With back-to-school time starting and summer coming to a close, thoughts turn to school books and pencils and all the other expenses associated with school.  But one that many often don’t give too much consideration to is the method of getting to school.  Sending your child on the bus can not only save you time in transport, but also save you money for the gas it would take to go back and forth.  And, you develop a good habit of seeking out public transit from the very start.

Maybe someday your child will take the subway or bus to work instead of driving, just because of all the fond bus memories. 

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid Twice For This Already…

Thanks to first time host Frugal Homemaker Plus for putting together a super festival of frugal delights!  Her editor’s picks are:

• Cheap Healthy Good goes over the many valuable lessons that TV’s The Simpsons taught her.
• Daddy Finances gives great advice on how to save money before, during, and after a vacation.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity gives strategies on how to avoid the lure of upselling and cross selling. Do you ever walk out of a store with more than you planned on? This post is for you!
• SavingsAdvice.com outlines why she forgoes some of the finer things in life. What do we trade to have all the bling?
• HomeEc 101 gives excellent advice on how to avoid raising a picky eater.

Although I’ll have to beg to differ on the picky eater one - not that the advice isn’t excellent.  :)  But somehow I had a picky eater child from the womb onward…  heh.  I do follow most of the advice given and my other child is not picky, so there is that. 

Next week the festival travels to MoneyNing so get your entries in!

When you get out of the shower or the bathtub, you dry off. And then you may think that towel goes into the laundry - but what did it just do? Dry off a freshly-cleaned body! No need to wash that towel every day. A bath towel used once is usually not dirty. Hang it up (make sure to hang it up!) and use it again tomorrow. And the next day. And even the next day.

Hanging it up is the important part. if you don’t hang it up, it won’t dry properly, and then not only will you be drying off with a damp towel the next day, it will get mildewy-smelling and disgusting to use. So hang up those towels and use them all week!

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

There was a bit of a mixup with the Festival this week, but Student Scrooge stepped in at the eleventh hour and put together a fine festival on very short notice!  We thank Student Scrooge for his time and effort and invite you to take a look at his honor roll:

• Almost Frugal presents a clever compilation of the ABCs of Frugality: 26 Key Frugal Concepts — including catnip, (the) Joanses, soap, and zzzzs, and more.
• Gather Little by Little talks about how to get 100+ MPG. Sound impossible? There’s a catch, of course — that is 100+ MPG on a Scooter.
• Monroe on a Budget tackles the rapidly-approaching back-to-school peer-pressure issue, offering some very helpful tips on how to moderate the financial damage without disappointing your kids.
• Saving Advice reminds us why all those daily habits are worth it – the benefit from activities like brushing teeth, exercising, sleeping may not be apparent, but they can certainly add up to significant cost savings in the long run. Use this as motivation to keep at these healthy habits!

Thank you again for producing such a great festival at the last minute!  Be sure to check out the festival in its entirety, and then remember to submit to next week’s festival hosted by Frugal Homemaker Plus!

The drugstore game refers to shopping at CVS, Walgreens, and/or Rite Aid, and using a combination of their rewards programs and coupons to get many items for free or even sometimes effectively get paid to buy them. I do not have Rite Aid where I live, but I have dabbled in this activity at both CVS and Walgreens and left with items for literally pennies, or even on rare occasion, stacked coupons so that my discount ended up more than the original cost of an item.

I am no means an expert, so I won’t try to teach anyone how to do it, but there are many great sites out there that go through their CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid exploits weekly and explain all the best deals to be had. Today, just by clipping a coupon out of the Walgreen’s circular, I got a 5 pack of mechanical pencils for $0.05.

Give the Drugstore Game a try. At the very least, you can find a few great deals!

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Festival of Frugality #135 is up at Antishay Ventenne, one of the founding members of the new Frugal Blog Network.  Check out the different perspectives on frugality along with the six editor picks:

• Cheap Healthy Good: The Booze of Summer: A Quick and Dirty Guide to Lighter, Cheaper Drinks

• My Two Dollars: Save Money, Reduce Waste: Stop Buying And Start Borrowing.

• Saving Advice Blog: 25 Ways To Improve Your Financial Situation In Under 10 Minutes

• Squawkfox: 50 Reasons to Go Green with Reusable Shopping Bags

• The Digerati Life: Lose Weight While Spending Less on Food and Exercise

• Frugal Dad: Detaching From Material Possessions a Sign of Emotional and Financial Maturity

Next week the festival travels to Master Your Card so get your entries in!

This is a frugal use of not just your money, but your time as well.  If there’s a television show you enjoy watching, check and see if it is available online for free.  If you already pay for internet access and can watch television online, you may be able to eliminate some of your costs for television.  And if you can watch it online for free, you can do it on your own schedule and with less commercials, saving you time as well.

I just watched I Survived A Japanese Gameshow online.  Really, there is no accounting for taste. 

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Festival #134 is up at On Financial Success, with a handy user guide to locate which frugal topics most interest you.  Make sure to go check it out!  Here is one of the topics, some tips for juggling bills:

• Art of the Coupon’s Taking a Look at Eliminating Monthly Bills
• Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You?’s All I Had to Do Was Ask!

Thanks to Aaron for hosting! Next week the festival travels to Antishay Ventenne so get those entries in!

In the heat of summer, if there isn’t rain for a few days many people are watering their lawns with sprinklers to keep it from browning and dying.  When we first bought our house, we didn’t know anything about keeping up landscaping, and when our lawn started looking like it needed help, we’d start watering it.  During the day.  Every day.  In the full sun.

And - that was a big mistake.  Watering in full sun just helped the sun scorch our lawn to bits.  Our lawn did recover, but we wasted water and wasted money trying to do the right thing by our yard.

Watering deeply a few times a week, before the sun starts to heat up your lawn, is the best time and way to water.  Watering deeply lets the water be really absorbed by the roots, instead of just evaporating off the surface.  And even though you may be using more water at a time, you water less often.  And by doing it before the lawn is hit by the sun lets that water really be utilized instead of just scorched off.

Water wisely and your wallet and yard will both be happy. 

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Squawkfox presents the Festival this week with a theme that just has to be seen to be appreciated.  If you like fruit.  Or undergarments.  Or… both.  :)  Her editor’s picks include:

• Frugal Dad: 75 Tips to Survive a Down Economy.

• The Personal Financier: My View of Frugal Thinking.

• PersistentIllusion: Hype for Skype.

• Money Ning: Setup Google Alerts to Get Coupons and Deals.

• Quest For Four Pillars:  Everyman’s Guide to $30 / Month in Passive Income.

• Financial Reflections:  What Makes Kids Happy?.

Thanks for hosting and doing a very creative job!  Next week the festival travels to On Financial Success so get your entries in!