Tip on Tuesday

Dawn is an amazing product. Not only does it do a wonderful job cleaning dishes - it also removes grease from clothing.
Sunday, I got grease all over a brand new pair of short and Dawn took it right out. Next time you think you have ruined a piece of clothing with grease - try a little Dawn on it.

Tip on Tuesday

To days Tip - Don't toss out pantyhose or knee highs that have a run in them re-use them to help your plants stand up straighter.

This strong, soft, and stretch material works great as a support without cutting into the plant.

Tip on Tuesday

I had this wonderful tip I thought about sometime last week. Accounting Dude and I even talked about it, and now we both have forgotten what it was.

So moving on to our money saving tip that we can remember.

Yes, it involves The Home Depot. The other day we went there and purchased several things for our garden. Well, we ended up not using them. So we wanted to take them back, but we couldn't find our receipt. We had decided that is Home Depot would only give us a store credit we would be okay with that, but since we paid for them with our debit card Home Depot was able to look up our purchase price and give us the correct amount back in cash. Accounting Dude and I were so excited.

Money Saving Tip - When purchasing something a The Home Depot that you are not sure you want to keep and you are bad a keeping up with receipt pay with your debit card instead of cash.

Tuesday Tip

Money Saving Tip - Enjoy some down time.
I know what you are thinking, How can downtime help you save money?

Well I'll tell you it will help you stay focused. I know that when we have down time we are more likely to eat at home and stick to our menu. We are also less likely to just want to go shopping.

Just remember down time also pays.

Tips on Tuesday

Today's tip isn't that ground breaking, but I think it maybe something people don't think about a lot.

Buy One Get One Free Items - Yes I know we all like BOGOs, but my tip is when you don't need both items split it the cost with someone and split the items.

Example - This past weekend Toys R Us had a sale on movies BOGO Free. Well, I have been wanting to see the Princes and the Frog and my mother wanted a copy of the same movie for at her house for my nephew and soon to be born niece to watch. Well, I had been looking for a really good deal on it and hadn't come across one that was good for both of us. But this Toys R Us sale worked out great.

Two Movies for $19.99 plus I had a $5.00 off coupon made the movies $14.99. Then my mom and I split the cost making them $7.50 plus tax each. You really can't beat that price for Disney DVD. Plus I'll end up doing the mail in rebates so in the end we will each pay $2.50 for the movie.

So next time you see a Buy One Get One Free or Buy One Get One Half Off and you don't need the second one think about someone you could use the other item and split the cost.

Tuesday Tips

This tip really isn't a tip to save money, but more like a tip to save you time. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding what I need to do next. So it was suggested to me to write down things I want to get done both fun and work related and pick one out each night and do that activity. I think that this will be a great way for me to do more than the regular activities each night. This way I become more productive which allows me more time to go looking for deals.

How To use up Bread

Sorry for such a bad picture, but I was hungry and I had just warmed up my Pigs in a Blanket. And I was ready to eat! As you can tell I also burnt the cheese on one of the hot dogs.

Okay, when I was a kid we didn't eat that much bread at our house. I don't know why we just didn't. Now that I'm married we don't eat that much bread at my house. It seems to be a cycle.

So I learned from my mom, who would use up the bread by making pigs in a blankets. Most people use cresant rolls, but we used bread because it would use up what we already had. As you can see it is pretty simple. She would take a hot dog, a piece of cheese and lay them on the bread diagnoly. Then she would use toothpicks to keep the bread wrapped around the hot dog. She would heat them in the oven for about 20 min at 350. I loved this for supper!! It went great with Mac and Cheese. You should have seen it the first night I told Accounting Dude that we were going to have Pigs in a Blanket and I pulled out a half a loaf of bread so it didn't go to waste. He was a little skeptical, but now he loves them.

So my frugal tip would be - Don't let the bread go to waste. To borrow a line from Taco Bell think out side of the bun or crescent roll as the case may be.

Tips on Tuesday - Free Plants

My tip for today is - Don't buy plants when you can transplant them.

My friend/co-worker came into work yesterday saying she dug up a bunch of bulbs that had pretty much taken over her backyard. As we talked I asked her what she was going to do with them. Her answer was trash them. I had wanted to do a flower bed and these would work perfect, mostly because they were free. After eating dinner Accounting Dude and I headed over to her house and selected the bulbs we wanted. It will be this weekend before we plant them, but we were both so excited about getting them before they went in the trash.

This is half the pile of plants that were dug up.

These were a few of the ones we took. Next time you see your friend or neighbor digging up there plants ask if you can have a few. You may want to offer to help them dig up the plants in exchange.

Tips on Tuesday

I know what you are thinking - What do pillows have to do with saving money?

Well, in my town we have a decorator fabric store and they have a bargain basement. Not a store you would expect to have a bargain basement. It has a bind of $1.00 sample squares. So for $8.00 in fabric I made 4 pillows.
Do they match? No, but sometimes I get lucky and they have two matching squares.
Is the material way more expense than I could have bought at full price? Yes Some of the fabric I used was a round $20.00 a yard.
Do I worry about them getting ruined? Not really because as my taste changes I can go back and get something else or if they get stained I don't have that much in the material.
Actually, one of the ladies at the store questioned me about what I was going to do with all of my squares. When I told her I was going to make pillows, she replied with that is a good idea.

So my tip is - Even if the store looks to expensive to go into. Go any way because you don't know if they have a bargain basement filled with wonderful gems.

Tips on Tuesday

I know it sound simple and easy, but you would be surprised how many people don’t do it – CARPOOL. I know what you are thinking why would that be a money saving tip. We all know about carpooling. Well, I love to carpool. Actually, I don’t like to drive and if I can find someone else to drive me I will be more than willing to chip in a few dollars for a ride. Where Accounting Dude and I save the most money carpooling is that we ride together to work. We actually work only four or five blocks away from each other and my building is on the way to his. You would be surprised by how many people look at us like we are crazy. Not only do I carpool with Accounting Dude, but when I go out with friends I try to find someone to ride with. If Accounting Dude and I are going to a football game we are more than willing to take others with us. They usually chip in for the parking.

The benefits:
1. Saves Money on Gas
2. Wear and Tear on only one vehicle, which is good since both our vehicles have over 100,000 miles on them
3. Could have one car if we had to – not that I want to test this.
4. Spend time together – making trips go faster.

The disadvantages:
1. Can’t be flexible – my dentist office can not get that I can’t take cancellation appointments.
2. Accounting Dude had to change his time at work
3. May have to find a ride if one of us gets sick or if the car we rode into town had problems during the day. Both of these situations have happened to us.

Accounting Dude and I have carpooled with each other for the last four years and I can’t tell you how much money we have saved on gas. The past summer when everyone was complaining about the price of gas it didn’t seem to affect us as much. I figure one day we will have to start taking two cars, but until this time comes we will enjoy carpooling.

Keep the Change

All of us know that change adds up.


I remember many years ago right out of college when I was dating a guy, who is not Accounting Dude. He would always talk about what a pain change was and how we should just eliminate it from our currency. Well, I didn't agree with that idea, but I did appreciate the fact that he would leave his change at my apartment because it was just to much of a pain for him. I can't tell you how many Friday lunches and dinners out I had on his change. He thought it was amusing that I would save the change he left. Looking back I think it almost be came a game to us. He would leave little piles of change on my end table or dinning room table and I would save it until I wanted use it and tell him how much I got for his change. If I had only known then that change really does add up to more than a fast food meal every now and then. I would have been better off.

Accounting Dude and I keep our change. You should see us when we sit down to count it. It is like two kids in a candy store.

Everyone has suggestions on what we should use our change for. Accounting Dude and I have decided to save it for our yearly trip to the beach. It helps with gas and eat out money for this long weekend.

Some people at our church save their change for missions.

My brother gives his change to his son to save.

One of my relatives just saves her change to just save change. Kind of odd. I would like a goal to reach.

Whatever you do with your saved change is up to you just as long as it isn't eliminated from the currency because I can't really handle another tax.
Besides that it is just plain old FUN!

My Coke Rewards

For several years, I just ignored these little codes inside the 12 packs of Coke and Dasani that I purchased every month or so. I can't tell you how many points I tossed in the trash.

After I played the McDonald's Monopoly game last year and one 50 points I decided to start collecting. My goal was to just get a magazine subscription. Now my goal is to see how many points I can get by the end of the year. One thing is that Accounting Dude and I would like to go to the Coke Museum in the ATL and we can get tickets with our reward points.

Now that I have seen the fun items I can get with my rewards I have started collecting points from my mom, brother, and people at work. They are all willing to give me their points instead of seeing them go into the trash.

Why I like the My Coke Rewards program:

1. Easy to get and accumulate points

2. Easy to enter them into an online account

3. Wide variety of prizes to collect.

What I don't like about the My Coke Rewards program:

1. Hard to read the codes

2. Some prizes seem to be listed in a high value amount for what they are.

To Rent or To Buy

I know what your thinking, "Why is Accounting Dude standing in front of a Christmas tree with a tux on?"
Well this picture was taken in December, which was the last time he wore his tux.
I know it sounds silly, but Accounting Dude owns his own tux. When we first started dating we got invited to a few balls. Balls are big in our town. He rented a tux once for a little over a $100.00 and decided that if he was going to go to many of these balls he would just buy a tux. Since investing right at $500.00 for his tux, shoes, shirt, vest, tie and cufflinks, he wouldn't get the cheap one, he has worn it to 3 balls and our wedding. He has worn the shoes one other time. He was in a wedding and had to rent a tux to match the other groomsmen. After wearing it this last time he said, "I only have one more time and then I've broke even."

I think of it this way my wedding dress cost around the same amount as his tux and I have only worn it once. So I think he is way ahead of breaking even.

My Tuesday Tip is consider the cost of renting over buying or buying over renting. In this case we made out better by purchasing the item.

Tips on Tuesday

I know so many people hate thinking about Christmas right after it happened, but it seems to me to be one our biggest expenses for the entire year. So besides budgeting for it, I look for expensive things at a cheap price, and nothing beats free.
See these boxes were sent to my office on December 28Th. Everyone dug into the goodies inside I looked at the boxes. All I could think was that they were nice a nice size for small items. So I took them and left the goodies. I know next year they will make great gift boxes and I'll also be recycling. I guess my tip is look for unusual shaped boxes and keep them. I don't know a Christmas that hasn't gone by when either my brother or I had received a gift in a box that checks were sent in. Sometimes laughing at the box is just as much fun as the gift.
If you live in Alabama you will find this funny - This year for Christmas I received gifts in boxes from Gayffers and Parisians, both department stores that are longer in business and haven't been in years.

Tips on Tuesday

Today's tip - how to extend the life of expired coupons by passing them on. Apparently troops stationed over seas can use them for up to 6 months after the expiration date. OCP NET is just one of the organizations that will help you with this. Just think of all the troops you will be helping.

Holiday Baking

Baking Christmas cookies is so enjoyable and in a way rather thrifty. Since I purchased most of the ingredients on sale and with coupons I didn't have much in them. I don't know anyone who doesn't like a fresh homemade cookie. Accounting Dude and I pass them out to co-workers, friends, family members, and neighbors. This is our little way of letting these people know that we are thinking of them and appreciate them. Besides that they are pretty taste if I do say so myself. I should know I think I have eaten several dozen in the last couple of days.

Tips on Tuesday

We all know that it is good not to let food go to waste. So sometimes you are just stuck eating leftovers or as my mom calls them "warm ups". Well how are you suppose to make something exciting that you have already eaten... Eat by candlelight.

Yes, that's right Accounting Dude and I ate the last of our leftover chili by candlelight. It was actually fun and different, and the chili didn't taste the same.