Once just the purview of cheesy late-night infomercials (“buy now and get this beautiful set of six steak knives at no extra charge”), free has taken on a life of its own in the new economy. Even the prestigious and pricey New York Times offers its stories online — yes, for free.

One area that seems to be a “free-for-all zone” is advice. I’ve listened in on a dozen complimentary teleclasses over the past year — all free — and most have been worth exactly what I paid for them. The vast majority were a thinly veiled promotion of the speaker’s services, with less than 10 percent content. A few savvy souls actually provided 90 percent content as a way to show their stuff and entice people to sign up.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not against giving people an appropriate taste of what you can do for them. I personally place a high priority on showing some sample value to my potential PR clients before asking them to become full-fledged patrons. I find that doing so helps my productivity by increasing my closure rate. But as with most things, if you’re a freelancer, or even if you work for a company, giving away too much for free — be it a product, service or advice — can backfire, and eat into your productivity and profit.

“In the name of ‘marketing,’ many businesspeople are providing way too much information for free,” says business coach Maria Marsala. “If you don’t value your services, no one else will,” says Marsala. If you find yourself walking that fine line between holding back on information and services that you rightfully should be paid for, yet fearing that you’re missing the marketing boat, consider this: If you contacted your doctor, lawyer or accountant for a professional consultation, would you expect to be charged? Would you be shocked if you went into Best Buy to pick up Season 6 of ‘24′ and they asked if you wanted to pay by credit card or cash? The bottom line is that, in general, we believe it’s fair to pay for the expertise and time of the vendors we value and the products we want to possess.

Marsala says setting boundaries on just how much “free” you are going to give away is not always easy, especially when you are asked outright for free advice on how to design a web site, solve a software snafu or cope with a computer crash. To get around the dilemma, here are Marsala’s top ten phrases for turning “at no charge” into cash:

1. My charge for an initial consultation is “x.” If we turn out to be a good match, and you hire me, I’ll apply 1/2 of “x” toward your commitment.

2. Yes, I do work with clients on “name the issue.” Would you like to set up a consultation?

3. That will cost “x” per hour.

4. There’s a lot I can do for you that’s similar to the work I did for “xyz” client. Would you like to get together and build a marketing plan? I charge “x” for that service.

5. Are you looking to hire _____? Well, I’d love to talk to you about that; my fees are “x” per hour.

6. “Well, the answer to that question depends…” and then spend a few minutes explaining some of the options and considerations. “If I were to work with you on this project, here’s how we would do it and what it would cost…”

7. A complete answer to your question is going to take more than 15 minutes over the phone. Would you like me to send you a proposal on this?

8. I have really enjoyed talking with you and would like to help more. May I send you one of my brochures and a rate card?

9. Do you have a time line and/or budget in mind for solving this problem?

10. It’s not a good time for me to discuss this right this minute. Would you like to briefly discuss project guidelines and fees?

Remember, part of what you contribute to your clients, and what they value from you, is the knowledge and expertise you’ve built up over the years. Being paid properly is about honoring those skills. But hey, that’s just my free advice.

How much work do you do for free? Is it too much?

Here are some interesting posts from around the ‘Net to catch up with over the weekend:

• Brian Solis: “On Twitter, What Are You Doing Was Always The Wrong Question”
• Technologizer: “Twitter’s Ad-Free Nirvana: Going, Going, Gone?”
• Freelance Folder: “Ten Signs You Need To Refuse That Project”
• GigaOM: “4 Big Gambles Google Is Taking With Chrome OS”
• Lifehacker: “How to Manage a Group Project in Google Wave”
• jkOnTheRun: “First Look at Google Chrome OS — Extensions, Options and More”

What are you reading this weekend?

This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.

For the past couple of years, my husband and I have not exchanged traditional, wrapped-and-Christmas-bowed gifts. Instead, we plan an experience.

We started our anti-Stuff celebrations because neither of us could think of a gift we truly wanted. Then we’d each be scrambling to think of something, anything, since not giving a box with a bow was unacceptable. This way, the pressure is off, and we create memories of fabulous meals and trips to vineyards, instead of piling up Stuff to fulfill a gift requirement.

I’m not against traditional gifts, especially if you know it’s something the recipient will use or enjoy. But if you are at a loss for the hard-to-buy-for loved ones on your list, consider an anti-Stuff gift of consumables or experiences. Why?

• No risk that your gift will turn into someone else’s Stuff (quite likely for the hard-to-buy-for recipients)
• People are likely to remember a positive experience, but will probably forget about yet another shower gel gift set
• Easier than picking something that comes down to personal taste, such as perfumes, sweaters, knickknacks, etc.

Meaningful, personal gifts
Anti-Stuff gifts aren’t necessarily gift cards, which often feel a bit impersonal. Think about what would be meaningful to the recipient. If your sister is a busy mom, give her a couple of hours of babysitting and an appointment with a masseuse. Consider the following to generate anti-Stuff gift ideas unique to each loved one:

• Hobbies
• Lifestyle (parent, student, on-the-go, homebody…)
• Anything he or she has “always wanted to do”

Word of warning: make sure the gift is something the recipient would enjoy or something in which he or she has expressed interest, not something you like or think he or she should like! That holds true with any sort of gift-giving.

The anti-Stuff gift guide
Need some inspiration to get the creative gift-giving juices flowing? Consider the following suggestions, organized by interest:

The foodie

• Basket of consumables from the farmers’ market. I’ve made baskets filled with locally-made items such as jam, jelly, biscotti, granola, chocolate, honey, coffee, salsa, vinegar, and olive oil.
• Cooking classes. There are classes on everything from knife skills to sushi rolling to creating Tuscan feasts.
• Wine and cheese pairing class. Bonus points if it’s held at a gorgeous vineyard.

Photo by Matthew Oliphant.

The outdoorsy gal or guy

• Zip-line tour. Send the adrenaline junkie on your list flying through the trees.
• Kayaking lessons. Paddling is a great way to enjoy the local lakes and rivers.
• Cave tour. Give the gift of a tour or a special event. Some caves host dinner and a concert, all underground.
• Horseback riding. A day on a dude ranch is a nice way to get back to nature.

Photo by Shareski.

The arts lover

• Gift certificates to the local “artsy” movie theater. They’ll get to see the indie flicks without having to wait for the DVD release.
• A museum membership. Members typically receive perks such as unlimited admission, invitations to previews of exhibitions, a discount at the museum’s store, and invitations to special events.
• Dance lessons. Just make sure you know if your recipient is a belly dancer at heart or more of the foxtrot-type.
• Tickets to a performance. If it’s a date-specific event, you’ll need to be sneaky to make sure the recipient will be available, but tickets to concerts, plays, and other performances are memorable gifts.
• Music lessons. If your brother has always wanted to channel his inner Jimi Hendrix, indulge the fantasy with a few guitar lessons.

Photo by zabara_tango.

The sports enthusiast

• A round of golf. If their sport costs money, buy them some time on the green, at the batting cages, or wherever the sport is enjoyed.
• Tickets to a sporting event. One year I bought my husband tickets to a Dallas Cowboys football game for his birthday. I was living in an apartment complex owned by Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Tenants could purchase tickets to the game, including seats on a chartered bus to drive us the three hours to the stadium.
• Lessons in their preferred activity. Find out what they like to do and where they do it. Inquire about lessons.

The crafty type

• Art lessons. Sewing, knitting, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, stained glass…there’s no end to types of art classes.
• Gardening gifts. Seeds, herbs, perennials, saplings, and bushes make great gifts for loved ones with green thumbs.

Photo by WonderMike.

For anyone

• Spa services. Massages are appreciated by most people, especially if they are hunched over a computer or on their feet all day. Foot massages and pedicures are good options for those who aren’t comfortable with full-body massages.
• A night at a nearby bed and breakfast. Only for those who have been very good this year!

Not that there’s anything wrong with gifts and bows…
This approach isn’t for everyone. I think children should get to enjoy tearing open a gift and having a few things to play with right away, rather than being told it’s a gift that will be a blast…later.

But I’d venture to say there are probably a few people on your list who would prefer a thoughtful, anti-Stuff gift that reflects their interests and doesn’t have to be stored, dusted, or worse, guiltily tossed in a Goodwill bin.

What do you think about anti-Stuff gifts? What types of consumable or experiential gifts are on your wish list?

J.D.’s note: For those concerned about the cost of these suggestions, be sure to check out last year’s list of homemade Christmas gifts.

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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• How to Buy and Sell Gift Cards
• Taking a Break
• The Consumer Reports Mother’s Day Gift Guide
• Daily Links: Frequent Flyer Master Edition
• Another Reason to Be Wary of Gift Cards

This is a guest post from Adam Jusko, founder of IndexCreditCards.com, an information and comparison site for credit cards that maintains a list of over 1200 cards. You can follow Adam on Twitter for quick credit tips and opinions. I’ve previously featured IndexCreditCards as “The Only Credit Card Guide You’ll Ever Need” as a source for credit card offers

Among recently-passed credit card regulations is a command that issuers stop giving credit cards to adults under age 21 unless these young people can show proof of income or have a co-signer who will vouch for them financially (usually a parent). The intent is to stop credit card companies from heavily marketing credit cards to college students — young people away from home for the first time who have been known to run up big debts that haunt them later.

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with this regulation, it will no doubt mean more young people entering their early to mid-20s with no credit history. Because you need a credit history if you ever plan on financing a car or a home at a reasonable interest rate, this is an important issue. So, what should they — and anyone else with no credit history — do?

Here’s the simple plan I advocate: Get a secured credit card.

What is a secured credit card?
A secured credit card works like a standard credit card, but with a slight catch — you have to deposit money into an account as collateral before you use the card. The amount you deposit becomes equal to the size of your credit line. For example, if you deposit $500 into your account, you can charge up to $500 with the card. You then pay your balance each month, exactly like you would with a regular credit card.

A secured credit card is not the same as a debit card. You are responsible for paying your monthly charges with money you have on hand; your purchases do not get deducted from your deposited balance as they would with a debit card. The deposited money serves only as protection for the bank in case you don’t pay.

When you pay your card balance each month, the bank reports your payments to the credit bureaus, who begin to keep track of your credit usage. You’ve established a credit history! Each month that you make on-time payments, your credit history lengthens and improves, moving you closer to the high credit score that will get you good rates on future financed purchases like a car or house. (If you fail to pay or pay late, you’re still establishing a credit history – but a bad one.)

Beware of high fees
Secured credit cards do charge annual fees, but if you go with a major bank, they should be minimal. Among the secured credit cards I recommend are:

• Citi Secured MasterCard ($29 annual fee)
• US Bank Secured Visa ($35 annual fee)

Both of these banks will give you the opportunity to upgrade from the secured card to an unsecured card with no annual fee in the future. (US Bank offers this after 12 months, Citi after 18 months.)

On the flip side, there are many secured credit cards and unsecured credit cards out there that charge hundreds of dollars in fees while promising to help build credit. Stay away from them! The companies offering these cards are either preying on the ignorance of newbies or they are selling a product to people who’ve ruined their credit and are desperate to get it re-established. These cards are not for people with no prior credit history.

The easiest way to establish credit
Establishing credit is important to your financial future, and the easiest way to do so is via a credit card. You may not like credit cards, but consider this: Credit cards are the only financial tools that allow you to establish credit without forcing you to pay monthly interest. Understand the details of your credit card application, and as long as you pay your balance in full each month, you can establish credit for free (or almost free in the case of secured cards). If you choose to use credit responsibly, establishing a credit history can actually be very easy.

Previously at Get Rich Slowly, the folks from Index Credit Cards provided a guest post on 5 credit card company tricks (and how to thwart them). Photo by Fosforix.

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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• Ask the Readers: What if You Have No Credit History?
• Reader Question: Buying a House Without a Credit History?
• Ask the Readers: How Will My Family’s Credit History Affect My Own?
• How One College Student Handles Credit Cards
• Counterpoint: Debt-Free Living Has Its Drawbacks

Slide Into Your New Reality

Did you ever see the TV show Sliders?

In that show a group of four people would “slide” through a portal between dimensions, spending each episode in an alternate version of earth. For example, they might enter a reality where the Nazis won WWII. Or in another reality one of them might be a famous performer.

Another TV show that can give you the right idea is Quantum Leap. In that show a man spent each episode in someone else’s body in an alternative time and place.

Imagine you’re a Slider or a Quantum Leaper, and you just slid through a portal into your new desired reality — into that new YOU as well. You’re already there living it. The whole reality already exists in some alternate dimension, and you’re now experiencing it as real.

Put yourself in the shoes of that new person. Witness through his/her eyes how s/he goes through a typical day. Imagine that you’re in an episode of Sliders or Quantum Leap.

What time do you get up in the morning? Who’s sleeping next to you? Where are you? How do you feel? What do you eat for breakfast? What do you do in the morning, afternoon, and evening?

You must imagine yourself as already being there. You want to reach the point where it feels natural and normal to be there. After all, this is your reality, isn’t it? So of course it will feel normal in a way. You’re already used to it.

Initially the Sliders/Leapers were freaked out when they entered the new reality. It took them a while to figure it out and understand it. Eventually they got used to it and were able to get things done within that reality.

This is what will happen when you visualize a new reality for yourself. At first it may seem like an alien environment. You’ll have to play around with it for a while before you get used to it and it starts to seem normal to you. It’s very important that you push beyond that freak-out phase. You must shift from thinking about your visions as FANTASY to seeing them as REAL.

A good movie to watch is Being John Malkovich. That will give you more insight into how to slip into an alternate reality and imagine life through the lens of your new character.

Ideally, visualizing your future should be very much the same as remembering your past. Just as you would recall and mentally review what you did yesterday, that’s how you want to imagine your new reality. What are the highlights of your typical day, and how do you feel about them?

Notice that emotional memories are much stronger than routine events. Such memories can draw the past back into your present, but they can also draw a powerful future into your present if you create powerful new memories of the future.

Partial Visualization

One of the most common mistakes people make is that they fall into the trap of doing partial visualizations. They only imagine one or two aspects of their new reality but not the entire big picture. Or they’ll imagine something that makes them feel a certain way, but it wouldn’t actually be a part of their desired reality.

For example, you may imagine seeing a pile of cash on your table and counting the bills. A lot of people suggest this exercise as a way of manifesting more money. I think it’s a lame idea though.

If you really had financial abundance, would you actually have a pile of cash currency in your home? That seems unlikely. If you were already living it, playing with your money or obsessing over it would be silly and immature. That’s the sort of thing someone would do only if they weren’t already living it.

Partial visualizations manifest partial results. You may attract part of what you want, but it will be unstable because you’ve only locked on to some, but not all, of the necessary frequencies required to shift into that new reality. You may be able to visit it briefly, but you won’t be able to stay long.

When I was around 24-25 years old, I read the book Think and Grow Rich, and I started doing partial visualization exercises to attract more money into my life. I imagined having about half a million dollars as a pile of cash on my bed. I felt the texture of the bills with my fingers. I saw it as very real and imagined what it would feel like to have that much cash all at once.

Sometime after that (I don’t recall how long — a few months maybe), I entered into a new game publishing deal with a total advance of $675,000. I soon received the first installment in the form of a check for $50,000, which was the biggest check I’d ever received at that point in my life. It appeared that my intention had manifested.

However, this situation was incredibly unstable. The publisher turned out to be extremely corrupt. First, they screwed up the deal with seemingly insane delays and nonsensical decisions. Then they unilaterally breached our contract. And finally they tried to sue me (unsuccessfully) to recoup the $50K advance. Looking back, it appears that their goal was to tie up my team’s project so that it wouldn’t hit the market… while they had another team developing a potentially competing game. The initial $50K I received was spent on early development for a game that was never released. In the end I was left with a busted project and more debt than when I started. If I could have afforded the legal fees (which I couldn’t at the time), I may have been able to successfully sue them for breach of contract, but that simply wasn’t how I wanted to do business. I wanted to spend my time making games, not giving depositions.

Years later this same publisher was publicly exposed for a massive accounting scandal, and the company and several officers were sued by the SEC. If I recall correctly, their CEO was fined $10 million and had to step down. That came as no surprise to me and many other developers who worked with them.

Not a good manifestation!

Although it seemed promising in the beginning, this attempt to manifest money completely imploded and left me worse off than when I started — aside from learning some very tough lessons, which in retrospect turned out to be quite valuable.

I hope you can learn from my mistakes here and not succumb to the trap of partial visualization. In order to manifest your desires, you need to lock on to the total package of frequencies and the full range of emotions that you’ll experience in your new reality. And one of the best ways to do that is to get really, really clear about what you want.

Complete Visualization

Don’t just visualize one small part of your new reality, such as having more money come to you. Visualize the entire alternate reality you wish to enter, in as much detail as possible.

It’s okay to focus on one area of your life at a time. I personally find it rather difficult to visualize a whole new life for myself that covers career, finances, health, relationships, my daily habits, spiritual development, personal development, etc. So I generally focus on one area at a time, but I do my best to make sure it’s congruent with my desires in other areas too.

A few years ago I focused on creating financial abundance. Then I worked on social abundance (having lots of friends). Now I’m working on intimacy abundance (creating deeper relationships). All of these parts of my life are working beautifully right now. This process definitely works. Sometimes it works so well it scares me a bit.

Career and finances are good areas to visualize together since most people generate income via their careers. Don’t just imagine yourself having more money. Put in some detail about what is sustaining that flow of money. How is it being maintained?

My initial attempts to manifest money flopped (or made things worse) because the big picture was incongruent. I was trying to pull money out of thin air, figuring it would come to me like magic. Well, this isn’t magic… not really.

Similarly, in the area of social abundance, I didn’t just manifest friends with magic. I had to see the big picture. This required thinking about what kind of friend I’d be. I thought about the kinds of friends I wanted to attract, and then I imagined what kind of friend I’d have to be in order to attract them to me — and to maintain good relationships with them. This made it clear that I had to work on myself too in order to step into that new reality. I had to become a better friend to others so I’d be worthy of those new relationships.

I know some people who are working really hard at manifesting new relationships. But all they do is imagine the other person coming to them and loving them. That’s a partial visualization, and it fails consistently. Honestly I don’t think I’ve seen this approach ever really work out. People do attract new partners this way, but the matches aren’t very compatible.

Suppose you’re trying to attract a new woman by visualizing her in your life. She’s everything you desire. She’s a perfect match for you and absolutely amazing as a human being. You can’t help but fall in love with that new reality.

But will she fall in love with you — realistically? A new reality is something you’re going to make REAL — it’s not a fantasy!

If you think your new reality is too good to be true, then well… it is too good to be true.

What do you have to offer this woman? She may be YOUR best possible match, but are you HER best match as well, or will she have better options than you? Will she have to compromise her values and settle for less than she’s worth to be with you? Will you really be able to maintain a relationship with someone like that? Are you worthy of her?

These questions can hit people like a ton of bricks because they reveal our inadequacies. But we still need to address them.

When you visualize your new reality, you must imagine yourself BEING the kind of person who can attract and hold on to all the good stuff you wish to manifest. That means you’re going to have to work on yourself and grow into that kind of person.

I know one woman who’s been trying to manifest the perfect relationship for years. She goes on a lot of dates, yet she remains perpetually alone. It’s obvious to me — and to many who know her — why that’s so. The simple reason is that the man she desires wouldn’t find her attractive at all. I can’t even see that being a remote possibility. She’s a kind-hearted person with a successful career, and she doesn’t have a problem getting dates, but her personality is a total mismatch for the kind of man she wants. She doesn’t fathom what such a man would find attractive in a relationship partner, so she lives in denial of the fact that he wouldn’t be attracted to her. So she’s always dating people where there’s no two-way chemistry. If she keeps doing what she’s been doing, she’ll either remain alone indefinitely, or she’ll eventually settle for an unstable connection with someone she doesn’t find attractive or who doesn’t find her attractive.

In the area of career and finances, what kind of person will you have to become in order to attract and hold on to the abundance you desire? What will it take to be worthy of that kind of flow?

When I was in my 20s, a $50K sum was too much for me to hold on to. I could attract such a sum on rare occasions, but I couldn’t retain it. It would slip through my fingers like water.

Eventually I stopped doing partial visualizations and began seeing the big picture. I realized I’d have to become a man who was worthy of abundance. This may mean something different to you, but to me it meant that I would need to be a kind and generous person who created a lot of value for others. That felt congruent to me. If I were a greedy bastard who was all about me-me-me, I’d feel I didn’t deserve that kind of flow. In my visualizations I felt really good about centering my career around service to others, and I could see that this would be consistent with attracting and perpetuating a constant flow of good stuff through my life — money, good health, low stress, loving relationships, fresh opportunities, etc. The total package just made sense to me.

I had to work a lot on myself to step into that new vision of me, but it definitely worked. In the past five years, I’ve put out enough free content to fill a couple dozen books. That feels really good to me. And resources flow to me so easily that I simply take it for granted that I can relax and enjoy whatever I want to experience in life. This works because it’s a congruent and stable situation. I use my creativity to put out a lot of value for others, so naturally I receive a lot of value in return. But in order to reach this place, I had to go through many internal shifts to step into this new reality.

In the area of social abundance, I do my best to be the kind of friend that’s worthy of having amazing friendships. I support and encourage my friends to pursue their dreams, but I also love to joke around and have fun. Consequently, I attract and maintain relationships with like-minded people. I’m really good at attracting people who are loving life, who enjoy helping people, and who are very encouraging and supportive of me too. And I naturally repel people who wouldn’t make good friends for me.

In order to manifest what you desire, the total package must be congruent. There must be harmony between what you’re attracting and what’s attracting you. Too often people fall into the trap of trying to attract something that would naturally repel them, such as trying to manifest a flow of money without creating any value, or trying to attract a loving relationship without becoming a loving and attractive person.

This is largely common sense, which many people seem to lose sight of when trying to apply the Law of Attraction.

Will a health nut be attracted to a lazy couch potato? Will honest, conscious business people want to do business with someone who creates little value and is in only in it for the money? Will an adventurous growth-seeker be attracted to someone who’s timid and security-minded? Even if these situations were to manifest, they’re unstable and usually won’t work out very well unless there’s a strong attraction in some other area to compensate.

Manifestations can occur very RAPIDLY and POWERFULLY once this harmony is achieved. But until that happens, results tend to be minimal or negative.

Write It Down

Imagining your new reality can be tricky if you try to do it all in your mind.

You may find it helpful to sit down and write out what it will be like to experience your new reality, in as much detail as possible.

For example, if you want to attract a certain type of person into your life, write out a detailed description of that person. Then you can use that as a guide when visualizing. Another option is to create a vision board by assembling a collection of photos or images (physical or digital) that helps you imagine the big picture.

I recently stumbled upon an old journal entry where I wrote out several pages describing in detail what I wanted to experience in life. My life at the time was nowhere close to that reality. I put an incredible amount of detail into it, even including personality descriptions and physical attributes of imagined people, such as how tall they were or that they wore contact lenses or were left- or right-handed.

What really freaked me out is that there is now a person in my reality who matches someone I described about 95% accurately. This person was not on my radar at all when I wrote this journal entry. I wrote it in February 2001. My life was in a completely different place back then.

Most of what I wrote about back then has already manifested. I’m now living it. Other parts of my reality have shifted so much that parts of my vision that seemed so far away are not nearly so distant now. I can actually see steps that would make more of them possible and realistic. The big picture is sliding towards me.

I was talking with Erin about this last week, and she asked me, “Why did you put that kind of detail into it? Why did it matter to you that an imaginary person was near-sighted?”

My best answer is that I found that a copious level of detail made it easier to see it as real. The vision became more believable. If the new reality is to become real, the people within it must be real too, not imaginary archetypes. Real people have height and weight. They may be near-sighted or left-handed. They may have pimples or unshaven faces. They wear certain types of clothes. They have unique personalities.

If you suddenly slid into your new reality, you would instantly observe all of that detail. It would be right in front of you. So put it in front of you now. Create it in your imagination. Clarity creates believability, which gives rise to stronger, crisper vibrations than fogginess.

It takes practice to get good at this, but the more you practice, the richer and more vivid your visualizations will become. That richness makes it easier to lock on to the new emotional states you’re aiming to create.

Achieve new breakthroughs in your habits, career, finances, relationships, health, and spiritual development. Register now to attend the transformational 3-day Conscious Growth Workshop in Las Vegas, January 15-17, 2010.

© 2009 by Steve Pavlina.

“It’s been a long time since you shared a recipe at Get Rich Slowly,” I told Kris last week. “What about that pot roast recipe?” she asked. “You love that.” “Yes. Yes, I do,” I said. This guest post from my wife may be the best thing I’ve ever shared at Get Rich Slowly. It’s certainly the tastiest.

I’m usually a from-scratch kind of cook, and the sort of “semi-homemade” ingredients for this pot roast make me cringe a bit. But although I’ve tried other recipes and other methods, this one beats them all hands-down. I got the recipe from an old friend after enjoying it at her house a couple of times and wondering why my pot roast was never as good as Kim’s pot roast.

This recipe has one cardinal rule: You must start with good beef. Otherwise why bother? We use a roast from the beef we buy in bulk; it’s pasture-fed on a local farm and the resulting beef literally falls off the bone in succulent shreds of savory goodness. This roast cooks all day at a low temperature. It’s simple enough to start before you leave the house so that it’s ready when you come home for dinner.

I use a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you can line a roasting pan with foil, then cover the meat with another piece of foil, and then crimp the two all the way around to make a sort of meat packet. The goal is to hold the moisture in while the beef becomes completely tender. The roast forms its own gravy as it cooks.

Separately, I like to roast vegetables to serve as a side dish for this beef. In a shallow pan, I cook carrots, onions, and russet potatoes, drizzled with a bit of vegetable oil and seasons with salt and pepper. I cook them for 80-90 minutes at 400 degrees or so. If you aren’t lucky enough to have two ovens, make mashed potatoes on the stovetop instead.

I don’t recommend baking vegetables at the low oven temperature needed for this pot roast. Don’t try adding them to the roast; their high moisture content somehow messes up the texture of the beef.

Internet versions of this recipe exist using a crockpot on low for 8-9 hours. This might be worth a try someday, but I’m reluctant to meddle with perfection! I’ve also heard you can start with two cans of soup if you’d like more gravy at the end.

I like to serve this meal with a salad, homemade applesauce, and our favorite homemade bread.

Do you have a favorite low-effort recipe? What do you make that offers maximum flavor with minimum fuss?

J.D.’s note: This pot roast is fantastic. I cannot rave about it enough. In fact, I’m tempted to call Kris right now and ask if we can have this for dinner tomorrow. Yum. Photo by Merelymel13.

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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• Frugal Recipes for Miserly Moms
• Making the Most of Cheap Cuts of Beef
• Frugal Recipes: The Best Salsa Ever
• A Cheaper Cup of Coffee
• Cinnamon Spice Muffins: An Easy, Frugal Recipe for March

It’s been a strange October for me. At the first of the month, I began the transition to working full time on my book, Your Money: The Missing Manual. It’s a much different challenge than blogging, and it’s taking all my time. In theory, the book writing will be done in a few months, and then I’ll be able to devote more attention to GRS again! Thank you for your patience while I pursue this life-long goal.

Meanwhile, I was pleased with the stuff I did write here during October, and the contributions from staff writers Adam and April, and from the guest authors. And, of course, I always appreciate your contributions to the discussion.

Here are some of the best Get Rich Slowly articles from the month of October:

• October 1st: Happier
• October 6th: How to stop buying clothes you never wear (by April)
• October 10th: The guilt of wealth
• October 14th: 9 ways to knock the socks off your next landlord (by Baker)
• October 15th: Five steps to six figures in seven years (a guest post from FMF)
• October 17th: What if your high-paying job makes you miserable?
• October 22nd: The paradox of choice and the dangers of perfection

The blog isn’t the only part of this site. If you have burning questions about personal finance, one of the best places to get answers is the Get Rich Slowly discussion forum.

The forum is a great place to chat with your fellow readers. Have questions about emergency funds? Ask! Want to chat about cheap vacations? This is the place to do it. The forums have over 3500 registered users and over 41,500 posts.

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This weblog is a success because of you and your support. As always, I welcome reader contributions, either as ideas for stories, or as guest entries. If you have any comments or requests to improve this site, please feel free to pass them on.

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Related Articles at Get Rich Slowly:

• The Best of Get Rich Slowly: October 2007
• The Best of Get Rich Slowly: October 2008
• Best of October, and How to Subscribe to GRS
• links for 2006-10-03
• A Year’s Worth of Credit Card Applications

Here’s a little teaser for you:

Your product is one among millions.
With so many products, why should a customer choose yours?
Positioning answers this question.

A product’s “position” is the place it occupies
in the customer’s mind.
All products have a position—
even if it’s the position of “unfamiliar” or “irrelevant to me”
or “not very good”.

Successful products are both relevant and highly ranked.
They stand out. They have a unique position.
The purpose of “positioning” is to create and articulate
what makes your product unique.

Check out the full post: How to Write a Positioning Statement.

Note: Some of the lines wraps are looking a little funky in the post. I’m working with the editors to fix it.

Just don’t forget the receptionists, too.

Why?

Because they’re the gatekeepers to the decision makers. More importantly, they hold a wealth of information and can answer questions like:

• Are you hiring?
• Who’s in charge?
• What’s it like to work at the company?
• When’s the best time of year to drop off my portfolio?
• What’s the dress code? What’s should I wear to the interview?
• Where else should I apply or send my portfolio?
• How many other applicants are there?

How do you get them to talk to you? I take the common sense approach. Have a conversation. Be interested in their opinions. Respect their time. Build a relationship. In short, treat them like real people. Like they’re your best friend.

The same goes for office managers, secretaries, assistants, and other administrative staff.

So go ahead, pick up that phone and start practicing.

Is your preview area squashed so narrow that you can’t comfortably read messages in Outlook’s main window? I’ll show you how you can use a single keystroke to expand it to read your messages, and then contract it again. This is an incredibly simple tip, but I’m amazed at how much it has changed my email experience.

By default, Outlook divides its main window into three sections: navigation pane, message list and the preview area. If you don’t have a wide screen, the preview area is squashed up against the right hand side, and is not really comfortable to use for reading messages — just for scanning them to see if they need to be opened in a separate window for more attention.

This frustrates me, as I like to use the main window for actually reading my messages. I’ve tried widening the preview area at the expense of narrowing the message list, but if the message list is too narrow, it will take up 2 lines for each message, i.e. show only half the number of messages as before — not good, since I also like to see as much of my inbox as possible in a single glance.

There’s another obvious solution that’s been staring me in the face, and it took one of my SpeedFiler customers to point it out to me — just get rid of the navigation pane! All it takes is an Alt-F1 to make it disappear and another Alt-F1 to bring it back when you need it. When the navigation pane disappears, it donates its space to the preview area, which suddenly becomes wide enough to display the messages in a readable manner.

In fact a lot of the time I manage quite well without a navigation pane at all. Whenever I need to go to another folder, I hit Ctrl+Y to bring up SpeedFiler’s streamlined navigation window and choose my destination. If you don’t have SpeedFiler, Ctrl+Y will bring up Outlook’s own Go to Folder window, which shows exactly the same folders that appear in the navigation area that we just hid.

In addition, if you want to get quickly back to the Inbox from another folder, all it takes is a quick Ctrl+Shift+I.