113 Recession-Proof Money and Energy Saving Tips

Phew. It's finally done! I got my act together and put my list of 113 tips on saving money and energy into writing. Besides 113 short and concise tips on how to save money and energy the .pdf file contains useful additional links to free downloads and complimentary information. The 16 page ebook is absolutely FREE and can be immediately downloaded. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

Please click on a Google ad before downloading this book. That's how I get paid. Thank you.

OpenOffice 3 - The Free Alternative to MS-Office

Have you heard of OpenOffice 3? OpenOffice 3 is a software suite comparable to Microsoft's Office. It has evolved tremendously during the past few years to where it can easily keep up with commercial software packages. Below are three compelling reasons why you should try it for yourself:

Great Software
OpenOffice.org 3 is the result of over twenty years' software engineering. Designed from the start as a single piece of software, it has a consistency other products cannot match. A completely open development process means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software. The result: OpenOffice.org 3 does everything you want your office software to do, the way you want it to. Oh, and a nice side feature... OpenOffice.org 3 let's you save your document as a .pdf file without having to purchase an additional extension. Mac and Linux users don't worry, OpenOffice.org 3 comes in many flavors: Windows, Linux RPM, Linux DEB, Linux 64 RPM, Linux 64 DEB, Linux IA64 RPM, Solaris x86, Solaris SPARC, Mac OSX Intel and Mac OSX PPC.

Easy to use
OpenOffice.org 3 is easy to learn, and if you're already using another office software package, you'll take to OpenOffice.org 3 straight away. The world-wide native-language community means that OpenOffice.org 3 is probably available and supported in your own language. And if you already have files from another office package - OpenOffice.org 3 will probably read them with no difficulty.

...and it's free!
Best of all, OpenOffice.org 3 can be downloaded and used entirely free of any licence fees. OpenOffice.org 3 is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose - domestic, commercial, educational, public administration. You may install it on as many computers as you like. You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees - anyone you like.

Book Lovers Beware... A Bargain Might Bite!

Do you love to read? Of course, the most inexpensive way to get your hands on books is still visiting your local library.
However, if you are like me and always in need of books for gifts www.bookcloseouts.com is for you. I have many toddler aged nephews and nieces and books are one of my favorite gifts. They have a great selection of educational children books. I also buy arts and crafts and cooking books for a fraction of the original price. They make for a fantastic give-away for my small business.
For our wedding, I purchased 50 copies of a travel guide which featured our wedding location and added them to our wedding invitations. All books are at least 50% discounted. Some of the books are marked down 90%.
My philosophy always is, why pay full price if you can get it for half? And by the end of the day, nobody knows what you actually paid.

Basic 1/2 Whole Wheat Bread -- No Perservatives Added!

Indulge yourself with the invigorating scent of freshly baked bread! Sure, it may not be as cheap as some of the 99 cent wonder breads available in your local grocery store but definitely more inexpensive than freshly baked partisan bread.
The nicest side benefit may very well be that you know at least the ingredients that you added... and guess what, you can even read them out loud without twisting your tongue in some chemical "kauderwelsch."

I started making my own bread when my husband gave me a breadmaker for Christmas. Ever since I have been baking religiously once a week. I don't like stale bread so when the bread is done, I place it on a cooling rack and let it sit for an hour. Then I sliced it, put it into a large ZipLoc bag and put it in the freezer. As the week goes by my family takes the slices of bread they need out of the freezer and quickly defrost them for 40 seconds in the microwave. Voila, always crispy, fresh home-baked bread at hand.

Basic 1/2 Whole Wheat Bread (Makes a 2 lb. loaf)

Use the basic bread setting (approximately 3 hours)
1.5 cups warm water
2 table spoons olive oil
2 cups whole wheat white flour
2 cups white unbleached flour
1.5 teaspoon salt
2.5 teaspoon active dry yeast

For immediate baking:
Add all ingredients as listed above, choose the basic bread setting (approximately 3 hours) and turn on the machine.

For timed baking:
Add all the liquid ingredients and the salt. Then add the flour, and at the end add the active dry yeast. Make sure that the yeast doesn't come into contact with the salt because this will cause the yeast to start reacting immediately.

Of course, I can never help it... I always have to cut off one of the ends immediately and spread butter with honey on the warm bread as soon as it comes out of the breadmaker. Delicious!

Tip:
If you are not scared you can obtain a breadmaker very inexpensively four a couple of dollars from your local 2nd hand store. Just clean it very thoroughly.

No More Mondays!

I woke up this morning and realized, that tomorrow will be Monday yet again. :( Then I remembered that I recently read No More Mondays: Fire Yourself -- and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work by Dan Miller and the sunshine and hope came back to my heart.

Ever since I have discovered Dan Miller and his work, I've been a follower and listener to his radio show.

The old traditional work place is disappearing. Over are the days where a Big Brother company took care of you. This book is a true encouragement of becoming who we are and actually enjoying everything we do.

All his work is a great and inspiring read and it is helping me setting up my own business on the side so I can hopefully move away from my day job soon and work from home full-time. You can sign up for his weekly newsletter and be informed about his activities and his new topics during his podcast radio show. Anybody can submit questions. In fact, in this weeks newsletter Dan Miller made a proposition. He recently purchased 5000 copies of the Spanish edition of 48 Days to the Work You Love and he is looking for new ways of thinking to sell those 5000 books with a profit. For more information check his blog http://48daysblog.wordpress.com/

Additional Dan Miller resources can be found at http://www.48days.net/ which was born out of his concern that people would talk about new ideas and opportunities – and yet he would see them two years later and nothing had changed in their lives.

Have a happy and enlightening day!

Reusable Green Tea Bags

There are two ways how to reuse your green tea bags. One way is to simply let it steep twice.
The second way is to save the tea bags after the first usage and then dry and collect them. Once you have accumulated about 5 bags, they can be sewn up in a cheese cloth and then used to bathe in. Yep, particularly green tea is very good because antioxidants can also be absorbed through the skin.

Other highly recommended herbal teas are:
Raspberry Leaf
Peach
Chamomile
Apricot
Ginger

Lotions, Shampoos and other Cleaning Gadgets

I have made a pledge to not buy any more soaps, lotions, conditioners, chap sticks, shampoos, body washes, toothpastes, shaving cremes, make-up, lipsticks, eye liners, hand cremes etc. until the last drop and bitty bit is used up. We are probably looking at the year 2020...

Stand-By Electricity Usage

All electric appliances that have a remote control or have a digital display are on stand-by of some sort and still draw up to one third of their electric supply while in "hibernation" mode. This refers to TVs, DVD players, microwaves, laundry machines, etc. It is a good idea to plug appliances into a power switch and to turn it off completely when not in use.

Roasted Flour Soup or Dinner for Less than a Buck

5 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion sliced in rings
4 coups bouillon (chicken, vegetable or beef)

Optional (but then the soup will cost a bit more... but taste much better):
croutons-32 oz bag
grated cheese

Brown flour in pot while continuously stirring, then when nicely browned, let it cool off slightly. Add the butter or olive oil and stir with the flour. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes. Pour in the bouillon and bring to a boil while stirring. Lower the heat and let cook for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Season with pepper if necessary.
Serve in pre-warmed plates with croutons and grated cheese. Enjoy!

ZipLoc and Other Plastic Bags

Who said Ziploc storage bags bags can only be used once?
They are made out of plastic after all and can be turned inside out, washed, dried and reused. Personally, I prefer the plain no-name brands offered by Target or Aldi.

Small plastic grocery bags can be used as in-liners for small trash cans. Larger plastic bags (e.g. from Target) suffice as trash bags for your regular kitchen trash. Remember to recycle, it keeps the actual amount of trash to a minimum. Most plastic containers can be recycled these days.

There's no need to pay for something that most stores are giving away for free.

Save a Buck at Starbucks

For the longest time my office buddy and I would go to Starbucks and order each the same type and tall size coffee. Every day, every morning.
Now we order the venti size in two cups. We pretty much cut the costs of coffee in half.
Yearly savings: 5 * 1.70 * 48 = 408 dollars.
Well, you could just brew your own. However it might not always be that easy in an office setting. This nice Voltage Valet Quick Café II (Travel Coffee Maker) for $40.00 seems to offer an alternative when there is limited space available.

Credit Card Dept

Always pay off credit cards with the highest interest rate first (not the ones with the largest balance)! Always.

The interest/balance ratio stays the same regardless of the initial balance ($1000 versus $2000) on a card. However the interest/balance ratio increases SIGNIFICANTLY as the interest rate increases.

1) Pay off card 4 as soon as possible, then 3, then 2 and finally 1.

2) If card 1 isn’t maxed out, transfer the balance from card 4, then 3, then 2 to card 1.

3) Repeat until all your balances are on the lowest rate you can possibly get. Some cards offer 0% APR on balance transfers for up to 6 months, some even 12 months (http://www.creditcards.com/balance-transfer.php). Transfer the balances and then lock that card in a drawer and don’t touch it for purchases! Just pay the monthly bills.

4) Keep shifting until all is paid down.

5) Don’t get yourself into that mess again. If you don’t have the money in the bank the moment when you make the purchase… YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT!

Any little change will make a huge difference in your life. You work hard for your money, don't waste it on credit card companies.

Dave Ramsey however recommends the dept snowball. Paying off your dept starting from the smallest amount and working your way up to the largest amount. If you need more information about how to pay off your dept as fast as possible, his The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness is a great read.