Five for Friday: Ways to save some money...honestly!

Good morning!

Some time ago I did something called "Laundry List Friday."  People seemed to like it, but, thanks to the fact that I'm easily distracted, I stopped writing it.  Recently, thanks to a conversation I had with a co worker about weird things we do to save time or money, I decided to bring it back, but better...or better-ISH...than before.

So today I'm sharing with you five things I do to save money.  These aren't big moves and you probably won't be able to take a vacation on what you save...or maybe you will. 

Here we go:


5)  Want new books, but hate new book prices?  Try something really new!

This may sound like shameless promotion, and it is sort of, but I hear this from readers all the time:  I am looking for a really good book, but I hate paying bookstore prices.  

REally...you're going to spend
$19.95 on anything
she has to say?

Well, if you have a reading device, how about trotting over to your favorite book store website and checking out digital books from new authors?  These books are always original, they rarely cost more than $2.99 and I promise you, the writing is going to be as painstakingly good as anything Snookie could possibly crank out.

Don't have a reading device?  Amazon offers a print service for new authors and these titles are typically less expensive than their big name counterparts.   As luck would have it...BOTH my titles are for sale at Amazon!

Want a reading device?  A good starter is the Kindle.  For the price of about three hard cover books new you can get a basic Kindle, which will open up a world of new authors, new voices, new stories.

Love recycling?  Every town has a second hand book store.  Mine is Half price Books.  I get almost all my books, movies, and music there.

4)  Need basics?  Try the men's department.

Turtle necks, mock necks, polo shirts, and socks.  Unless you need pink buying these basic items in the men's department will save you money.  How?  Because it's a FACT, men's clothing is the same price or less expensive, it's way better made, and it's truer to size.  Oh, and men's shirts tend to be made a bit longer, so for those of us that don't have a wash board stomach, the shirts will actually cover us.  The same goes for belts.  If you need a basic black or brown belt that's going to hold up your jeans and not fall apart the third time you wear it, go to the men's department.

3)  Got a headache? Why make it worse?

Got cramps? I can help.

In most cases, store brand pain killers and over the counter meds are EXACTLY THE SAME as their far more pricey counter parts.  And in one very important case, the store brand works better.  Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Naxaproxin, anything PM, and heartburn tablets...the store brand is identical and can be up to half the price of their more glamorous counterparts.  And in the case of every one's favorite PMS med, MYDOL, the TARGET brand of "menstrual symptoms relief" works far better.  Look for the bottle with the pink lettering.  The biggest plus for the Target brand?  It comes in an easy to open bottle as opposed to those blister packs.  And when you're ready to commit some sort of crime because you're bloated and your hormones are line dancing through your system, is wrangling with a double layer blister pack something you really want to be doing?

WARNING:  The same does NOT hold true for frozen waffles.  Get the Eggos...seriously.

2) Shaving cream...and lotion?  Save money, time and space.

We all have limited space in our showers, and having to have shaving cream, maybe a lotion or baby oil, AND hair conditioner in there just to shave the legs and whatnot takes up a lot of value able real estate that could be used for you know, you.  Get rid of everything except the hair conditioner.  hair conditioner works very well as a shaving cream. First, you already have it in the shower.  Second, you never use as much conditioner as you use shampoo, so if you pair your hair care products, you always are out of balance.  Third, hair conditioner is less expensive than shaving cream and moisturizes way better.

BONUS:  Extend the life of your razor...store it outside the shower.

1)  Stop the runs with syrup.

For those of you who still wear dresses, and therefore wear pantyhose, here's a tip I've been using for decades.  It's an old waitress trick.  Got a run?  Don't reach for the nail polish.  Dab a bit of pancake syrup instead.  If you're a normal person, you're probably closer to pancake syrup at any give moment of the day than you are nail polish.  Plus, syrup works just as well as polish AND it smells better.  BONUS, it dries clear, so instead of having a random dab of color on your leg, no one will see your patch job.

So there you go.  Save some pennies, put them away,