Money Saving Tip of the Day: Go Shopping in a Hurry

We've all done it before. We go to the grocery store looking for a few specific items and come home with a trunk full of junk we didn't need. The cause of this? Time to spare. Try this tip the next time you go shopping. Write out a list of everything you need, and then leave for the store right before you have to do something. It might be 30 minutes until your tv show comes on or you have to meet a friend. The point is, have an automatic cutoff time built into the trip so that you can't "accidentally" go down the Little Debbie aisle and come out with way too many boxes of Nutty Bars and Star Crunches. By being on a time crunch, you will automatically go just to the aisles you need to go to and skip out on all the extras. And your cholesterol will thank you for following this tip, too...

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Make Your Coffee At Home

Many of us get into the habit of stopping by Starbucks on our way to work, class, etc. We tend to only think of our voracious appetite for caffeine in the short run. I mean come on,it’s only 3 or 4 bucks per drink. However, this adds up quickly. If you do this every morning of your work week, you’ll end up spending over $700 in the calendar year. Only do it a couple of times per week? You’ll still spend over $300. Now that’s a lot of cheddar. Instead, brew your own coffee at home. More into the foo-foo drinks like lattes or macchiato’s? Why not buy your own espresso machine? You can get your very own caffeine-producing machine right HERE for as cheap as $25. Three weeks of using this trick and the machine and supplies will more than pay for themselves! That's an annual savings of at least $200. Not too shabby, eh? Now you've just got to find a way to kick that caffeine bug. Ha, yeah right...

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Flask It!

Wanna go out and enjoy some libations with your friends, but can't afford the crazy markup the bar is charging on your favorite thirst quencher? Try bringing a flask to the bar! That's being too cheap, says you? Neh, that's just being smart, says I. Plus, you'll totally look awesome with a flask. Why overpay for your alcohol? You could just as easily bring a flask into any bar or restaurant and cut your expenses in half, if not more. You’ll have the same amount of fun and pay half the price that the other suckers are. Just be sure not to get caught pouring grandpa’s cough medicine into your drinks. Some bars don’t look kindly to that sort of thing... However, there are a few cool bars out there that actually encourage you to BYOB. A searchable database of the aforementioned raddest bars in the States can be found here. Enjoy flasking it, my friends!

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Find Out Restaurant Specials

More often than not, restaurants offer some sort of special. Most restaurants will offer happy hour discounts not only on drinks but on food as well. Do a bit of calling around to your local restaurants and keep notes on what restaurants offer what happy hours and when they do so. This will take about 30 minutes of your time but may end up saving you quite a bit of money when it’s all said and done. Other restaurants offer memberships (many of which are free) that give you 10-15% off your food and drinks and e-mail you about their special offers. Be sure to ask about these as well. Even if they have a small fee attached to the membership, oftentimes the membership will more than pay for itself after all of the discounts are applied. Don't have time to do the calling around? Check out Happy-Hour.com. They have a national listing of happy hour specials that you can search for by simply putting in your zip code. I checked a few of my local watering holes and the happy hours seemed to be pretty accurate. However, they were missing some of the newer specials, and often times missed out on some of the better specials. This is still a great resource to use in a pinch, however. Try this tip out and you just may save yourself a good chunk of change the next time you go out.

Money Making Tip of the Day: Sell Your Aluminum Cans

I know it sounds simple, but try it out. In most states you can get 5 cents per can. Even if you live in a state that doesn't sponsor a buyback program (as I do), there are still many private companies that will buy those old cans from you. Just think about it, you can get $1.20 from drinking that 24 pack of Bud Light that you burned through, or 60 cents from that 12 pack of pop/soda/coke (depending on what part of the country you're from). I know it's not a lot, but hey, it's free money! Plus, it can add up quickly. On my very healthy college diet, I am able to go through a 24 pack in a week. If I go that route for 30 weeks of the year (which, sadly, is very likely), I can end up cashing in on $36 over the year. I am also an avid soda drinker, and easily go through a 12 pack each weak, which can end up netting me just over $30 each year. You might as well try it out! Just think how stoked you are to find a 5 dollar bill in your pocket. Multiply that excitement by 6, and you get the amount of joy you get from following this tip (not really, but you will end up with 6X as much cash!). Also, while you're at it, please pull your tabs off of all your cans and donate them to the Ronald McDonald house. They have an awesome charity going on there, and you can read more about it by clicking the picture below. Happy can crushing!

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Use Groupon

We all have the same problem. We want to go out to eat, but it's just too dang expensive. Or is it? Groupon is an ever-growing company that allows you to buy gift certificates for steep discounts (usually 50% or more). I recently bought a groupon from a local restaurant that I would never be able to afford normally. I was able to get a $20 dish and not feel bad about it whatsoever because--Hey! Look at that!--it was actually $10! Sign up for the Groupon list and they will automatically update you on each new Groupon. What's even better is that you won't have to search through lists of deals that aren't applicable to you, because Groupon only sends you deals for your specific city. They also offer coupons from other local businesses such as fitness clubs and entertainment. Google recently tried to buy Groupon out, so obviously they have something magical going on there. Give it a shot--it's free and the e-mails are pretty fun to read through. Plus, it can save you tons of money! Check it out by following the links above or below this post.

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Make Your Own Liquor

I found a really interesting video on how to make homemade liquor without any fancy equipment. And even better yet, you won't go blind if you drink it! Check it out here:

I have had a few friends use this concept to make something they call "Apple Jack", which is basically just apple wine that they freeze and turn to liquor. From what I hear, it's really quite good. To go even cheaper, make your own wine using a method from an older post instead of buying bottled wine. There's nothing better than going for the cheap liquor!

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Make Homemade Wine

One of the few things that we buy more of when we're trying to pinch pennies is alcohol. Seriously. Check out the last 3 recessions. Alcohol sales went up in every single one of them. So, on a site where people come to obviously learn how to save a few bucks (and on a site where the writer is Scottish and thus has a propensity to consume a bit of alcohol), I thought I'd teach you a very cheap and easy way to make homemade wine. It's not anything fancy, but it'll definitely take you to happy town. And yes, it is absolutely legal to make your own wine.

What You'll Need

1. Two gallon jugs, such as a milk jug or water jug. Cost: $0
2. One balloon (Any Size). Cost: $.05
3. A thumbtack, push pin, sewing needle, or something sharp. Cost: $0
4. One rubber band. Cost: $.05
5. One funnel. Cost: Should have one. If not, make a homemade funnel out of wax paper or tin foil
6. Two cans of concentrated juice, your choice. Cost: $3
7. 2.5 cups of sugar. Cost: $1 (If you want to be super cheap you can just grab a ton of packets from any restaurant that serves coffee or tea)
8. One packet of wine yeast. Cost: $1 **Note: Don't use bread yeast. It will make your wine taste nasty. Also, there are many different types of wine yeast. Get your yeast based on what alcohol content you want. I usually get a yeast that yields 20% alcohol. Hey, don't judge me... You can get wine yeast Here.
9. One tea infuser with the smallest possible holes in it (to catch any impurities in the wine). Cost: $4 You can get tea infusers Here.
10. One container for activating the yeast in, such as a Tupperware container. Cost: $0

The Process

1. Clean every container (jugs, funnel, Tupperware container) that the yeast, juice, sugar, or water will touch
2. Put about a cup of room temp water in your Tupperware container. Open the yeast packet and pour it into the water. Wait about 10 minutes until the yeast is activated. It will start to bubble up to the top of the water when it is close to being ready.
3. While you are activating the yeast, fill the jug up about halfway with water, preferably purified. Next, pour the 2.5 cups of sugar into the jug by using the funnel. After you've done this, pour the two juice cans into the jugs by using the funnel again. Put the cap back on the jug and shake it to mix the contents
4. Once the yeast is activated, pour it into the jug using the funnel yet again. Do not shake the jug this time.
5. Put your balloon around the top of the jug opening and poke a tiny hole in it using your pin or needle.
6. Put the rubber band around the balloon to securely fasten it to the jug.
7. Place the jug in a dark, room temperature space where it won't be disturbed.
8. Have patience, Sensei.The fermentation process will take anywhere from 2 weeks (6% alcohol content) to 1.5 months (20% alcohol content). You will know the process is working if the balloon is standing up. During this time period, the yeast will eat the sugar and, unglamoursly, poop out alcohol. As this happens, gas will be let off and will air up the balloon, which will slowly release it via the tiny hole you poked in the balloon. The yeast will eventually die of alcohol poisoning (yikes!). At this point, the gas will stop being released and the balloon. That's when you know your wine is done fermenting.
9. Again, make sure your 2nd jug, your funnel, and your tea infuser are clean. Place the funnel in the opening of the empty jug, and then put the tea infuser on top of the opening of the funnel. Take the balloon off the top of the wine jug and pour it into the empty jug through the tea infuser. 
10. Rinse out the tea infuser and the original wine jug and repeat step 9 twice so that you get all of the impurities out of the wine.
11. Enjoy! Note: if you opt for the higher alcohol content in the wine, you may want to mix it with something else before enjoying. I usually mix mine with mango, and it tastes fantastic. Plus, at 20% alcohol content, it's just like drinking a mixed drink.

So, there you have it. This is a very simple way to save a bit of money on your libations. The first time you make a jug, it will cost $10. After that, it should cost you less than $6 per gallon. For instructions from another source, along with pictures, check here. If you would like to find out how to get a bit more flavor out of your wine, check here. If you have any questions on the process, don't hesitate to ask them in the comments section. Best of luck!

Money Making Tip of the Day (Sort Of): Use Swag Bucks as Your Search Engine

We all do dozens of searches every single day. In fact, the average Google user performs over 100 searches each month. Now imagine if you got paid for each search? Swag Bucks is a search engine with this exact idea in mind. Swag Bucks is, in many ways, just like other search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Where Swag Bucks differs is that it randomly rewards you with "Swag Bucks" for simply using it to search online. When you have accumulated enough Swag Bucks, you can redeem it for cool "swag" like electronics or--my personal favorite--amazon gift cards. It's really simple to use, and actually kind of fun trying to figure out how to get more Swag Bucks. I average over 450 points each month, which is good enough to get me $60 in Amazon gift cards each year. 

Tips on Making More Swag Bucks

1. Take the daily swagbucks poll. You can find the poll under the "Earn" tab at the top of the Swag Bucks home page. You will get 1 point for each daily poll you take, giving you a possible 364 extra points through the year. That's almost enough to get you a brand new Amazon gift card, so it's definitely worth it to try this out.
2. Search 5 times in the morning, afternoon, and evening. It doesn't matter what you search for. I often get free swagbucks points by searching "who?", "what?", "when?", etc. What seems to matter is that you limit how many searches you do in each part of the day (I've been told that you are only given 20 eligible searches for the swagbucks lottery each day).
3. Watch Swag Bucks TV. This can also be found under the "Earn" tab at the top of the home page. This is honestly where I make the bulk of my points. You get 5 swagbucks for simply watching videos. I turn my speakers off and just leave the videos on autoplay in another tab, frequently checking back to the page so that I can load the next video. I've read that you can get up to 100 swagbucks each day doing this. While I don't generally hit this mark, I usually do get about 25 free points each day for just having a tab open to the tv page.
4. DON'T DO THE SWAGSTAKES! No matter how tempting it is to put your Swag Bucks into the pot to win big, shiny prizes, you have to resist the temptation and keep on keeping on. Trust me, you will eventually get those points that you're looking for. 

So there you have it. Why not get "paid" to do something you are already doing? That seems to make sense to me! Check out SwagBucks.com today and start earning some "swag"!

P.S. You can even try it out by using the nifty Swag Bucks widget on the right side of my page (near the top).

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Don't Buy Premium Gasoline

We've all heard it before: you have to use Premium Gasoline in your car if the owner's manual says to do so. If you don't, you'll ruin the engine. Well, this used to be true. However, since 1990, cars have been designed much differently. Fuel usage in cars built after 1990 is completely controlled by computers (well, in most cars). That means that regardless of what octane you put in your car, your car's computer will automatically adjust itself to work with that fuel. All that you'll miss from not using higher octane fuel is a bit of acceleration. However, if you're looking for ways to save on fuel, you don't want to be accelerating quickly anyway. Sound a bit fishy to you? Well, Edmunds.com and cartalk.com both say that you don't necessarily need to use premium fuel for cars made after 1990. Both sites say that you can usually get away with using mid or lower octane fuel in lieu of premium. However, a word of warning that you shouldn't try this out unless your car is indeed a post-1990 model. Also, just try to fill up your take with a little bit of the lower octane fuel first. If your car knocks (feels sort of like your engine is kicking), you should quickly switch back to premium fuel. By using this trick, cartalk.com estimates that you can save as much as $200 per year on gas. Best of luck on this one!

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Use RetailMeNot.com

Shopping online is a craze that is definitely here to stay. It saves us money by giving us steep discounts and allowing us to avoid paying any sales tax. It is the cheap shopper's paradise. However, being the cheap Scot that I am, I will always try to find ways to save even more money online. In enters RetailMeNot.com. Retail Me Not is a online registry of coupon codes for almost any online store that you can imagine. I literally use this site for every online purchase that I make. I have made it habit to open up Retail Me Not at the checkout page for each purchase, where you will normally find a form that you can put coupon codes into. I save at least $5 each time I do so, and oftentimes save much more. You would be amazed how quickly the savings add up due to a very quick and easy coupon search. So, the next time you are at the checkout screen in an online store, make sure to open a new tab or window and search for a coupon code at RetailMeNot.com.

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Use GasBuddy.com

Curious about whether or not you are getting the best possible deal at the gas station? Check out GasBuddy.com to find the cheapest gas in your area. Prices are updated everyday by folks just like you and me. You can also see nifty charts such as your city, state, or national average over time. My favorite feature of the site is the "Trip Cost Calculator". I use this feature before every trip. It allows you to enter your car's information, automatically figures out your average mpg for city and highway, then proceeds to show you the most fuel efficient route. It lists every fill up you need to stop for, the current price, and the total trip cost. It's awesome for helping to budget for any trip. So before your next fuel-up or your next trip, be sure to check GasBuddy.com out. You definitely won't regret it.www.gasbuddy.com

Money Saving Myth of the Day: Using a Higher Octane Fuel Will Get You Better Fuel Economy

Premium Fuel costs more, therefore it gives you better fuel economy, right? Wrong. When you pay for premium fuel, you aren't paying for a fuel that burns more efficiently. Rather, you are paying for a fuel that burns at a higher temp, thus giving you that extra kick to go from 0-60 much faster. So, if you buy Premium Fuel for your car that doesn't require High Octane fuel, all you're doing is giving your car a bit more "zip". In other words, you're paying more money for something that you don't really need. So don't fall for the hoax. Buy the lowest octane possible for your car.

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Don't Let Your Car Idle

We've all been in this situation: You're waiting outside for a friend, a family member, or a coworker. Or maybe you're at a really long light. Then the age old question pops into our head: should I keep my car running or cut it off? You obviously want to save gas, but you aren't sure what saves more gas. On the one hand, turning your car off obviously will keep you from using any more gas. However, on the other hand, it takes more gas to start your car than it does to keep it running. It sort of seems as if you're damned if ya do, damned if you don't, huh? Well, use this rule of thumb and you'll never have to give into this catch 22. If you are planning to be waiting for less than 1 minute, keep the car running. Longer than a minute? Turn that key to accessory (you'll still be able to listen to your Cher Greatest Hits Album...). Don't think this tip makes much of a difference? According to Edmunds.com, you can save as much as 19% of your fuel by following this simple trick. With the national average per gallon being at $3.09 in the U.S. at the time of posting this article, you can save $.59 per gallon just by simply shutting your car off and keeping it running at the right times. When you take into account that the average American burns through 480 gallons of gas per year, you're looking at a very easy $283 annual savings. Now does this tip sound worthwhile? I thought so...

Money Saving Myth of the Day: Don't Run Your Car's Air Conditioner

We've all heard this one: if you want to save money on gas, turn your air conditioner off in the summer and drive with your windows down. This would seem to make sense, right? The air conditioner uses gas, while driving with the windows down is free, right? There's one thing that this myth forgets to factor in: wind drag. When you drive with your windows down, you create more wind drag, effectively causing your gas mileage to go down and costing you more money. So driving with your windows down really isn't free. I have heard of some rules of thumb that try to save you a little on gas. If you're driving under 35 mph, such as through town, you should have your windows down. Anything above that? Run the air conditioner. While these tips are somewhat true, the savings on gas are so minuscule that it's really not worth it. My recommendation: Be comfortable, turn that AC on.

Money Making Tip of the Day: Amazon Mechanical Turk

If you haven't heard of Amazon Mechanical Turk, this should give you a decent overview of the service. Mechanical Turk is a marketplace where companies post jobs that can't be done by computers, such as typing information from business cards into databases or transcribing audio files. Most of the tasks are very simple but require a human to fix computer errors. Once you sign up for the service, you will be given a list of "Hits". These are jobs that you can choose to accept or not accept after previewing the task requirements. From there, you follow the task requirements, accept the hits, and make money on a per-hit basis.

Tips for Making More From Mechanical Turk

1. Make sure to accept each hit before you do it, otherwise you will be doing the work for free.
2. If you find a hit you like, check the "Automatically Accept the Next Hit" Box at the top of the page. This will save you time, which in turns makes you more money.
3. If a hit sounds too good to be true, it is. Most of the hits will not make you very much money. The ones that say they will make you a lot of money are either a scam or take a lot more time than the others
4. Don't be afraid to return a hit. If you know a hit is going to take more time than others in a set, return it and go for the easier ones. Again, this saves you time and makes you more money.
5. Sharpen your typing skills. Most of the tasks require you to type something. If you can type faster, you will make money faster.

How Much Will You Make With Mechanical Turk

To be perfectly honest with you, you shouldn't expect to make a lot of money with Mechanical Turk. There are very few people who can make a lot using the system. I personally only make about $5 a day, and that's when I'm on a roll. So don't rely on this as a major source of income. Instead, think of it as something you can do in your down time to make a few extra bucks. If you have any questions, comments, tips, etc., please comment on this post!

Money Saving Tip of the Day: Avoid the Upsell

As a former waiter, I know how to think like a waiter. All waiters know this one fact: the more I sell to you in food and drinks, the higher my tip will be. Yes, we also know that giving great service raises our tip as well, but so many people tip at a standard 15% rate--regardless of the quality of service--that great service isn’t the best method to get the big fat tip. Instead, great waiters understand how to squeeze a little extra money out of you. Would you like to add bacon or cheese to your potato? Add another $3. Would you like soup or salad? Another $3. Waiters have a lot of tricks in their arsenal. Instead of appetizers, soup or salad, ask if the restaurant serves bread. Oftentimes you can get some sort of bread or chips free. Also, don’t add extra things onto your entree. Restaurants make a killing on these sorts of things. When it comes to drinks, I would recommend going for water, soda or tea. If you have to go for drinks, watch for this question: “What kind of rum/vodka/gin/etc. would you like in your drink?” Waiters know that you’re usually only gonna pick the stuff that they advertise on tv (which happens to be the more expensive stuff--go figure...). To save yourself a buck or two per drink, simply order the house liquor. And at the end of dinner, avoid dessert. Desserts can easily reach $6-$8. Instead, go out for ice cream at one of the local parlors. You will end up paying half as much and get just as much enjoyment out of it.