If I Taught You How to Save $1,000, Would You Sponsor My Newsletter?

I'm a writer, I know how to cut costs

In the face of the growing threat of fascism, it’s never been more important to sponsor the writers who speak truth to power. Thanks in advance!

Hello Friends,

I've seen a few more people comment on the decrease in the rate of new paying subscribers, so I know it’s not just me. This is something that I predicted with the outcome of the election and I’ve been bracing for it.

The inescapable fact is that 2025 is going to be a hard year for writers. That’s part of the design. The current regime doesn’t want people out there speaking truth to power. I mean, that’s obvious.

They’re going after mainstream media directly with threats and lawsuits, but that’s not the full extent of their aggression. They’re also undermining independent writers and journalists by simply making life too unaffordable.

Tariffs, inflation, stagnating wages, the rising cost of health care, and the general cruelty of the GOP has a purpose. That purpose is to rob us of our ability to protest.

We’ll be too tired working our 12 hour shifts in inhumane conditions to even have time to reflect on how miserable we are. They want us to come home exhausted, flop into our chair, watch some pre-selected, government approved program, and get drunk.

Pretty soon we’ll all be glossy-eyed drones with only a dim recollection of what life used to be like. They’ll get our houses, our health, our savings, and our time. This is the bottom of the slippery slope that starts with their erosion of our right to speak alternate opinions.

In modern times, “alternate opinions” could also be called FACTS.

Wow, imagine how that paragraph is going to read in 50 years. Wait, forget about that. I have no illusions that my writing is going to last that long. There will come what will be called the “big, beautiful, moment of deletion!” With the press of a button, everything I’ve ever done will be gone.

POOF!

As if I never even existed.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do the right thing anyway. You’ve got to be careful about doing a deal with the devil. The devil always wins, and I suspect the rest of America is going to find that out.

The moment I saw that cruelty had won the election, I knew we were in for hard times. The money is going to dry up. There’s going to be political pressure. Creative people are facing nothing but headwinds in 2025.

But we’ve faced them before. I’m 50. Do you think this is the first time that I’ve seen seemingly insurmountable forces align to compel me to shut up?

I kept talking when I was 6.

I’m a lot more powerful today than I was then.

But in the years between age 6 and age 50, I’ve learned to live CHEAP. Writing is a revenue insecure business. The only people making bank as writers are like 6 famous authors whose names you already know, and internet charlatans selling writing classes that cost thousands of dollars.

I’m well aware that it’s a burden to ask my readers to sponsor me. I feel a need to earn my keep.

In order to write, I will live in squalor. I’ll eat expired food. I’ll wear my clothing until it turns into threads.

I also know a lot of money saving tricks that are not nearly as extreme and will save you thousands of dollars.

My plan is simple:

• I tell you how you can save $1,000

• You then can afford to sponsor my newsletter at the tier of your preference

But even if you don’t choose to sponsor me, I still want to help you save money. I don’t like people getting swindled, and we live in a people swindling pipeline. I especially dislike seeing young people cheated, and they’re cheated all the time.

In fact, there are so many ways that people are cheated that I think this could become a regular column. Maybe I’ll call it “Money Saving Monday.”

My first tip is to tell you all to stop purchasing new phones. Instead, get a factory refurbished phone. You can find them all over the place.

The thing is, new phones are ridiculously expensive. That’s simply not something that you can purchase if you’re on a budget. The best part is that you can get your hands on a phone that’s only 2 or 3 years old at about a 90% savings.

I’ve been doing this for years. Back around 2010, I decided to get a spare phone when I went to Peru. I did an internet search for the phone with the best camera from 3 years earlier, and ended up with a nifty little Nokia. My friends in Peru laughed at me until I told them I got it for only $60. It worked fine as a burner phone for about 5 years. The best part is that if I’d lost it, I wouldn’t have thought twice.

A few years back, my wife wanted to get a new phone. Honestly, if it’s really, really important to you to have a new phone then fine, go and get one. Just be aware of how much you’re spending and act deliberately. They hide the cost of those phones by sneaking it onto your bill as a monthly fee. Then you’re stuck in a contract and you can’t escape even if they raise up the price of your service.

All of this is bad.

But perhaps the worst part was that when we went in to buy the phone, we had to pay sales tax on it that day. The sales tax alone came out to over $100! As I was paying it, I thought, “I could have got a refurbished phone for that much and saved the monthly increase on my bill.”

I’ve had 4 refurbished phones. One of them conked out after about a year and a half. That was annoying, but I still got my money’s worth out of that phone. The thing is, even if you get 10 bad refurbished phones in a row, you STILL save money over getting a new phone.

The way this country works is that nefarious forces create a pipeline designed to separate hardworking people from their money. Unless you’re deliberate about all your choices, you get swept away by the current. The next thing you know, you’re overpaying for everything.

But I’m a writer.

I can’t afford to overpay for everything.

So you’ll see me clawing and sputtering on the shore, then climbing up to the ledge to look around for an alternative path.

I’m not a rich person, but I’ve had many of the same experiences of rich people. The reason is that I know how to slip through the cracks in the foundation and avoid the devastating traps.

The next time you’re eligible for an upgrade, don’t do it. Instead, run your phone until it dies, then replace it with a refurbished phone. I just saved you $1,000! Now you have enough extra cash to become a paying sponsor!

Thank you so much! Next week, I’ll teach you how to save another $1,000 by switching your cell phone carrier!

You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.

Upgrade at 30% off

Upgrade at 40% off

Upgrade at 50% off

Upgrade at 60% off

I'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.

My CoSchedule referral link

Here’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).