Money Crashers » Frugality

How to Save Money While Vacationing In A Big City

Erik Folgate — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:59:30 +0000

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Chicago. I surprised her for her birthday and took her to the Windy City for four days. We have a best friend that just moved there, so that was part of the reason for picking Chicago to visit. Visiting big cities can be really pricey, because hotels, eating out, and entertainment are usually very expensive. We didn’t go frugal on this trip, but there were certain things we did that helped us save some money during the trip.

Use The Entertainment Book

Chicago had a huge entertainment book, and it gave us great ideas for places to eat and things to do with coupons. The entertainment book can be purchased for $20 online.

Look for coupons online

We found a buy one, get one free coupon for the Shedd Aquarium on their website. That’s a $25 dollar savings, because each ticket is $25.00.

We stayed with friends

For the first night, we pampered ourselves and stayed at the Four Seasons hotel. Even that was a deal, because we have a friend who works for Four Seasons and gets 50% off of room rates. The other two nights we stayed with our friends and saved a lot of money by not paying for two more nights at a hotel. The Four Seasons was AMAZING, by the way. By far the best service I’ve ever received at a hotel.

We didn’t go overboard with sightseeing

In order to avoid feeling worn out from your vacation, sometimes you need to take it slow. My wife and I aren’t dissapointed if we didn’t get to see or do something on our checklist. We are okay with hanging out with friends and taking it slow. This also saves money, because you aren’t running around and spending money on every tourist trap attraction in the city. Related Posts:

How to Save Money While Vacationing In A Big City is a post from: Money Crashers

5 Tips For Saving Money This Halloween

Erik Folgate — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:14:02 +0000

I’ll admit that Halloween is not my favorite holiday, and it’s not because I’m some overzealous Christian who thinks it’s the “Devil’s Holiday”. I am a man of faith, but Halloween ticks me off more from a financial perspective. Along with Valentine’s Day, it has become one of the most commercialized non-holidays that have no meaning. I understand that the kids have a good time with it, and it’s fun for them, but when you take a step back and really look at Halloween, it really is pointless to spend a bunch of money on it. With Halloween parties, costumes for the kids, house decorations, and all of the crap that schools make you buy for arts and crafts time, Halloween can get really expensive.

Last Tuesday, I participated in the #frugalchat Twitter conversation moderated by The Debt Diva. If you’ve never been to her site, you should definitely check it out. She has a great blog and runs a debt management company. I have no clue how she is able to post so much on Twitter, but she has a great presence on there. Some of these ideas were part of a discussion we had about keeping costs down for Halloween.

Buy your pumpkins the day before halloween. You won’t get as good of a selection, but they’ll be half-priced, and you can buy more than one for decoration. Also, you won’t need to worry about rotting.
Use everyday items to decorate the house. You can take cereal boxes and spray paint them black or gray to place in the yard to make it look like a cemetary. You can also use quilt padding to make cob webs.
Instead of throwing a party for the kids, play a game. Video/photo scavenger hunts are really fun. Make a list of things to find or do around the neighborhood (i.e. a black cat or an abandoned “haunted” house)
Make your own costumes. Dressing like a celebrity or an iconic figure is usually the easiest to do. You can do the same for kid’s costumes.
For Couples, have a scary movie marathon. Pop some popcorn and bake some spooky looking cookies, and watch scary movies from Netflix or the Red Box.

Links to Halloween Ideas that Save Money:

Quick and Inexpensive Halloween Decorations from Better Homes and Gardens’ Web site

Video on Halloween money savings tips.

DIY Projects for Decorating Your Yard.

How I Saved $450 On A Piece of Furniture

Erik Folgate — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:49:45 +0000

Background Info

My wife and I went looking for entertainment centers on Sunday afternoon. We stopped by one of our favorite places to find really cheap, decent furnture: the Rooms-To-Go outlet. We bought our bedroom set brand new at the outlet two years ago for $1,200, which included a king head/foot board, dresser, and two night stands! So, we scoured the outlet, but nothing fully caught our eye. We saw one TV stand that we liked, but we wanted a two-piece set. We went to the showcase room down the street and saw two sets that we really liked. The first set was smaller, but had a different style to it. We saw that one at the outlet, but it wasn’t in great condition, and it wasn’t much of a discount either. The second set was big, had a nice top hutch piece with shelving and crown molding, and we liked that it would fill up most of the space that we would be putting it in.

The Dilemma

The more we looked at the piece, the more we wanted it. The price tag was $899, and with shipping and taxes, it would be over $1,000! This was really tough to swallow, so we did what we usually do, we slept on it. Walking away from a large purchase to think about it overnight is a great way to prevent yourself from making a hasty decision.

The Turning Point

The next day, we headed back towards the “furniture” row on State Road 436, and we were about ready to pull the trigger on the $900 piece, because we really wanted it, it wouldn’t break our bank, and we plan on spending a lot of time in our current house. My wife says to me, “Let’s just go check the outlet store one more time”. I shook my head and said, “I really don’t remember seeing that entertainment center there, but we can try”. She said it would make her feel better if we looked one more time. So sure enough, we went back and found the same model in really good condition! The reason we overlooked it a day before is because the top piece was not paired up with the bottom piece, so it looked completely different. The bottom piece was the original piece that we liked, but passed up because we wanted something with a matching top piece. We asked the guy “how much”, and he said $475. We asked for a discount, because there was one area in the corner that looked a little damaged, but it was nothing we couldn’t touch up with a stain marker. He comes back and says, $450, and we said, “Sold!”. Not only did we get the same entertainment center for half off, but we asked for a discount and basically got the tax removed.

Lessons We Learned

Furniture looks much different in the showroom than the outlet warehouse. We didn’t notice the piece in the outlet room, because it was misplaced and dingy looking. Make sure you come to an outlet store with a different mindset.
Sleep on it. If we had pulled the trigger on the $900 set on Sunday, we would have never come back the next day to check the outlet store and find the one for $450.
Always ask for a discount. Even though it was just $25, it was the equivalent of getting a tax free piece of furniture.

Got any stories similar to this? Have you saved a bundle on a large purchase lately? We want to hear.

Save Money With Group Discounts Using Strangers

Erik Folgate — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:38:58 +0000

We’re all looking to save money right now, and frugality takes creativity if you want to save the big bucks. Smart Money has a great article about saving money on group discounts with strangers. They have some great online resources to help you partner up with other people looking to get a group discount if you don’t have a large friends/family network to take advantage of group discounts.

strong>Here are some tips from their article for getting a group discount without using the internet:

Ask for a manager. Generally, they have the most leeway to offer discounts and can tell you if there’s a group discount policy already in place, Oza says.

Plan ahead. Don’t expect to walk into a hair salon with nine others and negotiate a group discount on the spot. Allow a few days to come to the deal, and give the business time to prepare. (For example, that salon might need to find time to handle a party of 10, and a retailer arranging a bulk purchase may need to special-order the products.)

Bring in new customers. Businesses may be more likely to work with you if most members of your group aren’t already customers, says Robin Walker, a Chicago-based image consultant who routinely arranges group discounts for her clients. “A business doesn’t want to give their existing customers a discount,” she says. “It cannibalizes their client base.”

Think beyond cash. Not every group deal amounts to a discount. A restaurant manager might not give you 10% off for bringing in a party, but they may throw in two free trays of appetizers, Oza says.

Use Social Media To Find Group Members

Facebook and Twitter would be great places to search for people or friends/followers in your area and contact them to see if they are interested in getting a group discount. I live in Orlando, the theme park capital of the world. Theme parks and water parks are always running group discounts, and I am sure I could round up 15 to 20 people to go to Disney or Wet ‘n Wild together. Start a Facebook group and invite a bunch of people in your city called “Groups Discounts With Strangers”. I am sure you’ll attract quite a few people. You’ll probably make some friends and business contacts along the way!
Related Posts:

Save Money With Group Discounts Using Strangers is a post from: Money Crashers

The Difference Between Frugal and Cheap

Erik Folgate — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:25:42 +0000

Ever since I have been more passionate about personal finance and managing my money, I have noticed that there are different definitions of being cheap and being frugal, depending on who you talk to. When my wife and I started telling people that we couldn’t go on vacation, because we were paying off debt, or that we don’t use credit cards, they looked at us funny. When we clip coupons and go to the $1.50 movie theater, some people laugh at us. We’ve never been heckled about it, but we’ve definitely heard the “you only live once” line when we tell people that we are saving money or paying off debt before we spend it on a major purchase.

So, for what it’s worth, here’s my definition of frugal and cheap

Frugal

Looking for deals and taking advantage of sales and promotions when you were already planning on purchasing something
Delaying pleasure and instant gratification to make a big purchase
Not obsessed with brands
Does not sacrifice quality to buy something only because it is cheaper

Cheap

Your cheapness affects the quality of life of others such as spouse or family
Your basic needs are of lesser quality
You never splurge a little when you have the money to spend
You will sacrifice quality to buy what is the cheapest

I think the most important aspect of frugality is the last bullet point. When you are willing to identify what items are worth spending more money on to buy a better quality product but you do everything you can to get the best deal on it, that is frugal. When you refuse to spend more than $100 on groceries when it’s not feasible due to the size of your family, you’re being cheap. When you clip coupons, and purchase items to make meals from scratch, that is being frugal. When you won’t spend money to perform routine maintenance on your car or home, that is being cheap.

A good example of being frugal in my own life is when we bought a Dyson vacuum. We had gone through two other vacuums in two years, because we have a dog that likes to shed. Our rugs started to stink in our new house, because we knew that our old vacuum wasn’t picking up all of the dog hair. We had heard great things about the Dyson vacuums, but we couldn’t get ourselves to spend $400, much less on a freakin’ vacuum! Once we had a couple of hundred extra dollars in savings that we wouldn’t notice was gone, we started looking for a Dyson. Instead of going out and buying the new $400 model at Target, we purchased last year’s model on Amazon for $329, and we used a gift card that my brother had given me the previous Christmas. We were frugal about a purchase we already planned on buying.

What are your thoughts on this? What is your definition of cheap and frugal? Do you think cheap and frugal mean the same thing? Do you have any examples of being frugal, rather than being cheap?

Five Frugal Tips For Having Fun On a Budget This Summer

Erik Folgate — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:59:07 +0000

Even though school summer breaks are just a distant memory for me, it’s still one of my favorite seasons, because I love the ragged-out, beach feeling, fireworks on the Fourth of July, and barbecues with corn-on-the-cob and watermelon. There’s nothing like it. Summer can also be a really expensive time of the year, because families are vacationing and parents are trying to keep their kids busy while they are out of school. With money being a littler tigher than usual right now, here are some tips for being more frugal during the summer while still having fun.

Family Dinners: Pick three or four family friends and start a family dinner night. If you have four families, then each family would cook once a week for the other three families. These are great nights for socializing and entertaining, because you can add a theme to your night and play board games or go out for dessert after dinner. You get a free dinner three days a month, and it’s something fun to do for free.

Create your own summer camp: If you live in a neighborhood with many stay-at-home parents, you can save a lot of money on summer camps by creating your own. Each stay-at-home parent would take the kids out to do something once a week. Choose a couple of free activities and a couple of activities that at a reasonable cost like a water park or the science museum.

Vacation within two hours of your house. You don’t need an elaborate vacation to have fun, and most people don’t need to travel far to find a great vacation destination. Rent a cabin at the nearby lake, a condo at the beach, or a hotel room in a city you’ve never visited before.

Ask your employer to work remotely during the summer. If most of your work is done on a computer and the phone, ask your employer if they will allow you to work from home for one or two days a week. This will cut down on costs for keeping your kids busy, and you’ll spend less money on gas and car maintenance. You’ll also be less stressed out during the summer!

Take advantage of local events and attractions. We often forgot about the vast array of local events and attractions that we pay for out of our taxes every year. Many towns, whether big or small, host many different summer events for the entire family. Local museums, libraries, and parks all have big things going on during the summer. Don’t forget about the little guy!