It’s so simple you can’t even call it a tutorial. Buy cheap rope lights, the sort people use outside for backyard parties or to decorate the house for holidays; string them where you want; turn them on. To make them ambient, put them behind furniture so you get a mystery glow coming from nowhere in [...]

Posted in Frugal, Fun 1 Comment »

Not only is water a resource we should conserve, it’s a utility you pay for unless you live in an area where you have your own well. There are a lot of ways you can save on your water bill. They may not all be things you’re willing to do or that work for you [...]

Posted in Frugal, Going Green, Parenting 1 Comment »

So you bought a lotion or body wash, and after a while you found something that smelled nicer, or the seasons changed and your skin needed something different. Now you have this half-used cosmetic product that’s destined for the landfill.
Instead, make it into a body scrub. Lotions make a rich, moisturizing body scrub while body [...]

Posted in Frugal, Health and Beauty 4 Comments »

Since it really is the “thought that counts”, as the saying goes, it’s not just a matter of avoiding expensive gifts for Mother’s Day, but also of finding a way of expressing yourself in a really thoughtful way. The most meaningful gifts I’ve ever given my mother have been based on shared memories rather than [...]

Posted in Crafts, Frugal No Comments »

My favorite way to get some light exercise in has always been a nice, long evening walk, but I’m living in an apartment right now that’s in an area with neither sidewalks nor streetlights.I tried the evening walk thing soon after moving, and came away with scrapes on my arms and shins and sand in [...]

Posted in Frugal, Health and Beauty No Comments »

There’s an art to saving money at farmer’s markets compared to grocery stores. The prices aren’t always lower, but there are other factors to consider that make farmer’s markets a better value for the money. And there are also some easy tips to make sure you spend less than what you would at a grocery [...]

Posted in Easy Food, Frugal No Comments »

Everybody’s got a tip for getting rid of ants cheaply, greenly, safely for kids and effectively, but hands down the best thing you can do is: clean up spills.
Ants are attracted to food (hey, who isn’t?). They’ll rarely come indoors unless you’ve got something edible laying around where they can get to it. Sugary stuff [...]

Posted in Do It Yourself, Frugal, Going Green No Comments »

Spotlight Post: Conventional and Unconventional Ways to Save Gas Effectively
Always drive using high gear. Driving in high gear increases fuel efficiency since lesser engine revolutions are needed to turn the wheels thus achieve greater distance with lesser fuel. Fill-up gas only in early morning or late afternoon/evening when the temperature is cool. Especially in [...]

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When the job market got scary in the early part of this decade, a lot of people started looking online for ways to make some extra money. Most people realize “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, but desperation and fear can make sensible people do less than sensible things.
The internet [...]

Posted in Frugal, Scam Notices, Technology No Comments »

Most of us think of the rent on an apartment as a fixed price, especially if you live in an area that’s clearly a landlord’s market, with 100 other potential tenants lined up behind you if you don’t shell out the bucks. But my last landlord, hungry to get a new apartment building full of [...]

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