Unwrap Your Soap for Savings

My sister just gave me this frugal tip. She said that she opens her bar soaps and stores them in the closet. Not only do they help the closet smell fresh and clean, the soap also lasts longer for her children’s baths.

I did some research and she’s not the only one to notice that unwrapped soap lasts longer than wrapped soap. Apparently unwrapped bars of soap dry in the open air and when stored for a few weeks/months they will last longer in the bath without compromising the suds factor. What an easy way to stretch your soap and your budget. Thanks Shaunda!

Saving Money by Cutting Hair at Home

Perhaps one of the best investments I have ever made was spending $15-$20 to purchase a set of clippers to cut my husband’s hair. He spent $8 every couple of months for haircuts at the Beauty College so I knew these would pay for themselves with just a couple of uses.

At first I was nervous to cut my husband’s thick hair but he showed confidence in me and demonstrated which guards to use and how to cut his hair. The first haircut was the most nerve-wracking but after more than a year of practice it’s much easier to cut Tim’s hair and I can do it in less than 1/2 hour.

We have tried to cut our boy’s hair with the clippers and found it to be more difficult because it’s so fine and is still growing in irregularly. I’m certain that as he grows older and his hair is thicker it will be much easier to cut his hair with the clippers. Because we plan on having more children I know that learning to cut their hair will save a lot of money.

If you would like to cut hair at home but don’t know where to start, do some research online, and at the library. Also ask friends and family if any of them cut family members’ hair and if they’d be willing to teach you. If you don’t know anyone that cuts hair at home, ask a hairstylist if you can sit in and watch them cut hair with clippers and learn from them.

I also recommend buying a pair of clippers that are user-friendly. The clippers we have (a Wahl as shown in the picture), are really easy to use because the guards are coded by color, number and increments (1/2″, 1/4″, etc). I recommend starting with the longer guards until you are more comfortable and can move to smaller sizes.

I would guess that cutting my husband’s hair at home saves us at least $50-$75 a year. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like much, but over the years (and with children at home) that really can add up.

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a site that rewards you with points for searching the web and shopping through their site. I stumbled upon Swagbucks a couple of weeks ago and have found it to be a fun way to potentially earn some great gift certificates and prizes. For more information and to register click here.

There are four main ways to earn money through Swagbucks.

1. Be rewarded for searching with Swagbucks
Everytime you search the web through Swagbucks you are entered to win from 1 to 100 swagbucks. I started using Swagbucks this week and with minimal searches have already won seven Swagbucks. Swagbucks uses Google and Ask.com to perform their searches so I also knew that I was getting quality results. To make searches easier you can set Swagbucks as your homepage or put them in your browser search bar. Here are directions.

2. Shop online through their affiliated stores
You will earn 1 Swagbuck for every $5 spent at a partner store such as iTunes, Disney, Walmart, eToys and dozens of others. So if you are already planning on doing some holiday shopping online, find the vendor in Swagbucks and earn points. Here are more details about the shopping program as well as a list of affiliated stores.

3. Refer friends and family and earn extra points
The greatest way to earn money through Swagbucks is to refer friends and family to the site. You can earn up to 100 matching points for every friend you refer to Swagbucks. You can go here to set up a banner ad on your blog or facebook account or go here to send out an e-mail to friends and family.

4. Go Green! Promotion
You can also earn Swagbucks by participating in their “Go Green!” promotion and recycling your old cellphone. Here is more information on their “Go Green!” promotion.

Here are some examples of how your searching and shopping can add up:

45 Swagbucks: $5 Amazon gift card
50 Swagbucks: $5 Starbucks gift card
115 Swagbucks: $10 Barnes & Noble gift card

You can also win big prizes such as an Apple iPhone and XBox which cost over 3500 Swagbucks each. Here is a link to their list of prizes.

I know that I won’t get rich through this promotion but I hope to win some gift cards in the next few months. Some people do very well by referring friends and family and shopping online with Swagbucks.

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