Monday’s Money-Saving Tips

Today’s tip is probably not new to all of you, but there still may be some out there who don’t know about it.  Hopefully, this will be useful to you for your Christmas shopping.

Whenever you shop online, do a search for “{store name} coupon codes”.  You will get several sites listing all kinds of promotional codes, anything from a percentage off to free shipping.  When you check out, look for the “promo code” box.  Type in the code you’d like to use and click “apply”.  It will show your discount, or if for some reason the code isn’t valid, it will let you know and you can try a different code.

I have a Tracfone, and when I buy minutes I’m always able to find a code for free additional minutes.  I also have great results for Children’s Place; I shop their sale pages, then I’m always able to find a code for an additional percentage off my whole purchase (usually 15%).  I have often been able to buy articles of clothing for around $3, or even less!

A Google search will come up with many such lists, but here are a few that I especially like:

• Retailmenot
• Coupon mountain
• Mom's View

Happy shopping!
Now it’s your turn.  Party rules:

• share a money-saving tip that will help others
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I’m not mean, I just gotta follow the rules

Linky open until Monday Nov. 29 at 11:59 pm central.

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Monday’s Money-Saving Tips

 Make 5 Dinners in One Hour giveaway is still open. 

For the last few months, I’ve been coloring my hair with Clairol’s Natural Instincts.  Each box comes with a 2 oz tube of conditioner.  I rarely, if ever, use the conditioner on my hair.  I stopped conditioning my hair a couple years ago when I decided that it was weighing down my hair’s natural tendency to curl (well, wave).



Rather than just throw it out, I’ve started using the conditioner for shaving my legs.  I actually read about doing that eons ago, in one of Amy Dacyczyn’s Tightwad Gazette books.  Since I have the tube of conditioner I wouldn’t otherwise use, this is free for me.  You can always buy a big bottle of cheap conditioner at the dollar store, or use up products you purchased for your hair and then decided you didn’t like.

It really makes the razor glide smoothly, and doesn’t all rinse away in the shower before you’re done shaving like soap does.  You only need a very little bit, so I believe you use less and therefore it lasts longer, relatively speaking, than shaving cream (though I haven’t scientifically proven that theory).  It has moisturizing properties, so it leaves your legs soft.  And, it comes in all kinds of scents!  (After Beverly's comment, I thought I should add that it can definitely get slippery, so be careful!)

Now it’s your turn.  Party rules:

• share a money-saving tip that will help others
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I’m not mean, I just gotta follow the rules

Linky open until Monday Nov. 22 at 11:59 pm central.

Monday’s Money-Saving Tips

Buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, salad dressings…there are many recipes that may call for buttermilk.  I don’t keep buttermilk in the house, as I don’t care for the taste on its own.  I would end up pouring the rest of it down the drain after I had used the portion needed for a recipe.  Very wasteful.

Fortunately, it is easy to make a substitution.  For one cup of buttermilk, put 1 Tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice in the measuring cup, then fill to the one cup line with milk.  Allow it to sit for a couple minutes, and proceed with the recipe.  That’s it!

Sometimes, you will come across an old recipe that calls for “sour milk”.  Though different from buttermilk, you can use this same method as a substitute. 

Now it’s your turn.  Party rules:

• share a money-saving tip that will help others
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I’m not mean, I just gotta follow the rules

Linky will close Monday Nov. 15 at 11:59 pm central.

Monday’s Money-Saving Tips

Have you become acquainted with Groupon yet?  When you sign up with Groupon, you will get one email a day offering you the opportunity to snag an awesome deal.  Each day’s deal is different, and it’s specific to your metropolitan area.

I’ve been getting the emails for about a month now.  When I signed up, I received a coupon code for $10 off my first deal.  A few days before it expired, the deal was a year’s subscription to Midwest Living for $5.  Since I needed to use the coupon, I snagged a free magazine subscription.

Recently the deal was for $50 worth of merchandise at a certain store for $25 (I can’t be specific, because I’m giving it as a gift).  I still had $5 left on the coupon, so I got a $50 certificate, but paid only $20.

Other recent deals have included

• $25 for $50 worth of merchandise at The Gap
• $12 for $30 worth of stuff at Once Upon a Child
• $20 for 5 tickets to a popular area children’s museum ($44 value)
• $10 for $25 worth at a well-liked local restaurant

Pretty good deals!  You won’t be interested in every offer, but it’s always up to you whether you purchase or not.  If not, just delete the day’s email and you won’t hear about it again.  If you like it, click on the “buy” button, and it will take you to the website, where you will follow instructions for payment and redeeming the deal.  There will also be the option of buying it as a gift for someone else.

You will also receive a unique referral link to share with friends.  If they join Groupon within 72 hours of clicking your link, you will get $10 in Groupon bucks when they make their first purchase.  I don’t want to come off as a mooch, but if you choose to sign up, here’s my link, just in case :) http://www.groupon.com/r/uu8647597  (Then you can share your link with your blog readers!)

Now it’s your turn.  Party rules:

• share a money-saving tip that will help others
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I’m not mean, I just gotta follow the rules

Linky will close Monday Nov. 8 at 11:59 pm central.

Monday’s Money-Saving Tips

Friday’s Knock-Off Party was a good start to what will be a monthly event.  If you missed it, be sure to check it out for some pretty cool handmade Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, and Restoration Hardware knock-offs.  I was originally going to do it the last Friday of every month, but I’m going to change that to the last Thursday of the month, so I have Friday to highlight some of the participants.  That means that the next Knock-Off Party will be Thursday, Nov. 18, which is actually the third Thurs since the fourth Thurs is Thanksgiving.  Clear as mud?  The November party will be a Christmas edition; hopefully your entry will have something to do with Christmas, but I won’t make a hard and fast rule of it.

And now, today is the first weekly Money-Saving Tips party.  Share your frugal tips that may help someone else save money. 

So, you know the foaming soap pumps that are popular now?  You can get them pretty much anywhere, from Bath and Body Works to Walmart’s own brand.  I like them a lot (especially when the kids were smaller and tended to pump way too much soap and not rinse very well).  But did you know that you’re paying for about one inch of soap and the rest is water?

Here’s how I make mine go even further.  Once the bottle is about half empty, I fill it back up with water.  It still foams up and cleans just fine.  In fact, I do this three or four times with the same bottle, until I can tell that the soap/water ratio is getting thin.

Then I use the whole thing up.  If the pump is still working well (they seem to eventually wear out), then I put about 3/4 to one inch of non-foaming liquid hand soap in the bottom, fill it up with water, give it a light shake to combine, and proceed.  You can do this as many times as you want as long as the foaming pump is still working well. When it seems that the pump has expired and the soap is just kind of squirting out and not foaming anymore, then I buy a new bottle and start the whole process over again.

The trick is using just a little soap and mostly water when you refill it.  It will not work to refill the foaming pump with pure liquid soap.  Don’t get fooled into buying the foaming soap refills; just buy a bottle of regular liquid hand soap and that will last you through a good number of foaming pump refills.

Now it’s your turn.  Party rules:

• share a money-saving tip that will help others
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column
• link to your specific party post, and not your general home page
• please be polite and visit several other participants and leave a nice comment
• I will delete entries that don’t link back to me or do not fit the party theme; I’m not mean, just a rule-keeper 
• 

Party Animal!

You have until 11:59 (central) to enter the Willow House giveaway.  Winner will be announced tomorrow morning.




Tomorrow is also the Knock-Off Party.  Here’s the legal jargon:

Your knock-off can be inspired by Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs or Restoration Hardware .  I know there are others out there, but I feel that there must be some restraints or it just ends up as anything-goes and the original idea is lost. 

It’s perfectly fine to knock-off something that they don’t sell anymore, or something that you see styled in the catalog or store but isn’t actually for sale.  But, in either case, I would like you to have a photo of the original item, either scanned in from an old catalog, or a photo you took in the store.  I don’t want something totally unique that you made that you think has the PB, BD, or RH “look”; that’s awesome, but it’s doesn’t fit this party.

So, the rules:

• your knock-off entry must be made by you
• you must include a picture of the original item from the catalog so we can compare
• it must be a specific comparable item, like my lamp shade, and not just a “this kind of has the PB look to it”
• you must link back to me in your post, preferably using my button code, which you can get in my right side column

Post and linky will go up at midnight.

More news:  I’m also starting a weekly party on Mondays which was born out of my Thrifty Thursday party back in May.  You have a wider berth with this one.  It just needs to be a tip that saves you money and that someone else might be able to use. Stuff like an inexpensive recipe, how to make your own cleaning supplies, how to recycle kitty litter into playthings…



(Sorry, I just had to do it!)

Monday’s Money-Saving Tips will start November 1.