Articles by Frugaling

Outside Magazine is 35 Percent Ads

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

A deluge of subscriptions has hit my mailbox recently. Everything from Rolling Stone, Wired, ESPN, and the Wall Street Journal is delivered daily and/or monthly. The best part? It’s all free. The worst part? These stalwarts of the news world have become magnets for advertising.

Today, I opened my mail and found a brand new copy of Outside Magazine. The August issue features a cover story on Ashton Eaton. The olympic runner, along with athletes like him, are catalogued in a fantastic new article. But like my experience with Wired Magazine, it’s clear why they’re 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, Wired 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.

Without covers (back/front), Outside Magazine is 116 pages long.

41 pages are dedicated ads (not including partials).

The magazine is 35 percent advertising.

Compared to prior examinations, Outside Magazine appears to be far less advertising-based. Unfortunately, many of the ads are contextual (e.g., new products for camping, hiking, and adventure). I didn’t count that style, as it would be less objective. About 10 more pages were dedicated to this article-based marketing, and would’ve made the magazine 44 percent ads.

Being exposed to this amount of advertising can be dire to a frugal budget. Find out how you can take action.

Save Up To 50% On Groceries with Target Cartwheel

By Frugaling 5 Comments

Discounts on fresh foods like strawberries, apples, and salads tend to be hard to come by. Produce has a shorter shelf-life and stores have highly regimented, programmed systems to buy just the right amount each time. Places like Coupons, SmartSource, and CouponNetwork hardly ever offer discounts in these areas. Aside from the weekly specials ad for your local stores, you may never see an added coupon. Fortunately, that’s all changing with Target Cartwheel.

Target Cartwheel (Beta)

Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of it, as Target considers this new coupon platform to be in the beta stages. Target Cartwheel is a personalized savings site that offers discounts from 5 to 50 percent on things you already buy. Users have already redeemed over $470,000 in coupons. Even more, you can save on Target’s store-brand products and in-house “Archer Farms” line.

Search For Products You Love

The secret to Target Cartwheel is searching for what you already purchase. This removes the potential of finding something tangential and unnecessary for purchase. I’m a frequent purchaser of Target’s Archer Farms coffee. All I need to do is search for, “coffee.” Like magic, here’s a coupon for 5 percent off:

Browse For New Coupons

Deals are exceptionally easy to find on this platform and can quickly add up. If you’re inclined to browse for all the available deals or look at select categories, the platform offers a detailed list of areas:

Print Out Your Savings

When you’re finished finding all the deals you want, just print out the full list. Unlike competing coupon companies, the list prints out as a checklist with one barcode. This means that there’s no time wasted clipping and wasting multiple sheets of paper (for 3 coupons a page). In my first experiences using the barcode, everything worked perfectly.

Interested in finding out more about Target Cartwheel? Check out Target’s FAQ page here: http://cartwheel.target.com/help-center

Who Are Your Financial Role Models?

By Frugaling 2 Comments

I’ve always looked to role models for inspiration, hope, and comfort. In high school, I watched CNBC anchors and admired people like Jim Cramer for their expansive knowledge of the markets. Dreams of Wall Street and financial gain motivated me to graduate high school; all while investing in stocks and different sectors between class periods. I loved having and making money.

When I entered college, I realized that money alone felt meaningless. I lost the drive to become an investment banker or financial analyst. Alone, I would continually feel like giving back – that I wasn’t doing enough. Shortly after entering school, I switched to psychology. There, I sought out motivated students and leading faculty in psychology. Meeting and working with these inspiring people led me to graduate school.

In the past, as you may notice, these role models were oriented towards my future career paths. Now, as I’m on a solid career path, I’m looking for new goals and people to provide support in this journey. Financial goals outweigh many others at this point: To pay off nearly $40,000 in debt (shared between student and car loans). The Catch-22 is that I’m in graduate school and still accruing debt. I’m experimenting with some odd-ball income sources to stem the tide, but the interest keeps gaining.

These days I’m looking for new models that work to keep me financially fit and spiritually active. To me, being frugal is about minimizing waste, reducing expenses, and maximizing my income. I’m a firm believer that this is a vital piece of the puzzle. If you want to accomplish any goal, seeing and talking with those who’ve accomplished similar goals is important research.

Here are my three major role models that inspire me to continue to write about frugality, save money, and pay off my student loans:

1. Leo Baubata, Zen Habits

Twitter: @zen_habits – Website: ZenHabits.net

Leo Babauta is the creator and writer of ZenHabits.net. The site grew to become a leader for buddhist thought, organization, getting things done, peaceful wisdom, and removing clutter from your life. I follow Leo on Twitter and subscribe to his RSS feed.

He calmly explains the delicate intricacies between inner peace and reducing the urge to buy. One of his most provocative new articles is about “A Year of Living Without.” In this article, he outlines a year of month-to-month challenges where he removes things he regularly uses (e.g., coffee, alcohol, Internet access, and cell phones).

Leo is a tremendous role model because of his own journey tackling debt and becoming a wealthy individual – spiritually and financially.

2. Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus, The Minimalists

Twitter: @TheMinimalists – Website: TheMinimalists.com

Joshua and Ryan are the founders of The Minimalists. Both left jobs and lifestyles that modeled the idea of success. They were climbing social ladders and fighting for the American dream. Their spending, like many, escalated with income. This lifestyle inflation led to a cycle of overspending and overworking – never getting enough.

As the two exited the traditional working world, they took to the ideas of minimalism and simplicity. Eventually, they founded their website and have been writing short stories ever since. For me, they are role models for both writing and minimalism. They model their stories (articles) after no expected length – some short and some long.

Joshua and Ryan are leaders in the simplicity movement, and their continued work inspires reductions in my own life.

3. Philip “PT” Taylor, PTMoney.com

Twitter: @PTMoney – Website: PTMoney.com

Philip founded PTMoney.com in 2007. He’s the most financially experienced of my role models. As a Certified Financial Planner (CPA) and founder of FinCon (the financial bloggers conference), he embodies a spendthrift personality with an admirable entrepreneurial spirit.

His website is continually updated with new, strong content that actually helps people become financially savvy. From investing to saving more to earning what you deserve, PT and his fellow writers help people reach their financial goals.

Beyond this writing and business prowess, at a personal level, I’ve been shocked by PT’s kindness and willingness to help new bloggers like me. He’s already featured two of my articles on his site, too.

Who are your financial role models? Who and what inspires you to save and earn more?

Article Written At PTMoney.com

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Another article that I wrote for PTMoney.com was published this morning. It’s entitled, “The Mythical Benefits of Buying a Home and the Case for Renting.”

If you’re curious about whether renting or buying is right for you, you should read it!

Please visit, comment, and support the site.

Find out more about my first article here.

Outside Magazine is 35 Percent Ads

Without covers (back/front), Outside Magazine is 116 pages long.

41 pages are dedicated ads (not including partials).

The magazine is 35 percent advertising.