This is a favorite topic here on the blog, money saving strategies. Okay, here goes my ramble...
The closest grocery store to me, a Kroger-based market, recently did a huge remodel and expansion, knocking out several other storefronts. They put in wine racks atop foofy woodsy flooring, an enormous deli area, new tiling, self-checkouts, an expanded floral department with fountains, you name it.
This is their official Grand Opening week. According to my neighbor, they handed out roses to lady customers, but I missed that day. They also had boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.49 lb. I bought several packs. As I began transferring the first pack of chicken into freezer bags, I noticed that the whole thing appeared to have been repacked and the chicken felt slimy, had some odor, and --the worst part of all--there appeared to be metal shavings on one piece. The other two packs were perfectly fine. Naturally, I took the offending chicken back to the store. To my surprise, the gave me double my money back minus a dollar. I think they shorted me a dollar because they were kind of nervous and were worried about disgusting raw chicken juices getting all over the place.
Of course, I was happy to have mostly double my money back in my pocket. The raw chicken juices were a bit worrisome and just completely gross, though. So on my way out of the store I took several of the free disinfectant wipes available for wiping down grocery carts. On the way to my car, I got to feeling a bit disgruntled about my missing dollar and I got to thinking about possible chicken juices in my car. So I went back and got a fistful of those disinfectant wipes and I wiped down a good portion of the dash and front doors and seats of my car.
MONEY SAVING TIP #1: Don't be lazy about returning food that is substandard.
MONEY SAVING TIP #2: Use free store disinfectant wipes to detail the inside of your car.
MONEY SAVING TIP #3: Why not take a handful of free toilet seat protectors to take home? There are many handy uses for them.
MONEY SAVING TIP #4: Hoard ketchup, mustard, and other condiment packets. They all taste great in either meatloaf, burritos, or tuna sandwich filling.
MONEY SAVING TIP #5: Attend Grand Openings of various businesses (if your child can cope with new and busy situations). There is usually an abundance of free hot dogs, balloons, etc.
If you have any more serious or silly MONEY SAVING TIPS, please comment.
Here's another thing I've
Here's another thing I've wasted money on because I didn't do my research: Vision Care (glasses).
What was really helpful for me was to call up my vision plan and ask them what my benefit amounts were. My optometrists office was helpful and gave me a more direct phone number for my insurance and forewarned me to press "0" for operator during the opening message to avoid going into an endless phone loop where you can never type in your DOB and SSN and plan number correctly.
Then, when I had that information, I went into the optometrists and asked for ONLY what I could afford without paying extra. It was surprising how helpful that was. A lot of times I would pick out an expensive frame and simply pay whatever they asked because I liked the look. But there are lots of other frames that I can live with. Also, this time around I didn't get the $60 anti-reflective coating. I figure I can use my last pair of anti-reflective glasses for driving at night, which I don't do a whole lot of anyway.
Have a food swap
Have a food swap get-together. Do you have some food that you bought and then wondered, "why did I buy 10 of these soups when I really am not going to eat them?"
Well since poop is so
Well since poop is so plentiful around here lately, I thought of ways to use it..... okay you could build a wall, use
poop for mortar between the bricks (especially helpful if you dont like your neighbor lol), then there's the
old stand~by, THE flaming paper bag of poop on the front porch trick. Oh you could frost a cake for that
neighbor you hate (you know the one that steals your morning paper). AND my favorite, lets throw a bunch
of kid crap at Denis Leary =)~~~
You know, you're the 2nd
You know, you're the 2nd person in 2 days I've had mention a flaming bag of poop to me. There's this very mean elderly lady a few streets away and all of the gardeners are afraid of her. She yells at them if they try to do any sort of gardening maintenance. The homeowners association knows how this lady is, so they don't enforce the rules for her. Which is REALLY annoying. Her house looks like the haunted one on the block--no need for her to decorate for Halloween!!! Anyway, you can see why a flaming bag of poop was suggested by some of her neighbors.
LOL
LOL
Interesting article on The
Interesting article on The New Age of Frugality on Yahoo today:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105938/The-New-Age-of...
and a frugality blog:
http://suddenlyfrugal.blogspot.com/
Here's a good one to make
Here's a good one to make liquid fabric softner go alot further. Dissolve a half a cup of softner in a
cup of water, keep it in a jar or plastic container along with a white wash cloth. Now all you have to
do is take out that wash cloth, ring it out and toss it in your dryer. After your load drys take that same
wash cloth & put it back in your fabric softner. Your clothes will smell just as fresh & be just as soft
and your fabric softner will last ALOT longer.
I use vinegar for cleaning
I use vinegar for cleaning around here. I buy it in a big home brand bottle.
I use it in the dishwasher as a rinser, makes glasses sparkle.
I use it in a spray container filled up with half vinegar, half water and some eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil. and I spray it all over everywhere.
Benches are clean.
For the bathroom I use it with bi carb soda. But every now and then I buy something stronger like bleach.
I Love it!!! Very useful
I Love it!!! Very useful strategies for saving money. LOL
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