The Save Money Blog

Buy Pet Supplies Online

2008-08-27T10:25:38Z

I was doing some thinking the other day about buying pet supplies online. There are a million websites out there and you must be able to get a better deal than at a regular store. So I started to do some digging and there are tons of websites offering everything from dog and cat supplies, toys and even horse supplies online. If you live in a smaller town like myself then there are probably about two or three pet supply store and everything is usually around the same price. Nobody is really under selling anybody, people just go to the closest store and buy. If you want to start saving a little money then check out some online stores, add the shipping (although I am sure many through in the shipping) and compare to what your local store is selling for. I bet it won't take long to find a better price and keep a little more jingle jangle in your pockets.

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Making Money with Garage Sales

2008-08-26T10:49:41Z

Back in July I discussed with you how you can earn a couple of bucks by having your own yard sale. If you are looking for some extra money you probably have it sitting in the attic, basement or out in your garage. Remember, one mans garbage is another mans gold. Let's look at it from another angle.

What if you looked at other peoples garage sales as a money making opportunity? You can find things like a table lamp, baby clothes, sports gear at a yard sale for next to nothing. You can then turn around and sell that item of Craig's List, Ebay or Kijiji and maybe make a little extra money.

If you are so inclinded go to a couple of yard sales and scout out some items and then check the various online selling sites and see what they go for compared to what you can buy them for. I bet you will be suprised in the difference in prices. Just a thought, if you have some yard sales in your neighbourhood it never hurts to check.

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Your Wheels Save You Gas Money

2008-08-19T09:57:19Z

So it comes down again to spending a little to save a little. The tires on my Mustang have just about had it. The tires are as bald as my head, they need to be inflated often and have no traction whatsoever. The result would be poor gas mileage. Under inflated tires alone can decrease your gas mileage as much as ten percent. Now that is a lot.

I shopped around and have become intersted in Bullet wheels. A throw back to the Steve McQueen movie Bullit. These tires are sharp are would give my mustang a sweet retro look and feel. This style of wheel is generally wider and more stable than your average type of wheel. The benefit would obviously be better cornering and improved road grip.

Here are some tips to get the best gas mileage out of your tires. Check the pressure at least once a month. Get in the habit of going to a gas station with a free air machine or grab a cheap pressure checker from your hardware store. Keep your tires balanced. Check often for even tire wear. Uneven tire wear usually means an alignment problem. If you are going to replace one tire you might want to consider replacing all four. If one has a problem with wear or tread depth chances are it's not alone.

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Saving Your Money at Tax Time

2008-08-17T13:12:40Z

You work hard every year to make a little extra spending money off of the internet or maybe working at a hobby or small business. Why then would you throw it all away at tax time? When you are claiming extra income you are allowed to write off you business expenses such as domain name purchases and webhosting. Your expenses go further than this, you have hardware and software, heating and utilites at your house, a percentage of the square footage that you use as your office, cell phones and perhaps even mileage in your car for your trips to the bank or your accountants office. The bottom line, keep all of your receipts for tax time.

I pesonally use a chartered accountant. I keep all of receipts and track it all year and then present them to him to tally up my taxes. His small fee, it's a business expense and I write it off. I could probably do them myself but with tax law changing every year I leave it to the professionals.

If you own a few domain names making some money start thinking about all of your expenses and if they relate to your business and keep all of your receipts for tax time. Who knows, you might even safe enough to get that nice car or even look into small business opportunities.

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Carpooling to Save Money

2008-08-14T10:41:28Z

How about saving $120 a week just by giving up your driving freedoms and car pooling? Hey, if you are looking to save money then this is a no brainer. CNN just featured an article which really drives home just how important car pooling can be in today's era of outrageous gas prices.

"Robert Gilliland didn't think much about carpooling until gas prices got out of control. Now, he's happy to trade his motoring freedom for $120 in weekly savings. Gilliland found one rider through the classifieds Web site Craigslist and another using the carpool-matching service eRideShare.com."

Although car pooling might not be for everyone, if you hours are not consistent or if you have to stay late from time to time and there are also safety concerns. If can hook up with co-workers, neighborous or friends, all the better.

Read the Source Article, if you are interested in carpooling you will find it quite interesting.

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Right Time To Buy Furniture

2008-08-09T21:45:10Z

I caught a news story the other day about this being the perfect time to find some great deals on furniture and fixtures. The reason being that stores are starting to dump the summer collections to make room for their fall displays. The best place to pick up something was the grocery stores that have patio furniture and outdoor fixtures featured at their front doors. Now is the time that they will be putting them on sale. Have a look around as well many place also sell more than patio furniture, you can find tables, tv mount, chairs and lamps and shapes. It's alot like buying off season. Everybody rushes out in the spring to pimp their backyards and decks out but that's the worst time to buy. Save some money and have a look next time you are out.

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Taking Your Vitamins

2008-08-09T21:34:01Z

Just the other day I stopped by my pharmacy to pick up a few bottles of daily vitamins. I was amazed at how many different choices there were to choose from. All sorts of different brand names, bottles sizes and prices. It reminded me of an article I was reading the diet pill and how many of those are out there but I never though that there was such as a choice of vitamins.

I passed and decided to go home and do a little research of my own. Basically, if you are going to commit to take daily vitamins then it is an expense. The last thing you want to do is cheap out and buy something that isn't of a decent quality and on the other hand you don't want to pay too much either. I'm off to do some research before I make my final decision.

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Make Your Own Food and Save

2008-08-07T02:36:15Z

We started to try something new around the house over the last few weeks and I can already see that it is paying off in saving us money. Instead of buy premade foods at the grocery store or at a take out place we have started to buy the ingredients and make our own.

Take for example the cost of a take out pizza from a pizzeria or even a frozen one from the grocer. Now compare that with buy a can of sauce, some cheese, dough and a few toppings. Some of which you probably have in the fridge anyways. You can cut your cost way down and even control what you are putting on it giving yourself a healthier meal.

Pizza is just the tip of the iceburg think about popcorn machines and the cost to pop you own compared to buy microwave corn. Cooking your burgers instead of going out, making your own wine and just about everything else you can buy out you can probably make cheaper by buying your own ingredients.

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How Hot is Your Powerbar?

2008-08-06T07:57:25Z

I just caught an interesting news story the other night. An energy expert did a tour of a house and pointed out some of the ways people could save money. One of the killers were the powerbars. He stated that if the plugs in the are hot then they are wasting electrcity.

I tested the powerbar that I have my XBox360, Router and Cable Modem plugged into. Both the Modem and Router were very warm which means as they sit on all day they are draining power. So now before I go to bed and before I leave the house for the day or any length of time I am shutting off the power bar. No sense of wasting money letting it sit all day.

I have a couple of powerbars through the house and actually unplugged a few things I don't use often but were still warm. My wireless headphones for example charge all day and the plug was hot but I only use them when watching movies on the weekend. So they are now unplugged. Have a look around your house and see if you can save some electricity.

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Do You Buy Retail?

2008-08-01T01:00:56Z

When you are buying something new do you immediately go to a retail store and just purchase your item? Last week at golf two guys were talking about going to a golf store and upgrading their clubs. I couldn't believe it. I told them that I had saved hundreds of dollars upgrading mine by buying online. To them it was a pain but the fact that there are savings to be tells me they aren't smart shoppers.

It doesn't matter what you are shopping for you are always going to find a better deal and save money by doing some digging and buying online. Everything from car parts, computer hardware, sporting equipment or even something like nurse costumes you can get on the internet cheaper. Next time you are making a purchase think about buying online and start saving yourself some money.

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