Tip 76: Get free checking, avoid bank fees

Tip 76: Get free checking, avoid bank fees

My bank- actually a credit union- has a program where I get free checking if I use my debit card as a credit card 10 times during the month.  Most banks offer some sort of free checking.  If you don't get free checking, you can pay $10 to $20 per month or more on fees.  It is worth some effort to keep the money in your account instead of giving it to the bank.

Speaking of bank fees, the one that bothers me most is ATM fees.  You go to an ATM to take out money, and sometimes a box pops up that says you have to pay a fee to get your money out.  For example, I wanted to take out $10 to buy some food at some food stands at a local event.  It was cash only.  My usual ATM was out of money due  to the crowds.  I walked to another ATM- this one was going to charge a $4 transaction fee.  That works out to a 40% fee to get my own money out!  Of course I didn't pay it.  The cost for the bank to run the transaction is  likely too small to even calculate accurately, yet they are charging very high fees. 

I like to keep some cash around so I am not faced with ATM transaction fees if a need for cash come up.  Also, if  you need to get money out using your debit card, it is worth the trouble to find an ATM that is in your bank's network and does not charge transaction fees.  You can also use you card to get cash at a checkout of a store as well.  You can buy an item and ask for cash when you pay with your debit card.

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Tip 77: "Bank" at a credit union rather than a bank

Tip 77: "Bank" at a credit union rather than a bank

The fees and interest rates are typically lower at credit unions than at a bank, and you get all of the same benefits and FDIC protection for your deposits.  I recently did a comparison of interest rates on deposit accounts and rates and fees charged on loans between my credit union and a local bank.  My credit union won across the board.
What is a credit union?  A credit union is a non-profit organization that provides financial services to its members.  I like the idea that my credit union is not trying to get money from me.  Check out credit unions that are at convenient locations in your area and compare their rates and services with your bank.  You may find a better deal at a credit union that can save you money on interest and fees.

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Tip 78: Turn off unneeded lights and appliances

Tip 78: Turn off unneeded lights and appliances

One wasteful thing that bothers me is when I see that someone has gone away for work and has left there outdoor porch light on.  It will run all day, burning up electricity and costing money- what a waste!  I like to check my outdoor lights before I leave for the day to make sure none were left on.

Not only to outdoor lights get left on, but too often I find lights on in an empty room.  Turning off lights that are not being used is a good way to save electricity and lower your utility bill.  Sometimes I go too far and accidently turn off lights when someone is actually in the room.  I am OK spending a little money to run lights if there is someone in the room.  Most places, electricity costs 10 cents per kilowatt hour.  Therefore, running a 100W lightbulb costs about 1 cent.  I am willing to let this cost go if there is someone in the room.  Running lights when no one is in the room adds up over time and is an expense that is easy enough to avoid.

Another potential waste of energy is running unused appliances.  I just now got up to turn off a TV that no one was watching.  My flat screen TV uses about 300W when it is running, so it is worth the trouble to turn it off if no one is watching.  Sometimes, I even notice that the oven was left on during dinner.  I have gotten in the habit of checking to make sure it is off before starting to eat.

In addition to saving money on utility bills, you will extend the life of appliances by running them less.

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Tip 79: Can you eliminate an extra vehicle?

Tip 79: Can you eliminate an extra vehicle?

Owning a vehicle is expensive- you face depreciation of the vehicle, insurance costs, fuel costs, and maintenance costs.  If you can get away with owning fewer vehicles, you can save a lot of money.  In some places, public transportation such as busses or subways makes owning a vehicle less of a necessity.  Even in suburban areas where public transportation is less abundant, you may be able to join a carpool to work and find other ways to get around.  If you have more than one vehicle for your household, you may have an opportunity to sell one and save money.

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Tip 80: The art and science of the store return

Tip 80: The art and science of the store return

Returning things to the store is sometimes a convenient way to get money for items you later realized you don’t need or that didn't work out for you.  The rules that stores have place restrictions on returns and can make it hard to get your money back.  Here are some tips on returning items to the store that you might think couldn't be returned.

When I was moving out of a house, I found some project items and building materials in the attic for projects I never got around to doing.  There are a few ceiling lights and things like this.  Although they were purchased several years ago, they were still new in the box.  I decided to try to return them to the store.  Of course, I no longer had a receipt.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the items ring up and I received a gift card for store credit for the full price of the items.  I was probably better off not having a receipt- most receipts for returns expire after 6 months anyway.  So the lesson here is that if you have new-in-the-box  unused items, you might as well try to return them.  Someone else can use them, and you can get a full refund, even if it is in the form of a gift card.

Another successful return was my cherry tree.  I bought a cherry tree at Lowe's in the spring and planted it in my front yard.  Trees from Lowe's have a 1 year guarantee, and I put the receipt in a safe place, just in case.  The summer was extremely hot and dry.  Even thought I watered the tree a lot, it dropped its leaves in August which is at least a month early.  I decided to give the tree a chance to come back the following spring before returning it.  Unfortunately, it did not leaf out in the spring and was completely dead.  I decided to take the tree back to exchange it, but during the year that had passed, I forgot where I put the receipt.  I should have kept it in the box with all of my other receipts, but for some reason I tried to put it somewhere special and lost track of it.

It took some serious effort to get a refund for the tree without a receipt.  The tree still had the tag on it, but they would not do a refund without the receipt- too many problems with returning trees to a different store is what one clerk told me.  I ended up bringing the tree in several times and explaining that I had a hole in my yard and that I wanted to get a new tree started.  No luck.  There was a way to search records for the purchase, which we attempted, but they needed the date of purchase which I did not have.  I was beginning to worry about the 1 year limit on the guarantee expiring.

After several weeks of working to return the tree, I walked into Lowe's with the dead tree and a shoebox full of receipts from Lowes.  Of course, I did not have the receipt for the tree, but I had tons of other ones from years of shopping there.  My point was that I was a regular customer at that Lowe's store location, and I had a tree with Lowes tags on it that I was trying to return.  I asked to see the store manager to go through my situation and the receipts with him.  The clerk recognized me and called the store manager.  After a brief exchange, they offered me a gift card with the full price of the tree.  I happily headed back to the nursery to pick out a replacement.

There are a few lessons to take from this story:  1) keep track of your receipts, 2) if you are returning something under warranty, don't wait until the last minute, and 3) persistence often pays off when trying to return something.

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Tip 81: Discount programs at grocery stores

Tip 81: Discount programs at grocery stores

One grocery store discount program I like is HyVee Fuel Saver.  When you buy certain items, you receive a discount for gas at Caseys or Hy-Vee gas stations.  For example, if you buy pumpkin bars, you might save 3 cents per gallon on gas.  The items that qualify vary all the time.  Since my car takes around 10 gallons to fill up, I can quickly estimate my savings if I buy a fuel saver item.  You can save money with the Fuel Saver program- the trick is not to buy things you would not normally buy.  I will sometimes substitute an item to get a discount- for example I might buy the pumpkin bars instead of cinnamon rolls to get the discount, but I don't buy more than I normally would without the Fuel Saver program.

The amount you can save depends on how many Fuel Saver items you buy.  I have received discounts of around 20 cents per gallon at times.  If you shop at Hy-Vee a lot, you can save some money on gas.  We buy some of our groceries at Walmart, which has lower prices but is a less pleasant place to shop and has less variety of some types of food items.

If you don’t shop at Hy-Vee or don’t have Hy-Vee in your area, see if you can find a different fuel discount program in your area that can save you money.

Another grocery store discount program I use to save money is a rewards program at an independent grocery store that is near my house.  You get a membership card to scan whenever you make a purchase and get points that you can use to get free grocery items each month.  One thing I like about this program is that you get points for everything you buy.  This differs from Hy-Vee fuel saver which only gives points for selected items.  Each month there are about a dozen or so grocery items that you can use rewards points to get free.  One month, you could get free orange juice and I did that several times.  This month, nothing looks appealing to me, so I’ll save my points for next month.

The price for saving at the grocery store with rewards programs is convenience and privacy.  The grocery store gets to track what you purchase and when.  This does not bother me that much, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether privacy is a concern.  If you make your purchases using a credit card or check, it would be easy for the store to track your purchases anyway.  As for the convenience factor, you need to remember to bring your rewards card and have the cashier scan it every time.  This is not a problem for me- I just keep my Fuel Saver card and my grocery reward club card in my wallet so they are always ready when I buy anything at the grocery store.

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Tip 82: When to apply for a credit card to save money

Tip 82: When to apply for a credit card to save money

Sometimes you can save money by applying for a credit card.  We recently found a refrigerator that we liked and had been looking at it for a few months.  One weekend, it was on sale for $500 off and we decided to buy it.  I have plenty of credit cards, but Lowe’s had an offer that sounded pretty good.  If we applied for a Lowe’s credit card, we could get 10% off our purchase and get 0% financing for 6 months.  This was enough savings that I thought it was worth applying for a new credit card.  With the sale price and discounts, we saved around $800 from the original price.  I also will get 5% off every future purchase at Lowe’s using the new credit card.

I have also taken up offers to get credit cards that did not pay off as well as the immediate benefit from my new Lowe’s card.  One time I had loaded up on clearance winter clothes at Sears in the early spring.  They were selling Dockers dress shirts for $5 each and other great bargains.  I used my Sears Gold card to save an additional 5% off and then applied for a new Sears Blue card to save even more.  I ended up getting clothes for 90% off the original price!

Take advantage of offers to get new credit cards when you can save money on something you are planning to buy anyway.  If you pay off your credit card balance every month, it won’t cost you anything and you can save some money.

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Tip 83: Fun night at home

Tip 83: Fun night at home

There are a lot of bad things said about watching TV and playing video games at home.  On the bright side, this can be very cheap entertainment and a way to spend time with your family that doesn’t cost much.
You can rent a DVD for a couple bucks, make your own popcorn, save about $30 compared with going out to the movies.  Another idea is to find a good TV series on Netflix and watch it together as a family.  One summer we watched an episode of Monk every night on Netflix.

It can difficult to find video games that everyone in the family likes to play together.  Most people can enjoy Wii games or old Atari classics.  We have a joystick that plugs into the TV and plays some old Atari games.  The games are simple and do not take a long time to play.  With Wii Sports, you can bowl at home without going out.

See what ideas you can come up with to have fun at home with your family without spending a lot of money going out.

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Tip 84: Pizza can make you happy

Tip 84: Pizza can make you happy

Pizza is cheap food, is relatively healthy, and makes people happy.  You can get a big pizza for about $10 and almost everyone likes pizza.  Get vegetables on the pizza to make it even more nutritious, and find some good pizza coupons to help lower the bill.  I like to pick up the pizza myself rather than have it delivered.

Some places charge a delivery charge, and all pizza delivery drivers expect a tip.  Plus when I bring it home, I can bring it directly home when it is as hot and fresh as possible.  A delivery driver might make a few stops along the way.

Another good thing about pizza is that it is easy to share the bill with other people since it is easy to calculate the cost per slice of pizza.   Pizza is cheap food compared with a lot of dinner options, an almost everyone likes it.

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Tip 85: Use coupons for oil changes

Tip 85: Use coupons for oil changes

I can usually find coupons at Midas for $5 off oil changes.  In fact, I just received a coupon last week for a FREE oil change at Midas.  I had some work done there, and they sent the free oil change coupon as a customer appreciation gift.

At many shops, you can also sign up for programs such as pay for 4 oil changes and get the 5th free.  This is worth doing since you should change your oil regularly to help your car last a long time.  You may be able to save a little money by doing your own oil changes, but I can find deals on oil changes that are hard to beat.  They also lube your car and check all of the fluid levels and look for cracked belts and hoses.  While your car is in the shop, you can get your tires rotated, increasing the life of your tires.

When there is a product or service that you know you will buy regularly- like oil changes- it is worth spending some effort to find good deals and coupons and even save with a quantity buy such as a buy 4, get one free program.

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Tip 86: Get furniture for almost free

Tip 86: Get furniture for almost free

How can you get furniture for almost free?  Buy furniture at consignment stores instead of a furniture store.

You can get used furniture really cheap.  I got my favorite chair and ottoman set for $37.  You can't get anything at a furniture store in this price range.  Consignment stores get new item in every day, so if you don’t see something you like some back next week and check out the new arrivals.

Another place to look for used furniture is at garage sales and auctions.  Craigslist also has lots of used furniture for sale and sometimes even for free.  I picked up some nice book shelves years ago at an auction for $12.  I painted them and then used them for years and eventually sold them for more than I paid for them.  A solid wood bookshelf like this would have cost many hundreds of dollars new at a furniture store.

As soon as you take new furniture home, it is used furniture.  You might as well buy used furniture if you can find something you like and save yourself a lot of money.

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Tip 87: Shop on tax free day

Tip 87: Shop on tax free day

Save around 6% in some states by shopping on designated tax free shopping days.  Here in Iowa, there are tax free days to buy clothes and school supplies in the fall during back-to-school shopping season.  All clothes and office supplies are included, so this is a great time to stock up on all sorts of supplies.  Stores continue to offer coupons and discounts since the 6% savings comes from the state government, not out of the store’s profits.

It is nice to get an extra 6% off on top of any coupons and deals that you can find.  The downside of shopping on tax free day is that there are big crowds of people shopping.  See if your state has a tax free shopping day you can use to save some money.

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Tip 88: No more late fees

Tip 88: No more late fees

Late fees for paying bills late drive me crazy.  These fees provide essentially pure profit for the credit card companies and utilities that charge the late fee.  How much does it cost a big company if your check arrives a day or two late?  Almost nothing, but late fees can be $30 or more.  Plus credit card companies can raise your interest rates as a result of a late payment.  But wait, there’s more- credit card companies turn in late payment reports to the credit card reporting agencies, resulting in a lower credit score.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Your goal should be to pay $0 for late fees.

I like to set up my utility bills on automatic payment.  I still get a bill, but the money comes out of my checking account automatically when it is due.  This way I still get to see how much I need to pay and still have a chance to check my bill before the payment comes out of my account.

I use a computer bill paying system on the website of my credit union.  This way I can see the date when I last paid each credit card and other bill.  This helps me to notice if I have not received a bill and avoid late payments.

Many years ago, I remember once having to send a check by FedEx overnight to avoid a late fee on a credit card.  Now most bills offer pay-by-phone or electronic funds transfer options so you can pay bills at the last minute without paying rush shipping to send a check.  Some of the electronic payment options do cost a few dollars, but still much less than a late fee.

One common reason that people pay bills late is that they misplace their bills and do not notice that the bill is due in time to pay it on time.  With electronic banking, it is so easy to pay bills that I often log in to my bank account and pay bills within moments after opening the envelope.  When I am busy and can’t pay a bill at that moment, I have a special drawer where I keep all bills that need to be paid. 

Other late fees that I have seen are charged for returning rented or borrowed items late.  Library fines and late return fees for movie or video game rentals come to mind.  These late fees are usually much smaller than late fees for paying bills.  Still, it is easy to avoid paying late fees by keeping track of when items are due back.  I usually return rented movies immediately after watching them so I don’t forget and end up with a late fee.

A little organization can go a long way to avoid late fees.

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Tip 89: No more postage

Tip 89: No more postage

In the previous tip, I mentioned using an on-line bill payer system to avoid late fees.  Another reason to use electronic bill paying is to avoid postage.  In the old days, I would probably mail 20 or 30 bills per month, each requiring a postage stamp.  These days, I rarely need postage since I rarely mail letters.  The on-line bill payer system does not charge postage.  The bank can electronically transfer money to some businesses.  For the bills that must be mailed, I imagine that the bank gathers up all of the bills being sent to the same address every few days and puts them in an envelope together.  So the postage probably does not cost the bank that much.

The use of postage for personal letters is also declining.  You can use e-mail and skype for free communication instead of paying for postage to send letters.  I rarely need to buy stamps anymore

I do still visit the Post Office occasionally to ship packages when I sell items on eBay.  It is interesting that the internet is reducing my need for postage to send letters, but is increasing my need for postage to mail packages.  The good news is that I charge the buyers of eBay items for postage, so I am not paying for it anyway.

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Tip 90: Duct tape and other cheap repairs

Tip 90: Duct tape and other cheap repairs

It usually pays to fix things right, but you can do a lot with super glue and duct tape...

A recent example of a duct tape repair is my handiwork on a garbage can lid.  The plastic garbage can lid is about 4 years old and got a little brittle with age.  It cracked and would no longer snap firmly to the top of the can.  While the crack was small, I put some duct tape over it and further along the lid in the direction of the crack to try to stop the crack from growing.  This has worked so far.  The lid stays firmly snapped on, and the crack does not seem to be growing.

Duct tape can also be used to repair coats.  Of course, it looks pretty cheap to repair the outside of a coat with duct tape, but I have used duct tape to repair the inside lining of a coat and it lasted for years that way.  I have also used duct tape to cover holes in work gloves to keep my hands clean when I didn’t have replacement gloves available.

Another cheap repair is to replace a frayed electrical cord on an appliance or tool.  Some people will wrap a frayed electrical cord with electrical tape, but I don’t trust this.  I don’t want to risk someone getting shocked or starting a fire, so I like to replace the cord if I can.  I once changed the electrical cord on a bread maker and got years of use from it after this.

One day, I went to pop the hood on my old Civic to check the oil... and the hood handle broke.  This was bad since I could no longer open my hood.  I went to the hardware store and got a small knob with a set screw and clamped it on to the hood release cable.  This is simple and works great.  The way the handle was attached to the release cable, I would have needed to replace the entire hood release cable and handle which would have been a lot more expensive than the $2 or so of hardware that I used for my cheap repair.

Another example of a cheap repair is one that I mention under the topic of shoe repair in this book.  If your shoes are uncomfortable, you can buy shoe inserts for a few dollars that will make your shoes feel like new again.  You can also take shoes to a cobbler or shoe repair shop for repairs.  I have tried repairing shoes using glue, but this has never lasted very well.  I have used duct tape successfully to cover holes in shoes or to hold the sole on a shoe for a few months.  It works best to wrap the duct tape completely around the shoe; otherwise it tends to come off pretty easily.

Computers can sometimes be repaired cheaply.  My son’s laptop once came down with a bad hard drive.  I bought a used drive on the internet and replaced the bad hard drive to keep the laptop going for a while longer.  You can also work around broken keyboards or track-pads by plugging in cheap desktop keyboards or mice.  My son recently broke the LCD display on his laptop.  He now plugs the laptop into an external monitor that we had around.

Another cheap repair that makes a big difference is to patch holes in your walls with a little dry wall patch compound.  Holes in a wall really look bad and decrease the value of your house.  Small holes can be patched simply by applying dry wall patch compound with a paint scraper.  You’ll need to paint the repair to match the wall.  It only takes a minute to touch it up if you have matching paint.  For larger holes, you can stick some fiberglass mesh to cover the hole, and then apply repair compound to the mesh.  You’ll need to sand the patch compound after it hardens and then paint to match the wall.  Repairing holes in walls is cheap and makes a big improvement to the appearance of your house.

When repairing things, you always need to balance the cost of the repair with the cost of replacing the item.  For example, replacing my son’s broken laptop screen would probably cost a few hundred dollars.  It would not be a good move to put this much money into an old laptop since the repair costs almost as much as buying a new laptop.  We decided to go with the “free” option of plugging in an external monitor and working around the broken screen.

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Tip 91: Repair shoes instead of throwing them away

Tip 91: Repair shoes instead of throwing them away

Did you know cobblers are still around?  My wife had a nice pair of shoes that got chewed on by one of our dogs.  The shoes were fairly expensive, so I decided to investigate options for shoe repair instead of throwing them away.

I found a shoe repair place in the local shopping mall.  This store was different than the other stores in the mall- it was packed with industrial sewing machines and shoe repair materials.  This place definitely looked more like an old-fashioned shoe factory than a modern retail store.  This is just what I was looking for.
This place was able to repair my wife’s shoes for $6.35, and I took another pair that had a ripped-out seam which cost $5 to repair.  Getting shoes repaired can be much less expensive than buying a new pair of shoes.
Not all shoes are worth repairing.  Many of my shoes are cheap to begin with and get a lot of wear since I do not have very many pairs of shoes.  Throwing my old shoes away may be the best way to go since they get pretty thoroughly worn out.  Sometimes my wife even throws shoes away for me when they get really bad.

My latest pair of shoes will probably be worth repairing- I spent a bit more money to get shoes that I could repair and keep going for a long time.  If you really like a pair of shoes, you can even do bigger repairs such as replacing soles and heels.  If your shoes are still in pretty good shape but are just uncomfortable, you can buy shoe inserts for a few dollars to make your shoes feel like new again.

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Tip 92: Rent a truck instead of buying one

Tip 92: Rent a truck instead of buying one

Most people rarely use the hauling capacity of a pick-up truck.  You can rent a pick-up truck from U-Haul or even at a home improvement store for much less that the cost of owning a pickup truck and paying for the gas to drive the truck all the time.  Often when I see a pick-up on the road it is carrying only the drive- no passengers and no cargo in back.  This seems like too much vehicle most of the time.

I rented a pick-up at U-Haul a couple of times during my move and for hauling junk to the landfill.  The advertised prices are around $20, but you may pay more than this depending on how many miles you drive and how long you keep the truck.  I think my bill was more like $70, but I made several trips with the truck and put quite a few miles on it.

But even $70 to rent a truck a few times a year is almost nothing compared to the cost of buying a pick-up truck, maintaining it, paying insurance for it, and paying for gas to drive it every day.  If you only need the capacity of a pickup truck occasionally, you can save well over $1000 per year by renting a pick-up occasionally when you need it rather than buying one and driving it every day.

As with many ways to spend less money, convenience is a factor.  It certainly is handy to have a pickup truck available whenever you want, but this convenience is expensive.  If you are willing to take some time to drive to the U-Haul store and rent a truck when you need one, you can save a lot of money.

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Tip 93: Get building materials for free

Tip 93: Get building materials for free

Find free building material on craigslist or frecycle.  If you don’t see what you need, try posting a wanted ad on craigslist, describe what you are looking for, and offer to pick it up or trade something for it.  You never know what you might be able to find.  People often end up with more materials than they need and just want to get rid of the extra stuff to clean up their yard or garage.  Help someone get rid of extra stuff they don’t want and put it to good use- plus avoid spending money to buy materials.

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Tip 94: Save hardware odds and ends

Tip 94: Save hardware odds and ends

Save spare hardware, odds and ends.  You'll be more likely to do projects and will spend less time and fuel driving to the store.  I remember when I was young and a new home owner, how nice it was the first time I was able to do a small home improvement project without running to the store at all.

Once you have some basic tools and materials on hand, you can do projects without spending time and money to go to the store.  Eventually, I accumulated a good collection of hand tools.  I got some from my parents, bought some, got some as presents, and got some that were left behind at houses I moved into.  I actually ended up with extra tools and took some to be sold at an auction.  The same thing happened with hardware.  Whenever I did a project, I would have extra screws and nails left over.

Just today, I installed a joist-mounted pull-up bar.  I installed it in some big beams and bought some lag bolts to install it instead of the bolts that came with it.  I added the spare bolts to my hardware stockpile.

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Tip 95: Bake and decorate your own cakes

Tip 95: Bake and decorate your own cakes

It is amazing how expensive it is to buy a decorated cake.  It is also amazing how easy and inexpensive it is to make your own cake at home.  All you need is a box of cake mix and a few simple ingredients such as eggs, oil, and water.  Baking and decorating your own cake costs only a few dollars compared with around $18 to buy a 1/4 sheet decorated cake at the grocery store or bakery.

I would put buying decorated cakes almost up there with buying bottled water as a poor use of money.  If you need a lot of cakes for a big event, it might make sense to buy them from a place that has the capacity to make a lot of cakes.  But it seems pretty expensive to buy a single cake unless you’ve forgotten an important occasion and need to get a cake quickly.

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Tip 96: Stay off the hamster wheel

Tip 96: Stay off the hamster wheel

I sometimes feel like my family and friends are in a different socioeconomic group than myself.  It seems like everyone around me has newer, nicer clothes and fancier technology and stuff.  Maybe I should buy new stuff so I can be more like everyone else...  That is the kind of thinking that can get you on the hamster wheel of debt.

There will always be a newer, blingier cell phone that you don’t have.  Someone will always have a newer car or newer clothes than you.  As soon as you buy something and take it home, it is no longer new.  I try to focus on functionality instead of having new things.  Do I have a car that runs and is reliable?  If so, what more do I need from a car?  Do I have a cell phone that works so I can stay in touch with my family?  If so, what else do I need?  Do I have clothes that allow me to go out in public without embarrassment?  Well, maybe...  My kids are pretty embarrassed by my old clothes, but I think they would be even more embarrassed if I tried to wear the latest clothing styles.  The shirt I am wearing now is at least 10 years old.  I bought the jeans I am wearing at K-mart in 2009 for $8.  I would be more embarrassed to wear expensive clothes- I would rather have money to take care of my family than spend it buying expensive clothes for myself.

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Tip 97: Avoid spending deathtraps

Tip 97: Avoid spending deathtraps

There are some places you can enter where there is almost no chance of a good outcome.  For me, places like Pier One, the pet shop, the car dealer come to mind.

Pier One is a fine store, but I don’t think they sell anything I really need there.  However, that store seems to be able to extract money from my wife somehow.  She really likes their stuff and it is hard to look around there without her wanting to buy something.  So the best move seems to be to stay away.
The pet store is another potential deathtrap.  You can walk out of the pet store with $1000 less in your wallet if you find a cute puppy you can’t leave without...

Car dealers are another potential problem area.  You can go in not realizing you need a different car and walk out with a car payment.

Willpower is a good thing, but you need less willpower if you simply avoid stores and situations that you know will tempt you to buy expensive things that you don’t really need.  What kind of stores are deathtraps for you?

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Tip 98: Don't throw away all the old batteries

Tip 98: Don't throw away all the old batteries

When a toy or device goes dead and you change the batteries, it could be that all of the batteries are dead, or it could be that only one or two batteries are dead and the others are fine.  Many people throw away all the batteries when they change the batteries.  I use a battery tester and check batteries before I throw them away.  Batteries cost as much as $1 each, so it is worth a few seconds to check.

Tonight I had a dead night vision goggle system that turned out to have 2 dead AA batteries and 3 good batteries.  We also had an Airsoft BB gun that would not shoot- it had 2 dead AAA batteries and 2 good ones.  So just tonight I saved 5 good batteries by checking the used batteries coming out of dead toys before throwing them away.  Why throw away good batteries?

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Tip 99: Buy less stuff that is made to be thrown away

Tip 99: Buy less stuff that is made to be thrown away

Some products are made to be purchased and then thrown away.  Why would anyone buy something just to throw away?  Products like paper towels, garbage bags, disposable diapers, soap, and cleaning chemicals are disposable- you buy them and then throw them away or wash them down the drain.
If you follow my tip on making your own rags, you won’t need to buy paper towels.  You can wash a rag and use it over and over.

How many different cleaning chemicals do you really need?  I try to just stick with a few basic cleaning products instead of having a lot of specialized cleaning products to store and sort through.
Whenever I buy something, I try to think about the exit strategy for that item in my mind.  How will I throw it away or get rid of it?  Sometimes this helps me decide not to buy something.  If it will be a lot of trouble to dispose of, or if I realize that it will not have a very long useful life before I need to dispose of it, then maybe I don’t want to buy it.

I recently threw away an old TV set at the landfill.  It was a small 13 inch TV set, an old fashioned tube TV.  It came with the house I bought and I had no use for it.  Actually, I recycled it rather than throwing it away- you are not supposed to throw away old CRTs at my landfill.  But wait, there’s more- I had to pay a fee of $10 to recycle it!  This free TV set ended up costing me some money to throw away.
I also ended up with a bunch of compact fluorescent light bulbs.  I am switching to LED light bulbs, so I’ll need to get rid of the compact fluorescent bulbs.  They contain mercury, so a special trip to the landfill or to a recycling station is needed to dispose of them.

Another type of product that gives me pause when I think about throwing it away is the cheap flat-pack furniture that you can buy at Target, Walmart, and other stores.  I have several bookshelves like this that are made out of particle board, not solid wood.  They are heavy, but likely won’t last very long because the particle board is not very strong.  I wouldn't want to burn them to get rid of them because the adhesive in the particle board would release toxic fumes.  Maybe I could break them up into small enough pieces to throw them away with my garbage, but that sounds like a lot of work.  Perhaps it would be better to find some used solid wood bookshelves instead, so I wouldn't need to think about disposing of them for a long time.

Thinking about how long a product will last and how you will get rid of it can help you avoid buying things you won’t get much value from owning.

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Tip 100: Use fans to lower your bills

Tip 100: Use fans to lower your bills

Running an air conditioner in the summer to stay cool is expensive.  You can save money in the summer by raising your thermostat setting and using fans to stay cool.  Fans use much less electricity than air conditioning.  Place the fans so that the moving air is blowing on you to facilitate heat exchange and cool you off.  Use ceiling fans to inexpensively circulate cooler air from the floor toward the ceiling.  In summer, a ceiling fan should rotate counterclockwise when viewed from below.  The fan should turn so that the up-turned edge of the blade is leading.  This results in air being pushed down directly under the fan.  This ceiling fan direction provides the most cooling effect from moving air.

Another way to use fans to stay cool inexpensively is to pull cool air from outside into your house after dark when it cools down outside.

Your ceiling fan can also help save on utility bills in the winter.  You’ll need to reverse the direction of the ceiling fan using a switch on the fan so that it rotates in the proper direction.  In winter, the ceiling fan should turn clockwise when viewed from underneath so that downward turned edge of the fan blade is leading.  This results in air being pulled up toward the ceiling fan.  This will mix cooler air from near the floor with warmer air near the ceiling and circulate it throughout your living space.  This way you will be able to turn down your thermostat and still be comfortable.

Spend less on utility bills by letting fans keep you comfortable.

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Tip 101: Read Penny Pincher Journal

Tip 101: Read Penny Pincher Journal

If you are interested in saving money, keep looking for new ideas and ways to spend less money.  A good idea on saving money can be worth thousands of dollars to you.  It is worth some time and effort to be alert for new ideas and innovative ways to save money.

OK, you may have figured out that I write Penny Pincher Journal since my name is Dr. Penny Pincher.  Penny Pincher Journal is my blog about saving money and products that can save you money.  Penny Pincher Journal has lots of interesting ideas on saving money, and the best part is that Penny Pincher Journal is free.  Check it out on the internet- here is the link.

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About the Author

About the Author

Dr. Penny Pincher has a Ph.D. in engineering and lives and works in eastern Iowa with his wife and two sons.  In 2013, Dr. Penny Pincher founded Penny Pincher Journal, a blog about saving money every day.  His hobbies include drinking great coffee, annoying his family, riding his cheapcycle (cheap bicycle), and saving money every day.

In February 2014, Dr. Penny Pincher published his first book: Penny Pincher Journal: How To Save Money Every Day.

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Connect with Dr. Penny Pincher

Connect with Dr. Penny Pincher

I hope you enjoyed reading my book!  Check out these sites by Dr. Penny Pincher for more penny pinching tips:

Visit my blog:  http://pennypincherjournal.blogspot.com
Visit my website:  http://drpennypincher.hubpages.com

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Programmable Thermostat: How to Install a Replacement Thermostat and Save Money

Replace Your Thermostat and Save Money

Save Money with a Programmable Thermostat
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Heating season just started here in Iowa, and last week I noticed a problem in the middle of the night.  I was hot, and the furnace was running.  The problem was that this meant I was wasting money.  Why was the furnace running when I was hot?  Why was it so warm in the middle of the night?

The problem was the old thermostat.  It was still working fine, but it was primitive by today's standards.  The old thermostat only had one temperature setting.  The reason it was hot at night, is because we turned it to 70 to warm up the house and forgot to turn it down for the night.  Sometimes we left for the day and forgot to turn it down then too.

Old Lennox Thermostat
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Another problem with the old thermostat was that the temperature control was not very precise.  It had a sliding lever to set the temperature, and it was hard to make small adjustments.  Also, the old analog temperature sensor did not seem to be very precise.  This all adds up to wasted energy and wasted money.  I decided to look at a replacement thermostat options.

Programmable Thermostats

Modern thermostats are programmable and allow you to program different temperatures for different times of day.  For example, you can program a temperature you want the house when you wake up, and another temperature when you are gone for the day, another temperature when you get home, and another for after you are asleep in bed.  You can let the thermostat program run and it automatically adjusts the temperature for you.  You can override the program at any time if you want to adjust the temperature.

7-day Programmable Thermostat
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You can get thermostats that are 1-day, 5-2 day, 5-1-1 day, and 7-day programmable.  A 1-day programmable thermostat has a single program that it follows every day.  A 5-2 day programmable thermostat gives you a program for Monday-Friday, plus a program for Saturday and Sunday.  A 5-1-1 day programmable thermostat allows you to set a program for Monday-Friday, Saturday, and Sunday separately.  A 7-day programmable thermostat is the most flexible and allows you to set a different temperature program for every day of the week.

At our house, the schedule varies quite a bit, so I was interested in a 7-day programmable thermostat.  I wanted something that could automatically turn the temperature down at night and while everyone is out during the day.  With the old thermostat, it was too easy to forget to turn the temperature down.

Do You Need a Wi-Fi Thermostat?

 I looked at Nest and some other expensive thermostats that allow you to control your heating and cooling system using a cell phone through your home's wireless network.  This seemed like more than I needed, and thermostats with wi-fi capability cost $200 or more.  It may be handy sometimes to adjust the temperature while you are away from home, but I think a good 7-day programmable thermostat would cover almost everything I want to do.

I found some good programmable thermostats in the $80 price range from Honeywell and White-Rodgers.  The Honeywell model I selected is a 7-day programmable thermostat with a full touchscreen.  There are no buttons or levers on the thermostat at all.  It has an easy menu system to program it, and a nice backlight when you touch it.

How To Install A Programmable Thermostat

Finding and buying a replacement thermostat was the easy part.  Next, I had to install the thermostat.  The first step was to carefully remove the old thermostat.  I say carefully for several reasons.  First, the old thermostat was really old and brittle.  I wanted to remove it carefully in case I needed to put it back- for example if the replacement thermostat turned out not to be compatible with the furnace and central air.  Second, the old thermostat contains a mercury switch.  It has a drop of mercury inside- kind of fun to look at, but I wouldn't want the capsule to break and spill the mercury.  Mercury is a toxic substance and can cause neurological damage.

My old Lennox thermostat had 3 layers:

1. A cover with plastic windows to see the temperature setting
2. A layer with the mercury switch and a thermometer coil with bi-metalic strips.  The movement of the coil causes the mercury switch to tip and makes or breaks the circuit to turn the furnace off or on.
3. The layer with a circuit card and wire connections to the furnace

Outer Cover of Old Thermostat
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Thermometer Coil and Mercury Switch in Old Thermostat
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Circuit Card and Wire Connections in Old Thermostat
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I turned off the power to my furnace using the circuit breaker before working on the thermostat.  I turned the fan on so I could make sure I turned off the right breaker to the furnace.  When the fan turned off, I knew I had the right one.  Some furnaces have a light switch on the side that can be used to turn off power instead of the circuit breaker.

Turn Off Power to Your Furnace Before Replacing the Thermostat
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Now it was time to remove the old thermostat.  I had to carefully remove the first two layers to reveal the bottom layer which was attached to the wall with screws to mount it to a metal junction box.  The pictures above show the layers that I had in my old thermostat.  I separated the first two layers by snapping them apart carefully.  Since the mercury switch contains mercury, I'll need to find a place to safely dispose of it.  I don't want to let mercury get into the water supply.

With the circuit card exposed, I could find the wires to connect the furnace to the new thermostat.  Before removing any wires from the old thermostat, label the wires carefully.  My Honeywell replacement thermostat included stickers to label the wires.  The circuit card in the old thermostat had each of the 4 wires labeled: RC, Y, W, G.  I removed the screws holding the wires down and applied the labels.  I also took pictures before disconnecting anything.

Next, I removed the last layer of the old thermostat from the wall.  My unit had two screws holding it on the wall.  I straightened out the wires so I could easily remove the last part of the old thermostat.

Now it was time to install the new thermostat.  The directions were pretty clear.  The most important thing is to carefully label the wires and attach them to the proper place on the new thermostat.  The wires are connected using a terminal block with screws to connect the wires and hold them in place.  You'll need a small screwdriver to tighten these down.

Honeywell Programmable Thermostat Wire Connection and Mounting Plate
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Depending on how your old thermostat was mounted, you may need to install a couple drywall anchors to mount the new thermostat to the wall.  In my case, I got lucky.  The hole spacing worked fine to attach the new thermostat to the existing junction box.  That was easy!

After connecting the wires to the new thermostat, and double-checking that the wires are connected to the right spots, you get to install the front of the thermostat on the mounting plate.  Install the batteries, and then snap the front onto the mounting plate.

Honeywell Thermostat, Battery Installation
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This Thermostat Has a Nice Touchscreen with Backlight
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Here's more info about my programmable thermostat:
Honeywell RTH7600D Touchscreen 7-Day Programmable Thermostat

Saving Money with a Programmable Thermostat

This unit worked right out of the box.  The touchscreen and menus are easy to use.  I adjusted the pre-programmed temperature settings a bit by lowering the warmest temperature from 70 down to 68.  I am starting with 62 at night and during weekdays when everyone is usually away from home.  I am sure we will make further adjustments to the temperature and also the time of day when the temperature program adjusts the temperature.  I think this thermostat will pay for itself within a few months, and it keeps the indoor temperature more comfortable.  Replacing your thermostat a good project to consider if you have an older thermostat.

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