Tired of reading the standard frugality tips, author of "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" Ramit Sethi decided to launch a challenge to help people save $1,000 in a week.

He accompanied the challenge with a wealth of tips on his blog— from how to negotiate your car insurance to saving money while eating out — to help people achieve their savings goals.

We sifted through Sethi's advice and chose 13 of our favorites.

If you aren't up for an intense week, you can use these tips over the course of a month to similar effect.

1. Optimize your cell phone bill.

"Many of us (including me) pick a cell phone plan, then never check to see if it's the right one for us based on our usage," writes Sethi. "Because the average cell phone bill is about $50, that's $600 per year of money you can optimize."

When buying a new cell phone, Sethi likes to pay a little bit more upfront by choosing the unlimited data and text messaging plan. He then sets a three-month check-in on his calendar, and analyzes his spending patterns after a few months to see where he can cut back.

You can use this method for any usage-based services, he says.  

Estimated savings: $20 to $600.

2. Create a 'no spending' day once a week.

Choose one day each week and challenge yourself to not spend a single dollar.

"Technically, even if you don't open your wallet, you're still spending money on things like rent, car insurance, and subscriptions,"writes Sethi. "You just didn't count them. But that's even more of a reason to create a 'no spending' day on the money in your wallet: because you can actively control it."

The key to this tip is putting it in your calendar so it becomes a consistent system.

Estimated savings: $5 to $75.

3. Postpone a single large purchase until next month.

"It's very simple," writes Sethi. "New lawn mower — wait. New TV — wait. New dishwasher — wait. You can set a calendar reminder to check on it in 30 days. A couple of things will probably happen when you do this: First, prices will probably drop. Second, chances are you'll realize you didn't really need it." 

Estimated savings: $50 to $3,000.

The Battle of Waterloo changed the course of history.

On June 18th, 1815, Napoleon suffered his final and most crushing defeat. For over a decade, the French emperor had conquered or invaded much of Europe, using his seemingly superhuman charisma, leadership, and strategic thinking to threaten Europe's conservative, monarchical order.

Even his defeat and exile in 1814 couldn't stop him. By mid-1815, Napoleon had returned to mainland Europe and raised an army. And so had his enemies.

Waterloo was one of the most massive single-day battles in modern history, with an estimated 60,000 total casualties. Today, "Waterloo" is shorthand for a pivotal confrontation — or for massive defeat.

Here's the story of one of the most important battles of all time.

Napoleon abdicated as emperor of France on April 6, 1814, after troops from the Sixth Coalition entered Paris. The French monarchy was restored to power a quarter-century after the French Revolution began — and Napoleon, who had once conquered much of Europe, was exiled to Elba, an island off the west coast of Italy.

He didn't stay there for long. On February 26, 1815, Napoleon left the island. His goal: to depose the French monarchy and regain his position as emperor.

Napoleon landed on the European mainland on March 1st, 1815, with 1,000 men at his command. By the time he reached Paris on March 19th, the king had fled. By June, Napoleon had nearly 250,000 troops at his command.

Jetsetter has just released its list of its Best of the Best Hotel Awards for 2015. 

To make this list, the hotel booking site looked at over 200 reviews from Jetsetter travel correspondents and narrowed down their choices based on categories like Best Design, Best High-Tech, Best for Foodies, and Best Boutique.  

From the relaxing wellness retreat of Terme Di Saturnia in Italy to the ultra-trendy Ace Hotel and Swim Club in Palm Springs, here are 23 hotels you should consider for your next vacation. 

Best Newcomer: Mondrian London, London, England

Rooms from $181 per night >

Best Over-the-Top Luxury: Baccarat Hotel and Residences, New York, New York, USA

Rooms from $795 per night >

Best Design: The Miami Beach EDITION, Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Rooms from $290 per night >

Mercedes-Benz’s compact crossover SUV, the GLK, is set to be retired this year.

It will be replaced by a newer, sleeker crossover known as the GLC. 

While the vision is the same for this new Geländewagen - German for "off-road vehicle" and the source of the GL designation - the new GLC is loaded with new technology for a truly connected driving experience. 

"Our new GLC represents a further, systematic step in the implementation of our successful SUV philosophy,” said Thomas Weber, a member of Daimler AG’s management board, and responsible for Mercedes-Benz car development in a press release. 

“It combines the ultimate in driving comfort with a sporty touch, impresses on the road and – more than ever – off it as well, and appeals to the eye with the new design and equipment line,” he added.

The luxury SUV segment is very hot right now. And very competitive. Mercedes has a lot riding on the GLC being a success.

Since 2009, Mercedes' luxury compact crossover SUV has been known as the GLK.

Its replacement is sleeker and shinier, to say the least. The "C" designation joins it with Mercedes C-Class sedan lineup.

The traditional, truck-like off-road look has been replaced with a design that's a hybrid of sports car and SUV.

A New York City apartment belonging to a noted couple in tech has hit the market for $2.2 million.

The owners of the East Village home are Jeff Hammerbacher, an early Facebook employee and cofounder of Cloudera, and his wife Halle Tecco, founder of medical venture fund Rock Health. They bought the apartment from Chloe Sevigny for $1.76 million in 2012.

The couple then spent nine months renovating the space.

"We struggled to use color in our last apartment in San Francisco, which was all gray and navy, so we really wanted to experiment with color, pattern, and texture in this home," Tecco told Business Insider.

The one-bedroom apartment is located on the garden level of a townhouse in the East Village.

The entryway has some bright green patterned wallpaper.

The living room is filled with lots of texture and color. Its best features include a wall-length bookcase and a fireplace.

Why not head South for the summer, to the frozen lands of Antarctica? There is no better way to beat the heat than in one of the most frigid places on Earth.

There aren't many indoor places to visit in the remote country, with its ice-covered earth, but the few that exist are fascinating.  

From a historic exploration hut that was left just as it was when it was built, to ice tunnels filled with weird tchotchkes left by visiting explorers, to the Southernmost bar in the world, Antarctica is the ideal alternative to the crowded beaches and boardwalks of the sweaty summer months.

Bundle up and take a look at nine of the coolest spots on this hostile continent.

First, check out the the bar at the Research Base. Otherwise known as the Vernadsky Station Lounge, this one-of-a-kind bar holds the honor of being the Southernmost bar in the world.

The tiny little watering hole was built on the base when some of the original British researchers who originally operated the station commandeered a shipment of wood meant to become a new pier. They instead used the lumber to build the lounge, displaying a clear grasp of priorities.

Originally styled after an English pub, the base has since been taken over by Ukraine, and the bar has taken on a more Russian flare. They now serve their own vodka, which is distilled on site.

Fresh out of college, Foster Huntington secured a job designing at Ralph Lauren after a designer at the company saw his photo blog. It was an awesome opportunity, and he loved doing it. But while most kids his age were seeking security, he was seeking freedom.

Huntington wanted to minimize his possessions and minimize his life, so he bought a van. "I didn't want to spend my youth in an office," he told Business Insider. Along with the job, he had also gotten a book deal stemming from his work online. He took the advance money and hit the road, telling himself, "If I don't do it now, I never will."

But being the internet expert he is, he kept growing his massive presence on social media, turning his travels into an immensely popular Instagram as well as fourdifferentTumblraccounts (he has nearly a million followers on Instagram and about half a million combined on his Tumblr accounts).

Being on the road was great, but he found it harder to be productive. So he decided to park his Volkswagen van for a bit and pursue another dream that was a little more stationary, this time building a treehouse with his friends that he could live in and work from.

The Cinder Cone, as they call it, has been in construction for over a year, and this past month Huntington ran a Kickstarter to fund a book about the project, which has already reached more than $70,000 — more than doubling his goal.

We let Huntington, now 27, tell us in his own words about the treehouse, how he uses social media and the internet to his advantage, and his overall journey so far as a nomad and creative in the 21st century.

"The treehouse was mainly a collaboration between me and Tucker Gordon. He really handled the design of it. Creatively, it's both of ours, but Tucker was the one who really translated some abstract ideas I had into reality. And it shows. He's an amazing designer."

"We referenced a bunch of design books, like the 'Tiny Homes' series by Lloyd Kahn. We watched movies like 'Indiana Jones,' 'Huck Finn,' 'Star Wars,' 'Swiss Family Robinson,' and 'Hook,' where they had these fantastical buildings. Why can't those be reality? They can: You just gotta build them."

"I'm dyslexic, so at a young age, I was really drawn to photo books. I remember when I was a kid I was really into remote-control airplanes. I'd go to the library and look at all the books they had. I wouldn't read them; I would just look at all the photos. Photos of people building them, photos of people flying them. That is something that I feel doesn't really translate as well to modern electronic media."

The time to enter the 2015 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is nearly up, and so far the showing is impressive.

Photos have been pouring in from across the globe since April, and these top aerial picks gathered by National Geographic are some of the most breathtaking examples. 

The deadline for entry is June 30 - if your photos are up to the challenge, enter here. This year's contest is split into four categories: Outdoor Scenes, Spontaneous Moments, Sense of Place, and Travel Portraits.

The first place winner receives an eight-day expedition along the sunny coast of Panama and Costa Rica complete with instruction from a team of experts plus free airfare for two.

Winding irrigation canals cut through miles of tulip fields in Voorhout, the Netherlands. The country produces more than 3 billion tulip bulbs a year.

Rich concentrations of minerals give the water its vibrant coloring in the salt flats of Northern California.

Some describe this as the most dangerous wave in Australia, as it breaks on barnacle-encrusted rocks just feet from a stony cliff edge - despite being in downtown Sydney. Photographer Ian Bird captured a surfer from 300 feet directly above the wave in a helicopter.

The retail industry is slowly devolving into its death, and there's proof: more and more shopping malls are closing.

The malls are primarily those that are not high-end or low-end.

Earlier this year, D.J. Busch, senior analyst at Green Street Advisers, said to the New York Times, "It is very much a haves and have-nots situation." 

"Middle-level stores in middle-level malls are going to be extinct because they don't make sense," Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, Inc., a retail consulting and investment banking firm, said last year.

The White Flint Mall in Bethesda, Maryland opened in 1977.

Source: The Washington Post

It closed early this year. In February, only Lord & Taylor remained.

Source: The Gazette

The upscale mall was home to stores like Bloomingdale's and I. Magnin. Even Elizabeth Taylor was reported to appear at a department store at the mall.

Source: Washington Post

Billionaire investor Paul Singer is at war with the Samsung dynasty, and on Thursday he released a slide deck laying out his grievances with the Lee family's attempt to merge Samsung C&T into their larger holding company, Cheil Industries.

"Elliott continues to view the terms of the proposed takeover as unfair, unlawful, and significantly damaging to the interests of Samsung C&T shareholders," Paul Singer's hedge fund, Elliott Management, said in a statement.

Elliott, which has a 7% stake in Samsung C&T, recognized that the Lees are attempting the merger in order to ensure a smooth succession between generations in its released. Still, it thinks the $9 billion sale price the Lees have floated seriously undervalues the Samsung C&T and overvalues its parent company, Cheil.

Elliott also argues that there are regulatory issues with the merger including a violation of the Fair Trade Act, and that Cheil is actually just an unregulated financial holding company.

In 2008, chef Roy Choi co-launched Kogi BBQ in Los Angeles, California, a food truck serving up Korean BBQ with a Mexican flair.

Choi jump-started the food truck "new wave" in LA, inspiring others to create the flavorful, eclectic street food that is now found in trucks throughout the city.

To give you an idea of just how tasty LA's food truck dishes are, we collected some drool-worthy photos.

From waffles fries smothered in guacamole and ranch to crepes dripping with Nutella and ice cream, here are some dishes you won't want to miss.

Kogi BBQ has consistently been ranked among the top food trucks in LA. Known mainly for its Korean tacos — the short rib taco is a favorite — the truck also serves up hot dogs, quesadillas, sliders, and burritos.

Click here for more info on Kogi >

Yes, you can actually get wood-oven fired pizza from a food truck. That's Urban Oven's specialty: serving Napoli-style pizza that's been cooked in a custom-built mobile wood-fired food truck.

For more info on the Urban Oven, click here >

The Lobos Truck refers to its food as "American comfort with a twist." A perfect example are the food truck's mouthwatering wachos — a hybrid dish that features waffle fries with nacho toppings.

Click here for more info on Lobos >

Living on the road can be tough, but business travelers often have traveling down to a science.

From scoring upgrades to the best way to pack a suitcase, anything that can make the hassle of jet-setting a little easier can be a life-saver. 

We reached out to several frequent fliers to find out their favorite travel strategies.

Mandi Woodruff contributed to an earlier version of this post.

Have one go-to piece of luggage that always works, no matter what kind of trip you're taking.

Luxury Link CEO Scott Morrow says that he always takes his Tumi roller bag with him whether he's going on a long trip or short one.

"It doesn't depend on the length of the trip — I've even been to Europe and Africa for 35 days straight and I only take a roller bag," Morrow says. "I never check luggage, ever. It forces me to be efficient with what I pack."

Price: $595

Pack less than you think you need.

Fathom Way To Go founder Pavia Rosati suggests thinking about what you want to bring and then pairing that list down — by a lot. 

"I think about the stuff I want to bring, and then I only bring half," Rosati says. "And you’re still not going to wear a good two thirds of it."

Bring clothes that are dark colors.

Pauline Frommer, editorial director of the Frommer Guide Books and Frommers.com, doesn't put all that much thought into the clothes she brings with her on her travels — besides bringing dark colors that hide stains.

"I am probably the least stylish traveler on the face of the planet," Frommer says.

"To me it's not about how I look, it’s about how the world looks. And if I'm worrying too much about how I look, then I'm missing out on my trip. I wear dark colors that hide stains."

Computers are notorious for slowing down with old age, but there are a few tips and tricks to give them a speed boost.

From small tweaks to your settings to purchasing some new RAM, there's plenty of options for everyone's budget and skillset.

So before you toss your computer aside for a new one, try out these suggestions to get your PC chugging along again.

Run cleanup programs frequently.

CCleaner is an amazing app that will help you find and delete caches and temporary files in many of your applications. You can download CCleaner here.

Remove unnecessary visual effects and animations.

Yes — some of these things you'll be removing make your operating system look nice, but wouldn't you rather have a speedier computer?

On Windows 7, try disabling the pretty albeit resource-hungry "Aero" theme. Right click your desktop and then click "Personalize." Choose the "Window Color" tab and then uncheck "Enable transparency."

Update and use your antivirus software.

Viruses and malware can bog down your computer in a hurry, so it's best to prevent them in the first place. If you're using a free trial of antivirus software whose notifications are as annoying as a virus itself, uninstall it and try using Microsoft's free Security Essentials antivirus software, which won't bombard you with ads.

To stay diligent, try scheduling daily quick scans and weekly full scans.

Airports work tirelessly to know everything that's going on within their walls at all times. While sometimes the TSA's security efforts may upset everyday passengers, most people don't know the half of what's really going on in the background.

In fact, airports around the world are using a variety of new technologies to make it easier to keep tabs on people, both for security and for convenience.

Here's a look at all the way airports are using tech to learn everything about you when you set foot inside them.

SEE ALSO: A Norwegian airline created an emoji-only web address to reach millennials

Full Body Scanners

Probably the most well known "new technology" is the full body scanner. The most popular scanners used in airports use either X-Ray technology or "non-ionising waves." They were first implemented to reduce lines at the airport, but recently the scanners have become more of a headache. The problem is that because anything out of the ordinary would trigger an alarm requiring an airport employee to perform a pat-down, these scanners have actually started making lines worse. 

Iris Scanners

Airports are now using iris scanners to keep tabs on passengers. It isn't as creepy as it seems, though. For instance, Gatwick Airport in London uses iris scanning technology to make getting through lines faster.

The airport doesn't differentiate between domestic and international passengers when performing security checks, but it does need a way to quickly distinguish between the two. So the airport has domestic passengers quickly scan their iris, and then, when they reach their gate, their irises are checked again to make sure they completed the boarding process and actually made it on the plane.

Gatwick Airport tells Business Insider this has decreased wait time tremendously, and has made it a breeze for people in England to get from one city to another.

Smart Bag Tags

One problem airports face regularly is losing baggage. Now airports like Hong Kong International Airport are using RFID technology to track where bags go. The idea is that these tags use Bluetooth and other mobile technologies to give passengers real-time updates about where their bags are. 

For some, the weekend is a sacred retreat from the hustle and bustle of our busy work lives.

For others, the weekend is a myth — Saturday and Sunday are mere extensions of the workweek and a chance to get ahead of the competition.

Judging from the various ways highly successful people spend their (at least theoretical) time away from work, we can conclude that there really is no right or wrong way to structure your weekends — it's all about striking the right balance for you.

Here's how super-successful people do it.

Elon Musk spends time with his kids.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has five sons, with whom, he told Mashable, he hangs out on the weekends. 

However, he also admitted at South by Southwest in 2013 that some of this "quality time" is spent sending emails. "Because they don't need constant interaction, except when we're talking directly," he said. "I find I can be with them and still be working at the same time."

Jack Dorsey hikes and prepares for the week.

In 2011, when Jack Dorsey was running Twitter and Square full-time, the cofounder told the audience at Techonomy 2011 that, to got it all done, he gave each day a theme. This allowed him to quickly recall and refocus on the day's task once the distraction was out of the way. 

Dorsey said he would take Saturday off to hike and spend Sunday focusing on reflections, feedback, strategy, and getting ready for the rest of the week.

Now that he's back to running both companies, there's a good chance theme days could come in handy again.

Rachel Maddow ditches her NYC apartment for the country.

The political journalist told People she, her girlfriend Susan Mikula, and English Lab occupy a 275-sq.-ft. Manhattan apartment during the week when Maddow tapes her show. During the weekends, though, they drive three hours so they can retreat to their country home in Western Massachusetts.

"Having a place out of the city is a shortcut toward the mental reset I need," Maddow told People. She also loves spending her Saturday reading comic books.

Snapchat is now worth $15 billion, making it one of the most valuable private tech companies in the world.

So what's all the fuss about? If you've never used Snapchat before or you're confused by how the self-destructing-photo and video app works, you're in luck!

I'm 22 and I use Snapchat obsessively. Here are all the basics, as well as everything you never knew you could do on Snapchat.

When you open the Snapchat app, it defaults to a standard back-facing camera setting.

There are buttons you can push to turn on and off your camera's flash, as well as to toggle between the back-facing camera and the front-facing, or selfie-mode, camera.

Press the white ghost button to check out your profile.

Ascot has long been a magnet for British eccentricity. The races, which date back to the 1700s, have become an event where the outfits are as anticipated as the races themselves.

The flamboyant event attracts some of the biggest names from Britain and beyond, including royalty. Five-hundred-thousand people make the journey to Ascot in England, with around 400 helicopters and over 1,000 limousines ferrying glamorous race-goers to and from the course every year. And with a top prize of £5.5 million, it's no wonder people want in on the action.

If you need any more evidence that Ascot is a big deal, just look at the figures. According to the Ascot website, over the four days, 51,000 bottles of champagne are consumed, as well as 160,000 glasses of Pimms and over 42,000 bottles of wine. 

Race-goers arrive early in the morning, dressed to the nines for a day of champagne, socialising, and horse racing.

While some revellers arrive by train, others opt for a more traditional method of transport. These visitors are arriving by horse-drawn carriage.

Once you're inside, it's all very British.

Apple has a reputation for being a challenging and demanding place to work.

So it's not surprising to hear that Apple compensates its employees pretty well.

But certain positions pay better than others. Using data from Glassdoor, we've compiled a list of the jobs at Apple that are listed as having the highest salary. All salaries refer to base pay without bonuses.

(Note: This list only includes salary listings with five or more reviews. Some salaries listed on Glassdoor were excluded from this list because they didn't include enough employee reviews.). 

17. Information Systems Manager

Salary: $157,062

A big part of the information system manager's job involves designing and monitoring information systems in addition to overseeing staff, according to a sample job description from Monster. 

16. Hardware Engineering Manager

Salary: $157,698

As the hardware engineering manager, you'd likely be responsible for planning and executing engineering builds, creating project plans, and managing Apple's team of hardware engineers, according to an Apple job description for a similar position. 

15. Senior Engineering Project Manager

Salary: $158,538

Project managers at Apple need to be extremely organized and able to manage risks associated with the project. Apple requires eight years of experience minimum for a senior engineering project manager job for its video apps department. 

Silicon Valley is no stranger to weird behavior.

So it comes as no surprise that the home of numerous tech giants would produce some of the strangest interview questions out there.

To find these odd queries, we sifted through hundreds of reviews on Glassdoor submitted by people who interviewed in Silicon Valley in the past year.

Below are some of the weirdest ones we found.

"Why is the earth round?"

Asked by Twitter for a software engineer position.

Source: Glassdoor

"You're wearing a nametag, tell me what you think about it."

Asked by Yahoo for an associate product manager position.

Source: Glassdoor

"Choose a city and estimate how many piano tuners operate a business there."

Asked by Google for a project manager position.

Source: Glassdoor

Britain's wedding industry is worth an estimated £10 billion ($15.9 billion) – so it comes as no surprise that some of the country's richest women fork out thousands for the dress alone.

Research from the popular wedding website hitched.co.uk estimates that the average Briton spends £36,000 ($57,181) on their wedding and £913 ($1,450) on a dress.

On the other end of the scale, Business Insider's recent interview with luxury wedding planner Sarah Haywood revealed that the wealthiest are spending around £1 million ($1.6 billion) for their big day and in some cases a lot more than that.

With this in mind, we looked at some of the most expensive wedding dresses to either be worn by or made by a British person, or to be walked down the aisle in the UK. 

Check out who made the list below.

8. Madonna's £50,400 ($80,000) dress – the Stella McCartney gown was made of ivory coloured silk. She accompanied it with a 37 carat diamond cross necklace when she married Guy Ritchie in Scotland in 2000.

7. Victoria Beckham's £63,000 ($100,000) dress – the Vera Wang structured ball gown was for her wedding to footballer David Beckham in 1999. She said in an interview with Stylist magazine that it's still in her closet, in the hope her daughter Harper would like to wear it one day.

6. Petra Ecclestone's £80,000 dress – the daughter of British F1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone got her strapless gown designed by Vera Wang and accompanied it with a veil and tiara for her marriage to mining and gaming tycoon James Stunt in 2011.