I decided in December of last year that I'd like to try a new experiment when it comes to free stuff. I decided to try to get free coffee for the entire year, whether through samples, coupons, or rebates. So far, I've contacted 8'Oclock Coffee and got two bags of coffee free. Since I'm the only one who drinks coffee here, I still have a bag and a half left. (Learn How to Contact Companies for Coupons) I also got some samples from a recent hotel stay.
Just today, I was able to sign up early for a Starbucks BzzAgent campaign. I'm anticipating either a free bag of coffee outright, or a coupon for a free bag. So, at the start of March, total money spent on coffee the entire year: $0. I would guess, before having the Starbucks coffee, that I have enough coffee to last at least until April.
Another key to saving money on coffee which I do nearly every time I make a pot, I add some dried, ground dandelion root. Since I have issues with kidneys/liver, the dandelion root really helps. Adding a little to the coffee grounds helps to get rid of dark circles around the eyes and relieve menstrual cramps. I know I sure have felt a difference. I picked the dandelion root and roasted it myself, so I spent no money on it.
Showing posts with label save money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label save money. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tis the Season for Televisions!
If ever there was a time to get a quality television on the cheap, this is it! Many electronics stores are holding sales online and in-store. With the electronics industry suffering the same as other industries (perhaps even more so) and new technologies being released and scheduled for release, the perfect storm is brewing for consumers to get a great deal. The Quintessential Cheapskate is going to predict great deals on televisions now through the end of January.
Some tips on snaging an awesome price on a quality television:
-research the size and type of television you want.
-get a 1080 if the television is over 40 inches, get a 720 if the TV is under 40 inches.
-shop around for the best deal; if you don't, you may find you didn't get such a great deal after all.
-get cables and the wall mount (if desired) seperately from the TV. If you shop around for television components, you'll find you can pay a fraction of the price as you would if you had gotten everything all together with the television.
-plan to future-proof your TV set as much as possible. Plan to have this TV for a while.
Some tips on snaging an awesome price on a quality television:
-research the size and type of television you want.
-get a 1080 if the television is over 40 inches, get a 720 if the TV is under 40 inches.
-shop around for the best deal; if you don't, you may find you didn't get such a great deal after all.
-get cables and the wall mount (if desired) seperately from the TV. If you shop around for television components, you'll find you can pay a fraction of the price as you would if you had gotten everything all together with the television.
-plan to future-proof your TV set as much as possible. Plan to have this TV for a while.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Buring Wood
Is a wood stove or fireplace for you? Do you already have one in your home but don't know whether it would be cost-effective to use it? Some simple math can help you decide.
Look at your energy bill. How much do you pay for heat? Let's say last December you paid $310 for heat. Divide the number by the days in the month, in this case, 31, to get how much you pay for heat each day. In this case, it would be $10 per day.
How much would wood or pellets cost? Let's say you could get a chord of wood for $200. You could use the chord to heat your house for 50 days (depending on the type of wood and the type of fireplace, wood stove, etc). $200 divided by 50 equals $4. So you could heat the house for $4 a day for 50 days using a chord of wood.
This means you could save $6 per day on your heating costs by switching to wood for 50 days. $6 per day multiplied by 50 days equals $300. Nice.
Don't forget to account for the other costs associated with using a wood stove or fireplace: having it cleaned once a year or every other year (depending on how often you use it), buying tools to help stir the fire and clean the ash, and maybe some fire starters. Let's say this stuff costs you $100 per year. This means, using the wood stove, even just on weekends, can save $200 per year. If you're home on the weekends, and you already have a wood stove or fireplace, why not save a little money?
Look at your energy bill. How much do you pay for heat? Let's say last December you paid $310 for heat. Divide the number by the days in the month, in this case, 31, to get how much you pay for heat each day. In this case, it would be $10 per day.
How much would wood or pellets cost? Let's say you could get a chord of wood for $200. You could use the chord to heat your house for 50 days (depending on the type of wood and the type of fireplace, wood stove, etc). $200 divided by 50 equals $4. So you could heat the house for $4 a day for 50 days using a chord of wood.
This means you could save $6 per day on your heating costs by switching to wood for 50 days. $6 per day multiplied by 50 days equals $300. Nice.
Don't forget to account for the other costs associated with using a wood stove or fireplace: having it cleaned once a year or every other year (depending on how often you use it), buying tools to help stir the fire and clean the ash, and maybe some fire starters. Let's say this stuff costs you $100 per year. This means, using the wood stove, even just on weekends, can save $200 per year. If you're home on the weekends, and you already have a wood stove or fireplace, why not save a little money?
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Revamp and Redaeux
The Quintessential Cheapskate is back! After a rather lengthy hiatus to deal with other projects and "real life", the Quintessential Cheapskate is back on, with more practical tips on saving money in your everyday life. The blog even has a new tag line: "Because being frugal is cool!"
Check back often for new postings, including ideas on watering house plants, using a wood stove or fireplace, and even help figuring taxes. We'll also be discussing Christmas spending and the January hangover.
Now that we're back on, it's time to shake up personal finance once again! Check back soon!
Check back often for new postings, including ideas on watering house plants, using a wood stove or fireplace, and even help figuring taxes. We'll also be discussing Christmas spending and the January hangover.
Now that we're back on, it's time to shake up personal finance once again! Check back soon!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Saving Money through Self-Sufficiency
Being more self-sufficient is a foreign concept to a lot of us. More and more people are begining to rely more on themselves because of the troubled economy. I've decided to add some links to my blog to articles on self-sufficiency to help those looking to become more self-sufficient.
How to Make Laundry Soap
How to Clean with Vinegar
How to Make Hand Soap
How to Roast Dandelion Root
How to Make Pizza Crust
How to Make Laundry Soap
How to Clean with Vinegar
How to Make Hand Soap
How to Roast Dandelion Root
How to Make Pizza Crust
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Buying in Bulk
Buying in bulk is something anyone can do- it just takes a few tricks and some space to do so. I'll share some tips I use when buying in bulk.
Check the price. Seems obvious, I know, but hear me out. In our current economic climate, even I am getting weary of buying in bulk because I worry the price will go down. If I find something at a price I haven't seen in a while, I will buy the product. My attitude on this is that even if I do end up inadvertently spending more now on, say, Kleenex, if I find a sale for even cheaper I'll get more then. Meantime I doubt I'll find as good a sale any time soon.
Buy things with long expiration dates. Kleenex does not expire. If I buy something that has a short expiration, I make sure to process it as quickly as possible to preserve it. I recently bough ten pounds of chicken for 49 cents a pound, an awesome deal in my area. As soon as I got home from the store, I divided it into freezer bags and put it in my chest freezer. Now in a few months when all my vegetables are ready for harvesting, I'll be ready to make and can soup.
Plan ahead. Make sure you know ahead of time where you'll put items that you buy in bulk. Before I left for the store I checked to make sure I had room in my freezer for my chicken. I have a designated place for Kleenex (I actually usually buy Puffs), toilet paper, shampoo, et cetra. Make sure you're organized! Also be sure you have all the equipment you'll need to process your bulk purchase. I bought a peck of apples this summer to process into canned apple sauce. I already knew I had the cans, the water bath pot, and so on.
Do the math. This goes back to my first point, but do be sure you are getting an awesome deal. I recently got toilet paper at half it's regular price, so I got a few packages. I know I probably won't find it cheaper any time soon. It's the probably part that kept me from getting more packages.
Tips for beginners. First of all, before you start bulking up, make sure you are well-aware of current prices. How good of a price can you get on toilet paper or chicken? Is that the absolute lowest price? Make sure you know. Secondly, don't bulk up all at once! You'll have no money left, and you'll most likely have to buy all that stuff again all at once because you'll run out of everything all at once. Use coupons whenever you can. My motto is, a dollar is a dollar. If you use a fifty-cents-off coupon on a $20 worth of hot dogs or whatever, you not only saved money on the hot dogs by buying that much all at once, presumably, but you still saved fifty cents on top of that.
Finally, just so we're clear, I'm not talking about walking into some wharehouse club and getting agiant pack of toilet paper just because it's in a giant pack. You're usually better off getting this stuff at your local grocery store in small packages. The trick is to get a large quantity of smaller packages. Say you buy 4 packs of Kleenex for a super good price. If you have four fifty cents-off coupons, you saved yourself two more dollars.
I'll be back in a few days with more money-saving tips! Enjoy your Monday!
Check the price. Seems obvious, I know, but hear me out. In our current economic climate, even I am getting weary of buying in bulk because I worry the price will go down. If I find something at a price I haven't seen in a while, I will buy the product. My attitude on this is that even if I do end up inadvertently spending more now on, say, Kleenex, if I find a sale for even cheaper I'll get more then. Meantime I doubt I'll find as good a sale any time soon.
Buy things with long expiration dates. Kleenex does not expire. If I buy something that has a short expiration, I make sure to process it as quickly as possible to preserve it. I recently bough ten pounds of chicken for 49 cents a pound, an awesome deal in my area. As soon as I got home from the store, I divided it into freezer bags and put it in my chest freezer. Now in a few months when all my vegetables are ready for harvesting, I'll be ready to make and can soup.
Plan ahead. Make sure you know ahead of time where you'll put items that you buy in bulk. Before I left for the store I checked to make sure I had room in my freezer for my chicken. I have a designated place for Kleenex (I actually usually buy Puffs), toilet paper, shampoo, et cetra. Make sure you're organized! Also be sure you have all the equipment you'll need to process your bulk purchase. I bought a peck of apples this summer to process into canned apple sauce. I already knew I had the cans, the water bath pot, and so on.
Do the math. This goes back to my first point, but do be sure you are getting an awesome deal. I recently got toilet paper at half it's regular price, so I got a few packages. I know I probably won't find it cheaper any time soon. It's the probably part that kept me from getting more packages.
Tips for beginners. First of all, before you start bulking up, make sure you are well-aware of current prices. How good of a price can you get on toilet paper or chicken? Is that the absolute lowest price? Make sure you know. Secondly, don't bulk up all at once! You'll have no money left, and you'll most likely have to buy all that stuff again all at once because you'll run out of everything all at once. Use coupons whenever you can. My motto is, a dollar is a dollar. If you use a fifty-cents-off coupon on a $20 worth of hot dogs or whatever, you not only saved money on the hot dogs by buying that much all at once, presumably, but you still saved fifty cents on top of that.
Finally, just so we're clear, I'm not talking about walking into some wharehouse club and getting agiant pack of toilet paper just because it's in a giant pack. You're usually better off getting this stuff at your local grocery store in small packages. The trick is to get a large quantity of smaller packages. Say you buy 4 packs of Kleenex for a super good price. If you have four fifty cents-off coupons, you saved yourself two more dollars.
I'll be back in a few days with more money-saving tips! Enjoy your Monday!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Making a Grocery List
Making a grocery list is an essential part of saving money on groceries. The process of making a grocery list seems simple and straight-forward at first glance, but it can get quite complicated. The easiest way to make the most concise grocery list is outlined below.
Look in your cupboards. If you tend to be forgetful or if you have a lot of different things in your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer, it would be best to make a list of what you already have available. If you already have a routine set as to what you have and what you usually get, you can get by without making an actual list. I would recommend making the whole big list every now and again in order to force yourself to stay current with what ingredients you have so nothing spoils and goes to waste.
Write up a meal plan. This can be done weekly or monthly. I prefer to make my meal plan weekly in order to best utilize left-overs. I can't commit to a specific dinner a month in advance, anyway, but to each their own. Be sure to include ingredients you have on hand in your meal plan. If you don't plan to use something, what is the point of having bought it?
Look at your grocery store ads. By this point in the process you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to get from the grocery store. Looking at the sales helps because you can buy one thing over another to save money. For example, let's say you have celery and carrots in your fridge. You've decided to use them to make soup. You can use pretty much any meat to make a soup, so when the ad says chicken is on sale, your choice is pretty simple. Obviously you are not bound to buy only what is on sale and use it only this week. Using sales is a great way to stock up on items you use regularly.
Match up sales and coupons. The secret's out: this is how I get a lot of free groceries. It's quite simple, really, it just takes time. I get a lot of pasta this way, along with other various items: frozen snacks, cereal bars, oatmeal, and so on. As far as stocking up, yes, I definitely buy pasta in quantity when I can get it for free! Of coarse I won't use all the pasta all at once, but it stores well.
Write your list. Now you can write your list, including sale prices and making notes of coupons. I like to write out the sale price and the price minus coupon so I know how much money I will be spending at the grocery store. I usually spend about $17 per week on groceries on average for my family of four.
Look in your cupboards. If you tend to be forgetful or if you have a lot of different things in your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer, it would be best to make a list of what you already have available. If you already have a routine set as to what you have and what you usually get, you can get by without making an actual list. I would recommend making the whole big list every now and again in order to force yourself to stay current with what ingredients you have so nothing spoils and goes to waste.
Write up a meal plan. This can be done weekly or monthly. I prefer to make my meal plan weekly in order to best utilize left-overs. I can't commit to a specific dinner a month in advance, anyway, but to each their own. Be sure to include ingredients you have on hand in your meal plan. If you don't plan to use something, what is the point of having bought it?
Look at your grocery store ads. By this point in the process you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to get from the grocery store. Looking at the sales helps because you can buy one thing over another to save money. For example, let's say you have celery and carrots in your fridge. You've decided to use them to make soup. You can use pretty much any meat to make a soup, so when the ad says chicken is on sale, your choice is pretty simple. Obviously you are not bound to buy only what is on sale and use it only this week. Using sales is a great way to stock up on items you use regularly.
Match up sales and coupons. The secret's out: this is how I get a lot of free groceries. It's quite simple, really, it just takes time. I get a lot of pasta this way, along with other various items: frozen snacks, cereal bars, oatmeal, and so on. As far as stocking up, yes, I definitely buy pasta in quantity when I can get it for free! Of coarse I won't use all the pasta all at once, but it stores well.
Write your list. Now you can write your list, including sale prices and making notes of coupons. I like to write out the sale price and the price minus coupon so I know how much money I will be spending at the grocery store. I usually spend about $17 per week on groceries on average for my family of four.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Save Money on Food
It's easy to save money on food if you know how. It becomes second nature. And it's fun!
Saving money on groceries may be as simple as matching up sales and coupons. I do this all the time and routinely come home with free items. Especially if you have a store in your area that has a double coupon day, it may be worth going on that day. Remember, though, if you end up spending more than you planned in order to reach the minimum purchase requirement to get the coupons doubled (or tripled) it may not be worth it. If you spend $10 more than you planned in order to get $5 more in coupons, you're still not coming out ahead.
Planning ahead is essential in order to save money on food. Make a budget for your food. Make a grocery list. Organize your coupons.
This post is an introduction to the wonderful world of grocery shopping. More tips and tricks will follow.
Saving money on groceries may be as simple as matching up sales and coupons. I do this all the time and routinely come home with free items. Especially if you have a store in your area that has a double coupon day, it may be worth going on that day. Remember, though, if you end up spending more than you planned in order to reach the minimum purchase requirement to get the coupons doubled (or tripled) it may not be worth it. If you spend $10 more than you planned in order to get $5 more in coupons, you're still not coming out ahead.
Planning ahead is essential in order to save money on food. Make a budget for your food. Make a grocery list. Organize your coupons.
This post is an introduction to the wonderful world of grocery shopping. More tips and tricks will follow.
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