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Authors: Sarah Strohmeyer

The Penny Pinchers Club (34 page)

BOOK: The Penny Pinchers Club
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“‘The Gift of the Magi.’” I pushed the two photos positioned side-by-side. “Except not even the Gift of the Magi are free.”
“Nothing’s free, Kat.” Griff kissed my neck. “Not even love. Sometimes that costs most of all.”
Maybe
, I thought to myself.
But not nearly as much as a divorce.
TOP FIFTEEN DOS AND DON’TS FROM THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB
1) DON’T go grocery shopping with your husband.
2) DO vacuum the back and underside of your refrigerator once a month and disconnect the icemaker if it hasn’t already stopped working.
3) DO share high-speed Internet with your next-door neighbors (with their permission).
4) DON’T buy a durable item when it’s brand-new (except for mattresses, swimsuits, and underwear). Shop for used items at flea markets, thrift stores, or yard sales.
5) DO knit quick and easy hats and socks from unraveled sweaters.
6) DON’T buy gas in the afternoon on warm days. Buy it in the early morning, when it’s colder—and thicker—in the ground, to get more bang for your buck. Also, always keep your tank more than half full.
7) DO place all “phantom” appliances—TVs, DVRs (total energy hogs), stereos, and microwaves—on power strips that are easily turned off at night. Replace all bulbs in the house with five-kilowatt CFLs—compact fluorescent lights.
8) DON’T pay for curbside trash service; you’ll save $600 a year by recycling and composting instead. Shoot for one bag of trash a week to be taken to the local dump.
9) DON’T pay for expensive name-brand cleaning products. Remove shower mildew with a mixture of water and bleach for pennies instead of spending $4 for mildew-removing products.
10) DON’T wash dishes by hand. Use the dishwasher instead, but use only one half of a dishwashing detergent tablet per load.
11) DO store batteries in the refrigerator. They last longer there.
12) DON’T watch TV. TV creates artificial wants.
13) DO save empty plastic liners from cereal boxes to use later as free waxed paper. Also, they make excellent lunch bags.
14) DO shop the warehouse stores with a frugal girlfriend and split up bulk buys.
15) DON’T get divorced if you can help it. Saving your marriage can save your IRA.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Like many of us, I’m the daughter of parents who grew up in the Depression and who tried to teach me how to shop for groceries, clip coupons, save leftovers, find the best deals, and, most important, save money. Did I listen? Hah! Therefore, I owe much of this book to them. And all I can say is that I, like most Americans, am finally learning their generation’s lesson the hard way.
From a more practical point, there were several websites and blogs I visited that offered excellent budgeting tips:
betterbudgeting.com
,
frugal-families.com
,
usesupermarketcoupons.blogspot.com
, and
cou ponmom.com
to name a few. The Web is filled with hundreds of resources and coupons and upcoming store fliers and I relied on them to show me the way.
In addition, I owe a huge debt of a different sort to my editor at Dutton, Erika Imranyi, who patiently guided this book back on track with her smart, insightful comments, to my former editor, Julie Doughty, who applauded the idea, and to Dutton publisher Brian Tart for being his usual supportive self. My agent, Heather Schroder, as always, cheered me on.
Finally, I picked up many tips from our fantastic backbloggers at The Lipstick Chronicles (
thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com
), where I blog with Nancy Martin, Elaine Viets, Kathy Sweeney, Harley Jane Kozak, Michele Martinez, and Lisa Daily. That blog is a wealth of fun and information. But mostly fun. Stop on by.
Also, thank you, Charlie, Anna, and Sam, for respecting my closed office door. Fred, not so much.
I never get tired hearing from readers. Please email me at write [email protected] or contact me through
sarahstrohmeyer.com
. You never know—I just might have a lead on a good deal.
Thanks for reading!
BOOK: The Penny Pinchers Club
9.83Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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