Air conditioning costs are the biggest part of the average household’s electricity bill.   In warmer regions, AC can amount to 60 - 70% of the electric cost.   If you want to reduce your energy bills look into your cooling costs first.  Here are some top tips: Read more »

Craigslist is a huge online classified service available for all major cities in the US and many foreign countries as well.  Most ads are free.  Go to Craigslist.org and click on your city/state/country on the right hand side.   To list your unwanted items, click on “post to classified” in the top left hand corner.  You can create an account or list items without an account.  Click on “for sale”.  Choose a category that fits your item.   Fill in the blanks for title, price, description, and location.   Review your listing.  Ads appear within 15 minutes of posting.  Easy way to may extra money.

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Here are a few frugal tips on finding cheap airfare:

1. Try to fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Saturdays.  The lowest fares are usually on these days.
2. Late night or early morning flights tend to be cheaper.
3. Flights with one or more stopovers are usually less expensive than direct flights.
4. Check fares on each airline’s website.  Often they have special deals not available through 3rd parties.   This is especially true for discount airlines such as Frontier, JetBlue or Southwest.  Find which budget airline serves your route at www.whichbudget.com
5. Try to book at least 21 days in advance.  For holidays book 2 -3 months ahead.
6. Avoid flying in June or July or Christmas through New Years.  These are the busiest times and the hardest time to get a cheap flight.
7. If you need several tickets, sometimes buying them one at a time will get you a lower price than trying to buy them all at once.
8. Online discount ticket sellers such as Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz or Travelocity release their new prices on Wednesday of each week.  Often you can get the best prices early Wednesday morning just after midnight.
9. Fly on major holidays instead of the day before the holiday.  These flights can be some of the slowest.
10. If flying one-way, check round-trip rates.  Sometimes they are cheaper than the one-way tickets.