Want to save a ton of money on things you like buying?  I mean A TON OF MONEY!  The secret is to create an alternative shopping list.  What is an alternative shopping list you ask?  Well, it is a list for when you do your alternative shopping of course!

These are the type of things I have on my alternative shopping list:

How-to Books
Cook Books
Children’s Books
Toys
Kids Bicycles
Tools
Cooking Supplies

Then when I’m out doing my alternative shopping, I keep my eyes open for any of this stuff.

Alternative shopping is any shopping that is done outside of the conventional store, or more modernly, the ecommerce websites.  So garage sales, thrift stores, craigslist, freecycle, dumpster diving all fit into the category of alternative shopping.  Your alternative shopping list has items on it that are not emergency or must have items.  These are things that you can keep your eyes open for when you are out doing your alternative shopping.

What if I need something right now!

Well, this can work for those important, immediate (or relatively immediate) needs too.  For example, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to fax or scan information and send it.  I don’t have a fax machine or scanner and was having to borrow and pay to do so.  I started to look at the cost of printer/scanner/fax machines and found that they were anywhere from $100 - $300 dollars for the type I needed.  While it would be tax deductable as a business expense, money is still pretty tight.  I looked online at Craigslist.org and found a pretty decent machine for $25.  Not bad!  Then I decided to post my request on Freecycle.org.  I scored a perfect printer/scanner/fax machine for free! I saved over $100.

Killer Savings!

Shopping alternatively saves you pennies on the dollar!  My girls love to go shopping this way because we give them a dollar to buy whatever they want and they typically can buy a few things.  As a bonus, this decreases environment consumption and lessons your carbon footprint… if you are into that.

My favorite find… I have bought several hardback books on living frugally for about $.25 each! Saving me at least $100 and providing me with a wealth of knowledge… of which I will pass on to you

What is your favorite alternative shopping find?

This is a guest post by Karl-Erik Bennion, a freelance designer and artist who knows first-hand the importance of living frugal and cutting costs.  You can find him at kbennion.com and kebstuff.com

One thing that’s been common among the current generation is the “throw away” mentality. Many things are made of plastic, cheap and meant not to last very long. A toaster that doesn’t work anymore is tossed and we go spend $5-10 on a new one… and that endures about as long as the last one. The cycle continues. Think of all the fixable things taking up space in a landfill.

The lever on our toaster no longer stayed down. In order to toast your bread, you had to stand there and hold it down until you thought it was done. That became old fast. So I unplugged it, took out a few screwdrivers and took the thing apart.

I don’t know a thing about electronics, but I just thought I’d open it up, clean it out and see if I could make it work. I brushed off all the crumbs, made sure all the moving parts were moving and put it back together. It worked again! (albeit, there is a little trick to how you push down the lever) We were given a toaster for Christmas, but, instead of opening it, we stored it away for use when our current toaster becomes unfixable.

The moral of the toaster? I saved $10 bucks.

I recently had a flat tire on my bike and my first inclination was to buy a new tube at $10-15. But instead I bought a patch kit around $1.50. I took out the flat tube, pumped it up a little, put it underwater to find the leak and then learned to patch the tube. I still have at least 3-4 more patches out of the kit I bought. I saved around $13.

Regardless of how “handy” you are, learning to fix things around your home is a useful skill, and then when money is tight, you fix it – or you go without. Sure, my things don’t always look brand new, but you’d be surprised by what can be done with a little left over paint and stuff you have around the house. Despite a “used” appearance, items are functional and providing for our needs.

I’ve fixed rickety dressers, made a work stool and bar stool out of parts from an old office chair, repaired my belt at least a dozen times, made a wallet out of an old purse and the tread belt of a treadmill, hand-sewed spring straps to the trampoline, used rocks from the empty lot next to us to create a paved path in the back yard, took apart an old stereo to get the toys put in the CD tray….etc. etc.

The trick is to be resourceful. Keep screws from things you’ve had to toss and save materials that you think will be useful. I have a box for miscellaneous metal parts and one for plastic pieces. More often than not, I have been able to use things again, in ways I never imagined.

In my current situation, before I throw away anything – it’s got to be completely dead, and even then it’s stripped of its useful parts. A return to such a way of life may not only help our budgets, but also provide incentive for corporations to make better, longer lasting products.

A wise person once put together this couplet:

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

When I was laid off, we made a scramble to find insurance.  When we finally found something, there was the option of dental insurance for an additional $75 a month.  They claimed to cover 100% of cleanings.  Sweet!  We signed up.

A month later we went to the dentist.  I had a cavity that had to be taken care of and the rest of the family got their teeth cleaned.  All seemed good and wholesome until about a week later when we got a call from the dental office.  Apparently our dental insurance only covered 100% of what their fee schedule deemed an appropriate cost for a cleaning… $15.  I’m sure that barely covers the cost of the supplies at the dental office, let alone the cost of the hygienist, the cost of running the office and of course the dentist himself.

To make a long story short, we were stuck with a bill for $675 (most of which was the cost of my fillings, of which the insurance only covered about $20).  Needless to say we canceled the dental portion of our insurance.  $75 a month to cover about $60 bi-annually just didn’t make sense.  It has made us a little more determined to take good care of our teeth though…

I was thrilled when I came across this article on wisebread.com, “Avoid Big Dental Bills with Safe and Inexpensive Products.”  After a little research into the article I found Dr. Ellie Phillips’ dental program in dental hygiene.  Here is the cost break down…

CloSYS……..$10
Listerine……$10 (this was bought at Costco for two large bottles)
ACT………….$4

Toothpaste I already have, but I did see some regular Crest toothpaste at the dollar store last time I was there.

$25 for about 2 months worth of dental hygiene products, not bad compared to $75 in bogus dental insurance.  Now the big test will be whether it saves me money at the dentist… only time will tell!  I’ll let you know!

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She is an endearing woman with a charisma and charm that make you feel at home. She makes simple meals with simple ingredients.  While she cooks she entertains with stories of the depression, which always end with “but we survived.”  In these challenging times, there is so much we can learn from those who have been there before, and have made it out.

This is one of my favorite recipes, the poor man’s meal.  Cheap, easy, and delicious!

Ok, so I’ve been told by people, media and blogs that a great way to save money is to clip coupons!  I recently got a call from the local newspaper trying to sell me the sunday edition of their rag claiming a cost savings based on the coupons I’d get. “$200+ a week in savings.”

I don’t want to miss out on saving more money, but I want to make sure I maximize my time and savings.  So… I went to a grocery store and picked up an early edition of the Sunday paper, to see exactly how much I could be saving!

Actual Savings vs. Implied Savings

Here is how I calculated my actual savings.

• I only cut coupons based on what I would already buy.  So all the coupons for ready made meals and TV dinners go in the trash!
• If the coupon does not make the item cheaper than the alternative I already buy… in the trash.

So, after a first pass of coupon clipping… here is what I have.

• 5 coupons for medicine type products
• 7 coupons for personal hygiene products
• 2 coupons for air freshener
• 3coupons for salad dressing
• 2 coupons for fruit
• 1 coupon for chips
• 2 coupons for gum

At first glance, sounds like I made a score!

But you’ll notice the majority are not even edible (unless you count the restaurant coupons)…

The Benchmark

We shop at Costco for a large number of items and use it as our benchmark.  We don’t have a lot of time to run around and pricecheck every store, so if it is cheaper than Costco, we get it.

The Shopping  Experience

We have 2 major grocery stores in our neighborhood and 1 major drugstore chain.  Because there isn’t a huge difference in the cost from one grocery store to the next, I only went to one grocery store and the drugstore for a price comparison.  Neither grocery store offered double coupon deals.

The Saving Method

First, I went to the grocery store and drugstore to jot down the price, size and the final cost of each item.  I am not brand loyal, so I would compare the cost of the item to the Costco equivalent (i.e. I have a coupon for $1.00 off 2 Right Guard deodorants, Costco only sells Gillette,  I will go with whichever is cheaper).

My Saving Results

• 6 coupons got thrown out because my wife said we really didn’t need the products (like the bag of her favorite chips- she didn’t want the extra snack item)
• 5 coupons were for specific products that I could not find.
• 2 more coupons got scrapped on further inspection of the product.
• We scrapped the Salad Dressing coupon because they didn’t have a flavor that we really liked (it was a fancy dressing.)

So here is what I was left with.

• Hand Soap
• Deodorant
• Gum
• Shampoo
• Body Wash
• Cuties (tangerines)

As you can see, most of these items will last for quite a while, justifying a bulk purchase as Costco sells them.

Here is a breakdown of costs

Here is the Costco Cost based on the OZ equivalent of the coupon deal

Savings Conclusion

I save $13.65 by not using coupons, plus time I would have saved searching and clipping… (I would have saved $.50 if I bought my Cuties at the grocery store, but I didn’t want to make a trip back just for $.50, so I factored that into my overall savings) and I’m out $2.00 for buying the Sunday Newspaper.  Plus, now I have all this newspaper to recycle!

I keep my eyes open for a good coupon deal and use coupons.com before I go shopping to see if there are any additional savings for items I am planning to buy.  But as far as my little experiment goes, hunting and searching for coupons seems to be a bust as far as actual savings.  Maybe I’m doing something wrong?

Do you use coupons?  How have they saved you money?  Is there a different approach that I could be taking?  Right now I think coupons are a waste of time… maybe I’ll be convinced otherwise :).

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When I was laid off from my job, I took a huge hit to my self-esteem.  I was trying to hit the ground running looking for a job and cut back on our spending, but it seemed so pointless.  The bills kept coming and no one was calling me back.  It made it hard to keep my energy up to push forward.  I was filled with self doubt and frustration.

It is hard to make changes in our life, especially when we are forced to cut back because of circumstances.  But this is what I’ve learned!

Confidence is Key.

One thing that I discovered about myself is that I was harboring many fears.  I had a tremendous fear of failure, a fear of instability, a fear in my own abilities to be successful and a fear of change.  I tried to hide my fears, but I soon realized that it all stemmed from a disconnection with my self-esteem.  I came across a book, Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem, and I discovered that most of what I was afraid of was in my head!

When I finally got a handle on my own negative self-image things really started to pick up… and I found I was spending less!

Spending Less Because of Self-Esteem?

That’s right!  I have found that the better I feel about myself, the more confident I am that I don’t need other things to help me feel happy.  With new found confidence here is what I am now able to accept:

• I am not perfect and I don’t need to be
• I will not feel guilty if I can’t pinch every penny out of my budget
• I can do a little each day, a little each week and a little each month to cut back and save money
• Money isn’t everything, and, despite my situation now, I should not miss the finer things of life
• I am a competent and intelligent person with many capabilities and an abundance of resources
• I will enjoy the time I have

Now, that doesn’t mean that I go to bed without worry or that I never feel down, but feeling positive about myself contributes immensely to my commitment to continue to cut costs and at the same time find ways enjoy myself.

How do you stay positive when times are tough?  What are some of the things that you have come to enjoy?

If you were able to make it to Laid Off Camp, you would know how awesome it was!  As promised, here are my notes from the Extreme Budgeting session where I co-presented with Timothy Yee of Cathedral Financial Group.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to give the entire presentation as we had hoped and many of the topics I wished to cover were missed… so, if there are any questions, please feel free to leave comments and I will respond.

And now…

Cheap and Easy Living:   Living Life Large on Low to No Budget.

• You can live an exciting and fulfilling life with little spending!
• San Francisco is the #2 least affordable place to live in the United States, but there are ample opportunities to do things cheaply (which apply to all of you who live in more affordable locations as well… lucky you!)

1. Get a hold of what you are spending money on!
   • just being aware of where your money is going can help you determine where you should focus your spending habits.
   • Mint.com is awesome for tracking spending
   • ynab.com (You Need A Budget) is a budgeting website that is supposed to be very easy and helpful.  I haven’t tried it, but I plan to.
2. Prioritize your life!
   • needs vs. wants
   • what matters most to you (i.e. family, friends, financial freedom)
   • don’t deny your wants… look for alternatives
3. Organize your crap
   • Knowing where things are will save you time and effort
   • Save money on the cost of replacing or repairing items
   • Clearing out the clutter will give you peace of mind and help you feel more positive about your living environment
4. Learn to Love Cooking
   • It can be a learned enjoyment.  Start slow and build on your cooking successes.
   • Don’t get hung up on “technique” and “presentation.”  Your focus is relaxation and experimentation.
   • Read my post “How to Enjoy Cooking“
   • “Craigslist Cooking Class”
     • Post in the activities and food forums that you would like to cook X type of food or dish, that you will provide the ingredients if someone will provide the instruction.  Great way to meet people and learn a new skill!
   • Make a list of favorite dishes and look up the recipes.
   • Resources
     • mygrocerydeals.com: website that compares grocery store sales for many grocery stores.
     • coupons.com: easy to use coupon website (i’ve found others to be very congested and confusing).
     • Penzeys Spices (bulk and inexpensive spices)
       http://www.penzeys.com
       771 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA
       (650) 853-1785
     • San Francisco Herb Company (mail order spices or shop during store hours in SF)
       http://sfherb.com
       250 14th Street, San Francisco, CA
       (800) 227-4530
5. Fashion: You don’t have to dress like a pauper if you are smart.
   • Thrift Stores are no secret, the secret is what thrift stores to go to.
     • More affluent area thrift stores will have more designer brand clothing
     • College areas and “hip” areas like San Francisco and Berkeley tend to get picked over quite a bit
     • I’ve had huge success in more rural areas
   • Garage Sales = pennies on the dollar.
     • clothes typically go from .25 to $1.50 (sometime more for things like Leather Jackets, but still cheaper than thrift store)
     • Pros:  Super cheap and typically not a lot of buying competition.
     • Cons: Having to drive around, Hit or Miss and shopping goes from 9 am to about 1 pm.
   • Throw a “Trading Party”
     • Swap clothes with friends
     • Donate rest to charity
6. Entertainment:  You don’t need to live a boring life!
   • Library is your key to FREEdom!  Books (of course), Movies and Music all for free!
     • wowbrary.com will notify you when your library has new items come in so you can be the first to check it out!
   • Get by with a little help from your friends!
     • lendaround.com helps find out what movies your friends have and tracks the lending process!
   • Community Events!  Get out and get to know people
     • upcoming.yahoo.com
     • meetup.com
     • going.com
     • facebook.com
     • twitter.com
   • Museums!  Most museums (and zoos) offer a free day once a month.  Check out your local museum website for days that are free to the public.
     • Memberships are great if you plan on going several times during the year (and want to avoid crowds that occur on free days).  Most memberships tend to include groups of museums and provide other benefits as well.
7. Dating! (Also includes “hanging out”)
   • Think of what you are really trying to accomplish, i.e. spending time with someone you care about or getting to know a new acquaintance.
   • Get creative
     • Board game in the park
     • Walking tours of town or neighborhood
     • Scavenger hunt or search for a specific item such as a rare book (you don’t have to purchase it, the goal is just to find it)
     • Potluck party (can even work if there are just 2 of you)
     • Cook something together
     • Go to a cheap dive bar or even better, set up a BYODrink party where everyone brings ingredients for specified mixed drinks
     • Exotic Soda Tasting, Everyone brings a couple bottles of exotic soda
8. Traveling cheap: much easier for single people and couples
   • Modern day hitchhiking, craigslist rideshare postings
   • Airhitch.org
   • Couch Surfing with couchsurfing.com
9. Connecting with people is one of the cheapest and most fulfilling ways to use your time.
   • Enjoy the human experience
   • Volunteer
   • Reach out to people online
   • Step out of your comfort zone and meet people when you are out
   • Take time to reconnect to friends and family
   • Express gratitude to those around you

Many great speakers on various topics.  I myself will be speaking at 12:00 pm, room 2… if you are at the event come check me out!

My topic, Cheap and Easy living, living the good life on low to no budget!

I’m broke… but that doesn’t mean I don’t have fun!   Notes will be posted later :).

Hopefully someone will be videotaping.  I will be sharing the presentation here on my blog… so stay tuned!

Everyone loves Pizza!  And it is really easy to make your own pizza for pennies on the dollar… even if you buy the $10 Costco pie.  Best part, you can get super creative with the toppings for a truly gourmet pizza pie.  My favorite is pesto, garlic and potato.

I like to produce several batches of pizza dough and keep them in the fridge for use, so when I want a pizza I can get it faster than any delivery!

The Recipe

Now I use a stand mixer to make my pizza, utilizing the dough hook and the paddle beater.

• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoon pure olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup warm water (filtered or bottled water works best)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoon instant yeast

Dump into the mixer the 4 tbls of sugar, 2 tbls kosher salt and 2 tbls olive oil.

Heat the 1 1/2 cups filtered water (filtered or bottled water don’t have chlorine and are better for activating the yeast) to about 120° and pour into mixer.

Dump in 2 cups of bread flour, then the 2 teaspoon instant yeast and finally the last 2 cups of bread flour.

Set the mixer to low and mix with paddle attachment until all ingredients are mixed together (should resemble a thick paste).

Spray the dough hook with a non stick spray and switch the paddle for the hook attachment.

With the dough hook in place, set the mixer on medium and let it knead for 15 minutes (set your timer and go watch tv… or better yet, read a book).

When time is up, check the dough by taking a small piece and flattening it out in your fingers as thin as you can.

If you can get a thin membrane to the point where you can see light coming through (called a “window” in baker circles) then you are set.

Take out of the mixer and split dough in half.  Roll each half into a tight ball.

Place dough into zip top freezer bags and toss in the fridge for future consumption (it will rise in the fridge, so besure to use the gallon size bags).

Let sit in the fridge overnight for enhanced flavor (yeast will be doing its thing to make it taste even better).

If you just can’t wait, you can roll the dough out and cook up right a way, or wait 15 - 30 minutes to let rise a bit and roll out.

When ready to cook

Set oven to 400°

Roll out dough into pizza form (will make about a 24 inch pie). You can do this with a rolling pin, but I like to do it by working the dough in my hand and then tossing it over my head to even and stretch it out.  Of course that’s just because it makes me feel professional and I like to show off :).

Top pizza with sauce, cheese and toppings and place on pizza pan. If using a metal one, I like to spray it quick with non stick spray just for good measure. If using a pizza stone, dust with flour and/or corn meal.  Brush a little olive oil on dough that is not covered by sauce and toppings.  Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes.

When done, remove from oven, slice, share and enjoy!

Bonus tip:

My family enjoys what we call “pizza bread”  Basically, I roll out the pizza, but then just cook the dough with out any toppings (I do spray it lightly with olive oil and poke a bunch of holes in it with a fork to prevent large bubbles).  When it is fresh out of the oven, I rub a little butter on it and dust with a pinch of salt.  It is delicious!

Enjoy!