Creative gas-saving tips

With gas prices steadily rising, it's a good time to re-evaluate driving habits--both how much you drive and how you drive. I read a blog post this morning that got me thinking... I don't plan to implement the Pulse and Glide technique in its entirety, but the concept does intrigue me.

Here are some other fuel-efficiency tips the article mentioned:

• Driving slower
• Coasting to stoplights, stop signs and parking spots
• Accelerating slowly from stops
• Keeping windows and sunroof closed
• Parking in pull-through spots
• Clearing out my trunk

To read the original post in its entirety, click here. How are you dealing with the increase in gas prices?

Edit: Please do consider safety concerns before implementing something like the Pulse and Glide technique! As I said, the concept intrigues me, but turning off your engine while on the highway sounds more like a hazard than money-saving brilliance. :-)

Extremely Frugal tips

One of the blogs in my Google feed reader is Extremely Frugal, where Pat shares frugality tips for everyday life. Here a few recent ideas:

Grow garlic on a windowsill

Garlic will grow happily in a container on your windowsill. Buy fresh garlic from the grocery store and use the largest cloves to plant. Put the unpeeled clove, pointed side up, in light soil with the tip just showing. Keep the soil damp and in a few days you should see a green shoot. You can use this shoot as a mild garlic flavoring (Give it time to grow at least six inches first, then trim only a few inches at a time. If you don't trim this top, it might become quite long and topple over - that's ok. When it turns brown and dries up, dig the clove of garlic you planted and you should have a full bulb. Take a clove from that and start over! (Container grown garlic will make small cloves.)

Keeping a broom

Never stand a broom on its bristles. Hang it upside down on a rack or nails. Clean it when you've used it for real dirt - garage floors or sidewalks. Use a bucket with warm, soapy water, swish the broom in it several times, then rinse with clear water. Hang it to dry.

Freebies

Freebies are frugal! The internet is a fantastic way to sleuth them out. Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and coffee samples can help stretch your budget. Don't be wasteful with them just because they're free. Use them carefully and put off the time when you'll have to replace the item.

Be sure to check out more tips on Pat's website.

eBay: Getting the best deal

eBay can be a great place to find fabulous deals--if you prepare yourself with some much-needed information and background. Here are a few ideas that I try to keep in mind when I'm buying on eBay.

1. Know precisely what you're looking for

With the thousands of items available on eBay, the more specific you can be, the better.

2. Be familiar with retail prices

You don't want to be paying anywhere near retail, but knowing what an item sells for will help you decide what's reasonable for you to pay.

3. Search completed items

Check the lowest recent prices for your item--if you hang around for a while, you'll probably find another one for a similar price.

4. Set your budget--and stick to it

This point goes without saying, but it's easy to get wishy-washy when you're actually looking at the item you'd love to have. :-)

5. Be patient

If you're willing to wait, you can often find what you want at the price you want. Not being in a hurry will give you a huge advantage.

6. Watch for auctions ending at slow times

People like to bid on auctions they can watch at the end. Find auctions that end early in the morning or other times when there aren't as many people online, and you may just nab a deal. Better yet, if you don't have a life, look for auctions ending on Thanksgiving or Christmas and bid at the end of those. :-) Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is another time when huge numbers of people tend to be looking elsewhere for deals.

7. Don't get emotionally involved

This one goes with sticking to your budget--it's easy to let the "auction emotions" push you to bid higher than you really intend to. Bid and leave it alone. :-)

8. Bid toward the end of the auction

For some reason, people often seem more likely to bid on items that someone else has bid on--or to increase their maximum bid if they see that someone else has bid on their item. (At the same time, don't wait too long to bid, especially if you have a slow internet connection.)

And a couple of bonus tips to make your eBaying more successful...

1. Pay promptly

The seller will appreciate it and will also ship your item sooner if you've actually paid for it.

2. Leave feedback after the transaction is complete

This is really just eBay "community service," but it helps to insure buyer safety and protection from fraud.

Input requested: Graduation party food

I'm helping plan a family member's graduation party next month, have been considering the menu, and would love some help. We want to keep things as inexpensive as possible, yet still have a variety of pretty, tasty foods. Here are the parameters:

*We're planning for an open house with about 75 people.

*We're not serving a meal, but it's early enough in the evening that the food should have some substance (not cake and punch).

*In an effort to make things simpler, we're planning to stick with finger foods.

We have time on our side, as there's still a month to plan and watch the sales. We're hoping to make mini-cheesecakes for dessert, provided that we can find a decent deal on cream cheese. And we've talked about veggies with dip and cheeseball with crackers, but nothing is really set in stone.

So, what ideas do you have? What has been a success for you? Any amazing, inexpensive recipes to share?

Sundry deals & ideas

There have been several blog posts that have caught my eye recently, and I thought I'd share them with y'all...

Eating Out Cheaper from Extremely Frugal:

Authentic ethnic restaurants usually have good food cheaper than well known restaurants, even if they're local. Don't confuse "authentic" with "well marketed." The truly authentic may not be in the best part of town. It's usually well worth the effort of tracking down a real ethnic restaurant.

Free Swingline Stapler from Sense to Save:

You can fill out a quick survey and receive a Swingline stapler for your time.

Freebie Events from Sisterly Savings:

Bath & Body Works - Free Beauty Cravings In-store Event on 4/12:

You will need to RSVP with your local flagship stores to attend. This event is free plus you will receive a goody bag and breakfast just for attending!

Get pampered and receive tips from our beauty experts. Sample all their favorite products! Take home a Free gift (Goody Bag) just for coming! (Over a $20 value) Enjoy complimentary breakfast treats!

[To find a Bath & Body Works flagship location near you, click here to use the store locater and select "flagship stores."Don't forget to pick up your almost-free Bath & Body Works products, too!]

Toys R Us - Free Thomas & Friends Event 4/12 - 11 am - 1pm:

Free Storytime each half an hour which includes a Free Pack of Thomas Trading Cards,Railway toys to play with & coloring fun!

You can find out more about the event here.

Groceries: Straight from the source

One of my favorite ways to save on groceries is to buy them fresh from the farm. Right now I'm paying $1 dozen for eggs. And not just any eggs, but farm-raised eggs that are probably higher-quality and fresher than the most expensive organic eggs at the grocery store. Farm-fresh milk from a small local dairy is $2 a gallon. Many gardeners would be happy to share extra produce for a few dollars.

I would encourage you to search out options for locally-grown groceries--check your farmer's market, keep your ears and eyes open, ask friends. You may end up finding some high-quality foods at amazing prices.

Frugal Valentine's Day ideas

Any special plans today? Here are some last-minute ideas to get your brain moving...

Mom Savers--I loved her Table for Two story

Get Rich Slowly: Cheap ways to say "I love you"

Families.com: Lots of inexpensive do-it-yourself ideas

Unique Holiday Gift Ideas: Eight Valentine Gift Basket Ideas

Saving on postage

It's official: On May 12 postage rates are going up yet again. The good news is that it's only a one cent increase and there are ways to save. Here are some ideas to cut how much you spend on postage:

1. Use online bill pay. Many banks offer this free with their checking accounts. (If yours doesn't, you might want to check out the ING Direct Electric Orange. My thoughts about ING Direct are posted here.)

2. Buy Forever stamps. In case you haven't heard, Forever stamps may be bought at the current first-class postage price, but may be used no matter how much the postage rate has increased since. The postal service is stocking five billion Forever stamps in preparation for an increased demand.

3. Use email to keep in touch with friends and family. I'm guessing most of us do this anyway, but this is a great reminder. If you really want to send a handwritten note, why not send a postcard--it's still 15¢ cheaper than a letter.

4. Submit rebates online when possible. Walgreens offers online rebate submission for Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. RiteAid also offers online submission.

5. Research other ways to send packages: UPS, Fed-Ex Ground, etc.

How are you planning to save on postage? Do you even use stamps these days?

Cosmetics: Inexpensive and good quality?

I love finding inexpensive makeup and skin care products, but I hesitate to spend any money on a product I'm unsure of. I've come to value Paula Begoun's cosmetics evaluations for her honesty and straightforwardness--and for her attention to great, low-cost products. She reviews cosmetics in all price ranges and lists approximate prices in her reviews. She just came out with her Best of 2007, which has a few rather inexpensive items--I paid particular attention to the e.l.f., Jane, and Rimmel reviews (remember the $2 Jane coupon here).

Paula also offers a searchable archive of product reviews that I check when I'm looking for a new, low-cost makeup item.

Saving on Shaving

I ran across an interesting article this afternoon on how to get the most out of a razor. To sum it up, razors last longer if you dry them after each use. It's not primarily use that wears them out, but corrosion. While I try to pay little or nothing for razors anyway, I'm always happy to make them last longer.

Gift Tags

I hadn't thought much about gift tags until reading Crystal's blog post today. She provides links to a number of cute gift tags, but there is one link I love more than all the others put together. My family has a unique sense of humor, and I can't wait till they see their gifts with these special tags.

Frugal Friday: Discount Dairy

I have recently begun checking expiration dates on dairy products when I'm grocery shopping. Not because I'm afraid of spoiling--yogurt in particular can be kept weeks past the "sell by" date--but because I can often get nearly-free food this way. If I find items that are already expired or are within a couple of days of the expiration, I will point it out to an employee and ask I could get a discount on the almost-expired goods. I have never been refused. They usually charge $.25 to $.33 per box/carton. The policy at our local Kroger is to mark down dairy items when they are within a week of the expiration, so I definitely wouldn't ask for a discount on an item that was fresher than that. Their marking down frequently doesn't happen on schedule, which means you may be able to hit quite a stock of cheap yogurt. :-)

When I was at Kroger recently, I found about ten boxes of kids' yogurt snacks that had either already expired or were to expire in the next couple days. I asked an employee in the dairy department if I could have a discount. I was charged about $2 for all ten boxes. I had a $.55 manufacturer's coupon, which Kroger doubled up to $1. All told, I paid about a dollar plus tax for ten boxes--and the stuff usually runs about three or four dollars a box. Here's part of what I picked up...


Edit: I wrote this a couple weeks ago and, as Murphy's law would dictate, it hasn't worked the one time since that I've asked. But I'd still advise you to try it--the worst they can say is no! :-)

Check out Crystal's blog for more frugal ideas.

Patience is a Virtue...

My laptop is on the blink and I've tried to figure out if the damage is due to a rodent or yours truly. Actually, it's not my computer that's on the blink. It's the power cord, which was either chewed or melted partway through. Or maybe a combination of chewed and melted. I worked on some projects yesterday while gingerly holding the wires in exactly the right place, so that it could charge while I was working. My fingers got rather warm (the electricity melted through the medical tape I'd attempted to insulate it with), I eventually stopped holding the wires just right, and it stopped charging.

This morning I stopped by a local computer store, hoping they might have a power cord they didn't need and would give me a good deal on it. I explained the situation, and an employee informed me that he has a cord at home--he used to have a laptop identical to mine. And I may have the cord for five dollars. I was thrilled. I have to wait for him to bring the cord to the store, but that price is well worth the wait.

Moral of the story? Get creative--and be patient. :-)

Edit: I have the cord now... but apparently I misunderstood when he told me the price. It was $25 instead of $5. If I'd heard him right the first time, I think I would have tried to bargain. It's more than I would have like to pay, but still a definite savings over the other ones I found.