One of the best ways to use your money wisely is to know which product will offer you the best value for your dollar. No one does it better than Consumer Reports. We use it regularly and have even given a year's subscription as a gift to family.
It will cost you $26 for a year's worth of online access. They ever offer a $5 one month option. If you go in on the cost with family, you can all share the same name & password, getting the access without footing the entire $26 on your own.
You can find out how everything stacks up from batteries to laundry detergent. I'll never forget the awful discovery that Dyson vacuums suck and not in the vacuuming sense of the word. Their commercials were so neat too!
Another handy & FREE service is E-pinions. You'll get the scoop from regular people. Not experts or scientific facts, but sometimes opinions are helpful.
An arch made entirely of shopping carts...pretty cool, but not in my backyard!! I wonder what the neighbors think.
So, have you ever joined a club? Don't you love being part of one? Most people do. Why did it take us years & years to join one? I don't know.
Maybe it was the fact that ours was a little over 45 minutes away or the fact that we had no clue it would actually save us so much money. It's Sam's Club...or Costco, or BJ's, which ever you prefer. We thought Sam's had better prices over-all, but Costco had more selection, but with a membership fee that was $20 more than Sam's. There is no BJ's around here so I'm not familiar with their prices.
Shopping there (finally) has saved more than paid for our membership cost. Just buying the staples like toilet paper, paper towels & detergent gives us huge savings! Costco has, according to Consumer Reports, the best battery on the market at the lowest price of almost any battery out there. It's their store brand.
You can find so many great deals there so it's worth your while & your membership fee even if you only go once a month. So if you haven't already, you might want to seriously consider taking the plunge.
Looking for a consolidated, Black Friday sales paper? Here's everything from
A (Ace Hardware) to W (Wal-Mart )
Ever dread the thought of life without cable or satellite? I have but it's not as bad as you might think. Satellite & cable both can cut deeply into your wallet. This past spring we were paying over $70 a month for satellite service. In order to save that cash, we canceled the service and opted, instead for an HD antenna for a little over $100. Not one of those ugly spikey ones, this on blends into the environment and you don't even notice it. We get ABC, CBS & NBC as well as football in HD with no monthly charges.
Then we decided that we'd use some of our savings to join Blockbuster Online, where you can order movies with no late fees for as little as $9. If you feel like you're still missing out, you can use Hulu for movies & shows, JustinTV, Freetube (where I watch Fox News) are similar sites where you can enjoy the programs you want to see for free!
My Dad was always a big stickler for turning the lights out when we left a room. It's rubbing off on me finally. Aside from leaving things running while you're not around, off the top of your head, how many electronic items do you have permanently plugged in even when they're off and you might not use them for days? Toaster oven? Coffee pot? Iron? TV? Chances are you have a few. Believe it or not, you're paying for the luxury. Depending on the amount of appliances you leave plugged in, these residual charges can add as much as 10% to your monthly costs.
Here's a snippet form Real Simple magazine (April 2008) listing the average annual cost of plugged in items...* (TV smaller than 40 inches) Plasma TV, $48.25* TV accessories, Digital video recorder/TIVO $39.71* Digital cable, $26.15. Computers, Desktop, $27.90* Computer accessories, CRT computer monitor, $8.97* Modem, $5.47
Leaving appliances plugged in adds dollars to your yearly spending...why not keep them for yourself? Try unplugging for a month and see if you notice a drop in your bill. In the case of computers etc, just turn off your surge protector switch. A simple & easy way to save some cash!
I love this picture : ) This is how I feel in the morning sometimes...*wink* My Mom sent me this tip. I even checked it out at Snopes to see if it was true and sure enough it is. Turns out there may be some drastic mark ups when it comes to certain generic drugs.
You can save loads of your hard earned cash by getting your prescriptions at Costco instead, where they pass along a significantly smaller mark up. You don't even need a membership (to use their pharmacy, depending on your state laws)!
If Costco doesn't work out for you, the same generally goes for Wal-mart & Target. Try checking into them to see if you can get your generics at a lower mark-up than your regular drugstore.
When do you do your laundry, dishes etc...??? If the answer's "in the evening" then you're paying more than you have to!
It's more expensive during peak hours just like peak seasons when you go on vacation. Usually they're between 4 p.m. &10 p.m. (winter) where you could pay up to 5 times the normal rate just for using it when everyone else is!
Instead, try throwing a load in at bed time and drying them in the morning when you get up. This wont work in the summer because the laundry will mildew, but in the colder months it works great for me. I do this with my dishwasher as well.
Your summer peak hours will be different from your winter so you'll need to find out the details by calling or visiting your local power company for peak times & pricing.
Happy saving!
My brother told me about freecycle last year and I'm just now joining. It's a great way to get rid of your good "stuff" and also pick up something useful that other people are getting rid of!
There's no trading/bartering, no money changing hands and you don't even have to talk to the person. Just post your item, put it in a named location at your house or meet up in a public place and it's theirs (or yours vice versa). You can do the same on Craig's List in the free section. My brother finds so many great deals on tools etc...via Craig's List. I like Freecycle because you're part of a local group.
Here's the link...give it a try!
I know a thing or two about thrifty living. Why? Because my parents are thrifty. They keep things like cool whip containers, they reuse aluminum foil AND they've been known to wash out gallon Ziploc bags. My mom sneaks food into the trash and stealthily covers it up when it goes bad, because she knows that my Dad, who never wants anything to go to waste, will eat it. He, in particular, grew up with very little, including food.
Alas, just because you know a thing or two about thrifty living doesn't mean put it into practice. You'd think all that thrift would have rubbed off on me, but it didn't catch on...until last year. Any soul with one good eye can see our looming economic disaster and realize that their livelihood might be at stake. Times will get tough and money will be tight. I figured it was time for some serious thrift.
My hope for this blog is to share what I'm doing...I'll shoot for a tip-a-day and hope to find out what you're doing to get thrifty too!
