tips

A 2004 study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the average American family throws away 14 percent of their food – that’s almost $600 a year!

I’ll be honest, this has been me from time to time. In the not too distant past, I’ve had to throw away cookie dough, sweet potatoes and asparagus because they spoiled or passed their expiration date before I got to them.

So, here are a few quick tips to save money by keeping food from going to waste:

• Take stock of the produce, breads, cheese and deli meats you have in your home so you don’t double up on these foods.

• Create meal plans around perishable foods to use them up before they spoil.

• Separate the club packs of meat and freeze them the day you go shopping to keep the meat from passing its “sell by” date.

• Use leftovers in next-day breakfasts and lunches. There are also a variety of cookbooks worth checking out that are dedicated to cooking with leftovers to make your food dollar go farther, including “Love Your Leftovers,” “Use it Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook” and “Second Time Around.”

What do you do to keep from wasting money by throwing away food? Do you have any good second-day recipes? I can’t wait to hear your suggestions!

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I was reading an article in the Florida Times-Union called “How to Save Money in 15 Minutes a Week,” which focused on spending 15 minutes a week to clip coupons to save on groceries. True, this is one great way to save money, but I wonder how much more I could save by devoting 15 minutes a day to money-saving activities. Here are a few ways to save (some of these I already do):

• Make a bag lunch for my husband and daughter to take to work and to school.

• Create a weekly meal plan. I know that on nights when I’m not sure what to make for dinner, that’s when the urge to call for take-out is so strong.

• Write up a grocery list. Numerous studies have cited that those who create and stick to a shopping list save far more money on food each week than those who do not make lists.

• Consolidate errands. Stop by CVS after I drop my middle daughter off at preschool. Or, pick up dry cleaning when I go to deposit a check at the bank next door. Grouping errands not only saves on gas, but gives you more time in your day.

• Put on a sweater. I’ll be honest, I do not like to be cold. But I know that if I keep the thermostat where it should be (I often like to kick it up a notch or two), then put on an extra layer, I’ll keep more money in my pocket.

• Don’t warm up the car. I have the tendency to turn on my car, then come back a few minutes later. Sure, it’s toasty warm, but from what I’ve read it’s not necessary, and I’ve only wasted gas.

• Go online for a few minutes to find out which fruits and vegetables are in season. These are the only ones worth buying fresh. Everything else should be bought frozen or you’ll pay a premium.

How else can you spend 15 minutes a day to save money this year? I’d love to hear your tips and suggestions.

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Have you been out shopping this week? Me, I’m pretty much exhausted from the pre-holiday shopping, even though I made many of my purchases online.

If you’re desperate to hit the post-holiday sales and your family has already gone home, iPhone moms take note. Here are five must-have apps to have on your iPhone or iPod Touch if you must hit the mall with the tots in tow.

• CHECKout-Shopping Calculator: There are lots of signs touting savings of 60%-off, 70%-off and more, but it’s hard to tell the final markdown price with kids who want to get ice cream right now. This free app will tell you the final price in a flash, and even let you know if it falls within your budget.

• Yowza: It’s impossible to have coupons on hand for every store or restaurant you may be near. Half the time when I go shopping I end up going different places than originally planned. If this is you too, grab this free app to get mobile coupons tailored to your exact location.

• ShopSavvy: If you’ve spied a great deal, just scan the product bar code to see if you can still find the item for less online or at another store. Sometimes all the big sale signs in stores can distract you from figuring out whether you’ve got a real bargain or not.

• Point Inside: This app provides you with indoor maps for hundreds of shopping malls across the country, helping you plan out your trip before you load the kids into the car and before you park at the wrong end of the shopping center.

• Snow Globe Maker: No doubt there will be times when you just need to distract your kids. This great app lets them make their own snow globes on your phone. Once finished just shake the phone to see the snow fall. This app is $.99 in the iTunes store, but the first 10 people with an iPhone or iPod Touch who leave me a comment will get a free promo code to get this app for themselves.

UPDATE (1/3): Here are the ten winners of the Snow Globe Maker promo code. Look out for the code in your inbox.

melissagist@
stretch418@
ssilverbullet19@
vpalmer01@
sara0711@
angeltuc@
angie.mobley@
zumbalisa@
kywildcat07@
drfour@

What about you? What are your favorite iPhone apps? Any must-haves to have installed when out and about with kids?

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It’s no secret that more and more of us are eating at home. AllRecipes.com, the #1 food site, recently posted its largest traffic month ever in November with 10.7 million people visiting the site in search of recipes.

The popular food site also found that 80 percent of participants in a recent survey said they’d be cooking at home more in 2009. Meanwhile, 59 percent expect to increase their coupon use in 2009, up from a 55 percent increase in 2008.

To help you save money on your at-home family meals, here are seven easy moves to make to keep money in your pocket this week.

1) Make a meal plan. The easiest way to save money is to plan your meals for each night of the week. When you know what to make at 5 p.m. (and you know you have all the ingredients!) it’s a lot less tempting to order a pizza.

2) Plan weekly menus around what’s on sale. Before you write up your weekly meal plan read through the grocery ads to see what’s on sale. Quick tip: visit Recipe Matcher, enter the on-sale foods and ingredients you have on hand to instantly generate recipes.

3) Choose recipes with a low price per serving. Build meals around less expensive meats like split chicken breasts, pork chops and stew meat. Check out $5 Dinners for meals that can be made for $5 or less (for a family of four), such as Chili Cornbread Cups and Chicken Noodle Soup.

4) Use coupons for your entire meal. Seek out coupons for every component of your meals, like Meal Deal coupons on Shortcuts.com. In one click you can load your store loyalty card with coupons for turkey breast, frozen vegetables, potatoes, crescent rolls, stuffing and holiday cookies. These coupons get scanned and redeemed at check-out.

5) Go vegetarian once a week. Save extra cash by going meatless once a week. Good choices include spaghetti, chili or even omelettes.

6) Opt for frozen foods. Don’t reach for frozen convenience foods, like TV dinners, but rather frozen vegetables and chicken that can be whipped up into a meal. Frozen side dishes, like potatoes, are another easy way to go to save money.

7) Be smart about private label items. In many cases you can save by opting for the private label over a brand name, but by being smart about coupons, you can often get the brand name for less than the private label. Here’s a post I did recently at Blissfully Domestic called Confessions of a Name Brand Shopper on how I save big by not buying private label at all.

How do you save by eating at home? I’d love to hear your tips and advice.

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It’s no secret that more and more of us are eating at home. AllRecipes.com, the #1 food site, recently posted its largest traffic month ever in November with 10.7 million people visiting the site in search of recipes.

The popular food site also found that 80 percent of participants in a recent survey said they’d be cooking at home more in 2009. Meanwhile, 59 percent expect to increase their coupon use in 2009, up from a 55 percent increase in 2008.

To help you save money on your at-home family meals, here are seven easy moves to make to keep money in your pocket this week.

1) Make a meal plan. The easiest way to save money is to plan your meals for each night of the week. When you know what to make at 5 p.m. (and you know you have all the ingredients!) it’s a lot less tempting to order a pizza.

2) Plan weekly menus around what’s on sale. Before you write up your weekly meal plan read through the grocery ads to see what’s on sale. Quick tip: visit Recipe Matcher, enter the on-sale foods and ingredients you have on hand to instantly generate recipes.

3) Choose recipes with a low price per serving. Build meals around less expensive meats like split chicken breasts, pork chops and stew meat. Check out $5 Dinners for meals that can be made for $5 or less (for a family of four), such as Chili Cornbread Cups and Chicken Noodle Soup.

4) Use coupons for your entire meal. Seek out coupons for every component of your meals, like Meal Deal coupons on Shortcuts.com. In one click you can load your store loyalty card with coupons for turkey breast, frozen vegetables, potatoes, crescent rolls, stuffing and holiday cookies. These coupons get scanned and redeemed at check-out.

5) Go vegetarian once a week. Save extra cash by going meatless once a week. Good choices include spaghetti, chili or even omelettes.

6) Opt for frozen foods. Don’t reach for frozen convenience foods, like TV dinners, but rather frozen vegetables and chicken that can be whipped up into a meal. Frozen side dishes, like potatoes, are another easy way to go to save money.

7) Be smart about private label items. In many cases you can save by opting for the private label over a brand name, but by being smart about coupons, you can often get the brand name for less than the private label. Here’s a post I did recently at Blissfully Domestic called Confessions of a Name Brand Shopper on how I save big by not buying private label at all.

How do you save by eating at home? I’d love to hear your tips and advice.

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There’s no question that magazine sales and subscriptions are on the decline. This is bad news for the major magazine publishers who rely on key ad dollars, but very good news for you and me. Here are 6 ways to save on magazines, and in many cases, get magazines for free.

1) Tap Your Rewards Programs. Do you have airline miles you won’t be using or do you have extra points on your rewards credit card? Cash them in for free magazines. With American Airlines, you can choose from over 30 magazine subscriptions that can be yours for as little as 300 frequent flyer miles.

2) Hunt for Free Subscriptions. It’s not hard to find free magazine subscriptions. I post about them regularly, and you can also find details on them at Hot Coupon World and A Full Cup. These go fast, so when you find one you want, jump on it quickly. I’ve gotten free subs to U.S. News & World Report, Shape, Self and more this way. Here are a few you can get for free now: Latina, Psychology Today, Scholastic Parent & Child and PINK.

3) Sign Up for Free Trade Magazines. Visit FreeBizMag.com or MercuryMagazines.com to sign up for free subscriptions to trade mags like eWeek and InformationWeek. Keep your eyes open because occasionally a national consumer magazine will be thrown into the mix in hopes you’ll sign up free trade magazines too.

4) Look Out for Promotions. Keep an eye out for free with purchase or deeply discounted magazine subscriptions. On Amazon.com, you can get a free subscription to Cookie magazine when you buy $25 in toys. I also posted recently on 15 magazines you can subscribe to for just $5 each, including Redbook and SmartMoney.

5) Use Coupons. That’s right, there are coupons that be can be used to buy magazines. If you’re in the check-out line and you absolutely must have this month’s issue of Vogue or Glamour, head to Shortcuts.com to add $1/1 coupons right to your store loyalty card (select grocery stores). You can even get a $2/1 printable coupon for Real Simple too, so keep your eyes open.

6) Subscribe on Cash-Back Sites. There are some magazines that are so popular that you’ll never find them discounted or for free, like Sports Illustrated. So, make sure to buy them on cash-back sites, like Ebates or BigCrumbs. As I posted earlier today, I earned 26% back when I subscribed to ShopSmart through Ebates.

Do you have any other great ways to get free magazines? I’d love to hear them!

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There’s no question that magazine sales and subscriptions are on the decline. This is bad news for the major magazine publishers who rely on key ad dollars, but very good news for you and me. Here are 6 ways to save on magazines, and in many cases, get magazines for free.

1) Tap Your Rewards Programs. Do you have airline miles you won’t be using or do you have extra points on your rewards credit card? Cash them in for free magazines. With American Airlines, you can choose from over 30 magazine subscriptions that can be yours for as little as 300 frequent flyer miles.

2) Hunt for Free Subscriptions. It’s not hard to find free magazine subscriptions. I post about them regularly, and you can also find details on them at Hot Coupon World and A Full Cup. These go fast, so when you find one you want, jump on it quickly. I’ve gotten free subs to U.S. News & World Report, Shape, Self and more this way. Here are a few you can get for free now: Latina, Psychology Today, Scholastic Parent & Child and PINK.

3) Sign Up for Free Trade Magazines. Visit FreeBizMag.com or MercuryMagazines.com to sign up for free subscriptions to trade mags like eWeek and InformationWeek. Keep your eyes open because occasionally a national consumer magazine will be thrown into the mix in hopes you’ll sign up free trade magazines too.

4) Look Out for Promotions. Keep an eye out for free with purchase or deeply discounted magazine subscriptions. On Amazon.com, you can get a free subscription to Cookie magazine when you buy $25 in toys. I also posted recently on 15 magazines you can subscribe to for just $5 each, including Redbook and SmartMoney.

5) Use Coupons. That’s right, there are coupons that be can be used to buy magazines. If you’re in the check-out line and you absolutely must have this month’s issue of Vogue or Glamour, head to Shortcuts.com to add $1/1 coupons right to your store loyalty card (select grocery stores). You can even get a $2/1 printable coupon for Real Simple too, so keep your eyes open.

6) Subscribe on Cash-Back Sites. There are some magazines that are so popular that you’ll never find them discounted or for free, like Sports Illustrated. So, make sure to buy them on cash-back sites, like Ebates or BigCrumbs. As I posted earlier today, I earned 26% back when I subscribed to ShopSmart through Ebates.

Do you have any other great ways to get free magazines? I’d love to hear them!

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