money saving

Learn All the Frugal Skills You Need With These 9 Great Video Tutorials

Ashley Marcin — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 22:00:09 +0000

Frugal life skills: We all need them to get through the daily grind with less stress and fewer dollars flying out of our pockets. But what skills are essential to your everyday life for health, happiness, and saving money? (See also: 7 Online Workout Videos for Free or Cheap)

These nine should get you started.

1. Calculate Tip

Have you ever totally blanked on the right tipping amount when you get your dinner check? Calculating the percentage is easy with some mental math you can learn in a snap. From there, it's just figuring out what percentage you want to give, and I've seen averages between 15% and 25%. This math comes in handy when you're trying to figure out how much something is discounted, too.

2. Cook Eggs

Eggs are tasty and super versatile for a variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals. So, learning how to cook them five ways is certainly to your benefit if you like quick, inexpensive protein. Scrambling is as easy as plopping a few eggs in a bowl with some milk and whisking before cooking. Poaching, which is my favorite, can be a bit more complicated and involves a swirling vinegar and water bath to set.

3. Change a Ceiling Light

When we moved into our new house, there wasn't much to do except change out the old ceiling light fixtures. The good news: You don't need a professional to complete this job. The most important step is turning the power off at the circuit breaker and confirming it's off by flipping the switch. Then slowly disassemble the fixture starting with the shade and bulbs. Follow the instructions on your new light and match neutral to neutral and hot to hot wires. Double-check your work and then turn the power back on.

4. Calm a Baby

First-time parents (and anyone who is brave enough to babysit a newborn) can surely take advantage of these tricks to calm a crying baby. Those tiny creatures can only use crying as communication, so it's wise to first see that their needs (food, sleep, diaper, smiles) are met. From there, use motion, swaddling, or shushing noises to emulate all the sensations the baby had while in the womb. All free ways to get some peace and quiet.

5. Parallel Park

Yes. I still shy away from parallel parking even if it costs me extra money at the parking garage. The thing is, it's not so difficult. The first step is making sure the space will accommodate your vehicle. Then pull up parallel with the car in front of the space. Reverse. Once your back tire lines up with the other vehicle's back tire, you'll want to sharply turn your car toward the curb. From there, straighten out once your rear passenger door is even with the front car's rear bumper. And go slowly!

6. Jump a Car

You must learn how to jump-start a car. Ideally, you'll want to have a set of jumper cables in your car at all times. Then pull the jumper car next to your car with the dead battery, turn off both cars and pop the hoods. Connect the red cable to the positive terminal on the dead battery and on the good battery. The connect the black cable to the neutral terminal on the live battery only and a piece of metal on the dead car. Start the live battery car for a few minutes before starting up the dead car and driving for at least 30 minutes.

7. Change a Tire

Keeping with the car theme, the other most basic thing you should know is how to change a flat tire in an emergency. You'll find your spare usually in the trunk. Then pop off your hubcap, loosen the lug nuts, and crank the jack up a few inches before putting it under the car. Then remove the old tire and replace it with the spare, making sure to tighten everything properly. Then don't drive farther than 50 miles and no faster than 50 miles per hour.

8. Fold a Fitted Sheet

I know, I know. This one doesn't really seem essential. But it's a heck of a lot nicer folding fitted sheets rather than stuffing them away in your linen closet. It might even save you some precious space. The key is getting all your corners folded up on themselves, and the rest is a breeze. (See also: 6 Ways to Make Your Small Apartment Feel Like a Castle)

9. Sew a Button

I remember learning how to sew a button onto a shirt when I was 10 years old. All these years later, I still use this skill, and it saves me money in the clothing department. Most shirts come with one or two extra buttons. And you can pick up a simple sewing kit at most stores (even grocery and drug stores). Then just thread your needle and go! (See also: 50 Ways to Update Your Wardrobe on the Cheap)

What frugal skills do you think everyone should know? Please share in comments — with a video, if you can!

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This article is from Ashley Marcin of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

10 Easy to Learn Skills That Will Save You Money

Anthony Hall — Wed, 14 May 2014 09:00:27 +0000

That Double Mocha Coconut Latte Colossus sprinkled with chocolate — and you don't think you can make this at home yourself? And save yourself a few bucks in the process?

Probably you can, but let's start with something that doesn't require an espresso machine. Here are some skills you can learn quickly that will help you save some big bucks in the long run.

1. Change Your Car's Oil

Cars have become increasingly complicated in the past 20 years. What's under the hood now resembles a small nuclear power plant. But changing the oil has not changed one iota. Usually the lowest component of the engine has a threaded plug you remove to let the oil out. You need a pan to catch the oil and a cheap specialty wrench to remove the oil filter. Refilling takes knowing the car's oil capacity and the ability to pour liquid into a funnel. That costs $15 to $40 around most of the country and takes less than a half hour. Three or more oil changes a year times 10 years, you save up to $1,200 in a decade at the cost of 15 hours of work.

2. Sew a Button

Button-down shirts cost $30 to $100 and up. Pants cost roughly the same. To sew a button and save an unnecessary throw-away, you need to learn how to thread a needle, tie a knot in the thread, and stick the needle through cloth. A button might take a total klutz 15 minutes or so, and it's a skill that almost teaches itself. If all else fails, trial and error costs nothing more than a little thread, 15 minutes and a few of those small, round bandaids. Piece of cake.

3. Give a Haircut

What does a trip to the hair stylist cost these days? Scissors, some forgiveness, practice or even just knowing how to change the depth setting on some electric clippers, and you can pretty much cut your hair yourself. (Just watch the ears, please.) That will save you an average of $25 per trim or $75 to $100 per year.

4. Make a Sandwich (Or Learn to Cook)

Americans spend an average of $936 per year or $18 per week on lunches bought in restaurants, a survey released in September 2013 by Visa said. So imagine what you could save just learning how to make one new interesting sandwich that would prompt you to cut that expenditure in half? Need some ideas? How about a different sandwich every day?

In addition, a consumer survey by AlixPartners, released in March said that 57% of American eat dinner in restaurants once a week, spending an average of $13.55 per meal or $704.60 per year. It's not free to eat at home, but you could still save plenty if you do. (See also: Cooking for Beginners)

5. Dog Grooming

You pay what to have someone shampoo your dog and give it a fluffy brushing? Anyone with bored kids at home and a dog that needs a bath is blowing an opportunity and money, too, by taking the dog to the mall to see a canine stylist. (And while we're on the subject, learning to clean a dog's teeth is not beyond the realm of possibilities, either.)

6. Read a Contract

True story: When I bought a house, I went to a seminar on "How To Buy A House," at a local bank and for a half an hour listened to a realtor tell the audience that it was seven steps past impossible to think about buying a home without a realtor. What do they do that is that hard? First, they are more impartial than the buyer or the seller, so they are useful as cool, calm, and collected brokers, but beyond that, here is their biggest skill: They know how to read. Well, it turns out the contract was in English, go figure, and I saved $6,000 by reading it myself, showing, in the end, one small paragraph that I didn't understand to a lawyer, and he gave me some advice on that, for free, because he was a friend and he owed me one.

7. Learn a Little Plumbing

Open the back of a toilet and a wondrous world of simple tinkering awaits you. Most of them have those float-arm things or one of those trip lever things — it really isn't rocket science to figure this out. Fixing a toilet is kind of like playing the game "Mousetrap," but partly submerged in water. Meanwhile, your local hardware store sells a trip lever for under $12, while "I've never seen a plumber under $80 per hour," a response on Yahoo! Answers says.

The situation gets more absurd when you call a plumber to fix a leaky sink, which requires replacing a rubber gasket that used to cost pennies. Yes, you usually need one of those wrenchy-thingies, but that doesn't sound too difficult to operate. (See also: Easy Plumbing Repairs That Don't Require a Plumber)

8. Design a Website

A plausible online story says that a small business in New York gave three Web development companies the same set of criteria and came up with bids of $2,800, $5,500 and $13,000 from the companies to do the work. And the same work can be done for free with one of the simpler web design programs, like PageBreeze, KompoZer, WordPress, and the like. Yes, not long ago it took a pro to code a website together, but nowadays if you can use Microsoft Office it is likely you can learn to create a website.

9. Negotiate

"How to negotiate" tapes and tutorials are easy to find and the outcome may be securing a bigger raise then you might have otherwise gotten or getting a better starting salary. Negotiating well can also save you hundreds of dollars on your next car and thousands of dollars on your next house. Some people have fair luck negotiating lower fees from doctors or for services around the house. When you learn a specific approach to negotiating, you might also try to negotiate in situations you might not have done so in the past, because you have a system that could boost your confidence. (See also: How to Negotiate With Confidence)

10. Tax Preparation

The National Society of Accountants did a survey in 2013 and found the average cost for tax preparation was just under $200 and the average return for taxpayers was about $260. Do you see the problem here? Of course, complicated business taxes are generally best handled by professionals, but it is possible to learn how to fill out your income tax return if it fairly straight forward, rather than giving most of your return to the a tax service — especially when there is so much help online for getting it done yourself.

Any easy to learn, money saving skills I've overlooked? Please share in comments — it's easy!

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This article is from Anthony Hall of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Getting it Done at Dollar Tree

Staff — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:39:37 +0000

While dollar-priced retail chains are nothing new, the Dollar Tree stores in particular have caught my attention as having a few categories of coolness. So what do I find there that I can't necessarily put my hands on at some of the other stores? Read on.

Crafting supplies, including glass pebbles and river rocks to create your own spa candles or table-scapes.
Children's art materials to celebrate creativity in your home, classroom, or homeschooling environment. We're talking paint brushes, craft sticks, colored art foam, pipe cleaners and more.
Square storage baskets with handles. I found these in fun colors and a size that is actually conducive to storing things in an organized fashion. Great for organizing your shelving or pantry.
Very affordable manicure items. OK, so the selection isn't going to rival Sally's Beauty Supply. But there are still a fair number of decent quality cheapies to help you create that at home spa bathroom affordably.
Various sizes of affordable scrub brushes (including bottle brushes for any canning jars you use to store leftovers) for easy housework hacking.
Dirt cheap personal care products, including Pepsodent and triple antibiotic ointments. (Remember, this brand of toothpaste scored well on the EWG toxicity scale. Here's the article, for your reference.)
Decent gift wrapping supplies. If you weren't able or interested to stock up on this stuff during post season sales you can easily get the gift wrapping job done at this store throughout the year.

Got another great bargain idea you can pull off at the Dollar Tree? Clue us in with a comment post!

This article is from Staff of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: