Free stuff everyday

I like free stuff. If you do too, you should surf on over to Sweet Free Stuff. There, you will find something free everyday. From groceries to books, there’s tons of stuff.

Check it out.

The things here will not radically change your budget, they’re mostly samples, but many of the items are useful. Sphere: Related Content

Make a better French Fry, I dare you.

Last night, I ran to the supermarket to pick up some quick items. In line, just ahead of me, was a young man buying 2 bags of Ore Ida frozen french fries and ice cream. I wanted to tell him that he could save gobs of money by making his own fries, but I didn’t. Let’s do the math. He paid $3.50 per 32 oz. bag. That’s $0.11 per ounce.

Whole raw russet potatoes are $0.59 per pound or less than $0.04 per ounce ($0.036875 to be exact). That’s less than half the price. You may be wondering what about oil and salt. Vegetable oil (corn, peanut, or blend) is approximately $0.05 per ounce. Most likely you can reuse most of this oil, as your fries shouldn’t dirty the oil much.

So, what to do with the potatoes to make fries?

Step 1: First, wash your potatoes. Then cut them into fries. Be sure to make them all approximately the same size and shape. This step is critical, as you want them to cook uniformly. Larger pieces will take longer to cook than ones that are smaller, so if you have small slivers from ends, consider discarding them.

Step 2: After you have the uniformly cut pieces, you must wash them. Wash them in cold water either by running them under the tap or repeatedly submerging them. Wash them well, as you must wash the excess starch from the outside of the pieces. This will ensure that your fries are crisp and light in color.

Step 3: Dry your pieces! Use a kitchen towel. No need to waste a multiple paper towels. Drying ensures crispness, minimizes splattering from water being introduced to oil, and maximizes your ability to use the oil for the next time you have need to get your fry fix.

Step 4: Oil blanching. Blanching allows the inside of your fries to be cooked and tender. Add oil to a large pot, enough to cover your fries while leaving at least half of the pot empty. This ensures than when fries are added you will not overflow the pot. This should be done over medium low heat. Your oil should not be very hot. This step is not like traditional frying, there should be just a few bubbles coming from the fries once added. I usually turn off the flame when adding the fries; to ensure that oil splatter doesn’t create a fire.

SAFETY: When cooking with oil please remember the following,
1. Cover yourself. Don’t cook in the nude (not that you would) and don’t wear large loose sleeves, as they may be a hazard.
2. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. This is just a precaution, but if you turn off the flame when adding the fries you should be pretty safe. If you don’t have an extinguisher have plenty of flour or baking soda and a lid for the pot. DO NOT USE WATER ON A GREASE FIRE!!!!

Step 5: Keeping the flame on medium low, wait for your fries to float. This is your signal the inside of your potatoes are cooked. If you have kept you flame low, there should be very little browning.

Step 6: Remove the floaters from the oil and let them drain and cool. I use a stainless steel colander with a pie pan below. Once the oil drains into the pie pan, I add it back to the pot.

Step 7: Heat your oil until hot, not smoking. You can test if the oil is hot enough by placing one fry and seeing how fast it bubbles. This time you’re looking for real frying action. Once sufficiently hot, shut off your flame and add the whole batch of oil-blanched fries. Turn the flame back up. The fries are technically cooked, but now you’re going for the crisp outside. Cook the fries until, when you touch them with your slotted spoon, they “feel” hard on the outside.

Step 8: Line the colander with paper towels. Remove the crisp fries to the lined colander and immediately season (to ensure the seasoning sticks). Give a shake to ensure coverage. Salt is fine. Salt and pepper is better. Or, try this seasoning blend.
1 t Salt
½ t Pepper
½ t Onion powder
1 t Chili powder

That’s it. Enjoy! Sphere: Related Content

Travel Cheap

If you travel through the NE corridor of the US, let’s say Boston to DC, this is a tip for you.


For this example we’ll compare prices on a trip from DC to New York.


Forget flying at $192.00 one-way! Between the high ticket prices, long security lines, and the seemingly inevitable delays (especially in NY), flying in the NE is not really cost or time effective. Often people elect this option because it seems fast. While the actual flight is fast, once you add the time to get to the airport, check-in, pass security, fly, circle and land, and then the time to get from the burbs to the city; it’s not fast.

Forget Amtrak at $72.00 one-way! It’s amazing that our country can’t seem to get trains right. The trains are slow and often delayed because of CSX. The Accela train is a gimmick and even more of a waste of money.

So what should you do?

Catch the bus!

No, not Greyhound at $35 - $41.

Gotobus.com has the truly frugal solution. You can travel as low as $17 one-way without advance reservations. If you are willing to commit to a schedule you can get as low as $29.00 round-trip.

Aside from the low fares, some of these buses, which are clean and safe, have wireless Internet access during transit. If you have your laptop and some headphones you’ll be stylin’. Surf over to surfthechannel.com and watch you favorite new or old movie. Watch the episode of Dexter that you missed or refused to subscribe to Showtime to get. Do some work, surf the net, or check this blog for even more money saving tips.

Happy trails! Sphere: Related Content

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

With the start of this blog, I’ve been looking around to see similar websites or blogs. I’ve found lots of talk about coupons. If you can work them, great, but I’ve never been much into coupon clipping (See post about Restaurant Depot ).

Here’s one of the best coupons sites I’ve seen.

http://www.nickels-n-dimes.blogspot.com/

Sphere: Related Content

Buy a car at invoice price (or very near)

Most people aren’t buying cars in our current economy, but if you are… this tip is for you. I used to sell car in college and this information is very real world.

Ask for the invoice. This should be in a big binder with lots of other invoices for cars. On the invoice, usually toward the bottom, “HB” or “Hold Back” will be typed with a number next to it.  

The holdback is money paid back to the dealership, from the manufacturer, after the car is sold. Think about it as a rebate coupon for dealerships. It’s unlikely that a salesman or dealership will be willing to give any or much of that money to you, but you should be able to get the price with the holdback included and any rebates that come from the manufacturer.

Obviously, this only works for new cars. 

Sphere: Related Content

Give yourself money

Since high school, I’ve had a water bottle. You know, the 5-gallon, big one. It used to be a glass one, but now it’s plastic. I try to empty my pocket of change each day, but quarters are hard for me, they’re useful. This is a simple tip. Use it and you’ll be amazed at the amount money you accumulate. This tip is well known, but let me tell you, a glass bottle is better. Even if you want a few quarters, for parking, you’ll be hard pressed to overturn and shake such a heavy bottle. Sphere: Related Content

Free Internet access. Free ISP (Internet Service Provider)

In a previous post, I briefly wrote about “catching” a free wireless signal, either by chance, with an unsecured wireless connection, or at most pubic libraries and schools. While I’m frugal, I’m not giving up my high-speed connection, just yet. But, if you’re connecting via dial-up, you may be able to save some cash, connecting to the Internet for free.

If you’re considering this, please keep in mind that you will be hit with a few ads when connecting. Also, you’ll be limited to dial-up speeds. But, if you’re an infrequent net surfer, basically checking email and reading this blog, this may be an effective cost cutting measure for you.

United Online, the parent company of NetZero and Juno offers up to 10 hours of free Internet access through Net Zero at this link. If you POP, grab your mail quickly by a mail client, 10-hours/ month should be more that enough time for basic use. With this free access, you will not be supplied an email address, but that’s not a big issue as Google offers free mail and POP access through gmail at this link.

If you need more than 10 hours of access, you’ll have to research your local options. ISP Bargains has a list of options organized by state.

Take a look. See if this can work for you.

Even if you opt not to ditch your ISP for something free, signing up for free access could be useful as a backup. An example of this usefulness would be in the case of a power outage. Provided that you have a laptop with a charged battery and your landline is a standard line, not VOiP through your cable or phone company, you can make calls without electrical power. This call could be from your computer to an ISP, giving you access to the Internet. Sphere: Related Content

Half off Food and Groceries!

If you have a really large family, this deal is an easy one for you. If you’re in a small family or an individual, you may need to find a few friends to pull this one off. Regardless of size, you will need a business license or tax-exempt certificate from your non-profit. Is that hard, with so many fully or partially self-employed people in our new economy? I’m sure you know someone. Get your church or social group involved. Find a few like-minded people. Use the previous blog post Start a Business for Free.

No standard supermarket will be able to come close to the prices you’ll get at Restaurant Depot on staples like pasta, rice, or potatoes, not to mention bath tissue or paper towels. How cheap, you ask. In this month’s Northeast flyer (see for yourself), ground chuck is $1.85/lb. I don’t know where you shop, but that’s almost half price. Thinking of the season, turkeys are $0.99/lb. I suspect that you’re paying at least $1.50. To add to the savings, because Restaurant Depot is wholesale, there’s no sales tax. What’s the catch? Well… it’s a big one. Aside from the business stuff mentioned previously, the box is big. This place is made for restaurants. And while you can buy one turkey, what would a restaurant do with one chicken? Expect 30 chickens in a box.

Just writing that reminds me of a friend in college that had this friend that worked for a poultry company, who convinced us to chip in and get an obscene amount of wings at some ridiculous price. At the time, I had a thing for Buffalo wings. When it was all over, I couldn’t eat chicken for a year.

No, not again! As much as I like chicken, I can’t eat a whole chicken everyday, nor do I have the freezer space for that much chicken. Yes, this is where your friends come in. Any friend, group of friends, or newly found friends (because of this plan), that cook or have a family will gladly share low prices with you. Be communal about it. Pool your money together and get lots of stuff.

If you’re going communal and have a designated shopper for the group, consider giving that person a 10-20% discount on their purchases. It’s only right, as there’s some work to be done at Restaurant Depot. All of the sizes are large, there’s travel to and from, and occasionally shopping at Restaurant Depot can be a bit stressful. Maybe the business owners are stressed seeing money go out the door, but you should be whistling a sweet, sweet tune. If you’re the designated shopper, please remember the following:
• Eat before you go. You’ll need the energy for walking, lifting, and packing.
• Take a winter coat. Even if it’s 115 degrees outside. Restaurant Depot has a walk-in cooler and freezer section that will chill your bones. Really!
• Leave you coupons at home. They’re not going to take them, but at these prices, who cares?
• Be prepared to wander. Sometimes things are not where they’re listed.
• Pick up some extra plastic storage bags. You’ll need them.
• Keep your membership card with you and handy. You’ll need it when entering the building and again to check out.
• Shop for the specials. In general the best deals are seasonal and excess supply. If you are willing to be a generalist, you’ll get a better deal. One cut of meat, as opposed to another, may be on sale this week.

Go forth and save! Sphere: Related Content