Confessions of a Penny Pincher

12/1/08

Here are a couple of new tips.

>White vinegar: For inexpensive window cleaner, use 1 part water to 1 part window cleaner. White vinegar is an excellant cleaner for hard water. It works better than anything I have purchased for cleaning the shower head. Also, when cleaning windows and mirrors, use newspaper rather than paper towels. It actually works better and it's FREE!

>Printer: To save money on ink, set your printer to print in draft mode, unless you really need a super clean copy. Draft usually looks pretty good. Also, recycle your paper, use the backs of your paper if it is not something that matters.

>Dryer sheets: Cut them in half for smaller loads of laundry. Also, I have heard, but not tried, used dryer sheets make great swiffer sweeper cloths. I don't have a swiffer, but this makes sense. Let me know if this one works. Maybe I'll buy a swiffer if I don't have to buy the cloths.

>Do you get coupons in the mail for $10 off a $10 purchase? I get these for Office Max, Kohls, JC Penny, Famous Footware, and Fashion Bug. I used to use these to try to time a good shopping trip. Sometimes this works, but sometimes I don't need anything or don't have the time to search for a good deal. $10 doesn't go very far, except for socks. So now these $10 coupons mean "free sock time", except the Office Max coupon. I can always think of a $10 need at the office supply store. BTW, I use the Office Max coupon at Office Depot because Office Depot is in my neighborhood. They accept it with no problem.

>Albertsons and rainchecks. This has changed. The rainchecks are only good for 30 days! One of my favorite tricks is to buy the rest of whatever is on sale off the shelf and then ask for a raincheck for a lot of the item. This way I can fill my shelf now and can fill it again later at a super low price. Sometimes I will go back a couple times and get more rainchecks if they are still out so I can fill my shelf a couple of times.

>I seldom buy a drink when I eat out. Lately I've figured out a trick that is pretty nice. I get water with lemon. I squeeze the lemon into the water and add Splenda (or sugar), and walaa!, freash lemonaide. This is also great because it is rare that a restaurant has diet anything with no caffeine. Yesterday, I did this at Baja Fresh, they have limes, so limeaide, yumm!

>WalMart price matches anything. You need to bring some proof of the price, like the ad from the paper. This is particularly worth while at back the school time when every store has a great ad, and you feel like you have to visit them all to get the best deal.

>Deseret Book also price matches, even with Distribution. So, if you want to buy something that you could get through Distribution at Deseret Book, just let them know that you want the Distribution Price and they are very happy to look up the price for you, and you get the points toward your book club, if you have one. Pretty cool deal. You don't have to prove to them that WalMart or Costco has a better price, they generally know and will take your word for it.