Money Saving Tips

Posted by Deidre

I am always looking for ways to save money, I am also always looking for ways to be green. I like to reuse things around the house and I wanted to provide a list of some simple things to do around your house, apartment, dorm, or wherever you live to save money and reuse some common items you can find around your home.

1. Reuse old t-shirts as dust rags

2. Use plastic grocery bags (if you haven't made the switch to reusable bags) as trash can liners

3. Baby food jars make great containers for beads, screws, nuts and bolts

4. Comics from the Sunday paper makes cute wrapping paper

5. I use the unused envelopes from junk mail (credit card applications, etc) for almost everything, I'll write lists on the back, I use them to put coupons in at the grocery store, anything and everything

6. 2 toilet paper rolls make awesome binoculars

7. Fun tea cups or mugs make fun, funky flower pots

8. Rinse out an Altoids tin and you can keep buttons, loose change, or whatever odds and ends in it

9. Shoe boxes are great for mailing packages

10. Use a glass or plastic cup instead of throw away Dixie cups

Now these tips aren't going to save you thousands of dollars, but if you can save $10, $20, or even $30 by reusing things around your house I think it is totally worth it.

Do you have any tips on reusing items to save money? If so, leave a comment letting us know. I'm always looking for fun new tips and love hearing creative ideas from my readers.

Ideas for Free Baby Items

Posted by Deidre

So I've posted a few Johnson's coupons and you can get free travel sized items, but say you don't have a baby... here are a few fun ideas so you can still take advantage of these freebies.

1. Know someone having a baby? These can be part of a gift for a baby shower. Make a gift basket of all travel items for mom and baby, these little freebies will be perfect!

2. Donate the items

3. Use them yourself! Who doesn't love the smell of baby products?!?

4. Do you work with anyone who has little ones? Pick up a bunch of free travel size items and give it to them. It's a nice gesture, plus one of the perks of using coupons is sharing the wealth with friends and family

Do you have any other ideas? Leave a comment and let me know!

Frugal Tip- Take Some Time to Say Thanks

Posted by Deidre

How many of you have contacted a company to complain about a product, service, etc... I know I have called or emailed a few times when I have been less than satisfied with something I spent my money on. Now here's the next question, how many of you have contacted a company and told them you love their product? Companies love to hear the praise, believe me!

Every once in a while when I am totally head over heels in love with a product I send a quick email with my kind words and compliments. And I would say 9 out of 10 times the companies have responded and sent me coupons for their products, I even got a few coupons for free products! What a nice thank you for my compliment! Now I'm not saying go out and start emailing every company in hopes of getting coupons and freebies, but it is easy to forgot to compliment our favorite products, but as soon as there is a problem we are quick to get on the phone and complain.

In the past I have probably done this a dozen times over the past few years, and I do not do it for the coupons, I do it to say thanks for providing an awesome product, or I love your new snack... it's my favorite!

So I encourage you to look around your house, apartment, dorm, wherever you are living and see what products make your life so much easier, or have you found a new snack that you couldn't live without... and email the company and tell them, maybe you'll receive a free coupon or two!

Wednesday Frugal Tip

Posted by Deidre

I recently heard that people liked my frugal tips so I want to start this up again on Wednesday. You guys will need to keep me accountable though... if you see that I miss a Frugal Tip Wednesday leave me a comment or send me an email!

This weeks tip deals with laundry. Laundry is probably the only chore I never mind doing... it's easy, I can watch TV while folding clothes, and who doesn't love sleeping on clean sheets?

Well with that being said, I know doing laundry can be expense, so here are a few ways to cut costs. I recently cut fabric softener out of my laundry routine and haven't noticed a difference at all! If you don't want to cut fabric softener all together, I suggest using half fabric softener, half water. Another tip is cut your dryer sheets in half. You double the life of your dryer sheets and save some money.

Wednesday Frugal Tip

Posted by Deidre

This is a frugal tip I am taking advantage of right now. I decided to go through and sell some of my clothes I do not wear anymore. I personally take my clothes and accessories to Plato's Closet. I have always had good luck selling there and typically make between $12-$50 each trip.

There are tons of consignment shops across the country that buy gently used clothing, accessories, shoes, etc... Make sure your clothes are washing, ironed, and folded nicely. Clean up shoes, clean out purses, and polish jewelry, if you wouldn't buy it, they probably won't either.

This is a great way to make some extra money during the year, and the clothes they do not buy you can always donate to shelters or churches.

Wednesday Frugal Tip- A day late...

Posted by Deidre

Yesterday was a little hectic and I totally forgot to post my frugal tip of the day. This week I am going to share about Mail in Rebates (MIR)

I love and always take advantage of MIRs, especially freebates (things I can mail in and get a full refund)

While this can be a great way to save money, it can be difficult to save receipts, fill out forms, etc... so I am going to share my new way to keep these things in order (it's a new system, but seems to be working!!!)

I bought a small plastic container and I save everything in there. I have envelopes for the stores I shop at most, and I save all my receipts. (You would be amazed at how many rebates I find after I have bought something, but can still take advantage of the rebate because I have a receipt). I also print out the rebate forms when I find them and place them in the container.

After doing this all my receipts and rebate forms are together and it makes the mailing process easy and pain free.

Wednesday Frugal Tip

Posted by Deidre

My first frugal tip is also going to be a green tip. Start using reusable shopping bags! This is a great way to help the environment, plus you can fit sooooo much more in these bags. I live on the 3rd floor and I would much rather carry 3 reusable bag than 15 plastic bags. Plus stores are starting to give discounts to people who bring in their own bags.

Here are some of the stores I know of that give discounts for reusable bags.

Target- $.05 for each bag

Whole Foods- $.10 for each bag

CVS- $1.00 for every 4 times you use a reusable bag

I am also sharing lots of ways to score some free reusable bags so keep a look out for them on the site!

Plus you don't have to buy reusable bags, I use old totes from trade shows, promotional items, old canvas totes I use to carry books in, there are all sorts of old bags that make perfect reusable bags!

P.S. Whole Foods has the cutest, biggest, best reusable bags around! And they are only $.99. Check them out here.