Chumdinger

Opened up Yahoo this morning and found this great article by Brett Arend on getting high returns on your investment on things we can do that don’t involve the stock market.

Small Investments With Major Returns

With the economy heading south, there’s probably no better time to start thinking about these things:

* Buy a bread maker. You can buy one for $55. If it saves you just $4 a week on store-bought bread, that’s $208 a year. A 280% return.

* Get a credit card with a great sign-up bonus. Like the AirTran Visa card. Cost: The $40 annual fee. After your first purchase you get enough reward miles for a free flight, saving maybe $250. Then cancel the card. Return: 525%.

* Take out a local library card. Cost: Nothing. If it saves you $10 a month on books, that’s $120 a year. Return: Infinite. Note: Some libraries now let you borrow electronic books over the Internet as well.

* Replace your premium cable package with a Netflix subscription and a $100 set-top box. You can download movies and TV programs as well getting DVDs through the mail. Cost: $100 for the cheapest set-top box, plus $17 a month for a three-movie subscription. If it replaces a $50-a-month cable package, that’s a 98% return on investment.

* Order a packet of seeds and plant them in a window box or garden. Growing your own herbs, spices, and even vegetables – depending on the amount of space you have – is a great investment. If you spent just $10 on seeds and saved a mere $50 in the year, that’s a 400% ROI.

* Switch to a prepaid cellphone. Cost: $20 for the phone, and maybe $100 a year for minutes. Move the rest of your talk-time to free Internet calls, and stop hemorrhaging $60 a month on a cellular plan. ROI: 500%

* Start making your own coffee to take to work each morning. Cost: $20 for a Thermos, $10 for a filter and papers, and $60 a year for ground coffee. Then skip the $4 a day drive-thru. If that saves you $1,000 a year, the return is more than 1,000 %.

Not sure if I’m ready to give up my iPhone, but getting a breadmaker? Great idea. Seeds, coffee make? Also great ideas.

Here are a few of my own (I’ll do it in the same format):

* Skip two nights a month at the bar/pub/club and have friends over instead for a little byob get together. Cost: $5 for 2 bottles of Charles Shaw from Trader Joes and you don’t have to drive. Each time, that will save you at least $35 in drinks, $15 in parking; or over $1000 a year. The return is more than 1,000 %.

* Make that nice meal at home once a month for you and your lady. Cost: $30 for a nice tableware set for 2. $15 spent on itunes for a romatic playlist. $15 on a bottle of wine. And $20 for 2 portions of Filet Mignon, roast potatoes, and steamed asparagus (or something equivalent each month). Eating out at a nice place for 2 will easily set you back $100 each time. That’s a savings of $900 a year and a 400% return on your investment.

Ok, I just saved you all $1900. I’ll think of more later.