Archives for June 2013

Cost Of Car Ownership Up 1.96 Percent

As I try unsuccessfully to sell my 2006 Honda Civic – a great car with an ugly car loan – I’m reminded and motivated of why I decided this in the first place. AAA, the always-reliable network for travelers in trouble, recently released their yearly statistics on the cost of driving. Bringing me to a crippling halt is a figure that may cause a heart attack: The true cost of car ownership for one year is $9,122.

This statistic is based off of 15,000 driven miles in an average size sedan. They calculate that with gas, maintenance, tires, insurance, and depreciation, you spend about 60.8 cents per mile.

Gas saw a 1.93% increase, which amounts to 14.45 cents per mile. Maintenance escalated a staggering 11.26%, which is about 4.97 cents per mile. Tires didn’t fluctuate is prices. Insurance rose a modest 2.76 percent. Depreciation is a silent budget killer; only increasing 0.78%, but equating to $3,571 per year in losses.

If I didn’t have reason to sell my car before, I certainly do now.

AAA Link: http://newsroom.aaa.com/2013/04/cost-of-owning-and-operating-vehicle-in-u-s-increases-nearly-two-percent-according-to-aaas-2013-your-driving-costs-study/

Can You Really Name A Star?

By Frugaling 21 Comments

Update: On June 24, 2013, the founder of Your Star Forever commented on this article. His input was important. Click here to scroll directly to comments.

We contend with opportunities for frivolous purchases every day. Unless you live under a rock (which seems unlikely because you’re reading this article), overcoming debt, creating a budget, and starting a savings all require behavioral modifications. But our healthy desires for a frugal life are tested by a society that encourages owning things.

Material possessions and physical land are our two most common examples. Our drive to spend and own leads us to waste money and fall into debt. This malignancy can spread from sea to shining sea, and comically, beyond our humble, earthly world. Sometimes scam artists prey off this susceptibility.

Recently, I was browsing and researching a few science topics when I happened upon a conspicuous ad. It read that for only $29, you could dedicate a star. In this moment, an alarm was blaring in my head: this is fishy. I followed the link to “YourStarForever.com” out of pure frustration that anybody could spend hard-earned money like this.

Lo and behold, it was a “real” site. You can name a star, print a certificate, and it’s yours to keep (sort of). Except there are two major problems. First, nothing exemplifies conspicuous spending better than buying and naming your own star – forever. While $30 may not seem exorbitant, this money could be better spent in any number of ways (think: feeding the homeless, clothing the impoverished, etc.). There’s no tangible asset or production to this consumption. Second, the entire site and naming process is made up – including the “Star Dedication Registry” that it links to.

This is what makes it an ingenious system for the owner, Hart Ventures.

Allow me to explain. Over the years, I’ve become a skeptic to the world around me. Maybe I can blame graduate school and the field of psychology – maybe not. Either way, when I visited the website, something seemed askew. I decided to investigate further.

By clicking on YourStarForever.com’s FAQs, you can find this:

Once a star is dedicated on Your Star Forever the dedication it is filed within StarNamingRegistry.org’s online database. Unfortunately, because of our agreement with the Star Naming Registry, we cannot provide any refunds.

Fair enough, but when you go to “StarNamingRegistry.org,” you are forwarded to the, “StarDedicationRegistry.org.” Already, the agency that keeps track of your star names can’t keep its own name straight.

What about international recognition of your star’s name?

Dedicating a star through Your Star Forever provides unique access to proclaim your love in the sky. However, it is not possible, at this time, to purchase the name of, or rename, any star so that the dedicated name is recognized by any scientific or governmental agency. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) (http://iau.hq.eso.org) is the only body that can officially name a star. And the IAU uses only one internationally recognized system to identify the stars in the sky – either by using preexisting names or by using their precise numerical coordinates. FYI – No one can sell you the rights to officially or exclusively name a star. The IAU does not allow it!

This makes it clear: You cannot actually name a real star by the only internationally-recognized body that oversees this activity. Then, what’s the purpose of this site? Why would anybody pay for something that doesn’t exist by any standards? Great questions.

These ironies grew into wonder about the owner(s) of the website and registry. Who was behind this colossal waste of money? One company: Hart Ventures.

You see, Hart Ventures had a brilliant idea. They decided to create a market for a virtual good that doesn’t exist on any scientific record or tangible level. Then, because people would wonder about the credibility of their named star, they created the registry to catalog them. It’s as if Hart Ventures single-handedly created the New York Stock Exchange and every stock that was available for purchase.

By digging into the public information available on domain owners (WHOIS), I found that Hart Ventures owns both YourStarForever.org and StarDedicationRegistry.org. They’ve created their own monopoly on a market that doesn’t actually exist.

Truth be told, I simply wanted to point out an example of how we sometimes waste money. The reality is that purchasing and naming a star should never be considered worthwhile for anybody at any age. The little investigation and subsequent results were just a puzzling bonus.

This is part of the “Money Mistakes” series, which documents frugal myths and strange purchases.

WHOIS Searches:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=stardedicationregistry.org

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=yourstarforever.com

Fortune Magazine is 43 Percent Ads

By Frugaling Leave a Comment

Read more about the consequences of advertising: Remove Ads for More Money, Health. Also, are you curious how much advertising is in Wired Magazine?

Today, I opened my mail and found – to my surprise – a brand new copy of Fortune Magazine. The July issue features a cover story on LinkedIn. As I began to leaf through this free subscription, I quickly realized why they were giving it away.

Advertising is the only thing keeping most news and media outlets alive. Subscription rates – at least to hardcopy products – have plummeted. Much like free newspapers rely on local advertisers to pay for the difference, Fortune Magazine and periodicals like this are inserting more advertising space than ever. By giving away subscriptions, they can inflate their readership and draw in more exclusive advertising. The result is a heinous excuse for a magazine.

Without covers (back/front), Fortune Magazine is 108 pages long.

46 pages are dedicated ads (not including partials).

The magazine is 43 percent advertising.

Being exposed to this amount of advertising can be dire to a frugal budget. Sometimes removing exposure to these sources can help.

What Are The Best Sites For Freebies?

By Frugaling 22 Comments

My Mom always says, “Nothing in life is free.” In a way, she was correct. Even the laudable Google products – often considered free – are heavily ad-supported. For the price of free, Google’s algorithms decode our behaviors, messages, and actions to better sell others’ products.

The loss of information privacy has led to a data-based growth in marketing. Fair or not, by exchanging personal information with companies, prices decrease – sometimes they become free.

Fortunately, “free” isn’t limited to the digital world. Every couple weeks I receive yet another freebie from a company looking to promote a new food or magazine. Last week, I opened my mailbox to find Rolling Stone and Wired Magazine. Today, I received a six-pack sampler of instant coffee. All three were free.

There are ways…to snag loads of samples, perks, swag, and other promotional goodies at no cost—and with little or no risk (Time).

I’ve been receiving these samples and subscriptions for years now. There’s no magic secret or private list that requires special membership payments. All you have to do is find the right sites and be quick to grab the free offer. I recommend checking out these three sites.

3 Best Sites For Freebies

1. Reddit (r/freebies+efreebies)

Reddit is the “front page of the internet.” It is the catch-all website that has thousands of different categories – subreddits – and topics to choose from. Reddit is the 119th highest trafficked website. Because of this incredible audience and user base, the site is a hub for freebies and ways to save. The crowdsourced nature of Reddit allows regular users to post new content and ideas. The freebies+efreebies is the first place I look for updated offers. This combined subreddit includes both digital and physical freebies. New products are being offered every day – check back regularly.

Link: http://www.reddit.com/r/freebies+efreebies

2. Hey! It’s Free (HIF)

Hey! It’s Free (HIF) prides themselves on deals that require no credit card or donation to acquire. The site has been an active site for freebies for the last 6 six years. Through HIF, I’ve found numerous deals for free magazines: Rolling Stone, ESPN Magazine, and Wired. The quality of these freebies tends to be strong and the effort is minimal.

Link: http://www.heyitsfree.net

3. Hunt 4 Freebies

Similar to HIF, Hunt 4 Freebies writers are scouring the net for freebies. Once they find some good ones, they post them directly to their site. By the time I check out this one, there’s usually quite a bit of overlap. But, sometimes there’s a hidden gem. Yesterday, I applied for a free bottle of lens cleaner and contact case. It wasn’t featured on either of the other two. Using a diverse group of sites helps to make sure you find all the freebies you can.

Link: http://hunt4freebies.com