Readers who have previously chided my ocassionally crass language, hold back. This post is not intended for minors or the faint at heart.
I couldn’t resist grabbing “Bitches on a Budget” from my patient stack of books waiting for a review. But does the book has as much sass as the title? Yes.
Rosalyn Hoffman opens her 322-page book with this essential question. How do you live a stylish life during the greatest economic downturn of your generation? No matter that the recession is technically over. Budget woes continue. And women rule the pocketbook. Here’s how Chapter 1 starts:
Bitches, we’re going to let you in on a secret: Women might only make $.78 for every $1 men make, but we’re the ones who drive the economy. We’re the ones who decide what to buy and when to buy it. You think we’re kidding? Just turn on the television. It’s talking to you, bitch. And even when it’s not – Rogaine and boner pills – it’s still about you!
Rosalyn gives budgeting a good name (it’s just another way to say edit, really), and attempts to do the same for what seems to be her favorite b-word. She writes about shopping, grooming, staying healthy, mental health, travel, cars, entertainment, entertaining and home decorating, food, and pets in her over-the-top girlfriend no you di-ent hand-waving, finger-snapping voice.
In other words, she makes saving money really entertaining. What more can you ask for?
Comment on this post for a chance to win my review copy. Or, you can pick it up at Amazon for $10.20 (orig. $15).
chiningilles/Flickr
The LA Times recently had a story suggesting 10 simple ways to save. I boiled it down to the best tips and added two of my own. Add yours to the mix!
1. Disconnect your land line. Or find a cheaper plan and call your current provider and ask them to match it.
2. Shop around for home and auto insurance policies. Spend an hour once a year checking if you can get a better price on your home and auto insurance. Do them together so you qualify for a bulk discount. Before you go for the absolute lowest price, check the insurer’s complaint ratio, which will indicate how happy their current customers are.
3. Pay cash (only if you really can’t control your credit spending because you are giving up a lot of perks and cash-back rebates).
4. Adjust your withholdings. The LAT says 70 percent of tax payers get a refund – which means we are letting Uncle Sam keep our money for a year, interest free! Instead, you could be earning interest or paying down debt.
5. Pay off high-interest debt. Focus on paying off your credit cards. It’s hard to get ahead when you’re paying 15-30 percent in interest.
6. Pay into your 401 (k). Making a $100 contribution costs you $70 because of the tax benefits, and if your company matches you are making even more for the same $70.
7. Set up an automatic savings deduction. It will force you to stash cash for a rainy day (which, in Los Angeles, is today).
8. Take care of yourself. Preventive health care really does pay off. Some health plans will reduce your premium if you quit smoking and if you reinvest that money on doctor’s bills and cigarette into your 401 (k), you stand to be $250,000 richer at retirement, the LAT story says.
9. Volunteer. Seeing how others live will no doubt making you feel better about what you have in life.
10. Budget! Check out my simple 15-minute budget. It really does work.
11. Exercise. Going for a walk, run, or bike ride is a cheap activity that can energize you and save you trips to the mall$.
We all love the idea of getting something at a really…good…price. Beezid is a penny auction site that makes it possible to purchase items at ridiculous discounts. I’m talking 70, 80, 90 percent off.
The way it works is that you register, then start bidding. You’ll get 3 free bids for signing up and you’ll get a bonus code for other great offers in the process. To redeem the bonus code enter it onto the registration page. To successfully win an item you’ll most likely need to buy more bids. Don’t want to run out as the auction clock ticks down!
Bids start at 30 for $27 ($.90 each) and go down to 200 for $120 ($.60 each). You can pay by credit card or paypal.
The site also has a strategy page to help you win auctions. You can automatically bid while you are, say meeting with your boss, by giving the site permission to bid a certain number of times or up to a certain dollar amount. That feature is called Auto Beezid.
For penny auctions, each bid raises the price by a penny. And each bid increases the time left in the auction. So it’s a bit of a game – but one that is fun to play. Check out their live auctions online to see what electronics, cars, and home goods are selling.
This is paid content. Interested in an ad? Read my advertise page.
AmazonFillerItem.com
I know you’ve been there: checking out at Amazon.com when you fall a few dollars short of the $25 minimum to get free shipping. Doh! Well now there’s Amazon Filler Finder to help you find something that fills the gap.
The idea is that buying an extra item for a few bucks to qualify for free shipping is cheaper than pay for shipping. You could do a search yourself, but you’d probably go crazy. Amazon.com is an awfully big store, afterall.
I was impressed with the results when I tested the Finder for three different price gaps.
I checked how close the site could come to filling a hypothetical gap of $1.17, $3.78, and $.49. Each time the site hit it or came within $.02! Plus, they listed dozens of items starting from the closest matching price going up. You can also limit the categories of items they show results for if you are holding out for a filler item that you might actually want. Ha!
If you feel like you are taking advantage of the system, you are not. The Amazon Filler Finder is a tool created in conjuction with Amazon.com to get you to shop more on their site.
I’ve been redecorating my bedroom this past week and in the process I have been hunting for rugs, bookshelves, paint, and much more. Here are 10 places to look for frugal or free items.
1. Your garage. Chances are you have a few half-full cans of paint or a funky old lamp that would add personality to your room. Perhaps you can transform a boring old piece into something new and exciting with a coat of paint.
2. Join your local Freecycle Network to get rid of your trash and collect other people’s treasure. Plus, you’ll feel good keeping items out of landfills.
3. Craigslist free pages. It’s amazing what people will give away. Their for-sale prices can be great, too!
4. Home Depot. I spent $9 building a bookshelf out of cinderblocks, above. Now to secure it to my wall. UPDATE: A friend helped me drill two brackets into each shelf, making the bookshelf much more sturdy.
5. IKEA. Some of the best deals at IKEA are on the ground floor and not heavily advertised. They sell sturdy planks of wood for $15 each and the wall mounts are a few bucks each (about $3). This allows you to customize storage space for very cheap!
6. Borrow or rent tools. Surely you know another home owner who’s itching to loan their tile saw in hopes they’ll never see it again!
7. Garage sales. Head to sales in upscale neighborhoods and the hipster parts of town for the best and most unique selection.
8. Thrift shops like Goodwill, Out of the Closet, and Salvation Army do not lack for furniture and furnishings. Just make sure to thoroughly check out the items as they are not usually returnable.
9. eBay. Review seller ratings and return policies carefully.
10. Recycling centers/reuse groups. These can be harder to find, but major metro areas usually have a handful of organizations that re-sell used windows, doors, and other building materials.
Get a free DVD rental from Redbox with a code available here.
More deals to come later so check my WalletPop blog this afternoon for more savings.
I didn’t believe my friend when she told me she had a fabulous recipe for no-knead bread that only required four ingredients. But she made it for me (pictured above) and it was DELISH! Here is the recipe, modified from the NY Times.
Ingredients:
3 c flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 5/8 c water
Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water and stir until blended. Dough will be “shaggy and sticky.” Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit 16 hours in a warm corner of your kitchen. (We put it on the fridge.)
At 16 hours, dust a cutting board with flour and place dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with flour and fold the dough into itself once or twice. Let sit 15 minutes under a cloth.
Cover your hands with just enough flour so the dough doesn’t stick to you. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with more flour, and place seam side down. Then place a cloth on top and let it rise 2 hours. Dough should double in size but will not spring back when you poke it. Thirty minutes before the bread is done rising, heat over to 450 degrees.
Put dough into a heavy 6-8 quart covered pot, seam side up, place the lid on top and bake 30 minutes. Take the top off and bake another 15-30 minutes, or until the bread is nicely browned. Serve warm with butter.
Note, the bread does not last a more than a few days because it has no preservatives. I wish there was a recipe as simple as this for wheat bread. Do you have one?
mikebaird/Flickr
This is a guest post from John Rowley, a fitness and nutrition expert at the American Institute of Health care & Fitness. His tips to get a million dollar body on a budget are quite practical. I just signed up to ride a 56-mile leg of a triathlon in May, so I’m going to need his advice!
1. Productive Activity
You do not need special equipment for an aerobic workout. Activities most take for granted can become part of your exercise routine.
• Brisk with no risk. Walking is still one of the best and safest forms of cardiovascular exercise that almost everyone can take advantage of. Take a brisk walk every day, through your neighborhood or take laps in a local mall.
• The real stair master. A stair master machine costs thousands of dollars but climbing real stairs is free. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, or make a full workout of climbing the stairs at home, work or a close by stadium and you will master the stairs. This is the real deal when it comes to stair masters.
• Get in the game. If you have children, don’t just watch them play, get in the game. Play tag or kickball and have fun and get fit at the same time. Take a walk to the park, dance around the living room with the kids or take a family bike ride. Don’t have kids? Try chasing your puppy around the park, backyard, house or apartment for a very challenging work out.
2. A modest investment for lifetime fitness
If you’re looking for fitness on a budget, these exercise products may be the ticket:
• Adjustable Dumbbells. PowerBlock makes an adjustable dumbbell that takes up the space of two dumbbells but are adjustable. Pull the pin and you can raise the weight from 5 lbs to 100 lbs. or more depending on the set you get. You can use them for a full body workout and they have free online videos to guide you through various work outs. Dumbbells cost less than most gym memberships and once you own them you don’t have to pay for them again.
• Resistance tubing. These stretchy tubes offer adjustable resistance when you pull on them. Use the tubes for a full body work out and when you are done they fit in a draw. Choose from varying degrees of resistance, depending on your fitness level.
• Jump-ropes. Skipping rope can be a great cardiovascular workout.
• Exercise DVDs. Turn your living room into your own private health club. There are plenty of options to choose from so you are sure to find one you enjoy.
3. Be creative
If you’d rather not spend a penny on exercise equipment, use ordinary household items for a full body work out:
• Canned goods. Turn caned goods into custom dumbbells.
• Milk, juice or water jugs. Fill empty containers or jugs with water or sand and seal the top with duct tape. When your fitness level increases, simply add more water or sand.
• Step stools. Use a sturdy step stool for step training — an aerobic exercise resembling stair climbing.
• Kitchen Chairs. Turn chairs into a dipping station, use the chair for incline push ups, etc.
• Parks. Many parks have trails that you can walk or run and the have various stations that allow you to work every body part.
Do you read All You magazine? You can subscribe to it but the only place you can buy it on the stand is at Walmart. All You is geared toward women who are budget conscious but also want beauty and health tips.
In the January issue is a story about saving money by buying and trading coupons. All You interviewed me for the story! Here are the highlights:
- You can buy coupons on eBay, thecouponmaster.com and thecouponclippers.com (though technically you’re paying a processing fee because buying coupons is illegal)
- Never buy printable online coupons because they could be fakes. Make sure you are buying hard copies or insert coupons.
- Trade coupons online at ecoupons.com/grocery. Mail in 25 coupons and you’ll get 25 of your choosing in return.
- Trade directly with other frugal fellows at refundsweepers.com, swapsavers.com, or couponforum.com
- Start a coupon train by mailing envelopes of coupons to friends each week
Check out the rest of my press coverage on the Bargain Buzz page.
Here are all the latest deals from my WalletPop blog.
Grab a cup of coffee with a friend at Peet’s and only pay for one of the two drinks! This BOGO free Peet’s coupon is good through Jan. 18. Awesome!
Ulta beauty is having a lot of sales now, including buy two get on free and they have a coupon for $3.50 off a $10 purchase!
Here’s a Hot Topic coupon for 25 percent off purchases of $50 or more.
Get five free MP3 downloads courtesy of MTV.
The Victoria’s Secret semi-annual sale has clearance bras for $15 and panties for $4.
Here’s a Borders coupon for 33 percent off, good through Jan. 11, 2010.
A friend passed this slide show onto me and it was so funny I wanted to share it. It has nothing to do with saving money but everything to do with enjoying Fridays. Yay it’s almost the weekend!
I highly recommend watching blogger Andrew McDonald’s series of photos about how to get your lost camera back.
Thanks, Scott!
Here are the best deals from BargainBabeLA.com, where everyone can share a deal and be eligible to win a $5 Amazon gift certificate.
Stop the presses! See action super star Jackie Chan live at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum this Monday, Jan. 11
Get tickets to see the Kings for $22.20 each, shared by bargainbabe
Snack on a free Fresco taco from Taco Bell with a coupon you can print here, shared by The Unethical Man
Get a free breakfast from Mimi’s in Monrovia when you join their email list, shared by adventure girl
Free birthday meal from Benihana, shared by The Unethical Man
Get into Disneyland free in 2010 by volunteering for one day, shared by The Unethical Man
Thanks to The Unethical Man for sharing so many past deals on BargainBabeLA.com. You’ve just won another $5 Amazon gift certificate!!!
Zeetz Jones/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Network Solutions, offering great deals on web hosting packages.
As a follow up to my earlier post about saving money by buying in-season vegetables, here is a list of in season fruits that should be cheaper than the usual offerings.
Apples
Cherimoya (pictured above)
Dates
Grapefruit
Kiwifruit
Oranges
Passion Fruit
Pear
Persimmons
Pummelo
Red Currants
Tangerines
I don’t know what some of this stuff is, but if you click on each fruit it’ll take you to a page with fun facts about the fruit and ways to eat/cook it.
massdistraction/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Coupon Codes, a hot new site for coupons for electronics, clothes, and lots more.
Have I mentioned how much I adore ShopSmart, a magazine put out by Consumer Reports? The latest issue (Jan. 2010) has a feature story on secrets to being a savvy clothing shopper. The key is to know your fabrics! I’ve highlighted some of the most important parts of the story below.
The best fabrics are:
- cashmere (more affordable that it used to be, goes in the wash but lay flat to dry, watch out for moths and pilling.)
- cotton (easy to clean and lasts long, wash on cool for longevity)
- linen (durable but wrinkle prone, iron twice with the steam off for the best look)
- wool (hardly wrinkles but moths love it, hang in a steamy bathroom instead of ironing)
The best blends are:
- cotton + polyester (no ironing needed, turn inside out when washing to reduce pilling)
- cotton + spandex (the stretchiness makes for a good fit, but can shrink or stretch over time)
- wool + polyester (fewer wrinkles than 100% wool, buy at least 60 percent wool for the best look and feel)
Fabrics to avoid:
- polyester (doesn’t breathe well and stains are difficult to remove)
- rayon (reacts badly to being wet and is relatively delicate)
- silk (wrinkles easily, direct sun fades it)
Five signs that clothes are well made:
- no hanging or loose threads, which indicate there may be other problems you can’t see
- finished seams, which are sewn with a blind hem stitch that you can’t see on the outside (cheaper seams are finished with a looping chain stitch that can come undone)
- lining, which helps clothes hang better (but not every piece needs lining)
- sturdy details, which means buttons are firmly sewn on, zippers don’t pinch skin, and stress points are reinforced
- extras like spare buttons and comfy tags indicate extra care was taken
Bonus: you can read a few of this month’s stories and previous issues on their website.
brianjmatis/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Codero, which provides managed hosting services designed to reduce your total administration costs while improving server efficiency.
Get ready for tax season! Preparing will be a little easier knowing you can file for free thanks to a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance LLC, a group of private sector tax software companies. The site does not go live for 2010 until Jan. 15, so this is really just a heads up.
Here’s how it worked for 2008 taxes filed last April. I expect the free filing options to be very similar for 2009 taxes.
Option No. 1. You can file your federal returns for free using the traditional Free File, which offers step-by-step help, if your adjusted gross income is $56,000 or less (this number could vary slightly for 2009). The software puts your answers directly into the forms and does the math for you. You can get a refund as quick as 10 days if you opt for direct deposit. This service is available in Spanish.
Option No. 2. You can fill in your own tax forms without the help of software using the Free Fillable Forms. This hands-off approach lets you prepare and e-file your 1040, 1040 A and 1040EZ federal returns. There are no income limits, as with Option No. 1. State forms are not included.
Both of these options make it possible to file your federal tax forms for free. State forms are not included, however. Does anybody know a way to file state taxes for free?
Thanks, Tina!
