Frugal living and penny pinching

My VZNavigator on my VZW phone has a new GasPriceFinder feature that locates Gas stations and their prices around your GPS area. I use it to save anywhere from 10 - 20 cents a gallon. Since I need a navigator anyway, its a cool feature.

Also, craigslist.org is a good place for used items in your area.

Deals on dining out.
http://www.restaurant.com/

To save on gas, get a credit card from a gas station or 2 or 3. When you buy gas using their credit card you can save 4% or 5%. Just make sure you pay it off at the end of the billing cycle to avoid any interest payments.

Also research the gas company cards. Find out which is 3%, 4%, or 5%. Make sure the savings are for the life of the card, not just a intro teaser.

A 5% savings at $4.00 a gallon would be $.20 a gallon.

Also, I got an e-mail a few weeks ago that listed companies that don't sell mid east oil. I believe BP is one. Their card is a 5% card. Why send money to the Sauds if you don't have to.

AND NEVER EVER USE CITGO GAS.

That last link is especially interesting. I'm frequently surfing gardening forums and there is an abundance of newbies who are interested in growing their own food. Seasoned gardeners, myself included, are thrilled to see so many people interested in such a rewarding hobby.

Container Gardening Forum

Easiest Vegetables to Grow

FrugalGardening.com

We do container gardening. The kids love it. Hopefully in future we can built on their enthusiasm :-)

ping

If you travel get a credit card for the airline you fly the most. You'll probably get a large block of freq. flier miles just for enrolling. If they have a dining club, sign your card up for that, get miles for the purchase price, and for using your card. (Sometimes you can double up on savings if a restaurant is listed with the airline dining club and http://www.restaurant.com/

You can use the miles either to buy seats somewhere, or lets say your going to Hawaii, buy your tickets then upgrade to business or first.

Also for traveling checkout
http://www.hotwire.com/
I've used them for hotels and car rentals, and have done IMHO quite well.

There's also

http://travelocity.com/

http://www.expedia.com

http://www.orbitz.com/

Make sure you compare these three with Hotwire. Sometimes, not often, you can do just as well or better than Hotwire.

When getting airline tickets, sometimes going directly through the airline website will will save you $. At least it might save you the $5 booking fee Travelocity, etc. charge. You might also get freq. flier miles. Sometimes they also have better seat selections

Travelocity has a fare watcher alert, that you can have E-mails when specific destinations drop in price.

And when using your credit card ALWAYS pay it off when the bill comes!!!!!!!!!!

The Yahoo Group called “Waste Nothing: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WasteNothing/

Hillbilly Housewife: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index.htm

We Need To Be Debt Free: http://needtobedebtfree.blogspot.com/

The forums at GardenWeb: http://www.gardenweb.com/

The Simple Dollar: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

ping

PING

That’s great. It’s a shame most school systems don’t teach horticulture to kids. My hometown school board eliminated FFA because they didn’t want to be thought of as hicks.

Had a garage sale last week where I sold a bunch of small aloe plants to a group of little girls. It was so cute.

Live near where you work.
Don’t eat in restaurants.
Learn to cook your own meals.
Plan your meals and buy only what’s on your list.
One car (used compact or none if possible).
Not married? Get a roommate.
Don’t have kids until you can afford to feed them.
Learn basic home maintenance.
Learn basic car maintenance.
Good clothing can be had very cheap at yard sales and thrift stores.
Save money and pay cash for everything. Credit cards are for convenience only. If you are paying interest, you are spending too much.
Make a budget and stick to it.
Don’t smoke.

It ain’t rocket science.

A few more I thought of (thank you for starting this thread!):

Budget 101: http://www.budget101.com/

Wisebread: http://www.wisebread.com/

Jungle Crazy (delas on Amazon.com) http://www.junglecrazy.com/

The Consumeist (warning: occasional potty language): http://consumerist.com/

Being Frugal: http://beingfrugal.net/

&

Craftzine (how-to): http://www.craftzine.com/

Craftster (how-to): http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php

DIYLIfe (how-to): http://www.diylife.com/

Cut Out & Keep (how-to): http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/

& finally:

Yahoo Group “The Compact”, for people who want to buy drastically less: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact/

Ping-a-rooni, and many thanks.