Saving Money with Receipts!

Everyone knows that fast food restaurants provide the most food for your money outside of the grocery store.  You can eat pretty well as a McDonald's "Dollar Menu-aire."  You don't want to eat McDonald's every day, but in a pinch they will do.

I think the Quarter Pounder is called the Royale with Cheese in France

 

Lately, I've been noticing customer satisfaction surveys on the back of fast food sales receipts.  If you take the survey, McDonalds gives you a code to turn your receipt into a coupon.  Currently, McDonald's offers "buy one, get one free" on Quarter Pounders or Egg McMuffins.  If you bring your own bottle of water, you can eat really well or serve two people for the price of one.  It's just one more trick for eating cheap.




Photo by:  Fritz Saalfeld (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Selling Stuff

When times are tight, you may have to sell some of your stuff.  It can be hard to part with treasured possessions.  But, you have to meet your financial obligations, you have to eat, and you have to have gas or bus fare to get to work.  The key thing to remember is that it is "just stuff."

When you need to sell some of your personal possessions, you can sell them at consignment shops, on ebay, in garage sales, or via craigslist.  If you have firearms, you can sell them at a gun shop.  Sporting goods can go to Play It Again Sports. Each route to market has drawbacks.  Consignment shops sometimes take a large percentage of the proceeds from your sale and can be a slow way to get your money.  Pawn shops can low ball you on the price.  EBay can nickel and dime you with small fees that make it unprofitable to sell low cost items.  Craigslist respondents may show up to rob you.


Despite all that, each way of selling can provide you with some money when you need it most.  They all have ways in which they also make selling convenient.  For example, if you sell a gun through a gunshop, you don't have to deal with convicted felons who are trying to buy a gun on the black market.  The gun shop will run a background check on any future purchaser of your firearm.

It's no fun selling stuff when you need cash.  It's more fun to sell when you don't need cash, but want some for a splurge.  But, no matter what, just remember that anything you sell is "just stuff" and you can't take it with you.  Also remember to counter any offer from a pawn shop with a slightly higher amount.  You might get an extra $20 out of the deal.  If you feel bad about selling your stuff, just go look around in Goodwill.  Everything that your grandmother's generation once prized will be on the shelves for about $2.00 per item.

Dollar Tree Cleaner Review: Spic and Span Forest Fresh Multi-Surface Cleaner Spray

For this post, I put Spic and Span Multi-Surface Cleaner spray to the test.  I'm a big advocate of using dollar store cleaning products whenever possible.  To put it plainly, most people don't see the brand name of your kitchen cleaner.  So, if you are going to save money, you can save it behind the scenes at home without suffering any social stigma from wearing cheap clothing or brown bagging your lunch.

To test Spic and Span, I just took one look at the filthy balcony railings at our apartment.  They were absolutely nasty with at least three years worth of pollen, bird droppings, pine tar, and probably pollutants from a nearby highway.  They were positively black.  I simply sprayed the railings with Spic and Span Forest Fresh Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner from Dollar Tree and wiped it up with paper towels a few seconds later.

Spic and Spain Forest Fresh Multi-Surface Cleaner Defeats Dirt and Grime

Here is a picture of a section of railing before I cleaned it using Spic and Span.  It is very filthy.  I couldn't rest my hands, a coffee cup, binoculars, or a camera out on that railing in it's untouched condition.  That's at least three years worth of nasty dirt on the railing.

Dirty Apartment Balcony Railing Before Spic and Span

Much Cleaner After Using Spic and Span

 To conquer the railing, I just sprayed the cleaner liberally and wiped it up with a paper towel after a few seconds.  I didn't have to use a lot of elbow grease.  The cleaner did most of the work.

The Railing Is So Clean It Actually Shines!

For a one dollar bottle of cleaner, my results were impressive.  The cleaner worked well and smelled good.  I heartily recommend Spic and Span cleaners from Dollar Tree.  They are a dollar well spent!

If you want to save money on other cleaning supplies, check these Spring Savings Deals out through April 29th on Amazon:

How to Survive a Tight Pay Period

Sometimes you just know that it is going to be a really tight pay period.  When it's a tight pay period, you've got to make every dollar count.  Don't panic.  Here's what I think you have to do:

1.  Figure out how much money you will have.
2.  Figure out how much you need to live.  You have to eat.  You have to have money for food.  You have to have money for gas or bus fare to get to work.
3.  Subtract your living expenses from you available money.  The money you have left can be used for bills.

When it comes to paying bills, you'll need to keep a roof over your head and pay your utilities.  Then, you can attack the credit cards and other bills.  If your money is going to be tight, just make the minimum payments.

When you are done paying bills, go put gas in your car and get some groceries.  When you get groceries, be sure to buy cheap foods that will help you get through the pay period.  For example, toaster waffles are cheap.  You can have them for breakfast with peanut butter.  For more examples read my article -

Five Super Cheap Foods for a Recession 

Good luck!  You can make it!  We have for too many tight pay periods.

How to Save Money on Magazines

Have you ever perused the magazine rack in a grocery store, found a weighty magazine, and then discovered that it costs $9.99 or even $12.95.  It's possible to spend $60 and walk out with only a half-dozen periodicals.  if you are on a tight budget, that's not cool at all.

Here are a few ways to save money on magazines:

1.  Subscribe.  If you subscribe to magazines, you'll save a lot of money over the newstand price.  Sometimes you can get a whole year of a magazine for $10 or $12.  To save money right now, you can easily subscribe to Amazon magazines and handle your whole subscription process online without those annoying little insert cards.

2.  Use the Public Library.  Magazines at the library can be read for free.  You'll also find music on CDs, movies on DVDs, and plenty of books.  All of these resources are cheaper than magazines, bookstores, or Netflix.

3.  Read on the Web.  Lots of magazine content is available online.  Plus, there are plenty of bloggers who are writing magazine-like articles.  It's all free with your web connection.