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Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Products That Save You Money

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Products That Save Money

Every year, there seem to be more and more expenses competing for our money.  But rather than spending money on disposable or one-use items, consider investing in some of these products that save money.

Around the House

There are so many products that save money for around the house!  This is only a small sampling of what is available:

Deep Freezer

Investing in a deep freezer can save you a significant amount of money because it allows you to buy foods in bulk when they’re at their lowest prices.  Using this method, you never pay full price for food.  Our family has a deep freezer, and we buy a ¼ side of beef every six months to one year.  We get a wide variety of meat at a much cheaper price than we could buying it retail at the store.

Just make sure to keep an inventory of freezer contents and rotate your foods regularly so nothing goes to waste.

Drain Snake

If you have a plugged drain, there is no need to call the plumber if you have a drain snake.  We have three girls in our home with long hair, and the drain snake has kept us from having to call the plumber more times than I can count.

Programmable Thermostat

A programmable thermostat allows you to reduce your heat or air conditioning when you’re not home and then automatically increase it 30 minutes or so before you return home.  This lets you return to a comfortable home.  Programmable thermostats can easily save you hundreds of dollars every year in energy costs.

Wool Dryer Balls

Wool dryer balls take the place of dryer sheets.  These balls only cost about $10 to $12 for a six pack, and they will last for months.  These are definitely much cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying dryer sheets.

Vinegar

Products That Save Money
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

Vinegar may be the item that saves you the most money on this whole list.  Vinegar can be used to replace so many cleaners and other items you may currently buy.  We use vinegar to clean our toilet and bathtub.  We also use it as a weed killer.

Food/Drink Consumption

Food is most people’s largest expense behind a mortgage/rent or a car payment.  But there are many, many products that save money in this area.

Coffee/Espresso Maker

If your Achilles’ heel is coffee, don’t run to the coffee shop every day.  Instead, invest in a coffee or espresso maker and make your brew at home.  (Plus, you’ll save time not waiting in line at your favorite coffee joint.)  The savings here are significant.

Herb Garden Kit

Buy a herb garden kit and set it on your window, and you’ll never need to buy fresh herbs again.  Not only does this save you the expense of buying herbs (that often come in packages to big to be used before they go bad), but it will also improve the taste of your food, which may make you less likely to go out to eat.

Bottle Emptying Kit

At first, this may seem like a silly purchase.  I regularly tip bottles upside down to try to get the remaining contents out.  However, frequently, bottles like dish soap can’t stand up when upside down.  Instead, they fall to the side.  As an alternative, attach a bottle emptying kit to the lid, and the stand holds the bottle in place while the ingredients run down for your use.

This kit can be used for condiments, oils, shampoos, hand soaps, dish soaps.  When you consider every item where you can use all of the contents instead of leaving a bit at the bottom, you will save money with a bottle emptying kit, though it may take years.

Female-Related Expenses

For female related needs, there are many ways reusable items can save you money.

Period Panties

Using period panties reduce the need to buy disposable tampons or pads.  While these panties cost around $20 each, they can be used for two to five years, if cared for properly, netting you a significant savings.  Plus, as part of the CARES Act, you can now be reimbursed for buying period panties by your FSA account.

Menstrual Cup

Likewise, a menstrual cup can be used for one to two years.  At $40, one of these could quickly save you money if you replace disposable tampons for it.

Reusable Bamboo Make Up Remover Pads

If you’re currently using disposable make up remover pads, consider switching to reusable bamboo make up remover pads.  You can buy a 20 pack for $3.99 on Amazon, and, according to Good Housekeeping, they can last you for over 500 to 1,000 washes!

Subscription/Membership Services

Some people adamantly refuse to pay money to save money when it comes to subscriptions and memberships, but I disagree.  Paying for these can be an excellent way to save money.

Amazon Prime

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

An Amazon Prime membership costs roughly $130 a year (including taxes).  While that sounds like a lot, our family finds that the membership pays for itself in many ways.  Many other Americans must feel the same.  As of 2019, there are over 90 million Amazon Prime account holders in the United States (Fortune).

For our family, the free shipping alone covers the cost of an annual membership.  However, an Amazon Prime account can also save you money on entertainment—take advantage of Amazon’s free movies and TV shows as well as music, books, and magazines.

Costco

Costco is another membership-based company that can save you money.  We save a lot on organic food and foods that cater to our many food intolerances including almond milk, gluten free pancake mix, and other items.

In addition, their clothes are very reasonable, as are their restaurant gift cards.  Don’t forget their discounts on car rentals or their discounted gas.  Also, one of my favorites is their two year warranty and concierge service on products like computers and televisions.  There are many, many ways having a Costco membership can save you money.

Final Thoughts

While most of these products that save money require that you spend money up front, the investment is worthwhile for the amount of money you’ll be saving over the next few years.

What are your favorite products that save money?

Read More

Costco Can’t Be Beat for Large Purchases

Is a Costco Membership Worth It When Living Alone?

5 Ways to Save on an Amazon Prime Membership

Free Alternatives for Things You Currently Pay For

Take Advantage of Super Bowl Sales to Save Money

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Super Bowl 2013 is on February 3, only a week away.  If you’re a football fan, you’re probably counting down the days and planning your Super Bowl party.  Your whole day, indeed your whole weekend, may revolve around the Super Bowl.

However, if you’re like me, you aren’t a big football fan.  In fact, I have no idea which teams are even heading to the Super Bowl this year. (Ed. note: 49ers vs. Ravens)

Still, fan or not, the week before Super Bowl is the perfect time to save some money, and lots of it.  The Super Bowl is a national, cultural event, and many sales revolve around Super Bowl viewing “necessities.”

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some things you may want to buy and stock up on while they’re cheap during the week before Super Bowl:

Super Bowl SavingsTelevisions – If you’re in need of a new television, you’re likely to see the lowest prices now, the week before the Super Bowl.  The prices now are often even better than those on Black Friday.  Of course, if you don’t need a tv, this isn’t a good deal, but if you’ve been thinking about replacing yours, now is the time to do it.

Cable/satellite packages – If you don’t yet have cable or you want to switch providers, now is the time.  Cable and satellite companies hope to snag new sports enthusiasts during the big game, and some cultural Super Bowl events, such as the notorious Lingerie Bowl, can only be seen on cable (as well as the much more benign Puppy Bowl).

NFL apparel – Get your favorite team’s jersey at a significant discount this week.  Even Victoria’s Secret gets in on this by offering discounted pink NFL gear.

Beverages – If you’re a family of soda drinkers, don’t buy your pop at full price.  Stock up during Super Bowl and buy enough to last you through the next big soda sale, which usually happens around Memorial Day.  Bottled water is also often on sale.  We only buy bottled water for our car trips when driving to conferences, but it’s nice to buy it when it’s at rock bottom price.

Snack foods – If you have a teenage boy or another member of the family who can’t get enough of snacks like nachos, chips, and cheese curls, now is the time to buy them while they are cheap.  True, you may need to hide them from your snack monster so they’re not devoured in a few days, but again, you can stock up and save for the next several months until they go on sale again around Memorial Day.

Don’t forget that other condiments like ketchup, mustard, and salsa may also be on sale now.

Foods you can freeze – You’ll also likely find chicken and ground beef on sale, as well as cheese.  Don’t forget that you can freeze these items, so stock up and feed your family for the rest of the winter with meat that you got on sale.

Whether you’re a Super Bowl fan or not, this week is the perfect week to stock up on some basics and buy some luxuries at a steep discount.

What is your favorite item to buy during Super Bowl sales?

How I Saved Money on iPad Repairs (Twice)

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In late 2011, I won a new iPad 2.  By March of 2012, it needed new glass.  My son, who was 5 at the time, managed to drop it off of the couch while playing with it, and put a big crack in the digitizer (that’s what the glass is called).  The iPad still worked, most of the time.  I contacted Apple, in an attempt to get the iPad repaired through an Apple service call, but, what Apple does with that situation is sell you a refurbished ipad of the same model for a reduced price and then take the old one off your hands.  By the time Apple would have been done with me, the “repair” would have cost me about $400.  Yes, the iPad is cool, but it isn’t $400 cool.  (My wife and kids would argue that point though.)

Cracked iPadBeing the frugal shopper that I am, I did a little looking around.  Turns out, you can purchase the repair service on eBay.  Ship off your iPad with the broken digitizer, and the seller replaces the digitizer for you and then sends it back.  The service that I ended up purchasing was a $79.99 service with a $10.98 shipping charge.  Once it was all paid for and the iPad was back in my possession, it ended up costing me right at $100.  If you’re doing the math right now, the $79.99 and $10.98 don’t really add up to $100.  What I had failed to add in was that I would have to pay to have it shipped to the seller as well.

Want to know how long the repaired digitizer lasted?  If you guessed “less than 30 days”, you’re right!  Yep.  Sad isn’t it?  After it got back from the first repair, I even put a fancy case on it from OtterBox, in hopes that it would keep it from having the same fate should it fall from the couch again.  But, even that fancy case couldn’t save it from a trip down the hardwood stairs of our house.  There’s something chilling about hearing the thuds of an iPad as it bounces down the stairs.  I suppose that could be attributed to the three year old at the top of the stairs that could have just as easily been what was making the thud sounds.  Luckily, it was just the iPad.

I certainly didn’t want to pay another $100 a month later to have it repaired, so I did what any self respecting techie would do.  I started doing research on repairing it myself.  I could buy a replacement digitizer for about $50, and if I could figure out how to do it myself, I’d save 50% on the second screen repair.  I watched a few youtube videos of repairs being done, and decided that it was worth a try.  Worst case scenario, I failed and had to send it off, losing the $50 in parts and some time.

We actually left the iPad with the second set of cracks for a while.  In fact, it lasted until just last week when it cracked a little bit more and actually became hazardous.  So, parts in hand, I set to replacing my own iPad digitizer screen.  While not terribly complicated, the iPad is full of little parts.  Little parts scare me. 🙂

Two hours of work later, and the iPad is good as new.  Well, close anyways.  The digitizer is replaced, the iPad is all put back together, and, miracle of miracles, it all works!

I spent $100 to have someone else do the first repair.  The second time, I spend $49 on the parts and did it myself.  My savings on the repair were $51!  It took me a bit under 2 hours, so I effectively “made” about $25 an hour.  Not bad.  Wages like that make me wonder if there isn’t money to be made in performing the service as a side hustle!  Or, maybe buying busted iPads and replacing the parts and reselling them once they are fixed.

Obviously, I have a technical background.  I’ve been tinkering with computers for just about as long as I can remember, and spend most of last summer working part time at a computer repair store.  I have the skills to do the repair myself.  Which made it pretty easy to make the decision to do the repair myself.  Someone without that background might want to think twice before attempting it.  But, with the abundance of how-to videos on youtube, and all the information on the web, maybe it’s worth a try anyways.  You can save some money on the repair, and learn a new skill!

Have you ever done your own DIY repairs on something as costly as an iPad?  How did it turn out?

img credit: shannonrosa, on Flickr