A friend of mine is very into DIY (do-it-yourself) culture. She recently showed me how to plant a spring vegetable garden without spending a dime (aside from buying seeds, which you will need to buy unless you saved some from last year).
You will likely have all the supplies you need on hand:
- Newspaper
- Tape (duct tape works well) or string
- Compost or soil
- Trays (you can use baking dishes, plastic bowls, anything with a flat surface that is rimmed)
- Plastic wrap
- Spritz bottle
Rip the newspaper into 3-4 inch strips and roll them into tubes so the opening is about 2-3 inches across. Tape each tube around the middle or fasten with string so they stay rolled up, as above. Fill each one with compost and set in a tray.
Plant seeds according to the directions on the packet. Most of the seeds will want to be nestled at the top of the dirt. Separate trays by seed type (one tray for tomatoes, another for eggplant, etc) and mark them with tape so you remember what you are sprouting. Plant more seeds that you think you need because many will not make it.
Once you plant, spritz each seed cup with water 2-5 times, so they are moist but not wet. Cover each tray loosely with plastic wrap and set in a warm place. My friend puts her trays above her fridge. The seeds need a bit of light, but not too much or they will dry out. Spritz the seeds once a day, then re-cover with the plastic wrap.
When the seeds have sprouted and grown a bit, a few daily spritzes will not be enough to keep them moist. Stop spritzing and add water so it rises about a half-inch from the bottom of the tray. The newspaper and seed roots will soak up the water. Re-add a half-inch of water every other day or so when the seeds need it. You want them to be moist, but not soaked.
When the seedlings are bursting through the cups, pull the newspaper away and plant outside. You are well on your way to spring harvest!
Thanks, Mariel!
Reader Iggy has a great tip for creating mini-greenhouses to nurture new seeds:
You can also re-use the styrofoam trays from produce as pot liners. Also, you can create mini-greenhouses out of plastic salad containers or washed out containers from fast food restaurants (tray plus lid). You won’t have to spritz any water for at least a week. It helps to open the container every couple of days for a few minutes to prevent the air from stagnating and checking the moisture level.
Get a coupon for free Hersey’s Pieces bag candy.
Restaurant.com certificates are 80 percent off until Jan. 31, 2010 with this coupon code.
Home Depot sends special coupons to those on its email list.
Buying your Valentine’s lingerie? Check out Charlotte Russe’s intimates sale with $2 panties and $5 bras.
Now until the end of the month new gym memberships at 24 Hour Fitness are as low as $30 a month with no initiation fee.
Here is a Borders coupon for 33 percent off, good through Feb. 1, 2010.
Check out all the deals on my WalletPop blog.
For the last eight, no seventeen, no 36 months Hubby has refused to say goodbye to our sad, broken robotic vacuum cleaner, Roomba. It broke three years ago when we moved from Jersey City, N.J. to Los Angeles. Even a new battery didn’t perk Roombie up.
Hubby does not like to throw out holey socks let alone a vacuum cleaner. So he pulled out the box – he always saves the box – and stashed the broken Roombie in the closet. Where it sat. And waited. And got on my nerves.
A typical exchange when I noticed Roomba taking up closet space:
“What’s the status of Roombie?” I would ask.
“What?” he would say.
“The Roombie – does it even work?”
“No.”
“Can we get rid of it then?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m going to fix it.”
Sigh.
Hubby made good on his promise Thursday. Actually, he did even better than that. He got rid of broken Roombie and brought home a brand new vacuum cleaner two models up, pictured above. Hubby left it on the dining room table so I was sure to notice it. I did.
“What’s that?”
“Our new vacuum cleaner.”
“How much did you pay for it?”
“$26.”
“What? How?”
“I’m cute.”
“Ha!”
He punctuated his silence with raised eyebrows.
“You are a better bargain hunter than me! Tell me the story,” I begged.
“I told them I wanted to upgrade. And the sales clerk said ‘OK. Go get another one.’”
“That’s amazing.”
Turns out Bed, Bath and Beyond still sells the Roomba model we had for $280. Hubby upgraded to a newer version, priced at $380. They accepted the exchange without a receipt (it was a secret santa Christmas gift) and apparently without caring that it was 3+ years old. And broken. Chalk it up to BB&B’s great customer service.
As the sales clerk rang him up, Hubby realized he had left his 20 percent off coupon in the car. He was about to ask if the clerk had an extra when he noticed she had already given him the discount, a $76 windfall.
With full credit for the broken Roomba, Hubby’s subtotal was $24. With tax he paid $26.34. S.C.O.R.E.
We put Roombie Two to work immediately. It is noisy but cleans on its own!
I was putting up flyers for the Frugal Fe$tival last weekend when I noticed two thrift stores on Sherman Way just west of Owensmouth in Canoga Park had gone out of business. To my shock Out of the Closest was a discount a furniture store and Aaardvarks Odd Ark was dark.
If anything, in a recession thrift stores should be thriving! Are people not even buying used clothes? My goodness.
I looked online to see how thrift stores across the country are faring. Perhaps the two I saw closed were a fluke. I found these headlines:
Billerica consignment stores hit hard by recession (MA, 7/20/09)
Salvation Army store to close (Mt. Vernon, VA) (7/17/09)
Economy closing Noble Road thrift store (Cleveland, OH 7/9/09)
Helping Hands thrift store closes its doors (Wetaskiwin, Canada 7/7/09)
St. Vincent de Paul closing its doors – seeking small headquarters (Sault Ste Marie, MI 6/26/09)
Thrift shops expect increase due to closing of Salvation Army (Norwich, CT 6/25/09)
And that is just going back one month!
I wonder what the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops has to say about this. An April press release begins, “The resale industry is one of the few recession proof segments of retailing…”
Not anymore. The recession has gone on long enough that the wave of consumers who turned to thrift stores to cut their budget a year ago has washed out.
Add this to my list of what I am going to buy as soon as my July spending moratorium is over – a new pair of sunglasses. My current ones are so pocked that it’s like a chicken pecked my eyes out. Add that need to a fabulous sale on SelectSpecs.com.
They have twenty pairs of sunglasses for $13.07. There are five styles that come in various colors, plus two ski goggles for $36.
SelectSpecs.com also has a limited selection of super cheap – I’m talking $8 a pair – regular glasses. The site currently has eight pairs at $8 and two pairs at $13.
The site lays out a price comparrison to rivals Zenni Optical, Eye Buy Direct and Goggles4U, and SHOCKINGLY, SelectSpecs.com comes out ahead. (Internet sarcasm, there.)
But there are drawbacks to purchasing new glasses online. At these prices, however, I think they’d be great for a second pair. Maybe something a bit funkier than your dad-to-day pair.
It feels a little bit like I’m about to start seventh grade and my Mom has stashed my new clothes and pristine new shoes into the hall closet where I can pull them out one by one and day dream about the first day of school when I can wear them. Actually, she always gave me permission to wear them ahead of time but she laced her approval with a caveat, “If you wear them now you won’t have something new to wear on the first day of school.”
Any other day of the year I was happy with hand-me-downs, but the first day of school? Even my underwear was new. I still remember in the tenth grade a friend wore dirty, black hi-top converse on the first day. That, I thought, took guts. It also made me realize that not everybody could afford to have new clothes.
But I digress. The stash that I am currently excited about is not clothes but a huge bag of toiletries. I used my coupons from TheCouponMaster.com at Target!
I redeemed 15 coupons totaling $17.25, bringing my bill to $32.74. (Incidentally, I still had to pay 9.75 percent California sales tax on the full, pre-coupon amount.) I paid $1.79 for the coupons, bringing my savings to $15.46 ($17.25 – $1.79).
Yes, I broke my moratorium. But I decided letting a wallet full of coupons go to waste – the ones I used all expire in July – was very un-Bargain Babe-like. However, as reader Tammy suggested, I am going to hide these items away until August in observance of the moratorium. This is the most sensible solution, I decided.
I would not have gotten this big of a deal without befriending the Target cashier. Most of the coupons say only one can be used per purchase. I was prepared to make separate purchases if need be. Turns out my placement in line set the stage for a score.
The person in front of me was a Target employee buying clothing with her employee discount. She started talking to the cashier about a local celebrity that had walked into the store wearing a *very* short skirt and a *very* low-cut top revealing her fake “pillow bags.” Naturally, I joined in the conversation. As soon as the celebrity left, everyone surrounded the cashier, who had rung her up, to gossip.
The cashier swiped the employee’s purchases and asked for her employee number.
“How big is the employee discount?” I asked. “Should I get a second job?”
“It’s not too bad,” the employee said.
“But they are getting more strict,” the cashier chimed in. “Now you have to show your ID card, not just the number.”
“Oh yeah?”
“My son tried to use my number – he is my designated shopper – but he didn’t have his ID card on him. I asked him how much it was. Just $30. I told him I would give him the $3.”
So the Target employee discount is 10 percent, I thought.
“Every little bit counts,” I said.
The cashier, who has a second job, agreed. She works 7 days a week but has Friday evening off, she told me.
Then she started to ring me up.
“Speaking of every little bit counts,” I said, “I have some coupons I’d like to use.”
I had set out my 15 coupons with my odd collection of deodorant, shampoo and facial cleanser.
She looked at the coupons, then she looked at me. I smiled.
“I guess I’m in one of those moods,” she said, scanning all the coupons. “But you know you’re only supposed to use one coupon per purchase (per item).”
“Thank you,” I said, swiping my credit card. “Enjoy your day off.”
I was considering giving myself a haircut – if I botched it my pesky spending moratorium nixes a quick fix at the salon – but the challenge has been put off until August. My video producer (yes, I was going to make a video of the ordeal) is on vacation.
But it got me thinking, when is Doing-It-Yourself in the name of saving money a really awful idea? A countdown.
10. Cutting your own hair. The opportunities for disaster are as thick as my hair. Not that this is going to deter me. Hair grows back!
9. Butchering your own (wild) animal. I heard on NPR that a grown buck is worth hundreds of dollars!
8. Using bug spray with abandon. One man blew up his home this way.
7. Making your own clothes. Fixing buttons and socks, sure, but princess seams?
6. Car repair beyond the basics. Your safety is important, yo.
5. Trying a bold new hair color at home. You pay your stylist for their skills and a second opinion.
4. Electrical work. There are reasons why electrical work requires licensed professionals and permits. Reasons like fires and explosions.
3. Making your own fireworks display. This is sure to get you a Darwin award.
2. Repairing your microwave. The cost of new parts will likely cost more than buying a new one, and fixing the broken involves handling very dangerous parts.
And the No. 1 activity that is a stupid way to save money is…
1. Nipple piercing. One hapless gal from “Lower Indiana” tried this at home and concludes “I still have trouble believing how tough the skin was to pierce.” Ouch.
What’s the stupidest thing you’ve done to save money?
This is a guest post from BargainBabe.com’s intern, Alex.
Military spending may seem like far-off dollars that will never see your pocket, but military-based discounts are everywhere. They just aren’t usually displayed in storefront windows.
As a dependent of my dad who retired from the air force, I received tons of discounts all throughout high school and college on stuff like movie tickets, flowers, and hotel reservations. The only time I had to step foot on a military base was to get my military ID card, a process which can take a couple hours but is well worth it.
Sometimes the hardest part is just remembering to ask about these discounts. Who would have thought I would save 15 percent on my lift ticket and ski rental last winter? Oh, and not just for me, but my two friends as well. If you know somebody with a military ID, be sure to remind them of possible discounts.
And flowers! Are flowers expensive or what? I was able to get a discount on Valentine’s Day flowers online because I have a friend in the active military. I showed him Military.com, a site that lists companies with military discounts, and he hooked me up with some of the exclusive coupon codes.
Some places are a little less accommodating. They have strict rules about offering their discounts only to those serving active duty, meaning nobody who is retired or simply has a parent in the military is eligible. Should you try to get your discount anyway? Knowing you’re not active military that’s up to the individual. The average behind-the-counter-guy/girl is not going to be up to speed on the differences between military ID cards, but that may change. Knowledge is power I say, use it with everyone in mind.
The savings don’t stop at the storefronts, though. I was once pulled over for an illegal U-Turn as well as impeding traffic. The cop started writing me up before he noticed the military ID in my wallet as I showed him my driver’s license.
He still wrote me up for a basic traffic violation, but made it clear that he could have done worse. Did he hold off because of the military affiliation? Maybe. Something tells me picking up that military ID card on the base was worth the time. It expired years ago, but still comes in handy.
Check this eHow page to see if your relationship to somebody in the military makes you qualified for special discounts.
One of life’s annoyances is that freezers are always three-quarters full when really, they are empty. Don’t know what I mean?
Last night I was looking for freezer space for my groceries, and saw pizza sauce, mashed potatoes, cubes of chicken broth…I think. I can’t really tell!
Rather than admit defeat I close the door to think. I need to make room, but I can’t toss these indecipherable packages and containers because I have been paying to freeze them all this time. They must be valuable – and edible – if I put them in there!
Which brings us to the first law of freezers. The longer an item remains in the freezer the less likely you are to throw it away OR EAT IT.
I call this the grandfather rule. In practice, ancient items have grandfathered rights to remain in the freezer.
The problem is these inedible edibles are taking up valuable real estate. How am I supposed to be a freezer diva when all I can stash in my icebox is one measly pizza pocket? It’s embarrassing, I tell you.
Worst of all, my frozen foodstuffs mock me.
Have you ever tried to put a carton of ice cream on top of a grandfathered tenant? Immediately slides off and jams the door before you can slam it shut. It’s as if all the old tenants pass around a bottle of olive oil and lather up so nobody can cozy up to them.
This is the second law of freezers. Old = oily.
If you are lucky, you will close the freezer completely on the seventh try. (Yes, I leave the freezer bursting precariously and yes, I make sure not to be the next person who opens it.)
Yesterday, after a late-night run to Albertons, which is having a massive sale through Tuesday, I came face to face with my grumpy old tenants. Oh, I’ll outsmart you this time, I thought when I returned with three whole chickens, two cartons of ice cream and one pint of sorbet. (Not to mention 11 boxes of cereal, all on super sale.)
The sorbet popped into the door on top of a bag of chili peppers (I’m testing how long they freeze. Three years and counting!) I jammed one ice cream container into a bag of frozen peas, and I rearranged two packages of hot togs to make room for a chicken. I shoved the second ice cream carton into a bag of hamburger buns and stuffed another chicken on top. That leaves one more chicken. Into the fridge with you!
The door stayed shut, but 
I know my tenants will get the better of me soon. So this morning I decided to confront them once and for all.
I opened my freezer and evicted every last edible and inedible package, above. Get moving, granny!
Here are the shady characters I have been renting to this entire time. Items in italics are bound for the trash.
4 D, 2 C and 2 AA batteries
1 small bag of breadcrumbs
1 tupperware of breadcrumbs
8 frozen strawberries
Full loaf of bread
1 bag of chili peppers
2 frozen cheese and chili tamales
Small bottle of Jeager with one shot left
2 containers of Hubby’s chili dated 1/9/08 and 9/22/07
Tube of limeade syrup
7 containers of chicken broth
1 freezer-burned chicken carcass (for making broth – as if I needed more!)
7 half-full containers of pizza sauce
1 serving of mashed potatoes
4 veggie burgers (unopened)
1 baggie of gray, freezer-burned chicken meat
1 small, 1 large bag chopped peppers
7 hot dog buns
8 hamburger buns
4 mini pita rounds
2 empty plastic bags
3 slices of bread
2 1/4 chunks of unsliced bread
4 slices of bread
1 unopened package of vegetables
2 cracked containers of beef gravy
1 bag edamame
1/2 bag pork wontons
2 whole chickens
1 lb ground turkey
2 packages of hot dogs
4 chicken thighs (in two bags)
5 completely unidentifiable packages
3 cold sports packs for icing joints
1 blue eye mask
1 bag peas
2 bags chopped green and red peppers
6 potato rolls
1/2 bag petite onions
1 rolling cloth (for dough)
1/2 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequilla
2 mini empanadas
1 bag french toast
1 container sorbet, two boxes of ice cream
6 otter pops
4 cubes of potatoes
1/2 package green beans
2 tiny balls of dough
1/2 lb sliced turkey breast
I wiped down the freezer, re-arranged the items by category (from the bottom up, bread/veggies; meat; anything in tupperware; misc.), and snapped a picture for you all to see evidence of the third freezer law. Sometimes you have to throw stuff out. Notice the top shelf is half-empty. Success!
A reader named Fred wrote in with this important question:
Can I get a mortgage if I do not have a job? There are so many factors to consider. Would you be kind enough as to give me some pointers as what to look for or avoid? Please help me. Thank you.
Fred, my short answer is not likely. The long answer is maybe, because getting a loan depends on many factors. Lenders look at your whole financial picture when deciding if you are a good risk, i.e., someone who is likely to pay them back.
Maybe you are a trust fund baby and has never worked a day but still has plenty of moolah to make good on a loan. If you are a regular working Joe, however, your chances are not as good because job stability is a factor lenders consider, so not having a job hurts you. Do you have any evidence of how soon you will get a job and how stable that job will be? How do you plan to pay your mortgage with no income?
Ultimately, the best way to answer your question is to prepare a loan application and submit it.
Start by figuring out what you can afford to buy using this calculator from the American Bankers Association, which recently shared tips to get a loan in this tight market.
Next, gather and organize your information, including pay stubs, tax returns, financial statements, and paperwork showing your monthly payments on your car, credit card, and student loans. Lenders will want recent statements going back three to 24 months.
To strength your application, include any additional information that proves additional income or wealth. Depending on your credit score and other factors, lenders will want to see that you have many months of PITI (principal, interest, taxes and insurance) on hand. Here’s a PITI calculator.
ABA also recommends you use a trusted institution, pay down other loans, read the fine print, and take into account the myriad costs of home ownership like insurance, maintenance, closing costs and taxes.
Good luck!
Junk mail and overzealous catalog companies create a lot of waste and tempt you to buy things you didn’t know you needed. Here are a few free and paid ways to opt out.
CatalogChoice.org is a free service that lets you chose which catalogs you want to receive. More than 1 million people and 1,000 merchants use CatalogChoice. Read more about how the site works.
ProQuo promises to reduce your junk mail by 90 percent by removing your name from marketing lists. The service costs $18 a year. ProQuo says their members have less clutter in their lives, are safer from identity theft and help the environment.
DMAChoice.org helps you cut back on credit card offers, catalogs, magazine offers, and other mail like donation requests, bank offers, and retail promotions. The free site connects you with company websites or customer service departments so you can opt out. Read more about DMAChoice.
OptOutPreScreen.com allows you to remove your name from lists used by the main credit card agencies, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. This means you will not receive credit card offers for five years. The site says you can also opt-out permanently or opt-in.
DirectMail.com is another free opt-out or opt-in service for direct mail. They say they are the closest thing to a national Do Not Mail List (which doesn’t exist – yet). DirectMail.com is not a government-run agency and also sells mailing lists.
Related:
Thanks, PJ!
This is a guest post by Louisa Maccan-Graves, who is a celebrity body parts model and writer of HollywoodBeautySecrets.com.
Everyone enjoys a beauty bargain! Even I use kitchen ingredients and budget-friendly products to keep my skin looking “picture perfect.” One of my beauty secrets is using coffee grounds, left from my morning cup of organic coffee. Coffee grounds keep my complexion looking more youthful and flawless. A cup of coffee contains well over 300 antioxidants and 100’s of polyphenols that can help provide many health benefits. But did you know that the grounds left from making your morning brew can help improve and protect your skin from aging?
So don’t throw away those precious “skin repair & rejuvenating” grounds. Use them to exfoliate skin, help prevent and diminish fine lines and wrinkles, balance the pH of skin (great for those with acne or blemish-prone skin), pull toxins from the skin, as a natural astringent, and help moisturize the skin.
Here’s my two-part Café Latte Facial Scrub & Mask Recipe:
STEP I:
Slightly warm the grounds in the microwave. Before bed, cleanse face. Then place a piece of newspaper or paper towel in the sink basin to prevent grounds from going down your drain. While standing over the basin, grab a handful of grounds and gently rub them in a circular motion on face and neck for about 60 seconds. Much of the grinds will fall off, but the antioxidant-rich residue will work it age-proofing magic when left on for10 to 15 minutes. Remove soiled newspaper from basin and rinse face with tepid water.
STEP II:
Pour 1 cup of milk in a large glass bowl and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds, until slightly warm. Use fat-free, 2% or whole milk – whatever is on hand. Wash your face with the warm milk to remove the residue. The lactic acid in the milk also helps further exfoliate and brighten skin tone. Then rinse face with warm water. If any brown residue is still remaining, dip a clean face cloth into the milk and rub face in a gentle circular motion until all residue is removed. Then rinse with tepid water.
Afterward, apply an antioxidant or peptide-rich moisturizer. And don’t forget to apply sun screen over moisturizer in the morning. Use a 30 SPF sun screen that contains either Parsol®, Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide for best protection.
NOTE: Place the cooled grounds in a zip lock bag, or clean jar and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to use them. Be sure to discard any unused grounds after 48 hours. For recipes: Warm the used grounds in the microwave for 10 seconds to 15 seconds and check temperature before use.
UPDATE: A reader says many Starbucks give away their grounds, which you can also use in your garden. Just ask!
For more recipes, check out HollywoodBeautySecrets.com and Louisa’s book, Hollywood Beauty Secrets: Remedies to the Rescue.
Here are a few compelling stories I’ve read in the past week:
Trent at The Simple Dollar reveals his email trick for getting deals. A tad unethical? You be the judge.
I’m going to Harvard. Will you sponsor me? NY Times story on alums who set up Harvard-only loan system. (Don’t let my eye rolling throw you off. I feel bad for poor Harvard students, I really do.)
Bargaineering weighs the pros and cons of making your own dog food, pictured above.
Free Money Finance has a financial stress test for you to take. (Guess what he scored? 100!)
Don’t have the cash to finance your personal growth? Recession Wire shares free education resources. (My addition: iTunes U!)
Frugal Dad asks if it is possible to save too much when you are young.
Gas prices are spiking, USA Today says. Yeah, I noticed when I filled up for $3.19/gal yesterday. $*%&#!
WalletPop has Father’s Day freebies!
Thanks, Tina!
I was checking my utility bill recently and noticed So Cal Edison included stats on our past electricity usage. Our average daily electricity usage has dropped from 16 kilowatt per hour in 2007, to 14.59 kWh last year. This year our average usage is 13.33 kWh.
That’s a drop of by 9 percent from 2007 to 2008, and another 8 percent from 2008 to 2009. Not too shabby.
Here are some purposeful (and inadvertent) changes we made to reduce our wattage.
- We replaced our ancient fridge with one that is newer and more efficient
- We run our hot tub less frequently (but still often enough that our friends come over!)
- We wash our clothes on the cold water setting
- We line dry about half of each load (which is as much as the line can take)
- We updated our microwave when the latch broke, above, to one made this century
- We fixed our forced air heater last winter instead of using our plug-in heater
- We unplugged our TV and eventually got rid of it (Hulu, baby!)
What have you done to reduce your utility bill?
Call me a late adopter, but did you know that you can calculate how much juice your old appliance is costing you on EnergyStar.gov? Their handy calculator lets you see how many dollars you can save by upgrading a refrigerator or freezer and how much you can reduce your bill if you unplug an extra fridge or freezer. Cool!
All you need to know is the approximate year your model was made, the capacity (in cubic feet), and the general shape of the appliance. Or you can plug in the model number. They also have a link to your state’s average electricity price in case you are too lazy to dig out your utility bill. How practical.
The numbers are convincing. For instance, if your fridge was made before 1980 and cools 19-21 cubic feet, you could save $1,005 over five years by upgrading. The calculator says your old clunker costs $246 a year to run, but an Energy Star qualified fridge costs just $45 a year to run. That’s $201 cheaper per year!
If you are running a second freezer, you could unplug it and save $174 a year. (That’s for a 19-21 cubic foot freezer made before 1980.) Both calculations are using the average national price of $.11 per kilowatt hour. Of course, if you unplug your extra freezer you have less space to be a freezer diva, which has many money-saving attributes.)
