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).

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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

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My Frugal Living Tip #12: Freezing Your Food

One easy way to extend the lifespan of the food I buy or cook is to freeze them. Freezing is an easy way to keep food for months until you need them. How long should you freeze stuff? Here's a handy checklist from the folks at Real Simple that sets out practical guidelines and time frames for freezing: How Long Will Food Last In The Freezer?

Link: How Long Will Food Last In The Freezer?

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My Frugal Living Tip #11: Using FatWallet to search for Coupons, Clearance & Freebies

Keeping track of coupons, clearance deals and freebies can be a challenging and insurmountable task. Rather than googling for them, I find myself heading to FatWallet's forum to check out the latest coupons, clearance offers and free stuff.

How do you find the coupons you want on FatWallet's forum without searching every thread? Here is FatWallet's Official Master Thread of "Official Store Coupons & Clearance" -- where you can find coupons and clearance sales for major retailers and stores, ascertain which coupons are valid and which ones have expired, etc.

If you are looking for freebies, you should visit the Free Stuff section on FatWallet's Forum. If you are a Twitter user, you should also follow the FatWallet's Free Stuff on http://www.twitter.com/freestuffrocks

Links:
FatWallet's Official Master Thread of "Official Store Coupons & Clearance"
FatWallet's Free Stuff (Follow on Twitter)

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My Frugal Living Tip #10: Selling or Recycling Your Electronic Gadgets for Cash While Saving the Earth

In celebration of Earth Day today (22 April 2010), more and more people are looking to recycle or sell their electronic gadgets instead of mindlessly throwing them into the trash.

Do you know you can earn a bit of cash while selling or recycling your old electronics gadgets? Besides doing a good deed, you can also earn some cash in doing so.

Gazelle.com buys your old electronic gadgets, pays for shipping and sends you a box to send your stuff in. This new site has garnered favorable reviews in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Wired.com.

Main Site: Gazelle.com

Reviews:
Wall Street Journal: Where Old Gadgets Go To Breathe New Life
New York Times: Used Tech Dealers Do Booming Business in iPhones 3Gs
Wired.com: How to Avoid Paying the iPhone 3GS Upgrade Tax

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My Frugal Living Tip #9: Make Your Stuff Last Longer

When people ask me what is my one overriding tip for saving money, I tell them that I try to make my things last as long as possible. When I don't have to spend money replacing broken or worn out stuff, that's money that can be saved or invested.

The challenge that many of us face is how to make stuff last as long as possible. Lifehacker's Top 10 Trips and Tricks For Making Your Stuff Last Longer is a good place to start.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #8: Useful Resources for the Frugal Consumer

Roundup of useful resources for the frugal consumer:

• Amazon.com's Textbooks Trade-In
  No-hassle way of unloading unwanted textbooks and getting some money for it.


• Freecycle.org
  The granddaddy of recycling stuff you no longer need by giving them away to others within your community. Read my earlier blog post about Freecycling.
  


• Kashless.org
  Takes the Freecycle idea one step further to provide a one-stop site for getting free stuff. Besides member submitted offerings, it also aggregates postings from the "free stuff" section of Craigslist and also partners with Recycle Bank to offer a rewards program.
  


• Measy.com
  Excellent one-stop online search tool for researching products before you buy. Allows you to limit by price, brands, needs, etc.
  


• Toolzdo.com
  Allows you to swap, exchange or give away stuff with other folks in your community.
  


• Groupon.com
  Social networking meets bargain hunting. Lets you hunt for deals with a twist: you must find enough friends/strangers to join you in order to meet the deal's minimum number of folks who sign up for it. Great way to make friends, renew friendship and save money in the process.
  

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #7: Try Freecycling

One way to live frugally is to take advantage of Freecycle, a grassroots non-profit movement of people who are giving away and getting stuff for free. By freecycling your unwanted gently used stuff, you not only help others who could make use of those stuff, but also keep them out of landfills. In return, you could request for stuff that others are offering, thereby saving you money.

Check out Freecycle's main website for more information and links to your local freecycle group.

Link: www.freecycle.org

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #6: Know when you can safely ignore "dry clean only" labels to save money

You can often ignore "dry clean only" labels and save money on high dry clean bills. Indeed, it's more like killing two birds with one stone, i.e., saving money and environment by reducing the discharge of highly toxic dry clean solvents on the environment.

Do you know when you can safely ignore "dry clean only" labels and when you ought to follow those labels? These two posts below from the folks at EcoSalon give you helpful advice and tips:

• The Tyranny of "Dry Clean Only"
  


• Dry Clean Only? An Eco Expert Tells Us When It’s Safe to Ignore Labels

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My Frugal Living Tip #5: Consignment & Thrift Stores Offer Excellent Value for Money

It is possible to be frugal and fashionable at the same time. Instead of buying new, consider buying gently used stuff at consignment and thrift stores for bargains.

Indeed, I visit my local Goodwill, Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul stores to browse for good finds on weekends. If you visit these stores in better neighborhoods, they usually have higher quality donations that look almost like new. Why pay full price when you can get items that are like new at a fraction of the price?

A recent New York Times article, Look Who's Shopping Goodwill makes the same point too.

Bottom line: bargain hunting in consignment and thrift stores is fun. You never know what you'll find.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #4: Consider Used or Refurbished Instead of New

One of my favorite spring time ritual is rummaging through stuff at weekend garage sales. You never know what you might find. I haven't been that lucky to find hidden gems that turn out to be valuable antiques. No such luck. But I've picked up many household items (furniture, shelving, kitchenware, home decoration items, etc.) that not only saved me a considerable amount if I were to buy them new, but they also add charm and character to my home.

In other words, rather than spending lots of my hardearned cash buying new stuff, I can get the same used stuff from garage sales that look like they have always been in my home.

Likewise, I visit my local Goodwill, Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul stores to browse for good finds on weekends. If you visit these stores in better neighborhoods, they usually have higher quality donations that look almost like new. Why pay full price when you can get items that are like new at a fraction of the price?

As for books and movies, I turn to my neighborhood public library instead of buying new books and dvds. As far as I am concerned, why should I buy new books and dvds when I can borrow them? True, it may take a while to get that latest bestseller or dvd release, but I don't mind waiting if it saves me money.

As for those times when I want to buy a book or dvd for my personal collection, I visit my favorite online store Amazon.com for web-based purchases and my local Half-Price Bookstore where I regularly pop in to browse for interesting finds.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #3: Make Saving a Way of Life

I have blogged about saving here (My Experiences with Online Savings Accounts), here (Frugal Living & Managing Risk, III), here (Frugal Living & Managing Risk, IV), here (Thrift Nation), here (Free 49-page Personal Finance E-Book from The Simple Dollar), here (11 Ways to Save Money Now) and here (Changing Values: From Borrow/Spend to Save/Being Frugal).

Cultivating a lifelong lifestyle of saving is like cultivating a lifelong lifestyle of healthy eating. Sure, both ways of life are plain, boring and require much discipline. But the rewards are real. Lifelong saving leads to financial health just as lifelong healthy eating leads to physical health.

This doesn't mean that we don't splurge once in a while. Far from it. Just as it's nice to indulge in a rich dessert, e.g., rich creamy chocolate mousse, so too we should give ourselves a financial treat as dessert once in a while.

We end up leading an unhealthy lifestyle when we don't watch what we eat. Sure, it feels good to eat all those rich fatty treats and desserts instead of fruits and veggies, but at what cost to our physical health?

So too, when we don't save, but instead finance our lifestyle through debt, debt and more debt, we might have the latest toys and gadgets to show off to others, but at what cost to our financial health?

Is there hope to get out of the vicious cycle of debt that have plagued the modern American society? Perhaps, there may be, as yesterday New York Times article, Shift to Saving May Be Downturn's Lasting Impact. What do you think? Do you agree? As for me, the jury is still out.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #2: Careful Use of Credit Cards

I have blogged about credit card use here (Credit Cards & Frugal Living) and here (Damage Control for Your Credit Score).

Credit Cards are like wine: both are meant to be used in moderation.

Let me explain: medical experts say that 1 glass of wine is good for one's health. But when one binges on wine, one becomes an alcoholic and needs to stay away from wine as far as possible. This is because the ill effects of alcoholism far outweigh the healthy benefits of wine.

Ditto for credit card use. As I explained in my earlier blog post, Credit Cards & Frugal Living, one should use credit cards judiciously, spending only what one is able to afford and paying off the balance in full at the end of each monthly billing cycle.

In other words, don't binge on credit card and end up addicted to easy credit. If you can't control your credit card use, then take a pair of scissors and cut up all your credit cards and close your accounts, just as a recovering alcoholic has to stay away from wine, no matter how healthy a single glass can be.

But if you are able to use credit cards judiciously, then you can reap the benefits of leveraging your monthly float between spending and paying, as well as earning rewards (cash back, rebates, statement credit, etc.) for using your credit cards.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.

My Frugal Living Tip #1: Maximizing Savings with Coupons

I have blogged about using coupons here (Using Coupons), here (Online Coupons & Coupon Codes Sites) and here (Balancing Frugality with Healthy Living).

For my inaugural "Frugal Living Tip Series," let me share with you how I maximize my savings with coupons:

GOOD:

Using coupons to get a discount off the full retail prize (e.g., using a 50-cents off coupon to buy a tube of toothpaste at $1.50. Price paid = $1.00 + tax). This is where you start.

BETTER:

Combining coupons with store sales to get a discount off the sale price (e.g., using a 50-cents off coupon to buy that same tube of toothpaste at a sale price of $1.20. Price paid = $0.70 + tax). This requires some planning and figuring out the sales patterns/trends (e.g., supermarket A tends to have sales on toothpaste toward the end of the month).

BEST:

Using coupons at stores with a coupon doubling policy and combining that with store sales to get double discount off the sale price (e.g., using a 50-cents off coupon at a store with double coupon policy, i.e., 50 cents + 50 cents discount, to buy that same tube of toothpaste at a sale price of $1.20. Price paid = $0.20 + tax). For this you have to patronize stores with a coupon doubling policy (e.g., Kroger, Giant, Safeway, Meijer, etc.). Note that drugstores (CVS, Walgreens) and discounters (e.g., Target, Walmart) do not have coupon doubling policy.

PS: I personally don't have the time and patience to play the "Drugstore Game" (combining coupons + sales + rebates at Walgreens or Extra Cash Bucks/ECBs at CVS). If you, unlike me, have the time and patience, you could not only save but also get cash back under certain limited situations.

Read the other entries in my Frugal Living Tips Series.