Articles tagged “Penny Pinching”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Build Your Own Self-Watering Container Garden By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 25 2008 More than just another container garden, the patented Earth Box is a virtually maintenance-free system that allows you to grow food in your own backyard, balcony, or deck. I haven't done any fancy layered fertilizer stuff, but supposedly if you put a layer of fertilizer down first, before the dirt, the water will bring + READ MORE

Get Your Car Recession-Ready By Lloyd Alter IN Tech & Transport Jan 23 2008 In Western Canada, farmers too impoverished to buy gas would pull out the engines and tow the car by horse.In winter, it is even more important to be careful about your driving habits and your maintenance; When the mercury plummets, you car's fuel efficiency can drop by rates of up to 50 percent. + READ MORE

Get Recession-Ready: 10 Ways to Tighten Your Belt in the Kitchen By Kelly Rossiter IN Food & Health Jan 22 2008 Recession is in the air, so we are offering up some tips on tightening your belts.Plan meals that will stretch through the week: If you make a spaghetti sauce one night, make enough to use in another meal. + READ MORE

Join the Shift to Thrift By Lloyd Alter IN Tech & Transport Jan 21 2008 In the United Kingdom, one of the surprise hits in the book world is David Kynaston's Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 (2008, Walker & Company), which documents the way Britons adapted to the dire shortages after World War II.Create a soap ball in the kitchen: Collect tiny fragments of soap from elsewhere in the house, then + READ MORE

Write a Grocery List Before You Shop (and Follow It!) By Collin Dunn IN Food & Health Jan 8 2008 For even the most mindful eater, food shopping presents a plethora of temptations and tasty-looking treats. To save time, money, and the labor required to lug extra bags full of food home on your cart bike or other preferred transportation, make a list of what you know you need-and you know you'll eat-and stick to it. + READ MORE

Build a Birdbath From Household Items By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 8 2008 Feathered types flock to birdbaths, especially during dry spells and when the mercury begins to rise. To keep your setup from freezing, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds suggests dipping in a thermostatically controlled immersion heater, or adding a lightweight ball that will be moved by the gentlest of... + READ MORE

Get Free Money for Your Energy-Efficient Appliance, Equipment By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 7 2008 To encourage people to buy energy-efficient appliances and equipment, Energy Star partners (including utilities, state agencies, and retailers), occasionally sponsor special offers such as sales-tax exemptions, credits, or rebates on qualified products. It gets better: If you made energy-efficient improvements to your... + READ MORE

Join the Garbage Revolution By Lloyd Alter IN Home & Garden Dec 17 2007 Garbage! They cost more to buy but save you 10 times the original cost and not get thrown in the trash. + READ MORE

Turn Off Your Engine By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Tech & Transport Dec 7 2007 If you're braking your car for more than 10 seconds-that is, anywhere except in traffic-turn off the ignition key. Idling gets zero miles per gallon, spewing greenhouse gases and smog-causing toxic pollutants in its wake.Even if Old Man Winter is breathing down your neck, says NRCAN, you can drive away after 30 seconds + READ MORE

Unstiffen Your Line-Dried Laundry By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 30 2007 Appliances and home electronics account for 20 percent of your energy bill, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, with refrigerators, clothes washers, and clothes dryers hogging the biggest chunks of that pie. Based on national averages, a typical clothes dryer costs nearly 3 per year to run, so it might seem a + READ MORE

Green Your Home For Winter: Install Efficient Showerheads By Lloyd Alter IN Home & Garden Nov 15 2007 We have been listing the things you should do to prepare your home for winter, in order of bang for your buck, as determined by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which figured out the cost in dollars per ton of carbon saved for each investment you make in time and money. Others, like the Neco with its "patented... + READ MORE

Extend the Life of Your Shaving Razor By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Fashion & Beauty Nov 12 2007 The Chicago Tribune has a fuss-free tip for extending the life of your razor-and saving you a bundle on shiny new disposable blades every month: Dry your razor: A radio host from Atlanta claimed he used a 17-cent disposable razor for an entire year, simply by blotting his razor dry with a towel after use. + READ MORE

Raise Funds By Promoting Green By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Work & Connect Nov 7 2007 Forget those cavity-loving candy bars: Schools, organizations, clubs, and non-profits of any size can raise up to $15,000 by selling Fundraising Green's myGreenSpark Redemption Book, a collection of discount coupons to 150 eco-friendly businesses-both local and online-including home goods, clothing, food, and pet... + READ MORE

Restore Thrift Store, Second-Hand Furniture By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Nov 2 2007 D'Arcy Norman Restoring furniture can be a great way to give a sturdy old piece that may have seen some better days a new life. Adding touches like new upholstery for a seat -- we'd recommend something like Mod Green Pod or Q Collection-can add a pop of transformative color, and something as simple as new drawer pulls... + READ MORE

Support Your Local Small-Mart By Lloyd Alter IN Home & Garden Oct 24 2007 A lot of Main Street retailers and services have gone out of business when challenged by the big boxes,often noting that they can buy stuff cheaper at Wal-Mart than they can from their suppliers. Buy local-imperfect choices: It is better to buy local-non-organic produce than it is to buy non-local organic food flown in. + READ MORE

Make Stuff Last, Save a Bundle By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Sep 5 2007 Here's a surefire way of making sure you don't fritter away your hard-earned clams, say the experts at Consumer Reports: Spend less. Taking care of what you already own and postponing the bank-account-draining day you'll have to replace them makes your money stretch further, which is almost as good as making more, with + READ MORE

Make Your Own Microwave Popcorn By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Food & Health Aug 31 2007 We now know that chronic exposure to diacetyl, the artificial-flavoring chemical in microwavable popcorn, causes a debilitating and sometimes-fatal lung disease known as bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn lungs." Place a serving of kernels into a brown paper bag, smear some butter on the inside of the bag facing... + READ MORE