Spend less

101 Ways To Save Money in Everyday Life

May 15, 2012
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101 Ways To Save Money in Everyday Life

This is a follow-up post from the earlier listing of 80 ways to lose money. This time, I am going to increase the number of tips to 101 because these are about saving money (and not losing). Here are 101 ways to save money which are easy to implement as well. Switch off the fan, air conditioner when you leave a room. Apply various driving techniques to save on gas cost. Use fans which rotate when winds blow as you need no electricity for them. Walk as much as you can and use public transport which cost less and save gas. Close the water faucet while brushing. See – Save water, Save money. Close the shower when applying soap or shampoo. Drink lots of cold water to keep your body temperature cool and reduce the need for air conditioning. Use fans instead of air conditioners when it is not too hot. Wash your car or other things on your lawn so don’t need to water them again. Water the lawn or the plants before sunrise or after sunset, to keep air cool and prevent wastage of water. Instead of washing clothes according to color, separately wash the clothes that lose color and wash

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How to Keep Heating Bills Low This Winter

January 6, 2012
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How to Keep Heating Bills Low This Winter

This holiday we had a visitor, an old friend from my childhood.  He and his family currently live in Michigan. While Florida presented them a welcome change of weather, they in turn gave me this frugal story of theirs to keep home heating bills under control.  I was pondering this idea for last few days and ultimately asked for his suggestion. Having a reputation in our dorm for his legendary frugality, this friend of mine is the ultimate authority in cost cutting. Here are some of the techniques he suggests employing at your residence. When using electricity When your thermostat is the one and only option to warm your home. Controlling the thermostat Set it a few degrees lower than you normally do in winter. This will require less energy consumption to heat your home.  If you cannot turn off the heat while you are away, consider setting the thermostat even lower. This will help in lowering the heating bills as well as maintaining a suitable temperature in the house. Ensure proper room insulation Ensure energy is not leaking through the windows. Check and make sure the windows and doors are completely sealed and there’s no space under the doors. The windows should

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How I Saved on Holiday Vacation Expenses

December 14, 2011
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How I Saved on Holiday Vacation Expenses

I just came from one of the most fantastic Thanksgiving holidays with a couple of my friends along with our family. We Drove to Smoky mountains from south Florida, where we enjoyed mountains; Getting away from the plains of Florida was a good change before we officially greet the holiday season with open arms. Of course, there was turkey and plenty of activities and laughter. But what made me happier is the fact that I was able to save a lot of money from the trip; yes, plenty of money. To give you an idea, my total expenses was around 50 percent off the amount I spent last year. The following are the secrets for lower holiday vacation expenses. We booked early Right after Thanksgiving 2010, I already told myself we’re going to spend it in somewhere where we could drive. I went to Boston last year. I had to book flight, rental car and hotel. This year we drove to Smokies; Three families booked a minivan and rented a three bedroom cottage on the Appalachian hill. We booked our cottage in the summer when there was lower demand for thanksgiving accommodation. One of us already stayed in that cottage

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Kathy, Cynthia, Joyce, and Carmen Go Black Friday Shopping

November 7, 2011
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Kathy, Cynthia, Joyce, and Carmen Go Black Friday Shopping

Kathy, Cynthia, Joyce, and Carmen are four friends. Cynthia and Joyce are both married with kids. Kathy is dating, while Carmen is single and ready to mingle.  On a Sunday evening the following conversation took place between them. Kathy: Ladies, what’s the holiday shopping plan? Are we going out on Black Friday? Carmen: I guess I’m going to check out Best Buy. I need to get the catalog first; do you know when it’s coming out? Kathy: Do they publish catalogs? I thought they stopped because employees leaked the catalogs to get advertising on deal sites. Joyce: Really? I don’t think so. I heard that all the stores secretly do that themselves to build excitement for the sales. Come on, do you really think the all-powerful businesses can control government policies but can’t prevent a recurring leak like that? Carmen: But how would that help them?  If people know what’s on sale ahead of time, they might lose interest. Joyce: I doubt it! You know Black Friday shopping is not about getting things you need. Well, for most of us. It’s about momentum. It’s a social thing to shop that day. Carmen, you’re not sure what you’re buying, right? You said you need

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How to Lose Money Everyday in 80 Foolish Ways

August 10, 2011
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As a personal finance reader, most of the time you have read various ways to save and earn more money. Sometimes it helps to know various different ways to lose your money too. The secret of saving lies more in how much you can save rather than on how much you can make. Knowing things that can qualify as ‘losing money’ can help you seal the leak. Do you really need these? Paying for gym membership Buying penny stocks Buying lotto/lottery tickets Buying dresses every week or every month Having daily coffee shot at Starbucks or other coffee joints Paying for week-end shopping spree Paying for magazine subscription if that magazine is not improving your life style or increasing earning potential Using car for short distance travel Not using comparison websites for car, hotel and flight reservation Not paying off full credit card balance every month Paying govt. using credit card, since they always charge service charge for credit cards Charging your loans on credit card Preparing shopping list after searching coupons and discounts, rather than the opposite Paying for fraudulent charges by not properly scrutinizing bills Drawing check before checking bank balance Buying software when alternative is available for free (ex. MS

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Do You Really Need Netflix Subscription, I Don’t

July 18, 2011
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Do You Really Need Netflix Subscription, I Don’t

No, I don’t, I am fine with the way I am, living without Netflix for last 5 years. I ask you to think about your plan too. Do you really need to keep on subscribing to Netflix? This is one of the businesses that is striving on our disposable income, you go to your friend’s house, and seeing him/her using Netflix, you order your’s own, without realizing if you really need it. On the other hand you may be one of those 11M subscribers, who orders Netflix to save on cost of movie tickets at theater, then this article is to let you know that you can save further. You can enjoy new DVD releases with much lesser money or even for free. Let’s take a quick look at Netflix’s price structure (per month) after the recent increase. Unlimited Streaming  = $7.99 Two DVD at a time = $9.99 One DVD at a time = $7.99 Let’s say you are interested in one DVD at a time, how many times you will order a Netflix movie in a month? Probably not more that 4. You will pay $7.99 per month for 4 movies from Netflix. Now let’s see what options you

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How To Get Things For Free – Complete Online Freebie Guide

July 14, 2011
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In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned how did I get my cam corder for free. But I put in some effort to grab that, in this post I will explain you how to easily get freebie online. This post is not to get freebies at brick and mortar shops. that topic still need research and the write-up is not ready yet. Remember, you can not get a very valuable freebie without effort, unless you are as lucky as the lottery owners. I know people take advantage of typos in website product listing and get things worth $400 in $4, once advertised, companies are obligated to sell at that price. Even those people put in hours of hard work finding such mistakes on product pricing. On the contrary, when it comes to cheaper items, we can get freebies at will, with very little effort. Below are the direct link to the freebie pages, grab them and make yours forever. What to do to get things for free? Click the links below and get things for free, that simple! Bookmark this page for future reference, you can’t get a better compilation anywhere on internet. Good luck! Free Daily Deals Tons

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Three Largest Energy Guzzling Appliances And How to Cut Cost On Them

July 4, 2011
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My Mrs. is a Masters in ecology, she has many subscription to green energy, clean energy magazines. She always reminds me to innovate ways to cut costs on our daily energy usage. Recently I came across a few tips on saving energy on household appliances supplied in mailer from our utility company FPL. I had already written three articles related to energy usage How To Save Money by saving water, How I save some money on Earth day and How to save on Gas prices. This is my another green attempt to remind all our readers on the relative ease with which you can control energy usage to generate maximum save. I will only talk about 3 most energy-consuming appliances in your home if you concentrate on controlling energy usage on these three things, you can save up to 40% of your energy bill. This is what I called efficient and most productive way to derive maximum result. Oh, certainly you use energy-efficient bulb, but, did you ever calculate how much you could save by using an energy-efficient bulb in one year? Let me tell you it’s minuscule, rather, I will encourage you to do whatever you can to save the planet and

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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this web site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”