Savings Experiment: Let Your Spring Cleaning Savings Bloom

Filed under: Savings Experiment, Lifestyle

View Poll

View Poll

Spring is upon us and it’s time for a deep clean. However, you don’t have to wipe out your wallet when it comes to tidying up your home. Here are some ways to cut the cost of cleaning.

Many of us use pre-moistened wipes to scrub surfaces, but their convenience comes at a price. The disposable nature of these wipes also means you’re throwing out money each time you clean, literally.

Instead of throwing cash in the trash, try making your own cleaning solution at home. First, mix some white vinegar, a few drops of tea tree oil and a few ounces of castile soap together. Then and add one cup of water to create your mixture, which can be used right from the bowl or poured into a convenient spray bottle.

The solution is great for cleaning stainless steel, glass and other surfaces, and you can find all of these items at your local health food store for about $31. Now, $31 may seem like a lot of money to shell out up front, but these ingredients should outlast that $70 you would be spending in disposable wipes per year.

If you have leftovers of your all-natural products, don’t worry. White vinegar and castile soap have many uses, and can be mixed with other common ingredients to clean, polish and deodorize.

For extra savings, skip the paper towels and use old T-shirts instead. They’re more durable and can be washed and reused. Plus, you already own them, so there’s no need to spend additional money. Happy cleaning!

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Give Yourself a Tax Break

Filed under: Savings Experiment, Lifestyle

View Poll

View Poll

Tax season is upon us, but it doesn’t have to be a drag. Sure, filing isn’t fun, but with the right method, you just may be able to save some money — and who wouldn’t welcome that?

If you have a relatively simple return, there are a variety of inexpensive do-it-yourself options, some of which are free. That’s right, free. The IRS.gov website allows you to file without charge, if you qualify, and even refers you to an accredited free-filing agency to help you through the process.

Walmart also offers a convenient free-file option. You can file your 1040EZ at over 3,000 locations nationwide at no cost. The best part (well, for frequent Walmart shoppers) is that the store will even load your refund onto a convenient prepaid card.

If your financial status has changed in the last year, or if you think your situation is a little more complicated, hiring a tax professional may be your most economical and hassle-free option. Those who were paid for freelance work without taxes held or experienced a major life event — like getting married, welcoming a new baby, or receiving settlement or inheritance — should seek professional assistance.

If you’re cringing at the thought of shelling out cash for a pro, don’t. An accountant may cost you a few hundred dollars up front, but with the right deductions, you could end up saving more than that on your return as a whole.

As April 15 approaches, assess your situation and do a little digging. You’ll find that the right filing method will ultimately pay off.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Dish Soap

Filed under: Savings Experiment, Lifestyle

View Poll

View Poll

We all use dish soap — even those of us who are lucky enough to own dishwashers — but did you know that this sudsy product can be a source for savings? Here’s how…

First, stop using so much soap. In actuality, more soap does not make your dishes cleaner. In fact, you end up using bottles of it faster, and utilize more water in trying to rinse it off.

Instead, try using a normal amount of soap. What kind of soap, you ask? One with a foam pump dispenser. The mechanism emits soapy foam, which results in using less product for washing dishes.

For extra savings on top of that, reuse your bottle. Once your original bottle is empty, buy a soap refill, which will run you about $5.29. This alone will save you some money, but for bonus savings, make a diluted solution that will work just as well on fighting grease.

Mix one part soap with two parts water in your original dispenser, and then shake gently. This super-easy homemade solution can last you a month. Then, you’ll still have plenty of your refill soap left over to make additional batches of your homemade solution.

To take savings to another level, you can invest in a more permanent foam soap dispenser from stores like Bed Bath and Beyond or on Amazon.com. You’ll pay a little more up front than you would on a disposable one, but it will look great on your counter and put more money in your bank account over time.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Tissues vs. Toilet Paper

Filed under: Savings Experiment, For the Home, Lifestyle

View Poll

View Poll

When you have a cold or are suffering from allergies, tissues are a must-have, but the cost can rack up when you’re buying them all the time. Have you ever considered using toilet paper instead? Here are a few good reasons why you should.

We’ve all grabbed a few squares from the bathroom roll in a pinch, but using toilet paper over tissues is actually a more cost-effective choice in the long run. On average, a box of tissues has 65 sheets and breaks down to about 2 cents per sheet. However, a roll of toilet paper has nearly four times as many sheets as a box of tissues and costs half as much.

Of course, you’re not going to toss a roll of toilet paper to your guests when they have the sniffles. With a pair of scissors, an empty tissue box and a little bit of tape, you can refill your dispenser to look just like a store-bought version.

First, take a roll of toilet paper and cut down the length of the cardboard center with your scissors. Remove the tube. Take an empty square tissue box and cut three sides along the bottom. Pull the inner sheet through the top and tape the bottom shut. You’ll have a great looking tissue box in minutes, and can count your savings with each and every pull. And that’s nothing to sneeze at!

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Valentine’s Day

Filed under: Savings Experiment, Holidays

View Poll

Valentine’s Day is a time when you can show your loved one how much you care, but you don’t have to dig deep into your wallet to do it. Here are some great tips on how to switch things up this year, and save in the process.

Let’s Do Lunch
A Valentine’s lunch is a sweet treat, especially if you and your mate don’t get enough one-on-one time during the day. Restaurants often offer cheaper versions of the same items during lunch hour, so you’ll get a delicious meal for a budget-friendly price. Impress your date and try more exotic fare, like sushi or Korean BBQ, without breaking your piggy bank.

Fast Food Nation
If your true love truly loves fast food, then head on over to White Castle. That’s right, White Castle. You may need to make a reservation, but you’ll get the royal treatment, complete with a plastic red table cloth, free dessert and a photo opportunity. It can be a fun and unique experience for a can’t-beat price.

View Poll

Research Romance
You can treat yourself and your mate to great food, just do your research beforehand. Many restaurants have Valentine’s Day specials, including chains like Ruby Tuesday, which offers a three-course Valentine’s special for $19.99 per person. Also, check out Restaurant.com, a site that offers coupons for up to 80 percent off of your favorite places to eat. Just remember to check the fine print to ensure you can use your voucher on the holiday.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Coffee

Filed under: Starbucks, Savings Experiment

View Poll

There are those of us who should not be allowed in public without having a cup of coffee first. That said, java is also an expensive habit. Luckily, you can have your cup and drink it too by cutting certain corners.

Look Before You Leap

Abstinence is the best policy with respect to saving money; but for most of us, when it comes to coffee, that’s neither possible nor desirable. So before you take any drastic measures, simply track what you spend. Don’t alter your buying habits; just spend a week chronicling your expenses. Though it may feel cumbersome at first, it can be illuminating to learn how, when, why and where you spend money.

You don’t have to save all of your receipts, as there are so many apps to help you track your spending right on your phone as you make your purchase. One favorite is the Latte Factor, which helps you add up your total daily expenses and average spending over time. The app’s calculator can generate your daily, weekly, and monthly average. Once you measure your averages, you can click on the Latte Factor’s “see savings” button to see what you could be earning, albeit approximately, in one, five or ten years time if you invested that money instead of drinking it. It may help you look before you leap, or at least before you lap up another latte.

Test Your Taste

Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting a better bean, or a tastier one. Starbucks (SBUX) is getting more expensive — the company recently announced a price hike — but New York Magazine food critic Adam Platt found that patronizing the Seattle-based chain might not be worth it: In a blind taste test, Platt discovered that Starbucks ranked last in termed of taste — and it’s 31 cents more per cup than Dunkin Donuts. Opting for Dunkin Donuts (DNKN) over Starbucks could save you almost $230 a year. But it’s always possible to be penny wise and pound foolish. There are also hidden costs: For instance, investing in fair trade coffee will save you and the planet more money in the long run. Common sense can also result in saving cents.

BYOM

Bring your own mug. You’ll be kinder to the environment and waste fewer plastic, paper, or — gasp! — styrofoam cups. It might also prevent you from impulse buys at overpriced cafes. The same can be said for owning the other tools of the trade, like a coffee maker, to avoid the temptation to always go out.

If you’re out and craving coffee, bringing your mug may also result in saving some money. Many mom-and-pop coffee shops, as well as chains like Starbucks, will deduct anywhere from a dollar to ten cents for sparing them an extra cup. If you did that 360 days out of the year, you would save — you guessed it — $36.

Customer Care

Always ask if your favorite mom-and-pop coffee shop offers a punch card for regular customers, or free refills or other deals. If you purchase whole bean or ground Starbucks coffee to brew at home, you can bring in your empty bag and receive a free small cup of joe. Some places offer rewards on your birthday. And it’s not just major chains like Cosi that reward returning customers. Small, local coffee stores like Joyce Bakeshop in Brooklyn thank patrons for their routine business with a free coffee after a certain number of purchases. Other coffee shops, like The Mustard Seed Cafe in Los Angeles, offer free refills! When it comes to coffee, customer loyalty incentives abound.

View Poll

Skim the Top

Why waste money on a lousy latte or questionably concocted cappuccino when you can save by buying a regular coffee and adding milk yourself? Another thing to remember is that iced coffee tends to be more expensive, so when you can get a hot coffee and an extra cup with ice, do. At Starbucks, you can order a tall coffee and a cup of ice for free and mix them. You’ll save about forty cents a cup.

Coffee isn’t the worst impulse buy, nor should it break the bank. Like all things that taste or feel good, you’ll want to use moderation. It’s easier to think straight after one or two cups of coffee, but the inverse can be true if you’ve had three or four.

Gallery: 13 Ways to Get Free Money

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Bagging the Best Deals on Groceries

Filed under: Saving Money, Savings Experiment

When it comes to saving money on groceries, using coupons can cut your bill in half. But in this fast-paced digital age, who has time to find the deals? We’ve consulted the coupon experts to help you save money on food without giving up your social life.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: Ink the Best Deal on Printer Toner

Filed under: Saving Money, Savings Experiment

It’s Saturday night. You’re printing out pictures of your dog wearing costumes (or is that just me?) when suddenly the “Toner Low” message flashes on your printer. Your heart fills with dread. How much will you have to shell out to have a print of Sheba in a tutu?

Never fear. We’ve consulted printing industry experts for tips on how to get the most for your money and get you back to printing … what ever it is that you print … in no time.

The Savings Challenge: Brand Name vs. Remanufactured Toner

Buying remanufactured toner cartridges are an environmentally friendly way to recycle your cartridges and get more prints.

First, the cartridge is completely disassembled and every part of the cartridge is cleaned and inspected for damage. After replacing the parts that are damaged or worn, the cartridge is reassembled and filled to capacity with toner specific to your cartridge requirements.

“Most people’s biggest concern is that they don’t get the real amount of toner,” says Volker Loeper, owner of Cartridge World San Jose. “It’s baloney. We often fill the cartridge to a higher level then the original.”

Although the environmental benefits of buying remanufactured cartridges are unmatched, prices vary by product and seller, and are sometimes higher than the brand name retailers.

The HP 85A LaserJet Black Toner Print Cartridge, a toner that yields about 1,600 pages is available for $67.99 online at Staples, Office Depot and Office Max. The remanufactured version of this cartridge is available online ranging from $17.99 at colortonerexpert.com to $79.99 at inkcloners.com.

Whether you prefer to stick with your brand name cartridge or go green with a remanufactured cartridge, you can get the best deal by logging off the Internet and going into the store.

“When you buy local, you can negotiate and get better deals,” says Loeper. “Almost every cartridge retailer I know offers discounts for students, teachers, and nonprofits.”

Do-it-Yourself

If you’re feeling brave, try refilling the toner yourself. Toner refill kits are available online and range in price from $12 to $15 depending on the yield of cartridge you are re-filling.

A typical kit Includes one bottle of toner, one pair of latex gloves, a plug (if applicable) and detailed instructions. According to ToneRRefillYourself.com, you can refill a cartridge up to three times without disturbing its performance. Brother toner cartridges can be refilled up to five times.

If you spill while refilling, be very careful with clean up. The tiny particles in printer toner create a static charge when vacuumed and can explode your vacuum bag.

You can remove toner from your skin with a harsh soap, but it will not come out of your clothes, so refill with caution.

Set the Right Tone with Draft Mode

Your printer toner should last about two months per cartridge. If it’s running out after three weeks, set your printer to Draft Mode. That can cut cost-per-page can by half or more.

“If you are printing documents for your own reference, like homework or e-mails, put the printer into draft mode,” says Loeper. “You will get a decent quality printout and save 60% of your toner.”

Consumer Reports tested printers from Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, and Lexmark to see whether printing in Draft Mode saves money. They discovered that all the printers use less toner when printing in draft mode. They also print faster.

Draft Mode does not produce the highest quality printout but it may be good enough for your personal printing needs.

The Bottom Line

It’s time to atone-r for your spending sins. Follow these tips and you’ll never overpay for printer toner again.

Gallery: 13 Ways to Get Free Money

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: How to Cut Costs on Cookware

Filed under: Macy’s, Saving Money, Savings Experiment

Is the cost of your cookware leaving you with no funds for food? Celebrity chefs like Mario Batali and Marcus Samuelsson endorse their own expensive lines of kitchen tools, but you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to create a delicious meal.

We asked the experts which items warrant a splurge, and which are simply overpriced.

Fork Over the Cash for a Few Nice Knives

The most important thing to splurge on is a good set of knives. But you don’t need the big box set, says Aaron Baer-Harsha, line cook at Ouest in New York City. “The average home cook only needs two knives: a chef knife somewhere in the range of six to 10 inches, and a paring knife.

Baer-Harsha recommends the Wusthof brand of knives. You can find a six-inch chef knife for $75 on Amazon.com, and a 3.5-inch paring knife for $35 at Macy’s (M).

If you’re investing in good knives, it’s also important to take care of them. You will need two things: a sharpening steel and a good cutting board.

Baer-Harsha recommends buying your sharpening steel — also called a honing steel — from a reputable store like Williams Sonoma (WSM), where the staff can teach you how to use it properly. The diamond sharpening steels can cost as much as $100, but it’s OK to buy the cheaper, metal sharpening steel. You will still have a useful tool to keep your knives sharp.

Aside from sharpening your knives, you also should buy a good cutting board to protect your tools. “Bad cutting boards do a lot of damage to knives,” says Baer-Harsha. “So if you’re going to buy nice knives you might as well buy a good cutting board as well.” He recommends wood, not glass or plastic.

Pass on Pricey Pots and Pans

When it comes to pots and pans, our experts say a big expense is unnecessary. Paul Vandewoude, head chef at Miette Culinary studio in New York City, says that it’s important to have a pan with a thick bottom but also one that is light enough to hold comfortably.

Vandewoude warns against using nonstick pans: They release potentially toxic gases when heated to high temperatures. He also doesn’t recommend pans with plastic handles. “It should be able to go in the oven,” says Vandewoude. “So if you’re cooking a large meal you can use all surfaces of your stove top as well as your oven.”

Baer-Harsha also recommends going for cheaper pots and pans. He identifies All Clad as a solid brand for home cooks, but at about $90 for a 10-inch stainless steel frying pan at Macy’s, the prices of this line are at the upper limit of what it’s worth spending on them. As an alternative, Consumer Reports found that Bonjour is a top quality brand — and it’s cheaper. For an eight-inch skillet, you’ll pay about $40 at Macy’s.

At the end of the day, you have to prioritize your kitchen purchases. Spend your extra cash on knives, and go with a cheaper set of pots and pans. You’ll have the tools for a successful meal without paying professional prices.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Savings Experiment: What’s the Right Price for Pet Food?

Filed under: Wal-Mart Stores, Target Corp, Saving Money, Savings Experiment

Your pets are like family, but are you seriously overspending when it comes to their food? Here are some tips to consider when picking your pet’s nutrition.

Avoid Filler Foods

Early this year Petco created a new “Certified Nutrition” program that divides pet foods into three categories — essential foods, natural foods, and advanced foods. Each of these groups fulfills a different requirement: essential foods include basic fillers like wheat or corn, while natural foods contain many familiar ingredients like meat, fruits and vegetables. Advanced foods, finally, are formulated for pets with special medical needs.

According to Petco dog trainer Somers Pierre, natural food brands like Wellness, Halo or Natural Balance are the best choice because they promote health and longevity for your pet. On the other hand, they cost a little more than the basic kibble with fillers. For example, a 30-pound bag of a filler-based essential brand like Beneful costs between $26 and $35, while a natural brand like Wellness costs between $46 and $54.

Pet expert Arden Moore emphasizes nutrition: “It is vital these days that the very first ingredient is a real protein — not meat byproducts and definitely not wheat or corn,” she says. “If you get high-quality, nutritional food, you’re going to have fewer pet bills, and your pet is going to live a longer healthier life.”

You can save on natural food by purchasing a less-known brand like AvoDerm. On average, that will save you about $10 to $15 per bag.

Pierre points out another great benefit of natural food: Your pet will eat a smaller quantity of it. This helps cut down on your bill as well as your pet’s risk for obesity.

Shop at Pet Supply Stores

Consumer Reports found that stores like Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) had better prices than Petco, Petsmart (PETM), or online retailers like petfooddirect.com. However, you won’t find natural food brands at general merchandise retailers. Stick with pet supply stores like Petco, which also offer price matching if you find the product cheaper at another store.

Petco has a points program that provides discounts to returning customers. And, if you buy 10 bags of food within a year, you’ll get the next one free. There’s even a Pet Birthday Club, which sends yearly discounts to celebrate your pet’s special day.

Stock Up Safely

You may be tempted to stock up on pet food during a great sale, but Moore recommends you don’t buy more than a month’s supply at a time. “Don’t go crazy and stockpile,” she says. ” You can buy a lot, but unless you have an airtight container, that food can become stale and not be as nutritious and cause stomach upsets.”

She also recommends supplementing dog food with leftover veggies from your dinner — your dog will get extra nutrition and you won’t have to feed him as much kibble.

So in the end, you’ll have to pay more for natural food, but you’ll be providing your pet with necessary nutrients. And in the long run, you’ll have a healthier pet and lower veterinary bills.

Permalink | Email this | Comments