Immediate ways to save money

1. Reuse the aluminum foil. Wash and dry flat.
2. Save the milk jug for other uses. 
3. Take extra napkins from fast food restaurants to use at home (But not for company. They get the good stuff).
4. Use smaller amounts of paper towels. Try 1 first, then get another.
5. Make your own liquid soap or laundry detergent. Recipe are online or write me for free recipes. 
6. Walk don't drive whenever possible.
7. Free live music is the cheapest way to great entertainment. Check out a local pub for bands and events!
8. Unplug everything. Put it all on power strips and pull one plug for all.
9. Open windows at night, and turn off AC. 
10. Don't keep pets. Use that $$ for vacation or pay off debt.
11. Invite friends over for low budget entertainment. Let them bring their favorites! More to share.
12. Cook in the crock pot. It's a no brainer.
13. If it's yellow (#1) let it mellow, if it's brown(#2) flush it down saving water.
14. Fill your car only when it's near empty to get the full value of your MPG gas consumption.
15. Keep your car clean to use less gas.
16. Camp instead of hotel stays.
17. Don't eat out.
18. Drink water at bars, drink alcohol at home.
19. Don't buy bread. Make bread in a bread machine.
20. Buy in bulk.
21. Decant your bulk dry goods and mark with dates of purchase.
22. Dye your own hair, but pay for hair cuts. You'll look like crap if you cut it yourself.
23. Buy staple clothing. Solid colors bring out your jewelry!  Jeans, button down shirts, blazers, 1 set of pearls, and 1 set of silver or gold jewelry. Classic! Mix n match.
24. Hand wash delicates right after you wear them, and line dry.
25. Line dry most all clothing outside or on hanger in laundry room and hang on racks. Clothes last longer. 
26. Only run the washer when you have a full load.
27. Freeze uneaten food for another meal or make soup from it.
28. Plan your menus and only but the ingredients you need.
29. Try the $6 wine in the liquor store. 
30. Have a side job just in case you loose the main one.
31. Save 10% of your earnings before you pay bills.
32. If you use credit, pay it off in large chunks.
33. Reuse as much as you can before tossing in the trash.
34. Make homemade gifts that are meaningful not just fashionable. 
35. Grow and cut your own flowers.
36. Grow a veggie patch. Try container gardening.
37. Take all metals that you would have thrown out to a recycling center. You may get $$.
38. Paint your own nails.
39. Use baby oil for skin moisture after shower, and makeup removal. Forget expensive creams.
40. Finally!  Visit with family for vacation and get closer to those who are so important to us all. Meaningful relationships are worth so much more than money, or things. If you don't have special people you can visit, volunteer. They'll appreciate you.       (C) suztheadvicelady  Suzanne Richards, 2014 all rights reserved. :)

Clearing out the closet and finding $$$

Hello Friends,

I am still going through all my stuff in the house and organizing everything.  I want to be certain of what I have on hand so I don't repurchase items I already own but didn't know.  This is the most frugal way to save space, money and time. Keeping organized will also keep your mind at ease because things are neat and orderly, you aren't visually bombarded by stuff. This will help you feel more comfortable in your surroundings. Having to clean out old stuff from my house made me think about what I was going to do with what I found and so I decided to return items that I bought but never used to put the cash back in my pocket.  Returning past purchases is the best motivation I can conjure up to even start cleaning out the garage. 

Think about the items that you bought in the past year that are still sitting in their original box, still have the tags on or at least appear resell-able. You most likely aren't going to use it if you haven't already. Don't hang on to it for that "someday when I get around to it."  Bring it back to the store where you bought it even if you can't find the receipt. Most stores will give you cash back with a receipt, but if you don't have one then you can at least get a store credit. Some stores, like Wal-Mart, and Home Depot have easy return policies that allow you to return items that cost  $25 or less without a receipt for actual cash. The Home Depot will give you cash for up to $50 if they sell it and if it is not opened.  Or, they can look up your original receipt by swiping your credit card then scanning the item. Money is money so store credit or refund, it's all good! At stricter or smaller stores, the best you can hope for is store credit. But that's ok too if you shop there or can use it right away.  Plan your returns time so you are not waiting on long lines. The best time to go is in the morning any day of the week. Also, plan it around other errands so you are not waiting gas just going to one place.

Well, I'm off to the store. Yes I am returning my findings from the garage. Not sure if it can all go back to the store, but it doesn't hurt to politely ask.

Smiles

Suz

Cost of Living

Dear Friends:

Over this past few weeks I have been sprucing up my home by painting and cleaning. I have posted all along mentioning my adventures and my discoveries. I have a good life. I have good solid assets. My house for one, a reliable car, good furniture and dependable appliances. I follow the belief that if I "take good care of my assets, my assets will take care of me" so to speak.  Investing in quality has proven that to me over time.  If I buy that needed item and know I will need it for years to come, then cost may not totally be a factor.  There are few really great things that are cheap. Sometimes its better to hire a professional to do the work and other times I can do the work.  Like painting or cleaning.
The things I do are in a certain order and done from start to finish before starting another project.  This saves me from wasting money on items that I think I might need and will never use, save me time and effort because there is a specific start and end, and it keeps me from feeling stressed out by the unfinished mess in my home.  I have great discipline when it comes to projects and time management.  Skills I learned when I owned my own business.  I do not like unfinished things like business with a person, big projects, and so on.  I personally find it appealing to see the completed job so I can then make changes or sit back and reap the rewards.

All the things we do to protect our assets and still the cost of living keeps going up yet somehow we still continue on living life and making our dollars stretch. With rising costs in, well, everything taking care of my home and saving for my future have become more of a challenge than before. Its funny I heard my parents saying this same things in the 70's and 80's.  Still I am surprised at the low wages being paid and rising cost of so many of our everyday necessities.  It seems that everyday I hear of companies eliminating jobs and squeezing the existing workers to do multiple jobs under one job title.
Well, because of constant uncertainty in my earnings level, I have learned how to "play the rules".  Not break the law or get government handouts. Just play the rules. To clarify I will attempt to journal what I buy, what is deductible and what I can make myself.  I can deduct certain things from my taxes like medicines as we all know but did you know it is not limited to medicine?  Medical expenses are not just doctor visits and RX, Its the miles traveled to get such medical attention, (medical milage) and the out of pocket expenses you incur as a result of the diagnosis, like bandages, alcohol and, medication not covered by insurance and so forth.  In the following posts, I will show you just how much you can save if you know how. This is what I am talking about.  I don't presume to know everything, but I have a clue and am I always open to learning more.

Keeping it simple.

Peace,
Suz

Before you hire that painter read this

Good Morning:

I have been working on my home for several weeks now.  We are cleaning and purging what we don't want. This all started when I decided to make our lives more comfortable and relaxed. Along with cleaning I decided we need to paint our moldings in the house. Looking to hire a painter and exploring the cost vs. my time, I decided I could paint the interior trim one room at a time. I bought paint and planned to go over all the trim room by room. While cleaning the bathroom floor today I was thinking while cleaning like I always do (It's kind of like meditation for me) my mind wandered to a line in the film Bruce Almighty where Morgan Freeman (who plays God beautifully) says to Bruce (played by Jim Carey) "life can be messy, but you can always clean it up".  While on my hands and knees cleaning the floor I wiped over the moulding with my sponge revealing fresh white paint. I thought it was chipped paint but turns out dusting I do didn't remove all the dirt. I did all the trim in the bathroom with vinegar and water solution which I mixed with citrus cleaner, and the moulding looks new.  Whoever painted my bathroom used high gloss oil based paint and it really has held up. I'm scrubbing down all the trim now in the house noticing only some areas need painting. This is saving my self a lot of work, and money. I can return some of the paint which I never opened, and I feel content with the job being completed.  Well almost. I still have some trim to paint that is in fact chipped but it's only one or two areas!

Peace and Joy to all
Suz

My Metal Recycling

Good Morning!

I have been busy growing my vegetable garden which is coming along nicely, and clearing out the old in my home to make room for the new. It feels good to dispose of items that, for some reason, we hang on to, but never use. I am not sure why we keep stuff, but, well, I cleaned house. Both mentally and physically.  I got together all the junk I did not want. Over a week of cleaning, and organizing then suddenly the fridge in the music studio dies.  "NO!" No running motor, not getting cold,  but the light is on. DANG! Well now what? Brainstorm.... I said to my Tom, "Let's see if some one will come take it." So we went to Freecycle.org to find a person wanting some old appliances. As we did so Tom says "Call Blewett's." (**a local metal scrap yard)  I replied, "They don't take refrigerators, only clean metal."  So, Tom called a man who advertised that he takes old refrigerators and other appliances. Well just as he was talking on the phone to that person,  it occurred to me that Tom is most likely right and that we should call the scrap metal place to see if they do in fact take refrigerators. Guess what?  They Do! "Any metal" said the lady at the scrap recycling place.
$$ Kaching! $$.  So, here we go!  We are looking around the house and yard to make this trip worth every penny. We stuff the old fridge in the van and our neighbor comes to help. (We love Fred and all our neighbors. Salt of the earth they are.  God blessed us with these neighbors.)  So Fred says "What are you doing with this?" "It's broke" we said. "we are taking it to Blewett's." Fred replies, "So now you will have "beer" money." "I also have aluminum chairs you can take if they can fit."  We laughed at the reference to the amount of money we will likely make from our "scrap metal".  As it turns out, I have lots of scrap. No kidding!  I found old metal pipes, a broken ladder, a lamp, wine rack, disk break pads, chairs from Fred's, and so forth.

We head over to Blewett's metal recycling and pull in.  From the front all you see is a fence with a sign that says "Drive up".  Tom knew what to do so he told me to pull forward onto the scale. We did and were weighed. Then we were directed to the drop off area. It was a very busy place. People from all over the area were there doing the same thing. Driving all around back and forth dropping off metal. I have never had such an experience before. Men with pickup trucks dumping old chairs, car parts, TV's along with every other metal object they could scrounge up. It looked like mayhem but it was infact a well functioning yard. Then, I saw this big backhoe with a car body stuck to the front. The driver is driving all over the place with it. I was confused as to what to do because everyone seemed to be going in every direction.  Trucks are parked dropping off stuff, then driving around you as you pull in, then backing up really fast toward you only to turn around and drive out.  After a few minutes of unloading our "scrap" I realized that the backhoe driver with the car stuck to the front actually had a purpose.  He was using the car body as a broom!  Holy moly!  He backed up then pushed the scrap piles to one bigger pile across the lot. Over and over he did this to create one giant pile of metal for crushing. The other people, who seemingly are driving aimlessly in every direction, are used to this place and know exactly what to do because they have done it a billion times before. It was just my perception that this was mayhem.  But it wasn't.  We then got to the area where you drop off aluminum and brass. You get more if you sort your metal's.  We wait on line, then back in when it's our turn. We get a ticket for those metal's,  then get weighed again. Tom parks the van in the lot and goes in to the office to get paid. Within 4 minutes he comes out with a receipt detailing our metals and weight of the scrap, along with a few dollars. "Well, we got beer money." "$40."

All smiles we headed home with a new experience together and a great understanding of how people make money with scrap metal.  How useful John Blewett's place is in keeping our landfills free of useful waste.  Many others will benefit from this scrap metal yard too.  From the people who collect it, to the people who buy it from Blewett's.  What a great memory we will share and a fabulous experience in recycling.


Need Money? Two words. Scrap Metal.


Peace.
Suzanne


**It is my understanding that the metal from Blewett's is sorted by type, crushed, cubed, and sold to companies who will melt it down and manufacture something useful.