Check out these 17 great money saving tips from Living Frugal Tips. Fast and quick ways to save without having to try (really hard). That’s how we roll here at LFT — fast, quick, easy and everyday ways to save!

1.  Save water by taking a shower (uses 8 gallons) versus a bath (uses 21 gallons). Also turn the tap off while brushing your teeth to save another 2-1/2 gallons.

2.  Save money on dry cleaning by purchasing a hand-held steamer (Walmart $19.00). Simply hang, steam and save big. Steam 4 – 5 pieces & it’s paid for itself. — Tipster: Becky Wilson

3.  Pre-portioned food costs more! From snack packs to individually wrapped cheese & chicken breast portions — they cost more. Buy regular or bulk size and create individual portions on your own.

4.  Improve your cars fuel economy by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. This improves fuel efficiency up to 5% & can save you $75-$100 a year based on mileage and gas prices.

5.  Get Living Frugal Tips on the GO. Living Frugal Tips is now Smartphone compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Storm mobile devices.

6.  What to do with fresh herbs that are about to go bad? Chop them up, put them in ice cube trays, add water & freeze to preserve. Then just add the herb cubes to soups or cooking as needed for fresh flavor.

7.  As water restrictions ramp up over the hot Summer months, a good tip is to pull your car in the grass when washing it so you can wash and water at the same time. Saves water & $$ — Tipster:  Becky Wilson

8.  Want a ‘green’ way to clean faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Rub a cucumber slice on the surface. It will remove tarnish, bring back the shine, & won’t leave streaks or harm your hands while you clean.

9.  If you enjoy eating out on occasion and want to save money, go to www.Restaurant.com and buy gift certificates for a fraction of the face value. Some restrictions apply, but it’s worth checking out!

10.  Trying to beat the Summer heat? Install more ceiling fans! the breeze of a fan can make you feel three to four degrees cooler. You can then raise the thermostat and still stay comfortable.

11.  Have a theme park visit planned this Summer? Take advantage of the current specials such as Buy One Day and Go All Year. You can’t beat that. A year of fun for the price of a day.

12.  Save up for big purchases and use cash to pay for them. During the time it takes you to save, you have plenty of time to make sure you really need it, and by using cash you won’t overspend.

13.  Don’t have a warehouse club membership card? Just give a family member or friend a check or cash and have them buy a gift card for you. You can shop and get the deals without paying the membership fee.

14.  The start of Summer is a great time to replace your air conditioning filter. By doing this every 2 – 3 months you will maximize your air flow and energy efficiency and save money.

15.  Save on clothing costs by buying things that coordinate. Solid colors that you can mix & match will minimize the amount of clothes you need. Black, tan, navy, gray and white are the basics to build around.

16.  Want new clothes? Hold a clothing swap with friends. Clean your closet of things you’ve not worn in a while and trade with friends who’ve done the same. What’s “old” becomes new again.

17.  Stop the need to go out for lunch or pick food up for dinner by making meals that are leftover friendly like casseroles and soups. Prepare, pack up and frig or freeze them for quick mid-week meals.

Please share all your money saving tips with Living Frugal Tips!

Quick money saving tips from Living Frugal Tips are sure ways to save money with minimal hassle and sacrifice. As I always say, it’s about making frugality a lifestyle and mindset. It’s an on-going thought process to find more ways to reduce, reuse and recycle for savings — without feeling deprived. Once you get going it actually becomes fun to find more creative ways to save. As I’ve gotten my friends and family into the mindset they all email me more useful tips to try and share. Everyone please keep sharing and together we will save.

Reuse Household Items for Greater Good

• Reuse an old plastic orange juice container, or any other container with a wider opening, to save your loose change. Empty pockets nightly and once it’s full you can roll it and bank it. It all adds up.

• Use old plastic bread tabs to mark and organize all your electric cords behind the TV, for example. Simply use a permanent marker and write on each plastic tab to identify each cord and item. Then just attach one to each cord and instant organization and minimized frustration.

Reduce Electric Bills with Some Easy Changes

• When cooking in the oven, turn it off a few minutes early. The heat will continue to cook your food for several minutes without the continued power use. A few minutes a day adds up over a year.

• You use less energy with a warm dryer. So, it’s more efficient to wash and dry loads back-to-back so that your dryer doesn’t completely cool down when it needs to heat up for the next load.

• Closing off an unused room in your home can actually cost you more in comfort and energy savings. It’s best to keep air vents and doors open so that air can circulate freely and properly.

• Want big savings with little to no effort? Raise your thermostat! You can save up to 10% of your cooling costs for each degree above 78.

Stop Wasting Water and Start Saving Money

• Save water and money by turning off the faucet when brushing teeth. An estimated 2.5 gallons of water are used when kept running x 2 brushes a day x 7 days a week x 52 weeks = 1,820 gallons WASTED!

• Save water by taking a shower (uses 8 gallons) versus a bath (uses 21 gallons). Also turn the tap off while brushing your teeth to save another 2-1/2 gallons.

Simple Suggestions for Household Savings

• Think before you print. The average consumer spends $240/year on ink cartridges and paper. Instead print only the text you need, save information and files electronically, reuse old paper and print on both sides if possible.

• If household items or toys require batteries, use RECHARGEABLE batteries. They can be reused hundreds of times which saves money and reduces waste over time. This savings quickly out weighs the cost premium for the initial purchase.

• Get rid of extra landline phone features such as caller ID, call waiting and call forwarding that are really not needed and may not be used often. Or, better yet, get rid of the landline all together.

Modify What You Buy at the Store

• Stop buying bottled water and drink from the tap. A 24-pack cost $4.00 – $6.00 depending on the brand. The equivalent water from the tap costs PENNIES! If you don’t like the taste, install an inexpensive faucet filter.

• Stop buying paper towels. Paper towels produce 3,000 tons of waste per DAY and wastes money. Use a dishrag instead and toss it in the wash. If you must use paper towels use 100% recycled paper towels which saves landfill waste, energy and water.

• Stop buying certain vegetables and instead grow your own vegetables and start with seeds. A packet of tomato seeds equals the price of ONE tomato but can yield 20-30 plants per packet. While time is required, the saved money and great taste are huge.

• The greenest products that you can buy are the ones that already exist. Buying a “pre-loved” sweater, for example, saves the energy equivalent of 68 loads of laundry. – ebay.com/greenteam

Travel Smart and Save Big

• If planning a plane trip, pack light to avoid the escalating baggage fees: $15-$25 for the 1st checked bag, $25-$35 for the 2nd, and up to $300 for overweight, outside the U.S. bags on Delta!

• Save money by flying at the right TIME. Flying off season to a destination, flying overnight, or scheduling departures and arrivals on a Tuesday or Wednesday will cost less.

• Budget your vacation and bring traveler’s checks versus credit cards so there is no temptation to overspend. You can track what’s spent and what’s remaining and there’s no big surprise bill later.

• Have your cable switched off while you’re away. Some cable companies will turn off your cable for the week(s) you’re away on vacation. It doesn’t hurt to ask and it could be an easy way to save money.

Today marks the six-month anniversary for Living Frugal Tips.

While a very brief period of time, it’s monumental in the web world as thousands of new blogs start daily and in mere weeks or months lay dormant with no new content, and then fall claim to the web wasteland for misfit sites. Blogging is a lot of work and takes time, energy and passion to keep it growing … keep it interesting … keep connecting … and keep people coming back.

With that said. Thank you!!! Thank you for finding Living Frugal Tips, thanks for commenting, contributing and coming back. My hope is that you find it useful and that I can continue to grow and evolve the site to keep it interesting and make some small impact that helps you — save money, save time, find balance, and ultimately help you create a rich life by living on less.

Highlights from the first 6-Months:

What’s HOT — Top 10 Most Popular Posts:

1. Save Calories with this Skinny Margarita Recipe
2. 7 Ways to Kick-Start Your Job Search
3. Lisa’s Nearly Famous Pulled Pork Recipe
4. 14 Fun Ways to Pass the Day Trapped Inside
5. Velveeta Rotel Chicken Pasta Casserole (a mouthful, oh my)
6. Purging Sucks: Purged Living Part 1
7. Target Wine Cube – Good Wine Great Price
8. How to Save Money When Filing Your Taxes
9. 50 Frugal Fun Ideas for a Bored-Silly Saturday
10. Five Alternatives to Deli Meat that Save You Money

What’s NEW:

Tip of the Day- Get a quick tip daily for how to save money. You’ll find this on the post-it-note stuck to the home page.

Live Streaming Money Saving Tips – Get real-time money saving tips from people around the world via the live Twitter stream, conveniently found on the home page.

Job Board – With the growing number of people that have had frugality forced upon them due to job loss, I’ve added a new page on Living Frugal Tips called “Job Board“. This is a direct connection to www.HotCareerSites.com which is another site/blog of mine. Here you will find the best job search sites conveniently organized by the type of job that you are looking for. you will also find career planning tools to help you with your job search and career growth. The goal is to have everything in one place so it’s faster, more efficient and makes the best use of your time as you look for a job.

Growth:

Fabulous Fans – New folks become fans daily. We’ve got 282 Facebook Fans that “like” Living Frugal Tips. If you’re not a fan … become one!

Growing Strong - More people continue to find Living Frugal Tips. Site traffic is up 42.8% from just the month prior.

Improving Popularity – Alexa Rank, a subsidiary company of Amazon.com, ranks all the websites in the world for popularity. When Living Frugal Tips first came on the scene our Alexa Rank was 13,134,689. In just six short months we’ve significantly moved up in popularity to # 530,125 globally and 63,064 in the U.S. When seemingly light-years away from the top 100,000 globally … we are headed in the right direction.

Some News:

Won New Writer Contest on HubPages.com for “20 Meatless Meals that Will Save Money on Groceries”

Living Frugal Tips is partnered with and featured on an exciting new site for women — WomenXchange.com.

Join the Fun:

Email

If you are not already on our email list, sign up now. It’s the easiest way to stay up-to-snuff on all the latest money saving tips from Living Frugal Tips.

THANK YOU again. Here’s to exciting things in the next six months.

We all love games, challenges, dares and bets … don’t we? We played endless hours of games as a kid and now we’ve become a society obsessed with reality TV which is games, dares, and challenges on the national level of ridiculous.

So, how would you like to save money by playing games? I think we would all like to turn the drudgery task of saving money, budgeting, and cutting costs and make the experience a little more … dare I say, fun. That’s exactly how my husband and I approach it and I thought I’d share some of our Living Frugal Tips and fun ways that we’ve turned saving money into a game.

Roll a Dice for Dinner

Roll a dice and the number that it lands on is the amount of money you get to spend on making dinner each night for the week. You can take turns with family members and see who can come up with the most creative meal within the  dinner budget.

Bye Bye Bills Board

This is a favorite game with my husband. He’s a teacher and when he had summer off and didn’t get a paycheck he always tried extra hard to reduce our expenses. With every monthly expense that he lowered or eliminated, he would write it down on a big white marker board that hangs on our office wall. It was fun for him to have it so visible as a reminder and to see how it added up. Our latest tally going on now for monthly savings:

• Refinanced home (lowered mortgage) – saved $646
• Got rid of lawn service at home – saved $100
• Got rid of lawn service at rental home – saved $50
• Called cable company and got bill reduced for 6 months (he said he was considering going to Direct TV) – saved $20

Total monthly savings = $816.00

You get the point. Other years we got rid of the bottled water company (saved $56/month), got rid of call waiting (saved $4.00/month).  It all adds up and that’s the point of this game. Have fun and get creative at finding ways to save. This is all money that can then be diverted into savings. In your budget keep paying the original amount each month – for example, pay the mortgage and then put the saved money in savings each month.

Dollar Dinner

Another version of the dinner game. Number squares of paper – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – and fold and place them in a bowl to pick from. You can put whatever numbers you want on the sheets, but I challenge you to go low. The selected number indicates the dollar amount you get to spend on making dinner each night for the week.

Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Another way to save money is to see how many days you can abstain — go without buying something. This doesn’t include regularly scheduled monthly bills. What I’m talking about is all those other purchases – lunches out, clothes, books, etc. Even see how long you can abstain from grocery shopping. Get creative and see what you can whip up in your fridge. You’ll realize when you don’t go to the stores, you’re not tempted. You’ll also find other ways to fill your life, or the voids in your life, with greater meaning … the quick shopping spree makes you feel good for a moment and then leaves you with buyers remorse when the bill comes in. If you fall off the wagon, start again and see if you can make it just … one … more … day.

Clue

Most people don’t have a clue what they spend their money on. Make keeping track of your expenses a challenge with a spouse or friend. If spending is a must, keep track of what you spend daily, and then each week compare and see who spent less. You can get a little pocket calendar at Target, Walmart or Big Lots for $1.00 and jot down your daily spending. This will also give you “clues” as to how to save money when you review your calendar and spending each week. The key is to do this with someone. Weight loss programs that are successful have a support group and a level of accountability with weekly weigh-ins. The same is true here.

Cash is King

Try going one month and only use cash. This really makes you aware of what you are spending when you have to pull out the green bills and not the plastic. Start by doing it for a week … and then another week. You’ll realize what you really need and want when you have to part with the coin.

Money Jar Madness

This is an easy one. Put all your loose change into a jar and you’ll be amazed at how quickly it ads up. A co-worker is doing this to save for a trip to Hawaii.

The point of all this is to make it fun. When you make saving money fun, you will be amazed at how your focus shifts to the game or challenge at hand, and away from the thoughts of feeling deprived or going without. It challenges your mind (to get creative) and your will power (to stay on task). We all need help to accomplish great things and what better than to turn money saving into your own reality game or challenge!

I hope you find these Living frugal Tips helpful. Please share your save money tips and money saving games.

Happy gaming!

Want to save money on taxes in 2009? You need to check out these very helpful tax-related resources that will actually help save you money when filing your taxes and reduce your taxes too.

There are all sorts of free tax services and tax credits available that a lot of people are not aware of. You need to educate yourself before filing in order to maximize your returns, especially if you prepare and file your own taxes.

Free File

Free File is a service offered by the IRS in partnership with a group of private sector tax software companies. It offers a free way to prepare and e-file your federal taxes online if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less in 2009.

TaxACT 2009 Free Edition

If you prepare your own taxes, but don’t like to file online you can click the above like and download TaxACT 2009 free edition.  The free software offers everything that you need to prepare your federal income tax, print it and even efile should you prefer.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

There are a wealth of tax credits available for energy, education, new vehicle purchases and first-time homebuyers that will help save you money on taxes.You will also find changes in unemployment and COBRA that will benefit you if you are unemployed. In short, there are more stimulus benefits than I ever imagined and they are all summarized here at this IRS Information Center. You need to check this out before filing to see if you are eligible for any of these tax benefits in 2009 and also to educate yourself about tax advantages for the future.

States with Free Online Tax Returns

If you live in a state with a state income tax, check out the links below to various states that are offering free online tax filing regardless of income with the noted exception of New Jersey.

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey (New for 2009: Taxpayers with a NJ Gross Income over $150,000 can NOT use NJ Webfile)
• New Mexico
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Utah
• Virginia
• Wisconsin

If you come across any other ways to save money on taxes please add a comment to this post on Living Frugal Tips to share with everyone. Let’s join together to stick it to Uncle Sam.

Target Wine CubeIf you are a wine lover but hate paying $15.00 or more for a good bottle of wine you need to try the Target Wine Cube. I know what you are thinking … wine in a box … are you crazy! That’s exactly what I thought, but then I tried the Target Wine Cube and and was very surprised at how good it was. The packaging is very cool and the wine is really good too. The packaging is also very convenient with a carrying handle, and a pour spout that keeps the air out which preserves the taste from the first glass to the last. And it’s very affordable and will save you money! Another great innovation by a brand leader – Target.

Innovative Packaging

The Wine Cube is available in two sizes: 3-liter and 1.5-liter. The 3-liter Wine Cube holds the equivalent of four bottles of wine while the 1.5-liter Wine Cube holds the equivalent of two bottles of wine. The eco-friendly packs are constructed of durable, renewable resource materials, ideal anywhere that glass containers are not suitable. Also, an innovative “ramp evacuation system” within the cube ensures that the wine is never exposed to oxygen and makes it possible for the wine to last four weeks after opening, guaranteeing that every drop is as good as the first.

Wine Cube Varieties

I’ve tried five of the Target Wine Cube varieties – Red Sangria, White Sangria, Pinot Grigio, Merlot and Cabernet. The reds are my favorite as I prefer red wine. The White Sangria was a bit sweet and the Pinot Grigio had a nice balance. It gets even better … they come in various sizes. We brought the little single serving wine cubes to the beach and they were just like the juice boxes for kids only way better because they’re “adult juice boxes”.

There’s a small wine cube which is the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine ($9.99) and a large wine cube cube that equates to 4 bottles of wine ($15.99). On a per bottle basis this is really cheap wine, but it tastes much better than other wines at this per bottle price point. Target also sells cool neoprene wine cube holders that the wine cubes fit into for cooling and easy transport (like out to the pool or on the boat). The cube fits in tightly and there is a handy little hole where the pour spout sticks out of.

The Complete Line of Target Wine Cube varieties are produced by Trinchero Family Estates which produces some very nice wines. Current Wine Cube varieties are as follows:

• Target Wine Cube Cabernet

• Target Wine Cube Cabernet/Shiraz

• Target Wine Cube Merlot

• Target Wine Cube Red Sangria

• Target Wine Cube White Sangria

• Target Wine Cube Chardonnay – 2 varieties

• Target Wine Cube Sauvignon Blanc

• Target Wine Cube Pinot Grigio

While you cannot buy the Wine Cube online, you can go to Target.com and find a location near you to buy the Wine Cube and check out their other cool stuff and sales all at the same time. Cheers and props for this must have goodness!

Have you recently contracted out a service and been less than impressed with the outcome or less than satisfied with a service you are paying  for? If this is the case … ask for a discount!

We recently had to have some repair work done on our house. It amounted to wall texturing and baseboard painting among other things. The person who did the texturing and baseboard painting work was a subcontractor for the company we hired to do the numerous fixes around the place. When all was said and done, the subcontractors work was less than stellar.

My husband  elected to do all of the wall painting himself which afforded him the opportunity to notice just how poor the texturing work was done:

1.  There was no wall texture sprayed behind the toilet tank. He tried to spray around it versus taking it off.
2.  He made a mess. There was wall texture everywhere  – on doors, window treatments,
mirrors, bath tube … – and my husband was left to clean it up.
3.  The wall texture came off the wall in two places as my husband rolled on the paint.
4.  The baseboard paint rubbed off in a few places since only one coat was applied versus the two coats stated in the contract.

After reviewing the itemized list of work that was to be done and comparing it to what was actually done, my husband pointed out his dissatisfaction to the owner of the company and received $186 discount.

In short, don’t put up with shoddy work! Especially during these economic times! One would think that people would be working extra hard to keep their jobs and that quality would be on an upswing … but that’s not necessarily the case.

Always look over things and speak up if you are not happy. And, if you are happy then sing their praise.

If calling your cable company and asking for a discount didn’t work to help save on utilities, you can always try satellite TV. As I mentioned in yesterdays post, our cable company gave us a $20.00 monthly discount for six months for staying on board as a customer instead of canceling our service and going to satellite TV. So, for now we still have cable, but in 6 months when our bill goes back up we will likely make the move to satellite TV.

If you are unsure if cable TV or satellite TV is for you, here’s a handy side-by-side cable vs. satellite comparison chart to help you make the right decision.

My husbands did a lot of research into satellite so that he could get educated on the various providers and price shop the service. In doing so he learned that there is a lot that goes into picking the right satellite company. After doing internet research and asking numerous neighbors who have DirectTV and who had Dish Network, it became obvious that DirectTV would be our choice – here’s why:

• With satellite dishes, customer service is key. If you are getting bad reception, you need a trained expert to correct the problem. DirectTV has the best customer service response team by far. Dish Network will try to talk you through correcting the problem yourself. Good Luck!

• You will pay approximately $5 a month more for DirectTV, but knowing someone will be there ASAP to correct any problems, in my view is worth it. — Just a note: you will have service interruptions during heavy storms; all satellite systems do. If your dish gets knocked around during a storm, you most likely will need adjustments.

Here’s a quick comparison chart of Dish Network versus Direct TV. You’ll note that they seem very similar with Dish Network winning with the lower price. But beware … you need to talk to people and do your homework. All our neighbors said DirectTV was far better and worth the few extra dollars.

All in all, satellite is cheaper than cable TV and in some cases you may even get more channels, a free DVR box and free installation. Always check for special offers and call and ask for them if you can’t find any.

In the past, cable television companies have been unwilling to give discounts to people who have been subscribers with them for years. Not the case anymore!

My husband recently got feed up with my huge cable bill and did some research on DishTV and DirectTV. He called the cable company to inform them that he was a loyal subscriber for 5 years but the cost of doing business with them was much greater than changing over to satellite. He explained that he was thinking of canceling our service and asked if they had any loyal customer discounts since they are always running great deals to attract new subscribers. The customer service representative put him on hold to talk to his supervisor. When he returned, he informed him that they would take $20 a month off the bill for the next 6 months if he stayed with them.

Our cable company is Comcast, but based on the level of competition between cable companies and satellite providers, I am betting all cable companies will give you a discount to reduce your cable bill if you ask for one. He told his dad about the discount the next day and he called and asked for a discount too. He stated that that he was trying to reduce his monthly bills and needed to reduce his cable bill. After an on hold wait, the service representative came back on the phone and gave him a $15.00 discount for 6 months. His was slightly less because his monthly bill was less than ours.

It goes to show … you don’t get if you don’t ask. That’s $180.00 saved!

Don’t be afraid to ask … all they can say is NO … and then you can explore other options.

More quick tips to save money. These are easy things to do that will save you money without really trying. With a few phone calls and perhaps a little adjustment of some bad habits and routines … you can be on your way to saving money. These are common sense changes that won’t leave you feeling deprived and going without.

Banking and Insurance

• If you worry about late charges and fees on credit cards, bills, etc., see if you can set up automatic debit to make payments.
• When using your ATM card stay in network to avoid bank charges.
• Get a cash back credit card.
• Get a free checking account. Search around and see who offers free checking with no minimum. Check online banks if you can’t find a brick-and-mortar bank.
• Sign up for overdraft protection to avoid bounced check fees.
• Consider raising your insurance deductibles to lower your premiums.

Cooking

• Cook at home versus going out to eat. We recently had dinner out and were actually disappointed — my husband said he thought my cooking was better and he liked our home atmosphere better. I had to agree. Home cooking it is and we’re saving money at the same time!
• Or, go out for lunch or for appetizers which are cheaper than dinner.
• Hit the early-bird specials and save.

Auto Related

• Lighten your car load — carrying excess weight in your trunk negatively impacts your MPG.

Shopping

• Shop on line. Comparing prices is a snap, you don’t use gas going from store-to-store, in most cases you don’t pay sales tax and can get free shipping … not to mention save money. I recently bought a new cell phone and needed all the chargers, USB cable, etc. It would have cost $40.00+ at the store, but I ended us getting it from a reputable shop on e-bay and paid less than $10.00. Bargin!
• Swap services — bartering is making a come back baby! Swap baby sitting, dog watching, etc. with family, friends and neighbors.

Please share your money saving tips and ideas. Simply register if you’ve not done that already, and then comment away.

Thanks in advance for sharing your money saving tips and participating.