Saving money Archives

The Debt Tsunami is a gimmick, but it probably doesn’t matter

Dave Farquhar Saving money February 3, 2013November 19, 2018car payment, debts, mortgage, paying off debt, utility bills, windfall

I saw some people passionately advocating both for and against a new method of paying off debt: The “Debt Tsumani,” which focuses on paying off debt in the order of its emotional impact on you.

As someone who paid off more than $150,000 worth of debt over the course of about four years in the last decade, maybe what I have to say about that matters to you. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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How to save money on tech

Dave Farquhar Saving money January 29, 2013December 6, 2018antivirus, asus, AT&T, AT&T U-verse, avast, cable tv, Libre Office, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Security Essentials, netflix, Nook Color, office 2010, panasonic, prime95, saving money, sony, Windows 10

CNN offered up some good tips on saving money on tech. But of course I want to analyze and comment on it myself. Anything else would be out of character. Here’s how I save money on tech.

Dave Farquhar

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A cheap kitchen makeover

Dave Farquhar Landlording, Saving money January 22, 2013December 5, 2015Benjamin Moore, home improvement, kitchens, William Nickerson

The kitchen cabinets in the house we live in have seen better days. They were reasonably well-built, but 50 years of raising families–mine is the third family raised in this house–took their toll on them. A couple of years back we painted them, to cover the scars of the years. It was an improvement, but the color dated itself pretty quickly, and we didn’t use the highest-quality paint, so the finish wore fairly quickly.

This time, we repainted them white. We used an expensive Benjamin Moore Decorator White in semi-gloss, because it looks good, but also because we’ve found it to be durable in other projects. And you’d be surprised how many half-million-dollar houses have white-painted cabinets. I’m an estate sale junkie, so I’ve seen a lot of half-million-dollar houses over the years, and I would estimate 40% of them have simple, white cabinets in their kitchens. It’s a look that doesn’t date itself, and is cheap and easy to take care of. (As a point of reference, a modest three-bedroom ranch house in the same county costs around $125,000.)

I’ve also seen people do this to improve the appearance of a house prior to flipping it.

Dave Farquhar

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The 4W Lights of America Power LED from Costco: Finally a good LED lamp for bathrooms

Dave Farquhar Saving money January 5, 2013January 5, 2013CFL, costco

Costco sells a 4W LED lamp by Lights of America. They briefly sold LEDs a few years ago from that company that weren’t highly regarded, and I think a lot of people are scared of the brand because of that experience. Not to worry, though. These are much better.

They’re billed as 25W replacements, and they’re globe-shaped. I find they’re a good replacement for 25W globes in bathroom fixtures.

Dave Farquhar

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The new Philips 420240 10.5-watt 800-lumen LED bulb

Dave Farquhar Saving money December 23, 2012CFL, cfls, KWH, led bulbs, lumen, philips

I picked up a couple of the new Philips 10.5-watt 800-lumen LED bulbs this weekend. All around, they’re the best sub-$20 LED bulb I’ve seen yet.

Dave Farquhar

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An Amazon shopping trick

Dave Farquhar Saving money December 2, 2012December 1, 2012christmas, christmas shopping

I alluded to this the other day, but some people might find it worth mentioning in its own right. As most people know, Amazon offers free shipping on orders over $25. And if you’re buying something small, shipping can end up being a large chunk of the total bill.

So when buying something sold directly by Amazon or fulfilled by Amazon, you can save the shipping by building a shopping list, if you can put off the purchase a little while.

Dave Farquhar

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What I know about buying tires

Dave Farquhar Saving money December 1, 2012November 24, 2020Memorial Day

A longtime reader asked what I know about buying tires. Not a lot, but I’ll share what I know.

Dave Farquhar

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It’s time for the plug-in Prius to prove something

Dave Farquhar Saving money November 14, 2012November 12, 2012

Over the past year, I grew tired of hearing people say nobody wants electric cars. There are certain people, who for reasons I can’t figure out, want the masses to believe nobody wants electric cars. I don’t know why the Chevy Volt is a flop.

But what I do know is that there’s a dedicated number of individuals who have been putting plugs on Toyota Priuses so they can charge them overnight, and these modified Priuses are popular. Starting now, that’s no longer necessary–you can buy one with a plug on it.

Dave Farquhar

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How to clean paint from outlet and switch covers

Dave Farquhar DIY, Saving money November 11, 2012September 5, 2022

Earlier this year, I did some cosmetic fix-up of a house that, among other things, had a lot of painted-over outlet covers. Preventing that is easy–it takes a couple of minutes to unscrew the cover and put tape over the outlet–but if someone didn’t do that, the cleanup is cheap and easy too, even years after the painting mishap. And all you need are common household items to clean paint from outlet and switch covers or other types of wall plates.

Dave Farquhar

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Early impressions of G7’s 900-lumen 9W LED bulb

Dave Farquhar Saving money November 10, 2012led bulbs, lumen, lumens, lumens per watt, Micro Center

My latest lighting experiment is a 900-lumen bulb from G7, which is rated at 9 watts and priced at around $16. It’s advertised as equivalent to a 65W incandescent. I’ve had two of them for about two months now, and my initial impressions are favorable overall.

Dave Farquhar

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