19 Simple Ways to Save Big with Small Changes is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money 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.

Save the Planet & Your Pocketbook by Reusing Items is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

At the core of frugal living is the conscious behavior to REUSE  and RECYCLE things over and over again, and find creative new uses for old things. And by simply reusing items you REDUCE purchases which will save you money, and you also greatly lessen the environmental impact on the planet — a double whammy of savings.

Here’s a quick rundown of Living Frugal Tips for household items that I reuse and creative ways to recycle them for new uses.

Hotel Shower Caps – When traveling and staying in a hotel, take the shower cap. These are great to use to cover a food dish. There is no need to buy the pricey Cover Mate brand food covers when a shower cap will do just fine.

Wine Corks – I love my wine and these have served several purposes. First I made two trivets (hot plates) out of them as fun gifts for my girlfriends. You can glue together for a fun cork board too. I also use them in the bottom of my potted plants to provide proper drainage. I’ve done this for years and they work great. Buy now you’re probably wondering … just how much wine does she drink …

Tea Bags – Keep after making tea to later be used to relieve tired sore eyes like a hot compress. Simply reheat in warm water and gently rest on closed lids. Or, cut the bags open and sprinkle the contents on your garden plants as a natural fertilizer.

Ziploc Storage Bags – I rinse and reuse these all the time. You can even put them in the top rack of the dishwasher, opened up over one of the item separators for an extra clean. You can get many, many, many uses from a single baggie. Thanks to heightened airport security I now use and prefer these to pack all my travel toiletries as everything is visible.

Old Toothbrush – Use to clean jewelry, dirty tile grout and hard to reach places.

Glass or Plastic Jars – The plastic screw top canisters of peanuts I bought now hold my dry goods – flour and sugar – to keep them fresh and free of those darn little bugs. You can also cut the tops off plastic container and reuse for starter planters.

Egg Cartons – Great for crafts for kids (egg holder, bell and piper cleaner for a bell ornament), or use for starter planters for the garden.

Rosebud Salve Tins – They are the perfect purse size containers to store aspirin or vitamins. Or mints if you’ve bought a big money-saving tin and need something smaller to keep a stash. Also check out my past post for the other uses for Rosebud Salve.

Simply Orange (orange juice contain) – I’ve got two of these in the fridge that hold cold water for my two dogs. One perfectly fills there two bowls so there is always one that’s cold. No need for fancy pitchers.

Baby/Handy Wipes Container – No baby here, but keep the wipes in the boat or bring kayaking for cleanup. I now use the empty container to store my makeup. It’s a great handy size, the top clicks shut. Perfect.

Old Socks – I reuse old socks and put knots in these to make dog toys. I also put a tennis ball in one with a knot at the top for another dog toy alternative. My husband also relegates his old dirty looking socks as his yard work socks so he can keep his good socks lasting longer. Everything gets traded down.

Old Greeting Cards – Keep all the many holiday cards that you receive and you can easily create gift tags from old cards. All you need are pinking shears, a hole punch and some ribbon. Or, another use is to take the same crafty approach, but make them with the full length of the card and make bookmarks.

Plastic Knives and Forks – Save the little packs from the fast food restaurants. You can bring these with your bagged lunch and wash for continued reuse. Or, bringing your own silverware and keeping it at the office as I do works too and it’s better for the environment than all the plastic.

Reuse Plastic Bags – I use the recycle bags for 90% of my shopping, but in the event that I forget them I keep the plastic grocery bags and reuse old bags to bring my lunch or as “poop” bags. Not to worry I don’t mix these two. Also, I notice more and more stores asking for them back. Target is running a special. Send in 5 plastic Target bags and they will send you a $1.00 off coupon for on of there Recycle bags.

Old T-shirts – I’ reuse old t-shirts to add more stuffing to flat decorative pillows that need a little more fluff. I also cut them up and use them as cleaning rags.

Binder Clips – I use one to roll up my toothpaste tube as I use it. I also use them as chip clips.

Old Boxes, Bows and Gift Wrap – In my house I turned them into Quick and Cheap Christmas Door Decor.

Baking Soda – One product with so many uses to clean your home. Take it from your fridge as a deodorizer and then use to clean your drain. Read 30 Ways to Clean Your home with Baking Soda for many more uses for how to REUSE.

Plastic Scoops – The scoops that come in my protein powder contains are now used for scoop out my morning coffee. Two scoops is the perfect amount to make a full pot. I also have one to scoop my sugar and one for my flour.

Old books or Notebooks – Learn How to Make a Secret Gadget Holder or to stash your treasures by using old books and notebooks.

Cigar Boxes – I got these from a friend and use as decorations on my plant shelves, and for storage — cards in one, electronic gadgets in another.

The list of Living Frugal Tips and ways to reuse and recycle things goes on, but these are some creative thought-starters for now. Please share any other items and their suggested new uses and let’s keep the recycling dialogue going.

Peace to the planet … and our pocketbooks!

How to Make a Secret Gadget Holder from a Notebook is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

Notebook Turned into Tech Gadget Secret Storage

In the spirit of reduce, REUSE, and recycle, I wanted to share this great idea from my cousin Michael. He took an old classic Moleskine notebook and creatively turned it into a very handy, very personalized gadget organizer to hold his iPod, headphones, and numerous jump drives. Brilliant! Make secret storage from a book or notebook.

While not a new idea, it certainly wins creative points for what it’s stashing and for how it’s perfectly customized to fit each item.

Instructions – How to Make Secret Storage from a Book or Notebook:

1.  Find an old notebook or book. Consider the intended purpose before selecting. The old Moleskine notebook he used was great for the tech toys because it has the built in elastic band to hold it shut. This makes it great for portable storage versus a secret storage book that might sit on your bookshelf and not require something to hold it shut.

2.  Mix Elmer’s glue with a small amount of water until the glue becomes slightly runny. About 2/3 glue to 1/3 water. You don’t need much.

3.  Choose a page of the book or notebook where you want the storage to start.

4.  Hold all the pages together that you intend to cut, then start brushing the edges with the glue solution. You want the pages to absorb the glue, but you don’t want it to drip.

5.  Allow the solution to dry for about an hour or so. Close the book but keep a spacer in between the loose pages and glued sections or you can keep the book/notebook open to dry. The key is to just keep the loose and glued section separate.

6.  Once dry, open the book to the first glued page and layout the items you want to store and trace around them with a pencil.

7. Start cutting using a razor knife or box cutter along the lines. This can be a bit time consuming since it’s hard to cut more than a few pages at a time. Just be patient.

8. Once finished cutting to the bottom cover of the notebook or book, remove the extra paper bits to make it as clean as possible.

9. Next, it’s recommended to brush the insides of the storage space(s) with the glue solution. If it drips it will dry clear and not be noticeable inside.

10.  Once completely dry, it’s ready to fill with your secret stash of tech toys or other valuable treasures.

Have fun with this Living Frugal Tips project and make secret storage from a book or notebook — it’s a great way to REUSE something old and turn it into something new.

14 Fun Ways to Pass the Day Trapped Inside is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

Photo by DigitalRedEye

If you find yourself trapped at home and on the brink of going stir-crazy due to inclement weather caused by rain, sleet, snow and ice — here are 14 things to do when trapped inside.

These Living Frugal Tips are low-cost or no-cost ways to have fun.

1. Have a movie marathon – curl up with pillows, blankets and popcorn and watch your favorite movies on TV or DVD.

2. Recycle garbage into art - grab the contents of your recycle bin, scissors, glue, construction paper, glitter and whatever else you have on hand and lay it all out on the kitchen table and get creative with your kids. They have amazing imaginations and can truly turn trash into treasures.

3. Clean out your clothes closets – The upside to this drudgery task is that you can then plan a clothes swap with your friends where you all bring in your discarded clothing items and trade them. Great saving money tips to update your wardrobe without spending a dime.

4. Break out the board games – Monopoly, Twister, Yahtzee, and good old fashion card games are making a huge comeback and bring families together.

5. Plan a treasure hunt – I did this for my nephews and it was a hug hit. Make up clues on individual sheets of paper, each leading to the next clue and then hide them. A sample clue might be: “Push a button and I run, you’ll hear a bell when your food is done.” This would lead kids to the microwave where they would find the next clue. You can vary the difficulty level by age. Of course there is a treasure that they find in the end. This can be a little box of spare change or a piece of candy or a little hand-made coupon entitling them to a special privilege like staying up one hour later.

6. Turn old cards into gift tags – If you saved your Christmas cards or old birthday cards, you can take your pinking shears, hole punch and ribbon and turn them into gift tags for future use. See my post on Creating Gift Tags from Old Cards.

7. Cook make-ahead meals – Another Living Frugal Tip is to go to your pantry and see what you have on hand that you can use to whip up some make-ahead meals for the coming week. Crockpot soups, pulled pork, meatloaf, lasagna, and baked spaghetti are all great options. Simply make, bake and store in the refrigerator or freezer for quick meals later.

8. Get out and play – Depending on the weather conditions, you can certainly still get out and play in the snow. I have fond memories of sledding, skating, and making snow forts. But the best part of all was coming back inside to a warm fire and homemade hot chocolate!

9. Creative snowman contest – Each family member can make a snowman and then use different household items to dress and decorate it. Take pictures and share on Facebook or via email with friends and family.

10. Take a trip down memory lane – Watch old home movies or go through old photo albums and reminisce.

11. Make a fort – We all remember the fun we had making forts as kids. A cozy, creative place where we could hideout and play. Do it again, with or without your kids.

12. Read a good book – You can curl up and read your favorite novel or if you have kids you can create a reading circle where you read together from your favorite book, each taking turns to read a page or chapter out loud.

13. Make gifts from the heart – Get creative and make a gift for an upcoming holiday.

14. Have an at home spa day – Perform a series of “at-home spa treatments” with your little girls or girl friends. Style each others hair, do a facial mask, paint your fingers and toes, take a bubble bath. Have fun with it and relax.

Please add to these fun Living Frugal Tips and saving money tips and share other fun things to do when trapped inside. Regardless of what you do, have fun and make it a great day no matter what you do!

Photo Credit: DigitalRedEye (License)

Another Use for Your Flat Iron is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

While reading one of my magazines I came across a great tip for another use for my flat iron. I got super excited since my short hair no longer requires the extra pain-staking measure of blow drying and then using the flat iron to get that stick-straight, sleek look that took all sorts of unnecessary time every morning. Yippee!

Idea: Used on the low setting, you can use your flat iron as a handy travel iron.

While you’ll need to change your ironing technique a bit, it’s a great idea that I’m going to try.

Let’s swap ideas — please share any other suggested ideas and uses for this handy little tool. I just love when I can find multiple uses for things.

Let the idea swap begin!

Create Gift Tags from Old Cards is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

In the spirit of recycling and reusing things as much as possible, this is a great idea from Living Frugal Tips to save you money and make use of old Christmas cards or any old cards for that matter. Instead of throwing them away each year, cut off or cut out the front of the card and use them as gift tags. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember.

You can make them as simple or as embellished as you wish. The easiest thing to do is simply use pinking shears to cut off the front or cut out the card image, punch a whole in the corner, and string a ribbon through the corner. If you want to jazz them up a bit more you can add glitter, buttons, or bows to the front of the gift tag.

This is a very quick and very easy project to create gift tags from old cards and save you money too. If you want more ideas on how to reuse your old cards you can also go to ehow.com.

With that said, save your holiday cards this season and turn the old into something new for next year. If you have kids, this can turn into a fun post-holiday craft session on a rainy or snowy day.

Quick and Cheap Christmas Door Decor is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

Christmas Door Decor

Christmas Door Decor

If you find yourself wondering what you can do to spruce up your front door for the holidays, here is a quick and cheap Christmas door decor idea that will also save you money.

After last years holidays I pitched my old door wreath and fake poinsetta plants that had survived far too many years of wear, but was then left wondering what to do for this years holidays. Not wanting to spend the money now on new items when I can get them 1/2 price the day after Christmas … I got creative.

It’s a beautifully wrapped present — unique, fun and unexpected … and dare I say the hit of the neighborhood.

Instructions:

Step 1 – Find a sturdy cardboard box. .

Step 2 – Poke two holes in the top corner of the box and insert a plastic tie, string or wire which will serve as the hanger. I used a little plastic zip-tie.

Step 3 – Tape the box shut and then wrap it up in your favorite gift wrap. Make sure to cut a little slit in the back to expose your hanger. Then add a beautiful bow.

Step 4 – Now it’s ready to hang. I used another plastic zip-tie and secured it to my door.

Quick and easy Living Frugal Tips idea that will save you money. I saved money and used stuff that I had to make this homemade door decor. I color-coordinated it with the house color and added a few lights to a plant that I had on the front porch and that was it.

A minimalist approach.

Be creative. It’s fun!

Reuse Old Things to Make a New Centerpiece is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

While decorating for the holidays I wanted a little something to put on my coffee table. But I didn’t want to spend money buying something new that once the holidays were over would just take up space and collect dust. So, in the spirit of turning something old into something new, I wanted to share this quick and easy centerpiece idea.

I rummaged through the house and came across the silver charger that I bought last year after Christmas at Target for 75% off. Next I grabbed my beautiful glass bowl that normally holds my match collection. After emptying the matches and neatly tucking them away until after the holidays I had a start.

Next I needed something to fill it with. I started with the candle and then used some festive cloth napkins and some fun glass bead napkin holders to complete the look.

It’s nothing special, but at night when the candle is lit the beads sparkle  and it brings great joy in knowing that it didn’t cost me a penny.

It’s fun and easy to be resourceful and remix or reuse old things to create something new. Give it a try

Wear Old Jeans & Save Money, Water & Planet is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

Learn how wearing your old jeans can save money, water and the planet all at the same time. These mind-blowing Eco facts will make you think twice before running out to buy the next tend in blue jeans.

• Eco fact: It takes 1,500 gallons of water to produce 1.5 pounds of cotton which is the amount required to make one pair of blue jeans! And this doesn’t include the additional water used to dye and finish the fabric.

• Eco fact: On average, 450 million pairs of jeans are sold in the United States every year. This is an average of 1.5 pairs per person. But, the average woman has eight pairs of jeans. And I know a few fashionistas that probably have twice that.

• Mathematically that’s 675,000,000,000 gallons of water per year just to keep up with the cotton production for jeans alone. Then you factor in the toxic chemicals used to distress and dye the jeans and it’s a bit crazy to think about.

While there are organic cotton options that are naturally died these eco-jeans are more expensive. They are also coming out with jeans made from bamboo which seems to be the new super eco-product of choice for everything from jeans to floors.

I’m not suggesting we stop buying and wearing jeans or cotton clothes for that matter. What I am suggesting is that you stop and think before you decide you must have that latest, greatest new jean — the skinny jean, wide-leg, boot cut, low-ride, slim cut, full cut, straight cut, distressed, destroyed, boy-cut, capri, baggy, relaxed fit, loose fit …

Just stop and think about these eco facts. Buy Less. Hold on to what you have. Wear your clothes well … and wear them for a long while. And, pull them back out when the style comes back around again — because you know it will. Another twist … think about how “in fashion” being out of fashion can be.

Peace out.

Source: Onearth magazine, winter 2009

Three Sites That Help You Save Money is a post from: LivingFrugalTips.com - Learn about: Living Frugal, Frugal Tips, Saving Money, Saving Money Tips

I love the little used book store at my library. For $1.28 I got 12 magazines! The benefits of this are great: 1.) I buy all sorts of different magazines that I would never subscribe to and get to read about all different topics, 2.) buying my library magazines is classified as “reusing” and 3.) when I give them back to the library for someone else to read … I’m “recycling.” 4.) Another huge benefit to my library magazine madness is I save tons of money!

Anyway, the magazine of choice last night was one that I’ve not heard of – Experience Life Magazine. Very interesting and amazing articles about being happy, healthy and living an enriched, authentic life. Love it! I dog-eared half the magazine for pages to return to and wanted to share a few money saving resources I cam across.

Bookswim – This is basically a Netflix concept applied to books. For a monthly fee (there website says $9.95 for the first month) you basically select 3 books at a time to read. They send them right to your door and you return them when done and receive your next must-read favorites. And there are no due dates. This is a pretty interesting concept if you love to read all the new best-sellers right away and don’t like to keep the books you read or mark in them. Best-sellers take a while to get to the library. Personally I love to mark, dog-ear pages and ultimately keep my books. My dream is to have my own library in my house one day — you know the ceiling-high book cases with the sliding ladder.

Freecycle – This is an amazing concept that you must check out. It’s basically like a Craigs List, but everything that you get rid of you are giving away for free. Very cool. I just signed up for my closest neighborhood this morning and can’t wait to dig in and check it out. I always feel good when I give people things and especially if they need something that I’m wanting to get rid of. I wish I had thought of this!

BarterQuest – If you would rather exchange something versus giving it away for free, then check out this site. I was reading a trend report earlier in the week and bartering is making a huge comeback.

I could keep going with all the useful information that I found in this one little magazine, but I’m running out of time. Gotta work you know. Anyway, I wanted to end with a wonderful quote to inspire and set the tone for the day:

“Live simply so that others may simply live.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Peace out.