Can You Save $1000 In 30 Days?

That's the challenge going on from I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Each day in November will have another tip to save money by cutting back on consumption. Even if you can't save $1000, it can't hurt to check it out and see how much you can save.

Tip: Homemade yogurt with a Crock Pot!

A Year Of CrockPotting has a fabulous idea: why not make your own yogurt? All it takes is milk, fruit for flavoring, a little bit of plain yogurt as a starter, and a crock pot. Check out how Stephanie made her own yogurt at home.

Saving energy... by skipping the clothes dryer?

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of green sites advising people to line-dry clothes to save on energy because your average clothes dryer is a major energy waster.

From Tip The Planet:

Air drying your washing instead of putting it in the dryer is a great way to save energy. It uses no electricity or fuel, and requires little if any equipment.

But is this really feasible in the average household? I live outside of Chicago, where today's high temperature was only 54° F. I can't imagine myself hanging clothing outside to dry in winter.

Turns out that I don't need to go to those extremes just yet. Like with any lifestyle change, it's best to start out with baby steps. For me, the first step was to start line-drying cleaning rags instead of tossing them in the dryer. It was easier than I thought. I just folded them in half and hung them up on a towel bar, with one or two extras folded neatly on top of washer because I ran out of room. Even on a cold day without heat, they dried overnight.

I still can't imagine line-drying all my clothes, but I also don't see the point on wasting electricity to dry rags. The next step is seeing if I can rig a clothesline in my bathroom, because I don't see the point of throwing socks and undies in the dryer either.

Sticking To Your Food Budget

I've been a little short on new recipes this week, because all the ones I've been testing just don't seem to be ready for publication. My other goal was not to go running to the grocery store until I finish everything I bought in my last trip. After a few days of trying to perfect my breakfast burritos and quesadillas, I was getting bored with my meal options. And, oddly enough, I was craving the one thing I hadn't bought last week: fresh fruit.

So yesterday I made a quick trip to Whole Foods with my $5 off coupon and picked up fresh fruit and fresh veggies. It was a gloomy day, and I was drawn to the ones with bright colors, like strawberries, pomegranates, red and green peppers, and zucchini. In a way, it makes sense that I was craving those foods, since they do provide some of the vitamin and nutrients I may have been missing. Plus, after the coupon, I only spent about $24, so it didn't hurt my budget too much. I could have done worse, like ordering take-out when I had resolved not to.

Tip: Where You Can Cut Back To Save Money

Before trying to figure out how to save some extra money, I was stopping at McDonald's for breakfast every morning. Why? It started out when I started thinking of breakfast as a treat for getting out of the house on time. Over time, "rewarding" myself started to add up. $4.30 per day, estimating that I was going there at least 4 days a week, added up to an estimated $69 a month. It probably got worse when I started "rewarding" myself for not sleeping in on my days off.

I finally managed to break the habit by going out and buying a package of Egg Beaters and a pack of tortillas (both on sale) to make my own breakfast burritos. Now that extra money is staying in my bank account, where I can invest it towards something else.

Living Frugally

I am so used to automatically getting take-out when I'm not feeling well. A cold calls for hot and sour soup and potstickers. Need comfort? That calls for pizza.

But living frugally and living within my means meant that something had to change. Instead of automatically going for the take-out menu this time, I checked my pantry. I had cans of chicken stock. I had rice. I had canned tomatoes. I had tortillas. I had salsa. Through it all together, and I had soup. I had enough on hand to make tortilla soup, chicken risotto, and quesadillas. By just looking in my fridge and pantry, I saved about $50 that would have gone on take-out cooked by someone trying to make money off of me.

So the next time you pick up that take-out menu, just think for a moment about how much that kung pao chicken is really going to cost.

Tip: How I make the most out of my Costco membership

I'm fortunate that there's a Costco only two blocks away from where I work, so making a trip doesn't cost me in mileage. In fact, they're closer than any other local gas station, making it more convenient for frequent fill-ups.

There's a couple tips I've picked up from experience that helps me save the most money at Costco.

• Don't assume everything is a good price when you buy in bulk. Calculate the unit cost and have an idea how it compares when buying at a regular store.
  
• Take advantage of the free! They have tons of free food samples at lunchtime. Because it is nearby, I'll often head there instead of heading for fast food. It saves some cash and you get to try new things. And if I'm still hungry, a hot dog and soda at the Costco food court is cheaper than from the vendor at the mall. That said...
• If you're going for the free samples, don't get suckered into buying something you may not need. If I'm just there for lunch, I won't grab a cart. That way, I have to lug any purchases around. It discourages me from picking up unnecessary stuff.
  
• Don't be afraid of Costco gasoline. A friend who works for BP Amoco's corporate office mentioned that it's Amoco gas that Costco is selling. On most days, I usually see Costco's price is a few cents better than the lowest price in the area.
• Costco only takes American Express (or cash) because they have a deal. Don't expect that they'll let you use a debit card that's co-branded with Visa or Mastercard.
• Don't use the big shopping carts! I go in with a plan and only use the cart as necessary. Otherwise, you can succumb to the temptation of filling the cart like everyone else.
• Don't go out of your way for a trip to Costco. Like I said, it's convenient for me, but if it's a long trip for you, save your gas money and find other ways to save money.
  

Tips: Making The Most Out Of A Deal

My local Whole Foods store has rotisserie chickens for $5.99 on Thursdays, a dollar less than they sell them at Costco and $2 less than most other grocery stores in the area. Since I'm on my own, a whole chicken for one person seems like a bit of a waste. However, I try to stretch my dollar by using that chicken to last through several meals.

I bought a chicken last Thursday, removed as much meat as possible, and saved the extra to use throughout the week. With one chicken, I had:

→ roast chicken with mashed potatoes on the first night
→ cheesy chicken and macaroni
→ chicken and cheese quesadillas

There were plans to make some homemade chicken noodle soup, but I opted for the quesadillas since I had leftover tortillas.

Here's a tip from my days working in a deli. If we had a lot of extra chickens left over late in the evening, we would mark them down to $2 or $3 and try to sell them to customers already in store. It was a lot better than hauling them all the way to the dumpster.

ETA: Whole Foods specials vary from store to store and region to region, so if you're looking for the $5.99 rotisserie chicken deal, you might want to call first and ask. Thanks to the folks manning http://twitter.com/wholefoods for clarifying that!