photo credit: Phillie Casablanca

Maybe your are at a cell phone store talking to a salesperson, when you find out that you can upgrade to a new phone and contract. You really just wanted to keep your existing contract, but that new iphone or Blackberry would be really amazing. What do you do when faced with a tough financial choice like this one? Do you make a quick decision, tell the salesperson you need to think about it, or call a frugal friend for advice? You might consider yourself frugal, but when faced with a choice, you sometimes like to splurge. You could probably find 10 reasons right now why you want a new iphone, but do you need one? Your frugal friend could be a mother, father, aunt, uncle, cousin, or even your spouse. Have you ever thought of calling a frugal friend to help with a tough financial decision?

What are some ways calling a frugal friend can help save you money?

1. Negotiating prices. If you are buying a car or large ticket item, it might be wise to call a frugal friend and get a second opinion. Buying a car can be very stressful and many numbers are thrown at you all at once. A friend can help you think through the purchase and make sure you are not buying some extras you don’t need. Do you need a security alarm installed by the dealer or used car warranty? Maybe you could find a third party who is cheaper.

2. Signing a contract. You utilize a real estate professional or attorney in some states when purchasing a home. Do you utilize a professional or third party when signing a cell phone contract? Do you understand early termination fees, text messaging rates, or internet usage charges? Many people are surprised by these fees and might have avoided them if a friend helped you read through the contract before signing.

3. The upsell. You might not even now it is happening, the upsell. Now you shouldn’t call a friend when you are being upsold at the movie theater. The typical upsell involves asking the customer if they want to purchase the large Coke for only 25 cents more. It’s a brilliant strategy, and I admit to falling for it. What about at the electronics store? Did you buy the warranty for your new pair of shoes? It only cost $10, but did you read the contract? Does it cover normal wear and tear, or only defects?

4. Jewelry. If you are buying or selling jewelry, do you know how to negotiate? If you are buying a diamond engagement ring, do you take a buddy with you that’s married. A married buddy has already research diamond rings and can offer you some invaluable money saving tips. Knowing your personal budget and making sure you have a plan for paying off this purchase is probably your first step. If you are close with your buddy, you can discuss your budget and spending limit before entering the jewelry store. You will probably be shown some rings that are out of your price range, and your buddy can give a nudge or cough to bring you back to earth. You and you new wife will feel much more happier starting your marriage off debt free.

5. Customer service. Next time your frustrated with a poor customer service call or situation, call a friend and calmly discuss the situation. I had a co-worker who was also a wonderful friend offer to help me deal with a car dealer. The dealer would not offer to fix my car as they said the damage was a pre-existing situation. I new I had never been in an accident, but couldn’t prove it to the dealer. My co-worker had a similar situation and took it to another independent dealer to examine the damage. I took the car to another dealer and they found that the car had been in a severe front impact accident and I then took the report to where I purchased the car. They fixed the damage and gave me a loaner car during the repair process. Listening to my frugal friend helped me emotionally and financially.

Many of us live busy lives and don’t think twice about signing a contract or buying something nice for ourselves. But, what if a quick phone call to a friend who is also frugal and has your best interest in mind. Most people wouldn’t care if you purchased an iphone and didn’t really need it. A friend who cares about your financial health might be able to offer you a second opinion on your larger financial decisions. I have benefited from having wonderful friends when looking at real estate or researching home loans. I would imagine my frugal friends have saved me thousands of dollars over the years.

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photo credit: Clevergrrl

Coming out of a grocery store this weekend, I noticed a sign in front of Pet Food Express advertising a $15.00 self service dog washing center. I had to go in and inspect what $15 would buy and was surprised to find a very nice set-up with clean waist high shower areas and blow driers. Having two labrador retrievers, the cost would be $30 to bath my canine friends. I spoke to an employee who told me they were having a special if you purchased 3 dog baths, the 4th was free. Is it really worth $15 to take my dogs to a store and bath them myself?

What’s the time and cost of washing your own dog?

1. Time. It take me approx 20 minutes to rinse, soap, rinse and dry off one of my dogs. If I got in the car and drove the dogs to Pet Food Express, it would add an additional 10 minutes.

2. Dog shampoo. I purchased a fairly inexpensive dog shampoo at the store and it’s lasted for almost a year now. Total cost of shampoo was $9.99.

3. Hair Drying. I use old beach towels that we have set aside specifically to wash our pups. The store did have a large hose hair drying that would not require me to wash and dry my beach towels. This would save a little bit of time and resources. I’ll say $3.00

4. Water. If your dog requires warm water baths, it would add a little additional cost to your home utilities. I would imagine it would cost about the same as a long 20 minute shower. If you did take your dog to a self service dog store, you could bath them as long as you like. I doubt though you would want to make a day out of it. An extra money saving tip: you could jump in the shower with your dog and save time and money by conserving water. Just be sure to use the correct shampoo on your pooch.

5. Extras? No need to clean up. You can leave dog hair, water puddles and just walk out the door. How much is this worth to you?

If you have children at home, maybe you can wash your dog together as a family. That would certainly speed up the process and you probably will share a few smiles and laughs together. If you have several children, you could put one in charge of washing and another in charge of drying. Having a labrador that gets dirty constantly, the price could easily hit $30 during the rainy months.

Maybe you live in an apartment and don’t have a large shower or bathtub to wash your dog. Taking your dog to a self service dog wash or groomer may be your only option. Some breeds also require grooming and trimming, but fortunately that’s not needed with our labs. Although, I do have a neighbor that shaves his dogs each summer to help relieve them of the heat. I think my dogs would just run away if I approached them with a pair of hair clippers. Is it worth $15 dollars to make a mess of your yard and use a few towels?

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photo credit: DDFic

The great frugal debate: high efficiency toilet (HET) vs. good old fashioned red brick. I have a toilet from 1975 in our guest bathroom that I want to replace with a new low flow toilet that uses 1.2 gallons per flush, or gpf to be technical. The 1975 American Standard toilet doesn’t leak, make noise, or look out of date. I hate getting rid of something that works, but it just wasn’t made for a home in a state that’s going through a drought. What are my options? Back in the 70’s or 80’s before low flow toilets, you could place a brick or large rock in your toilet tank that decreased water usage (Thanks Passive Grandpa for reminding me). What in the world would this do? The brick displaces the water level in the tank and your toilet uses less water. So, cost of new Kohler toilet $300 versus red brick $1.50? Actually, the red brick is free as I have several from an old project.

Visiting my county website I found rebate information and called to verify a list of approved HET toilets. The county is currently offering a $175 rebate towards a new Kohler HET bringing the total cost to $125. I received a quote for the installation of the new toilet of $300. The only items needed are a new wax seal and some plastic shims if the ground is not level. Total cost for the wax seal and shims are under $10. $300 vs. $10? Looks like I’m going to install this new Kohler myself.

Do you have a red brick in your toilet? How many bricks would it take to use 1.2 gpf for my current 1975 American Standard Toilet? I only have room for one and I’m still using over 2 gpf. So, technically the red brick would not match the water conservation of the new Kohler HET. But, the red brick is free and I would be using less water compared to the original 1975 American Standard.

Brick or HET toilet? Let’s say my current toilet uses 2 gpf and we use it 20 times a day. 40 gallons with brick vs. 24 gallons with Kohler HET. My current water usage rate per gallon is .0054. The HET toilet would save me 480 gallons a month or $2.60. With the Kohler rebate, it would take 4 years to recover the $125 cost of the new HET toilet.

Water drought. We are currently at 60% of normal rain and our water district has sent notice to customers that a new fee schedule may be adopted to encourage water rationing. What does this mean for our water bill? We don’t know. The rates may not go up this year, but they could in 2010. The Roi for the HET toilet could be more like 2-3 years.

The environment. Even if it doesn’t make financial sense to purchase a new HET toilet now, what about the impact on the environment? Using an additional 480 gallons a month can be considered wasteful.

So, what would you do? Red brick or new Kohler HET toilet?

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photo credit: joelogon

I received my Staples reward certificate this week for $8.80 on Canon inkjet toner cartridges purchased last year. Keeping track of all the junk mail we receive can be overwhelming and the Staples certificate almost made it straight to the junk mail pile. Fortunately I decided to open it up and was surprised to see the reward check for $8.80. The certificate has an expiration of 3/31/09, so I only have a little over a month to spend it. Typically I would put reward certificates, coupons, or checks in a special file for future shopping trips. But with this Staples reward I need to use it quickly or I will forfeit the $8.80. Since I don’t need anything at Staples right now, this is going to require me to organize my thoughts and my future office needs. I bet Staples hopes that I immediately drive over to the store and find some must have item for my office.

Create a list to determine future office supply needs:

1. Paper is always needed for computer printer or crafts.
2. Cannon toner cartridges. My newest printer seems to go through them quickly, so I could always use more.
3. Crayons and pens.

My list is brief and I’ve decided to shop online to make sure I don’t fall victim to any impulse purchases. Shopping online is much easier to stay focused as I try and multitask at all times on my computer. Do you find that you make more impulse buys when purchasing at a store? One of the best features of my Staples reward certificate is that it can be redeemed online or in a physical store. I will also look for free shipping or online coupons to stretch my reward certificate even further.

Could I save more money purchasing the Cannon ink on ebay or another retailer? Probably, and I’m going to check out deals on ebay first before making my Staples purchases. If I can save money elsewhere I will only buy paper or look for sale items at Staples.

Other ways to spend your rewards certificates:

1. Donate supplies to a classroom or teacher. I have several teacher friends that are always in need of school supplies like pens, pencils and crayons. Many school districts only provide for a certain amount of funds, if any, and teachers have to make due with the supplies they have.

2. Daycare center or preschool. Your child’s preschool could also benefit from supplies. From crayons to glue sticks, I’m sure they could use them.

3. Local church. Your church could also benefit from office supplies. Call your church office and I’m sure they would be happy to provide a list of needed supplies.

4. Homeless shelter. A local shelter could benefit from office supplies or even items for children to make crafts or draw.

5. Local women’s shelter or non-profit. Check your local phone book for women’s shelters and you probably will find an opportunity to provide some much needed resources.

Do you have any money saving tips that you utilize with your reward certificates? Do you research other stores before making a purchase or do you stick to spending only the amount of the certificate?

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photo credit: timparkinson

I recently visited a Home Depot that is closing in our area and had to use extreme caution and utilize my own money saving tips. We have a local Home Depot that is closing and they are offering discounts starting at 15% and some deals can be found for 40%. Immediately I thought about the various projects I would like to complete around the house over the coming year. New sidewalk bricks, landscaping, paint, flooring, lighting, and more. I decided to start a list and figure out what was my short term necessities and what were my long term projects. Would buying items now on sale save me money on future projects? Here is an example of the Home Depot ad from this week. Cleaning supplies like Windex or Clorox bleach are 15% off. Fasteners like screws and nails are priced at 40% off. Power tools like Dewalt and Makita are priced at 20% off. I then put together a list of items I would normally buy at the store for common household maintenance. These are items I could use right now.

Here was my list:

light bulbs
gardening seeds
9 volt batteries
duct tape
sprinklers
2 stroke oil
water and gas shut-off tool

All of the items above I plan to use in the next 2 months and felt that they would be a good deal to buy now. I did see several items that would be “nice” to have, but aren’t needed for 6 months or more. Does it make sense to carry an inventory of items laying around collecting dust? Does it make sense to purchase a box full of deck screws if I don’t plan on attempting a project for 6 months or more? What happens if the deck screws aren’t even the right size? Setting boundaries when a sale item is found can be very important for your family budget and for your garage space. Buying a box of screws for $4.00 may seem like a bargain now, but not using those screws can end up costing you more. In this simple example, if I were to use a credit card and pay the minimum balance, the $4.00 screws might cost more like $20. By not using cash I would be paying for the $4 screws over the next several months or year.

Do you consider your garage or home space when stocking up on sale items? If you have a high turnover rate in your family for canned goods like tuna or chicken, then it would probably make sense to buy a large quantity of meat when it goes on sale. What about a gallon of pink paint for $5.00? I actually saw a gallon of pink Gliddon paint on sale at Home Depot for five bucks. Could I find a project that required pink paint? Maybe, but not in the next few months. It would just end up collecting dust and going bad on a shelf in my garage. Have you ever purchased items because the deal was to good to pass up? Are you able to show restraint, even if the deal is almost free?

What I did to help determine if I “needed” an item was to create a list based on projects and shelf life. If the item was going to be used relatively quickly within a few months and it was something I would normally purchase at Home Depot, then it went in my basket. Light bulbs, 9 volt batteries for smoke detectors, and 2 stroke oil are all examples of items I would normally purchase at Home Depot. Buying a flat of bricks at 25% off appears to be a wonderful “deal”, but I wouldn’t use them for months and I don’t have the project underway.

Do you stay focused while shopping? Do you have your family budget and household goals or projects understood before you shop? A sale on paint, wood, or even a flat of bricks can be tempting, but keeping your project time frame in mind can save you some serious money and cluttered space.

I spent a total of $35 for the above items and could have spent hundreds more if I didn’t prepare a list before visiting Home Depot. What do you consider before shopping for home improvement projects or home maintenance items?

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