frugal underground

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Last week I received notification that the site 100 Big Coupons wanted to purchase a review here. Fair enough, I thought, and agreed.

According to their review request, they “… offer coupons for all the major online stores to help people save money while still getting what they want. The service is free to use for anyone who wishes and requires no registration or personal information.” With that in mined, I’ve looked over the site and have come away with a few main impressions.

Design

My first impression was one of being overwhelmed. There is a lot of information on that front page, and I can’t immediately tell what’s most important. The headings on the sidebar are decent, but what can I say, I’m a designer and I felt somewhat lost. Because I’m getting paid for this review, I took the time to sort through everything, but I’m not sure I would have if I’d just stumbled across the site.

Functionality

What does the site actually do? They share coupon codes. You know when you place an online order and it says “If you have a coupon code, enter it here”? Well, there are lots of sites that gather and share various promotional codes in the hopes of making money either through advertising or affiliate programs. 100 Big Coupons is one of these sites. I make it a habit to search for coupon codes when checking out at stores that usually have them, like GoDaddy, so I’ve seen lots of these sites.

When I clicked around through 100 Big Coupons, I found a fair amount of coupons, but also some confusion. For instance, clicking on a product category brought up a list of stores in that category, and also said: “View the 36 coupons in this category:” The colon made me assume the coupons were listed below… but they weren’t. I assumed something was broken. Later, I moused over the statement and realized it was a link, and clicking it brought up the promised coupon. However, since it isn’t underlined until I put my mouse over it, I didn’t realize that I could click it.

Similarly, I tried a search for GoDaddy, since I know they almost always have coupons floating around, and essentially got a blank page as a result. There wasn’t even a statement that there were no coupons found. I understand that no one website will have all available coupons listed (and I think that 100 Big Coupons isn’t even interested in listing domain name coupons) but I found the response unhelpful and potentially confusing.

When you DO find a coupon that interests you, though, the site is good about giving you the information you need to use the coupon.

But can it save me money?

Possibly. It depends on the kinds of things you buy, and mostly on whether you’ll remember to check the site before purchasing.

Suggestions

I feel like 100 Big Coupons is trying to be too many things to too many people. I imagine that offering coupons is a fairly low-profit-margin business, so a lot of eyeballs are crucial, but I’d much prefer to see the site focus a little and branch out within a niche. For instance, I frequent sites that feature domain coupons. Why not create a site that focuses on exclusively on Women’s Clothing (for instance) and has a blog that not only lists coupons but alerts readers to unusually good deals? That way you as a customer don’t have to go out of your way to check the site; it’s more likely that you’d use a coupon because you were already subscribed to the site.

Related Link: SmashDeals - Online Shopping Coupons, Codes & Bargain Sales Offering the best coupon codes and deals from around the web. Browse our latest computer, electronics, clothing, gadgets and other deals today!

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There’s a great post over at Sound Money Tips that talks about how to use Google to search for airline tickets.

Let’s say you want to go from New York to LA next week. Just type in those two locations — ‘new york los angeles’ — in Google’s search box, and at the top of the results screen you’ll see fields for your departure and return dates. Open the Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, and Hotwire links in separate tabs/windows, then compare the available flights and prices. Voila…

I knew Google could be used for calculations and conversions, but I had no idea about this feature. Who knows what else they have up their sleeves?

Do visit the original post because the comments add even more information about good ways to search. I prefer the original tip because it’s so easy, particularly if you use Firefox or have the Google toolbar installed in Internet Explorer—it’s a single click and easier to use than most travel sites (maybe they could learn a thing or two from this feature!). The other ideas are definitely worth considering, though.

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I love kid things. I regularly read children’s picture books from the library (and consequently, Amazon recommends them to me all the time and I find great new books). I like coloring books. And I have a blast with assembling paper crafts. I don’t actually have kids, though, so all of this wonderfulness doesn’t really save me any money except that it occupies me for a few moments. However, if you have kids, presumably they want entertainment from time to time and you occasionally would like the TV to be off. It’s your lucky day if your kids like crafty things!

These first two require a printer (but if you don’t have one, your local library may provide one for free or cheap—mine charges $.10/page + tax—and the library trip in itself will probably be entertaining).

The Toymaker has some beautifully illustrated color paper toys to print and construct. My sister and I have made several of them and the boxes are particularly cool, though the kids will probably be more interested in the more “playable” toys. We had to do some fudging on the Chocolate Truck, but it just required a little more creativity.

Barnacle Press provides an awesome grabbag of vintage “papercraft” pages. They are all black and white, which makes them excellent for coloring, and also cheaper for printing. These are the kind of crafts where you pin the pieces together and then they are moving puppets. [link via Cory]

I just got a book from the library called Kids Knitting [affiliate link] which has fantastic reviews on Amazon and looks great. Kids can teach themselves to knit with this book, and it might be fun to learn with them, too. I’m going to follow this book’s instructions and make my own knitting needles pretty soon!

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When you think of bargaining, if you’re like me, you think of street markets and car dealerships. In most first-world countries, people don’t generally think about bargaining for better prices. However, I’ve heard a couple of things lately that encourage me to rethink this.

First, I saw an article in a magazine (can’t remember which one, or I’d link it) that was about saving money on everyday things. One of their tips was to actually ask the doctor’s office to knock something off the cost of the bill. In my area, I’ve been told that the two major local hospitals are both required to write off a certain amount of bills each year to keep their “non-profit” status (basically, they’ve been making too much money). Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that you run up bills you can’t afford and then try to get out of them, or that you lie about your ability to pay, or just flat out don’t pay. Instead, I’m suggesting that sometimes, just by asking (and without a sob story), your bill may be reduced.

I’ve read from several sources that paying cash can be an excellent bargaining tool. This is the case when making large purchases, like cars or furniture, but it can also work surprisingly well with smaller purchases, too. My sister, Nadine, recently made this point quite clearly.

She was shopping in the mall (she does not seem to have inheirited so many frugal genes) and found some boots she wanted. They were priced at typical mall prices, but she didn’t feel like paying that much. So she asked the manager of the store if he could give her a deal. He named a lower price than the one marked on the boots, so she started looking in her purse. She pulled out her wallet, and then pulled out all the bills and all the change. She counted it, and told him how much money she had on her, to the penny. She had the cash in her hand (about $10 less than his offer) and was clearly ready to purchase. He said he’d take it.

Now, seriously, if you can bargain in the mall, I’d guess you can bargain anywhere. Have you ever gotten a good deal this way?

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The carnivals are up: Personal Finance, Debt Reduction, and Capitalists

I’ve only had time to read the Carnival of Personal Finance so far, but these are my top three picks:

• Being Poor, Redux
• Commissions Still High
• Actuaries Miss, Too…

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I know I’ve said it before, but I’m worried about the housing market in the US, and consequently the economy. For all the reasons I outlined before (people borrowing beyond their means, the tougher new bankruptcy law, and the increase of minimum payments on credit cards), I’m nervous. I’m not the only one. Here are some interesting articles…
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Nicole over at The Budgeting Babe has a great post full of Halloween Ideas. The post is a list of possible costumes, with descriptions and instructions, and she cleverly has a section for singles and a section for couples. Many of them are hilarious. I think my favorite was “A One Night Stand” for the punny-ness of it.

I haven’t done a heck of a lot of dress up, but the last two years, I worked at a library over Halloween. In 2003, we dressed up as librarians… you know, buns, sensible shoes, end-of-the-nose-glasses. I bought reading glasses at Wal-Mart, shoes, tweed skirt, and hideous frilly blouse at a thrift store, and a friend gave me her eyeglasses chain. Grand total was less than $10.

Last year, we decided to go to the other extreme, and went punk/goth. I borrowed a black mini-skirt, bought fishnet tights, borrowed a wig, had the shoes and shirt already. Oh, and I bought some black makeup. (I wore my “I’m blogging this.” shirt because most people who don’t know what blogging is seem to think it’s subversive.)

As a kid, I dressed up as a gift a couple of times. Basically, you just take a decent sized box (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 the height of the kid), cut the bottom out, cut a hole in the top for the head, in opposite sides for the arms, and then wrap the box in wrapping paper, working around the holes, of course. The kid wears coordinated tights or sweatpants (probably depending on the size of the box and gender of the kid) and wha-la. A costume for a couple bucks.

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Most experts/studies/advice-givers agree that methodically keeping track of the things you eat greatly increases your chances of dieting success. Familydoctor.org sums up the reason nicely: “Awareness is an important part of making lasting changes for healthy living. Keeping a journal is a good way to become aware of what you eat, what you do, how you feel and any patterns you may have.” Or in less-nice terms, seeing the horrendous amount of food I eat makes me understand why I can’t lose the weight. For most people, just knowing you’ll have to write it down makes the “just a little taste” seem less appealing. I know it works that way for me.

So, knowing that you should be writing down everything you eat if you want to meet your dieting goals, what are you going to do? Here’s my advice.
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It seems like every week a new study is released, finally revealing the “secret of dieting.” Perhaps this is because we’re obsessed with minutia, like Ramit says. Probably it’s because eating extra tomatoes (or whatever the current “secret” is) sounds easier than eating less food and exercising more. Everybody loves a quick fix. The only problem is, the quick fix doesn’t usually do any long term good.

If you’re serious about losing weight and/or becoming healthier, you probably know what you need to do. The trouble starts when you have to actually do it. Most of us don’t find enough motivation within ourselves to stick to a challenging, sometimes overwhelming, lifestyle change. And dieting gets expensive. It doesn’t have to be, of course, if you eat less food and get exercise outdoors, but usually we end up paying for special “diet” food, exercise facilities, and perhaps folks who will motivate us. I’m going to talk about several ways you can bring the costs down.
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Kind of a quiet week for the carnival, but I think you’ll enjoy reading the submissions.

At the forefront of at least a few minds is the new bankruptcy law that goes into effect today. Jim is cautiously optimistic about the law, as he reports in his post “Bankruptcy Law (S.256) In Effect“. He also references a previous post on the same topic that looks at some of the reasoning behind the law.

nickle’s post “Bankruptcy Deadline Looming” provides excellent coverage of the new law, describing the differences and what their likely effects will be. Lots of good numbers and commentary here.

Since spending less money is at the heart of debt reduction, I’m glad to see some good posts dedicated to that topic. Jeffrey questions “Savings Assumptions” and looks at an instance where he assumed he was saving money, when he was actually spending more than necessary. I know I’ve done the same thing!

Dawn addresses the essentials of “Climbing out of Debt“. She was inspired by a NYT article and has distilled the process into clear steps. FMF summarizes some interesting reader comments in “Comments: Spend Less than You Earn” and links to some excellent articles as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the carnival! Next week’s carnival will be hosted by Dawn at Frugal for Life. Read the submission guidelines and view the schedule.

Related Link: Juniper Credit Card - learn all the details and apply online.

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Recently I discussed how brand buy-in can cost money. Last night, the cost of pattern-matching was driven home to one of my friends in a painful—and expensive—way. Let me explain.

Around here, many of the intersections have left turn lanes on two or four of the connecting streets. Typically, the left turn arrows turn green first (on both opposing sides) and then the main lights for the straight lanes turn green. Sometimes, if only one left turn lane is occupied, the left turn arrow and the straight lane signals change at the same time. It’s very predictable and you get used to it. I take it into account when the distance to a point is the same regardless of whether I turn or go straight (that’s how it is to my house from some directions).
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One of my friends recently discovered the joys of using a Flexible Spending Account, and suggested I write a post on it. The topic of tax-free medical accounts, which includes both FSAs and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), is a huge one, and definitely beyond the scope of a single post (and my knowledge!); instead of telling you everything there is to know, I’m going to give you a decent overview and provide you with pointers to the material that will address your specific situation.
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If you’re self-employed (i.e. you fill out a Schedule C at tax time), the IRS has good news for you: IRS Increases Mileage Rate Until Dec. 31, 2005

The business miles deduction rate was recently raised from 40.5 cents a mile to 48.5 cents a mile. The IRS says “This is about fairness for taxpayers,” since gas prices are truly costing businesses more money.

The increase is only for the months of September through December (it won’t retroactively cover the first eight months of the year) but it’s still a relief to those who claim business miles.

This may benefit you even if you’re not self-employed; for one, if you drive for your employer and are reimbursed for mileage, you can reasonably expect that rate to track the IRS’s increase. If this is you, delawareonline’s article, “Cashing in on IRS mileage rate hike” might help you out.

Another way this could benefit you is if you claim for medical miles or moving miles. That rate has gone up from 15 cents/mile to 22 cents/mile. Of course, you’ll still have to evaluate whether it will be worth more than the standard deduction to you (when combined with any other deductions you’re eligible to claim), but it’s definitely worth looking into.

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It’s that glorious time of the week again… yes, Monday, but more specifically, the day when my three favorite carnivals appear. Enjoy some good reading!

Carnival of Personal Finance #17

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of Debt Reduction #4

And speaking of the Carnival of Debt Reduction, I’m hosting next week, so read the guidelines and email your submissions to me at bookchiq+cdr@gmail.com by Sunday at 5 p.m. MDT.

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I’ll start by pointing out that buying something you don’t need or can’t afford is not a bargain, however cheap it may be. However, if you’ve budgeted for a computer, you’ll probably get more for your money at RetroBox.

RetroBox is in the business of corporate upgrades. Essentially, most companies have a policy of upgrading their computers every couple of years. RetroBox buys the “old” computers and resells them.
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Okay, I know that bringing this up now is only going to emphasize how behind the times I (apparently) am, but I’m really interested in the Ten Dollar Project. I guess I’m just a sucker for these challenges, because I’ve also been monitoring $5000 Challenge with interest since I heard about it (again, late). I’m seriously thinking of participating in the Ten Dollar Project, though. I just need a brilliant idea… oh, yeah, and a whole lot of time, since what’s lacking in money usually gets made up (and then some) in sweat equity.

I had to laugh at Neville’s water selling scheme, though, because I have frequently done the same thing, except without the money; my church sometimes gives soda and water away for free in traffic (I love running out in traffic!).

Anyway, if you have a brilliant (or harebrained, it’s all good) $10 idea, by all means, leave a comment. My expertise is in web development, but $10 won’t cover a domain name and a hosting account. I might just host from one of my other accounts if I decide in the end that a website is the way to go with this. What do you think?

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Starting today, I’m going to bring you regular “frugal profiles”—basically a chance to meet a frugal person and find out what makes them frugal. You can expect to find tips and tricks as well as generally interesting information. If you have any particular questions you’d like me to ask, or areas you’d like to know more about, send me an email.

This week, I interviewed Becca. She’s a smart saver who lives in my area, and she’s got some good advice. Hope you enjoy it!
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I couldn’t resist the punny title. Today I’m talking about shower heads, specifically the low flow variety. I’ll keep it short: if you don’t have one, consider buying one. For around $20, you can get yourself this lovely device that will cut your costs (for water and the power to heat it) by about $175/year if you’re an average household. Even if you have multiple showers and need more shower heads, it’s still a great bargain.

If you’re feeling extra frugal, get the kind with a shutoff valve that you can use to stop water flow when you don’t need it, but keep the setup how you like it for when you want it again.

Bonus: your water or electric company may give you a coupon or incentive to buy a low flow shower head. Look into it.

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Driving around town this morning, I ended up behind a Nissan Xterra with two stickers on the rear window: an Apple sticker and a Patagonia sticker. None of these things are terribly remarkable on their own, but put together, it looked to me like a picture of brand buy-in.

Let me say up front, I have nothing against any of these companies. But it did make me wonder how much money I spend embracing an idea versus getting something I need. The Xterra, Apple, and Patagonia are all pushing an idea as much as they are a product. The fact that this driver went to the effort of obtaining and adhering these stickers to their nice little vehicle tells me that clearly, these brands are doing a good job of getting buy-in. That’s great for them (and as a business person, I’d like to achieve those kind of results!). But as a consumer, I’m a little afraid of attaching myself so firmly to an idea tied to a product that I’m shopping based on the wrong criteria.

What do you think? Am I hyper-sensitive? Does it even matter?

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I’m one of the millions who throw their change in a bucket at the end of the day, but I have always kind of avoided doing anything with it. Part of this is because my husband is enamored with the coolness of one day having a monsterous bucket full of change, but it’s also because my options were so unappealing:

• roll coins by hand (don’t think so!)
• buy a change sorter (it doesn’t seem like I should have to pay money to access my own money)
• use a change sorting machine (ditto… the fees on these things—in percentage form—are hideous)

However, according to this CNN article entitled, “Coinstar, Amazon hope to find a chunk of change“, the Coinstar machines will now provide an option to pay out in Amazon gift cards—with no fee. This works because they purchase the Amazon cards at a discount, so the difference between what they pay for them and the amount of change I put in is their profit. However, I get my full amount at Amazon.

Obviously this won’t work if you’re not interested in shopping at Amazon, but I shop there all the time, having purchased both the standard books and media type items as well as really out there (fly paper, anyone?). So for me, this is definitely a good deal. If only I could get Daniel to hand over the bucket!

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A few months ago, I heard about a type of investment that was completely new to me. I’m relatively investment-savvy (in theory, even if my practice is limited), so the fact that I hadn’t heard of it before got my attention. While undoubtedly some of you (who know more than me) have already heard about this, I figured there are probably others who haven’t yet, so I wanted to give a basic overview.
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Produce is wonderful and lovely, but I lose a fair amount of money on it because it goes bad relatively quickly. Part of this is bad planning on my part (buying more than we’ll reasonably eat in a given time period) but I recently found out that some of it has to do with how I’m handling and storing it. What follows is an explanation and an interview with a veritable guru of produce.
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I have had the goal of being debt-free for a long time. I frequently state that I want to have the house paid off by the time I’m 30 (I’m 25 right now, so that’s asking a lot). Once the house is paid off, that puts us at mostly debt-free; our other current debts are student loans (at a higher interest rate than the house, for pity’s sake!) and a 0% car loan. Here’s what I’ve done so far and what I’m planning to do in the next few years.
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Related Link: Low Interest Credit Card will prevent you from getting into debt.

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Some frugalites love coupons, and some consider them a waste of time. Both camps have good reasons for their convictions, and since it mostly comes down to a time vs. money priority, I think they can both safely assume that they’re right. However, there’s a full range of coupon use (definitely not all or nothing), so I think it’s important to talk about what’s out there so that you can find the balance that works for you.
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I mentioned that shopping lists are probably the best known and most used tip. Pricebooks are probably the least known and used of all the tips, but there are some excellent financial reasons to learn more. First, let’s talk about what a pricebook actually is.
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This is probably the most common of all of my advice—probably not because it’s a great tip (it is!) so much as that it’s the easiest of all of the tips to actually do. Most people are aware of shopping lists; heck, there’s a whole site devoted just to “found” shopping lists (the geek in me loves this). But for the record, here’s why I use shopping lists.
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Unless you live in a very small town, there is more than one store competing for your grocery dollars. In my area, the big three are Wal-Mart, WinCo, and Albertsons. Obviously this will vary depending on where you live, but chances are you have a similar assortment: cheap groceries (Wal-Mart and WinCo), and a more upscale store (Albertsons). It’s a bit easier to just pick one store and shop there faithfully, but you will be missing out on some great deals if you do. Here’s why.
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As I mentioned in the intro to the “Smart grocery shopping” series,one way to cut back on your grocery costs is to cut back on your grocery trips. Frugalites have long brought up the point that when you just need to get eggs and milk, it’s not like you can walk into the grocery store and just buy eggs and milk. No. You have to walk past practically everything else in the whole store to get to the dairy section. This is not an accident on the store’s part. I am very likely to be reminded of something else I “need” and pick up “just a few extra things”… usually extra things I didn’t really need right away anyway. How about you?
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In my view, grocery shopping can be a great victory or a stunning defeat in the battle to save money. In most households where people are already making some effort to be frugal, grocery shopping is the single most variable expense. It is very easy to spend more than necessary, but it’s also the area where a little extra effort can pay off big time in savings. I’m going to list some tips for grocery shopping below, and then over the next few days, I’ll go into more detail on each topic.
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Just a very quick note to point out that I’ve posted a few articles (look on the sidebar under “Articles”) on the topic of making money. Hope that you find them useful! What else would you like to see an article about?

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Ideally, every book you want to read would be available at the library and you could get them all for free. Reality hits, though, and sometimes the book isn’t available, and sometimes you want to have a book to keep.

Enter PaperBackSwap. Clearly it won’t solve all your book woes, but if you’re looking for paperbacks, you should definitely check it out. Here’s how it works: you list your paperbacks (the ones you’re willing to share!) and when someone wants one, you ship it to them. You pay the shipping, but when you request a book from someone else, they cover shipping. You get one “get a book” credit for each book you send out, plus three credits when you join and list nine books (you’ll get credits for each of the nine books, too). Send your books via media mail and you’ll be paying on average between $1 and $2 for each book. You might be able to find “a paperback” cheaper than that locally, but probably not “that paperback,” so use it when you want something specific.

Does anybody know of something similar to this online? I’m wondering if this is being done for other things, too.

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I expect that many of you already know about this, but for those who don’t: Kraft food&family is a free magazine distributed by Kraft (shocking, huh?).

Not surprisingly, it does contain quite a few ads for Kraft products, but it also contains a whole bunch of good, practical, normal-people recipes that are presented in attractive full color photos.

This magazine is clearly geared towards families (again, the title is pretty self-evident) and as a result, the recipes are mostly quick ones that will appeal to the whole family (excellent for me, since I’m as picky as most kids!).

As a bonus for us frugalites, not only is the magazine free but it usually contains coupons for Kraft products (as always, only a bargain if they’re cheaper with the coupon than the store brand, but around here, they often are).

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One of my favorite song lines is from Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up The Sun”:

It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got

And it’s true. Gratefulness for the things (and people and experiences) we have can actually stave off the “I’ll be happy when I have…” syndrome. That will save us money and help us enjoy ourselves more.

Here’s a quick way to remember to be grateful… In Hanriette Anne Klauser’s excellent book, “Write It Down, Make It Happen“, she writes about a very simple reminder:

For many years now I have written the word “Thanks!” on the memo line in the bottom left corner whenever I write out a check. Although I have been doing it for years, I don’t do it automatically, but deliberately. It is a way to say thanks for the money that will come back to me, thanks that I have the money to spend, and, most especially, thanks to the person or company to whom I am writing out the check.

Writing “Thanks!” on the memo line is a reminder of all the people who make my life easier.

It is a way of taking a moment to think about the service the check is for and the people behind the purchase. It makes me stop and think, Thank you for providing my groceries, for keeping my house warm, for picking up my garbage, and giving me a recycling can. Thank you for equipping the phone lines so I can run my business and stay in touch with people I love.

When I write “Thanks!” on the memo line, I can sit down to pay my bills with a grateful heart.

I had never considered anything like this before reading that passage. Most of the time, I grumble about bills, just like everyone else. I didn’t occur to me to be grateful that I have the opportunity to have the service or product, and therefore the bill, let alone be grateful that I once again have the means to pay it.

I don’t write very many checks, though, so I’m trying to think of ways to integrate “grateful moments” like this into my life. Your thoughts are welcome!

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Gas prices are going up and as a result, many people are sharing their tips for cutting fuel costs. Why am I bothering to add another post on the topic? Well, I’ve yet to see all of these tips in the same post. I’m going to attempt to compile a list of the best ideas—including a few I hadn’t heard before.

Anyone can do these

• Turn the gas pump handle to get every last drop. jeffery of SavingAdvice.com reports that turning the pump handle 180° after it has shut off will deposit up to a half cup of fuel in your tank—fuel you’ve already payed for. If you’re lucky, the person who used the pump before you doesn’t know this trick, and you can get his half cup, too, at no cost to you. It would have been nice, but anecdotal evidence is suggesting this doesn’t work (see the comments).
• Keep it cool (your gas, that is). jeffery says, “gas becomes denser in cooler temperatures. Since gas pumps only measure the volume of fuel - not its density - you’ll get better overall gas mileage for your money by purchasing fuel when it’s cool outside rather than in the heat of the day.” My husband points out that gas is stored in underground tanks, so the temperature of the fuel may not vary all that much, but it’s something to keep in mind.
• Shop around. Use a service like GasBuddy.com to find the best deals. Keep in mind that it’s probably not cost effective to drive far out of your way for a few-cent difference, but if you’re like me, you pass a few different stations on your way to work, church, grocery shopping, and regular errands. Pick the best of these and you’ll get savings with relatively little effort.
• Pick the right gear. Driving at high speeds in a too-low gear can reduce fuel efficiency by up to 40%.
• Keep your tires properly inflated. Under inflated tires reduce fuel efficiency by 2% for every pound they are under inflated. You should check the pressure monthly with a good quality dial-type gauge; do it when the tires are cool, not right after driving. Make sure you’re going by the number in your manual, not the general guidelines on the tire itself.
• Don’t clog your filter. Try to avoid buying gas from a station that has just had a truck fill the station’s underground tanks. Filling stirs up particles from the bottom of the tank which can clog your fuel filter and make your car run less efficiently.
• Keep your gas from evaporating. Don’t “top off” (it’s more expensive, to boot), keep your gas cap good and tight, and try to park in the shade when you can.

These require some flexibility

• Shift your commute. According to jeffery, driving in stop-and-go traffic can cost you $800 a year. If your company allows flex time, try shifting your workday forward by an hour and you’ll pay less at the pump.
• Car pooling. My local carpool advocate says that three people is about the ideal number to get both savings and convenience. Many local organizations will help match people with similar schedules and locations, so this might not be as big a hassle as you’ve always thought.
• Don’t be in such a hurry. The difference between going 55 miles per hour and 70 m.p.h. will cost you about 20% more fuel. Sure, sometimes time is of the essence, but this one tip can make a huge difference if you apply it as often as you can.

Standard advice

This is the stuff that gets repeated a whole lot, so I’m not going to go into detail. Take a look at the sources if you want a detailed explanation.

• Drive gently (no sudden stops or starts).
• Keep your car tuned up.
• Unless your car objects, use 87 octane (the cheap-ish grade).
• Keep your car light by not carrying a lot of stuff.
• Avoid using the air conditioner, and keep the windows rolled up at high speeds.

So what are your best tips? Share in the comments.

Sources:
Gas - Saving Money Tips
Uncommon Ways To Save Money On Gas
5 Tips: How you can get most out of every gallon of ever-more expensive gas
Paying $800 A Year To Sit In Traffic
Saving Money on Gas

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I’m not asking about what a budget is or why one should have a budget (I’d hope we all know that). What I’m curious about is the actual mechanics of your system. Here’s why.

In our house, we have a few fixed or mostly-fixed categories: mortgage, water, sewer, electric, gas, car payment, etc. But most of our other categories offer some flexibility, so we do those based on percentages: tithe, offering, my “fun money”, his “fun money”, travel, entertainment, etc.

Recently we’ve been looking at different personal finance software packages in hopes of replacing our somewhat innefficent home-grown program. We really only want a couple of specific features, and those are:

• The ability to import our 5000+ transactions in .qif format, with categories (MS Money imports everything but the categories, and the idea of either losing the relevance of the data or adding the categories by hand to each transaction is… uh, unappealing)
• The ability to budget using percentages and fixed numbers
• Well, that’s mostly it. Just those two things, though we wouldn’t mind being able to sync with our bank and credit card accounts automatically.

Those seem like simple requirements to me, but I haven’t found anything that actually has both of those features. In fact, I’ve yet to see anything that allows percentage-based budgeting at all. This seems a little weird, considering that most financial expert-types recommend putting xx% of your income into savings or investments or whatever. I did a search on Google for percentage-based budget and found nothing helpful. I can’t imagine we’re the only people doing this, or at least talking about it, but I’m really starting to wonder.

Which brings me to the question in the title of this post: do you use percentages? fixed numbers? flexible numbers? some combination? something else entirely? Please leave a comment if you have 45 seconds and enlighten me!

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Dana Blankenhorn’s article Dating the Next Recession is a good wake up call. If you have a chance, read the article, but here’s a summary:

• October 17 is the day the new bankruptcy law takes effect. As part of the law, most credit card minimum payments will double. Borrowers will also be forced to repay credit card loans, even if they file bankruptcy.
• Because they are financially overextended, many people will likely lose their homes to foreclosures or have to sell. This will drive the economy down.

Mr. Blankenhorn is predicting a recession. His advice?

Get into cash, into hard assets, into foreign currencies. You have two months. If I’m wrong you can always re-adjust the portfolio next year.

I’m taking this seriously. I’ve already been hearing some scary stuff about the kinds of loans many new homeowners are taking out (ARMs and interest-only). That alone has me worried that as soon as interest rates rise, many people won’t be able to afford their house payments.

What do you think? Is this too pessimistic? What action (if any) will you take?

[ via Gary North's REALITY CHECK]

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You probably won’t be surprised to know that I generally discourage eating meals out. Most all frugal folks avoid it whenever possible, just because it can eat up (ha ha) so much money so quickly. That said, though, only the most faithful of the frugal never give in. After all, eating out is a treat (especially when you hardly ever do it) and sometimes the convenience makes it worth it the money.

For those times, coupons can really be a good thing to have. My two favorite sources of these are Restaurant.com and the Entertainment Book. Both of these provide an excellent value for your money.

Restaurant.com

This business doesn’t sell coupons, actually, as much as they sell gift certificates. The money-saving part is that they sell the gift certificates at a fraction of face value. Most of their $25 gift certificates go for $10. That’s a pretty nice savings right there! But it gets even better. At the time of this writing, and for the last couple of years, Restaurant.com has done most of their own promotions by offering discounts off of purchases. It’s not at all uncommon to find a “coupon code” for 50% or even 60% off—and remember, that’s off the already way discounted price. Just search Google for “restaurant.com discount” (without the quotes).

When I went to Colorado last month, I knew that I’d be eating out a fair amount, so I researched the restaurants online (Restaurant.com offers a great feature where you can browse the menu; that helps immensely with deciding if the food suites your tastes and your budget). I found a couple that sounded promising, and in the end, I bought $60 worth of gift certificates for under $10.

A couple of caveats:

• There are many places where there are no participating restaurants. In Boise, Idaho, there are exactly none. However, that doesn’t keep me from using them while traveling or giving them as gifts to those who do have local participating restaurants.
• Read the fine print. Many gift certificates require a minimum purchase or a specific type of purchase. Usually, I find myself meeting the requirements already (e.g. ordering two entrees; I rarely dine alone), but it’s definitely something to check first.

Entertainment Book

It’s a little gimmicky, yes, but most of the coupons in this good-sized book are buy-one-get-one, which can save you some cash. I usually buy one for my hometown, and I’ve seen the suggestion several times that it’s worth buying one for any town in which you’ll eat more than one meal out (while traveling, etc.).

The downside to this one is that having the coupons already there and purchased sometimes encourages me to eat out when I might not have done so otherwise (of course, that’s the premise that the advertisers are counting on to make them money). You’ll find these books sold at different prices, depending on the season or whom you buy it from; these are frequently used for fundraising, and that’s how I typically buy them. The fundraising price is less than what’s on the website and it benefits someone locally.

Consider splitting the cost (or just sharing generously) with another family. Technically, you’re supposed to have the physical book when you redeem a coupon, but most of the lower-end advertisers (read: not fine dining) don’t care. Even if they do, it’s worth it to pass the book back and forth, since no one family (especially a frugal one) will use all of the coupons. I’ve shared my book with my sister, who lives with me, and it has been a good cost saver for both of us (and our significant others!).

[inspired by Live Better than a Billionaire on $5 Extra a Day]

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Sony’s been providing some great incentives lately, encouraging people to sign up for their credit card. The current one is a free $100 credit applied to your account after you make a purchase. I signed up under this deal a month or so ago, and last week made a purchase for $3.98 on the card—that’s the only out-of-pocket purchase I will ever make with the card. Next, I’ll pay off the $3.98 and wait until they give me my $100, and use that at Wal-Mart for groceries. (Or maybe for Christmas presents; I haven’t decided. In any case it will be for something I’d buy anyway.)

If you’re thinking about taking advantage of this offer, keep the following in mind:

• If you ever give them money for any reason (interest, fees, etc.), then you’re the one being had. They wouldn’t be offering this deal if it didn’t make them money most of the time.
• Recordkeeping is essential. You need to make sure that you follow the requirements to the letter (make your purchase by the specified date) and make sure they hold up their end of the bargain.
• If you know you won’t remember to close the account, pass this one by. The goal is not to end up with more credit cards, but to make money off of the folks that delight in predatorially making money off of you.
• Don’t play with credit if you’re looking to get a bank loan in the near future. Playing these games can affect your credit score, temporarily, so it’s probably not worth it if you might need your absolute best credit score in the next year or so.
• If you don’t have good credit already, it would probably make more sense to get a card you intend to keep and build your score back up rather than do this kind of thing.

[via the excellent savvy saver]

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There are some things that it’s better not to buy. For instance, my church has needed a “lift” twice in the last year to change the lighting hanging from the 40 foot ceiling. I have no idea how much a lift costs to buy, but I’d be willing to bet it’s a whole lot more than the $160 or so we spent to rent one twice.

Mary Hunt had a similiar experience (though unfortunately, it was the opposite: she bought instead of renting) with a chipper shredder. She relates that “hard lesson” in one of her Everyday Cheapskate newsletters. She concludes:

If it’s bigger than a breadbox, does not bring incredible beauty to your life, and will not be used and enjoyed on a regular basis, rent it! Let someone else buy it, maintain it and store it. I’d rather pay a few bucks to use it.

But here’s some great news: coming very soon (I think August 31) is BorrowMe.com. The point of this site is to facilitate neighborhood and perhaps city-wide and regional borrowing of things when it makes sense.

I’ve often thought that it would make much more sense to share a lawn mower with our closest two or three neighbors (because really, how often do we all mow at the same time? In three years of living here, that would be exactly never). It probably says something about the state of American neighborhoods today (or me) that this hasn’t happened. But BorrowMe.com is following up on the success of ideas like Freecycle and other similiar “breakthroughs” and I have very high hopes that it will make its participants’ lives better.

Have a look at it. Do you think you’ll use it? Why or why not?

Related Link: Best Cash Back Credit Card to save on every item.

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It might seem a little early to be thinking Christmas thoughts, but this is one of those things where thinking about it early could save you a bundle.

Christmas gifts are usually the biggest expense of the season, but you’re far more likely to find a good deal if you’ve got your eyes peeled for it for four months than if you need to find it in one week. SavingAdvice.com’s Christmas Saving Guide has some good tips that you might find helpful.

What are your best tips for keeping the holiday costs down?

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Here’s an interesting point from the excellent “How to Survive Without a Salary“: you may not need as much auto insurance as you are paying for. The author, Charles Long, makes an argument a page and a half long on the topic, which I’ll basically summarize this way: you should absolutely have liability insurance, but other kinds might require a long, hard look at the value of your vehicle as well as the cost of insurance. That’s not really anything new, but I liked this paragraph immensely; he’s addressing those who are skeptical about partially self-insuring.

Still in doubt? Look at it this way. Insurance companies profit by the statistical certainty that the average driver, in his lifetime, will pay more in premiums than he will collect through claims. If you are an average driver with an average car, you can put the equivalent of the insurance premium into a bank account or private investment. You can have an average number of accidents, pay for them yourself, and still be a head by the margin of the insurance company’s prfit. With a cheaper car and better than average safety habits, you can make even more than the company. In fact, you are an insurance company—with a single client. By all means insure against the total calamity of a big liability claim, but the rest you can do yourself.

I’m going to ponder this some more. I think the fact that we’re making payments on a car means we have to insure that vehicle pretty thoroughly, but our second car could be replaced for a fairly minimal amount, so it may make more sense to self-insure.

Action step: consider your own vehicle. Would partial self-insuring make sense for you?

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I’ve had a subscription (free, of course!) to Budget Living Magazine for about a year now. There are parts of this magazine I love, particularly the “Making It” section—there are some great DIY projects there.

Flipping through this month’s issue, though, I was overwhelmed by the costs of their “bargains.” In a section on kids’ back-to-school deals, they featured a $40 GapKids blazer, a $48 poncho, and a $59 pair of cargo pants. And this for kids, who will outgrow it all in a couple of months.

Or perhaps what you really need is a purse to carry your little dog around… good news! The ones in BL start at just $46! A hip flask? They’ve got you covered. There’s a lovely doughnut flask (doughnut?!?) for $50 (a thought: maybe if you feel the compulsion to carry alcoholic beverages on your person, there are other areas where you might be able to trim some costs).

It goes on and on and on… their fashion article features in one outfit:

• $225 shirt
• $185 cutoff jean shorts
• $200 boots
• $25 earrings

That’s some outfit! Good thing it’s “budget”!

A quick aside: the Budget Living forums are actually pretty good.

What’s the point of this post? Well, it’s mostly rant, but it does bring me to a question for you. What do you read? I don’t think that I’m in the minority for thinking those figures are ridiculous, but if that’s what passes as “budget,” what do real penny-pinchers read? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

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That’s what NBC wants to know. “NBC’s ‘Today’ show is looking for all penny pinchers.” If you’re prepared to demonstrate your thriftiness on video tape, you might earn an appearance on the Today show. Check out the MSNBC announcement for all the info.

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Don’t worry, this is not going to be another piece of advice telling you to just make your latte at home and you’ll have enough to retire on. I hate that advice because a) I don’t drink coffee (and before you ask, I don’t have another ongoing, regular “small thing” buying habit) and b) if I did, I’d already make it at home because I’m relatively cheap. That advice might be good for those just starting to think about spending less, but I’d guess that anyone who is reading a website on frugality has already considered the blatantly obvious.

That rant aside, I’m reading a great book right now called “How to survive without a salary” by Charles Long (I’m not planning on being salary-free anytime soon but I figure it would be good to spend as though I have less income). The author points out (and supports the idea) that it’s easier and more efficient to save money than to make more. I prefer to do both, of course, but saving is a good way to start. In my case, saving money on ordinary things means I can put more into my investments.

Whew, I’m long-winded today!

Here’s the actual challenge: figure out a way to save $30 in thirty days (I’m going to start now but monitor August, for simplicity). Ideally this will not be limited to 30 days; that will just be the trial run. If you are a person who has daily lattes, well, good for you! If you’re like me, however, it will take some thinking, especially if you’re already being frugal (that’ll teach you!).

My intial thoughts: it’s going to be especially difficult in August because I think we’re going to sign up for a $50/month health club membership (which we will use), so I’ll actually need to figure out how to save $80 from our current spending. Here are my ideas…

• Downgrade broadband from “deluxe” plan to normal plan. We only use the extra speed occasionally, and it’s not worth the extra $10. I’m also going to see if I can get them to discount the normal plan by bringing up the lower DSL rates.
• Groceries. This is going to be the best place to cut back, because historically, we spend too much, so I really just need to get it down to “slightly frugal” to realize maybe $50 savings/month.
• Try line drying instead of using the dryer as Dawn suggested. I really have no idea of what kind of savings to expect, so this is a wildcard.

Hmm… I’ll have to be creative to cut the rest. So how about you? Will you accept my challenge? Post your thoughts in the comments section.

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I stumbled across the SPIN-X centrifugal spindryer via a link from MetaEfficient. Have any of you ever used this (or anything like it)? More broadly, how do you do your laundry? So far I’ve done it all pretty much the typical washer-and-dryer way, and I’m wondering if line drying and other “alternative” methods are worth the time they take. What do you think?

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It seems like everyone I know is car shopping right now. Some of us are doing it fairly passively and some are doing it very actively (e.g. my friends whose van “went to be with Jesus” this weekend… although given the behavior of said van, doubt has been expressed regarding its actual afterlife destination).

Regardless, when you get to the point where you’re ready to go look at a vehicle, there are some things you can do to both get a better deal and get a good vehicle.

Harvey over at Bad Example wants to tell you how to buy a used car without getting screwed. The list is comprehensive and definitely going in my long term bookmarks.

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Did you know that it’s possible to buy stamps below their face value? I just found out about this via SavingAdvice.com and their excellent forum. Jeffrey explains that stamp dealers often do bulk purchases (from estate sales and the like), but some of the individual stamps in the lot are not interesting to collectors. Some of these stamps are unused, and therefore fair game to use for mailing (regardless of their age), but the stamp dealers don’t want to spend the time getting rid of these one at a time. So what do they do with them? Some of the dealers sell these stamps in quantity at a discount. For instance, at the time of this writing, Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc. is selling $100 of stamps for $89.50 + $3.50 for shipping. I’m also seeing some good deals on eBay in the Stamps category.

It is worth noting that many of these stamps may be older stamps with a smaller face value than currently issued stamps. From a legal perspective, this is irrelevant, as any unused stamps can be used. Practically speaking, though, it can be a hassle to find the right combinations to make the total postage you need (if you’re putting more postage on than is required, you’re definitely not saving money by buying discounted stamps). If this sounds like a pain to you, take another look on eBay. I found several sellers providing current stamps, and still at a discount. For instance, eBay user