Valley group meets to swap clothes and save money - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.co

Valley group meets to swap clothes and save money - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.com

Thought this was an interesting news blurb. I wonder if there are any clothing swaps in Chicago. I could see this being extremely useful if you have kids as they are growing like crazy.

PricePlease - Online Shopping - Discount Tracker - We watch all the prices. You get all the savings!

PricePlease - Online Shopping - Discount Tracker - We watch all the prices. You get all the savings!

This seems like a pretty cool little site. You paste the URL of something that you want to watch the price on, and it will do so for you. So far you can only do this with 259 stores, but they are always expanding.

If you've bought something recently, it will check for you to see if they drop the price for a possible refund.

Gift Basket Ideas

Here are some great ideas that I saw online: Some of them can be quite frugal depending on where you get your items.

Gift Baskets can be fun and easy once a theme is picked out. They can be a great idea if a group of people want to contribute for a shower or birthday gift.

• Sewing Basket - Fill a sewing box or basket with needles, thread, thimble, buttons, finish by tying with a tape measure.
• Baking Basket - Fill a Bundt pan or a candy clay basket with mixing spoons, collected recipe cards from each participant, spatula, measuring cups, and a cookie cutter. To make it even more special paint a set of pot holders or apron.
• Pasta Basket - Fill a large colander, lined with a kitchen towel, with dried pasta, spices, sauces, a bottle of wine, and some bread sticks.
• Children's Craft Can - Fill a white paint bucket with paints, paper, stickers, brushes, pencils, and markers. Finish by painting the child's name on the bucket and top with curling ribbon on the handles.
• Bath Basket - Line a basket with an elegant towel, add soaps, a candle, sponges, bubble baths, bath beads, oils, and pampering spa products all in the same color family. Finish it with a large piece of tulle tied in a bow with a silk flower.
• The Grill Master Basket - Line a basket with an apron add a cookbook, marinades, rubs, grilling tools, and potholders.
• A Pancake Breakfast Set could include Syrups, Pancake Mix, syrup pitcher, cloth napkin as a liner, jams, and so forth.
• Picnic Basket - In a wicket basket lined with a blanket add a bottle of wine, 2 glasses, cheeses, corkscrew, crackers, a cheese board and knife. Include a disposable camera to capture the fun times.
• Movie Basket - To an empty popcorn tub add microwave popcorn, candy, canned sodas, videos, CD's, or tickets to the movies.
• New Car Bucket - To a bucket add car soaps, wax, chamois cloths, sponges, key chain and special auto scent products.
• Bon Voyage Basket - Line a basket with a crinkled map and add a travel journal, pen, small photo album, stamps, prepaid phone card, travel pillow, and simple stationery.
• Fisherman's Basket - Inside a creel add lures, line, bobbers, bait, hooks, sinkers, and tie it all up with a tape measure.
• Beer Basket - Fill a cooler with an assortment of beers, pretzels, favorite snacks and an opener for a big hit.
• Get Well Basket - Fill a cherry basket with chicken noodle soup, Aspirin or Tylenol, a thermometer, current magazines, a crossword
• puzzle book, pencil, paper back books, fresh fruit, and a Get Well Bear.
• Tool Basket - Inside a Tool Bag add a hammer, screw driver, tape measure, pencil, level, assorted nails, screws and a 'how-to' book.
• Computer Basket - Fill a basket with discs, CD's, a mouse pad, post it notes, paper, and paper CD sleeves.
• Over the Hill Basket - In a black basket add Geritol, Preparation H, Magnifying Glass, and Ben Gay.
• Gardener's Basket - Inside a large pot add seeds, gloves, hand rakes, trowels, seeds, bulbs, and a decorative item for the garden. To add a crafty touch paint the garden gloves and pot.

Tips for Shopping.

Working at a chain store, I don’t know how many times I see people think they are getting a great deal, but they aren’t.

* Search high and low. Eye-level shelving is prime selling space,
commanding "slotting" fees from manufacturers. Similar products with
lower prices may be on the bottom or top shelves.

* Compare unit prices. You might think a jumbo can of soup or beans
would be a better deal than its peewee cousin. But that's not always the
case. Check the shelf tag under the product that reveals the price per
ounce, quart, pound or unit.

* Consider convenience. Sometimes it's worth the extra dimes to purchase
a ready-to-heat entree or fresh watermelon cut into chunks. But know
that a few minutes of prep in your kitchen can keep more George
Washingtons in your wallet.

* Bag it. Sacks of potatoes, onions, oranges and apples often are
cheaper than buying by the pound. If the item has a fairly long shelf
life, grabbing a bag might be a cost-saver.

* Know prices. Just because a product is featured in a weekly sales
circular doesn't mean it's on sale. Sometimes manufacturers pay for
placement in the flier. By knowing prices, you can tell if that
highlighted item really is a bargain.

* Buy at the bakery. In-store bakeries sometimes sell baked goods at
prices lower than commercial alternatives. Compare the two.

* Check the receipt. A survey of Consumer Reports readers revealed that
6 percent have been overcharged at the register. I think it's higher,
based on my own experience. Now I scan my receipt once I get to my car
and march back into the store if I spot an error.

* Reach deep. Retailers rotate stock so the older items, such as milk,
cereal, lunch meat and packaged goods, are in the front. To get the
longest shelf life, take the freshest stuff from the back of the shelf,
refrigerator or freezer.

And, if possible, use a discount coupon when buying it.

del.icio.us Tags: Tips for Shopping,Shopping,Savings

Technorati Tags: Tips for Shopping,Shopping,Savings

Dominicks / Safeway - Digital Coupons.

Dominicks (Safeway) has started a new partnership with a company called Cellfire digital coupons. The coupons can be used at more than 1,500 Safeway stores nationwide, including Dominick's.

The full story in the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tue-dominicks-cellfire-jun23,0,5682503.story

http://www.alice.com/

TechCrunch (who also has a twitter account for those that follow @techcrunch ) had a wonderful link today!

It's a site that is currently in Beta, but will hopefully be open to the public soon. It's a site that allows you to buy items like toilet paper, and laundry soap, and other things without having to go to the store. Delivery is free. They carry green products, and there isn't the retail markup! TechCrunch did a comparison of a bottle of Tide liquid laundry detergent on Alice.com and Drugstore.com. On Alice.com, the price was $7.71 with discounts, nearly $6 cheaper than the price on Drugstore.com, which was $13.99. (I looked up which bottle it was on drugstore.com and will be comparing with the in store prices at Walgreens tomorrow and will post an edit to this post.)

They will also allow you to get free samples of some products.

EDIT: (6/23/09) The site is now open from Beta. Anyone Can sign up. I wasn't as impressed with the prices as I had thought I would be. The same bottle of Laundry soap is currently on sale at Walgreens for $7.99. I think where this site will be useful is on helping to cut down on "Impulse Buys" and being able to just get what you need. Alternatively I was at CostCo this week, and they had Generic Powdered Laundry Soap, that was 200 loads, for around 11 dollars.

BPA & Recycling Plastic

There has been a lot made of BPA lately. One of the mailing lists I am on, the question was raised if it was safe to heat foods in plastic bags, or did they contain BPA. So I went in search of the answer.

BPA is Bisphenol A. It's an additive to some plastics, and according to Wikipedia, It is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is a difunctional building block of several important plastics and plastic additives. With an annual production of 2–3 million metric tonnes, it is an important monomer in the production of polycarbonate.

Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, and some retailers removed products made from it off their shelves. (More can be found on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A)

So right now you are probably freaked out going "I'm never going to use anything plastic again!!!" Well don't freak out yet. All Plastics have a recycle number on them. BPA is only in #3 & #7


Plastic Identification Code
Type of plastic polymer Properties
Common Packaging Applications

#1 -- Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE)
Clarity, strength, toughness, barrier to gas and moisture.
Soft drink, water and salad dressing bottles; peanut butter and jam jars

#2 -- High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
Stiffness, strength, toughness, resistance to moisture, permeability to gas.
Milk, juice and water bottles; trash and retail bags.

#3 -- Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) (Contains BPA)
Versatility, clarity, ease of blending, strength, toughness.
Juice bottles; cling films; PVC piping

#4 -- Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
Ease of processing, strength, toughness, flexibility, ease of sealing, barrier to moisture.
Frozen food bags; squeezable bottles, e.g. honey, mustard; cling films; flexible container lids.

#5 -- Polypropylene (PP)
Strength, toughness, resistance to heat, chemicals, grease and oil, versatile, barrier to moisture.
Reusable microwaveable ware; kitchenware; yogurt containers; margarine tubs; microwaveable disposable take-away containers; disposable cups and plates.

#6 -- Polystyrene (PS)
Versatility, clarity, easily formed
Egg cartons; packing peanuts; disposable cups, plates, trays and cutlery; disposable take-away containers;

#7 -- Other (often polycarbonate or ABS) (Containts BPA)
Dependent on polymers or combination of polymers
Beverage bottles; baby milk bottles; electronic casing.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_recycling

Mailing List

I've also recently started a Mailing List, and welcome people to come join it. It's called Frugal in Chicago, and is hosted on Yahoo Groups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FrugalInChicago
Feel free to Join. I'm not fully limiting it to Chicago, but it's going to be based off trying to be frugal & green in a large city type area.

How to save money on Milk

This isn't my own idea, but I thought I would post it here, since it is very useful.

Taken from Miserly Moms, buy whole milk and cutting it with water. (1/2 gallon of water + 1/2 gallon of milk will give you a taste like 1% milk. 1/4 gallon Water + 1/2 gallon of milk would be closer to 2%)

New Grocery Store with Great Prices in Chicago

Last week I checked out this new store on Touhy Ave, in Skokie/Niles, IL. It's great, Great Produce and not overly expensive. I went back today with my mother and father. They had great Deals today as well. They Just opened up recently, and I want to encourage people to go there and hopefully they can keep prices low.

Fresh Farms Niles
5740 W Touhy Ave
Niles, IL 60714

We got some nice plants to add to our back yard garden as well. Cantaloupe and Zucchini for 99 cents.