Ways to have fun at home on the cheap

Spending time at home doesn't have to be boring.  In fact you can use this time to have a lot of fun and improve your house.  Listed below are five tips, really free activities, that you can do at home for pennies on the dollar.  Enjoy

• Tip 1: Donate things you don't want to charity: You get to de-clutter your house, and help people more needy than yourself…all without spending one dollar.

• Tip 2: Star gaze: Grab a rug, maybe some picnic food (and if you are lucky enough to have one of either, binoculars or a telescope) and go and gaze at stars. Even if you don't have any equipment you can still lie down and enjoy the enormity that is the universe.

• Tip 3: Write a story or poetry: It is relaxing, improves your mental capacity and is enjoyable. Did we also mention it is virtually free? Choose a favourite spot in your house, garden or park and get writing.

• Tip 4: Make a loaf of bread: While it can be a bit time consuming, making a loaf of bread from scratch is a very rewarding and cost effective form of entertainment.

• Tip 5: Learn to sew: Sewing is a great cost effective way to have fun, and save money as well.

So there you have it, five tips to help you have fun at home on the cheap.

If you want to learn over 1000 money saving tips then check out our e-book 1011 money saving tips e-book!

Cheers

Rusty

Six tips for saving money at home

To continue on in our saving money at home tips, we provide six money saving tips below.  We especially like tip number two...always a lot of fun!  These tips focus on activities that you can do for free in the home.  Enjoy!

• Tip 1: Write a journal: A great way to see what you have accomplished and also a great way to see how you are really feeling. An additional benefit is that it can help you to de-stress at the end of each day. The benefits for writing a journal are huge!

• Tip 2: Sharpen your kitchen knifes: For some reason, it’s a great feeling to sharpen knives! Its fun, and it will save you money on buying new knives. It will also save you time when you next cook.

• Tip 3: Give and receive a massage with your partner: Relaxing, fun and free. On top of this is also has a lot of health benefits. Just don’t get too carried way, you’ve probably already got enough kids!

• Tip 4: Frisbee: Even with all the new electronic games, I don't think the humble Frisbee will ever lose its lustre. Time throwing a Frisbee with your kids or your friends is time well spent.

• Tip 5: Soak in a hot soapy bath: Possibly one of the most relaxing ways to spend 1/2 an hour. Try turning the lights off to make it even more relaxing.

• Tip 6: Clean out your cupboards and wardrobes: Most of us feel better when we don't have clutter in ou lives. Spend an hour or so cleaning out your cupboards or wardrobes and start de-cluttering your life. A free activity and you will feel better!

So there you have it, have fun at home without spending any money.  If you want to learn over 1000 money saving tips then check out our 1011 money saving tips ebook.  Click here!

Cheers

Rusty O'Connor

Five ways you can save money at home

We love money saving tips for the home.  The home is where we spend a lot of our time and it can make or break our budget.  Where we live the temperature in summer can often get well over 50 degrees so we are confined to the office, house or air conditioned car for a lot of the day.  Listed below are five money saving tips to help you save money at home.


Tip 1: Review your bills: Spend an hour or so going through all of your bills and seeing which ones you can reduce. This will be enjoyable as you work out how much money you can save.




Tip 2: Practice Yoga: Rent/borrow/download a yoga DVD, find some floor space and then get going. Fun, cheap and relaxing!



Tip 3: Re-arrange your house: They say that a change is as good as a holiday. This is especially true for rearranging your furniture. Spend sometime thinking about possible changes to the layout of your house, and then make it happen.




Tip 4: Learn some basic magic tricks: Magic is fun for everyone and can be used in almost any social setting; parties, with kids or even to start a meeting at work. Learn a few tricks in your spare time and then put them into practice. Same as for the juggling tip!



Tip 5: Read: Reading challenges the mind, and is good for the Spirit. Make it a goal to read at least once a week. If you want to make this a free hobby, use your local library.

Follow the above five tips and you will be on your way to saving money. 

In other news, we have found that we are saving a lot of money this month.  Here in the middle east, Ramadan, is definately celebrated.  No food stores are open during the day (the shops open at 8pm at night), and the water cooler is even taken from work.  As such we are not spending much money.

After 8pm it is like one huge party.  We have reduced working hours, so people often stay up all night and eat and drink.  Apart from being a bit hungry and thirsty during the day at work, it is a really enjoyable time and a good atmosphere.

If you want to learn how to save $1000s a year then check our our 1011 money saving tips ebook.  Click here!

Cheers

Rusty

Seven tips to help you save money at home

Today, we thought we would provide seven tips to help you save money at home.  As we have previously said you spend a lot of your time at home, so it represents a great opportunity to save money.  Enjoy!

• Tip 1: Have an afternoon sleep: Seriously…there is no cheaper or better way to feel revitalised. If you are like most of us you are sleep deprived, catching up on a bit of sleep will do you the world of good. Keep in mind though, that sleeping to long will upset your sleeping patterns.

• Tip 2: Spring-clean a room in your house: Cleaning a room thoroughly takes some time, but the rewards are fantastic (that feeling of siting in a nice looking clean room can't be beaten). Spending a few hours on the weekend doing this is a great way to save money and improve your house.

• Tip 3: Undertake maintenance on your house: It may seem boring we know, but it will help you to save money, and enjoy the benefits of a fully working house after you have finished. You partner will also love you for it! Ladies, what is better than seeing your hubby walk around with a blue singlet and a tool belt?

• Tip 4: Take digital photos: Once you have a digital camera, this becomes a free hobby. Go out and take photos of things that interest you. If you are good, you can even make money off it. Websites like www.istockphoto.com enable you to sell your photos (you have to be a pretty good photographer to get admitted first)

• Tip 5: Start a blog: websites such as www.blogger.com get you started with blogging in a matter of minutes. Write about a topic that interests you, and you will have an absolute blast. What's more, you can easily monetize the Blog with Google Adsense and you can make a "small" income off your hobby.

• Tip 6: Learn something new: There are literally hundreds of topics you can learn about on the Internet. Choose a topic, eg 18th century architecture, and check out University websites and U-tube for free downloads on the topic. Nothing beats a free education!

• Tip 7: Work out your net worth: This takes some time but lets you know where you currently sit. Check it every month to see if you are going forwards or backwards.

So there you have it, seven tips to help you save money when entertaining at home.  If you want to learn over 1000 money saving tips and save $1000s a year then check out our 1011 money saving tips e-book. 

Cheers

Rusty

P.S as promised I said I would include a few pictures from our holiday.  Below are three photos

9 back to school money saving tips the shops don't wnat you to know about

In todays blog post I thought we could focus on how you can reduce your back to school costs.  Back to school represents quite a significant cost to your family. If you don't manage these costs, they have the potential to blow out, and result in large credit card bills. To help you out we have compiled the nine tips below.

• Tip 1: Consider dollar stores: These stores still have some good quality items at low low prices. Definitely worth considering for some of the school supplies. The quality might be slightly inferior but the price is a lot less.

• Tip 2: Buy used text books: Where possible buy used text books. They are cheaper, have often only been used once and still serve the same purpose. They also have the advantage of interesting comments down the margins. Your kids were going to learn those words anyway. In fact they probably already know them.

• Tip 3: Shop for used text books early: If you leave your shopping to the last minute chances are a lot of the used text books will already be gone.

• Tip 4: Plan well in advance: If you leave everything to the last minute you will be bound to spend more money.

• Tip 5: Shop around for the best deals on the most expensive items: Perhaps it is a laptop, or sporting equipment. If you can get the best deal on these big ticket items you stand to save a lot of money. Paying cash will save you some dollars too.

• Tip 6: Consider coordinates: If you buy children's clothes that go with anything you will spend less money trying to match clothes.

• Tip 7: Buy clothes out of season: Where we currently live the temperature often gets over 50 degrees (124 Fahrenheit) so needless to say winter items are not to big here in summer. However, if you can get over that fact, you can save significant amounts on clothing buy buying them out of season. Especially true for sporting uniforms.

• Tip 8: Start a back to school fund: This is a great way to get on top of back to school costs. Put aside $5 per child a week and you will have $260 to spend on their supplies. This should cover a fair proportion of the school costs. This fund also helps if you see specials throughout the year. If you haven’t got enough just rename the holiday fund.

• Tip 9: Buy things in three: If you see a sale item eg a packet of pencils, then buy three lots. This will easily see your kids through the year.

So there you have it. The tips above give you an advantage over the retail shops. Follow them, and keep more of your hard earned money for yourself…or spend the savings on a massage once the kids are back at school.

If you want to learn more money saving tips then check out our 1011 Money Saving Tips E-Book.

In other news....

You have probably noticed dear reader that we haven't written a post for a few weeks.  The reason is that we were off globe trotting with the family...my wife and three kids.  We went to London, Paris, Euro Disney and Venice.  And have some new super doopa travel tips (and some photos) to bring to you in the coming days.

We did make a mistake on one hotel though, the last hotel we stayed in, in London's Earl Court.  It was cheap...a lot cheaper than the other hotels (we generally use accor hotels which are well priced and very clean and comfortable). When we were shown to our room we discovered it was three metres from the bar (a football match was taking place so the bar was packed) and right above a karoke club!  The room wasn't sound proofed and it sounded like there was an Abba want-a-be singing in our room.

What's more the room was mouldy, dusty, and was decked out in the worst 1960s decor.  Within about two minutes my son's athma was already playing up.  My wife looked at me, there was no way around it, I had to walk back to reception and ask for an upgrade.  We ended up with an ok room, on a more suitable level...still not sound proofed.  Needless to say we picked up a lot of new words from the German Couple next door!


Cheers

Rusty O'Connor