Saturday, June 26, 2010

Frugal Hacks


Frugal Hacks

Link to Frugal Hacks
Posted: 11 Jun 2010 01:05 AM PDT
Freegan Lifestyle
The Freegan Kitchen- gourmet cooking with your dumpster dive discoveries.
Much less extreme:
Freecycle- these groups are all over the country, even in my tiny town.  People pass on items they have to give away or requests.  Nothing can be sold.  Say somebody sends a message saying they have baby clothes, a dining room table, and an old television to give away.  You email back saying you want the dining room table, they tell you if you get it and where you need to pick it up, and you go pick it up.
You sign up to be on an email list. If you don't like getting emails, set your account for web only, and sign in at yahoogroups to read and send messages.
Here's more from their website:
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,810 groups with 7,245,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on "Browse Groups" above the search box. Have fun!
Craig's List is another good place for free stuff.
Both of these last two options are also great places for getting rid of your stuff when you simplify your life.
Related posts:
  1. Frugal Vacation We're traveling around Pennsylvania because a friend is getting married...
Posted: 10 Jun 2010 06:44 AM PDT
Standing outside gazing at windows with Home Inspector, I mentally questioned his comments.  Many of the windows of the home we hoped to purchase had a staining in color of what I might call "coffee with cream and sugar."  Home Inspector assured me this was paint that must have mistakenly hit the windows while being sprayed onto the house.  He went on to say that although much elbow grease would be needed, this staining could be removed after moving in.  Since this home-to-be was a lovely sage green and not old enough to have needed repainting,  I was a bit skeptical.  However, what did I know?
Shortly after moving in and finding Home Inspector's electrical advice had been faulty, my confidence in his window wisdom also became suspect.  Alas, my scrubbings and scrapings of said windows came to naught and I realized the damage was inside between the thermal panes.  Now four years later, I am still looking for economical solutions to this problem.
Gratefully, we have had some of the glass in windows replaced through the years, but several still remain and funds are no longer available for such.  Life seems to keep happening, (like weddings, unexpected car repair, you get the picture.)  A new strategy is needed to solve this dilemma. Internet searches have not brought much relief and so I come to you for answers, fellow frugalities!
Certainly, windows covered with blinds are quite fashionable in this South Texas and very wise on many days!  However, there are those glorious months of cooler weather when open windows bring soft breezes and sunshiny shadows and make me so desire to roll up my blinds!  Being  greeted with windows that look so dirty and uncared for is a true discouragement and I am seeking a creative solution to my dilemma. See what you think of my new idea.
My family room has three windows side by side on one wall.  There is a top and bottom pane each about 36inches by 20 inches.  The bottom panes of each of the three windows are ruined by the staining.  Is it creativity or an act of desperation to consider painting these panes with chalkboard paint?  I could write verses or quotes upon them and perhaps they would add some character to my décor?  What do you think?
Has anyone ever painted windows with chalkboard paint?
Do you have any other suggestions?
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Normal is Broke

Living With A Chain

How to Get a Job when No One is Hiring

When the jobs are hidden

To get a job, you have to find the openings that no one's advertising, and really impress your potential employer.

By Jia Lynn Yang, writer-reporter
March 30, 2009: 12:31 PM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- David Perry, a longtime headhunter, says you're wasting your time if you're looking for job postings online. And he should know: he's often the guy on the other side helping companies lure new talent. Perry, who's based in Ottawa, says that in the last 22 years he has accomplished 996 searches totaling $172 million in salary. And the bottom line in today's economy, he says, is you have to tap the "hidden job market."

Perry's also the co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" and he recently spoke with Fortune.

What's the "hidden job market"?

When companies say, 'We have a hiring freeze,' that doesn't mean they're not hiring. It just means they're not adding headcount. Every year there's 20-25% turn over. So in a 1,000-person company, 200 or 250 people are going to turn over, either through attrition, or someone moves. Those companies are still hiring but they don't want to tell you.

So how do you find these jobs?

What you have to do in a recession is map your skills to employers to where you know they have a problem you can solve. My advice to job hunters is pick 10 to 20 companies, no more, and pick companies you're interested in, and that you think you can add value to. That requires researching companies, and so that list may take you two weeks. If you're trying to crack the hidden job market and you know the job position you want reports to vice president, find that vice president on LinkedIn and look at his profile to see who else he's connected to and go ask them, 'What's this guy like to work for?' Do the research before you even pick up the phone.

How can you get someone's attention?

We can go into billboards, sandwiches - that stuff only works once. It's only for one person who figures it out once, once in a city. If you're looking for fun stuff, we have this thing called the coffee cup caper, 30% of the time it will result in an interview. You send an employer a coffee cup with a little $5 swipe card with a little note that says, I'd like to get together and talk with you over coffee. I'll be calling soon. And you send it by U.S. post two day delivery, and that gets registered. So when they've signed for it, you wait about 20 minutes and then you call them. And then you go, Hi, I know you just got my package.' You're proving you're imaginative and creative.

What something people should avoid during a job interview?

This drives me insane: I've seen people mentally deciding in the interview whether they want the job. That's the last place to decide. You go into an interview, and you sell like your life depends on it. You've got to get the job first. I've seen it thousands of times. There's this point in the interview, where people go 'Hmm, do I really want this? You can see their body change. The employer picks it up and it's gone. If the employer is telling you, 'I love you,' and you're not saying 'I love you too,' it's over with.

How about following up afterwards?

If you really like the opportunity, don't go home and write thank you very much. Go back and write a letter that says, upon further reflection of what we were talking about, here's what I bring to the table, here's how I see myself fitting into the organization, including a 30-60-90 day plan.

How can someone attract a recruiter's attention?

You have to go to ZoomInfo and LinkedIn and create a profile. All corporate recruiters and probably 20% of the headhunters in America have ZoomInfo accounts. When we start a search, companies aren't going to advertise. The headhunter goes to ZoomInfo, types in requirements that we need, like skillset, degree, city, functional title, and up will come anywhere from a hundred to several thousand people who fit that criteria. Then we go to LinkedIn and run the same search. If you're in ZoomInfo with a picture, we're going to call you first. Just reverse engineer what recruiters are doing so you get found.

How can you really impress a potential employer?

It hasn't worked in years just to bring in your resume, except only in the most junior positions. I concentrate on directors to CEOs, and the last interview for us regardless is always a Power Point presentation of what you've learned, pain points, and how you intend to fix that. Everyone talks about being a great leader and great communicator, so prove it. Don't go into an interview and treat it like it's just another business meeting. Your career is your biggest asset now - because it's certainly not your house. To top of page

From
http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/30/news/economy/yang_headhunter.fortune/index.htm

August 2008 Dave Ramsey on Barack Obama

This was aired in August 2008. So was Dave right???