Coupons, Freebies, and Tips to Save Money Every Day
I just had my first ever home energy audit and it was AMAZING. I’m a bit of a home energy use nerd, having researched net zero homes the past year, so there’s a teeny chance you might not find chatting about LEDs, weather stripping, and attic insulation quite as fascinating as me. But hey, you just might. A home energy audit is right for any
I recently discovered an amazing website for homeowners and commercial real estate owners who want to lower their energy bills. It’s called DSIREusa.org (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency). What a mouthful! The site shows a state by state list of what tax credits, rebates, and incentives your state is currently offering to offset the cost of energy improvements, including but not limited to:
The numbers don’t lie, and despite the casual term of “shrinkage,” retail losses due to theft and to human error are a multi-billion dollar problem that only grew the economic recession, and has not let up since. Whether it’s unintentionally selling something for a price lower than cost, or a kid stealing something they want but can’t afford, or even organized retail theft by organized
This past Tuesday was National Dog Day, but we’ve decided to make it National Dog Week! I love my pets, but I don’t love shelling out large amounts of money on them. So I’m always looking for ways to continue to give them the best and highest quality care and food… but at lower prices. 18 tips to save money on your dogs
I’m constantly wrestling with the temptation to upgrade. Upgrade what? Our cars, our pillows, our home decor, EVERYTHING! Take our knives, for instance. We have one high quality chef’s knife and a bunch of lower quality knives that do the job but aren’t exactly sturdy. They need to be sharpened once a year. I would love to have higher quality knives, including a sturdy chef’s
Baking soda is cheap, versatile, and natural. What more could you ask for? We all know that if you stick a box in your fridge, that it can eliminate odors. That it can be used in cat boxes. Or to soothe an acidic stomach. But what about the ways you’ve never used baking soda? Baking soda: What is it good for?
Have you ever bought a side of beef? Or bought meat directly from the farmer? (Like we do in our CSA). It’s cheaper than buying meat from the grocery store or butcher – cut out the middleman – and if you buy a side of beef that comes from a grass fed cow, the savings are even greater. All you need is a spare freezer and
At this writing, “Weird Al” Yankovic has the number one album in the country. One of the songs he parodies, in a polka mix, is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ Thrift Shop. Proof, in my opinion, that getting a great discount at a second-hand store never gets old. But it’s not all about your grandpa’s style – there are plenty of new, as well as retro, finds
As a bargain shopper the dollar store is one of my favorite places to shop, so I thought I knew everything there was to know about shopping there. I was wrong! Here are five dollar store facts that will surprise even frequent dollar store shoppers. 5 fascinating facts about dollar stores
After reading an article in the NYTimes that urged teens to drop their summer job money into a Roth IRA, I thought, why stop there? Why shouldn’t parents set up a Roth IRA retirement account for their young children? Roths must be funded with earned money – so why not put their babysitting money into a dependent Roth IRA and let them enjoy the results of
After being a Petro customer for 8 years, I would not recommend them. We have paid above market rates for home heating oil, they let our oil tank zero out, and we did not receive a tune up for 27 months. Find a company like Anchor or Nite Oil that will charge you market rates for oil and leave fixes up to a pay-by-the-hour technician. If you do
It happened again – I overspent at the grocery store. I went in to Trader Joe’s for toilet paper and came out with 3 bags filled with grapes, cheese, Brussels sprouts, Cookie Batter (Oh. Em. Gee.), vodka, coconut water and a bill for $87. What happened?! Supermarket traps is what happened. I looked it up and according to a recently article by MSN Money, it’s a
They say women handle 70% of household spending, which is why so many marketers gear their products and commercials towards us. (When’s the last time you saw a man in a cleaning ad?) I was curious if this rule held true for my husband and I, and if poking around our spending habits could shed light on ways we can save more money. Who spends
Earlier this summer, I talked about how to successfully negotiate salary. And while my post focused on negotiating during the hiring process, the thought has come up again because it’s Annual Review time at my job. I have worked very hard over the past year, adding value to the company and even implementing new ways to generate revenue. Now there is no guarantee that I will even be awarded
I recently came into a chunk of change, and wanted to do something smart and adult, like invest it or put it into a money market or brokerage account. But until about 3 weeks ago, I had no idea what any of those things meant. So through a family referral, I met with a financial advisor. I literally walked in with my laptop, sat down
