The Red Stapler Chronicles

When it was revealed that NBC payed a record $900 million to televise the 2008 Summer Olympics, many felt that the price was too high. But in this case, it seems like NBC knew what it was doing as the ratings have been much better than expected. Yes, you could say that they got a little lucky with some intriguing story lines and they probably should cut Michael Phelps a pretty big check. However, they deserve a lot of credit for some actions they took in preparing for the games.

The most important step they took actually happened in October of 2006, when NBC successfully convinced the International Olympic Committee to change the times of event finals in sports that have historically been popular with Americans (namely gymnastics and swimming). You can read this interesting press release issued by U.S. Swimming about this change here.  Instead of starting in the evening (Beijing time), these events were staged in the morning (Beijing time). Just by coincidence :), that happens to be prime time on the east coast of the United States.

Why was this timing so important? After all, in the previous Olympics in Sydney and Greece, NBC just taped the popular events and played the tape during prime time.  Well, I believe that those days are over where the majority of Americans will not check the internet for results. We simply have so many other options to entertain us and demand to get our information instantaneously. I know that I have been watching more of these Olympics than previous years only because important events have been live. If they were not, I would still be interested in the results, but probably would only have checked out the highlights on sportscenter.

Now let’s see, the 2012 Olympics are in London. Looks like I might invest some money with a British No-Doz company, as they can expect their key Olympic final events to start 1:00 AM local time (for the record, I am joking here).  Hey, it might make for a more interesting marathon as runners will have to be equipped with miner’s hats.

Do you buy in bulk to maximize your savings? Do you only buy things from the clearance rack? Do bring a stack of coupons and the sale circular to every supermarket trip? If you answered yes to these questions you must be financially responsible and a savvy shopper, right? I say not necessarily. In fact, I believe that some bargain hunters can fall into traps that actually cost them money in the long term.

Now some of you are probably wondering what the heck I am thinking here. After all, sales, coupons, and clearance are usually considered good things. Well, let me share a retail insider secret with you about the term sale. All major retailers are required to post a pricing policy somewhere (it’s usually posted in the elevator) in their store that describes how they define sale items. The following statement (or a close variation) is something that you will find in ALL of their policies:

“REG./ORIG. PRICES REFLECT OFFERING PRICES IN EFFECT DURING THE 90 DAYS BEFORE OR AFTER AN EVENT, BUT NOT NECESSARILY DURING THE 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THE EVENT. SAVINGS MAY NOT BE BASED ON ACTUAL SALES. SOME ORIG. PRICES MAY NOT HAVE BEEN IN EFFECT DURING THE PRIOR 90 DAYS. INTERMEDIATE MARKDOWNS MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN.”

This means that just because an item is advertised “on sale” doesn’t mean that is was a higher price before the sale. In fact, something labeled “on sale” could be at a higher price than it was the previous week. In addition, it is very possible that no one actually paid the original price on an item since a markdown can take place while the item is in transit to the store. Now that I have shared this industry secret, allow me to provide a couple of examples of how consumer with good intentions end up spending their money foolishly.

Trap #1– “I did great at the mall, everything I bought was 50% off or more. I saved so much money.” Yes, there are certainly deals to be found out there, but it is only a deal if you couldn’t have bought a comparable item at a lower price. As I stated above, the original price means nothing. Only research from several retailers will yield the result of how much you really saved. Furthermore, clearance shoppers often fall into a state that I would describe as a “feeding frenzy” in which they are calculating how much they think they are saving instead of tabulating how much they are really spending.

Trap #2–”I cut out 32 coupons from the Sunday paper and I used all but 2 of them. I also took advantage of several promotions that the supermarket was running as long as you used their club card.” It is important to realize why a manufacture puts out a coupon. If you think it is to help you save money, you are nuts. Quite simply, they want to attract new customers to try their products and help persuade those who might have used their products in the past, to give them another try. So, for the consumer, the coupon (or supermarket club card discount) is truly a good thing if:

1. You were planning to buy the product before seeing the coupon/discount

2. If the amount saved makes the product a better deal than the item that you would have bought. Thus, if you usually buy the store brand tissues at 99 cents a box, but you decide to use the 40 cents club card discount for the 1.69 kleenex, you are really loosing 39 cents instead of saving 40 cents.

Trap #3–”My favorite brand of ice cream was on sale. It almost never goes on sale so I bought six gallons. Good thing we have that extra freezer.” Buying in bulk can be a great way to save money, but you risk doing two things that can waste money. First, knowing that I had that much ice cream in my freezer would cause me to eat more of it than I normally would. As a result, I would be effectively spending more money than I intended. In addition, buying perishables in bulk can be risky. Imagine if you lost your power for a day, or the freezer door was left open and everything got “freezer burn.” Your ice cream purchase that saved you a couple of bucks would stop looking like such a good investment.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am a firm advocate of clipping coupons, taking advantage of sales, and buying in bulk. These are outstanding ways to make your dollar go further. But don’t think that doing these things means that you are AUTOMATICALLY saving money. Instead, sprinkle in a little discipline and product research and REAL savings will come your way.

This post was featured as an editor’s choice at the 139th Festival of Frugality

Today, my cumulative online earnings have surpassed the $5,000 mark. I wish I could go back in time and try making money online much sooner than I did. Unfortunately, I was like most people and was very skeptical that you could actually make money on the internet and viewed the majority of making money online techniques as scams. Oh well, there is no use crying over spilled milk, so I will just be grateful that I made the wise decision to give making money online a try.

Now I don’t want to deceive anyone here, I am certainly not getting rich quick with my online money-making techniques. I would be happy if I were getting rich slowly, but that is not happening either. These earnings have been accumulated over a period of 20 months. Furthermore, I bet I have made the LEAST amount of money online than any other blog in the top 250 45n5 top 100 MMO list (although I am working to change this.) There are many bloggers who earn more than $5,000 a month and would probably laugh at my accomplishment.

Still, I am happy that my online endeavors have made my bank account $5,000 larger. This money have been especially useful during these tough economic times. More importantly, my earnings have opened my mind to try other, more lucrative ways to make money online. Hopefully, these new techniques will help me earn my next $5,000 in a lot less time than 20 months.

One of the most important decisions you have to make as a blogger is to choose what you will blog about. Although some bloggers choose to write about whatever they want to each day (many personal blogs), most bloggers choose a niche that will be the focus of their blog. Selecting a niche allows the blogger to attract readers that are interested in this same niche and keeps the blog focused and organized. But can you blog about more than one niche without alienating your readers?

I say–it depends. Multiple niches are quite acceptable when you can somehow relate the different topics to each other. Let’s look at my blog as an example. If I had to describe what my blog is about I would say that it is a make money online, blogging tips, and personal finance blog. That’s three niches for those scoring at home. I believe that these topics mesh well since blogging is a good method of making money online. In addition, those interested in making money online are very likely to be interested in learning various personal finance tips.

Still, I have to be careful to understand my three (potentially) different audiences. As I have stated previously, a relatively new blog like this one will receive the majority of its visits from fellow bloggers. Therefore, I can say that any new blog can safely have blogging tips as a secondary niche. However, as this blogs matures and gains more exposure, I will have to realize that more of my readers will be non-bloggers and less likely to find a blogging tips post interesting.

I will also have to pay attention to what type of posts are driving the most traffic to my blog. For instance, if my personal finance posts are generating the majority of my hits, I will have to consider that some who are interested in this topic might not feel comfortable enough with computers to attempt to make money online and/or start a blog. If this were the case, I would have to reduce the number of making money online and blogging tips posts.

Consequently, I believe that having more than one niche is okay for the majority of blogs out there. As a blog grows and matures, you may have to decrease (or even eliminate) your secondary niche(s) and focus on what your readers value the most.

One thing that I find is lacking in some of the blogs that I read is that they do not keep their readers informed about the progress they are making regarding a new site/program they have tried. I find this to be especially true when the site/program that is being promoted gives the blogger an incentive to refer others. They talk about why I should join the site/program but never bring up the subject again. I view this as a hit and run technique and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth–like the blogger is only trying to dupe me into signing up just to get a affiliate commission.

As a result, I want to make sure that my blog (which certainly does occasionally encourage readers to join a site/program than will ultimately make me money) is not guilty of this type of hit and run approach. Most importantly, i think it is vital to acknowledge programs that have had disappointing results. So how have the sites/programs that I have promoted been doing for me?

To begin with, the second I receive payment for something that I did online, I include it on my current earnings page (located toward the top of my blog). So I encourage you to check it out once in a while to see how I am making money. However, I do not include earnings on programs that have not paid me before and earnings that fall below the minimum cashout limit.

Thus, let me tell you how some of the newer sites/programs that I have joined have been working out for me:

1. Performancing Ads–I must admit, this one has been a huge disappointment for me as I still have yet to sell a single ad. I even added a second location for ads, but to no avail. I will be giving this program two more weeks to produce, otherwise their ads will be gone from my blog.

2. RevResponse–(The Red widget on the left column that says Free Resource Center)–I have had 5 signups for this program, giving me pending earnings of $10.20. I am also due to get $50 from them for promoting them with a post, so I should have a nice $60.20 payment sometime in September. In addition, the magaizines that I now receive from the service (absolutely free) have been pretty interesting.

3. Entrecards–Still giving me some nice traffic. Even though it seems like more and more prominent bloggers are ditching the widget (like John Chow,) it will be remaining on The Red Stapler Chronicles.

Consider this type of following up a new policy at The Red Stapler Chronicles. I promise to always keep you in the loop and will even talk frankly about my failures. Please feel free to “call me out” if you think I have ignored this policy.

Speaking of failures, about a month ago, The Red Stapler Chronicles debuted in last place (363 out of 363) on the 45n5 Top 100 List.

However, today I found out that I am just on the outside of the Top 100 at 110. Although my ultimate goal is to reach the top 100, I am thrilled to be where I am. I know it will take a lot more effort to get into the top 100 than it did to move from 363 to 110.

Remember last year in the middle of the summer when we all thought 7/7/7 would be our lucky day? Many Americans believed this and brought upon a wedding frenzy on that day. I wonder how many of those record number of weddings have already ended in divorce.

Regardless, this year brings us 8/8/8 which will be probably be most remembered for the start of the Olympics in Beijing. Did you know that the official start time will be 8:08:08 pm Beijing time? That is no coincidence, as the Chinese believe that 8 is a very lucky number. I say that the good people of China will have to share the good fortunes that 8/8/8 is sure to bring and I propose the following 88 ways that are sure to help bring us all this good luck.

1. Play the board game that was your favorite when you were 8 years old.

2. Catch up (via a phone call or email) with 8 friends or relatives.

3. Dial 1-888-and the first 7 letters of your name and see who answers.

4. Put your radio on 88.8 FM n the morning and listen (probably to static, but you might get lucky) and listen for 8 seconds.

5. Try to remember what you might have been doing on 8/8/88.

6. Keep 88 cents in your pocket all day.

7. Leave work 8 minutes early.

8. Remember an eighth grade spin the bottle party you attended.

9. Discuss with a friend what you would have named a hypothetical 8th dwarf (my vote is hank).

10. Complete #9 after drinking 8 “adult beverages.”

11. Change your screensaver to turn on after 8 minutes.

12. At work, intentionally waste 888 seconds (14.8 minutes) and encourage others to do the same.

13. Watch a movie that contains the word eight (I would suggest Eight Below or Eight Men Out).

14. Count to 8 like the Count from sesame street in front of a co-worker.

15. Brag to someone that you know that Martin Van Buren was the 8th president

16. Draw an octagon.

17. After using the copy machine, set it so the next person will make 88 (or if you like trees) 8 copies.

18. Honk your horn if you drive by a Super 8 Motel.

19. Download the theme song for 8 is Enough

20. Bet someone $8 dollars that there are 8 planets in our solar system and then go to wikipedia to prove it.

21. Eat an octopus

22. Text a screen full of 88888888’s to a complete stranger.

23. Extra points if you use a Nokia 888 phone

24. Repeat this 8 times.

25. Try to avoid having to use your 8th amendment right of excessive bail and cruel and unusual behavior.

26. Decide what you think should be the Eight Deadly Sin.

27. Be naked at 8:08 (you get two chances at this)

28. Have at least 8 glasses of water.

29. Steal the number 8 and the letter H (the eighth letter) from a co-workers’ keyboard

30. Be especially nice to Scorpios, the eighth sign of the Zodiac

31. Drink a glass a milk to honor the 8 maids of milking.

32. Watch the movie Dodgeball, so you can experience ESPN Oucho

33. Look up what teams made it to last years Elite 8

34. Sing Adam Sandler’s Hannukkah song that contains the lyrics–8 crazy nights

35. Tell someone that 8 is the only number that appears “hugable.”

36. Honor the 8th Commandment and do not steal (except for #28)

37. Bet on all horse #8’s at the track.

38. By now,you should know how much to bet

39. Enjoy 8 scoops of your favorite ice cream

40. Inform someone that bullshit has 8 letters

41. And so does dumb post

42. Try to come up with the 8th dirty word you can’t say on television

43. Visit eight.com

44 And eighty-eight.com

45. And eighthundredeightyeight.com

46. And 888.com

47. Participate in Flickr 888

48. Workout with 8 minute abs

49. Catch a spider and let it go

50. Inform someone that there are 88 constellations

51. Come up with the 8th habit of highly effective people

52. Say thank you 8 times

53. Jump over every 8th crack on a sidewalk

54. Chew 8 pieces of gum at once

55. Throw 8 rocks in a pond

56. Come up with 8 ways to skin a cat

57. But don’t actually do this even though they have 8+ lives

58. Take a 8 minute walk

59. Don’t work more than 8 hours

60. Experience an eight minute kiss

61. Hold your breath for 8 seconds

62. Come up with 8 reasons why this post is a waste of time

63. Turn up your thermostat to 88 when you leave the house to save money

64. Confirm that this number’s square root is 8

65. Hold hands with someone for 8 minutes straight

66. Take a supplement with all 8 vitamin B’s

67. Use 8 ice cubes in a drink

68. Visit Eighty-Eight, Kentucky, the actual name of a small town.

69. Go to a octophobia support group and mock its members

70. Put 8 staples in an actual work document

71. Debate whether or not there will be a Rocky 8

72. Keep 8 cents in your shoe all day

73. Bet someone $8 that they can’t fold any piece of paper in half 8 times

74. Say Ouch eight times since it is a fun word to say.

75. Eat an After Eight chocolate mint

76. Listen to a song you liked when you were in the eighth grade

77. Do this on an 8-track if possible

78. If you happen to be on Interstate 8 or 88, or any Eighth/Eighty-Eighth Street/Avenue, you must honk your horn.

79. Write down 8 words that rhyme with eight

80. Insist that you only have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs to anyone that will listen

81. Turn on channel 88

82. Eat 8 of your favorite cookies (Oreo Double Stuff for me)

83. Do not use the number 7. Refer to it as the number before 8 all day.

84. Drink a V-8

85. Play a game of pool (I shouldn’t have to tell you what variety.)

86. Listen to 8 days a week by the Beetles

87.Set a goal for yourself with a deadline of September 9th of next year.

88. Make sure that this post gets read 888 times (I would even be happy with 88