My Frugal Living Tip #14: Make Your Own Seasonings & Spice Mixes

One way I save money is to make my own prepared seasonings and spice mixes. Rather than buying branded seasoning and spice mixes such as McCormick, I spend anywhere from a quarter to a third of the price of prepared mixes by buying the ingredients and mixing my own. There is also the added advantage of fresher mixes.

The internet is filled with many recipes for do-it-yourself mixes. If you don't have the patience to hunt down individual recipes, Cheap Healthy Good Blog has compiled an extensive collection of recipes: Save Money On Seasoning: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix).

Link: Save Money On Seasoning: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix).

Like this article? Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #13: Energy Efficiency & Frugality

Energy efficiency is one easy way of being frugal. Whatever your position on climate change may be, energy efficiency also means not wasting money on inefficient appliances and wasteful consumption of energy, i.e., keeping more money in one's pocketbook.

Looking to get started? The US Department of Energy has a useful website, EnergySavers.gov, which has lots of information and tips on saving energy, and therefore saving money.

Link: EnergySavers.gov

Like this article? Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.
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Shelf Life & Expiry Dates

How long can you keep milk in the refrigerator? Is it still drinkable or do you have to throw out that milk carton? Can you save money by using products that are past their expiry dates? What do terms such as "sell by," "use by," "best by," really mean? What does a frugal person do with products that happen to be past the "used by," "best by," etc. dates?

Here is a roundup of useful resources to explain the confusing jargon that manufacturers use and the expiry dates of most products:

• Shelf Life Advice
  A very useful site to find out the shelf life of a particular product. Enter product in search box to find out its shelf life and storage information.
  
  
• Food Expiration Dates: What Do They Really Mean? (Yahoo Green)
  
  
• Expiration Dates (OrganizeYourLife.org).
  A near-exhaustive and very useful list of how long you can keep food, household, beauty and cosmetic products.
  


• Do Food Expiry Dates Really Matter? (WebMD.com)
  An informative discussion about the confusing mix of terms used by manufacturers on their products.
  


• The Secret Code of Beer Expiration Dates (Consumerist.com).
  How to decode the mysterious codes that breweries use on to indicate how old your beer is.

Free Classical MP3s from Amazon.com

Are you a classic music lover?

Amazon is offering the following completely free albums of classical mp3s for your downloading and listening pleasure:

• X5 Free Classical Sampler - The Romantic Era
  
  
• Eternal Baroque


• I Love the 80s, Vol. 1 (1880s)

Enjoy!