Living the Cheap Life

Archive for the ‘Cheap Living Tips’ category

Around where I live, gas is super expensive, so I always try to plan my gas purchases to coincide with car trips out of town. I know where to find pretty cheap gas close to some of the destinations I frequent, but you know what? Pretty cheap is not cheap enough! Especially in these days [...]

The particular money-saving idea I’m about to present is a timely one. It’s beginning to get warm outside. Soon, the prospect of turning on the A/C will begin to nag at even the frugally-minded. So I’m just going to jump right in and make a suggestion some people might think is crazy:
Stop using the A/C.
I’m [...]

Get your free haircut

May 9th, 2008

I used to have a friend who was incredibly cheap and swore by free haircuts at the local beauty school. It turns out that beauty schools are always looking for guinea pigs for the students to practice on, so if you have one in your area, try giving them a call. Not sure if you [...]

How to fax for free

May 6th, 2008

Like many of us these days, I don’t have a land-line phone, which means I can’t use a regular fax machine, which means I either have to go to Kinko’s and pay wads of money to send and receive faxes, or find some roundabout free way of doing it. As luck would have it, there [...]

When’s the last time you stopped by a Blockbuster Video (or any other major rental chain)? Their prices are insane! You can expect to spend $3-$5 to rent a DVD that’s not even new - one you could most likely purchase yourself for less than $10. Doesn’t this sound a bit batty?
Luckily, it’s not at [...]

So it occurred to me recently that in this day and age, there is really no reason to pay your bills by mail. Doing so is wasteful in at least two ways: 1) you lose most of your ability to profit from float and 2) you’re forced to use stamps, which are getting expensive.
Theoretically, you [...]

The economics of biking

May 1st, 2008

So I recently spent about $100 on bike supplies. It’s rare for me to blow $100 on any one project or thing, so you might guess that there was some special rationale behind this expenditure. There was.
I inherited my bike from my dad. It was a top of the line model in the 70s. The [...]

So I recently happened across this pretty neato BankRate.com article entitled Extreme savers share their secrets. I’m always interested in extreme savings strategies; some of the tips mentioned in the article are super-obvious Tightwad 101 material, but others are a bit more unique, and I learned a few new things. Here’s a brief rundown of [...]

Cars are antithetical to the cheapskate lifestyle. They suck money like an engine-powered Hoover and I really wish I didn’t have one. It’s just that the alternative - lack of freedom to go where I want when I want - is even worse. So I have a car. I actually like my car; I just [...]

You may be aware that several websites sell magazine subscriptions at prices greatly reduced from those offered by the magazines themselves. Sites like MagsForLess.com and MagsDirect.com are, in fact, pretty darn cheap. For example, a yearlong subscription to Rolling Stone will run you $14.97 when purchased direct from Rolling Stone, but just $8.99 through MagsForLess.
However, [...]

Proudly powered by WordPress. Theme developed with WordPress Theme Generator.
Copyright © 2008 Living the Cheap Life. All rights reserved.