There is a site where you can bid on free stuff. Yes, free stuff. Toys, clothing items, DVD’s, etc. Free.  If you win the auction, you only pay shipping and some items offer free shipping.

So how does this work? Well you bid with credits. Credits are completely free. So, how do you get credits if they are free? Well, you get free credits by joining, by connecting with facebook, by referring friends, by listing your own auctions and having someone win them.

Some people offer free shipping on items so their auction will be more popular and they will get more credits. They then use these credits to bid on something they want.

It’s sort of like an online swap. You list stuff you no longer want and receive credits. You use these credits to bid on stuff you do want.

Check Listia out, it’s free to join and you might win an auction you want. For free.

Click on this link: http://www.listia.com/signup/82750

You can look stylish and fashionable without spending a fortune.

Take designer, luxury watches. They are very expensive. They can cost up to $20,000 or even more just for a watch.

Everyone knows the Swiss made watches are the best of the best and the successful, rich, stylish people, fashionistas, and those who care about social status all have designer watches all over the world.

However there are talended craftsmen who handmake replica watches to the tiniest detail to look and feel exactly like the original. You can take advantage of the skills of these talented watch makers. This way you can wear a “Rolex”, “Gucci”, Chanel”, “Omega” or any other designer watch for a small fraction of the price. For only around $100 or so you can get an expert replica that no one would know isn’t the real thing unless you decided to tell them.

Or click here http://bit.ly/15wAPv to see the amazing replicas for frugal fashion and style.

Credit cards are considered a luxury for some, but many see them as a necessity. As you can imagine a lot of people apply for credit cards by the thousands a day. The average person owns more than one credit card. This is causing the credit card industry to grow and leap beyond any one’s imagination. However, the credit card industry and its holders are doomed with one huge dilemma called ‘Credit Card Debt’. For us to understand what this really means, we have to take a look at the work flow that comes with the use of credit cards.

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Credit cards, as the name states, are cards that give you a line of credit i.e lending you the money (your credit card debt). Your credit card is a representative of the credit account that you hold with your credit card company. When you make payments to your credit card you’re actually paying what you borrowed and it’s contributed towards your debt. Your debt is the total amount you owe your credit card company. Most companies make you pay a min. percent of your debt on a monthly basis. When you receive a monthly bill it shows your total credit card debt. If you fail to pay off your debt by the payment due date you will be charged with late fee’s and sometimes even higher interest fees. Many companies give you a choice to pay a partial or minimum of your payment, in which you don’t get hit with late fees but just interest charges on your credit card. Doing so will cause your debt to keep increasing, as interest rates on credit cards are higher then the interest rates on loans. Interest charges add on to your debt every month to give you a new balance which increases your debt. If you continue to only pay the min. balance on your card the interest from last month still hasn’t been paid and you end up paying the previous months balance. This can cause you to go into debt very rapidly and a relatively small balance can land you into huge debt that can be almost impossible to pay. Control your spending to avoid these high debts from occurring.

If you are pinching your pennies, here are some little things you can do. You won’t save a big chunk of money, I’ll tell you that, but every little bit helps.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

1) Unplug all appliances you aren’t using. Say you only use your electric can opener occassionally. Then unplug it and only plug it up when you use it and then unplug it again. Same thing for the TV. Unplug the TV when it’s not being watched. Before you go to bed at night unplug your TV. Just plug it back in when you’re going to watch it.

2) Turn off your computer at night. Many people let their computers run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and just have a screen saver come on when it’s been idle long enough. Instead of leaving it on all the time turn if off at night and when you know you won’t be using it for hours such as when you’re going to work.

3) Use everything until the last drop.

4) Find cheap recipes to cook for meals.

5) Make sure you are using the energy saving lightbulbs instead of the now old fashioned ones. They last longer and use up less electricity. You can use them on ceiling lights and lamps. When shopping for them you’ll see a Watt equivalent so you know which ones to buy.

6) Don’t run the dishwasher until it’s completely full.

7) Don’t take long showers. Some people like to take 30 minute showers, but just take showers long enough to get clean and then turn the water off.

When drying your clothes, dry 2 loads at once.

9) If you have space outdoors and can set up a clothesline, dry your clothes outside. Being eco-friendly is cool and in now, so if anyone asks tell them you’re helping the environment by drying your clothes the natural way and not using any electricity to do it! You may even inspire others to do the same since eco-friendly has even become trendy.

This is a very good documentary talking about how suburbs were based upon cheap and abundant oil and automobiles and combimed the worst of city life and country life.

When oil gets too expensive and harder to drill, what will everyone do that depends on cars as transportation? How will all the people of the suburbs get to and from work and shopping, etc?

This documentary predicts that in the future suburbs will be the slums nobody wants to be apart of.

It’s been called “a living arrangement that has no future.”

When “cheap” energy is over, what will happen? This documentary discusses how suburbia started, why it started, what’s wrong with it, and the fact that there will be an end to oil, what American life depends on.

It makes you think and you will want to conserve as much energy as possible. Perhaps even think of moving to a place where it’s more walkable instead of having to drive everywhere.

You can wash your clothes yourself indoors. It’s not for the lazy because it takes time and work. It will save you electricity because it uses a lot less electricity than washers and dryers. It also uses less water, so you’ll save a little on your water bill too.

Some people don’t have washers and dryers and must go to a laundromat to wash their clothes. This is a pain because it’s really boring. You can’t just leave your clothes there, so you have to sit there and be bored or try to read a book while you’re waiting for your laundry to wash and dry. Most laundromats charge around $1 or $1.50 per load in the washer and the dryer. You have to supply your own laundry detergent of course.

There are basically 2 benefits to washing your clothes yourself indoors:

1-save money-it’s frugal

2- don’t have to wait around at a laundromat. Can do it at your own time.

But I don’t want to make this sound too easy so here are the disadvantages:

1- is time consuming

2- you have to work at it unlike just throwing a load in a washer (this could be a good thing though if you want to build a good work ethic or want to burn off calories)

3- clothes take a long time to dry indoors, like 2 days.

Hand washing is a good thing if you only have a few items of clothing, a uniform perhaps or your favorite outfit, but don’t want to use the washer and dryer just for a few items. Save water and electricity by hand washing them.

Now if you are really serious about hand washing your own clothes indoors, go to http://www.lehmanbrothers.com and you can find all kinds of neat stuff-like the things they used long time ago before washers and dryers.

You can get a variety of washing boards which remove all those stubborn stains that washers don’t touch.

You can get indoor drying racks-this is really a necessity and a double rinse sink, clothes wringers where you turn a handle to get your clothes wrung out good, as well as other indoor laundry items.

Stock up on these items if you are serious about this and plan to hand wash your laundry indoors long term.

Now if you want to just experiment and try out how it works, do this.

Get 2 of those plastic storage containers. You can get them around $5 or so. One is for washing and the other for rinsing.

Get some clothes, put it in a container which should be in your bathtub, then pour on the water and put in the laundry detergent.

You need something to stir the clothes with. They need to be stirred good or agitated to get them clean.

Then pour out the water and wring out the clothes and put them in the other container which should also be in your bathtub. You can now take the washing container out of your bathtub and keep in the rinsing container. Then fill the container with water and let the soap get rinsed out.

For a good rinse you have to do this twice. Pour out the water, wring out the clothes again, and put them back in the rinsing container with fresh water.

Next, you have to take out the clothes and wring them out again one by one. This is hard to do by hand so that’s why if you want to do this long term, to get one of those close wringers where you can wring them out good just by turning a handle.

Then you need a place to put them to dry. You can put them over your shower curtain (put a towel on the floor it the clothes are dripping) but the shower curtain will only hold so many clothes. So it’s good to have an indoor drying rack. This is unless you live in a place where you can have an outdoor clothes line.

So do this experiment and see if you think it’s worth it to save money and use less electricity and water.

If you think it’s worth it, head over to Lehman Brothers and stock up on some essential laundry items like the clothes wringer, indoor drying rack, and washing boards for clothes with stains.

Do you want to know exactly how we got into this economic recession?

This video explains it well. In a nutshell the super rich super greedy big bankers are the ones who caused this whole mess and it’s the middle class who’s paying for their mess. They are not even affected.

You can also watch it on video.google.com by clicking this link.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3305522889894137433&ei=eFDUSYPYGIH2qQLluJz1BA&q=documentary+greed&dur=3

Any frugal person loves to get free samples.

From time to time companies offer free samples of their products. These products can be anything from shampoo and conditioner, pads, heartburn medicine, paper towels, or whatever.

I have found some offerings of these free samples and got them myself. Usually they say it takes 4-6 weeks to get your items but I usually get mine in 2 weeks.

I have added a tool on the side of this blog where you can get free samples.

You are probably familiar with the website Craigstlist.org. There is a Craigslist for practically every city. For small towns, you just have to go to the nearest city to you.

There is a “free” section. Sometimes people have free stuff they want gone. Either they don’t want to bother with a yard sale, just want to clear room from their closets, or for whatever reason they give away free stuff.

Sometimes there’s junk or nonworking items and sometimes there’s stuff that’s perfectly good.

I had my own success story with Craigslist recently. I rarely go to the site. I just happened to go one day and a woman was getting rid of boxes of stuff. She was clearing out her storage unit. So I grabbed my aunt and said this sounds like fun, a mystery box. It will be fun to see what’s in it. I just hope it’s not men’s underwear or anything.

So we went and the lady allowed us to get a few boxes each. We went through them at home and there was some nice stuff in it. I happen to have young boys and I found a whole box full of clothes that will fit them!!! It’s like God had provided. Now they are basically set for the summer.

Now in my area’s craigslist I don’t see a whole lot of good stuff under the free section, but occasionally I do. I just looked and saw a free working upright freezer, the people just didn’t want it anymore. I have no use for a freezer but there is probably someone out there who is getting a freezer for free.

So every now and then pop into your areas craigslist and see if there’s anything under the free section you can use.

And if you have stuff you don’t want anymore, consider giving it away on Craigslist. You may be helping out a family in need.

Stores are now getting rid of all of their left over Christmas merchandise. Wal-Mart started out when it opened at 6am the 26th with all Christmas items half off. A lot of stuff doesn’t last long. If anything remains in a few days it will be 75% off.

If you need any gifts, wrapping paper, gift sets, cards, or anything else for a birthday coming up or for next Christmas now is the time to get it.

For example there are bath and body kits, perfume kits, and stuff like that, which would be good for any gift occassion such as birthdays, not just Christmas.

Get all your wrapping paper, boxes, ribbons, bows, name tags, and cards now for next year. So when Christmas comes around again, you will already have all your supplies so you won’t have to go shopping at full price.