Hiatus

I'm sorry to inform everyone Your Daily Protip will be going on a 2-3 week hiatus. It's contributing staff will unfortunately be out of town in an area where internet access is spotty at best. For those of you following Your Daily Protip, please do not stop, as we will return with plenty of new tips shortly. Thank you.

Skip straight to your floor on an elevator

Got somewhere to be in a hurry, and don't have time to wait while your elevator stops on every floor for new riders? Or maybe you're just an antisocial weirdo who doesn't want to share an elevator with another human being for 30 seconds. Well here is how you can avoid that nasty inconvenience and skip straight to your floor. This was implemented for police and firefighters to get to their floor immediately in an emergency. All you need to do is press the door close button as well as the button for your floor, and hold them down for a full 5 seconds, and the elevator will go straight to your floor without stopping.

Top 5 coffee "hacks"

Coffee starting to become something you use out of necessity, rather than enjoy?
Want to make the most out of your morning cuppa? Check this link.
Courtesy of the Houston Press.


Definitely try Number 3:


Add a pinch of salt.
What? Yes. Salt. Just a pinch. And use kosher salt; the large crystals work better here. You can either add in a pinch on top of your coffee in the filter or in the bottom of your French press. The salt adds a whole other dimension of flavor and opens up the coffee in the same way that adding salt to desserts and other sweet items works wonders. You'll never drink unsalted coffee again, I promise.

Kill mosquitos with no effort

So you don't like those pesky mosquitoes, especially now that they have the potential to carry the West Nile Virus? Here's a tip that was given at a recent gardening forum. Put some water in a white dinner plate and add a couple drops of Lemon Fresh Joy dish detergent. Set the dish on your porch, patio, or other outdoor area. Not sure what attracts them, the lemon smell, the white plate color, or what, but mosquitoes flock to it, and drop dead shortly after drinking the Lemon Fresh Joy/water mixture, and usually within about 10 feet of the plate. Check this out---it works just super!

Best computer speakers for your money

High-end computer speakers are a waste of money. If space isn't extremely restricted, the best computer speakers are regular stereo speakers, the kind that would be hooked up to a regular stereo or receiver. You can connect your computer to the unit's RCA inputs with a $3 cable from radio shack. Even if you dont have a stereo to use for this, buying one is a lot cheaper than buying high end computer speakers, which can run $200-300.

Paying sticker price for a car is for suckers.

When purchasing a car, pick the model you want from the lot/showroom and take notes (make, model, color, options, price) Ask questions of a sales rep if you need to, but don't enter his office or sign anything. Visit several other dealerships and do the same thing. Take note of the lowest price. Wait a day or so, then call all the dealerships, starting with the highest-priced one, and ask them to meet or beat the lowest price you recorded. They'll all ask you to come to them to discuss the matter, you must refuse. Work your way down the list, then start over with the current high priced dealer. Keep calling until you cant get a lower price.

Alternately, keep hold of a blue book. Be sure the dealer is aware of this. Offer him about a thousand dollars over bluebook value (unless the car is insanely old and cheap) so that he gets a nice commission and you don't get ripped off. Be sure to point out if he doesn't wanna take the deal, the lot down the street will probably will.

Where to keep a spare key?

You see it all the time on television and in the movies. People hide a spare key to their apartment in a light fixture above the door or a potted plant in the hallway. The idea is if you lose yours or need a friend to get something at your apartment, there's the key.
What this does is leave you completely at the mercy of anyone who takes a minute to look in these areas. Burglars are the exact type of people that will take the minute to look. Doing this is no different than leaving your door unlocked.
If you want to keep a spare key somewhere, leave one at a friend's house. If you have a safety deposit box you can even put one in there, but never leave it outside your door.
If a burglar manages to pick or break the lock on your door and get in the apartment, an alarm system will often scare them away. They won't know the code to enter in the control panel and they won't know your password to give the monitoring company.
The easiest thing you can do is make it hard on criminals.

Tips for buying jewelery

Don't buy from credit jewelers or any jewelery store in the mall, like Zales or Daniel's. They are rip-offs. They peg you as a sucker just because you walked in the door. They know anyone with any knowledge of gold or diamonds wouldn't bother with them. Independent jewelery stores might seem more expensive, but you aren't getting garbage for your money. Some even make up their own diamond grading systems just to keep you fooled. You can also get the same stuff for half to a third of the price at your local pawn shop. Also, cash for gold companies are also big rip-offs. If you're looking to sell your gold, find a local smelter to sell it to. You'll get paid much closer to it's worth than you will with a mail in company. Furthermore, small diamonds can cost a fortune at the jewelery store, but on the scrap market, they only fetch $20-$60 per carat. Chances are your local pawnbroker is scrapping more than they sell retail. Use this to your advantage to haggle the price down tremendously. The pawnshop is also a great place to get a loose diamonds cheap for a piece that is missing a stone.

Avoid early termination fees

If you're being charged an early termination fee by an internet provider (or cellular telephone provider) one way to get around this is to tell them you're moving to an area they don't service. You'll want to do a little research first. Make sure to mention how satisfied with their service you've been, and that when you move back in a few months you'll be sure to sign back up with them (wink wink). This can save you a couple hundred dollars.