saving tips

I was reading this book “Living Well on a Shoestring” the other day and came across some amusing penny-pinching tips. The almost-400 page book is full of smart and frugal things to do, but at times, some of the tips made me exclaim - What!? Here 10 frugal solutions from the book that I thought you folks would enjoy - all of them are ingenious, but some of them are ridiculous, and some are just…ewww. A couple of them seriously require a *feasible* alternative - they just wouldn’t cross the psychological barrier in many people.

1. Growing tomatoes in a bra

This is the first time I heard of anything like this…although, it seems to be well-known among folks who grow tomatoes (read this for example - look for the heading “Large tomatoes will require support”). Tomato plants don’t have a very strong stem and usually bend (sometimes break) under the weight of the growing tomatoes - especially due to the larger tomatoes. Generally, “stakes” are used to provide some support to the stem (see the image below) - so as to keep the tomatoes off the soil. The book goes a step further and suggests tying a used/worn-out bra between two stakes, in such a way that the cups supports large tomatoes. If that’s difficult to visualize, here is a quick schematic that I sketched in Powerpoint.

Now, imagine you are having an awesome BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato) sandwich and totally appreciating the juicy tomatoes - and then your host, very considerately, announces “Oh those?…those were grown in a bra“. I would love to see the expression on your face after that.

2. Getting your flowers from the dead

This comes under the heading “Even funerals have a bright side”. Flowers used in a funeral are usually dumped in the trash after the proceedings. It is illegal in most states for funeral homes and florists to resell or reuse these flowers (thankfully!). The book suggests that you get in touch with a funeral home and ask them if they can send the flowers to you instead of throwing them away. Now, I consider myself frugal as far as the conventional definition of “frugality” is concerned…but this thing goes beyond me.

3. Using diapers as water reservoirs for plants

This is again in the context of tomatoes (is tomato gardening so popular? - there are a lot of tips and tricks in the book about growing tomatoes). According to the book, you can reduce the frequency of watering tomato plants by placing the absorbent material from a disposable diaper underneath the soil, and then planting your tomato plant on the top. Whenever you water the the plant, some of the water will be absorbed by the soil and the rest will be absorbed by the diaper material. When the soil dries out, the roots can still suck up water from soaked diaper (scientifically, when the soil dries out, the soil itself sucks up the water from the diaper - which is analogous to how a candle wick draws up wax - by capillary action). This way you could probably get away with watering just a couple of times a week.

4. Cleaning a not-so-valuable painting with your spit

Don’t try this with valuable paintings - your saliva will devalue it (?). Here is what the book suggests:

“Moisten a swab in your mouth and use it to brush away the dirt from the paint (your saliva will work as a mild cleanser). Take a drink every so often to keep your mouth moist (in other words to generate more saliva!) ….and be careful not to put the used swab back in your mouth.”

The next time your hand extends to feel a nice painting in your friend’s home - think about this.

5. Selling pigeon droppings to raise funds

The book narrates an interesting story about a church in Hartford that made $30,000 by selling 1,500 pounds (these must be holy pigeons) of pigeon droppings as fertilizer. Apparently, pigeon droppings are rich in nitrogen and hence are valued as fertilizer. The church’s product was marketed under the name “Sign of the Dove” - after these names were rejected: “God’s Guano”, “Gifts from Above”, and “Heavenly Droppings”.

6. Using tea bags on your eyes.

Used tea bags that are still moist can be placed under your eyes to reduce puffiness. The bags need to be cool, so don’t try them right after finishing your tea. Also, if you are in a habit to squeeze them till you get the last drop of flavor is out (I have seen people do that), they won’t be of much use since they will lack the necessary moisture. Recommended usage: “Just put one bag over each eye and leave in place for 10 to 15 minutes.”

7. Using mayonnaise as moisturiser

Mayonnaise contains all the essential ingredients required to maintain a good skin - oil serves as a moisturizer, eggs to firm the skin, and vinegar to maintain pH (acidity) levels. So if you run out of your skin conditioner - just use the mayonnaise. Or better still, just visit your nearest McDonald’s and grab your day’s quota in those little paper cups - for free.

8. Using milk and tomatoes to remove stains

The authors just love tomatoes for some reason. Here is a tip to remove stain from the ink of a ballpoint pen using tomatoes:

“Saturate a ballpoint pen stain with milk, and rub it with the cut side of a tomato. Since milk and tomatoes can leave their own stains, soak the whole garment in a mixture of enzymatic laundry detergent and cold water, then launder as usual.”

9. Using crayons to hide furniture scratches

This remedy is for those nasty (but not too big) scratches that take away the varnish (or polish) and reveal the white-ish insides. Find a crayon - of generally matching color - and rub it in the scratch. Finish the job by buffing the area with a soft cloth. If you are not sure about the color, the book recommends that you start with a lighter color and gradually darken it till it looks good enough.

10. Using pencils to fix zippers

You can try to make a sticking zipper work smoothly by rubbing the tip of a graphite pencil on to the zipper’s teeth. Zip and unzip a couple of times so that the graphite spreads over the entire zipper and you will be ready to roll. This works because graphite posses lubricating properties. May be you could also use a drop or two of some vegetable oil (like I did for this lock) - btw, on that post, in the last comment Jennifer suggests rubbing the graphite portion of a pencil on the key as a solution.

Relevant reference page numbers in the book (just in case you want to look some stuff up): 117, 133, 136, 140, 147, 148, 228, 230, 289

Image sources: mayo - www.lunaticworks.com

This is not a new invention or anything; smart people have been increasingly stashing (saving) away money from themselves ever since the advent of the concept of “pay yourself first” (which has existed forever). However, in our case, we sort of *accidentally* extended the concept to suit our purposes - we call it the “pay yourself first - and then keep stealing” concept. I prefer to call it “stealing”, because it involves small amounts of money disappearing from one account (and appearing in other accounts) without we being aware of it (it’s different than just “pay yourself first” - which implies a very conscious effort).

Let me try to explain how it works in our case.

Here is a flowchart of our money-path that summarizes the whole story:

The brick and mortar bank is just a transit point for our money. Over the last few years, we have been tracking our expenses and we have a fair idea of how much money we spend every month on bills and other expenses. We just keep that much in the checking account at the brick and mortar bank and the rest of it goes to our HSBC Direct savings account.

The HSBC account acts as the hub for our financial network - this is in part because of the three online banks that we have accounts with (the other two are ING Direct and Emigrant Direct), only HSBC allows easy addition of other bank accounts - ING and Emigrant require a paper check from the bank you want to add - which I think is stupid given the current popularity of online no-paper-check savings accounts. Since all our bill-payment transactions take place through the brick and mortar bank, we don’t check the status of our online savings accounts regularly - every few months at best (earlier, I used to compulsively check the balances in all accounts almost daily…but gradually I got rid of that habit).

Anyways, sometime in the past, we had to transfer some money to our ING direct sub-accounts for some reason and we used the recurring (scheduled) transaction option at HSBC. I set it up with the intention of canceling it after the required amount of money was transfered. However, things got busy and I forgot about it. A few months later, when I logged in to my ING Direct account, there was a surprise waiting for me there - an extra few hundred dollars among the sub-accounts. I made haste to check the transaction descriptions (to see if there was some mistake) and realized that the HSBC account was steadily pouring in small amounts every month.

At HSBC’s end, our account didn’t feel the pain because the transfer amounts were smaller than our monthly savings rate (so the savings were on the rise even while we were siphoning out some money) - and at ING’s end, the balances shot up from almost zero to hundreds of dollars. Although, it’s our own money, the element of surprise played a pivotal role in making us feel good (it’s like tax returns making people happy even though it’s their own money that they are getting back).

Since then, we have created more sub-accounts at ING Direct for various purposes (like electronics, clothes, etc.) and have started stealing a little bit more from our HSBC accounts. We plan on checking the balance in the ING accounts only around Christmas - by then we would probably have hundreds of saved dollars towards various purposes. Those dollars will be used to pay off our inflated credit card bills in full during the holiday season. Some no-guilt shopping there.

Sometimes, I think it works for us because it’s a bit complicated in our case with so many accounts and money moving all around us - some of it just hides at places and we don’t notice it. [An effect similar to the one in which lots of credit card bills move around some people and then they end up not noticing some of them] - fortunately, we are on the positive side of complications.

Of course, people who are fully aware of their own financial condition and are in total control of their money, hardly need such hacks - personally, even we are doing it just for the surprise element. However, there are a great many people who just can’t keep the money in their savings account and tend to spend it as soon as it shows some signs of growth - this kind of technique would probably work for them - or something along these lines.

Feel free to share your experience with us if you have tried (or are trying) something similar - and whether it is working for you or not.

Some HOW-TO tips for the newbies

To set up recurring transfers from HSBC Direct savings account to any other account :

• Follow this path: Log in to HSBC Direct –> Bank to Bank Transfer –> Transfer funds; at the bottom of that window there is a “Recurring Transfer” option.

To set up recurring transfers from ING Direct savings account to brick and mortar accounts (or other account paper-check-issuing account that ING can verify):

• Account main page –> Transfer Money –> Automatic Savings Plan (this is fairly popular among many folks who have ING Direct accounts)

More tips

• Here is an updated list of high-yield online savings accounts being currently offered by top banks. Feel free to explore them and make the most of your saving habit.

Here is a quick money hack. If you compulsively feel like buying stuff when go window shopping, then this might work for you. Whenever you want to buy something, make it a habit of thinking in terms of the number of hours you will have to work in order to earn money equal to the cost price of the thing you want to buy. For example, assume that you earn $5 per hour (minimum wage in some states, on the lower end). Now, suppose you want to buy yourself a $5 smoothie just to satisfy your sugar craving. Instead of thinking about the cost of the smoothie in terms of the dollar amount, tell yourself that it requires one full hour of work to buy that smoothie. That will surely make some of you think twice.

To further illustrate the point, and to get some interesting numbers, I ran this ‘hours-of-work‘ thinking through some hypothetical people earning different salaries per hour - minimum wage workers ($6.25/hour), graduate assistants ($15/hour), high school teachers ($25 per hour), and doctors ($70/hour). For these folks, a few typical expenses (with approximate costs) are considered and the cost in terms of ‘number of hours work’ is calculated. Here are the numbers:

Note that the numbers are rough measures - just to give you an idea. You could probably refine them to include interest costs (if you borrow for expenses like car, house, etc.).

It’s amusing to imagine what will happen if your new car dealer tells you that you have to work at the dealership for 3360 hours (about 1 year and 7 months, with full time employment) if you want to buy that new car….that surely sounds a bit *too much* than say, $400 per month.

This line of thought will work more effectively for large ticket items, although it will generally work for any expense.

By the way, the next time when you are in an introspective mood, get your calculator (or excel sheet) and think about how many work hours you have traded to buy stuff that you really didn’t need. You might have a learning moment at the end of the exercise.

Have you used any similar mind games to reduce spending? Does thinking about costs in terms of anything else (other than hours of work) makes you think twice before pulling out your credit card?

Welcome to the 71^st edition of the Festival of Frugality. Before we start with the festival submissions, here are some thoughts. Sometimes, when we are engrossed in squeezing out every ounce of worth from a penny, it is easy to lose sight of reason and rationality. Hence, every once in a while, to put our actions into perspective, it is beneficial to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In this spirit, let’s first review *frugality* before we jump to the articles.

What is Being Frugal? by Dawn @ Frugal for Life.

Because I live frugally, doesn’t mean I don’t spend money and don’t find enjoyment. I become more thoughtful about my decisions and how it will impact me in the future. I decide if this item is something I need or can use multiple times. Frugality is about restraint, discipline, finding the best value and using the item up till it can’t be used anymore.

Frugality as defined by Wikipedia.

Frugality (also known as thrift or thriftiness), often confused with cheapness or miserliness, is a traditional value, life style, or belief system, in which individuals practice both restraint in the acquiring of and resourceful use of economic goods and services in order to achieve lasting and more fulfilling goals. In a money-based economy, frugality emphasizes economical use of money in meeting long term personal, familial, and communal desires.

What is frugal living? @ eSSORTMENT.com

Frugal living isn’t about giving up the good life; it’s cutting out unnecessary expenditures. Most families who practice frugal living do so, not because they’re in a financial bind, but because they’ve made a conscious decision to take control of their spending and that means not keeping up with the Joneses or maxing out credit cards.

Now, let’s head over to the festival’s entries. 29 articles were accepted for publications.

Frugality Food for Thought

Frugal vs. Cheap by Andy @ Money Walks. In this post, Andy expresses his thoughts on defining frugality. This blends in very well with the theme of this edition. Here is one of his thoughts: “Living well for less money is frugality. Leeching off of people to get by is cheap.”

Sometimes, You Should Indulge by ISPF @ Grad Money Matters. ISPF thinks outside the conventional frugality box and recommends indulgence once in a while. If you are truly frugal, you could probably find frugal ways of indulging

Frugal Entertainment

Being A Big Kid - Frugal Entertainment by Super Saver @ My Wealth Builder. This is frugal entertainment plus quality time with the kids in one package. Seriously, kids don’t distinguish between “expensive” and “cheap” entertainment…all they care is about getting *entertained*.

Fifteen Free Things To Do During A Money-Free Weekend by Trent @ The Simple Dollar. Got a lot of free time on weekends and not in a mood to spend a dime? Trent has the perfect solutions for you. Here is one of them:

Blow bubbles. This is a great one if you have kids. Get a gallon of water, then slowly stir in some liquid dishwashing detergent (a cup or two), slow enough not to make suds. Bend an old coat hanger into loops, dip it into the stuff, and blow through the loops. Experiment with different quantities to get the kind of bubbles you want - there is no “perfect” recipe.

I want to quickly mention here that by adding sugar to the soap solution (and after some practice) you could actually make larger bubbles. Try it out and see if that works.

Frugal Vacations

Vacation: Need or Want @ Living Almost Large. How do you discern whether a vacation is a need or a want? Do you feel that sometimes people have this overrated sense of *entitlement* for vacations or certain indulgences? It’s one thing to take a frugal break to vacate your mind of daily routines, and it’s other thing to go on unaffordable trips to justify a *break*.

Vacation on a Budget by Stephanie @ Stop the Ride!. Stephanie shares how she planned her frugal vacation to the beach.

Automotive Frugality

Do You Really Know How Much It Costs To Own Your Car? by Silicon Valley Blogger @ The Digerati Life. Always think in future terms when you look for a car. Cars that seem cheap now may turn out to be expensive in the long run due to horrible repair and maintainance costs. SVB explains this with a neat breakdown of numbers and types of costs.

How I Saved 37% on My Car Repair Bill by FMF @ Free Money Finance. FMF shares how he used coupons and credit cards to cut down the repair bill on his Subaru Forester.

What You Should Know About Your Local Auto Body Shops by David @ My Two Dollars. A commentary on a Kiplinger’s article about things to consider before visit an auto body shop.

Frugal Meals

Cheap Work Lunches @ Cents You Asked. Some ideas to save money on lunch. Hmm…I see Healthy Choice frozen dinners in the list…some people will find that debatable.

Tuesday’s Lunch by Viriatha @ Cordova Creations. In this post, the author visits “lunch factor” (on the lines of latte factor) and encourages homemade lunches to cut down on cost and calories.

Last Minute Spring Cleaning? Don?t Forget the Cupboards by John @ Queercents. John characterizes his cooking as a race against expiration dates and shelf lives. Throwing out food is one of the most painful money wasters out there, so he dishes out some frugal advice to make the best of such situations.

Creative Frugality

How I Decorated My Son’s Room for Under $60 Tricia @ Blogging Away Debt. Tricia tells us how she decorated her son’s room for $59.96 (yeah!…not $60) This post is a fine example of frugality in practice.

Instead of buying expensive border, I used some printable sticker paper to print out construction trucks to cut out and stick on the wall for a border. I also used some stickers to decorate the light switch plate and his bed. Total cost: Probably around $2.00.

What to Do When You Forgot to Read Directions by Frugal Babe @ Frugal Babe. The author had a minor bummer situation that turned into a great example of a creative and a frugal solution to a problem. A $1.50 remedy to hold a storm door glass steady is not bad at all.

Groceries and Shopping Frugality

Cutting Grocery Costs (without clipping coupons) by Amy L. Fontinelle @ Personal Finance Advice. Amy presents six simple tips to save money on groceries without clipping coupons.

How To Pick Perfect Fruit by Baselle @ Baselle’s Financial Diary. Must read tips on choosing good produce…must read because Baselle is a PhD in Botany. I am sure there are things in this article that you have never heard about before.

Do You Get What You Pay For? by TFM @ Tight Fisted Miser. High price does not equate to high quality. TFM gives examples to make his point:

The recalls of pet food and peanut butter showed that the same manufacturers were making both the store brands and the higher-priced brands. Often the only difference between a store brand and a name brand is the label. In that case when you buy the name brand you are paying for advertising and packaging, not for higher quality.

How To Save Money On Shipping When Shopping Online by Ben @ Money Smart Life. Ben shares some useful tips on lowering your shipping costs when shopping online. Ah…those love-hate feelings about items worth about $2 that require about $8 of shipping.

Bargain Hunting at Outlet Stores @ Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog. Mrs. Credit Card tells us how she got a good deal on a piece of furniture by buying it through a scratch ‘n dent sale at Pottery Barn.

General Frugality

Free Money – Small Money Adds Up Big by Steve Faber @ Debt Free. Steve pulls up some numerical examples, again along the “latte-factor” approach, to show how small things can turn in big piles of cash in future. He also considers a couple of big ticket items like HDTV and cruise vacations.

Ask the readers: cheap wedding ideas by Sara Goldstein @ The Bargain Queen blog. Look for frugal wedding suggestions from readers’ comments in this post. Here is an example:

I used wildflowers for the flowers, and the florist was a friend’s mom, so for her labor and the trimmings it was $35. We got married in a little church, and our friend took the photos. Our reception was potluck and Dad provided the bar on his own dime. Another friend played ukelele and sang vaudeville songs on the porch for entertainment.

101 ways to save a dollar by Colleen Caldwell @ Simple Kind Of Life. Colleen points towards a list of ways to save money and shares a few personal thoughts on they are practicing frugality.

…like all families, we’re always looking for a way to save a few bucks. In the past year, we’ve decided to eat out less, shop sales more, and try not to spend money just for the sake of spending money. Sometimes, it’s easier said than done.

Recycling Batteries by Phil @ Phil for Humanity. Did you know that non-rechargeable batteries are not recyclable? Phil encourages us to use rechargeable batteries and do our bit towards the environment.

20 tips to keep from spending money by Beth Dargis @ My Simpler Life. Some practical money saving tips from Beth. Here is one in particular that caught my fancy:

Remember, the thrill is in the hunt of finding the “perfect” thing. Once you buy it, the thrill is gone.

Frugal Art

Works for Me Wednesday: Framing Free Art @ The Family CEO. The authors tell us how he decorates his walls by framing free and meaningful prints - like his son’s art class drawing and such.

Recycling Crayons by Melanie Rimmer @ Bean Sprouts. A fun easy way to recycle broken wax drawing crayons into chubby multicolored crayons.

Implied Financial Frugality

Irregular Income And Unplanned For Expenses by NCN @ No Credit Needed. NCN describes how he accounts for unplanned expenses. I have a somewhat similar system in place, except that I don’t budget to the penny.

How to Make Your Finances Automagical by Leo @ Zen Habits. Leo has a few tips on putting our financial management on an auto-pilot. Suggestions include automatic fund transfers to an online savings account and automatic bill payment.

Investing Is a Luxury by Peter Maclennan @ Peter Pays Paul. This article is really about investing, but there are some good, generally applicable thoughts towards a financially sound life.

That’s all for this edition of the Festival of Frugality. Click here to submit your article to the 72nd edition to be hosted at Frugal for Life.

Image sources: Think: ed-thelen.org; Soap bubbles: www.lunararchives.com; Vacations: www.ontariosailing.com; Automotive: www.supershuttle.com; Groceries: www.dorsetforyou.com; Bread-jelly: spacebar.blogsome.com; Money: www.bloggingblog.net; Art: www.britishcouncil.org; Creative: www.thehypnosiscds.com; Saving Money: www.mandlers.com

First, some general thoughts about buying airline tickets. It’s like buying company shares in the stock market. The first time you see a fare, it raises some “stock market-like”questions; for example: is it going to rise or fall in time to come? should I wait for a better time or buy immediately? what will happen if the price falls suddenly after I make the purchase? and other similar questions. So, to make a long story short, buying “good deal” airline tickets has the same kind of anxiety attached to it as buying a “good” stock.

A few days ago, I booked two tickets to Philadelphia as a part of our short vacation plans over the Memorial Day weekend. To avoid spending a ton of money on airline tickets later, I decided to book them right away (for once, didn’t really procrastinate). Searched on major websites: Expedia, Orbitz, Farecast, etc., and as usual….found cheaper deals on airline websites directly. Both Continental and Southwest were offering low fares, but went ahead with Southwest (flight schedule suited us better) and finalized the purchase. Here is a summary.

Today, I was just tinkering around travel websites, trying to check the ticket prices again (I am into this habit of checking prices of things *after* I have already purchased them…may be to reassure myself that I was not ripped off…or something like that), and found out that the fares had dropped significantly over the weekend! It felt like all those times when I bought something on “sale” just to find out that the “regular” price dropped below the “sale” price on the next day (which happens almost every time).

Fortunately, thanks to Southwest, it took me less than 2 minutes, about 8~10 clicks, and no human intervention to avail the new reduced fares (all you need to do is “change” your current itinerary…and book the same flights again and new fares are applied like magic).

That saved us $100 in all. The new prices are pretty cool considering it takes more than 3.5 hours to fly nonstop from where we live to Philadelphia (and for some weird reason this price is even less than the current “sale” prices advertised on Southwest). It’s a pity they don’t refund the amount to your credit card…but the credit for future travel is good enough for us. Will apply that towards a Las Vegas trip later in the year.
Experience with Farecast.com

The first time I booked tickets on Southwest, I sort of relied on Farecast.com’s price “forecast”. At that time, it was telling me that fares will hold constant over the next 7 days. However, that forecast didn’t really come true…fares dropped within 4 days. So personally, as a forecasting tool, it wasn’t of much help to me.

However, although Farecast did not correctly predict the fall, it did follow the rise and fall in airline fares faithfully (may be it adjusted the graph *after* the prices changed…who knows). It’s prediction capability was pretty much useless, but the graph showing the price history was handy. It showed me that ticket prices are at rock bottom at about $160 and average price is around $220. So, the moment I saw something selling at $167, I knew it had to be a good deal.

I wanted to mention this to make a point that don’t rely too much on price forecast. Remember it’s like the stock market….the best predictions can go way off target. By the way, I am curious to know what kind of algorithm Farecast uses. Please enlighten me if you know more about this.

Some quick lessons

• Expedia, Orbitz, or other travel portals may not be the cheapest options (at times)…sometimes it’s cheaper to book tickets directly on airline websites.
• Don’t rely too much on price comparison and/or price forecast websites. I have found that, many times, there is a disconnect between the prices on these websites and the prices offered on airline websites. It pays to do your own homework in this matter.
• Your work is not done once you buy your tickets (especially if you booked very early and suspect that you have paid more than the average price). Look out for dropping fares.
• Click here for a comparison of price refund policies for different airlines. Southwest and JetBlue are the best ones out there.
• If the price of your stock falls, no one gives you a refund. So I guess things are not as bad with the airline ticket booking.

In the recent issue of TIME magazine, there is an interesting article by the title 51 Things We Can Do. Among the list are some sensible (and worth-a-try) things that will not only make Al Gore happy, but also help you save some money in the long run. What amused me the most was tip #45: Make One Right Turn After Another; here is an excerpt:

In 2004, UPS announced that its drivers would avoid making left turns. The time spent idling while waiting to turn against oncoming traffic burns fuel and costs millions each year.

In metro New York, UPS has reduced CO2 emissions by 1,000 metric tons since January. Today 83% of UPS facilities are heading in the right direction; within two years, the policy will be adopted nationwide.

If you have difficulty in visualizing it, here is a graphic (MS Office clip art rocks) that might be worth a thought:

The image compares two overly-simplified (for the purpose of comparison) ways of making a to and fro journey. In both cases you travel the same distance, but in all probability, choosing the route with all left turns will take more time (unless you are lucky enough to catch protected left green signals at all three intersections).

Huh?…but how’s one vehicle making right turns going to help?

Towards that, here is a bit of insight into why UPS is trying this out (source):

“It seems small, but when you multiply it across 88,0000 vehicles making nearly 15 million deliveries every day during the course of a year, it adds up.”

If 88,000 vehicles making more right turns mean millions of dollars for UPS, it will certainly mean something significant for the US as a whole with about 240,000,000+ vehicles.

Obviously, right turns are nice only in US (and other right-hand traffic countries); similar logic applies to left turns in UK, Japan, and other left-hand traffic countries.

Other handy tips

The TIME article mentions other common sense tips that are worth trying. Some of these tips must have been repeated a million times on different blogs and websites, but TIME’s interesting numbers adds a better perspective from the point of view of motivating people towards applying these tips. Not all of the 51 things mentioned in the article can be easily implemented by the common man, but here are some that most of us can try without drastically altering our lifestyle:

• Give up those incandescent (filament) light bulbs.

CFLs cost three to five times as much as conventional incandescent bulbs yet use one-quarter the electricity and last several years longer.

If you are worried about whether it makes economical sense to buy the expensive compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs, read this: Save Money On Light Bulbs. With some reasonable assumptions, CF bulbs will actually save you money in the long run. By the way, a similar logic also applies to appliances. Compare appliances based on their power consumption (look for kWh or kilowatt-hour ratings), and extend the comparison over a few years down the line. Power efficient appliances may be expensive at first glance, but may turn out to be cheaper when it comes to operational costs. Also, the rule of thumb is: less power consumption = more environmentally friendly.

• Some tips for every household.

Open a window instead of running the AC. Adjust the thermostat a couple of degrees higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Caulk and weatherstrip all your doors and windows. Insulate your walls and ceilings. Use the dishwasher only when it’s full. Install low-flow showerheads. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water. Turn down the thermostat on the water heater. At the end of the year, don’t be surprised if your house feels lighter. It just lost 4,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide.

Forget about the 4,000 lbs of CO2 for a while…you will save a ton of money by implementing these tips. So if you are not so much of a *green-person*, at least try it for the sake of money. And if you don’t care about the savings, think about how much you can contribute towards the environment by reducing 4,000 lbs of CO2.

• Insulate your water heater

Wrapping your heater in an insulated blanket—one costs about $10 to $20 at home centers—could save your household about 250 lbs. in CO2 emissions annually. Most water heaters more than five years old are constantly losing heat and wasting energy because they lack internal insulation. If the surface feels warm to the touch, get your heater an extra blankie. You’ll both feel better.

This is something I have never thought about…and due to my procrastinating tendency, this will take me some time to implement…but it sounds like a sensible thing to do, so go ahead and try it.

• Switch off your computers, lights, and other electronic equipment when not in use.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75% of all the electricity consumed in the home is standby power used to keep electronics running when those TVs, DVRs, computers, monitors and stereos are “off.” The average desktop computer, not including the monitor, consumes from 60 to 250 watts a day. Compared with a machine left on 24/7, a computer that is in use four hours a day and turned off the rest of the time would save you about $70 a year. The carbon impact would be even greater. Shutting it off would reduce the machine’s CO2 emissions 83%, to just 63 kg a year.

I see this happening day in and day out. I don’t think anyone in my entire building switches of their computers before leaving for the day. There must be more than a 1000 computers in here. Recently, after the university started adding an *energy surcharge* in our tuition bills, some people have started switching off the lights…but only about 25% of the people are doing it.

• Check tire pressure regularly and get your car tuned-up periodically.

If you can boost your gas mileage from 20 to 24 m.p.g., your old heap will put 200 fewer pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

Tire pressure gages costs about a dollar in most stores, air is free at most gas stations, and it doesn’t take more than five minutes to check your tire pressure. I think procrastination is the only barrier here. Drive sensibly; speeding eats up a lot of gas and is not very efficient. Better mileage = more savings, reducing 200 lbs of CO2 = cleaner conscience.

• Manage and pay your bills online.

If every U.S. home viewed and paid its bills online, the switch would cut solid waste by 1.6 billion tons a year and curb greenhouse-gas emissions by 2.1 million tons a year, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

Apart from the environmental concerns, there is also an organizational factor associated with this. With online transactions, you don’t need to sort important pieces of mail from a ton of junk ones, or worry about shredding paper statements, or worry about USPS not delivering your payment check on time…all small things, but with major *headache* potential. This also saves a small amount of money on postage stamps.

• Say no to plastic grocery bags and yes to cloth or paper bags (this one won’t save you money..but it’s worth doing it for the environment).

Every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are distributed, and less than 3% of those bags are recycled. They are typically made of polyethylene and can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills that emit harmful greenhouse gases. Reducing your contribution to plastic-bag pollution is as simple as using a cloth bag (or one made of biodegradable plant-based materials) instead of wasting plastic ones.

Just saying “I use recyclable plastic bags” is not enough. Even recycling plants take up a lot of energy. Therefore, it makes sense to reuse them as much as possible before recycling. Thin plastic bags won’t last long when you start reusing them…that’s where reusable cloth and paper bags (paper bags made from recycled paper) come into picture. Try them, they are not expensive at all.

• Live a sensible life.

Live simply. Meditate. Consume less. Think more. Get to know your neighbors. Borrow when you need to and lend when asked.

This is tip #51 in the list…sounds exceedingly simple and yet it’s the most difficult thing to act on. I would modify the words “consume less” to “consume sensibly”. Live your life well…but live it sensibly. Hey! wait a minute, it says…”Think more”? But, aren’t we Americans?

When it comes to buying cars, one needs to be careful before drawing any *economic* conclusions based on the sticker price of cars. Generally, we are fixated towards the sticker price because that’s what comes into limelight when we start thinking in terms of auto loans, interest rates, and monthly payments. All our efforts are focused towards comparing things like “which car has the lowest drive-out price”, “which dealer is offering the best deal”, “which bank is offering the best interest rate for my car loan”, etc. Inadvertently, our thoughts are drawn away from long term factors such as depreciation, and cost of operating and maintaining the vehicle. In other words, we tend to pay more attention to the “initial cost of ownership” rather than the “true cost of ownership” of the vehicle in the long run. Not good.

Comparing cars on the basis of the true cost of ownership (which includes depreciation and operating costs in addition to the initial costs) gives a better feel for the economic implications of your car deal and could potentially save you thousands of dollars down the line.

To highlight this point, I have used an instructive screen shot from Edmunds.com below:

Notice that the Honda Civic, priced at $21,588, is the most expensive car among those compared above. However, it turns out to be the cheapest of the lot when you compare the true cost of ownership ($32,236) over 5 years. As an example, compare the Civic with the Chevrolet Cobalt which has an initial price of $19,439 and the true cost of ownership of $37,182. In this case, you could potentially save $4946 over 5 years by choosing the Civic over the Cobalt, although Cobalt’s price tag is about $2149 cheaper than the Civic’s price tag. That’s equivalent to a difference of about $82 per month for 60 months. Also, the savings will probably keep accumulating beyond 5 years considering the fact that the Cobalt will continue to depreciate at a faster rate than the Civic. Apparently, cars that appear to be cheaper at first glance may sometimes turn out to be more expensive in the long run.

I should mention here that the above numbers are specifically based on Edmunds.com’s assumptions/calculations and they may or may not accurately reflect reality (plus, there will be some geographical variation too). However, for comparison purposes, these numbers are good enough (in my opinion). An example of how the “True Cost to Own” is calculated is shown in the image below (it’s for the Honda Civic that we discussed earlier).

Although, all the data above are for new cars, it would be somewhat fair to extrapolate the relative costs comparison (based on the nature of depreciation and operating costs) to used cars as well. Just keep in mind that, as cars age, their maintenance and operating costs (and sometimes their depreciation) are increasingly determined by how people use them…this calls for more caution when comparing used cars.

So, the next time you are looking for a new or used car, make sure you address the issue of the true cost of ownership, in addition to whatever other cost-reducing measures (like low interest rates, more down payment, buy with cash, etc) you may employ…and see if you can save some major dough.

Of course, we could also discuss about saving money by buying used cars (or not buying cars at all), but that’s not the point here…we will do that some other time.

Btw, I had to obtain a copyright permission from Edmunds.com for publishing the data in this post, and should probably mention a small statement that they emailed back to me with their approval:

Please note True Cost to Own^sm and TCO^sm are proprietary service marks of Edmunds Inc., for which we have applied for Federal trademark registration.

I have mentioned earlier that my brother (Mr. G) moved into a new apartment shortly after his graduation. Last couple of weekends we were trying to help him set up his new den. G is single, but behaves as if he is married to the television…so it was one of the first things he wanted. We spent hours looking in major retail shops to find his “perfect match” and finally zeroed in on a decent sized flat screen TV (nothing fancy…no LCD, projection, plasma or any such stuff).

We took the new TV to G’s new apartment, switched it on and ran an auto-scan for available free channels. To our dismay, it detected only 3 (useless) channels with decent reception. At this point, G started contemplating on getting a cable connection (or a dish network) in a few days, which would have cost him a minimum of $40 a month. Meanwhile, we decided to drive down to Walmart and get this $9 gadget for the time being:

Yeah… that’s a cheap in-door antenna. We auto-scanned for channels again after plugging in the antenna and to our amazement, this time the TV picked up like 30+ channels, some of them with exceptional video and audio clarity. In fact this thing turned out to be so good, that G has decided not to subscribe to cable anytime soon.

I understand that results will vary with your geographic location and your proximity to “urban” areas…but $9 is not too bad for a trial (well this one was $9, but most antennas are priced between $7 to $20). Give it a shot, if it works, it will be worth it’s value in a few days.

Brands are not really important when you look for these; I have used RCA and Phillips in the past, on separate occasions, and both have worked very well. Update: Btw, these are marked as “HDTV Antenna” or “Off-air HDTV Capable” and other similar terms.

This just came up when we were out shopping for my brother’s new apartment. We were strolling around in a huge retail shop and picking up whatever that needs to be picked up for a new apartment. In the process, we went through the food/groceries section, and didn’t pick up anything from there. I mentioned to my wife that this might be our first such trip ever to a food/groceries section when we didn’t pick up a single thing (usually, even if we don’t need anything, we end up picking up some candy or some ready-to-cook packs or some pastries or some nice looking freshly baked bread…some stupid “craving” food).

At this point, my brother mentioned that a bunch of graduate students (including him) from his university have observed, during their shopping trips, that when they shop with their stomachs full, they rarely pick up any “craving” junk. After trying and testing this phenomenon, they are now firm believers that this strategy works. Most of them now make sure that they are not hungry when they step out for groceries.

It might be a purely psychological or an apparently “perceived” effect. But hey, there is no harm in trying it out. Try to go shopping after a hearty meal and see if it makes a difference in your shopping habits. If it works for you, it will be good for your wallet and your health; make it public so that more people will try it. If it doesn’t work..let us know in that case too.
Caveat: “hearty meal” means hearty meal cooked at home; hogging on dollar-menu (or ready-to-cook packs) makes everything null and void.

[Image source: fridge-mag.net]