Buy a car at invoice price (or very near)

Most people aren’t buying cars in our current economy, but if you are… this tip is for you. I used to sell car in college and this information is very real world.

Ask for the invoice. This should be in a big binder with lots of other invoices for cars. On the invoice, usually toward the bottom, “HB” or “Hold Back” will be typed with a number next to it.  

The holdback is money paid back to the dealership, from the manufacturer, after the car is sold. Think about it as a rebate coupon for dealerships. It’s unlikely that a salesman or dealership will be willing to give any or much of that money to you, but you should be able to get the price with the holdback included and any rebates that come from the manufacturer.

Obviously, this only works for new cars. 

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Give yourself money

Since high school, I’ve had a water bottle. You know, the 5-gallon, big one. It used to be a glass one, but now it’s plastic. I try to empty my pocket of change each day, but quarters are hard for me, they’re useful. This is a simple tip. Use it and you’ll be amazed at the amount money you accumulate. This tip is well known, but let me tell you, a glass bottle is better. Even if you want a few quarters, for parking, you’ll be hard pressed to overturn and shake such a heavy bottle. Sphere: Related Content

Free Internet access. Free ISP (Internet Service Provider)

In a previous post, I briefly wrote about “catching” a free wireless signal, either by chance, with an unsecured wireless connection, or at most pubic libraries and schools. While I’m frugal, I’m not giving up my high-speed connection, just yet. But, if you’re connecting via dial-up, you may be able to save some cash, connecting to the Internet for free.

If you’re considering this, please keep in mind that you will be hit with a few ads when connecting. Also, you’ll be limited to dial-up speeds. But, if you’re an infrequent net surfer, basically checking email and reading this blog, this may be an effective cost cutting measure for you.

United Online, the parent company of NetZero and Juno offers up to 10 hours of free Internet access through Net Zero at this link. If you POP, grab your mail quickly by a mail client, 10-hours/ month should be more that enough time for basic use. With this free access, you will not be supplied an email address, but that’s not a big issue as Google offers free mail and POP access through gmail at this link.

If you need more than 10 hours of access, you’ll have to research your local options. ISP Bargains has a list of options organized by state.

Take a look. See if this can work for you.

Even if you opt not to ditch your ISP for something free, signing up for free access could be useful as a backup. An example of this usefulness would be in the case of a power outage. Provided that you have a laptop with a charged battery and your landline is a standard line, not VOiP through your cable or phone company, you can make calls without electrical power. This call could be from your computer to an ISP, giving you access to the Internet. Sphere: Related Content

Half off Food and Groceries!

If you have a really large family, this deal is an easy one for you. If you’re in a small family or an individual, you may need to find a few friends to pull this one off. Regardless of size, you will need a business license or tax-exempt certificate from your non-profit. Is that hard, with so many fully or partially self-employed people in our new economy? I’m sure you know someone. Get your church or social group involved. Find a few like-minded people. Use the previous blog post Start a Business for Free.

No standard supermarket will be able to come close to the prices you’ll get at Restaurant Depot on staples like pasta, rice, or potatoes, not to mention bath tissue or paper towels. How cheap, you ask. In this month’s Northeast flyer (see for yourself), ground chuck is $1.85/lb. I don’t know where you shop, but that’s almost half price. Thinking of the season, turkeys are $0.99/lb. I suspect that you’re paying at least $1.50. To add to the savings, because Restaurant Depot is wholesale, there’s no sales tax. What’s the catch? Well… it’s a big one. Aside from the business stuff mentioned previously, the box is big. This place is made for restaurants. And while you can buy one turkey, what would a restaurant do with one chicken? Expect 30 chickens in a box.

Just writing that reminds me of a friend in college that had this friend that worked for a poultry company, who convinced us to chip in and get an obscene amount of wings at some ridiculous price. At the time, I had a thing for Buffalo wings. When it was all over, I couldn’t eat chicken for a year.

No, not again! As much as I like chicken, I can’t eat a whole chicken everyday, nor do I have the freezer space for that much chicken. Yes, this is where your friends come in. Any friend, group of friends, or newly found friends (because of this plan), that cook or have a family will gladly share low prices with you. Be communal about it. Pool your money together and get lots of stuff.

If you’re going communal and have a designated shopper for the group, consider giving that person a 10-20% discount on their purchases. It’s only right, as there’s some work to be done at Restaurant Depot. All of the sizes are large, there’s travel to and from, and occasionally shopping at Restaurant Depot can be a bit stressful. Maybe the business owners are stressed seeing money go out the door, but you should be whistling a sweet, sweet tune. If you’re the designated shopper, please remember the following:
• Eat before you go. You’ll need the energy for walking, lifting, and packing.
• Take a winter coat. Even if it’s 115 degrees outside. Restaurant Depot has a walk-in cooler and freezer section that will chill your bones. Really!
• Leave you coupons at home. They’re not going to take them, but at these prices, who cares?
• Be prepared to wander. Sometimes things are not where they’re listed.
• Pick up some extra plastic storage bags. You’ll need them.
• Keep your membership card with you and handy. You’ll need it when entering the building and again to check out.
• Shop for the specials. In general the best deals are seasonal and excess supply. If you are willing to be a generalist, you’ll get a better deal. One cut of meat, as opposed to another, may be on sale this week.

Go forth and save! Sphere: Related Content

Start a Business for Free...

It all depends on where you live.

There are many reasons one might start a business, from a brilliant idea, to selling items on eBay. The free part, this time, is just the business setup. You should, of course, do your homework. Learn the business you’re in and have a good business plan including strategies and financials; to ensure your business’s success.

So, on to the free… Setting up an LLC is a simple process in most states. If you live in Alabama, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, or Ohio you might even make some change. If you want a primer on LLC’s just Google Search “benefits of LLC”.

Once you’re ready, simply visit the Secretary of State webpage for your state or to see a list of state filing fees nicely compiled by ISG Telecom , visit this link . If your state is less than $75.00, you’re in luck. File the form either online, by mail, or in person. In person is usually faster. The form is relatively simple. If you can read, write, and have a concept of your business, you can file this form. Then go to your bank to get the cash back.

Most banks offer a referral for opening a business account. Your newly formed business will need an account. Bank of America, for example, offers $50.00 for the referral. Wachovia Bank gives $75.00 (I saw a placard in a branch), and your local bank may have a similar or better deal. Yes, there’s usually a minimum deposit and there may be some terms or conditions. Check with your bank for details.

That’s it.

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Pizza (Saving while making dough)

I love pizza! And it’s cheap! Ever wonder why there are so many pizza restaurants? I usually use the same dough recipe, which takes about a day. I was going to write a complete post about making pizza dough and sauce, but why do the parts that I can get for free? Hey I like free too.

I scoured the Internet for a recipe and method that would easily describe the hardest part, making dough. You can search yourself. On first read, many of the recipes seem a little dubious, but here’s a gem from a nice little blog that I can relate to called Fun Foods on a Budget. Stephanie does a quick and easy dough that almost anyone can make. Why bother with tons of work? Check it out (link). Divide the dough in half and make 2 pizzas, Half bake one and freeze it for later.

Need a quick and easy sauce from our grocery list try:

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients
1 Can 6 in 1 Ground Tomato
2 teaspoon Sugar
½ Onion Finely Chopped
3-5 Cloves of Garlic
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 teaspoon Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation
Cook this sauce before you make the dough in the recipe above to allow time for the sauce to cool.
1. Heat a dry sauce pan on medium heat
2. Add Oil, Onion, and Garlic
3. Cook until translucent maybe a little brown
4. Add 6 in1 Ground Tomato
5. Stir in Basil and Sugar
6. Bring to a simmer
7. Reduce heat and allow to cool
Now follow the pizza crust recipe. If you have too much sauce, save it for later or make more pizza.

Doing the math:











This is at least 2 to 3 servings per pizza, bringing the cost down to under $1.50 per serving. At these prices, you can throw in a salad. Enjoy! Sphere: Related Content

What’s for Breakfast?

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, comes at the worst time. You’re rushing to get out the door, but you need to eat. Should you stop at McDonalds or just grab coffee and a donut from who knows where? How about a real meal? Nice strips of crisp bacon, some home fries, eggs, and toast. The toast and the egg seem fast enough but I know you’re thinking…. home fries maybe on the weekend.

You can have it all quickly, maybe faster than driving to and through McDonalds.

Your secret weapon… the microwave. I know that you’re thinking the only good things that come out of a microwave are popcorn and left-overs, but here... two more uses.

Home Fried Potatoes
Summary
You can quickly make these potatoes each time you want them for breakfast or you can make a batch, store individual servings, and have them as fast as you can re-heat. You could purchase frozen potatoes at $3-5 for 20 oz (4-6 servings), but you can have pounds for that price. Really! A 5lb bag of potatoes is less money. See shopping list is the first Eat for less than $5 per day post.

Ingredients:
1 medium to large raw potato
1 T Oil (Vegetable, Olive, Corn, or Peanut, DO NOT USE BUTTER)
Seasoning to Taste

Preparation
1. Wash potato by hand under cold running water
2. Use a fork to poke holes to pierce the skin. These holes don’t need to be deep, but you should get them around the potato. 4-5 pokes should be good. These holes ensure that when microwaved, the potato will not explode.
3. Place the potato into the microwave oven. There’s no need to cover it or even place it on a dish. It should be fine all by itself.
4. Microwave the potato for 3-7 minutes. I wish that I could give you an exact time, but I don’t know how big of a potato you have or the power of your microwave. You’ll know that it’s done when you use the fork to poke the now microwaved potato and it’s no longer hard. Ideally you want the potato cooked and still slightly firm, but not mushy.
5. Heat a dry skillet on medium high heat atop the stove.
6. WARNING: After being microwaved that potato is HOT! Remove the potato from the microwave with an oven mitt or towel to a cutting board.
• If you’re prepping this ahead of time for the week and you’re making batches, you can let the potato cool so that it’s easier to work
7. Cut the potato into bite size pieces
8. Add the potato pieces to the dry heated pan in one layer. Do not crowd your pan. Do not stir!
9. Drizzle oil over the layer of potatoes. Do not stir!
10. Reduce heat to medium and wait until the bottoms of you potato pieces start to brown. You’ll see some color around the sides of the pieces.
11. Once browned on one side, give the pan a shake and a gentle stir to move the potatoes to another side.
12. Add salt and pepper. You can also add chopped onions and peppers now, or just sprinkle with a little onion powder
Aside from the initial microwaving preparation time is about 2-3 minutes. If you want to batch this, just remember not to place more than one loose layer of potatoes in your pan per batch.

Makin’ Bacon
Summary
I like crisp straight bacon, like the bacon I see on TV ads or the pre-cooked bacon in supermarkets these days. Hello again to my friend the microwave. It’s easy and clean up is a breeze. Use a plate, oven safe or paper, NOT Styrofoam. Cover the plate with a paper towel. Layout your strips of bacon on the paper towel. Place another paper towel on top. You could repeat this with a second or third layer of paper towels and bacon. I’ve done up to 4 layers at once. Just remember that you‘ll always want a layer of paper towel on top an bottom. Microwave the bacon on high for approximately 1 minute/ slice. This time will vary depending of the thickness of your bacon slices, power of your microwave and the amount of bacon on the plate. 45 seconds per slice could be enough, but each time you stop the microwave to check it will lengthen the cook time. After your first attempt at this, you’ll be a pro. If you over cook it the first time, you can save slightly overdone pieces for bacon bits on a salad. Once done, use a pair of tongs or chopsticks to remove the hot bacon from the paper towel. You may notice a lot of grease on the paper towel. Let it cool before you discard it. Excess cooked bacon (DON’ T EAT ALL OF IT) can be placed in a plastic bag or wrapped in aluminum foil and enjoyed later. Sphere: Related Content

Save money using The Cloud

Cloud computing is the new Internet buzz-word.
Cloud Computing ensures storage scalability for data including pictures, movies, and video, while providing complete secure access from any computer in the world. If you’ve ever lost data because of a system crash, harddrive failure, or even realized that you’ve left important documents at home or the office, cloud can ensure that you won’t be in that bind again.

Office Software
Cloud computing can save you money by eliminating the need for you to purchase some software. A good example of this is with Microsoft Office. According to Microsoft, Office will cost you at minimum $149.95, or up to $679.95. You could upgrade for $239.95 to 539.95 (link).
Well, there are pirated versions … but why chance malicious code or viruses and more than that why steal and be subject to prosecution. Use the cloud! Google allows you to use most of the functionality of Office with Googledocs (link). Once you set up an account you can enable gears that will allow you access to the files locally. Most of the functionality here seems to be based on OpenOffice (link), originally developed by Sun. This software gives you free legal license to office software for word processing, spreadsheets, drawing, and databases on almost any platform.

Screen Capture
Now that you have basic office software and with google docs you can share your documents you might want even more office freebies. Well if you’re attempting to show things that are on your computer screen you may want to take screen captures. Of course you could use “alt-printscreen” on a PC or “Command-Shift-3” on a Macintosh, but using those built in utilities you may leave you with excess images such as your menu bar. Try Jing (link) from Techsmith. It’s nice, easy, and free. Go download it. This won't save you money, as the basic functionality exist on your machine, but you'll save lots of time.

Fax Software
Need to receive faxes but don’t have a fax machine? If you’re computer has a modem (that’s connected to phone line) you can probably use the software that can with your computer. But, what if you’re not connected to a phone line or even on the phone. Try efax. Efax (link) will give you a fax number that will receive faxes then forward them to you email. There’s a limit per month but it works very well. I’ve used it for years. You can send faxes either from your modem or use FaxZero (link). Again there’s a limit for free usage but it works well when someone cannot receive a file via email. This could save you on the cost of a seldom used fax machine and definitly the electricity used by the machine being on constantly.

Free Internet Access
Many free services require that you have Internet access. I carry my main machine, a laptop, with me most places and get free Internet access easily and freely quite often. Often there are open personal wireless networks with which one can connect. There are free wireless networks at most schools and universities. And almost every library across the U.S. has wireless access. Also here’s a list of free hotspots. Just remember to visit the site and save a document with locations before you need them.

Turning Any Computer Into Your Own
Have you ever been away from your computer and wanted access to you files? Well you could enable filesharing from your computer, use shared documents on googledocs, or try Desktop 2 (link). This software from Sun is like having a virtual computer. Files stored here are accessible from any computer with an internet connection. Once logged in, you have a desktop, similar to Windows or Macintosh OS, with all the files you use. Free access is always good.

Free Conference Calling
Do you want to get people communicating together for free? Try FreeConferenceCall.com (link). You should be able to save some money for your small or large business easily.

Free Entertainment
No need to pay for DVD rentals or purchases or even to go to the movies. Try SurfTheCannel (link).

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Eat for less than $5 per day.

For $5 you could get a foot-long or maybe a burger and fries off the dollar menu, but that’s one meal on one day. How about $5 for three full meals?
This first Why Pay More post is all about eating well at rock bottom prices.
Food, we all must have it and I’ve feed myself well for a month for less than the cost of a night or two out. If you want to try this you’ll need to do a little cooking, but it’s not hard and I’ll take you through it step-by-step. Yes, you’ll need to invest a little time, but I’ve found that most of it can be done on the weekend while you’re doing you other chores, like cleaning or washing clothes, usually an hour or two on Sunday for me. Throughout the week when you’re busy with work and life, you’ll simply heat up a meal. There’s little real cooking during the week.
You will need some kitchen basics, which I’ll go into detail about later things like pots, pans, plastic wrap, etc. So, what on the menu? No, you won’t be eating Ramen and cornflakes like a college student.
Here are some sample menus
Menu 1
Braised Short Ribs
Buttered Noodles
Green Beans
Menu 2
Roasted Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Menu 3
Lasagna
Salad
Menu 4
Fried Chicken
Rice and Beans
Menu 5
Pot Roast
Roasted Potatoes
Roasted Vegetables
Menu 6
Pasta w/meat sauce
Broccoli
Menu 7
Chicken Salad
Pasta Salad
Menu 8
Pepper Steak
Rice
Vegetable
Menu 9
Curried Chicken
Rice
Peas
Here’s a look at the shopping list. The prices were sourced from Safeway’s website. Feel free to research the prices or maybe find better prices elsewhere. I am not, nor do I expect you to be, a calorie counter, but the average adult needs about 2,000 calories per day, so this list calculates the minimum number of calories in this list to ensure that there are at least 60,000 (2,000 per day for 30 days)
Shopping List

To download an Excel version click Shopping List

Here is the first recipe. Check back for more.

Braised Beef Ribs

Summary
This recipe delivers a hearty, simple, one pot, stove top dish that allows you to start cooking then walk away as it finishes itself. Take the simmer time to read a book, watch TV, exercise, or do house chores. You’ll be well rewarded when you’re done. True oenophiles may choose to substitute wine for the water or some of the stock mentioned in this recipe.

Ingredients
2 tablespoon oil (olive oil, butter, or blend)
4 pounds beef back ribs – individually cut (big ones, not thin cross cuts)
1 onion - chopped
3 carrots - chopped
3 celery ribs - chopped
2 tablespoons flour
4 garlic cloves – peeled and chopped
2 cups beef stock, homemade or reduced sodium chicken broth or bullion
1 cup water
One 14 1/2-ounce can tomatoes
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
black pepper to taste

Preparation
1. Heat a large pot or stovetop safe casserole dish on stove top using medium-high heat until warm
2. Add onion, carrots, and celery (do not stir)
3. Add olive oil, butter, a pinch of salt and pepper (do not stir)
4. Once onion, carrots, and celery slightly brown, stir
5. Remove onion, carrots, and celery to a plate or bowl, once slightly browned but still firm (do not reduce heat or clean pot)
6. Add beef back ribs to pot in batches to pot to quickly brown outside (do not cook through) after browning set aside on a separate plate.
7. Add one half of the slightly browned onion, carrots, celery back to the pot along with chopped garlic
8. Reduce heat to medium
9. Cook until vegetables are soft
10. Add flour and stir until incorporated and slightly browned (not burned)
11. Add stock and canned tomatoes
12. Use a potato masher, whisk, wooden spoon, mixer, or blender to blend cooked vegetables, smooth (or at least less chunky)
13. Reduce heat to medium low
14. Add browned beef back ribs and any juices to pot
15. Add water as needed to slightly cover ribs
16. Add bay leaf
17. Skim any excess fat
18. Simmer uncovered until braising liquid is reduced by half (1 to 2 hours)
19. Remove and discard bay leaf
20. Add remaining half browned but firm vegetables
21. Heat until vegetables are warm
22. Season with salt and pepper to taste then serve
Makes 8 servings. Eat one now.
Once you’re done. Bag or plate the other 7 individual servings and refrigerate or freeze them for another day.


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Welcome...

Welcome to my Why Pay More blog.
This blog is dedicated to saving you money in our current tough times. Through the posts here, we’ll explore cost saving measures that will greatly reduce expenses and some that are free. Use these tips, links, and skills to save money for yourself, family, or company. Topics will include eating cheap, energy saving tips, reducing the cost of computing, and lowering expenses in general.


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