbing.  Sometimes plumbing companies send more than one plumber, and you get billed even more for that.  That is why I started figuring out how to do plumbing myself years ago.

The biggest problem with doing your own plumbing is leaks.  I think everyone's first few plumbing projects are likely to leak.  A leaky drain is less of a problem since it only leaks when you turn on the water.  A leaky supply is much worse since that can leak all the time.  The damage can range from water stains up to serious water damage.

The key to doing your own plumbing is to check for leaks and keep re-doing it until it doesn't leak anymore.  If you can't get it to stop leaking yourself, you'll need to call a plumber.  If you don't want to mess around with checking for leaks and re-doing things you might be better off just calling a plumber right off the bat.

But with practice and experience, your plumbing work is less likely to leak.  And if it does leak, it gets easier to figure out why and solve the problem.

The next biggest problem with doing your own plumbing is lots of trips back and forth to the store to try to find the right parts.  There are so many sizes and materials that it sometimes takes me a few tries to get the right parts that fit together correctly.  Often, it is hard to know exactly what parts you need until after you have taken apart what you are working on.

Even with all of the hassle of doing plumbing yourself, you can save a lot of money if you are patient and careful to do the job right.  I like to do my own plumbing whenever I can.

Changing a pop-up drain should be a pretty simple project.  This only involves the drain, so if it doesn't work out, you can avoid any leaks or damage simply by waiting to use that sink until everything is working right.

I would start by reading some articles about how to replace a pop-up drain.  I have an old Bob Vila home improvement book that I like to read before starting a new project.  You can also find articles like this one on the interenet:  How to Replace a Pop-up Drain.

It looks like you need to replace a bit of the drain assembly below the sink as well as the pop-up fixture that you can see from above the sink.  I would carefully disassemble the parts and then take the parts you removed into the home improvement shop to find suitable replacement parts.  If it doesn't work out for some reason, keep the receipt and you'll be able to get your money back or get different parts.

Best of luck!

Dr. Penny Pincher

Penny Pincher Journal

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Are You Headed For A Debt Crisis?

Guest Post

Today I am excited to introduce Gary Foreman who is the creator of The Dollar Stretcher.com.  The Dollar Stretcher is one of top personal finance sites on the internet in terms of traffic and prestige and has been running since 1996, which is basically forever in internet years!  Thanks to Gary for providing this wisdom on avoiding a debt crisis and finding the way out of debt.

I am proud to have one of the top personal finance publishers on the internet write a guest post for my blog.

Without further ado, here's Gary:

“I don't really have a debt problem. Right?”

Do You Have A Debt Problem?
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/download/frog-1367440_1920.jpg

We all know the story about the frog and boiling water. If you turn up the heat gradually the frog won't pay attention and will eventually be boiled. The same thing is true of debt. You'd never borrow $10,000 with nothing to show for it. But adding $100 or so to your credit card balance each month doesn't seem like a problem. Until the water starts to boil...

So how can you tell if like the frog, you debt is slowly killing you? We've come up with a list of indicators that it's time to be concerned about your debt. Review the list below and see if any of these apply to you:

• If your credit card balance is over $10,000 and rising
• If, after paying your bills, you don't have enough for your day-to-day living expenses (i.e. food, gas, etc)
• If you've been late paying your rent or mortgage more than once in the past 12 months
• If you're afraid to total up all your debts because you don't want to know how much you owe
• If you've been hiding some debts from your mate
• If the amount you owe on credit cards and personal loans is increasing each month
• If you use a cash advance on one card to make a minimum payment on another
• If the interest rate on your credit card increases to the upper teens or higher
• If you have to choose which bill you'll pay late this month
• If your credit card balance is more than 50% of your credit limit
• If you've been rejected lately when you applied for a new credit card or personal loan
• If you've paid overdraft fees twice in the last 3 months
• If your credit score has dropped more than 25 points in the last 6 months
• If the total that you pay in credit card minimum payments, student and personal loans totals more than 10% of your take home pay
• If your mortgage is more than 30% of your take home pay
• If car payments are taking up more than 15% of your take home pay
• If you find that you don't have any money left at the end of the month to add to an emergency fund or retirement account

The Price You Pay for Being In Debt

Before you decide to do something about debt, you need to recognize what that debt is costing you. We've listed a few of the prices you pay for being in debt.

• Higher interest rate for credit cards and personal loans
• Some loans are not available to you
• Higher auto insurance rates
• Money spent on interest cannot be used for other things
• Higher rate for home mortgage or home equity line
• Lower credit score
• You can't control how much you spend for past purchases each month

Is It Time to Take Action?

If you checked any of the problem indicators or find that you've suffered any of the costs of being in debt you have a choice to make.  You can continue to pay an ever increasing price for your debt and hope that eventually you don't lose everything in bankruptcy. Or you can take action to free yourself from it.  You can improve your penny pincher skills, and prioritize your bills. The choice is yours.


About the Author:
The Dollar Stretcher has been helping people "live better...for less" since 1996. Their free Dollar Stretcher Debt Course will introduce you to the tools you need to get out of debt. Sign up for their free weekly newsletter “Surviving Tough Times”. Each issue will show you ways to save money that can be used to reduce your debt burden. You'll also find at least one article specifically related to getting out of debt.

Penny Pincher Journal

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