Owner: The Grumpstump URL:http://www.grumpstump.com Join Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:39:28 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A personal finance blog about life, money, politics, technology, freebies, and more... Site statistics:Click here
Free Dollar Friday : Gather for Dollars 2007-06-22 06:07:49 I am officially starting a new feature this week called Free Money Friday
. It’s pretty simple. I’ll let you know about something I have found on the internet and liked, and the first 5 people to try it out and leave a post will have $1 either sent to their Paypal account or donated to the charity of their choice!
(more…)
Free Dollar
Friday, Freebies, Gather, Web Money
Big Texas = Big Wind Power = Big $$$ 2007-06-21 07:07:01 After I found a site on how to build my own personal wind turbine yesterday and other examples of alternative energy applications, I’ve gotten back on an alternative energy kick. The potential business of alternative energy fascinates me (I’m considering starting a side-blog on it but I kind of have a lot on my plate right now so you Grump readers will have to put up with it)
(more…)
alternative energy, alternative energy, biggest, Boone Pickens, boone pickens, energy, Money, Money Science, new, News, Texas
, Texas panhandle, wind turbine, windmill, wind turbine
Is your Home Appreciation Bogus? 2007-06-20 07:11:42 Many people in America consider their personal residence to be a major investment in their lives. Others prefer not to include it in their net worth.
This is a very large debate with many different facets to it. Today let’s talk about ‘appreciation’ , which is often cited as one of the major reasons your home is an asset. It is something that you control that becomes more valuable every year, this is good right?
(more…)
Home, Net Worth, Real Estate Read more:Bogus
Should you use a Realtor when buying or selling a home? 2007-06-19 21:23:24 I am always one who is out looking for a deal, or one who will do something myself if I think I can do just as good of a job as a hired service. As handy as I can be sometimes, does it make sense to extend it into the world of buying and selling
real estate without broker assistance?
(more…)
Home, Marketing, Real Estate Read more:Realtor
Good Weekend at the Antique Store! 2007-06-18 06:20:13 This weekend we sold almost $300 worth of merchandise at the antique booth! That, combined with our earnings from the first half of the month, will net us enough to cover rent as well as go buy about $200 worth of merchandise even if we don’t sell anything else for the rest of the month (2 more full weekends). It’s great to see this thing start to cash flow, even if it is just a self-sustaining adventure, it has been a fantastic learning experience so far.
/grump
No Tags Read more:Weekend
, Antique
, Store
Portfolio Dividend Increase: Prospect Capital Corp 2007-06-17 22:53:47 As I was going through the process of opening up a Zecco Account recently, I picked up a share of Prospect
Capital Corp (PSEC) as one of my sample trades.
On Friday, I noticed that they raised their dividend up to $0.39 a share. This represents 15% year over year increase in their Dividend
. That’s not to shabby at all!
(more…)
Alternative Income, Dividend Stocks, Dividends, Invest, Investing, Money, Prospect Capital, PSEC Read more:Portfolio
I’m not good at Cable Company Arbitrage… 2007-06-15 07:05:08
This guy looks like he’s a pretty good pirate. I was trying to be a good pirate too&hellip
;.
I had a door to door salesman come by my house today. Ironically enough, I was actually home from work, chose to answer the door, and decided to listen to what he had to say.
This is doubly surprising because the last time a door to door salesman came by my house, he asked my girlfriend if her parents were home….. I probably would have bought some Omaha Steaks from him too….
(more…)
Arbitrage
, ATT, Cable
, Cingular, Deals, Dish TV, Home, Home Improvement, Pirating, Price Comparison, Review, Time Warner
Use Cheap or Free Business Cards to Promote your Web Business 2007-06-14 06:59:02 I’m trying out a marketing twist for one of my new sites : The Houston Antique Source.
I’ve been looking for a way to advertise and promote the site effectively, when I got the idea last week to order some business cards for it.
Business
cards can be a great way to advertise a side project or even yourself. Here’s some quick reasons why I decided to grab some for my business.
(more…)
Alternative Income, Antiques, business cards, Freebies, Marketing, Review, VistaPrint, Web Money Read more:Cheap
, Cards
, Promote
, Free Business
Zecco Vs. SogoInvest: Discount Broker Review Comparison 2007-06-13 21:55:35 In the final post of my Zecco Review series, I am going to compare several of the features of Zecco to the other discount broker I currently use: Sogoinvest.
(more…)
Banking, Business, DiscountBroker
, Dividends, Invest, Money, Money Tech, Price Comparison, Retirement, Review, Reviews, Sogoinvest, zecco
Dividend Investment Strategy Part 3 : Screening Tools 2007-06-13 07:13:08 This is Part 3 in a series. Make sure and visit Part 1 and Part 2 to get caught up.
Previously, we had discussed our criteria for choosing the dividend stock of our dreams.
They were:
Dividend
Size
Frequency
Type of Equity
Reliability
Sustainability
Knowing this is all well and good but without some screening tools to narrow the vast ocean of stocks down to a manageable bucketful, it doesn’t do us much good.
here are 5 good tools to get us started on some ideas:
(more…)
Alternative Income, Dividend Stocks, Dividends, Invest, Investing, Retirement, Reviews, stock screen Read more:Strategy
, Screening
, Tools
, Strategy Part
Weekend Round-up: Unbankable, Carnivals, Antiques and More 2007-06-25 06:22:38 Wow, what a busy weekend. I went to two auctions this weekend, buying up a bunch of furniture to refill the booth from the sales of the last couple of weeks. On Sunday, a huge buffet that we had in the booth sold! Our highest priced item! This is great except that now we need to go back to more auctions this weekend to fill that spot. It’s a vicious cycle, but lots of fun, we are really enjoying it.
(more…)
Alternative Income, Antiques
, Banking, Carnival, Free Dollar Friday, Money, News, Personal Finance Read more:Weekend
, Carnivals
Free Dollar Friday: Squidoo for a buck or two 2007-06-29 07:02:18 Free DollarFriday
is Back! That means it’s time to give away money to you for trying out free things that I think are cool! As always, a shiny $1 bill will be given to either you or the charity of your choice.
Last week’s Free Dollar Friday is still up for grabs as well. Sign up for Gather and get a Dollar. So far only Kinney has taken advantage of it. His dollar is going to Kiva.org - a charity based on micro-loans that’s pretty fascinating. I will be closing last week’s FDF tonight, June 29, at Midnight CDT. only 4 spots left!
On to this week’s Free Dollar Friday!….
(more…)
Free Dollar Friday, Freebies, squidoo, Web Money Read more:Squidoo
Buffet Makes Politicians look Dumb: Not Surprising but Definately Entertaining. 2007-06-28 00:32:06 Warren Buffet
meets Hillary Clinton to talk about money.
Buffet dumbfounds the room by asking why he is only taxed at 17.7 % of his income while everyone that works under him and makes less is taxed at or near 30%.
He then offered $1 million to anyone in the room who could cite a single example of their boss being taxed at a higher effective rate. He made a room full of people who’s job is to direct and shape long term monetary policy look like complete morons.
(more…)
Buffet, Capitalism, Economy, efficiency, News, taxes Read more:Definately
, Entertaining
Staying Focused: Proper Task Management for Work 2007-06-27 06:24:07 This is part two of a series on how to stay focused on life so you can do more, live more, and have more fun.
I’ve decided to start by looking at good processes for Task Management
. This is the area I feel I am the strongest in and can offer the best advice on. I will start out with work based task management and move on to personal and finance task management in the next installment.
By far and away, the most important aspect of managing tasks effectively is prioritizing well. Of course this sounds easy enough, but it is often the most challenging part. What you feel is the most important or the most enjoyable task you need to complete very well may not be the highest priority task. Sound confusing? Let’s break priorities down into steps and then we’ll talk about how to attack that seemingly unending list of things you have to do.
(more…)
lifehack, Productivity, staying focused, task management, work flow Read more:Focused
, Proper
How to Turn Plastic into Oil in three easy steps 2007-06-27 00:07:53
Buy this extra special microwave. Here’s a video of the magnificent machine in action.
Adopt a Highway in order to have free labor collect free trash for you. Hey, even the bags can be turned into oil!
Profit.
The Trash economy could very easily become an important part of the next 20 years. If these get cheap enough for small company use, I would buy one and get a diesel vehicle… free gas for life!
Photo Courtesy of Global Resource Corporation.
/grump
alternative energy, Business Models, Economy, gas, Money Science, Money Tech, oil, Trash Read more:Plastic
, steps
Staying Focused: Tips and Tricks Part One 2007-06-26 06:52:15 This week I have decided to write a short series on staying focused. I think most people can agree that there is a lot of ‘personal’ in personal finance. By extension, concentration can be a very powerful tool to help you meet goals - for free.
The Problem: I’ve had a difficult time in my life staying on task and concentrating on one thing at a time. I always complete my objectives on time and with a high degree of quality, but the more and more I look at it I feel like time is wasted. Switching between tasks, interruptions, and other minor things cause my work flow to slow down significantly. Some days I feel like I am just reacting to what is happening around me.
(more…)
concentration, personal finance, Productivity, staying focused, task management, time management, work flow Read more:Focused
Make a Major Dent on your Power Bill for Cheap 2007-07-02 06:30:27 On Thursday, I received my power bill for the last half of May and the First half of June. The total? $436.50!!! Over the past month I had made a concerted effort to reduce my power bill. Everything was turned off all day, the thermostat was set at 75, and we turned everything off before bed as well. The result for all of my hard work? a 50% Increase in my power usage.
This weekend I decided some drastic measures must be taken. It will be a month before I see the results, but I’m reasonably confident I will be able to reduce my power bill significantly with the changes I made. My total cost: less than $40.
These are the different factors I looked at:
(more…)
Home, Home Improvement, hot water heater, Power, power drains, radiant heat, thermostat, Tips and Tricks, weatherstripping Read more:Major
, Cheap
Reverse Product Placement - Kwik-E-Mart-keting 2007-07-01 23:02:45
7-11 has been mocked for years by ‘The Simpsons’ with it’s Kwik-E-Mart Chain. Now 7-11 is trying to turn all of this slightly negative publicity into a PR home run.
Using what is defined as ‘reverse product placement’ 7-11 is turning 11 stores into Kwik-E-Marts complete with Buzz Cola and Krusty-Os.
This could be huge dollars for the chain leading up to the full length ‘Simpsons’ Movie this summer.
Or 7-11 could get Squishee on their face.
Only time will tell.
/grump
Photo Courtesy of Associated Press.
7 11, kwik e mart, Marketing, News, promotion, simpsons, Uncategorized Read more:Reverse
, Placement
Free Dollar Friday: Independence Edition 2007-07-06 07:04:47
Ok, Since I’ve had a pretty bad case of writers block since making a Squidoo lens on Stairway to Heaven last night, I’m going to take it easy this week.
Not One person has signed up for Squidoo - for free! - in order to get a free dollar. Bah. Previous week’s Free DollarFriday
will continue until Sunday Night. $10 still available for grabs.
Alternatively, leave a comment to this post with your favorite summer activity for under $5.… (more…)
Cheap Fun, Free Dollar Friday, Freebies, fun with friends, squidoo
Read more:Independence
, Edition
Poor Countries are a lot like Poor People: Drilling Down the wealth gap 2007-07-05 06:54:20
There is a school of thought that the sole reason poor countries are poor is corruption. Infrastructure, education, poor resources and more can all be overcome with time, but nothing can destroy economic and societal growth quite like corruption.
A fantastic article titled ‘Why poor countries are poor’ was published at Reason.com last year. While the article may be slightly dated, I don’t believe the basic principle is.
After thinking about it, I believe there is a correlation that can be drawn between rich and poor countries and rich and poor people using the same idea.
Here’s why:
(more…)
Capitalism, corruption, Economy, efficiency, Money Politics, News, Personal Finance
Read more:Countries
Fourth of July Economics : How much bang for your Buck? 2007-07-03 06:58:05 The Fourth of July has always been one of my two or three favorite holidays of the year. I lived out in the country so we always had a massive cookout, tons of guests, and shot off thousands of dollars of fireworks. An absolute blast. Fourth of July can seem bigger than life, but I began to wonder… how big is it?
From the 2004 Census Fact Sheet. (Sorry guys couldn’t find anything newer.)
(more…)
Economy, Facts, fireworks, fourth of july, Holiday, Money Politics, Tips and Tricks, windmill
Read more:Economics
Make a Major Dent on your Power Bill for Cheap 2007-07-02 06:30:27 On Thursday, I received my power bill for the last half of May and the First half of June. The total? $436.50!!! Over the past month I had made a concerted effort to reduce my power bill. Everything was turned off all day, the thermostat was set at 75, and we turned everything off before bed as well. The result for all of my hard work? a 50% Increase in my power usage.
This weekend I decided some drastic measures must be taken. It will be a month before I see the results, but I’m reasonably confident I will be able to reduce my power bill significantly with the changes I made. My total cost: less than $40.
These are the different factors I looked at:
(more…)
Home, Home Improvement, hot water heater, Power, power drains, radiant heat, thermostat, Tips and Tricks, weatherstripping
Read more:Major
, Cheap
Reverse Product Placement - Kwik-E-Mart-keting 2007-07-01 23:02:45
7-11 has been mocked for years by ‘The Simpsons’ with it’s Kwik-E-Mart Chain. Now 7-11 is trying to turn all of this slightly negative publicity into a PR home run.
Using what is defined as ‘reverse product placement’ 7-11 is turning 11 stores into Kwik-E-Marts complete with Buzz Cola and Krusty-Os.
This could be huge dollars for the chain leading up to the full length ‘Simpsons’ Movie this summer.
Or 7-11 could get Squishee on their face.
Only time will tell.
/grump
Photo Courtesy of Associated Press.
7 11, kwik e mart, Marketing, News, promotion, simpsons, Uncategorized
Read more:Reverse
, Placement
Free Dollar Friday: Squidoo for a buck or two 2007-06-29 07:02:18 Free DollarFriday
is Back! That means it’s time to give away money to you for trying out free things that I think are cool! As always, a shiny $1 bill will be given to either you or the charity of your choice.
Last week’s Free Dollar Friday is still up for grabs as well. Sign up for Gather and get a Dollar. So far only Kinney has taken advantage of it. His dollar is going to Kiva.org - a charity based on micro-loans that’s pretty fascinating. I will be closing last week’s FDF tonight, June 29, at Midnight CDT. only 4 spots left!
On to this week’s Free Dollar Friday!….
(more…)
Free Dollar Friday, Freebies, squidoo, Web Money
Read more:Squidoo
Buffet Makes Politicians look Dumb: Not Surprising but Definately Entertaining. 2007-06-28 00:32:06 Warren Buffet
meets Hillary Clinton to talk about money.
Buffet dumbfounds the room by asking why he is only taxed at 17.7 % of his income while everyone that works under him and makes less is taxed at or near 30%.
He then offered $1 million to anyone in the room who could cite a single example of their boss being taxed at a higher effective rate. He made a room full of people who’s job is to direct and shape long term monetary policy look like complete morons.
(more…)
Buffet, Capitalism, Economy, efficiency, News, taxes
Read more:Definately
, Entertaining
Staying Focused: Proper Task Management for Work 2007-06-27 06:24:07 This is part two of a series on how to stay focused on life so you can do more, live more, and have more fun.
I’ve decided to start by looking at good processes for Task Management
. This is the area I feel I am the strongest in and can offer the best advice on. I will start out with work based task management and move on to personal and finance task management in the next installment.
By far and away, the most important aspect of managing tasks effectively is prioritizing well. Of course this sounds easy enough, but it is often the most challenging part. What you feel is the most important or the most enjoyable task you need to complete very well may not be the highest priority task. Sound confusing? Let’s break priorities down into steps and then we’ll talk about how to attack that seemingly unending list of things you have to do.
(more…)
lifehack, Productivity, staying focused, task management, work flow
Read more:Focused
, Proper
How to Turn Plastic into Oil in three easy steps 2007-06-27 00:07:53
Buy this extra special microwave. Here’s a video of the magnificent machine in action.
Adopt a Highway in order to have free labor collect free trash for you. Hey, even the bags can be turned into oil!
Profit.
The Trash economy could very easily become an important part of the next 20 years. If these get cheap enough for small company use, I would buy one and get a diesel vehicle… free gas for life!
Photo Courtesy of Global Resource Corporation.
/grump
alternative energy, Business Models, Economy, gas, Money Science, Money Tech, oil, Trash
Read more:Plastic
, steps
Staying Focused: Tips and Tricks Part One 2007-06-26 06:52:15 This week I have decided to write a short series on staying focused. I think most people can agree that there is a lot of ‘personal’ in personal finance. By extension, concentration can be a very powerful tool to help you meet goals - for free.
The Problem: I’ve had a difficult time in my life staying on task and concentrating on one thing at a time. I always complete my objectives on time and with a high degree of quality, but the more and more I look at it I feel like time is wasted. Switching between tasks, interruptions, and other minor things cause my work flow to slow down significantly. Some days I feel like I am just reacting to what is happening around me.
(more…)
concentration, personal finance, Productivity, staying focused, task management, time management, work flow
Read more:Focused
My Student Loan Solution: Base Rates on the Major 2007-07-10 07:11:58 I found a blog yesterday by Anya Kamenetz, author of a new book titled ‘Generation Debt‘. She is an excellent writer, and her blog, while directed at people my age, has a significant focus on Student
Loan Debt.
Something popped into my head as I was reading her archives. Let me preface this idea by saying that I have no bias against any one kind of college education. I think college is a great experience that should be had by those who need it.
Anya has a post here about how college students are concerned about primarily the value of the credential, not necessarily the knowledge gained. The knowledge is viewed as a sort of commodity with the advent of the digital world.
Here is my proposal:
(more…)
Banking, Government, grump, Money, Money Politics, Student Loan
s, Young Money
Read more:Solution
, Rates
, Major
Squidoo Earnings Report : Alternative Income Update 2007-07-09 07:05:40 This weekend was my first Squidoo
payday! Earnings
at Squidoo are trailed a month before paying out. This allows the Squidoo folks to receive their Adsense monies before distributing it.
For the First time, Squidoo went to a tiered-type system for their earnings. The higher ranked lenses (looks like maybe the top 10,000 or so lenses) received the maximum payout, with a few lower tiers below.
(more…)
AlternativeIncome
, earnings, lenses, payout, squidoo, Tips and Tricks, Web Money
Read more:Update
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