Cheap Cheats

There are little tricks we can employ in every area of our lives to save money. I like to call them cheap cheats. Each of them will save just a few cents here and there, but using all of them together can really add up over time. I'd like to share a few of mine with you.

Kitchen:

-Make your own pickles for pennies. Buy a cucumber on sale. Plunge it into boiling water using tongs for a few seconds to kill any bacteria. Slice thinly and pack the slices into a jar of juice you've saved from store bought pickles. In a few days they are ready to eat! Every few times you'll have to buy a jar of pickles from the store and start over.

-Use clean hotel shower caps you've collected while on vacation to cover bowls in the refrigerator. Make sure the plastic doesn't touch the food, as it's not food safe plastic. I wash mine in the top rack of the dishwasher and reuse them. Just make sure they can't fall through to the heating element and melt!

Bath:

-Flatten the toilet paper roll slightly with your hand before you put it on the holder. It won't roll so easily, preventing family members from accidentally rolling out too much at once and wasting paper.

-Water down those little shampoo samples left over from the hotel and use as hand soap. Just save a pump dispenser from store-bought soap and use it over and over again.

- A small rubber band wound a couple of times around the base of your soap or lotion pump will keep too much from dispensing at once.

Cleaning:

-Use newspaper or catalog pages to clean grease out of pans, pet messes- anything too nasty for your washable cleaning rags. No need to buy paper towels.

-Even though we use our reusable grocery bags, we still manage to accumulate some plastic ones. Use these to line trashcans instead of buying trash bags.

Laundry:

-If you use fabric softener, the sheets can be cut into narrow strips, and still work just as well. This can really stretch a box.

-Vinegar added to the rinse cycle is an even cheaper, natural fabric softener.

Heating and Cooling:

-Keep the windows open at night and early in the morning while it's cool, and close them before it starts to heat up.

-Close all the blinds on the sunny side of the house until the sun goes down or goes around the other side.

-Reverse the blade direction on your ceiling fan in the winter to help push the heat down from the ceiling.

Do you have any cheap cheats of your own? I'm always interested in hearing your money-saving ideas.

Packaging, Schmackaging

My biggest pet peeve when I go shopping is excess packaging. Boxed snacks with little individually wrapped portions inside, shrink-wrapped flats of plastic water bottles, tiny toys in huge clam shell packaging with cardboard inserts, they all drive me nuts.

Although I see some small signs of change lately from manufacturers, there is still a lot of room for improvement. What can we do to send a message to manufacturers that we don't want this waste to continue?

-Email the manufacturers of your favorite products and ask them to make packaging that can be reused for something. Once upon a time, jelly came in juice glasses with a disposable top. After eating the jelly, you could drink out of the glass. Flour came in cloth sacks that could be used as dish towels. Let's bring this practice back.

-Buy staples in bulk and store them in reusable containers. When companies sell fewer of their over packaged offerings, they will have to change their ways or risk losing sales.

-Purchase the new, concentrated versions of things like laundry detergents, which come in smaller containers. Manufacturers actually prefer these nowadays anyway, as they help them to save on shipping costs.

-Find ways to reuse containers that products come in. Cat litter buckets can be used as planters after drilling holes in them, for instance. Remove labels from jars and coffee cans and use for storage. Plastic food trays or small boxes can be used to organize drawers.

-Give locally made handcrafted toys rather than the over-packaged plastic junk made overseas whenever possible.

-Buy a filter and filter your own tap water. Stop buying those ridiculous bottles!

-Purchase a used item. Yard sales and thrift stores are good places to buy household items that are still in great shape, and they usually don't have any packaging!

The practice of over packaging is not going to change overnight. After all, packaging is designed not only to protect the products we buy from damage and theft, but also to entice us to buy the products. However, with a clear message from consumers, and the pressure of increased shipping and packaging costs, change will eventually happen. In the meantime, don't forget to recycle any excess packaging you can't avoid!

Take Me To Your Loss Leader

What is a loss leader? A loss leader is a product sold by the store below cost. This is meant to get you in the door in the hope that you will buy other more profitable products at the same time. It also gets you in to the store more often thereby increasing the likelihood that you'll buy more stuff each time you're there. For instance, I usually only grocery shop once a month, but if there are some cheap sale items I need that week, I'll go again. The store only has a few of these items in their flyer each week, because they want you to come in on a weekly basis. Typically, loss leaders are found on the first or last page of a store's flyer. The price will seem unusually low to you. Better than the typical sale price.

In order to benefit from these extremely low priced items, you need to do several things. First, you must avoid the temptation to buy other items that are not available for a good price. Second, if the loss leader is an item you use regularly, you should buy as many as the promotion will allow. When something is on sale for a great price, and I am the only one in the family who uses the product, I will ask other family members to buy some for me too. Lastly, don't drive all over town to pick up one or two items that are on sale. That will just eat up all your savings in wasted gas. Plan to stop at each store when you will already be in the area on another errand. Try to plan the most efficient route to hit all your stops.

Don't forget, you can still use a coupon on these heavily discounted items to maximize your savings. If you don't have one already, check the online coupon sites. I usually just do a web search "coupon kraft macaroni and cheese" or whatever the product is. Make sure you check the date of the resulting hits. You will find some outdated ones too.

Hopefully, this post has inspired you to check your sale flyers, head to your nearest grocery store, and fling open the door, shouting "take me to your loss leaders!"

Birthday Booty

Ok, I got your attention, but that's not what I meant at all. Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking about all the free stuff you can get from companies on your birthday.

If you like Starbucks, just register a gift card with them, and you'll get a free drink on your birthday. If you keep reloading and using the same card, you will earn a star with each visit. When you reach 30 stars, you will get a free drink every 15 visits, as well as on your birthday. There are other benefits too, which you can read up on at the website.

I like to browse around at this cool store called Anthropologie. It's expensive, so I rarely buy anything there, but I signed up for their club. Last year on my birthday they sent me a cool little sewing kit. This year they sent me the cutest necklace made out of a birthday candle. If you live near an Anthropologie store, you should sign up.

Join the email lists of all the restaurants you regularly dine at. Many of them will send you a coupon for a free dinner or dessert on your birthday. Sometimes they require that another meal be purchased, but you're probably not eating out alone anyway.

Ice cream chains such as Baskin Robbins, Coldstone Creamery and Dairy Queen typically offer a free cone on your birthday. This year with the economy being bad I got a buy-one-get-one coupon from Dairy Queen, which I thought was a little cheap considering those type of coupons are often found in the local paper anyway.

Check with all of your local movie theaters, since many of them offer a free movie or snack bar item on your birthday. If you rent movies, many of the rental chains offer a free rental on your birthday with membership.

Ski resorts typically offer a free lift ticket on your birthday (or a free ride for summer birthdays) and many golf courses give you a free round of golf.

Local bowling alleys will usually give you a free game on your birthday. They may require you to rent shoes, though.

Speaking of shoes, I found a coupon in my email from Payless offering me a 20% discount on a pair of shoes during my birthday month. Not a bad discount if you needed a pair anyway.

Someone just told me Krispy Kreme offers a dozen free doughnuts on your birthday. I hope so, since mine's coming up soon! I know Dunkin' Doughnuts gives you a free medium drink on your special day.

Don't forget to use your junk email address when you sign up for all these freebies. Otherwise, your regular email will be full of ads all year! Register with all the stores and restaurants you normally visit, and I promise when your birthday rolls around, you will have all sorts of offers!

If you know of any birthday freebies not mentioned here, please leave a comment and let us all in on them!

Each One Reach One

This post was inspired by Zengirl over at Heart and Mind. She has a great article this time with a lot of thoughtful suggestions about how you can help your unemployed friends. You can check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/2ckxd7z .

Let's face it, a lot of us are struggling financially right now, even if we are not unemployed. I have a few additional suggestions on how you can help your friends and family to help themselves.

Are you a whiz at using coupons? Why not share your knowledge with your friends and family so they too can save a bundle at the grocery store? Here is a quick lesson on how to use coupons for those who are not as savvy: http://tinyurl.com/25fzbc9 .

Do you regularly get a lot of items for free by taking advantage of rebates? Share your secrets! If you don't know how to rebate, here's a quick rundown: http://tinyurl.com/5uoyn7 . Don't forget about drugstore rebates. If you live near a CVS, Rite-Aid or Walgreen's, you can get most of your toiletries for free. If you're not familiar with how the different programs work, here are some links that break it down pretty well: CVS: http://tinyurl.com/22tsoa9 Rite-Aid: http://tinyurl.com/2dld8wf Walgreen's: http://tinyurl.com/24lcu4v .

Is your thumb a vibrant shade of green? Why not help an agriculturally-challenged neighbor to plant and maintain a few tomatoes or a zucchini plant? Start small so you don't overwhelm the fledgling gardener.

Do you have Little House on the Prairie-type skills? Help a friend learn to make jam, bread or yogurt, or learn how to can or dehydrate produce. Then they can take advantage of those great supermarket produce markdowns, or their own garden surplus if they are talented in that area.

Are you a Knit-wit or Stitch-witch? Pass those sewing and needlework skills on! Making useful items from old clothing or altering cheap yard-sale or thrift store finds can be a valuable skill.

If each of us taught only one other person a skill that would help them to save money and improve their life, what a difference it could make!

Home Green Home

An article I came across recently about a man who builds houses out of at least 80% recycled materials gave me the idea for this post about green homes. The man's name is Dan Phillips, and his Texas company builds low-income housing for single parents, artists and low-income families. He works together with a non-profit that helps to secure financing so that these individuals can take out an affordable mortgage to buy their home. He employs unskilled, minimum-wage laborers and teaches them valuable skills which they can then take to better-paying future jobs. So, his homes are great because they are keeping useable items out of the dump, they are providing job training for low-skilled workers, and they are giving poor people the chance to own their own home rather than living in housing projects. Because of the way they are constructed, these homes all have a one-of-a-kind look. You can look at some photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46321673@N02/sets/

Yurts are another type of "green" home. Based on the tents used by Central Asian nomads for centuries, they are lightweight, but weatherproof and strong. They consist of a durable fabric cover, and a wooden frame. The door is framed in, and there is a solid floor. Plumbing and electricity can be hooked up in these structures. They are easy and inexpensive to erect, use minimal materials, and have no negative impact on their surroundings. They can also be quite beautiful, as you can see here:

http://www.yurts.com/gallery/photo-gallery.aspx

Tailor-made for minimalists, the Tiny House ranges from 65-140 square feet, and comes on wheels so it doesn't need a building permit. You can buy them already constructed, or build your own. They have a tiny kitchen, mini bathroom, a living-dining area, and a loft bedroom. They can be hooked up to plumbing and electricity, or use tanks and solar power like an RV. The heater runs on propane. You just tow it to where you want it, and you're ready to go! Slightly larger versions, the Small Houses range up to 800 square feet, all in one large room. You buy the plans for these, and build them yourself on location. Why are these homes green? If you live in such a small space, you use very little energy, and consume very little in general. Check out some photos here:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/

Aptly named, the Earthship uses mostly recycled materials such as used tires and aluminum cans. The tires are filled with earth, stacked up, and plastered with adobe or cement to conceal the tires. The cans are plastered over and used to make thin, curving interior walls. This type of house takes advantage of passive solar power to heat the house. The insulating effect of the earth in the tires keeps it cool. These houses often include systems to capture rainwater and reuse greywater. If artfully constructed these homes can be much more attractive than they sound, as you can see here:

http://earthfirst.com/7-amazing-handmade-eco-friendly-homes

The Straw Bale House has a traditional wooden frame, but the thick walls consist of bales of straw that have been plastered on both sides. These walls provide excellent insulation that minimizes the need for heating and cooling. These houses sometimes have a Hobbit-like quality. You probably noticed one incredible example at the previous link, before the Earthship as you scrolled down the page.

Living in one of these unusual homes can be a challenge. Short-sighted or simply unfamiliar with these types of homes, city officials can refuse to issue permits for them. Insurers sometimes have a hard time determining their value to insure them. Banks sometimes balk at loaning money for them. If you can get past these obstacles, you could really enjoy living in one of these inexpensive, environmentally sound abodes. Wouldn't you like to hang your hat in a place that will make your friends and family "green" with envy?

Brew Up Some Cheap Fun

From time to time I like to write about inexpensive party ideas. I've been attending quite a few teas this spring, and it occurred to me that teas are an economical and relaxing way to reconnect with friends. If you go to a tea house, it can cost $25 or more per person, but having your own tea is much more affordable, and lots of fun!

One of your friends probably owns at least one teapot. Someone else most likely has a set of china you can use. As far as teacups go, I think it's a lot more fun to have everyone bring a special teacup and tell its story. The one with the prettiest garden can provide cut flowers for the table.

Those who bake can be responsible for lemon bars, brownies, shortbread or sugar cookies, etc. You must have scones for a tea party, in my opinion, but these are just as good made from a mix. You just add water, drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet, and bake. Non-purists could opt for muffins instead.

The habitual tea drinker in the group could provide some loose tea. Teabags are just not the same! You might need to provide some herbal tea as well, for those who are trying to avoid caffeine.

You'll need some jam (I like strawberry or raspberry, but in the fall apple butter or cranberry might be better) and some lemon curd for the scones. There is an easy recipe here http://tinyurl.com/yf6zad6 for lemon curd.

There are lots of recipes for tea sandwiches on line. The best way to make tea sandwiches is to use cheap white or wheat sandwich bread that has a square shape, and to cut the crusts off AFTER you've made the sandwich.

My favorites are egg salad, cucumber and chicken salad. The egg salad is pretty self-explanatory. The trick to the cucumber sandwiches is to slice the cucumbers really thin with a mandoline or food processor, then sprinkle with salt and place in a colander in the sink to drain for awhile. Spread both sides of the bread with cream cheese, layer the cukes on, slap them together and cut the crusts off. My secret chicken salad recipe contains canned chicken, broken up into tiny pieces, dried cranberries chopped small, diced walnuts or pecans, a little celery, and mayonnaise. I don't measure, I just add some of everything until it looks good.

If you want an additional savory item, you can buy some of those mini quiches, or some stuffed mushrooms. I don't think you really need them unless your pals have big appetites! I also like to put a few strawberries or grapes on the tray.

You can have your tea indoors in a pretty room, but if the weather's nice, why not have it in the garden? Real silverware, china and cloth napkins provide a touch of elegance. Tiered serving trays work best, but if you don't know anyone that has any, you can just use pretty plates or platters.

It's fun to have a theme for your tea, such as roses, lavender, fall leaves, etc. Let your imagination run wild decorating in keeping with your theme. It's also fun to wear hats. Have a contest to see who can wear the prettiest or craziest hat. The winner gets a prize.

I hope you have a wonderful afternoon tea! I would love to hear about your tea party experiences, favorite recipes, etc.