Irfanview, Firefox, Volumouse, Winkey, FolderShare, Google Earth, Skype, LogMeIn, MediaMonkey.

This is a great article that summarizes principles that work. The only thing I would change about the article is that to my family, savings is not a discretionary expense- it is included as a normal recurring "expense".

@DarthBacon:

For me, the answer was simple: Adjust your budget cycle. When I get paid every two weeks, I have a four week budget cycle (thirteen per year). When I get paid once or twice per month, I use a monthly cycle (12 per year). It works wonders and is a no-brainer.

VOTE: FanCast

Slight clarification: you're limited to 200MB video size per file and 9MB music file size per file uploaded, not 9MB TOTAL storage for music and 200MB TOTAL storage for video. ;)

Since all of this can be done with Volumouse and any scroll mouse, why clutter up the desktop and use up another port for a useless (albeit fun) toy? I thought LH's mantra was "Geek to Live" instead of "Live to Geek"...

Yay! I've wanted this for a long time- thanks Gina!

VOTE: Excel

I feel the widespread prevalence of mp3s will keep them around for quite a while. In my opinion, the quality of mp3 was never the driving factor in the existence of these files, but rather the quantity and ease of sharing them (not to mention portability in mobile devices).

I got into the site just fine, got results just fine, and have no problem with the results interface. The results page admittedly looks different, but since when is 'different' necessarily inferior? Like others, I'll stay with Google for now, but I feel any new site needs a little time to be implemented before all the…

Since this type of weekend requires not spending money, what about making money? For example, garage sales, hobbies/handiwork, lemonade stands, whatever?

Nifty idea, as I run into this occasionally, but Win+E is reserved by default for opening Windows Explorer.

Don't be so surprised- you've earned it! Great job over the years.

@ryetronics: I couldn't agree more. I was a bit of a chicken and was wary of trying this "Firefox nonsense", but after IE7 screwed up the toolbars, I switched and haven't looked back. Ah, Firefox and (when necessary,) IE Tab, thank you for bringing joy back to my browsing experience!

I like the different ideas and opinions presented here. Some I agree with; some I don't. However, I would argue that there is no "one perfect solution" for everybody. I agree with ComputerMom that you ought to do what gives you peace. To me, debt (of any kind- high or low interest) does not bring me peace- therefore I…

This type of post is the reason why I love Lifehacker. Great summary!

Personally, I have never found a great need for having a watch. It can be useful, but it's not a necessity for me. It seems there's always a clock when I need it, and I am rarely in a big enough hurry that I need to know the exact time anyway.

@Evan_D: I agree that IrfanView has a doofy icon; I asked it better when the cat had tire tracks over it, but I think PETA got upset ;-)

link broken- points to gourmet shaving?!?