Frugal Francis

The bestselling guide, updated with new websites and ideas. Sharon Naylor believes that every bride deserves to have the wedding of her dreams. With this new edition of 1001 Ways to Save Money . . . and Still Have a Dazzling Wedding, she arms brides with more than 1,001 proven money-saving hints, tips, and strategies for creating a fabulous wedding without breaking the bank.Writing with verve and an infectious enthusiasm for all things bridal, Sharon walks readers through every wedding-related event-from announcing an engagement to planning a honeymoon to writing thank-you notes. She reveals where to cut corners and where not to, how to help families and bridal parties save money, where to find free assistance, and how brides can keep from feeling as if they’re shortchanging their dreams just to save a few bucks.For this revised edition, the author has put together an up-to-the-minute list of Web addresses and contact information for the best on-line, print, and brick-and-mortar bridal sources.

 

 

 

 

Lending club offers free money to signup for their note lending service.  Just by signing up, you get free money to lend to other people.

Over time, that free money earns other free money.  Are you with me?  This is a cool way to earn free money.

Of course Lending club is an investment vehicle for some people.  They even have auto draft feature

I have posted some updates to my account over time to show that the free money they give you really does grow.  My account shows 67.12 and I have never put 1 dollar of my own money into this account.

 

Pretty cool right?

 

Cheers,

Frugal Francis

 

 

 

 

With gas prices constantly on the rise, it isn’t to anyone’s surprise that car owners are trying anything to get the most mileage out of their fuel. But just because your gas tank is quick to dry up doesn’t mean your bank account has to too. Make sure your wallet doesn’t run on fumes with these five need-to-know tips on how to save money on gas.
1. Commute and Carpool
The best way to save on gas money is share the gas expenses with others. If you stick to a routine schedule every week, try arranging a carpool where school and officemates can all benefit from a shared ride. Commuting is also another handy option. Especially on days where the roads get clogged up, subways and trains become a cheaper, faster way of getting where you need to go.
2. Drive Smart, Not Fast
If you really have to drive, make sure that you drive smart, not fast. Pushing the pedal to the metal isn’t always the efficient way to get where you’re going. Acceleration burns up gas, so as soon as you get to comfortable speed, maintain it. On the flipside, avoiding hard stops will keep you from burning gas when you need to speed up again.
3. Buy Where It’s Cheap
Not all gas stations are created equal, so keep your eyes peeled for the cheapest ones.
However, gas prices change almost daily so what works for you one day, may not be true the next. There are a good number of smartphone applications to help you track down a good gas bargain. If you have an iphone or ipod touch or any droid phone
you can easily use applications like Bottle Rocket’s “Gas Buddy” combines GPS technology with regularly updated gas prices in your area to give you a bird’s eye view of where best to gas up. Gas Buddy should be easy to find in the top app section on iTunes
4. Maximize a Bargain
Although it’s great to find a gas station that gives you a few cents off the gallon, it doesn’t make sense to drive miles and miles out of your way to get there. If there’s a gas bargain in the area, fill up your tank to the brim. It will save you money in the long run, as well as the trouble of gasing up a few dollars everytime.
5. Tune Up Your Car
Taking care of your car means more than filling her up when the gas guage lights up. A well maintained car is a vehicle that runs quickly, and more efficiently. Take the time to tune up your car and you’ll be rewarded with more miles per gallon, and more dollars in your pocket.

OK, I opened a Bank of America Keep the Change Savings account with $300 dollars. They automatically take the left over change on checkcard purchases, and put the change into your savings account. For example, a checkcard purchase of $10.01 would put .99 into your savings accent. In total your checking account would reflect -$11.00, and savings +$.99. The big incentive is that Bank of America will match some of your change… (restrictions below)

Started my account with $300, my change has added up to $329.16 and Bank of America is due to award me $128.41 on the anniversary of the creation of my keep the change checking account. (See Below)

Bank of America keep the change program

My $300 investment and $329.16 auto-invested change equals $629.16. YTD, it looks like the $128.41 yield I am expecting from Bank of America at the 1 year marker would be a 20% return on my own money.

The math: $300 + $329.16 = $629.16. $629.16 + $128.41 (matched from Bank of America) = $757.57. $757.57 divided by $629.16 = 1.20. 1.20 translates to the principal investment plus a new 20% in earnings!

😉
Frugal

ps. As mentioned in first Bank of America keep the change blogpost: “The restrictions are 100% match to your first 3 months of savings up to $60.00, and 5% of the rest of your savings, up to $250.00. If you are using the program to its maximum potential you would be getting a free $310 ($60 + $250) for free from Bank of America.”

Back in October of ’09, I signed up for Lending Club for FREE. I had simply clicked a link from a blog I was reading and the next thing I knew I was given $25 to invest into Notes. With a free $25 to start the account and the referral credit I got of $25 bucks, my account started with $50. 11 months later, I am at $53.49.

Lending Club Update

Yes! You read correctly above, I have made $3.49 for FREE! Any new member gets a free $25 dollars, and additional money for referring people to Lending Club. In fact, when I referred someone I got $25 free but nowadays, I believe you can refer people and get a free $50. My free money of $50 has now turned into $53.49, which has grown 6.9% since Oct’ 09. Lending Club says my “Net Annualized return is 12+% but I don’t really understand how they compute that, nor do I care. I made almost 7% on FREE money that was given to me for clicking a simple link (below).





Give it a click, worst thing that happens is you just got a free $25 to loan to people and make money…
😉
Frugal

Hello World!

Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their summer. Tonight I am going to update Frugal Francis and get the ball rolling.  The domain name has almost been around for a year, the Search Engines should pay a bit more attention to me.  But, no one is gonna pay attention to me if I don’t have fresh, new content.

Coming right up; Blogging to you with some visual proof that Bank of America’s keep the change program, and Lending Club actual pays you and makes you money. While my success does not require 2 commas, I am happy to show evidence that anyone can make a few or many bucks for free.

Updates with returns are coming right up:

1. Lending Club – Invest Money, or Use Free Money to Invest

2. Bank of America ‘s Keep the Change Program

Frugal

Ever go out on the golf course and finish the day with less golf balls than you started with? Even if you are a scratch golfer, the tendency to lose a golf ball or a few golf balls is fairly likely. Why pay top dollar for Golf Balls if you do not have to.

One of my friends turned me on to this site KnetGolfwhich sells Golf Balls at discount prices. One of the real values to this site is their their Assorted Mix of Golf balls. Basically you can order a mix of assorted Grade A or Grade B Golf Balls very cheaply. There is nothing wrong with these golfballs. They have been overproduced with someone else’s logo on them, and KnetGolf packages them up for a great deal.

KnetGolf not only provides a cool way to save money on golf balls, but another cool thing about their Assorted Mix of Golf Balls is that they will have a random logo on them, so it will be easy to tell you ball apart from others on the course.

Feel free to reach out to me in the comment section with any questions pertaining to Saving Money on Golfballs. Happy Golfing!!!

Hello Readers,

I apologize for the delay since my last post.  I aim to start writing and sharing some thoughts on how to save money and will make a better effort in doing so for 2010.

Today I want to talk about Affiliate Advertising.  Basically you can earn a commission from transactions that are made on the internet.  A great example of this would be amazon.  Amazon allows their affiliates to earn a %, usually around 3% on any products that are purchased with a referral from you.

I am reviewing LinkShare today which I think is a good site that allows you to easily get started in the Affiliate world.

Lending Club is a really cool concept. Basically you can lend money to various people online and collect interest and build an online savings portfolio. I do recommend to be very careful and read the fine print as well as the particular reasons why each person is borrowing money.

One of the coolest parts of lending club is that they will give you a free $25 to invest with their site. I basically got a free $25.00 that I put into a loan at the rate of 15%. Please keep in mind this is by no means an instant process. First you sign up, your account gets a free $25 dollars just for signing up and then you choose from various lending opportunities.

Obviously riskier loans have higher rates of returns and less risky loans have a lower rate of return. But keep in mind that if you are getting a free $25, you might as well just give it a whirl and see how it works.

My loan was recently approved and I already made 2 cents!!! Take a look at my screenshot below:

I also took a screenshot of the loan that I subscribed my free $25 to. Once again, Lending club will give you a free $25 as a special promotion. You just have to click on the advertisement below, and you will be able to get a free $25 to invest and explore their site.

Summary of Loan Performance

This seems like a great way to make some free money!!! Check it out while this promotion still exists… My hunch is they will not give $25 away forever!

Bank of America offers a Savings account whereby you save “the change” from your checkcard purchases directly into your Savings Account.  In example, if you were to purchase something with your check card for $14.37, the remainder 63 cents would be transferred into your Savings account.

Get this…  Bank of America offers to match “the change” or the “63 cents” you save up to certain limited.   The restrictions are 100% match to your first 3 months of savings up to $60.00, and 5% of the rest of your savings, up to $250.00.  If you are using the program to its maximum potential you would be getting a free $310 ($60 + $250)  for free from Bank of America.  Also, keep in mind that you would have automatically saved money without realizing from your checkcard purchases.

I posted a screenshot above so you can see that I am actively enrolled in this program and to prove it is working… As you can see from the picture above, I’ve been enrolled in the Bank of America program for almost the last 6 weeks, and I have saved $118.56. Soon enough get my free $60.00 within the first 3 months. I am a big fan of this program because Bank of America creates an easy way to save money and additionally they match up to $310 in your first year.

Please keep in mind that Bank of America does require a minimum balance of $300 in your savings account, and will pay the matched earnings after 1 year after accumulation.

For more details on this program, please visit

Bank of America: Keep the Change page:
http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/ktc/