By: Cindy
Published: June 26th, 2008
The cost of having a phone and using long distance can make for a hefty phone bill each month, especially if (like us) you have family and friends across the country. If you make a lot of long distance phone calls each month, having a long distance plan for your phone service will help you have money on phone service.
There was a time when we didn’t have any choice but to go with the local phone company and use their long distance service. That’s no longer the case. Most people now have other choices to pick from when it comes to who will be their long distance carrier and provide local phone service.
But finding inexpensive phone service isn’t always easy. When checking out a new service, make sure they fit your individual needs. What’s right for one family might not be right for you. Compare the rates for the local and long distance service against what you are paying now.
One of the most popular phone services available is from Vonage. Vonage offers unlimited local and long distance calling for $24.99 per month. Plus Vontage gives customers a free month and there is no activation or setup fee. Vonage is a very frugal choice for a well known phone service.
MagicJack offers free local and long distance service. Get your MagicJack and one year of free local and long distance calls. In the unlikely event you didn’t fall in love with your MagicJack, send it back (no questions asked) within 30 days and you owe nothing. There is NO RISK!
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By: Cindy
Published: June 19th, 2008
The saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure is one that we all find to be very true at one time or another. Many people clear out their unwanted items and then have a yard or garage sale. This is a great place to find items you want and need at bargain prices.
If you don’t like the price on any given item at these sales you can ask them to lower it. Negotiating the selling price is a common practice for yard and garage sales. Should the seller not be willing to lower the price you can always ask them to take down your phone number and call you if the item doesn’t sale for the price they want. You will find most people are willing to lower the price rather than risk the item having to be carried back inside or stored if it doesn’t sale at the end of the day.
When it comes to yard and garage sales, you will find you have the best luck if you start out early in the morning. Take the time to read through the ads in your local newspaper. It can be fun to map our a route of yard and garage sales you want to hit with a friend or even as a way to spend some time by yourself. This strategy will prevent you from constantly back tracking.
The items you will find at a yard or garage sale will vary but some common items include clothing, furniture, baby items, kitchen item, art, tools, toys, bikes, and even vehicles. If you are looking for something in particular then search out ads that have those specific items.
Since babies outgrow clothes and items like car seats and basinets quickly they are often in excellent shape. Career clothes are very expensive and you can find a wonderful selection of quality work clothes for both men and women at yard and garage sales. I have come across ladies business suites that still had the tags on them! The down side to purchasing clothing at yard and garage sales is that you can’t try them on first to make sure they fit. However, I figure if I am picking up a $60 skirt and blazer set for $2.50 I will take my chances!
If you are looking for furniture then target the ads that describe and estate sale or a moving sale. In most cases they will be trying to sell all they can to prevent having to pack it up and move it with them or pay to place it into storage. You can generally even get them to assist you with loading the items you purchase or delivering them if you can negotiate the right deal. In most cases if you pay for an item the seller will be happy to allow you to come back later to pick it up if you need to.
Clothing, household items, jewelry, and baby items are often expensive you pay retail price for them. You can get a great bargain if you get up early and go to yard and garage sales. Make sure you head out early and you have single bills and plenty of change. Then go have sun seeking the items you are after. If you are like me, there will be plenty that catches your eye that you decide you want just because you can’t pass up the great price for it.
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By: Cindy
Published: June 19th, 2008
Providing nutrition meals for your family is important, but the cost of the groceries it takes to prepare them can certainly affect what you are able to do. To help offset the cost of preparing meals, you need to plan well for it. Too many items we use to make meals end up going in the trash. If you only need ½ a head of lettuce then plan another meal to use the rest of it so it doesn’t end up in the trash.
While it does take longer to prepare home cooked meals, it is less expensive than buying frozen products that offer you more convenience. They will generally run you twice as much as the ingredients you need to prepare the foods yourself. If time is an issue, consider using one day a week to prepare various meals that you can freeze for later in the week.
It is understandable that everyone wants to cook with the ingredients that will make foods taste the best they can. Yet most of us purchase items at the grocery store based on a name brand we are familiar with. Have you ever stopped to compare the price with store brand? If not, you really need to as you will be shocked at the price difference. Yet in most cases the store brand of a given item is every bit as good as the name brands.
A couple good examples of this include cereals and sodas. Name brand boxes of cereal can cost you around $4 per box. When you purchase the store brands that come in plastic bags instead of the boxes you will find you get twice as much cereal for less than ½ of the cost. I pour those larger bags into airtight storage containers so they stay fresh.
Popular soda like Pepsi and Coke cost over $2.50 for a six pack. You can purchase the store brand Cola for about $2.50 per case. Yet they taste every bit as good as those name brand sodas we often associate with. I guess mentally we think that the higher price means better quality but that isn’t always the case.
Many people like to cook with various herbs but the cost of them can really add up. Since they aren’t necessary it is a common area where people choose to eliminate from their shopping list. For very little money you can grow your own herbs in your yard or even in a small kit that sits on your kitchen window. It can be a fun process to do with your children and you will have the different herbs you want to cook with but not the expense associated with them.
You can also grow your own vegetables in a small garden area of your yard. It doesn’t cost very much to purchase the seeds. You may even find tending to your garden offers you a place to relax and reduce your stress levels. My family eats lots of strawberries but they are one of the most expensive fruits at the grocery store. We now grow our own so we can enjoy these delicious berries all we want when they are in season.
If you decide to purchase fresh vegetables or fruits from a grocery store, get those that you have to chop up on your own. While purchasing those that have already been sliced for you is more convenient they will cost you more for the same product.
Meat is one of the most expensive items you will find in a grocery store. Unless you live with a family of vegetarians, you will have to pay the price they are asking for it. Look at the per pound cost of meat before you purchase it. You will find the larger packages offer you a lower price per pound. Buying these larger portions and then separating them into the right sizes for your meals once you get home is an excellent way to lower the amount of money you spend on the meat your family eats.
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By: Cindy
Published: May 24th, 2008
The price of gas is past unreal, and it’s getting higher and higher. What the big oil companies (who are the ones raking in the dollars from your pockets) don’t want you to know is that vehicles don’t have to run on just gas. After all, if consumers (who are the ones making the oil companies so much money by buying their expensive gas) knew how to save money on gas, the big oil companies wouldn’t be getting rich off of us.
Something that’s been talked about for some time is using water to run vehicles in addition to gas. It doesn’t replace the gas, it stretches it, doubling or tripling the amount of mileage your car gets on a tank.
So why aren’t more people doing this? First, these kinds of cars aren’t available to purchase new. Because of that, most people simply don’t think it would work because they aren’t available for purchase. Another reason is that people are reluctant to try something new, to tinker with what works (even though the way it works now cost over $4.00 a gallon in some areas and will be more before the summer is up). Simply put, a lot of people are afraid of change. Even if something costs a person as much as a gallon of gas costs, most would prefer to pay that high price per gallon than to try something new and revotionary that can more than double their gas mileage.
If you are one of those that are fed up with the high price of gas, fed up with the big oil companies getting richer and richer while we struggle weekly to pay for a tank of gas, fed up with having to choose between putting gas in the car or paying the rent and eating, then perhaps it’s time to try something new. Perhaps it’s time to try something that will save money on the high price of gas. Perhaps it’s time to convert your car to run on water.
And the beauty of this is that you don’t have to pay someone thousands of dollars to modify your car. You don’t have to wait for the modified cars to be on the car lot to buy one new and keep paying the high cost of gas. You can easily do this yourself, at home, in a very short period of time.
For the details on how you can convert your car to run on water, click here.
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