http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb Musings on striving for a financially fit and environmentally friendly lifestyle Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:02:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So I ended up getting my car fixed. It turns out that some animal managed to devour a number of important wires and switches. Since it definitely qualified as an emergency and not something that had to do with the age or wear of the car, I didn't ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/08/13/car-is-fixed-budget-is-broken/ A few months ago I had to replace the starter on my car. It was a moderately priced repair when all was said and done. My car is well taken care of, but as it ages things start to go. This morning I couldn't get my car to ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/07/17/another-car-repair/ Apparently today is annual 'Dump the Pump' Day, which is suppose to encourage people to use mass transit over driving. Until this afternoon I thought it was just a local thing as our bus service had signs up and offered free rides, but turns out it's national! I'm not ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/06/19/happy-dump-the-pump-day/ With the ever-increasing cost of gas, many people have been offering tips on how to make your gas go just a little bit farther. I thought that I would share some tips that, if I followed, would likely increase my fuel efficiency. When traveling for a particular purpose, make ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/06/11/a-few-tips-for-saving-on-gas/ A couple of months back, I mentioned that one of my prescriptions (Zyrtec) had gone over-the-counter and generic and as a result my co-pay went from $14 for a 30-day supply (brand name) to $7 for a 30-day supply (generic). However, when I was at the allergist the other ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/06/04/an-even-better-deal/ I am starting to realize that there will always be someone "better." No matter how hard you work there will always be someone who: saves more for retirement, gets a better deal, finishes faster, loses weight more easily, pays down their loans faster, drives less, uses less energy, ad ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/05/28/someone-better/ Do you remember when the idea of a college or graduate student was someone occupying a small room in a house, eating pasta and ramen, and commuting to school on an old beater bike? What happened to that idea - because seriously many of the students around me seem ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/05/26/what-happened-to-the-broke-students/ If I combine the generally upward trend of gas prices with the fact that I'm cheap and I don't really like to drive, automotive transportation is likely to play a decreasing role in my summer transportation efforts. While I generally ride the bus to my office, I find that ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/05/20/summer-transportation/ Well the new I-Bond rates were announced on May 1st and they come with both good and bad news. The earnings rate is the combination of the fixed rate and the applicable variable rate. The good news is that the variable rate is 4.84%. So if you ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/05/14/the-new-i-bond-rates/ I've been avoiding my local Freecycle list lately for two main reasons. First, the community has grown tremendously over the past year and as a consequence there is a lot of correspondence (and I just can't possibly keep up with all of it). Secondly, I have found that ... http://www.greenmindedwallet.com/wpdb/2008/04/20/its-free-but-do-you-really-want-it/