The Big Book of Obvious Advice

I was just perusing the Federal Consumer Literacy Consortium (you know- Pueblo, Colorado)'s third edition of "66 Ways to Save Money." Don't bother to click on the link unless you were born yesterday. It offers such insight as "You can save hundreds of dollars a year by comparing [gas] prices at different stations," and "You can save as much as a thousand dollars or more each year in lower credit card interest charges by paying off your entire bill each month."

Wow! That wasn't obvious at all! Thanks, U.S. Government!

Cups

Maybe it's just me, but I lose my drink about 74 times at every party I attend, then spend ten minutes walking around trying to figure out which cup was mine. "Nope, this one has a cigarette butt in it. Nope, this one is mixed with orange juice (the only mixer for the hardcore is ice). Nope, this one is still full." And when there's a party where someone puts out a Sharpie to use for labeling, half the people think they're too cool to write their names on their cups, then someone steals the Sharpie to write down someone's phone number or to tag the bathroom then it's gone for the rest of the night anyway.

So now there are "etch it party cups" to solve your problem. (link via DailyCandy)

Tenants' Rights

The LA Weekly has a list of tenants' rights in California, which can come in handy if your landlord is a jerk.

Roomy

How to make a room seem bigger from eHow.com (via LifeHacker.com). Also, how to decorate a small bedroom.

Sweepstakes

Enter to win a chance to see mars volta in Tennessee or a Queens of the Stone Age prize pack.

Free Books

About.com has compiled a list of links to free books online. Most of these are copyright-expired books. Catch up on the classics on your Palm during the commute or while you're supposed to be working.

Coachella Giveaway

Enter to win a trip to Coachella from fuse.tv.

The Voice

The Village Voice this week has a whole segment on "Generation Debt." There's a story on Russell Simmons' pre-paid credit card that you can use in conjunction with TurboTax to get ripped off. Phat! There's one on congress not raising minimum wage that isn't too exciting. Another on how Ivy League schools are giving free financial aid to low-income students, which is nice. The government is screwing us over on student loans, making it even easier to go into debt (while later voting to make it harder to declare bankruptcy). More on the ridiculous laws of No Child Left Behind, where military recruiters have access to your personal info. And finally, a pick-me-up piece on artists living off Food Stamps.

You know, I went to apply for Food Stamps once after my unemployment ran out, mostly just to test the experience. It was Not Cool and Very Ghetto- and I was rejected.

Amazing News!

Wait, you mean meals on fad diets cost on average 50% more than regular meals? Gosh, it's almost as if fad diets are a complete and total ripoff.

Winning Radio Contests

According to this site (which I read about on LifeHacker), you have a greater chance of winning radio contests the more excited you sound when you call in.

Birthday

Today is my birthday. I shouldn't really give away all the good advice in the book, but I'm feeling generous as I get older. Search Google for "free on your birthday" plus the name of your city. You'll come up with a day's agenda of stuff you can go collect. Hooray!

Free mp3 of the day

Salon.com's Audiofile reviews albums and usually links to one free song per day. They pay attention to all the hyped indie bands. Recently mentioned: Kasabian, Quasimoto, French Kicks, Prefuse 73, Bloc Party, Hot Hot Heat, Iron & Wine. The site is free after you click through a "site pass" ad once per day.

A good website for links to mp3s

I found this one while searching for 13 and God mp3s. It turns out he likes some of the same groups I do.
http://swen.antville.org/

Another site for album previews

http://www.myspace.com/thebooth

Free delivery

Safeway is offering free delivery service until 4/30/05 to get people to try Safeway.com. Just enter promo code "FREESHIPWB3". Minimum $50 order required. I spent more than 50 bucks there today, and I was only getting ingredients for one meal.

PJ and the Share

I've noticed that more artists are putting up full versions of albums in online media players. This is a great thing. It allows those of us too poor to buy them to hear them, and entices those of us who hear them to buy them.

PJ Harvey did that in anticipation of her new album, Uh Huh Her. It's still online here. When you can hear an entire album like this, rather than as chopped up samples or as a few stolen mp3's you can find from file-sharing sites, you can actually appreciate it in the album context. That gets me to the record store faster. Perhaps this is the solution to the whole "death of the album" thing we keep hearing about.

Haters

My hate blog on my other website made the San Francisco Chronicle today. I was called a "hater par excellence." Sweet!

Free shows

People of San Francisco, have you seen the upcoming free show listing calendar at Amoeba Records? It's insane:

Hot Hot Heat
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Raveonettes
Spoon

I'm not a big fan of shows in record stores, but I am a big fan of not spending money. Maybe I'll hit a few of these.