A Dollar Saved...

Programmable Thermostat.

apennysaved — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:55:49 +0000

I used to have a manual thermostat; one that I had to change constantly during the day to keep a steady temperature and one that cost me money because I’d always forget to turn it down at nighttime. So, finally, I decided to invest in a programmable thermostat and boy am I glad that I did. After programming it to adjust its temperature at the specific times of day that I had entered (morning, early-evening, and nighttime), I saw that my heating bill was down almost $30; and it was colder those next two months than it had been the previous two. I can’t recommend highly enough getting a programmable thermostat - not only will it save you money, but it also alleviates the hassle of having to remember to change the thermostat several times a day!

KMart.

apennysaved — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:57:03 +0000

It seems that KMart this week is having a big coupon week (called Super Double Coupon week, I believe), where, obviously, coupons can be worth up to double their value (meeting a few requirements, of course). This coupon event is so huge that I’m still trying to wrap my head completely around it, but I think you can double your coupons if the coupon is under two dollars and if your total purchase is over $25. Here’s a link to some 100 KMart coupons so you can get started for yourselves and enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend like I plan to! :http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/NoSupport.aspx?pid=14544&zid=jj40&nid=10&cid=0&bid=ALK0705050744FCC3B936615413

Splurge every now and then.

apennysaved — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:44:40 +0000

I know, I know, it may seem a little counter intuitive at first, but trust me, it works. If you want to save money effectively, you need to splurge every so often. Go out and buy yourself something you’ve been wanting for some time but haven’t because you thought it would require too much money or treat yourself and your family to a nice dinner. Just do something (though, not something overly big) every now and again to get that itch to spend and spend out before it builds up and explodes and you wind up doing more damage than you would have otherwise. Trust me, I know from personal experiece that if you’re just too frugal for too long a period of time, it can really backfire. So treat yourself to something this week; you derserve it!

Libraries.

apennysaved — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:14:33 +0000

Mmhmm, you heard me, libraries. They’re an excellent way to get entertainment for essentially nothing! I know at my local library, a library card is free if you live in the country and $25 a year if you live out-of-county, which may seem pretty hefty, but, if you make use of your library card often, it’s well worth the money and still one of the most inexpensive ways to entertain yourself. In comparison, that $25 one would spend (ONLY if out-of-county, so for those in-county, they would pay NOTHING) for a whole year’s worth of books couldn’t even buy you 4 movie tickets. I know this set up is specific to my library, but I imagine other libraries’ policies are roughly the same, and even if they do charge a little more or do charge in-county users a small fee, it’s still well worth it to get a library card and start reading! Just make sure that you return your books, CDs, VHSs, DVDs, etc. that you take out on time because you’ll be fined, which can add up especially if you take a lot of things out at one time and especially if it’s a VHS or DVD you return late. I know that at my library its a 10 cent fine for every day you have a book overdue (per book) and a whole dollar each day you have a VHS or DVD out past its due date. So, get out there, get a library card, and start reading and saving money by not spending money on more expensive yet just as equally as entertaining forms of entertainment!

Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach.

apennysaved — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:31:50 +0000

Trust me, your wallet will regret it. This past weekend, I bought groceries to refill our bare refridgerator and cupboards, but did so without having eaten yet that day. I wanted to get it done as soon as I could so I didn’t think to eat first. And I hadn’t really had much dinner the night before either, to make it worse. But I went nevertheless, before having eaten. Bad idea.

As I went through the aisles of food, I began to crave anything I saw on the shelf, even things I knew that I didn’t like ordinarily, because I was so hungry. So normally where I would have looked at a product and eventually decided “Eh, we don’t really need this”, the hunger and cravings overtook my judgment and forced me to put them in my cart. By the time I was done I could tell that the cart was noticably more filled than it usually was, but I was so hungry I didn’t care and just went to the register where I found out that this weeks groceries costed me almost 40% more than they usually do! Ouch! Lesson learned: I will always eat breakfast/lunch before I go grocery shopping.

Lucky.

apennysaved — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:26:34 +0000

I feel that it’s best to start off this blog post with a little anecdote to help explain what is truely meant by this tip. Some time ago, I made the decision to buy a set of golf clubs. The very first day I used them, however, they broke. Their breaking was through no fault of my own; I was just at teh drving range hitting balls with my driver when all of a sudden the head of the driver goes flying off on the backswing and looked as if someone sheared right through it. It wasn’t as if I had, you know, accidentally slammed it into something or into the ground, it just fell off in the act of me swinging it. So, I called the company who manufactured the clubs and explained to them plainly what had happened, without expecting anything for doing so. Of course the apologized and I thought that that was that Luckily I still had a driver from a previous set of golf clubs so there was no immediate need to go and buy a replacement set. But, about two weeks later or so, a big package arrives on my doorstep, and as it turns out, it was a brand new replacement set of (somewhat more expensive) golf clubs sent from the company, along with a voucher for one hundred free golf balls from the company, all for no charge! So I actually got a free set of golf clubs and one hundred golf clubs out of this, for calling in and telling them of what happened while using this project. Let it be noted, however, that I called in expecting nothing in return; I was just letting them know what had happened. And in know way am I condoning calling in to companies to gripe about every tiny, infinitesimal flaw you have with a product in the hopes that you will be compensated and get some freebies, but I suppose my anecdote does show that I can pay off.

I’m back!

apennysaved — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:46:50 +0000

Sorry about my 1+ month unannounced hiatus! I was just so wrapped up in doing last minute things for my trip that i forgot to tell you all that I took a month long trip in France (where I had no means by which to update this blog, unfortunatly). I’ve only just returned and have been on airplanes in the air/going through customs/twiddling my thumbs during unbearably long lay-overs for the past 18 or so hours, and am extremely exhausted. So, I will try and come back fresher either tomorrow or saturday to write a quality and perhaps share stuff about my trip. But until then, keep saving!

Postponed.

apennysaved — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:56:37 +0000

Hey! Sorry, I know I said I was going to write a post, but I can’t very well focus on writing one with this whole mass shooting ordeal going on in my home town of Binghamton, NY. I’ll try to be back tomorrow focused to post, though.

Insulate.

apennysaved — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:02:40 +0000

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve last posted! I need to get better at remembering and mustering up the energy to post more often! But, without further ado, here’s today’s tip: insulate your home! Yes, really, do it. It saves you money; and here’s why.Insulating your home is a very simple thing to do - you don’t even need any special ability or tools to do the job. And it should only take a day or two to finish doing. The reason that this will save you money is because an insulated home will not lose or gain heat as rapidly as a house without insulation, which translates into saved money since you won’t have to waste money on your energy bill to continuously heat up your house in the morning since your house won’t get as cold overnight as it would otherwise in the first place. Doing this will also extend the life of your heating and cooling systems, saving you money on having to buy a new one more frequently. So although putting in insulation could be a little time consuming and may be tedious, the money that you’ll save by doing so makes it well worth the effort! And come back in the next couple of days to get a brand new money saving tip!

Hmph.

apennysaved — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:15:04 +0000

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while! I’ve been back to the doctor a couple of times within the fast few days, and it seems as though its worse than they had thought. I don’t know all the technical, medical mumbo jumbo, but all I know is that I’m supposed to stay off of it for the next week or two. Sigh. How inconvienent. And it’s embarrasing too. Like, when I have to go back to the office and they’re like “hey, how did you manage doing THAT to your ankle?” and I have to respond: “umm…well…it was..uh…personal trampoline incident…” Did I mention to please go and burn all of your trampolines now to save yourself from injury and bills from the doctor? I’ll try to be back later today or tomorrow with another post, but until then, don’t ever jump on those little death traps again.