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Posts Tagged ‘ways to save money’

We all know that sitting in front of the television for more than 30 minutes a day is bad for our health. It makes our bottoms get bigger, and turns our brains to mush (according to Hulu advertisements that is). We push our kids to get outside and play and be active. We are doing it to have them active and moving their bodies. Did you know that by turning off the television you can also save money, lots of money.

I understand, we all like to sit and catch our favorite show after a hard day of work. We love the football games, the golf tournaments and so on. If you are like me, I occasionally have the television on in the background just so that there is noise when I am working. Few of us have ever stopped to think about how much watching television actually costs us.

According to Juliet Schor from Boston College, she has figured that an hour of television a week costs each of us $200 a year. Her theory is based in part to the fact that when we sit in front of the boob tube and enjoy our favorite show we experience an “upscaling of desire” to buy things. This theory has gone big time, CNN has reported that if you watch a handful of sitcoms and a reality series or two you and I are going to end up spending an extra thousand a year… just for watching those shows.

Hmmm… $200 a year, for just an hour a week, who actually only watches an hour a week? If your family is similar to mine, we catch the news in the morning and in the evening and we have one show a night that we watch as a family. So on average that is 3 hours a day, 15 hours a week only looking at Monday through Friday. Let’s examine the $200 here. That breaks down to $3.85 per hour of television. So for our family that is almost $58 a week that we could be saving if we cut out that T.V. time. That is $3,016 a year if we only cut out the television through the week, honestly I don’t want to think about what we are spending on the weekends.

Ok, let’s take out the enticement to go out and buy something. Chances are you that you have cable or satellite television. Depending on the package is running you anywhere from $29.99 to $300 a month, which means that if you were to give up television… or at least enhanced television you would be saving yourself anywhere from $360 – $3600 year! This isn’t even taking into consideration the cost of the electricity to run the television!

I can tell you that my household has had to step back and take a look at our television habits. We have figured out that we were to cut out viewing television we will save $5416 a year. Now giving up T.V. may make you cringe, so consider changing the programming you. We are giving up the satellite package we have, because we don’t watch more than half of the channels anyway and we are saving $2400 a year. That is enough for a decent family vacation!

Neil Bartlett is the founder of CheapInsider.com. Cheap Insider provides everyone with Tips and Techniques for saving money and finding bargains. To learn more INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Money Saving Tips”

No one wants to give up their social life to save money. Having friends and hanging out with them is beneficial, it makes us feel good. So as you sit and look at your social calendar and compare it to your pocket book instead of calling and canceling plans, get creative and host a “night-in” at your place.

I can give you more reasons than just saving money. When you are with your friends it is nice to be able to hang out and laugh and joke and talk. At a restaurant you are constantly interrupted by the server, and if you ask them to not come back until you call them, they tend to get offended. Plus, if you are not buying more food or drinks you may be asked to pay so that they can use the table, especially if they are busy. You also have to take into consideration the people around you. Plus what do you do once you are done eating?

Most groups are going to go back to someone’s house, possible play cards or other games. Why not start at the house and stay there? This will insure a better time by all, and less money is spent. There are a number of ways that you can do this. You can host a cook out at your place, and ask everyone to bring a dish to share. You can offer all the food and ask everyone to bring drinks to share or you can just have a potluck where everyone brings food and drinks to share and you hang out.

My spouse and I have done all three. They all work out really well, and the really nice thing is that someone always offers to host the next one because it is so much fun. If you are concerned about having enough food to feed everyone and not break your pocket book consider grilling inexpensive foods. No one is coming to your house expecting steak and lobster. Marinated or BBQ chicken legs are great on the grill along with roasted corn on the cob. Hamburgers and hot dogs are also great.

You can also kick in the house. A big spaghetti dinner is a wonderful way to feed everyone inexpensively and so is chili. Think about the cost of a night out with your friends at a restaurant. You have appetizers, drinks, main dish and possibly dessert and if you are having a really good time figure that you have 3 hours there. After the food, how many drinks are you going to consume. I have friends that can consume 4 or 5 drinks in that time, and I have friend that only drink 2. At $4-$12 a pop, that can add up pretty quickly.

Now looking at the alcohol alone, you can buy a bottle of rum for around $18, which can make more than one drink. That would be money saved, even if you drank the entire bottle in one night. If you are a wine lover, then you know that a bottle of wine can range anywhere from $5 all the way to hundreds. However the ones that are served in restaurants like TGIFridays, they aren’t going to sell the $300 bottle of wine, they are going to serve the less expensive wines. You can buy them by the bottle or the glass. You also know that if you buy by the glass you are going to pay for that entire bottle in two to three glasses… and you will end up paying more.

When you have friends over, you are free to hang out as long as you want. There aren’t any servers asking if everything is okay. There aren’t people at other tables that you could be bothering. You are home or at a friend’s house, enjoying a leisurely less expensive evening with your friends.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of CheapInsider.com. Cheap Insider provides everyone with Tips and Techniques for saving money and finding bargains. To learn more INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Money Saving Tips”

There are few places that you can go anymore that don’t sell reusable shopping bags. Whether you are visiting the grocery store, the bookstore, the library or your favorite clothing store, everyone wants to cash in on going green. Every store offering their own design, size and material they are made from. They are quickly becoming the next “status symbol” that everyone must have. Even top designers are cashing in on reusable bags. Which begs the question then, are reusable shopping bags worth the investment?

Let’s start with the impact on the environment. When you consider the impact of using “paper or plastic” on the environment the answer is yes. Reusable shopping bags are definitely the way to go. Now many people have asked which type of reusable shopping bag is better for the environment. There are cotton, hemp, polyester and polypropylene all of which have some environmental impact when it comes to their manufacturing. However it is really negligible when you compare the manufacturing process to the impact using paper or plastic bags.

Now many of you may remember the “tote” bag, a deep bag with two handles that you could basically carry whatever you wanted in them. My grandmother used them for the movies, pool and the beach. They had wild designs or they were very simple. Their purpose was to help you get what you wanted to carry to where it was you were going. I call this the “original” reusable shopping bag. If you have a tote bag at home, you can use it to carry your groceries in. It works just as well and possibly even better.

Designer bags, like Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m not a plastic bag,” canvas bag that is due out this June are nice to look at. They are painted with a good message and soon everyone will want to have one. Are they necessary?

No, you don’t need to spend $15 or more on a bag that you are going to use for groceries or books or clothing. Instead opt for the bags that aren’t going to cost you a fortune and send an even better message.

First look for the free bags. These would be the ones that you have already, such as the tote bags that I already discussed. There are also free bags that you get at golf outings you have attended, if you have gone to a conference or seminar OR you can also reuse any paper or plastics bags you currently have. Don’t throw them away, take them to the store with you.

The next best place to get the reusable shopping bags is the grocery store. Currently where I live, depending on which grocery I visit and the size of the bag I get the cost ranges anywhere from .99 to $2.99. The benefit is that when you take them back to the store to use them, most of the grocery stores where I live will give you a credit on your grocery bill anywhere from .05 – .10 / bag used to bag groceries. It doesn’t seem like much, but if you buy 5 bags and you paid .99 per bag that is 4.95 for all five. Use them each time you go to the grocery store and in a few months you will have recouped the cost of the bags. What is even better, use them at any store that offers a discount and you can earn/save the money back even quicker.

With all the being said, the best reusable grocery bag is going to be the bag that you are going to actually use. You can have 30 reusable grocery bags but if you keep forgetting them at home and then get your groceries bagged in paper or plastic you are not helping the environment or saving money.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of CheapInsider.com. Cheap Insider provides everyone with Tips and Techniques for saving money and finding bargains. To learn more INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Money Saving Tips”

Everyone is looking for ways to save money. While the President is doing what he can to help boost the economy we have to admit that it does take time. We all should also be doing what we can to make sure that we are taking care of our own. There are many ways that you can save money, some are creative, some are subtle and some are… well extreme. That is our focus here; we are going to tell you three extreme ways to save money.

When we say extreme we mean it. These aren’t necessarily things that everyone would do or want to do. However they are good tips because you never really know how tight you will have to keep your budget if you main source of income goes away tomorrow. While there are some people that will go as far as making eggs or baking cookies on the car engine that is not what we are talking about here. We do have a tip though when it comes to your car and saving gas, which is turning your car off when you are at a stop or stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. For those that are looking for extreme measures that don’t really make you cringe, read below.

Tip One: Make Your Home Carpet Free

You may be scratching your head on this one, but do you realize what it cost to maintain your carpet? To properly maintain that carpet you have to vacuum regularly which requires electricity. You also need to have the carpet steamed and shampooed a couple times a year. This isn’t even taking into consideration the medical costs associated with carpet due to pet dander and allergens and molds taking up residency in the fibers. While it may cost a little to get rid of the carpet upfront, it will save you over $200 a year once you get rid of it.

Tip Two: Move in With Mom and Dad

Regardless of how old you are or if you have a spouse and kids, you may want to take a look at living with mom and dad again. The reason for this is that it can significantly save money for both you and your parents. Yes, you will lose some privacy, but overall it can be a better arrangement for all involved. Mom and dad get to bond with grandkids, expenses are shared which could easily save you $3000 a month.

Tip Three: Have a No-Spend Month

Yes, the thought may give you a headache but it can save you money. For 30 days hold you and your family to a no-spend agreement. Pick a dollar amount, a very low one, such as $250 and that is what you are going to live on for the entire month. That $250 has to cover your auto gas, entertainment, food and other daily expenses. This will force you to eat at home more and actually use the food in your cupboards and freezer. It will also make you keenly aware of what your spending habits are per month. You could easily save $1000 a month or more.

Yes these types are extreme but they can save you money, a lot of money. If you are facing tough economic times or you are just trying to prevent having a tough time consider our options. Based on our figures if you did all three you could save thousands a month.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of CheapInsider.com. Cheap Insider provides everyone with Tips and Techniques for saving money and finding bargains. To learn more and INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Money Saving Tips” go to http://www.cheapinsider.com/specialoffer