Extreme method of saving money - Automatic Savings Account

You know you need to start saving for the future but it’s never a good time. You keep telling yourself you need to transfer some money into your savings account or even set up an account but never get around to following through. How can this be prevented? It’s more simple than it sounds. Make saving automatic!

Almost every bank these days offers some type of automatic savings plan. You can easily modify the amount you want transferred and also setup how often you want it transferred. I personally use ING Direct to manage my savings and it’s very simple and easy. With just a few clicks ING Direct allows me to setup an automatic savings plan for multiple accounts.

Currently I have 3 different accounts setup at ING. The first is our family savings account. I have a small amount automatically withdrawn from our checking account each week and deposited into this account. I also have two other accounts setup for our two girls. I have a small amount withdrawn from our checking account each month from our checking account and placed in separate ING accounts. Since it always comes out I don’t have this money in our budget to spend.

The best way to save is make it a habit and there is no better way than with an automatic savings plan. ING Direct is just one of them many great banks that offer these programs. If you don’t already have an account with them take a look. They also offer very competative savings rates to help with your savings plan!

Extreme method of saving money - Line Dry Clothes

How much does it cost to dry a load of clothes? It costs an average of about $0.30 - $0.40 per load to dry a load of clothes with an electric dryer. If you have a gas dryer then you will spend about $0.15 to $0.20 per load. It may sounds a little old fashioned but for those extreme money savers this is a great option.

Just because I say line dry doesn’t mean you have to put up an old fashioned clothes line in the back yard. They make in home clothes drying systems that allow you to hang your clothes up to dry in the laundry room instead of using the dryer for every load.

Use this method to dry items such as t-shirts, and other thin material clothing. These items usually don’t require excessive drying anyway so hanging them up to dry won’t take forever. If you do a load of laundry every day try to line dry 2 of those per week. You’ll save about $1100 over the course of your 30 year mortgage. Line dry all your clothes and you’ll save a small fortune.

With the current condition of our economy many people are looking for any way they can to save money. Please keep reading our blog to learn more great extreme ways to save money!

Extreme method of saving money - No air conditioner

Looking for ways to save money? I’ve decided to do a series of posts about extreme methods of saving money. What may be extreme to some however may be life as usual for others but as for me these would be somewhat extreme. My first example of extreme methods of saving money is turn off the air conditioner.

As I stated earlier many of you may already follow this money saving advice, but for those of you who don’t here is some advice. Air conditioning in a home is the single most expense when it comes to your energy bill. Instead of cranking up the air open up all the windows and turn on the celing fans, this can save you hundreds of dollars per year.

If you are the type of person who just has to have the air conditioner on then there is still hope of saving money. Adjust the thermostat a couple of degrees higher and be sure to use the ceiling fans to circulate the air. Even if it only saves a few dollars per month that’s money saved!

Another great option is to get a programmable thermostat. This allows your thermostat to automatically adjust temperatures during the day and then cool down right before you get home from work. There is no point in running the air conditioner full blast when you are not home. You don’t want to turn it completely off during the day because your air conditioner will have to work overtime to cool back down in the evening. You may end up using more energy this way and making your air conditioner work too hard.

Watch the supermarket scanners you might be wasting money

If you’ve ever been to any store and purchased a single item and had it ring up a different amount than what the sign above it said you know exactly what I mean. Even though these incidents could be completely accidental on the store’s part, it’s still a problem you need to be aware of the problem so you can get it corrected.

At first thought you might not think it’s worth your time to bring it to the attention of the store clerk that you were overcharged $0.50 for a 12 pack of soda, especially if you don’t realize it until you get back to your car. However, on second thought what if you purchase 100 items from the store and are overcharged $0.50 on 10 of them? This still might not be enough for most people to go back into the store and plead their case, but for some it’s well worth the $5.00, especially if you think about $5.00 per week for the rest of your life.

Another thing to watch for is double scanning of items. Remember the cashiers are only human and mistakes will happen. It’s very easy for an item to get double scanned and you will be charged twice for the item. An easy way to resolve this problem is to keep an eye on the cash register while the items are being scanned instead of reading that magazine at the checkout stand.

Treat your shopping experience like you would your job. Make a conscious effort to pay attention to prices and make sure you are paying what the sign says. Stay alert at the checkout stand and keep an eye on the cash register. It’s your money watch it and you could save yourself quite a bit!

Negotiating really works, it happened to me

You may have heard someone say that you should always try to negotiate everything you buy, especially large ticket items. Well, from personal experience I can say it’s true. Just this week I was negotiated out of $10 from the sale of a computer desk.

My wife and I recently moved our computer into the kitchen onto a built in computer desk, freeing up our office computer desk. Since it was in our dining room we thought it would be best to sell the desk to free up some space. We listed the computer desk on craigslist and had multiple emails the first day it was posted.  We really wanted to get $75 out of the desk and we made the mistake of listing it for $75. It’s amazing how much people will try to negoate to save a buck.

The first person we had look at the desk drove to our house to take a look. When they arrived they asked if it had a hutch that went with it. I was thinking to myself, the description on the ad never said anything about a hutch and there was no hutch in the 3 pictures that was posted, but I simply said, no… no hutch. He offered me $50 for the desk and after my return offer of $75 didn’t appease him he left and said he would keep looking.

I had two other people offer me $50 via email and said if noone else purchaed it they would gladly give me $50 for the desk. I however refused to let the desk go for $50 considering we paid about $200 for it 2 years ago.

Our next potential customer made an appointment during my work hour lunch to view the desk. When she arrived she asked how much I would sell the desk for and I gave here the $75 answer. I told her I had two other offers for $50 and wouldn’t let it go for that cheap. She replied, “I’ll meet you half way and give you $60. Well, $60 isn’t’ halfway so I replied I’ll give it to you for $65. She looked into her pocket and pulled out $60 cash, “That’s all I have, but I can write you a check for $5.” I’m sure she thought I would let her have it for $60 but I told her it was a deal for $65. She ended up finding $5 cash before she left but I realize she had the whole thing planned the minuted she showed up at my door. I was tired of answering email and negotiating so I gave in and lost the battle.

The lesson I have learned is that people are willing to sell something for even less than they really want. It’s pretty easy to fin great deals on used furniture., because most of the time they person selling the furniture no longer has a use for it and it’s in their way. Always try to negotiate!

Dollar Store items, junk or treasures

Dollar stores and popping up everywhere these days. Most of them advertise that everything in the store is $1 or less. It seems like a great deal, but is the stuff you find at these stores really worth $1 or are they just selling junk?

In my opinion dollar discount stores are just like every other type of store, there are great deals to be found but you have to really watch what you purchase. Even popular bulk wholesale stores may seem cheaper than regular retail stores when in reality just because you are buying bulk doesn’t mean you are saving money. Also, you have to consider what you are purchasing and the quality of the items.

Many of the items you find in a dollar store are more expensive than you could find at a regular retail store. For example candy items are often $1 and can be purchased at a supermarket for much less than $1. They however sell many of these overpriced items because you think it’s a great deal.

There are are however many great deals to be found in these dollar discount stores. Here is a list of our familys top 5 favorite items to purchase at dollar stores:

• Cleaning Supplies - You usually won’t find name brand cleaning supplies at dollar stores unless it is a discontinued item, but you will find their cousin counterparts. Most basic cleaning supplies have similar ingredients and they get the job done for most everyday chores.
• Bathroom Supplies - Many common smaller bathroom items such as mats, caddies and shower curtains can be found at dollar stores for a fraction of the price.
• Gardening Tools and supplies - You won’t find top quality gardening tools at a dollar store but for those of us who only do gardening as a hobby you will find your needs met. Gardening gloves, decorations, pots and much more can be found at dollar stores and they still get the job done.
• Household Tools - These tools aren’t for the serious carpenter but for the occassional picture hanger, nail puller, screwdriver you’ll find a great deal on these handy tools.
• Gift Cards, Thank You Cards, Notecards and stationary - Most paper products are a great deal at dollar stores. Especially look for out of season cards and stationary to use for next year. You can get a lot of bang for your buck.

Overall, dollar stores are a great way to find treasures. Don’t get carried away when you shop at them, there are deals to be found but there are also overpriced itmes waiting to make them money!

Buy used items and save money.

When you think of buying used you usually think of cars, trucks, boats, or other big ticket items. You can however, save a lot of money buying other used items as well. Books, furniture, clothing, movies, games, CD’s, DVD’s, electronics and other items can be bought used for a fraction of their original cost.

First, the obvious place to start buying used items is automobiles. Used cars, trucks, boats and other automobiles can be bought for a fraction of the cost even if they are only a couple of years old. It’s not worth the extra thousands of dollars you will pay for a new car when a good used car will serve the same purpose. You can also usually find cars with the remaining factory warranty that will have little or no extra maintenance costs.

Second, electronics are a great item to buy used. Desktop Computers, Laptop Computers, CD players, DVD players, etc. all lose most of their value as soon as they are taken out of the box. Buying a computer that is a year or so old could save you hundreds of dollars and won’t be too out of date.

A third place to save buying used is media products. Computer software, video games, music CD’s, DVD, books, etc. These items lose a lot of value after they are purchased new. Many of these items can be found at yard sales for pennies on the dollar. Used video games have even became popular enough to have entire retail stores designed around them. You can buy, sell and trade video games. Used book stores have been around for years and you can find great deals on used books.

There are hundreds of ways to save money. Even though you might not be saving hundreds of dollars every penny adds up!

Free Online Coloring Books for Your Children

With all the gimmick advertisements on the Internet these days for free stuff, how do you know which ones are legitimate and which ones are trying to trick you into thinking you are getting something free? If you’ve been deceived before, don’t give up home. There are many things you can get online free and one great one is a free coloring book for your children.

There are literally hundreds of websites that offer free images you can print to your home computer for your children to color. I found everything from letters, numbers, cartoon characters, animals, puzzles, holiday events, educational worksheets, etc. They are completely free and you won’t be breaking any kind of copyrights by printing them out for your children.

Now, obviously it’s not completely 100% free it will cost you the price of a sheet of paper and ink for your computer. But it will cost a lot less than a fancy coloring book from a retail store. More than likely if they are under the age of three it will be a bunch of scribbles anyway so don’t waste the money.

You may be asking yourself what’s the big deal with downloading these free coloring sheets. Sure I might save a little money, but couldn’t I just give my children a blank sheet of paper and let their imagine do some work? Sure, but there are some great, creative uses for your newly found free coloring pages that might interest you.

First, a great use for your free coloring pages and books is a themed birthday party. If you are having a princess party for your little girl then print out multiple pictures of princesses, castles, dresses, etc. Have a boy? You’ll find hundreds of pictures of cars, trains, animals, etc. Hand out the sheets to the children at the party and have a coloring contest for prizes.

Second, many of the free pictures and activities will also have educational value. If you have a toddler just learning their alphabet or numbers, don’t waste your money on educational workbooks. You’ll find hundreds of educational prints including letters, numbers, puzzles and games to train their brain. Sit down each night with them and work through some of the pages.

I won’t advertise for any specific website, but a quick search with your favorite online search engine using keywords such as “free coloring book photos”, “free coloring images” or “free children’s coloring pages” will produce hundreds of thousands of results. Have fun and save money!

Find Free Entertainment

Entertainment is one of those things that most people feel like they have to spend money on in order to enjoy. There are hundreds of ways to stay entertained without spending whole lot of money. Here are just a few ideas to think about before wasting money.

Movie rentals are a great way to stay entertained for a couple of hours and you will spend less than $5. Rent a movie from the local video store for about $4, pop a bag of store bought popcorn, and wash it down with your favorite beverage. You might run over $5, but you will be well under the $25 for two people you would spend at the movie theater.

A cheaper version of the above is to find a good movie on cable television, or find a series that you would like to start watching every week. You are already paying for cable television anyway so why not get some use out of it.

Treat yourself to a new book purchase from the local bookstore or order one online from a discount bookstore or auction website. An even better way to save would be to visit the local public library and check out a book, movie, CD, or book on tape/CD. It won’t cost you a dime, except the gas in your car to get there and back.

Take a hike or a walk through the neighborhood. It’s always fun for my wife and me to walk through the neighborhood and look at other houses. Check out the landscaping or their outside decorations. If you are close to a park walk around the park and take a picnic lunch or dinner.

Check online for free concerts, plays and shows. Many times, especially in the summer cities will sponsor free events to promote tourism. Keep an eye out for these events, they can be fun and free.

There are many ways to find entertainment for cheap or free. Don’t feel like you have to spend money to have a good time. Just do a little research and be creative and you’ll save a ton of money!

Exercise at Home to avoid gym fees

If you are the active type and enjoy keeping fit then you need to eat right and exercise. Exercise usually means a trip to the local gym. The gym usually means a membership fee and monthly dues. Gym membership fees can cost hundreds of dollars and monthly dues can be anywhere from tens of dollars to hundreds of dollars per month.

Did you know you don’t really have to go to the gym to get exercise? There are many alternatives to paying those monthly gym membership fees. First, run outside instead of the treadmill if you really must have a treadmill save those monthly dues while you jog outside and buy yourself a good used one for your home. You can get a great cardio workout from many exercise videos as well. Many great workout programs can be found on eBay, Amazon or at yard sales. If you want to lift weights then look at yard sales for weights and other equipment.

Once you purchase equipment it’s yours to keep say goodbye to those monthly gym membership fees.