Saving Freak

With the down economy most Americans are choosing to stay in their current homes instead of moving.  The Census Bureau finds that only 11% of Americans moved last year down from the normal 20%, According to the San Francisco Chronicle.

With almost a 50% drop in the number of people moving the moving industry is an a major slump.  Also there are so many more ways to move than there have been in the past.  Now instead of just the two options of having someone do everything for you you have the options of having someone pack everything for you and you drive it yourself or you pack everything into a portable storage unit and have the company move it for you.

There are a few things to remember in each of these scenarios:

Do-It-Yourself - remember the day of the week, time of the month and other various factors influence the cost of truck rentals.  So make sure you check multiple dates that you can be flexible on.

Paying Someone Else - If you are having someone pack, move, or do it all for you make sure you get a binding estimate of the costs.  A simple estimate will not hold up if they jack up the price on you at the last minute. Also, buy replacement value insurance (not from the moving company) so that if anything breaks it will be replaced.   The levels of liability to the company were set back in the 1930’s and have not been updated for inflation.  Finally, videotape all your possessions before you start packing so that there are no disputes in case something goes missing.

You may want to check out Moving.org, the website for the American Moving and Storage Association, to get estimates from reputable sources.

If you are moving I hope your move goes well and with as little headache as possible.

Homemade Stain Spray

Make your own stain-fighting spray for the laundry! I put 1/2 a spray bottle full of Tide laundry detergent (Tide is awesome at fighting stains). Then, I put a little bit of Dawn dishwashing liquid and fill the rest with water. Shake it up, and there you have it - your very own stain-fighting spray! I think that this fights stains MUCH better than the stain-fighters that I buy in the stores.

–Tammy from Fort McCoy, FL

Use Plastic Grocery Bags for Packing Material

Another good use for all those grocery plastic bags is to use them as packing material! When you send a gift, or when you make a move to a new home, these bags are great for wrapping glassware and other breakables!

–CKDavis from Flagstaff, AZ

Ask Your Cafe For Used Coffee Grounds

Many cafes will give out quantities of used coffee grounds for your garden for free! Our local Borders does this and it is wonderful for the garden, esp. acid loving plants like azalea, lilac, hydrangea, etc. All you have to do is ask!

–Carol from Landisville, Pa

Dilute Fabric Softener For Twice As Much

I love using fabric softener for my laundry, and one bottle of fabric softener makes two for me, and I’ll share how:

I saved one of my empty fabric softener containers and when I bought a new one the same size, I poured 1/2 the contents into the empty, saved, bottle and filled both bottles to the top with water. I use a 1/2 capful in each load and it lasts me for more than a month. Try it.

Note: Most fabric softeners these days are ultra brands or very thick and loaded with perfumes and work just the same when diluted.

–sbb1 from Umm al Quain, UAE

Multipurpose Bath Products

Did you know that you can multipurpose many bath and body products? For instance, I like to purchase scented bubble bath at the dollar store and use that for my hand soap. It’s not only cheaper than hand soap but, and here is what I like, it comes in so many more scent choices. Landers makes huge bottles that come in fruity scents, and my local Dollar Tree is now selling aromatherapy scented shower gels which can also be used. Hey, it’s not bath n body works, but way cheaper. And a great savings (and a little bit goes a looong way!)

–Carol from Lancaster, PA

Free sample of NesCafe Taster’s Choice Stick Pack (click on Try It On Us)

Free Colorano Silk-Art greeting card

Voucher good for a free sample of Bare Essentials Matte Foundation at JC Penney

Free sample Acti-Flex light weight cohesive tape

Free sample of Steaz Energy Shot energy drink

Free sample of Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste plus coupons for other Aquafresh products

Free sample of Vitaxin vitamin supplement

Free sample of Triple-Flex joint health supplement

Coupon good for a single bottle of Ensure nutrition shake

Free sample of Greenies pet chews

I think that San Fran exists in its own little universe out there sometimes.  I just read an article from the LA Times where San Fran has passed legislation that prevents a land lord from raising the rent to more than 33% of a renters income and allows a renter to add roommates and family members even if the lease the signed strictly forbids it.

Now I am all for lower prices but this kind of legislation leads to only one thing; poorer living conditions.  I think many times the people we elect have great intentions but their ideas many times have unintended consequences.  What happens when you cap what a landlord can charge their tenants?  You get a disgruntled landlord who will not (or cannot) fix anything.    The market dictates what a landlord must charge in order to make a profit and keep the building in good shape.  Are some people going to gouge?  Absolutely!  But you are not forced to live in those buildings you can just go to another one that is not price gouging.  It will be interesting to see what happens to rentals in San Fran as a result of this legislation.

The emergence of YouTube and Hulu have made it very easy to catch your favorite shows and videos online.  The problems is keeping all of this information straight.  I just ran into a new program called Boxee that actually searches the web for free online content.  This utility is great at helping you find all the shows you want.  Unfortunately it only works on MAC nad Linux operating systems.  So if you are using a Microsoft operating system (XP, Vista, etc.) you are going to have to wait until they come out with a newer version.

This application does work with your Iphone which is a really cool way of watching online content on your home television.

The key to getting a good deal on any product is knowing the best “regular” price on any item.  With groceries this has become easier with Wal-Mart and Aldi being the low cost leaders on pretty much every item out there.  In fact, if you do not want to play the coupon game you can  save about 20%-30% off the regular prices at the grocery stores just by shopping for groceries at either of these two stores.

If you are looking for the absolute best prices on groceries coupons are the way to go as long as you know that you aren’t paying more just to use a coupon and get a name brand item.  Now I tend to know what a good deal is on any product due to my diligence in understanding prices across the markets, but  I am coming across many items that I have no real basis for how much they cost as my wife and I prepare for the birth of our first child.  In short, I have no clue how much baby supplies should cost.

I saw this as a great opportunity to share how I create a pricing strategy for any item.  So for this example we will be using diapers, but the method can be used for any item that you purchase at retail stores.

Diapers turned out to be a little more complicated than I originally expected because there are so many different sizes (which makes sense when you think about it but I never had).  So I headed down to my low cost leaders (Wal-Mart/Aldi) and priced out diapers.  Now if this were electronics I would have spent more time online than in the stores.

Next I take the prices and put them into a chart that looks something like this:

Now as I was looking for the best prices I noticed that none of the companies had the same quantity of diapers in their packaging.  So instead of being able to rely on the data above we have to take another step and add a per unit column.  This makes the chart look like this:

Very simple concept, just divide the number of diapers into the total price to get the cost per diaper.  Using this number I can easily whip out the calculator on my cell phone and determine if this weeks special really is, all that special.

Free sample of Quaker True Delights

Free Redbox DVD rental using code “rbxthxu6″

Free sample of Cold Turkey Tea

Coupon for $5 off Eukanuba puppy food when you enroll

Coupon for free Yoplait Whips with sign up for Betty Crocker Newsletter

Free sample of Vaseline Aloe Fresh

Free sample packets of Emeril’s Original Essence

Coupon for free White Castle Slider

Free sample of Degree Absolute Protection for men

Coupon for a free piece of chocolate cake at Romano’s Macaroni Grill

Found a great CVS Extra Bucks deal that ends today.  Go to CVS and find the Style Science Lens Cleaning Cloths (near sunglasses or prescription glasses).  These cloths are $0.99 a piece and qualify for an extra bucks deal.  So you need to buy two of them and then $10 in extra bucks will print out on the receipt.  This is $8 in free money.  This is one of the best hidden deals I have ever seen from CVS.

Anyone who buys in bulk or stocks up on sale items runs into two problems.  The first is running out of space.  I don’t tend to have this problem because my wife cuts me off from purchasing more before all the storage in our house is gone.  The second, is not realizing that you are running out of a product that you had a ton of.

A good example for me is that we are now down to three rolls of bath tissue.  This creates a problem; I now have to settle for the best deal available instead of the best deal possible.  Meaning I am spending more money than I want to on bath tissue.

Like most people my life is really crazy.  This means I have to force myself to take an inventory of the non-perishable items in my house. I tend to put this off because it is not a fun job but the latest oversight of bath tissue has forced me to go ahead and take inventory in my house.  I know this will please the few of you who have asked me in the past to let you know what I stock up on so here is my list of stocked items, with the quantities currently in storage.

Shampoo - 7 and 8 free sample packages

Body Wash - 5

Bar Soap - 5

Deodorant - 1

Toothpaste - 5

Toothbrush - 2

Mouthwash - 2

Moisturizer - 6 free samples

Bath Tissue - 3

Since it is just my wife and I this list tells me that I need to look for a great deal on deodorant toothbrushes and, of course, bath tissue.  With a new baby less than a month away I have started looking for baby products that I need to take advantage of the best possible deals.  I am told that the stock pile of diapers we have received will be gone in a few days and I should look to have as many on hand as possible.  Any other advice from you seasoned parents out there?

I have noticed an interesting trend in various public bathrooms.  Instead of a soap dispenser they have switched to a foamy soap dispenser.  This means that people use less soap and thus cost the company less money.  Shortly after I noticed this I started watching these little wonders pop up in people’s homes also.

This got me to thinking, “how much soap do I waste at home by not using foam?”  As I started to pay attention I realized that the amount was quite substantial.  The biggest culprit being in the shower with body wash and Shampoo.  No I have managed to cut down on my shampoo usage by trial and error of how much I need based off of the size of the drop in my hand, but body wash has been really hard.  So I decided to make my own foam.

I did this by taking my last (and now empty) bottle of body wash and filling it 1/3 full from the new bottle.  I then filled it another 1/3 with water.  I left the rest of the space for the foam that will form when I shake it.  Now this may seem a little extreme since I have at least four more bottles of body wash sitting in storage (especially since I got them all for free using CVS Extra Bucks), but I just do not want to spend my money on things that are vital but do not make my life better.

Of note, my wife quickly mocked me that I was watering down the soap.  Which I see as an OK alternative since that too would make the soap last longer (as long as I am still getting squeaky clean).  After my first trial run I am pleased with the early results and will update you in a couple of weeks with how this experiment worked out.