Live Well, Spend Less living a better life while saving time and money

We’re using more and more rechargeable batteries, now that they don’t have “memory” issues (remember when you had to completely discharge them before recharging?), have faster charge times, and last longer.

Problem is, we have all these batteries floating around and different people charging them. How to know which needs charging?

One trick is to get a container with two compartments (or two containers, though they get easily separated and misplaced that way), and mark one for “dead” and the other for “fully charged”.

Another trick I’ve heard of is to wrap rubber bands around the fully charged batteries.

Now the trick is to get everyone to follow the rule

My wife and I have different cleaning strategies around the house. She likes to take care of bits and pieces when she has time - I like to set aside Sunday morning and do it all at once. Now we’re talking here about major cleaning, not day to day tidying etc.

What’s your strategy? How do you minimize your cleaning time and efforts?

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Crockpots are a great way to get easy delicious meals, while saving time and money.  Just ask Stephanie O’Dea. She admits she doesn’t like cooking very much, but as a newlywed and a new mom she wanted find a way to cook that was simple and inexpensive.  So she resolved to use a crockpot every single day of 2008.

Check out her blog A Year of Crockpotting to see how she’s been doing, and pick up some wonderful recipes and tips too! One of our favourites is the Margarita Chicken CrockPot Recipe.

It’s never too late to learn from our parents and grandparents when it comes to money matters.  The idea hit me while reading the article 13 ways to live well on less (great titles think alike!) and several of the money experts said they were just doing what their grandmothers did.

It’s not that our parents and grandparents always sat us down and told us how to manage our money - certainly wasn’t my experience - but good parenting really comes by setting a good example, and for the most part, our parents and grandparents did that very well with money.  So if you didn’t absorb the lessons then, you can still learn from them by thinking back to what they did right to live within their means.

Over at the Mommy Snacks blog, there’s a handy beginner’s guide to shopping with coupons. I like how Andrea emphasizes having a clear food budget - and sticking to it - before even thinking about saving money with coupons.

I remember the day when we’d rush to buy the local bargain hunter newspaper and try to be the first to call for the used item we needed.  With today’s online classifieds, you don’t have to wait to try this tactic - you just need to hit that refresh button a lot.

Recently we were looking for a new office desk.  We picked up an almost-new executive desk with hutch and wrap-around tables for just $75.  The key was to check the used office page of one of our local classifieds sites every couple of hours or so.  The latest ads always post to the top of course and they often show the time posted, so you can easily see what’s new.

When we got the office desk, the fellow said we were the first to call.  In fact, that was the case for five of the six bargains we picked up to help furnish our new office area.  We also used the classifieds website that we found to be most active and to have the best bargains, but if you’ve got the time, you can keep track of some or all sites in your area.

We love the new Wal-Mart slogan in the US:  Save money. Live better.

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves

The matching US ad campaign is also well done because it cuts back on the hype and just talks plainly about how we all want to live better and how Wal-Mart can help you do that.

Not sure if you should buy that second coffee of the day?  Something that helps a lot of people is to calculate how much small, frequent purchases add up to in a year.  So here’s a quick list to get you pondering:

Cup of coffee @ $2.50 x 5 days a week = $650 / year

Lunch  @ $8.50 x 3 days a week = $1,326 / year

Newspaper  @ $1.25 x 6 days a week = $390 / year

I’m not saying you should stop buying these things altogether, but you can see where cutting back on say, a couple of coffees a week can leave you a good chunk of change for other things.

A friend was bemoaning how much stuff they had around the house.  At the time, I happened to be thinking about my wife’s birthday, and it struck me that what she really needed was a consumable - something that would get used up and not add to our own clutter.  She loves going to movies, but our budget doesn’t allow for many movie outings.  Bingo!  A couple of movie passes made the perfect birthday gift.  Now I’m dropping hints that a six-pack of my favourite cider wouldn’t go amiss for my birthday…

I’m always looking for ways to save time. The more I save the more I have time for the things I really want to do. Well, one of the biggest time-wasters in my day is dealing with email.

It’s not just the new messages coming in, either. I tend to let things pile up, either answered or unanswered, and it can grow to be quite an albatross around your neck, seeing those endless rows of emails staring you in the face.

Enter an email management idea called Inbox Zero. (more…)