Money Hacks

This information via The Simple Dollar.

After evaluating the per-hour cost of my hobbies, I discovered that television viewing was the most expensive and reading was the least expensive, so I turned off the television and opened a book. What happened?

We trimmed our cable bill to just the basic channels (a savings of about $15 a month), cut down our electricity usage (television and surround sound were off for two hours when they used to be on) which saved about $0.50 a month, and rediscovered a hobby that makes me consider the world instead of sitting there absorbing whatever the television feeds me. We’re even thinking about eliminating the cable entirely, since the few shows we now watch are almost all on network television.

See also: Cheap alternatives to cable television. Photo by Aaronyx.

John December took a year off from life to write a book that he describes as “my Walden“, a book about living simply, about learning to make do with less. Live Simple: Radical Tactics to Reduce the Clutter, Complexity, and Costs of Your Life explains how a simple lifestyle can help you pursue your dreams. It’s available online in a free hypertext edition.

This is a great book. It’s short and filled with practical tips. Even if you don’t buy into the idea of simplicity completely, there’s a lot you can learn from the methods December describes.

Instead of buying smaller packs of items you’ll continually use (such as toilet paper, dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, tissues, diapers, baby wipes, trash bags, etc.), buy them in packages with the cheapest unit price. (This is not always the largest package.)

Put the excess in storage and continue to refill smaller containers out of the bulk containers as you need them. Even if you save only $5 per year on each item, if you buy ten items in bulk, you’ve saved $50. If your grocery list has such continuous-use items on it, pick up the bulk version instead.

[This information via The Simple Dollar.]

One Christmas when I was a poor college student, I leafed through children’s books at the library, looking for pages and pictures that reminded me of various friends. I photocopied these pages, colored them by hand, and then framed them with construction paper. I added a little note to each friend on the back of her piece.

I spent maybe $10 total for all my gifts, though it took hours of my time. That was perfect: In college, I had plenty of time, but very little money, and making these things felt like an act of love. But giving somebody a CD I bought from Amazon? Not so much.

Read about more DIY Christmas gifts you can make yourself.

Winter weather has arrived in Oregon — it’s snowy and cold. This time of year, Kris and I search for ways to keep warm. Our house is a century old; it’s cold and drafty. We’ve learned that one of the best ways to stay warm (and to save money on our heating bill) is to block the drafts.

This is best done with weather-stripping or other forms of insulation, but even a blanket in front of a door helps. Because our house is so old, nothing is level. This makes it difficult to install weather stripping. The bottom of our mudroom door, for example, has a one-inch gap on one end but is flush with the floor near the hinge. By laying a blanket in front of the door, we can mitigate some of the heat loss.

This winter, my wife has a new trick. She rolls up a towel into a long tube-like shape, and then rubber-bands then ends to hold it together. We lay this in front of our doors, and it blocks much of the cold air. It’s not perfect, but it helps.

Read more cheap ways to stay warm.

The ten-second rule states that you should pause for ten seconds before making a purchase. Spend that time asking yourself if you really need what you’re buying. Often the answer will be “no”, which is all the incentive you need to put the item back on the shelf.

If you need to, allow yourself to use the 30-day rule, too. Tell yourself that if, 30 days from now, you still want the item you’ve opted not to purchase, you can still buy it.

[This information via The Simple Dollar.]

According to Michael Bluejay’s energy guide, using space heaters is the single best way to save money on electricity. As I learned from my tests with the Kill-a-Watt electricity usage monitor, a portable radiator-type oil heater uses a lot of power, but not nearly as much as a furnace. We have a couple of these heaters. They take a while to get warm, but once they’re going, the can heat a small space cheaply.

Read more cheap ways to stay warm.

For the next few days, Money Hacks will be sharing some great ways to save money while celebrating the season.

My favorite gifts are those that people have made themselves. Homemade gifts demonstrate caring, creativity, and passion. We are lucky to have many crafty friends. Every year, I’m delighted to see what they create for Christmas gifts. In the past, we’ve given or received:

• A hand-assembled collection of gourmet salts, complete with written description of each.
• Ginger snaps.
• Art. (Do you dabble in photography? A framed print of your nephew is a great gift for your sister-in-law.)
• Chocolate-dipped hazelnuts (from a family with a filbert orchard).
• Home-made jams and jellies.

One year I crafted a homemade gift of my own: basil liqueur, brewed from vodka, sugar, and fresh basil from our garden. The stuff steeped for several months before it was ready to share.

Surely you, too, have a talent or hobby that you can draw upon to create gifts for your friends.

Read more DIY Christmas gift ideas.

For the next few days, Money Hacks will be sharing some great ways to save money while celebrating the season.

For most people, Christmas gifts mean shopping at the mall. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Many wonderful gifts aren’t tangible items purchased from a store. Here are a few examples:

• Give the gift of experience. In October 2006, the Gift Weblog wrote: “There’s nothing like giving someone the gift of experience, it is something they will always remember.” Sample gifts of experience: sky diving, scuba lessons, hot-air balloon rides, cooking school, lunch with a hero, etc.
• Personal gift certificates also make great gifts. In essence, these are gifts of time. Give new parents a gift certificate for a night of baby-sitting so that they can enjoy a night on the town. Are you good with computers? Give your brother-in-law a gift certificate for free computer repairs.
• For several years, my wife and I gave each other love coupons. Sounds sappy, I know. But it was nice to be able to come home at the end of the day and redeem a coupon for a dinner out, or for a back rub, or for an evening watching a favorite movie.

Our consumer culture has created a sort of mall-blindness. Some people forget to think of any other sort of Christmas present.

Read more frugal Christmas tips.

For the next few days, Money Hacks will be sharing some great ways to save money while celebrating the season.

Gift-giving among adults can be awkward. If you spend too much on another person, they may feel uncomfortable. Many people welcome the idea of doing away with gift-giving completely. Some, like my family, establish specific rules.

We’ve made a tradition of the $5 gift exchange. We give bigger gifts to the kids and to my mother, but the rest of us exchange gifts that cost no more than $5. It’s become a game to find interesting, thoughtful gifts for just five bucks. (Or to find amusing, tacky gifts for the same amount.) The first year we did this, the gifts were kind of lame. But with time, we’ve become more creative.

Some people practice a variation of this. They do a $100 holiday, where their entire budget for a particular group (family, circle of friends, etc.) is limited to $100, and that money is divided as needed.

The goal here is not to be cheap — it’s to give thoughtful presents without breaking the bank. If your family (or circle of friends) does agree to gift-giving guidelines, don’t be the person who breaks them. People feel resentful when one person takes it upon herself to give more than the agreed terms. Stay within the rules and have fun.

Read more frugal Christmas tips.