More Ways to Save Money

I haven't given you many money saving tips lately, but thanks to my mom, who's always thinking about me and about stories for my blog, I have the July-August copy of the AARP Bulletin. In it are 99 great ways to save. Many of them you've heard before but there are a few that bear repeating or are actually new to me. Here are the ones I found of interest.

1. Save water in an old toilet by putting a plastic bottle full of water, weighted with pebbles in your tank.
2. Save on printer ink by using the Century Gothic font. A recent study showed that this particular font consumes about a third less in than industry-standard Ariel. That will save about $20 a year for a home user printing 25 pages a week.
3. Ask your doctor for a discount. I did this last year and was pleasantly surprised. There was a time when I was uninsured for 8 months, which I explained to the doctor, and she graciously gave me a 30% discount. Go to healthcarebluebook.com before your appointment to find out what it pays area doctors for a similar consultation or test. Try to negotiate directly with the doctor, not the office personnel.
4. To save on groceries, check out mygrocerydeals.com. Here you can compare prices in your favorite supermarkes by product, category or store. You must register for this site but it is free. Trader Joe's is NOT one of the stores you can compare.
5. Buy gift cards for up to 30% off their face value at plasticjungle.com, giftcardrescue.com, and giftcardsagain.com, where cards are sold by gift-getters who don't want them. I haven't tried this one yet, but it sounds great.
6. Call 1800-GOOG-411. Give your location and speak a name or business category. You'll get a list of matches and the service will then dial your choice. The big advantage is that it's free.

Hope these tips will be of some use to you. I think the gift cards and the 411 tip are especially helpful. I will have another blog with more tips soon.