Frugality

5 Practical Ways to Save on Commuting

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This guest post was written by Dean Sherwin, owner of the blog Art of Stinginess. His blog features daily tips, tricks and lifestyle design guides which aim to save you money.

Very little is free in this life, yet by being stingy or at least by following some very simple guidelines we can easily cut back our expenses. One expense that many of us have is commuting. It can be a pain shelling out to get to a place just to earn money, can’t it?

Or maybe it’s not a job you commute to, maybe it’s college. In that case chances are you’re a student looking to save every penny you can. Here are some tips so you can do just that.

Public Transport

I for one used to cringe at the thought of getting public transport. The mere image of late buses or standing in the cold waiting turned me off. But then one day I did some calculations and the amount I would save as opposed to driving was astounding. I guess you could say I was rapidly converted.

Plus, you can use the time on your commute for other things rather than just mindlessly staring out the window. Many people take out a laptop and do some work. Others listen to music or watch TV shows on their MP4s. Public transport is what you make of it and by putting in the effort you can make it into that little bit of ‘me time’ we all like.

Use Your Status

Young People, Senior Citizens, Students, Civil Servants and other such members of our society are almost always entitled to discounts when it comes to transport. You have that I.D. for a reason so use it.

Discounts can go up to 40% or can wave the fare all together depending on where you live. So why pay extra when you don’t need too?

Cycling or Walking

Still, why pay anything at all? For those lucky enough to live within walking/cycling distance of their jobs, why not walk instead of taking your usual method. This way it won’t cost you a dime.

Once again you can listen to your MP3 player or just enjoy the stroll before the long working day starts. It’s great exercise and it’s good for the environment. (I even hear many life insurance policies are starting to lower their premiums for people who commute by walking or cycling so you could save even more money).

Car Pooling

Public transport or hoofing it might not always be on the cards. It could be pouring down rain or you may not live near a bus route. So car pool with your fellow employees who live close to you!

You’d be surprised how popular this is becoming. With the rising cost of gas and car insurance, many co-workers take joy in taking turns driving each other to work. Just ask around your workplace or enquire with HR to see if there’s a program already up and running.

Tele-Commute

If your job can be done from home (maybe you’re a designer, writer, programmer etc…) why not ask your boss if you can work from home 1-2 days per week? It saves on your commuting costs and it increases your quality of life. Plus with E-Mail, file sharing and Instant Messaging it’ll practically be like you’re at the office!

Many jobs are now making this an standing invitation as it pleases their employees and saves on their operating costs (electricity, phone etc…). Normally they will subsidize (to a certain extent) your own costs of a home office.

By implementing just one or two of the above tips you could potentially save hundreds of dollars per year. That’s good spending money for you vacation, right?

Buying a House for Four Figures

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If you have been reading this blog long then you probably already know that I am interested in the subject of cheap housing. Thus this Money magazine article about a $6900 home in Detroit caught my attention. The article describes the availability of cheap houses in Detroit and gives tips on how to find a good deal.

Detroit isn’t the only place you can find houses for four figures though. With a little searching I was able to find plenty of cheap houses here in Kansas City as well. A quick browse through the listings shows that none of the houses are in neighborhoods that I would want to live in. That isn’t too surprising considering the price. From just looking at the listings it isn’t easy to tell how much work would need to be done on the houses either although some are in obvious states of disrepair. I suppose these could make decent rental houses but I suspect it would be difficult to find quality tenants in these neighborhoods. I am going to pass on buying any four figure houses here in Kansas City.

Buying a cheap house in small town Missouri is still a possibility. I’ve never seen a house as cheap as four figures there other than mobile homes. The small town seems like a better option to me though because the worst neighborhood still isn’t too bad. I actually looked at some property earlier this month but decided to pass on it due to the extremely junky neighbors. I’m still looking and I’m hoping I will eventually find a place that I like.

On a side note my mom happened to find out that the buyer of the $15,000 small house I wanted to buy is an acquaintance of hers. He did very little work to the house and promptly rented it out. I don’t know what he is renting the house for but considering the extremely low purchase price I have to assume it is making a nice bit of cash flow each month. If only I would have found the house earlier it could have been me making that money. Oh well, I will get mine soon.

The Infrared Heater Scam

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You can find out more about infrared heaters at Infrared Heater Scam.com

Now that it is getting colder the ads for the miracle heaters are coming out again.  They promise that their highly efficient heaters can save you 50-60% on your heating bills but do these wonders of Amish technology really work?

It is true that these heaters are highly efficient.  This is because all electrical heaters are approximately 100% efficient.  Any 1500 watt heater will produce roughly 5100 btus.  The ads are telling the truth here but they are being misleading.

Since electric heat is generally 3-5 times as expensive as other forms of heat it is unlikely they will save  you money on  your heating bill.  One possible way they could save you money is if you turned your furnace down and used a heater to keep the area you are in at a comfortable temperature.  I did this a couple years ago and it did save me some money.  I just used a $20 ceramic heater though.  There is no need to spend several hundred dollars on a heater to do this.  Again the ads are misleading.

Check out these Amazon affiliate links.  You can get a $20 heater
or a $400 heater.  They both put out the same amount of heat so which one would you get?

Simplest Way to Cut Heating Costs

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The simplest way to cut your heating costs is to not turn on your heat.   This article tells of a  no heat contest where people see how long they can go into the winter without turning on their heat.  The family that won last year made it to December 31.  They live in New Jersey so they must have been pretty cold.  I’m a tight-fisted miser and all for being frugal but I think that is a little too extreme.

That being said I haven’t turned on my heat in my apartment yet.  Since my apartment is on the the third floor it seems to be absorbing heat from other apartments in the building.  Even though the outside temperature has been in the 30s, I don’t think the temperature in my apartment has been below the 60s.  We do have several cold days forecast so I will probably have to turn on my heat sometime this week.  Saving a little money on my heating bill isn’t worth being uncomfortably cold.

Dollar Store Deals

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Due to my recent move I needed to acquire a few household items.  Being a Tight-Fisted Miser I didn’t want to pay any more than necessary for them.  Therefore I checked out the dollar store and was able to find a few things I needed there.

The best deal at the dollar store is probably the shower curtain.  It is $1 for the curtain and another $1 for the rings.   This would be about $10 at a big box store.  The quality probably isn’t as good but the shower curtain does its job and I haven’t had one fall apart on me yet.

Another good deal at the dollar store is kitchen items.  I bought a can opener for $1 and it works fine.  I also have a small frying pan that I bought at the dollar store several years ago that is still working fine.

Perhaps my best dollar store deal was a large laundry bag that I bought a couple years ago.  When I went hiking I used this to store my backpack when I checked it as baggage for my flight.  Many people buy large duffle bags to store their backpacks in which generally cost at least $20.  (If you don’t store your backpack in another bag the various straps and buckles on the pack often get caught on baggage handling equipment causing major damage to the pack.)  I figure the laundry bag saved me at least $19 and I still use it as a laundry bag as well.

Cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products can be good buys at the dollar store but I usually get these for free or almost free from playing the drugstore game.

I suppose some of the food might be a good deal but I just don’t trust food from the dollar store.

Do you get any good deals from the dollar store?  What products do you not recommend getting from the dollar store?