Savvy Savings

You can use your head to save! Being thoughtful, outsmarting the system, and thinking it through before acting can keep you from wasting your money.

PennyPinchingHints has some ideas you may not have thought about yet to get you into this Think-Save mode.

Be savvy by –

• Using dried wood from blow downs on your own land, or go to building supply places and ask for their old pallets. It beats buying a cord or more of wood, and it won’t be green.
• Use your money. Cash can sometimes get you discounts because it doesn’t cost the merchant for credit/debit card processing fees. Also, it’s harder to part with your cash than to swipe a card, and you will spend less.
• Ladies, you have right in your home what any local spa can deliver. A gallon of milk in a warm bath does wonders for your skin. Egg yolk and oil mixed together is a good facial poultice. 4 tablespoons of cornmeal and the juice and pulp of a half orange will make a great scrub.
• Do you know when you pay for a tire rotation that it has actually been done? Mark your back tires with white chalk and check to make sure they’re on the front before you pay.
• Buy cabbage, collard greens, and carrots along with watermelon, plums, oranges, apples and strawberries. These have great minerals and vitamins and are much cheaper, not to mention healthier, than buying multiple vitamins.
• Don’t call a pest control company and don’t buy that expensive spray. You can control ants by putting down cornmeal, and you can deter cockroaches by spraying your baseboards with water boiled with catnip. Drink two teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water and your body will emit its own mosquito repellant.
• When you buy, save your receipts, rebate forms, and packaging. Get copies of what you need, and then actually send in for that rebate. It will save you money!
• And, shopper, while you’re at it, if an item breaks or even if you decide you don’t want it, takes it back. You can return things for cash or at least credit. Why spend on something you don’t want!
• Save on travel expenses by smooth stops and starts. If you can never spill a cup of water in your cup holder, you’re saving about 5 per cent on mileage costs.
• Try thrift shops before you buy at local tourist gifts shops. You can probably get that souvenir much more cheaply!
• Weight pre-packaged produce. Not all weights are equal. Get the heftiest for the same price as others.
• Pay with on-line banking and save costs of checks, stamps, and envelops!
• Don’t pay for a cell phone plan if you’re using it only for emergencies. You can buy any cell phone for $10, keep it in your car or in your pocket, and still get 911 without a calling plan.
• If you want one cup of tea, why fill the whole kettle and waste energy heating that you don’t need?
• Don’t forget to mark down all your donations, even if made through your office or through payroll deductions. You could forget about them unless you have a running list of what you have given.

Maybe you don’t need to spend that money. Maybe you shouldn’t pay money for unnecessary services. Maybe your money can be spent smarter.

Be a thoughtful shopper. Be wise and save.

Spend smart!!

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