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February 15, 2011, at 6:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! The following is a guest post from Ryan at plantingdollars.com.
If you own a house and need a bit of extra cash there are several options that you could consider to make money. Here are 5 ways to make extra money from your home… literally!
Rent Your Parking Spot – If you live in a dense urban area you can rent out your parking spot. When I lived in Hawaii parking was at such a premium that people could fetch several hundred dollars for their parking stall, especially towards the downtown area. There are several sites which offer parking spot arrangements which include parkingspots.com and parkatmyhouse.com.
Swap Your House – This isn’t necessarily making money from your home, but you can save money on your next vacation by eliminating the costs associated with hotels or staying in a different state or even country. You may have watched the movie the movie, The Holiday, which was a great, yet romantic, version of a housing swap in action. Although it may seem weird to have strangers in your house, by using Skype to communicate, getting references first, and making sure any valuables and important paperwork are locked up, you should be good to go.
Get a Roommate – Ah roommates, they’re not glamorous, but they do provide you with some extra rent money if times get tight (that is, if they pay their bills). I’ve used roommates as a living arrangement the majority of my adult life and find that it’s a great way to significantly lower my living expenses. I even have a few single dad friends who live together so that they can better handle raising their kids because of their schedules. Roommates could also entail living in a communal arrangement, but you might have to move homes in order to accomplish that.
Power up Your House – Use your roof and power grid as a way to shoot power back to the grid. Although solar is still an expensive alternative, it is possible for those who are handy to build their own solar panels and place them on their roof. You can even used damaged solar cells from ebay and save a ton of money. If you’ve got the time you could tinker around and build your own by following some simple instructions on the internet.
Convert Your Backyard to an Edible Paradise – If you’ve got a lawn in your backyard, you’re not using your land for the highest and best use. There’s a family in Pasadena California that uses their yard on a quarter of an acre lot to raise all their own food and also sell some for the extra produce for tens of thousands of dollars each year. Local restaurants in the upscale market are demanding fresh organic produce which this family offers. Sure they may work a bit harder than all of us, but they do it in a beautiful environment that allows them to stay at home. Check out the video below to see how they do it.
If you need some extra cash and have a house with some extra space that isn’t being utilized there are many options for you. Your creativity and willingness to work to save some money will be the factors in which you can make money from your home, literally!
Ryan is a personal finance blogger who writes about financial freedom at plantingdollars.com. He also builds niche websites ranging from travel, to technology, to Roth IRA information.
Crystal’s Comments: We actually rented out the spare bedroom in our home for more than two years. It does feel pretty great to be making $500 back from your home every month when you only have a $740 mortgage.  The only downside is the amount of privacy you have to be willing to give up.
Have you ever followed through on any of the ideas above? Any great ideas that we’re missing?
February 14, 2011, at 6:00 am
Mr. BFS and I finally took the plunge into the 21st century and bought smart phones. We each are now a proud owner of our very own Samsung Epic 4G from Sprint.
Samsung Epic 4G Price
The first part of the plunge hurt pretty badly. Each phone costs $499 retail. The in-store credits brought the price down to $300 and each phone also had a $100 mail in rebate. In the end, each phone with cost about $225 with tax. But for right now, I signed a receipt that said they could charge me $650 for 2 phones! Oh well…
Samsung Epic 4G Unlimited Data Plan from Sprint
If you get a smart phone to blog like I did, you need an unlimited data plan. Sprint’s unlimited data plan for Sprint cell phones runs about $70 per phone PLUS an additional $10 per phone if it operates with 4G. That’s a $160 for our two phones. We save 15% by using my company’s discount, but our bill will still come to at least $140 a month. That’s $60 more a month than we were paying before, so our vacation account will now only be getting $190 a month instead of the $250 it has been getting every month for years…
Mr. BFS and I did renew our contract on the phone to get a renewal bonus they weren’t offering in the store, so at least that will help. We ended up talking them up from $100 to $140 since we have been customers for at least 8 years so far. Yay for $140 to lessen the pain!
My Review of the Samsung Epic 4G
So far, so good. The screen is big enough to read email and play Angry Birds with no problems to my eyes. I also like how clear everything looks even when you zoom in or out.
My Favorite Features of the Samsung Epic are:
- Big Screen – I love that this is one of the biggest smart phone screens I’ve ever seen.
- Apps – I even have a Budgeting in the Fun Stuff App now thanks to Blog2Droid. Jesse may also be building me a BFS iPhone App soon. I’m also addicted to the Weather Channel App now, hahaha.
- Angry Birds – This is the most addictive silly game I have ever played…
- Email – It lets me know whenever I get a new email and now I don’t have 50 messages waiting for me when I get home. WOOT!
- Slide-Out Keyboard – It is actually possible to answer emails with an actual QWERTY keyboard!
- Speech to Text – As long as I’m not in my cubicle, I never type anything anymore, lol.
- Swype – If I do have to write a quick text, swype makes it even easier than a keyboard. I still like the keyboard for longer messages though.
- Great Camera – The pictures are so clear!
- Browser – I love being able to look stuff up anywhere. It’s also pretty fast.
The Negatives of my Samsung Epic
- Size – It is much bigger than my old phone.
- Cost – $450 up front and $720 extra a year is hard to swallow. I’m also scared silly that I’ll break it somehow…
- Lifestyle Inflation – If this is like every other convenience I’ve ever paid for, I won’t ever let it go.
Do you have a smart phone? If so, what do you like about it? If not, what keeps you from splurging on it?
February 13, 2011, at 6:00 am
During the Yakezie Alexa Ranking Challenge, you helped BFS soar from an Alexa ranking of more than 8 million in March 2010 to 49,852 on October 31, 2010. Thank you!!!
Then, after seeing all the interest for my blog stats and income updates, I created a new challenge to complete by January 1st, 2011. You helped me get an Alexa ranking of 43,055, 28,687 total visits, 239 RSS Subscribers, and 228 Twitter Followers!!! WOOT!
Since I do plan on blogging full time by 2012, this is the year for a HUGE push. I have come up with new goals to keep us on the right track!
Here are my Goals for July 4th, 2011:
Here is what we are shooting for by the Fourth of July – July 4th, 2011:
Alexa – Maintain a Ranking at or around 37,500
Visits – 60,000 total visits (I started BFS on February 20th, 2010)
Feedburner Subscribers – 500
Twitter Followers – 500
MozRank – 5.5
Today’s Update
Alexa – 35,987 (AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU!!!)
Visits – 35,063 (24,937 to go…we can do it!)
Feedburner Subscribers - 306 (194 to go, whoo-hoo!!!)
Twitter Followers - 306 (194 to go as well, yay!!!)
MozRank – 5.02 (0.48 to go)
As always, thank you so much for being my supporters! Obviously, I could not do any of this without you and I never forget that!!!
The Saved Quarter Challenge Update
I joined The Saved Quarter Challenge this year and am aiming to save at least $21,000 by the end of 2011! That would be a tiny bit more than 25% of our GROSS pay from our two full time jobs.
Here’s how I’ve done this week for the Saved Quarter Challenge ($21,000 Goal):
I have better updates after the 13th of every month since that is when our billing periods end, but here is where we funnelled away money this past week:
- I closed about $300 of ad deals, so I’ll see how much is saved this coming week.
- We spent $650 on smart phones…yeah, that is the opposite of savings…
Total This Week: $0 as of now
Total to date: $1900 guaranteed, $19,100 to go.
Additonal Info
I will continue posting monthly and yearly blog statistics and income updates from here on out, so stay tuned at the beginning of every month!
In case you didn’t know, Alexa traffic rankings are determined by the numbers of hits a site gets by people with the Alexa toolbar. If you want to be part of this ranking community, you can download the Alexa toolbar here.
If you don’t already, you can follow me via RSS or Twitter by following those links.
To learn more about the Yakezie, check out my Yakezie page! Feel free to email me if you are a Yakezie member or challenger and don’t see yourself on the list!
If you are interested in seeing how I went from an 8 million plus Alexa rank to about 50,000 in less than 8 months, you can see My Blogging Schedule, which breaks down everything I do related to blogging.
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING THE BEST READERS EVER!!!
February 12, 2011, at 6:00 pm
The following is a guest post about the new tax plan introduced by President Obama from Sara at Darn Good Blogging.
Major Tax Plans in Progress
At the end of 2010, all of the 2001 and 2003 tax relief packages implemented during President Bush’s presidency expired. As a result, this crucial question was raised in people’s mind, “where are the current tax rates heading in 2011?”’
Most taxpayers were anticipating steep tax hikes in 2011 and were waiting eagerly for congress to take urgent steps in this regard. Thankfully a host of changes were recently introduced by President Barrack Obama. Now we all wonder how much these changes will influence our tax situation and whether it will boost the economic recovery process and create jobs down the line.
Current Tax Plan Changes
- Changes are hopeful for married couples with 2 children who jointly earn at least $25,000. Since the Earned Income Tax Credit was increased during these tax changes, those couples’ refunds have increased by $385. This one of the 2011 tax credits is also refundable, which means that these couples will receive this credit even if they don’t owe a balance to the IRS.
- The tax rules are slightly different if a married couple has two children with one in college and their combined income is approximately $50,000. Their refund will shrink by $500 following the trend from 2008. That is when the family received a $1,500 economic stimulus payment, which was then shrunk to the $800 Making Work Pay credit they received for 2010.
- If a married couple with two children, including one in college, earns $200,000, their tax bill gets reduced by an average of $780 since limits on their deductions were entirely phased out.
- If a married couple has both the children in college, possesses huge investments, and has a joint income of $1 million or more, then their tax bill is reduced by an average of $6,740 since their deduction limits have been phased out too.
- As a result of inflation, the standard deduction and personal exemption increased considerably. These changes result in a tax bill reduction of $63 for a single person who makes $50,000 and has paid $2,500 in interest on his/her student loan.
These new implementations are expected to improve the economy (maybe even more than these energy tax credits in 2011). We can keep our fingers crossed and hope that these changes will create jobs and encourage private business owners to invest more.
Crystal’s Comments: This sounds like taxes were reduced for most people, but REALLY reduced for the very well off. Am I following that correctly?
February 12, 2011, at 6:00 am
My Favorite Posts this Week
Guest Posts from BFS
Thank you very much for having me over!
Guest Posts at BFS
Thank you for a day off!
If you would like to guest post on BFS, please contact me with your idea or post and I’d love to have you over for the day! If you are a business, please contact me here for more details. Thanks!
Giveaways and Other Info
Blog Carnivals
My carnival – Totally Money Blog Carnival - was filled with Super Bowl Commercials at Live Real, Now!
Please check out the last edition and submit here every week!
If you are hosting a carnival that will include BFS, please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!
Top 5 Referring Sites to BFS in within the Last Week:
I post the top 25 on the first Saturday of every month.
- Yakezie
- Free Money Finance
- Len Penzo
- Grumpy Rumblings of the Untenured and Punch Debt in the Face (tie)
- The Saved Quarter
Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.
As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my “lurkers” too.  I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!
February 11, 2011, at 6:00 am
Mr. BFS and I love Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day gifts. Yes, the commercialism is rampant and the flowers are way overpriced. I know. So we skip the expensive flowers but we always get each other something to make the other one smile. We buy little things once in a while all year long, but Valentine’s Day is like a mini-Christmas just between the two of us. Here are a few Valentine’s Day gifts that we exchanged over the last 9 years…
Valentine’s Day Gifts for Him
- Rome Total War computer game (he still plays it, lol)
- Computer games I can’t remember the names of…
- Massage Envy gift certificates (he loved it so much that he has a monthly membership now)
- Autographed Craig Biggio baseball (his favorite player)
- Autographed copy of “The DaVinci Code”
- Thousands of Magic: The Gathering cards, card packs, cases, and sleeves (yeah, we are geeks)
- Board games (yep, still geeks)
- Game Stop shopping sprees
- Several Nintendo Wii games
- Nice cooking supplies (he makes lists of things he likes but wouldn’t buy himself…it’s cute)
Valentine’s Day Gifts for Her
- Nice tennis shoes (I kept saying I couldn’t afford to buy new ones in college so he got me some Adidas or something like that with a purple stripe that felt like walking on clouds)
- Nice dress shoes (he was starting a theme)
- Nice bowling shoes (see, I told you there was a theme)
- A black bowling ball with red swirls that smells like cherries and has my name engraved on it (I like Bowling and we use to be in amateur leagues)
- Single red roses once in a while (I like a single rose better than a bunch…no idea why…)
- Multi-Colored Carnations (I love Carnations – cheap and easy to turn into dazzling blues and purples…I love bright colors)
- Date nights at Italian restaurants (I love Italian food but he doesn’t really like much of it except for lasagna…I call these nights his annual lasagna runs…)
- Picnics in the park (we both enjoy feeding the ducks)
- Trip to the zoo (we both really enjoy zoos)
- New clothes (I don’t enjoy clothes shopping but I like bright colored shirts and he hooks me up, lol)
Do you like Valentine’s Day? What little things make you smile?
February 10, 2011, at 8:54 am
Sandy over at First Gen American was forced to fork over $1200 for a vacation home that she didn’t up using.
Initial Reaction Post
In short, in $1200 Down the Drain, Sandy explained that the flight her family was going to be on to get to Florida was cancelled due to the blizzard last week, so they couldn’t make it to the rental house. The property owner told Sandy that she signed a contract and there are no refunds or rain checks. He didn’t try to work with her on getting the place rented out by someone else or by postponing the trip, it was just “no refunds” and “you should have bought travel insurance”.
After Further Review Post
After venting a little, Sandy then looked closer at the paperwork she had to sign along the way and realized this landlord is scammy. In I’ve been Duped Part 2 – $1200 Loss, it seems obvious that though technically everything that happened is legal, there were a lot of little switcheroos along the way and this guy has the most one-sided last minute contract known to man. This wasn’t a contract that he sent out beforehand…this was a contract he sent to her 5 days before she was supposed to show up and it stated the no refund, no rain check policy. He already had her $1500 ($1200 for the house and a $300 deposit) when he sent her this new, lengthy contract that she had to sign before being allowed to check in.
My Conclusion
In short, I think Sandy was severely messed over and this guy sucks pickles. I was wondering if we could all help her out and leave our own comments about the situation on her site. Could you please go read both of those posts, $1200 Down the Drain and I’ve been Duped Part 2 – $1200 Loss, and leave your comments?*** She’s hoping to mention her posts to VRBO along with her complaint and the more people that are commenting, the better.
Thanks so much!
***UPDATE: Sandy took down the posts at her site, so please don’t go hunting to leave a comment.
Thanks so much for helping and for reading!!!
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DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
Also, there are paid links on this site. There is no obligation on your part to purchase any products advertised on this website.
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