Combining Money Saving Techniques In A Single Night Out

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We share a lot of great money saving tips here on Enemy Of Debt. The goal is to enable readers to save money in their day to day life. Other personal finance blogs aim to do the same. Individually these tips will save money, but imagine if several could be combined into one frugal event. That’s exactly what my wife did with some friends over the weekend. Restaurant Gift Cards from Costco My wife and I planned to go out to dinner with two other couples. The agreed upon restaurant sold $100 gift cards at Costco for a price of […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/23/20

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I unexpectedly had to shell out $125 for a new food saver vacuum saver this week.  A food saver allows me to make bulk amounts of taco meat, sloppy joes and barbeque items and then vacuum seal them for later use.  It helps not waste leftovers as well. But they only seem to last a few years before it just stops sucking the air out of the packages. I’ve read articles saying the gaskets wear out.  I saw a suggestion to wet the gaskets, but it didn’t help my cause.  So, I bought a new one, and it works like […] Read more »

Three Ways To Make Your Aging Computer Last Longer

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A friend of mine called complaining her computer was running slower than it used to. Frustrated, she asked if I could look at it and see if there was anything I could do. Having dealt with this exact problem on my own computer I had some ideas as to what to look for. Check Hard Drive Utilization If your hard drive is filled near capacity, your computer will run slow. Check the utilization of your hard drive and delete unneeded files. If you keep pictures and videos on your computer, consider buying an external hard drive to store that data […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/15/2021

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The first major snowstorm of the year rumbled through my area overnight, dropping 4-6 inches of heavy, wet snow. I didn’t mind since we we’re sticking close to home right now, and it gave me a chance to try out my new snow blower for the very first time. That machine had absolutely no problem eating the snow and tossing it well into my yard. It was glorious. I almost can’t wait for it to snow again. Almost. Fist pump for new snow blowers and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Top Budgeting Tips […] Read more »

Want A Discount? Ask For One!

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Everybody loves to find a great sale on a product they were going to buy anyway. Sometimes we even delay buying something we want until it goes on sale. But what if you could create your own sale, and save money simply by asking the simple question, “Can I get a discount?” That’s exactly what my wife did over the weekend, and it saved us $36. Background In early December my wife and I found a wine gift box at a liquor store containing 4 different half bottles of wine. We bought one with a specific person in mind for […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/8

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After nearly two months of a second lockdown (our governor called it a “pause”), things are beginning to open up a bit again in the state of Minnesota.  I really try to limit the amount spent on dining out, but I am so ready to have a nice meal prepared by someone else. I’m not a huge fan of takeout, because the quality goes way down as you drive home from the restaurant with the food in brown bags. It’ll be nice to go out and support local restaurants again! Fist pump for opening back up, and my favorite posts […] Read more »

Post-Christmas Spending Analysis

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Christmas 2020 was barely more than a week ago, but I’ve already laid the groundwork for Christmas 2021. I haven’t done anything like start stuffing away money or anything, although that’s not a bad idea. I’m doing a post-holiday analysis of my spending so I’m better prepared for next year. Why Look Back? Many people have a gift spending budget, many do not. This year, my wife and I didn’t have a hard budget. In fact, if asked I couldn’t even tell you with any precision how much we spent on Christmas gifts. What I can tell you is there’s […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup -1/2/2021

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Happy New Year, EOD Nation! As you might expect with the start of a new year, both social and mainstream media are saturated with new year resolutions. With the turning of the calendar people feel it’s the perfect time to set goals and make changes to better their lives. In the past few years, I’ve noticed a rise (especially from social media) of posts mocking making such resolutions.  This seems to stem from the fact that it’s totally clique to make resolutions on the 1st of the year, only to fall off the wagon a few days or weeks later.  […] Read more »

Low Key Birthday: This is What 47 Looks Like

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Today is my birthday. We make a big deal out of birthdays for kids, and some people continue to do so as adults. To be honest, I’ve had my share of over the top adult birthday celebrations. But this year will be very low key. Partially because of the COVID-19 pandemic and partly because I’m just over making a big deal about my birthday. Here’s what my 47th birthday will look like: Sleep In Since it’s my birthday and I’m on vacation from work I allowed myself some extra rest by sleeping in until 7 or 7:30 instead of my […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 12/25

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Welcome to a Christmas fist pump!  Due to the whole pandemic thing, we’re not gathering with my parents or my wife’s parents.  However, our kids are home from college so at least we get to see them.  Also, after weeks of speculation we would not have a white Christmas for the first time in nearly 10 years a surprise snowstorm rolled through on the 23rd giving us just enough snow to make things white.  Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, EOD Nation! Fist pump for a white Christmas, and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me […] Read more »

Know Your Vehicle’s Warranty, or it Could Cost You!

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A vehicle warranty is a wonderful thing. They cover a host of things on a complicated machine should it break due to a manufacturing defect. It’s one of the reasons we bought our daughter a year old car before she went off to college. But not knowing exactly what is covered by a warranty can cost you. That lack of knowledge almost cost me over a $100. A Broken Down Car The text message from my daughter was a picture of her dashboard with the battery light on. I immediately called her and found out her car would not start. […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 12/20

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Happy Fist Pump Friday!  OK, I’m a little late this weekend, but I wanted to check in with the EOD Nation because there’s been some exciting financial developments recently. Medical Bills In September of 2019 I tore the Achilles Tendon in my right foot and had to have surgery to repair it. Both my wife and daughter also incurred significant medical bills late 2019, and early 2020. I worked with the medical provider to be put on a payment plan to a.) maximize the amount of pre-tax HSA funds I could use to pay the bills b.) minimize the impact […] Read more »

DIY Plumber: Replacing A Kitchen Faucet

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The kitchen faucet started dripping a few months ago, and steadily got worse. I was usually able to move the handle around and make it stop. But recently my efforts would only slow the drip. I had visions of a plumber charging me for a few hours of labor to install a new faucet while I wondered if I could have done it myself. I decided to try replacing the faucet myself. Not only was I successful, but it was super easy. To replace a kitchen faucet yourself, saving the cost of having a plumber do it, read the following […] Read more »

Cutting the Cord with the Cable Company

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I’ve read countless posts of people ditching cable. It never really resonated with me because I enjoy the entertainment I get from television. But the availability of a new internet service started a ball rolling that will end with me bringing a pile of cable boxes, remotes, and a cable modem into my cable company office to discontinue service. Internet About a year ago a fiber optic internet service provider started installing infrastructure within my city. I received an ad in the mail promoting a rate on their gigabit ethernet service that is $4 cheaper than what I’m currently paying […] Read more »