Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Waste Not, Want Not

In my efforts to reduce clutter and save money, I have discovered that I have a lot of unused products around my home, especially personal care and cleaning products. It has become my mission in life to use these products up!

You know how you buy a brand of toothpaste because it is on sale and then you decide you don't like the way it tastes so you buy another tube the next time you go to the store? Then the first tube just sits in your cabinet unused, sometimes for quite a while. Well, I have been trying not to be so wasteful for the last year or so and have found a bounty of that sort of thing. The other thing I have done, with our drastically reduced budget, is to just plain not buy anything at all unless absolutely necessary. If I have anything at all in the cabinet/closet that can get used up, we use that first and then I shop around for a sale/coupons for the needed item.

I was particularly proud of myself for using up quite a few of my free samples/trial sized beauty and personal care products. I have a whole tub of things that I am working through: shampoo, lotions, body wash, toothpaste, shoe shine kits, dental floss, lots of makeup. I used to buy department store cosmetics and get the "free gift" but I rarely use the products. When I had a garage sale last year I had a whole box of these items (brand names, unopened) that I marked 25 cents--they went fast! I decided that we will probably not be taking any trips anytime soon, so why not use all these up? While I still insist on purchasing my preferred shampoo/conditioner and I have had to buy soap (everything on sale with coupons, of course) I am getting a lot of mileage out of facial cleansers, lotions, trial sized deodorants and cosmetics.

In my kitchen I have been cleaning out the backs of the cabinets, looking for forgotten cake mixes and canned goods. How many times have I had to throw food away because it expired? One of my favorite websites for dinner ideas is www.allrecipes.com because I can type in ingredients to find recipes, then I look through them to find one that has ingredients I already have on hand. I have found quite a few good recipes this way!

I have saved so much money using up all these old products and free samples and I have found several websites where I can get more! I almost always get a product that I like and they are all free! I like Start Sampling (www.startsampling.com) and www.walmart.com and my favorite is one that sends me a daily email with deals, www.shop4freebies.com. This last one has some of the same samples that you see on the other sites but also mentions deals that may be available in your area, like when chain restaurants have events (like a free meal on Mother's Day).

On Facebook, you can "like" a product and they will either send it to you via mail or let you print a coupon. I have gotten a lot of things this way, including Sunchips, Kraft mac 'n cheese, Einstein Bros bagels, etc.

Next post will be how to get more free stuff...

Sunday, May 16, 2010

So, what did I lose and what did I find?

It occurred to me after my last post that I didn't properly explain my blog's title. I don't want to get all philosophical and blog about losing myself and rediscovering the "new me," although once a person becomes a MOM, a slave to greedy little children, a person who now wipes bottoms for a living (doesn't pay much, by the way) it goes without saying that you become a different person. And I may blog about that later but I am afraid I have little to offer others relating to that topic, since the "new me" is still waiting to be found.

What I have found is toothpaste, clothes that don't fit, picture frames without pictures, free samples, nice shoes, craft supplies for crafts that no longer hold my interest, seed packets from years past, Christmas gifts not given, books, cleaning products, decorations, cat toys, candles and Halloween costumes. While I am not ready to go on a television show about hoarders, I do recognize that I have too much stuff. Fortunately for me a lot of my stuff is pretty nice, nice enough to re-sell, although I cringe at how much money I wasted on things in my former life. I definitely used to shop a lot, although I have always bought on sale. I used to work in retail, so there were just too any opportunities for bargains and I always had a good "gift stash" of deals that came in handy for holidays and birthdays and baby and wedding showers. But when I think of all the money I could have saved...

First thing I did when I quit my full time job years ago to stay home with my son was sell my most profitable items on ebay. I even opened my own ebay store. Problem with that is you quickly run out of things to sell and the few unpleasant experiences you have with "crazies" tend to discourage you. It is also very time consuming. So, while I still have my ebay store, it has not been a good source of income for some time now.

Garage sales are a good way to get rid of items, but where I live people want a deal, so even if you have unworn clothing with tags still on they might not give you what you think is fair. And garage sales are a lot of work, especially if you have small children underfoot, and the weather can really be a factor. I have had good luck selling baby and children's items through my mothers of twins club. We have a big sale twice a year and I have done it several times. It helps to volunteer to help set up and work the sale; you can get a good idea of how to price your items, you get first pick after setup to shop and you get a lower percentage taken out of your sales for the club.

I have also done consignment shops (not very profitable) and just plain given items away. I give to charities pretty regularly, since I don't have the disposable income right now to give cash donations I am glad I can give things to others who can use them. Of course, I keep my receipts for tax purposes!

But what I feel best about is my resourcefulness in finding new uses for things that I find around the house. Whether the item becomes a new gift for someone else or gets used in a new way, I feel almost as good as I would have if I had gotten to buy something new from the store. (Ah, that "shopper's high" when you get a bargain!) My little way of "saving the planet."

More about that in my next post...

Monday, May 10, 2010

What is this blog about? (And why would anyone want to read it?)

This blog is all about my adventures in making and saving money. An alternate title could have been "20 Dollars", as it seems I tend to earn money $20 at a time. Believe me, it has been slow going but I have learned a lot along the way and want to share with you what has worked for me and what has not worked. Saving time is another factor when deciding on a money making "scheme" and I have certainly wasted enough of my precious time on things that didn't pan out. Maybe I can save someone the trouble.

Who am I? I am a stay-at-home mom of 3 young children (actually I have a very part time job outside the home) who has been trying to justify staying home and living off of one (and 1/4) income while my kids are young. I clip coupons, budget, shop sales, garden, sell on ebay, sell at garage sales, recycle, reduce, reuse, you-name-it.

In future posts I hope to post hints about saving money, reducing debt and earning some cash along the way. Please feel free to share your thoughts!