Let’s face it, going out to each is just a part of the dating game. And if you’re not a coupon person then there’s still ways to save without anyone knowing (it just might take a little planning before hand).

If you know your favorite restaurants and they’re part of big chains that offer gift cards then there’s ways to save up to 20% in buying unwanted gift cards.

Now if you want to compound these savings then you’ll want to think about lunch dates instead of dinner dates. I’ve seen certain restaurants where the appetizer jump a dollar to three dollars each after the lunch hours (usually ending around 4pm but you have to check with each restaurant individually).

As another note – if you received gift cards for the holidays that you you know you won’t use then Gift card exchanges can be the perfect place to change those for cash or amazon credit.

I’ve actually used this service and it took 8 days from the date I bought the card and it saved me 7%. Then I tacked on a coupon and took another 20% off making my date a little lighter on my wallet.

I’d love to hear if you’ve had good or bad experiences.

There was a recent article in Smart Money magazine about how more and more people are cutting their cable service. A research consulting group has estimated that over 800,000 U.S. households have canceled their TV service in the past 2 years alone. This should not be surprising with all the free options for entertainment available on line.

According to the NCTA (National Cable & Telecommunications Association) for March 2010 their operating metrics are as follows:

Basic Video Customers – 61.8 million
Digital Video Customers – 43.5 million
source (http://www.ncta.com/Statistics.aspx)

The average cable bill per month is somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. (that’s $1200 per year just to have advertisers tell you what you want to buy!) Switching to free or alternative sources of entertainment such as YouTube, BlockBuster DVD rentals by Mail and online, Netflix Streaming is usually around $20 per month and without all the commercials.

Even if you wanted local TV then just purchasing a HDTV decoder box is about $50.  (And a lot of the new televisions have the decoders already built into them.) Now if you’re in a rural area where the broadband infrastructure hasn’t been built out just yet, then I could see why you might want to keep your satellite tv service.  But if you can get cable or DSL service then there’s ways to find deals for only having broadband and getting your entertainment strictly from on-line.

Even if you’re a sports fanatic there’s ways to live without a TV subscription.  All of the major sports have their games streamed on-line for a small subscription cost. If you sign up early like before the season starts then that’s usually when the best deals are available. Also ESPN.com offers their ESPN360 service allowing viewers to watch games on-line.

According to a techcrunch.com article800,000 people dropped cable and satellite over the past 2 years. And according to their forcasted numbers that number is supposed to jump to 1.6 million by the end of this year.

If you’re ready to cut the line and put 60 – 90 bucks on average back into your budget each month then here are your best options:

Netflix http://www.netflix.com

Netflix can be watched from a multitude of devices these days, and although the fees have risen just a bit this last year you have the option of watching on anything ranging from a laptop to a mobile phone to a Wii or even a PS3. Their plans start at $9 a month and they’ll give you the first month for free.

There’s no commercials when watching content on Netflix since you are paying for the subscription.

HULU http://www.hulu.com

Hulu provides on-line content for NBC universal and streams many of their past and present shows on-line.  You will be watching commercials at certain intervals which keep the content free at hulu.

Apple TV http://www.apple.com/appletv

Apple TV is a network device for both Macintosh and PC computers that allows users to download, stream, and view High Definition television shows on demand via iTunes. This is a whole different piece of hardware that you will need to buy and you would have to purchase each piece of content separately from iTunes.

We’re in a new year and with that comes new ways to save.  I’ve found that one of the best things to help you save money is your smart phone. And although I can’t speak for iPhone (I didn’t find it a frugal choice seeing as  you only had one choice of carriers and a small choice of plans) there’s lots of choices when it comes to android phones and apps.

Of course all the apps featured here are FREE and the theme of these are to save you money (as opposed to help you manage your money or your dating life)


Keyring – (http://keyringapp.com/) This one is great because it allows you to organize all those little plastic rewards cards that are always hanging on your keys (or in your wallet).  As an added bonus it will show the electronic coupons that are available for certain merchants as well as send you more electronic coupons via cellphone.

Search keyring on the android app store.


ScoutMob – This app shows local restaurants and merchants that have are participating in the savings and the first time you use the offer you usually get 50% off your bill (excluding alcohol). The second time you visit the same restaurant or merchant you get 20% off your bill.

Now the eateries and services that were offered in local Atlanta area wern’t the cheapest to start off with however with 50% off then it allowed me to splurge at a few places that I wouldn’t normally.

(Search ScoutMob on the android app store)


The AAA app – I always kept a AAA membership just in case I needed a tow or a tire change (especially in nasty weather).  I can remember once or twice reading about how having a AAA membership can save you money at other merchants, but it was never convenient to carry an AAA book around and try to look up what merchants would give discounts for showing your membership card.

This all changes with the free AAA app which uses your GPS location to show you either a map view or a list view all the different merchants that are participating and the amount of discounts that they offer.

There are more than 110,000 AAA Show Your Card & Save locations and more than 51 million AAA members in North America. The AAA Discounts app provides maps with pan and zoom functionality and displays key information including each retail partner’s name, address and phone number, a summary of the discount details and the distance to the location from the user’s current position. One click provides narrative directions to the location.

(Search AAA on the android app store)


Pocket Auctions -  This is the unofficial eBay app for android and the best eBay app out there. After you’ve entered in your ebay account information then you can see the items you’re watching, bid and pay for items, scan a barcode and try to search for it priced on eBay and more.

I’ve personally used this one to buy cheap tickets to sporting events, track the price on my auctions (it will also remind you when auctions you are watching or bidding on are about to end and your status).

This app did win the eBay developer award.

(search pocket auctions OR eBay on the android market)


ShopSavvy – (http://shopsavvy.mobi/) The original bar code scanning app for android still rules the roost.  Using the camera on your phone you can scan the bar code of an item you’re about to buy. The ShopSavvy app will then go out to the internet and search all the different stores and online retailers to find the prices out there to see if you really are getting the best deal possible.

(Search ShopSavvy on the android market)

If you’re a droid (or a hero) or any part of the android revolution and your date is as well then you can have a fun interactive time just giving a few simple tips, tricks, and pointers.

The first thing I’ve found is that your phone can be a great conversation starter especially when you want to stear away from the regular questions that sound like a job interview that make everyone so nervous. Ask about their favorite apps they’ve downloaded – this alone can give you a lot of insight into the person they are.

Next ask if they update their apps regularly. If they ask you what you mean, tell them trust the developers are constantly making the applications better so you’re missing out if you don’t get the updates. Then you can show them how by simply going to the marketplace -> downloaded apps and looking at which ones are at the top of the list and show the red update available.

Here’s a perfect example of this: I was out with a lady who had a G1 and just loved Handcent for SMS, but never updated it. After the latest update she was able to attach pictures to her text messages AND I installed a font pack or two so conversations with her best friend were “prettier”.

She was impressed enough to be the one that sent me a txt message later asking what I was doing (with a little thank you).

What did all of this cost either of us? Only a few smiles – now that’s what I call value.

In our previous postings about take advantage of savings (part 1, part 2) we were talking about how to do a little bit of a paperwork shuffle to get savings that you were most likely missing out on already.

This week we’ll take a look at more of in innards of you financial machine to see if by adding a touch of lube. (now I know all about the system that totally disregards borrowing money of any kind and disregards the FICO score, however in America your credit score seems to be tied to too much to just disregard it.)

Why is it so important to monitor your credit?

According to a report by the U.S. Public Research Interest Groups in 2004, one in four Americans had serious enough errors that would have resulted in a denial of credit.  Even worse, 79% of those surveyed had at least some form of error.

Who’s checking your credit score these days?

• Potential Employers
• Banks (not only if you’re trying to refianace right now, but watch an inquiry show up if you open up a new checking account)
• Utility Companies (Electric, Gas, and others check and if they don’t like what they see then you’ll need to fork over a big deposit)
• Cable and Satallite TV providers (they want to know you’re going to be able to furfill your contract so they get their money back for the equiptment they gave you)
• Cell phone companies
• Car Insurance ( You Insurance rates can fluxuate based on your credit score and how their “computer” sees you )
• Home Insurance
• Landlords (if you’re moving around looking for a new place to rent – once again this can determin how much of a deposit you’ll have to lay out)

Here’s the breakdown of how Fair Isaac calculates your credit score:

The problem these days is that which score to use? Each of the 3 major credit beurus seem to have their own score calculating system. But most financial institutions, utility companies, and Insurance companies still use the FICO standard. This means that your score can only range from 300 – 800.

Adding Points to your score:

So let’s go over a few quick ways to start to add points to your score

Get a copy of your credit report and examine it for errors. (AnnualCreditReport.com is where to go to get a free copy – stay away from the site with the catchy jingle)

is another place to go to look at your credit report (and score) online for free. Once you’ve viewed your report then you can look for any inconsistancies and use the online tools to dispute any inaccuracies. Although this sounds great in theory this is sometimes harder then it appears. Companies can “prove” accounts with as little as dot matrix printouts showing the account number name and date which is easily available from the credit report itself.

Increasing Credit Lines. If you have credit cards in good standing then you can request the issuing bank to increase the limit therefore showing a better debt to available credit ratio.

Goodwill letters. Another technique is goodwill letters. writing a letter to one of the companies that has put a stain on your report is to write to them after a period of time has passed and request (in a very nice way) that they stop contesting the charges when you dispute the inaccuracy or to remove the negative item with all (or partial) payment.
NOTE: Since most goodwill letters offer a submission of guilt this should be one of the latter techniques used.

Have you ever gone into a place that has the sign out front saying “Wi-Fi available” only to open up your netbook, laptop, or smartphone and try to connect where you get to the entry page that asks you for your credit / debit card number? This happened to me one time while waiting to meet a friend at a McDonalds that had said Wi-Fi inside on the signs outside the building.

Little did I know that when I logged in I had to cough up $3.50 an hour for that access. Because I was out of town and needed to check my email and some other things online I didn’t have much of a choice but I pleged to find better options. I did and now I’m here to share them with you.

Someone has put together a site which lists most of the Free wi-fi access areas by state.  wififreespot.com. Now it’s not about to win any awards for design, but I’ll take good substance and information over cool flash and nothing else anyday. On the homepage you’ll find a list of states, then once you click on the state you’ll be able to scroll down to your city or the city you’re visiting – they’re all listed in alphabetical order.

As long as you have a wi-fi card (either internal or external) on your laptop or netbook. And just about all netbooks have internal wireless cards, then just take a quick look at the list and put that plastic away – we’re trying to be frugal here.

So it’s Sunday and you might have had a weekend full of hitting the bars and are feeling like a bus just ran over you.  (Especially if you’ve taken advantage of our newly updated Happy Hour Guide). Maybe you have the luxery of just sleeping it off, but maybe you have things to do and / or have to go to work.

Well from the Free stuff for Singles dept we’ve tracked down a sample of Drinkin’ Mate Tabs.

The Process is pretty simple – CLICK HERE

Fill out the form – (they will ask a few questions to get some demographic information)

Submit and wait.

Once you get yours and use it there’s an opportunity to write a testimonial and win a $100 Walmart gift card so you might be in for that extra bonus.

~PLEASE VISIT OUR ADS- HELP KEEP US FREE~

We’re going to continue our series of taking advantage of savings from part 1 here with asking the question of Do you FLEX?

This has to be one of the more timely topics with all the healthcare buzz going around, and we’re going getting into any of the politics here (cause there’s thousands of other blogs ranting and raving about that) but we’re going to take another look at being able to save more of the dollars that you’re already spending.

The FLEX in the question refers to Flexible spending accounts used with health care spending. The funny thing is though, most people don’t even take the time to read through all the things that are eligible for the dollars that you put into them. Now I’m going to look at things from a Single person’s point of view (because that’s who this blog is for).

Let’s go through a case scenario to see what we could save:

Assumption 1)  You’re spending around $1000 per year on Health care & related costs currently (not including catastrophic events)
Assumption 2) Currently you’re using after tax dollars to pay your doctor, dentist & Rx co-pays as well as other health care items
Assumption 3) By using pre-tax dollars you could save 7.5% on every dollar (once again modest but realistic)
Yearly Savings ($1000 X 0.075) = $75

Now once again 75 bucks isn’t a whole lot of money, but if you took that and added it to the $60.36 that could have been saved from part 1, then you’re already up to $135.36.

Now if you’re not already signed up for the Flexible Spending option with your Employer, most likely you’ll have to wait until open enrollment time comes around (but in most cases that’s right around the corner). Here’s an excellent article from CNNMoney.com about open enrollement options.

Paying for the doctor or dentist or even items at the drugstore isn’t any kind of hassle, In my case with my current plan I simply have a “credit / debit card” that is for health care expenses only. Now with a previous employer the FLEX spending reimbursement was a little tricker, you had to pay out of pocket first and keep the receipts then fill out the plan’s little spreadsheet at the end of the month (because everyone loves filling out another expense report) and then mail or fax it off to the company. A week or so later you would receive a check in the mail for the approved expenses.

Approved expenses is where everyone falls short though.

Money Magazine actually listed a “trick” with FSA’s (or Flexible Spending Accounts are their 76th (out of 100) top 100 annual money moves for 2009 and here it is:

Best Sly Money Move you Don’t Know About

If you’re leaving your job this year and have a flexible spending account (FSA) for health-care expenses, listen up. Let’s say you agreed to contribute $3000 to your FSA in 2009 via payroll deduction. You would have put in only about $1000 by now. But thanks to the quirky rules governing the plans, you’re eligible to be reimbursed up to the full $3000 for the expenses you incur before your last day on the job. To be safe, file all claims by the time you leave.

What’s that mean in plain english? If you’re on the downsize list for your company or department for the next quarter (or you just have a bad feeling) you might want to use up your maximum contribution limit to your Flex plan now. You could actually turn out ahead. You’ll have only paid in to the point of what you’re paycheck deductions are to this point in the year, but you’re able to spend up to the full year’s calculated savings. And if you’re downsized then they’re not going to deduct that amount from your paycheck anymore. (Most companies who run flexible benefits programs simply recover those costs from expired benefits after the year, since unlike Healthcare Savings Accounts or HSAs Flex account funds are only good for one year and then relinquished).

If you’re thinking of feeling guilty, well #1 you’re not breaking any rules (after all this tip was published in a major financial peridicial) and #2 who’s looking out for you these days? It has to be you.

Sometimes the most memorable things about a date is the way the other person smelled. And although that can be definatelly used against you if you’re personal hygene isn’t up to par, but if it is and you have a collection

Here’s a free one to add for all the Ladies out there.

Sarah Jessica Parker is promoting her new line of perfumes / fragrances and is offereing a free sample.

Simply follow the link here

Once the page loads click on Request a sample on the top menu

Fill out the form and wait 6-8 weeks.

Hopefully it will be worth the wait

(and as I said on a previous post for the ladies for the male fragrance offer, guys you might want to sign up for this one as a back up gift for a B or C list friend in case funds are extremely tight around the holidays)

I was talking to a c0-worker at work this week about an article I read in my July copy of Smart Money magazine asking if they knew they were able to  take out the money they were using for public transportation pre-tax from their paycheck.

Employees can now set aside up to $230 pretax dollars a month from their paycheck for public-transportation costs.

What most people don’t understand is the real difference between pre-tax and after-tax dollars. The bottom line is if you can find ways to get the things that you’re already spending money on with pre-tax dollars then you’re essentially giving yourself a free raise.

Well look at a quick scenario to get a better understanding of how this can work

Assumption 1) Your monthly bus pass costs $67
Assumption 2) You’re currently buying your pass with after tax dollars
Assumption 3) By using pre-tax dollars you could save 7.5% on each dollar (a modest but realistic rate)

Monthly Savings (67 x .075) = $5.03
Yearly Savings $60.36

Now $60 really isn’t anything to get excited about, and can hardly be called a personal “raise”, but in times when everyone is taking pay cuts and ferlow days something extra and something positive is a nice touch.  The best part is, that you’re not having to do anything more or less except go through a few steps with your HR person.  (If you’re ever used a FLEX spending account or HSA then you understand)

The law also permits employees to pay their own transit and qualified vanpool commuting costs with pre-tax dollars.

I only brought this up because I know that everyone is trying to save every little bit that they can these days. That and there was a point in time last summer (as long ago as that was) when gas was over $4 a gallon and people started to take more advantage of the public transportation o

There’s an opposite side of this whole coin as well. It’s going to take a little spending to get the gears of the economy going again. If everyone just saves everything left over after necessities then the wheels of commerce are never going to get greased. So hopefully that extra $5 a month will let you eat out, go out for coffee, or leave someone a bigger tip when you do go out so that we work our way out of this in a timely matter.

Here’s a link to the Smart Money Article “Secret” Stimulus Savings.

Here’s the link to the offical Public Transportation Organization Page about the program and the PDF brochure to take to your HR person