STAPLES UPDATE: Once again, Staples has some good back-to-school sales, and as always Slickdeals is on top of it. This week’s deals:
- 2-pack Sharpie Fine Permanent Makers $0.25
- 8-pack BIC Round Stic Grip Ballpoint Pens $0.25
- 70-sheets Staples Poly Cover 1-Subject Notebook $0.25
- Really Useful Products 0.14-Liter Storage Bins $0.25
- 120-sheets Staples 8″x10.5″ College or Wide Ruled Filler Paper $0.50
- 70-sheets Staples Poly Cover Composition Book $0.50
- 2-pack BIC Velocity Gel Pen $0.50
- Westcott Preferred 7″ Scissors $1
- 15-pack Staples Binder Clips $1
- 140-sheets Staples Side Coil 3.25″x4.25″ Memo Book $1
- 120-pack Staples Paper Clips $1
- Westcott 12″ Plastic Ruler $1
- 4-pack BIC Great Erase Dry-Erase Fine Tip Markers $1
- 3-pack Pentel Hi-Polymer White Handheld Erasers $1
BEING HOMELESS FOR FUN AND PROFIT: Over on Quora, somebody asks if being homeless would be a good cost-cutting strategy, and the question elicited an interesting answer from a product designer named Kurt Varner:
I recently concluded a 4 month adventure of living from my car in Silicon Valley. Don’t listen to the naysayers. It can be done, and it will save you a ton of money. I did this out of choice, also while bootstrapping my startup.
My monthly costs were a grand total of $219. $100 for a 24/7 co-working membership, $39 for a 24/7 gym membership, and $80 at the grocery store.
If you’re at all curious, he goes into a lot more detail of how everything worked, including videos of his sleeping arrangement. There’s also a write-up of Varner’s adventure in Inc. magazine.
HOW TO MAKE $400/HOUR: A great way to make money is by convincing people who have a lot of it to give some to you, and the New York Post has the scoop on one such method:
Posh Manhattan moms and dads are taking parental obsessiveness to new heights — by hiring $400-an-hour recreation “experts” to organize play dates for their children.
These pricey pre-planned play times are monitored by instructors who teach them the proper way to socialize with their well-heeled peers in order to maximize their chances of getting into New York’s elite private schools.
“Some kids need a little bit more work” at learning how to play, said Suzanne Rheault, the CEO of one of the firms that organize play dates, called Aristotle Circle. “Sometimes [parents] hear from our experts that there are some areas to improve.”
It is not surprising that “experts” who make $400 per hour identify areas for improvement. But later, we find out what this is really about:
Rheault’s pricey play dates involve groups of three to five 4-year-olds playing in a room. The experts closely monitor how the kids share crayons, color, follow directions in Simon Says, and hold a pencil.
All this child’s play is deadly serious for parents, because the toddlers will be judged on these skills when they apply to top-end schools, such as Trinity and Horace Mann.
“Given that admission rates [to elite kindergartens] are so low, parents don’t want to leave anything to chance,” Rheault said.
Manhattan is nuts.
GOOD TIMES WITH MCDONALD’S MONOPOLY: McDonald’s is once again doing its Monopoly game, America’s #1 source of a free medium fries. Last year, Brandon at Bargaineering conducted an experiment. McDonald’s lets you get game pieces for free if you write them and include a self-addressed stamped envelope, so Brandon sent them 100 SASEs. The whole thing is meticulously detailed here. The results:
Instant-Win Prizes
Breakfast Sandwich – 5
Medium Fries – 22
Regular McFlurry – 1
Small Frappe/Smoothie – 5
Redbox – 4
My Coke Rewards – 2
Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese – 4
2 Snapfish Prints – 2
But the more important question: was it worth it?
Would I make any money back?
Answer: Nope. Actually, I lost money. My total expenses (not counting man-hours) was $117. My total earnings in instant-win prizes only tallied up to $90.62. So I have an ROI of -$26.38. Yes. I made negative money. This was actually surprising. I figured that with the “1 in 4 wins!” claim, I’d easily match and probably offset all my expenses in food earnings. But even at a decent 22-23% success rate, I wasn’t able to break through.
But there’s more to life than just money:
Was this a fun experiment to do?
Answer: Definitely. I’m still glad I completed this stunt. I learned plenty about the process of a sweepstakes, and the amount of time and attention required to participate. Though I didn’t win anything substantial, I’m still amazed by the outcome, and how the numbers worked out (or didn’t, technically ).
As somebody who’s thought it would be entertaining to do something like this just to see what would happen, I’m glad Brandon completed this stunt too.
ChasingThePoints says
I think I may need to surf Quora some more.. you’ve found some very fascinating links
John Bassett says
Can you email mail me some really cool and informative places on the internet that can teach me ways to become more profitable. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and is very needed. I will be homeless for 18 months, in San Francisco, and will have a computer + internet connection. I read your story and was very impressed. If one can do it so can another. Please, if you can, send advice.
John Bassett says
I read your story and am extremely impressed. I am also going to be homeless in San Francisco for about 18 months and was wondering if you could give me advice on ways to have an income via the internet. Any suggestions would be much appreciated and are badly needed. Please help. I do have a PC and internet access. Have pretty solid computer skills. Have worked as an entry level programmer but it was many years ago. Still pretty tech savvy and I will have a ton of spare time and good places from which I can utilize the internet and try to make some kind of a living for myself. If one can do it so can another.
Heather says
Hello my name is Heather McCabe and I am about to be homeless after just getting back on my feet in earlier month ago before I found the room to rent I am in now. I moved from LA to Cathedral city and have been out here a few months. I had to move away from a abusive relationship and decided to move out here by my mom who lives in Rancho Mirage. I work as a lift driver and the income I make is a lot less than what I was making in Los Angeles. My plan was to come out here stay at the shelter for a couple weeks till I found a room for rent because I had nowhere else to go. I found a room for rent on craigslist and he turned out to be a complete creep Who is in alcoholic drinks morning till night and harasses me daily. I I have not been able to work because I’m scared to leave my stuff here as I’ve already had to call the cops on him for locking me out of the house when he had me go to the store to get groceries one night when we were going to try to have a civil night and make dinner. Well that didn’t last more than 20 minutes, and the time I came back the door was locked and he would not open it and I had a hop a fence to get inside. This all started my first week after I sensed that he was seeking a companionship as well as a tenant and I myself am not for sale. I was very assertive and set my boundaries with him immediately as I was very turned off. This only made him want me more and he likes telling me what to do like says to me “go to your room”, like I’m a child. He’s very snooty and wimpy, extremely lazy I’m never seen him work a day and he has Hermes silk scarves on his wall framed behind glass but he collects food stamps. Anyways enough about him I’m sure you get the idea and probably asking why don’t you get the hell out of there. Because I don’t have the money to move Out. And the shelters out here are full. So I’m asking for help and donations so I can be in a safe place by the 21st. I’m hoping this works and thank you for your time and any words of advice is greatly appreciated! God bless heathermrv@gmail.com
Poornpissed says
This is easy for a rich asshole to do with no worry about actually OBTAINING income. Try doing it with nothing, and see how ‘fun’ it is. You should be shot for even having the audacity to write that man’s words as if it’s totally true, and relatable.
Igor says
If you are female it’s easy- just latch on to a wealthy man, string him along and POOF you get whatever you want lol. Its hard for a man to get out of homelessness because there isn’t anyone who wants a homeless man. This world sucks.