Google Voice + Gizmo = Free Calls, and Free Number.

I've been waiting for this one for quite a long time. Would you like the ability to make unlimited calls anywhere for free?

By using a combination of two free services, and your high speed internet, you can make calls for nothing. This works great for me, as I can keep a cheap cell phone plan, and I can pick my area code that I want to be calling from.

I signed up for the Google Voice Beta about 9 months ago. I finally got approved for it this past week. Google Voice is a service that offers you a free telephone number for life. If someone calls your google voice number, you can have it ring any number of your other lines at once.

I have it set to ring my cell phone, and my girlfriends at the same time. Google also offers call screening and a voice mail box.

The best part about it, is that we could pick our phone number. I chose a 480 area code, with a Scottsdale, AZ extension. We live in New York, but having an AZ line will be beneficial on the job hunt.

Google Voice is at www.google.com/voice

The second free service is Gizmo5. You can get a free account and install their software at www.gizmo5.com

Google Voice will dial any phone, and use your phones airtime to make the call, but they do not offer phone calls for free. Gizmo allows you to answer incoming calls, and talk for free.

If you add your Gizmo SIP number to google voice, Google will call your Gizmo line, and connect you to any number. Basically you can talk for free for nothing.

Even the caller ID works great. It shows my Arizona number.

I have been using this FAQ that spells out all the details.
http://nyquil.org/archives/1218-Unlimited-Free-Calls-Using-Google-Voice-and-Gizmo.html

For talking, I am using a $9 Xact plastic USB phone. It works great. I suppose you could use a headset, or get an adapter to use a regular house phone.

The sound quality is better than my Sprint PCS cell phone. I have a 10mbps Time Warner roadrunner connection herer.

Could Redbox put the bite on Blockbuster, and others?

Over the past year, Redbox vending machines have been cropping up in my neighborhood.

They started in local grocery stores, now they have moved to Walmart.

The pitch is $1 per movie, per day. Automatically billed to your credit card, return it whenever you want to. You can rent from any redbox, and return to any redbox in the country.

You rent directly from an electronic kiosk. You can even reserve movies online, and have them waiting in the Redbox when you arrive.

It is a perfect fit for a down economy. People are staying home more, and $1 DVD's provide a great value in entertainment.

Personally, I have thrown out my Blockbuster and Hollywood Video membership card, and stopped ordering On-Demand movies from Time Warner cable. I spend $0 with these 3 companies.

The days of the video store are growing darker and darker.. Its pretty hard to justify charging $4.29 movie rental fee on a DVD that will end up for sale at Walmart for under $10 in a few months.

Kudos to Redbox, I'll keep supporting them, actually giving them my money.

Here is a site dedicated to Redbox promotion codes. I haven't used any of them. I just pay the $1 per day plus tax, and am glad to do so. Redbox is currently running some free movie nights on Monday. Dig up a promo code on this site, or just pay the buck like I do if you want to support their efforts.

Inside Redbox

How to file your taxes online for free. Why pay fees?

Here's one for those of you who are paying big dollars to H&R Block Taxcut, TurboTax, and others.

The IRS has a list of ways that people earning under $56,000 can file their Federal Taxes for free.

Read the fine print at each offer, some programs will file only the Federal for free, then hit you with a charge for the state. Others are totally free.

Link to IRS E-File

Pass along any good results to me, I'd like to hear 'em..

Switch your Natural Fuel Provider and Save Money.

This one turned out to be an absolute no brainer for me, and a home run as well. Thanks to utility deregulation, consumers are now free to purchase their natural gas and electric supply from any company that they choose.

If you are buying your Natural Fuel, or Electricity from the gas company or the electric company then you are paying "retail" so to speak for your utility.

This has brought many companies into the market, most of these companies will save you money, but are for profit companies. Off the top of my head, in the local Buffalo, NY market, there is a gas station called Noco that has been running ads to switch your supply to them to save money.

I did a serious cost analysis on their program, and decided to pass. They wanted to lock you into a certain price rate for an entire year, when we all know that the price of natural gas changes every month. Their electric offering was even stranger, saving you dollars at off peak hours, and charging more during on peak hours.

After doing some digging, I decided to go with a not for profit company to provide my natural gas and electricity. This company is the Energy Cooperative of New York.

The signup process was simple, just sign up online, and provide them with your account information for your utilities. The process was seamless, National Fuel still sends me a bill, but the supply comes from ECNY. National Fuel still reads my meter, and provides any service that I may need. Same deal with my Electric company, National Grid.

The only difference is that I am saving huge on the supply portion of my utility bill. When you get a electric or gas bill, there are two charges on there. One is for delivery, one for the actual supply of the electricity or gas.

The chart above will show the actual savings using ECNY versus buying retail from the gas company. Last month I saved 17.6%, which translated to be about 18 bucks in a month for my little 1100 sq foot apartment in my duplex...

Imagine the savings if you have a large gas bill already.

Right now the electric savings has been a wash, I only have a 60 dollar bill on average for electricity, so the savings is less than 5 dollars per month..

First Time Homebuyer $7500 Tax Credit (Well Kinda)

Bought your first house between April 9th 2008, and July 1st 2009?

The government is going to bail you out for $7500.. Well not really, you have to read between the lines on this one, and understand what you are getting into before you take the money.

I was excited to see this program, because it applies to me, I meet all the qualifications. Then I learned the real deal, and became slightly less satisfied, but heck I'll still take their money.

So, you can claim up to $7500 as a tax credit on your taxes this year. Since it is a dollar for dollar credit, Uncle Sam will increase your tax refund by $7500, or reduce what you owe to zero, and send you a check for the rest. The keyword here is up to $7500. They only pay 10% of the amount that you paid for your home. In my case, I'll get 10% of my meager 43,000 house, or $4300.

This may upset you a bit, but keep reading, you will be just fine with it. So, this is not a traditional tax credit, like when the government gave us stimulus checks that we were free to do what we chose with them (booze, cigarettes, electronics, hookers, and the like)..

This tax credit must be repaid within 15 years, over that period of time.. You start the repayment 2 years after you take the money, and they recapture the entire amount 17 years after you take the money.

I'm still taking their money, and you should too (if you qualify)... Toss the money in a CD or other safe investment tool, or even a high interest savings account. Right now the best ones pay about 4 percent.

Not calculating the yearly payback (you would pay that yourself), at 4% APY that $4300 would turn into $7744.06 after 15 years.

Plus you would have access to the cash in case of emergency.

Sounds like a decent deal for me, I'll take the money and run.

Here is a link to the dirty details.. Click my adsense links to buy me a beer..

Federal Housing Tax Credit

APY Interest Calculator (figure your earnings)

Bankrate Savings Account APY rates

Just got this in from the FINE folks at Rockauto.com..

The New 5% Off Discount Coupon..

Enjoy, and if my site helped you out at all, please click the adsense banners a few times.
Justin

Thank you for being a www.RockAuto.com customer! To show our appreciation, we have a special discount for you.

Your discount code is:

1127806982885

Using Your Discount Code

Enter the code above in the "How did you hear about us" line of the shopping cart. If you are using our traditional HTML catalog, please click the "Apply" button to the right of the field. Your discount will automatically appear, subtracted from your order total.

Please note: We sometimes get calls from people who put the word "discount" in front of their code and do not get the discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. The discount takes 5% off our already-low prices. There's no limit on order size or the number of orders. Use the code for your next order, and share the code with friends, neighbors, relatives, the guy at the corner garage--anyone you know who works on cars or trucks.

This discount code expires on November 16, 2008; so don't wait!

How I get my daily deals, AKA the early bird catches the deal.

I can't remember the last time that I paid full price for well.. Anything..

As I read this, a box of oil filters was just dropped off from Amazon.com. They are $8.99 each in the store, I found them online for $1.25, and bought a dozen of them.

Yesterday I bought a case of CFL light bulbs for 19 dollars. They go for 3-4 bucks each in any store in America. The deals keep rolling on, but I don't have to look too hard for them..

Add these websites to your favorites, and check them every day. If you have any more really good ones, feel free to post them up in comments.

1.) Slickdeals.net

http://www.slickdeals.net/

Ah, the mothership of deals.. This site posts a bunch of deals every day, and has a great discussion forum. Everything from sneakers, to electronics, to travel deals. I have seen it all on here. If you watch this site every day, you find some great deals (and curse yourself for whipping out your credit card)..

2.) Techbargains.com

http://www.techbargains.com/

I just found out about this site about a year ago, it has become part of my daily routine. If you want a low price on a computer, this is the site. They post all the coupon codes for DELL, and other vendors. It is amazing how cheap some of the computers are on that site.

But it is not only for computers, its everything relating to electronics as well. I have found great deals on a HDTV for myself, and friends with this site.

Thanks for reading,
Justin