Money Hacks

A. Does anybody see this via feed? If so, let me know?
B. Does this appear on the site itself?

Yes, it’s true — Money Hacks may be resurrected.

I have decided that, temporarily at least, Money Hacks will be incorporated into Get Rich Slowly. I’ve created a new money hacks category. In a couple of hours, I will switch the feed source from this site to the new location. If all works according to plan, those of you who read this site by feed won’t notice a thing. It should just be seamless.

Note that if the money hacks end up being a poor fit at GRS, they will return to this site. This is an experiment. I think it’ll work, but who can tell ?

Note: I already posed this question to readers of Get Rich Slowly. If you responded there, please don’t respond here. You’ll mess up my survey!

For the past six weeks, I’ve been posting one short tip here every weekday. But I’ve found that it feels odd to maintain two money sites. Every time I write something for Money Hacks I think, “I should really share this at Get Rich Slowly.” There are other times I post stuff at the main site and think, “I should post this at Money Hacks.” More and more, it makes sense to maintain just one site.

How do you folks feel about this? How many of you read Money Hacks but not Get Rich Slowly? How would you feel about moving over to the main site? Would you prefer that Money Hacks remained an autonomous entity? Would you be okay if it were absorbed by its big brother, Get Rich Slowly? Some combination of the two? Don’t really care? Let your voice be heard!

At the end of each month, I plan to share my favorite post from the Money Hacks sister site, Get Rich Slowly. This month I liked 10 ways to save money on books:

1. Avoid new releases
2. Screen books by reading reviews
3. Read the classics online
4. Search for bargains at thrift stores, etc.
5. Make Amazon an all-purpose research tool
6. Make frequent use of your public library
7. Explore used book stores
8. Use internet tools to find cheap books
9. Buy only what you intend to read
10. Share your books with others

Read the entire article for more detailed information.

Other personal finance bloggers have been writing about how to save on books, too. Free Money Finance recently wrote about Consumer Reports choice for the best place to save on books. The Simple Dollar went further, describing a method to leverage the free Borders rewards program to get greatly reduced prices on books (and other media).

bump bump, bump bump

Do you hear that? It’s the heart of Money Hacks.

When I started this site in October, it was on a lark. I had a vague notion that a second site about personal finance would be fun to keep. At the time, though, I didn’t really know how to run this site while also running Get Rich Slowly. I have a better idea now.

And so I’ve resuscitated Money Hacks. There’s a pulse here. I’ll be posting tips and tricks on a regular basis. I may not reach a daily level for some time, but that’s my goal: one tip each day. As part of the process, I’ve redated everything from October of 2006 to January of 2007. It just makes things look nicer.

Thank you for your patience — all sixteen of you who subscribed!

Welcome to Money Hacks. This site is devoted to finding tips and tools to save time and money. It was inspired by Merlin Mann’s entry on ‘the 43 Folders of money management sites’. Mann wrote:

In the last week or so, I’ve gotten email from three different people asking me which site I’d consider to be the ‘43 Folders’ of money management. By this, I think they mean they’re looking for some kind of framework and tips for understanding the role money plays in their life, and then trying to find the best and most practical ways to implement and maintain healthy financial change. As against fancy “wealth management,” I’m thinking more along the lines of “what tricks will help me get smarter about the day-to-day dollar leakage?” Money Hacks, if you prefer.

I’ve believed for some time that the world needed a site devoted to money hacks. Mann’s post was the catalyst to finally create one.

This is not a personal finance weblog — I already have one of those called Get Rich Slowly — but a site devoted to finding tips and tricks to save you money in every area of your life. There will certainly be some content overlap with Get Rich Slowly, but while the former features longer entries about personal finance, I envision Money Hacks as a place to post a short entry every day about a new money hack. A lot of neat things that don’t have room for over there will be posted here.

You can help. If you know find a great money hack, send it to me at: tips [-at-] moneyhacks [-dot-] org. If you’d like credit (and a link), be sure to include the appropriate information.

Be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss a single hack.