I set up a cell phone line with Republic Wireless (RW) in October 2014 for my parents, but they eventually chose to switch over to used iPhones. This meant we had to move off of Republic Wireless and sell their Moto E phone as it wasn’t compatible with their new carrier. As I had heard some good things about buying and selling phones on a new marketplace called Swappa.com, I decided to try them out.

Republic Wireless requires special software on their phones enable their WiFi-calling features, which means that RW users either need to buy a new phone directly from them or buy a used RW-modified phone on the secondary market. You can find phones on cellular forums, eBay, and Craiglist, but it can be a headache to deal directly with individual people with no intermediary assistance.

Here are some highlights of selling on Swappa:

• Similar to eBay, Swappa is a connecting marketplace. The seller is still taking payment directly from an individual buyer.
• Swappa relies on PayPal to provide certain protections. Seller gets paid before shipping. Swappa does not provide any escrow-type service.
• Users can link eBay account ratings to encourage trust from prospective buyers.
• No listing fee. No fee to cancel listing, as long as it hasn’t sold yet.
• No seller fee (technically) but there is a $10 sale fee. If the list price is $100, then the seller gets $90 and Swappa gets $10. Featured listings are extra.
• Standard shipping is also included in the list price, paid by buyer. So that’s another $6 to $7.
• Depending on your PayPal account, you may have to pay transaction fees at PayPal.

Here’s a brief overview of the selling experience:

• Your device must meet their requirements (fully functional, clean ESN, and no outstanding financial obligations).
• You must provide a valid ESN to avoid “bad” phones with blacklisted ESNs. ESNs are kept private from buyers until sold.
• You must upload a picture with your phone and any accessories, including a handwritten note of your listing number. I just used another smartphone to take a picture and was done in minutes.
• Depending on the situation, you may have to provide additional verification pictures. I had to provide a photo that included the ESN screen of my phone.
• You can see the historical selling price of the phone, and then set your own price.

According to their historical charts, the average selling price was $70. I was more interested in a fast sale, so I listed my phone for $65. Here was the pricing history for the Moto E (1st Gen):

It sold within 6 hours of listing, and was paid via Paypal immediately. I bought our Moto E for $99 brand new in October 2014. My net was $65 – $10 fee to Swappa – $7 shipping = $48. That worked out to a phone depreciation rate of just $3.20 a month. For comparison, the 2nd generation Moto E is currently $129 new and is running about $85 used on Swappa.

In general, as a seller, I was very satisfied with the process. I could have probably sold for roughly the same price on eBay, maybe eeking out a couple more bucks, but I felt the listing process was faster at Swappa. The $10 sale fee may be a little more than the 10% fee that eBay charges on a cheap phone, but much less than eBay charges on an expensive phone (ex. 10% of $400 would be $40). There was a little confusion in the beginning regarding my ESN, but the online support from the staff was prompt and courteous. I would sell my phone using Swappa again.

A common frugal tip is to lower your cellphone bill by switching to a cheaper provider. Many of the cheaper options use the T-Mobile and/or Sprint networks, which in general have fewer cellular towers and coverage density. But what should really matter is the quality of coverage where you actually need to use it. If T-Mobile, Sprint, or a T-Mobile/Sprint MVNO serves your needs adequately, why not switch and save hundreds of dollars per year?

OpenSignal and Sensorly both crowdsource their coverage maps directly from individual network users. You can drill down to your home, school, workplace, or commute route. It’s free to see their coverage maps online, but you should consider downloading their free smartphone apps so that you can also contribute anonymous information and improve the data quality for everyone. You can also see how often you connect to 4G data, as some MVNOs are cheaper if you stick with 3G data only. OpenSignal evens helps direct you if you want to walk towards a better signal.

From Sensorly (Android /iOS):

Precise and daily updated coverage & speed maps: with more than 300 wireless networks mapped across 50 countries available in the app, checking a carrier’s coverage & speed has never been easier for all 4G/LTE, 3G, CDMA, GSM and Wi-Fi technologies.

From OpenSignal (Android / iOS)

Based on our community-generated data we are able to help keep you better connected by giving you a practical solution to the problems of slow mobile internet and dropped calls. Simply follow our signal compass to walk towards better phone signal or see our in-app coverage maps to work out which carrier is best for where you are, especially useful if you’re thinking about making a change. Our Wi-Fi maps help you to find local public-access wireless networks, helpful if you’re travelling abroad or just want to find a local cafe with free wifi.

The World Health Organization has declared Zika virus an international public health emergency. If you are concerned about exposure to mosquitos due to Zika, West Nile, Dengue, or other diseases, read this NPR article about a 2015 Journal of Insect Science study that tested various commercially-available mosquito repellents in a sealed chamber with a treated hand.

We spend a decent amount of time outdoors and are regularly bit by mosquitos, so we have also been experimenting with various bug sprays in the last few years (especially for kids). I was pleased that our anecdotal results very closely matched those found by this study. First, here are the numbers from the scientific study:

Takeaways:

Don’t buy by brand, look for the active ingredient. For example, the Cutter brand has repellents with many different active ingredients. Some of them hardly work at all (“Cutter natural insect repellent”) while others work great (“Cutter lemon eucalyptus insect repellent”).

DEET works well, but you should use the lowest concentration possible. In the first hour or so, the chart above shows that mosquitos were repelled the same amount by 7% DEET and 98% DEET. Even after 4 hours, the 98% DEET was only a little bit more helpful. Why expose yourself to that much extra chemicals if you don’t have to? Sleeping overnight in the rainforest is not the same as a morning trip to the zoo! Just reapply if you need to.

For kids and infants older than 2 months, these Cutter Family DEET wipes have the relatively low 7% concentration but also allow careful application (you aren’t inhaling DEET or spraying into eyes or on little hands which end up in mouths). The single serving packages are easy to carry. (Note that on Amazon it is under three bucks as an Add-on with Amazon Prime.) While effective and supposedly rather safe, I simply don’t like the smell of DEET products, so we try to limit our use.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus works just as well as DEET. Look at those turquoise chart bars above. This stuff is just as good in the first hour, and actually better than most DEET sprays after 4 hours. Lemon eucalyptus oil is the only plant-based repellent recommended by the CDC. However, in most products it is synthesized (re-created in a lab, not squeezed from a plant). Still, we have found it to work quite well. It does have a strong lemony-herbal scent, but I actually don’t mind it since it smells natural. The only problem is that officially it is not recommended for children under 3. However, I couldn’t find a solid reason why, other than either (1) possible skin irritation or (2) it simply hasn’t been tested on children under 3.

Our adult and older-kid repellent of choice is the Cutter Lemon Eucalyptus insect repellent.

Try some others for yourself.. Just like how some mosquitos like certain people more than others, I believe different mosquitos hate different repellents. Our last “favorite” mosquito repellent is the Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard with IR3535 (cheaper here for some reason). It is does not appear to be the same Avon tested by the study above, which lists an active ingredient of citronella oil. While we found this stuff not as effective as the two listed above, it does repel bugs for the first hour or so. Label says it is for children 6 months and up.

This last one is our “stealth 2-in-1” bug lotion + SPF 30 sunscreen, with no chemical or herbal smell. This white lotion goes on just like a high-quality sunscreen with a light fragrance.

(The mosquito repellents that depend on “organic, essential oils” like rosemary or lemongrass will work a little initially, but literally become useless within 30 minutes. Look at the full study results at the 30 minute interval. I wish they worked too… maybe if I was just going to check the mailbox.)

I know this isn’t especially financially-related, but I wanted to share our experiences. Hopefully you won’t waste money on stuff that doesn’t work.

Extended review, updated prices, added tip using painter’s tape. Every year as winter arrives, search engine visitors find their way to this post about how we used to winterize the single pane, very drafty windows in the 90-year-old house we rented. We had electric baseboard heaters, which meant our electric bill doubled to quadrupled in the winter months. On a recommendation by a neighbor, we decided to install some simple plastic shrinkwrap insulation. You can find kits in hardware stores and online for only a few dollars per window. The film creates an insulating air pocket that keeps your heat (and thus $$$) from flowing outside.

Installation preview. Here’s how nearly all of these kits work:

1. Measure your windows and cut the plastic sheet to the size of the wooden frame you’ll be sticking it too, being sure to leave a 1″ extra buffer on all sides.
2. Apply one side of the double-sided tape to your window frame (indoors).
3. Carefully apply your plastic film to the tape. Do it slowly from top border, then sides, then bottom border. It doesn’t have to be perfect but try to keep things taut.
4. Use the hot air from a hair dryer to “shrink” the plastic and remove all the wrinkles.
5. Trim away excess plastic film.

The result: you can still see out your windows, but it reduces drafts and you have an insulative air pocket. Here are some quick pictures of my handiwork:

  
(click to enlarge)

The first one is after I put up the plastic and took out the wrinkles, and the second one is after I removed the excess plastic. I was a bit skeptical of the product beforehand, but it turned out pretty good. The wrinkles all came out, and the tape seems to be pretty airtight, at least for now. I can even tell where cold air came in by seeing where it fogs up the plastic. You can tell there is plastic sheeting there if you look closely or hit the glare just right, but overall it’s pretty unnoticeable especially if you use blinds or drapes.

Cost. Here are some prices along with average review ratings as of December 2015.

• Frost King Brand, 9 sheets for $13.98. 4.0/5 star average review.
• 3M Brand, 5 sheets for $11.73. 4.2/5 star average review.
• Duck Brand, 10 sheets for $17.80. 4.3/5 star average review.

The 3M kits tend to be the most expensive amongst the popular brands. Some reviews state that the 3M brand is worth the extra cost as they stick to the windows longer and with cleaner removal (3M = Scotch tape brand). I was happy with the cheaper Frost King brand, but I didn’t try the 3M brand so I can’t offer a direct comparison myself.

Quick buying tip. Measure your windows first, and then compare it with the kit before purchase. Some kits come in separate sheets, while others come in a big roll. If you have odd size windows like myself, the single sheets may not fit your windows.

Use painter’s tape for easier removal? A few people had questions about the sticky tape removing paint from windows and/or leaving a residue. I just happened to get a good tip regarding this via e-mail from reader Ron:

If one uses “painters tape” before applying the two sided sticky tape, before applying the plastic film, there is NO problem removing in the Spring! I just wish I can eventually find a “clear” painters tape! THAT would be great! Are you listening 3M??!![…]

So, it goes like this… a layer of the painters tape, neatly trimmed…. the sticky tape on that, then the plastic film on top of the sticky tape. […]

I can’t believe the utter savings I enjoyed as a benefit! A 2/3rd savings over the previous year! It was nice not hearing my furnace come on very often.

I had concerns that the painter’s tape would come loose, but Ron assured me it stayed up for him. Other readers have indeed reported that the double-sided tape came loose from the painter’s tape, so you may want to do a test run with one window first.

Summary. I did the all big windows in our house for a total cost of under $25 plus a few hours of weekend labor. I don’t have exact numbers, but over the course of the season, this added insulation definitely paid for itself in heating bills. If I owned the house as opposed to renting, I might have tried to justify new double-pane windows, but otherwise this was a quick way to save on heating bills.