Need Free Shipping at Amazon? Here's some help!

Ever tried to order something from Amazon and discover you were just short of the $25 total needed to qualify for free shipping?

Now you don't have to spend hours trying to find something small to fill out your order. Simply visit the Amazon Filler Item Finder and it will help you find something. The Filler Item Finder lets you input the maximum dollar figure you need to qualify for free shipping. It also lets you narrow the search to one or more categories such as baby, electronics, books, DVDs, or kitchen supplies.

Obviously you have to weigh which is cheaper.... buying one more item to get the free shipping or just paying the shipping cost. Sometimes it's cheaper to just add one more item. When you're looking for that filler item, think of things you could use around your house: pens, kitchen utensils, food items. You could also think of potential stocking stuffers, too.

400 Free Photos and a Free Photo Book

ArtsCow, a digital photo service, is offering 400 FREE digital photo prints and a FREE 8x8 Photo Book to new members who sign up during this limited time only service.

When you sign-up (which only takes a couple of minutes), you will get credits for 50-4x6 prints and 50-5x7 prints for each month for the next four months. You'll also get a one-time credit to create a free 8x8 photo book and discounts on other products such as a photo watch for only $6.88 and custom mousepads for $2.88 (think Mother's and Father's Day!)

Please sign up using this link, and I'll get additional credits to print photos. If you have a blog, you can sign up, get all the freebies, and then put your own referral link on your blog and earn more free photos for yourself!

Thanks to Heather at Freebies 4 Mom for this fabulous tip. She posted a follow-up report that says shipping for the 100 photos runs $9.98... which works out to about 10 cents a print... but keep in mind that half of those prints are 5x7s which typically cost about $1 a print through other online photo services.

Happy picture taking!

Super Shopping Savvy

With food and gas prices, soaring, I'm constantly looking for ways to save money. Here are a few shopping tips I've been thinking about lately:

Plan your trip before you go. Make a list and check it against the sale fliers. Visit sites like A Full Cup, Coupon Mom and Hot Coupon World to see what kinds of deals you can get before you go. Be Thrifty Like Us and Money Saving Mom also have great tips for getting deals at the major drugstores.

Don't go hungry. You'll buy more than you need and most of it will be junk.

Don't shop with anyone else. In order to save the most money, you need to be focused on prices, using your coupons, and finding great deals. Other people, even well-meaning ones, can distract you from your money-saving mission.

Shop the perimeters of stores. In grocery stores, the perimeter is where you'll find the healthiest foods. In stores like Target and Walmart, it's where you'll find the clearance items.

Look up and down. The lowest priced items are usually on the top shelves or the bottom shelves. The more expensive items are kept at eye level so that you are more drawn to them.

Look left and right. Many shelves are also organized to have the more expensive items on the left hand side because they grab your attention.

Check the shelf tags to be sure you're really getting a bargain. The Super Target near me often puts up signs on items that say "Price Cut." But if you gently lift the sign up, you will see that the price is exactly the same as it was before the price cut. Make sure a sale is really a sale and not a marketing technique.

Keep an eye out for peelies. Peelies are those little coupons that are stuck on some products. Sometimes the savings make the product worth buying.

Watch your weight. If you're buying produce by the pound, by the smallest amount you can. If you're buying produce by the item, get the largest one you can.

Give your produce a good shake before you check out. Most stores water their produce... and that makes it weigh more.

Look at the scratch and dent items. I recently found two slightly dented boxes of Rice Krispies with Real Strawberries in the scratch and dent section of my Cub Foods for $1.50 each. I had two coupons for $1 off making each box just 50 cents! Combine your coupons with scratch and dent deals to save on all kinds of products.

Get a $5 Rebate from Huggies

When I first got the e-mail from Huggies about this, I must admit, I didn't really read it. But then Be Thrifty Like Us posted about it, and I realized I was slipping! Shame on me!

Anyway, here's the deal. Buy three packs of Huggies in a single purchase, then use this form to get a $5 rebate from Huggies. If you don't want the cash, you can opt to get a Lullaby CD or an exercise DVD instead. In order to get the deal, you have to have the UPCs and the original receipt. The offer expires 6/20/2008.

I'm thinking I may just watch and wait... It seems like Target often likes to do deals where you get $5 gift cards if you buy two packages at a time. Maybe they'll do a deal like that before the offer from Huggies expires!

I highly recommend visiting Baby Cheapskate frequently to see the Top Diaper & Formula Deals of the Week and other related baby bargains.

Free Sample of Nature Made Vitamin C

Here's something for all you health nuts out there: Nature Made is giving away FREE 14-day samples of its Vitamin C Liquid Softgels. Simply fill out this form, and your sample should be on it's way (limit one sample per household, while supplies last).

And in case you didn't know about it, Nature Made also has a Wellness Rewards program for frequent users of their products. Simply enter the codes from Nature Made bottles to earn coupons good for future purchases. Collect 500 points and get a $5 off Nature Made products coupon. You'll get a $7 off coupon for each 500 points after that. Many of their products are more than 100 points, so collecting the points isn't an impossible feat.

You don't need to buy a new TV

With all the talk about the government economic stimulus checks coming out a week early, I know there are people out there itching to spend that money on a flat screen TV.

Some of these people are even arguing they need a new TV because their current television will be rendered useless when TV networks broadcast digitally instead of on analog airwaves in February 2009.

Don't let that money burn a hole in your pocket just yet! There are a few ways to make sure your old tube survives the transition to new technology.

First of all, you could buy a converter. The converter will cost somewhere between $50 and $70. You can request a $40 off coupon here. There is a limit of two coupons from each household. The coupons can't be combined to purchase one converter. The coupons expire 90 days after you receive them, and they are only available while supplies last. Buying the converter with the coupon is much cheaper than buying a new television.

If you currently subscribe to cable television or have a satellite, you don't have to change a thing. You will still be able to use your old television as long as it's hooked up to the cable/satellite receiver.

You could give up television. Okay, it's not for everyone, but you could try it if you wanted. We have friends that watch their favorite shows on iTunes for free. They also use Netflix to watch television shows and movies. It's much cheaper than a satellite television subscription.

Don't get rid of your old television just because it doesn't have all the nifty hookups for your DVD players and other gadgets. I've been seeing a lot of people giving up their old TVs on Freecycle for this very reason, and it makes me cringe. You can get something called a Video Converter (RF Modulator) that are easy to install and cost under $20 to make your old television work with all your components.

Research all your options when considering what to do. Just remember that no matter what the salesperson (or your spouse, or sibling, or kid) says, you don't have to buy a new television. There are more frugal, environmentally friendly options out there.

Free Advertising for Your Blog

One of the hardest parts about writing a blog like Northern Cheapskate is finding readers. I do my best to post often and I try to write things that you will find interesting and helpful. I also love sharing coupons and bargains with you.

I have a passion for my frugal lifestyle, and a really want to empower and inspire my readers... and I want a lot of readers. I've been thinking about advertising but didn't want to spend any money.

So I was excited to read about Entrecard on Kacie's website on Sense-to-Save. Entrecard allows you to advertise your website on other people's blogs for FREE! I joined and am finding lots of great new websites.

It's easy. You sign up and then put the little Entrecard widget on your website. Other Entrecard members can "drop" their advertisements into your widget and you can do the same on their websites. It's similar to dropping a business card. You can custom design your own ad, and you get e-mail alerts when people want to advertise on your site. You have the power to approve or decline each advertiser. You get credits every time someone drops a card at your site or when you drop cards at other sites. You can use those credits to "purchase" advertising on bigger, better known blogs to get your name out there.

I am really enjoying Entrecard and have gotten some new readers from it. I'm also enjoying discovering new blogs.

If you're looking for a way to grab some new readers without spending any money, I highly recommend trying Entrecard.

Now you can subscribe to Northern Cheapskate!

Sick of coming to my website every day? Well, now you can sign up to have Northern Cheapskate delivered to your e-mail address!

It's simple. You just enter your address in the form on the left side of the site, and you'll get a confirmation e-mail. Once you've confirmed your subscription, you'll be notified via e-mail whenever I post something new at Northern Cheapskate.

Please continue to stop by Northern Cheapskate to comment on my posts, check out all my cool links, and to see my smiling mug. (ha!) Don't forget to tell all your friends about this site!

Thanks for reading!

Only 243 Days Until Christmas!

That's right. Start thinking about Christmas. It's not that far away. We're already a third of the way through the year.

If you truly want to save on your Christmas shopping, you need to start planning now.

Start by setting a budget. Determine how many people you will buy presents for and how much you will spend per person. When drawing up a Christmas budget, don't forget to include costs like Christmas cards and postage, and increased food budgets for family gatherings and baking Christmas goodies.

Once you have a budget, figure out how much money you will have to set aside from each paycheck to reach that goal. Put that money in a separate bank account and don't touch it until it's time to shop.

Another strategy (and one that I use often) is to shop all year round. Watch the clearance sections of your favorite department stores. Check out great websites like Want Not, The Bargainist, and Slick Deals to find the latest steals online.

Watch Ebay. Sometimes you can find great, new or like new items on this site. I also check out Woot, which posts a new hot deal on the latest electronic gadgets every day.

Keep an eye out at this summer's garage sales. You may find a perfect item for a family members collection or a great gag gift for next to nothing.

Think gift baskets. If you watch the sales and really use those coupons, you could fill a gift basket for next to nothing. You can find cheap baskets at garage sales, thrift stores, and dollar stores.

Take advantage of those credit card rewards and programs like My Points and Ebates. You can earn gift cards, cash back and other goodies just by doing your regular spending (just pay those credit card bills in full each month!) .

My Points is a great program that rewards you with points for reading emails and participating in various offers. Since I started a few months ago, I've earned $45 in gift cards. If you want to sign up, email me, and I'll refer you.

Ebates is a shopping portal that offers you cash back for purchases you make through their website. And if you sign up through this link and make a purchase before May 31, you can make an easy $10. I've already made more than $40 since January.

Both My Points and Ebates send out alerts for great deals on all kinds of items.

I also love to check out stores' online outlets, such as JcPenney's, LandsEnd, and LL Bean. LLBean has great deals for its Thursday Morning Markdowns, such as an $69 Adirondack Barn Coat for $19. Don't forget to sign up for your favorite stores' e-mail lists, so you can be alerted to deals on sales events and free shipping opportunities. Kohl's has free shipping almost all the time if you are on their list.

You can also consider making your Christmas gifts. Sign up for coupons from Joann Fabrics and watch the newspapers for Michaels and Hobby Lobby ads to save on supplies. You can also get great deals on photo products from Snapfish and Shutterfly, too, if you watch for them. The internet is a gold mine of free tutorials on how to make all kinds of crafty items.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? How do you find good deals on gifts?

It's Blog Carnival Time Again

Northern Cheapskate is featured in several blog carnivals this week. This week the Carnival organizers did a fabulous job in making them fun and easy to read.

Here are some highlights:

On Financial Success is hosting this week's Festival of Frugality. Rather than give a laundry list of this week's post, host Aaron Stroud crafted a well-written article incorporating everyone's contribution! It's a great read - loaded with good information!

Quest for Four Pillars has an entertaining take on the Money Hackers Carnival: Scream Addition. Prepare for a trip down horror memory lane as you learn how to hack away at your debts.

And finally, there's a new carnival called Broke and Need Money Carnival hosted by Hook Me Up. This has handy tips for those times when you need to shake some change out of the couch cushions.

Happy reading!

Free Family Records Organizer

T.Rowe Price is giving away a free Family Records Organizer. The CD-ROM contains a program that lets you organize all of your important personal information in one location so that your family can access it in case of an emergency.

The interactive CD-ROM makes it easy to document important information your family needs to know such as personal info, investments, banking and credit card information, and wills and trusts. It even includes a section on what types of funeral arrangements you would prefer. You can include account numbers and passwords in your Family Records file for yourself and your spouse, or you can block out those specifics if you share the information with another relative.

The program also includes a comprehensive learning center complete with helpful videos.

This is a great tool that will help adult children with the records of their aging parents. But it is also an important tool even if you are younger. If you are injured in an accident or your home is threatened by a natural disaster, it's important to have this crucial information in one place.

Similar programs have sold for upwards of $40. But you can get this program for free by filling out this form. I got my Family Records Organizer CD-ROM just a few days after I requested it.

Goodies from Walmart

Today in the mail I got not one, but TWO free Hallmark greeting cards in the mail from Walmart. This was a free sample offer Walmart posted on their website a couple of weeks ago. One was a birthday card and the other was a "thinking of you" card. They are very nice cards and I look forward to sending them to family members later this month.

Walmart is a great source of free samples - everything from diapers to shampoo to cereal. The samples are easy to request - just fill out a simple form - and they usually arrive fairly quickly. They also seem to change their offerings on a pretty regular basis.

Heather at Freebies4Mom has just started a new feature called Walmart Wednesday in which she highlights all the neat freebies you can request. She says that many of the samples can also be requested from the manufacturer's website in addition to Walmart. Heather's also good at finding freebies at Walmart that aren't on the main free samples pages, so I am excited about the new weekly feature.

Check Your Health Insurance for Discounts

Many health insurance companies are now putting a greater emphasis on maintaining good health and preventative medicine rather than treatment of chronic issues.

In order to encourage people to lead a healthier lifestyle, these companies often offer discounts or incentive programs.

For example, my Blue Cross Blue Shield plan (in Minnesota) offers monthly $20 discounts on gym memberships if you log 12 or more workouts during the month. It also offers a $10 discount on enrollment in Weight Watchers Online. There are other discounts available for services like massage therapy and nutrition supplements.

I've also taken advantage of my insurance's Healthy Start Program for women who are pregnant. Once a month, a Healthy Start registered OB nurse calls you and chats with you about how your pregnancy is going and answers questions you may have. The nurse is also available to call to ask questions at any time throughout the month. After the birth of your child, you'll get sent a $50 gift card to major retailers like Target or Amazon. I loved this program! With both pregnancies I was lucky to get the same nurse, and she was really friendly and knowledgeable. It was well worth signing up for!

My friend Michelle told me that her Medica plan allows her to earn $25 per quarter for doing things that benefit her health like preventative care appointments, completing a 6-week seminars on topics such as losing weight, exercising, and reducing stress. She also earns 1 point for every 100 minutes she walks with a maximum of 10 points per quarter. At the end of the quarter, she can trade 25 wellness credits for a $25 gift certificate. By the end of the year, she could earn $75 from her health insurance company by doing things that are good for her.

Check out your health insurer's website. You may be pleasantly surprised at the discounts and information you find there.

Gas vs. food? A Disturbing Story

I was disturbed today by a story I saw on Good Morning America this morning.

The story claimed that people were giving up breakfast and lunch to afford putting gas in their cars. Other people were lamenting that they had to give up things like kids' after school activities or going to church because of gas costs.

I can't say I'm all that surprised. The housing debacle illustrates how absolutely insane people's logic is when it comes to personal finances. Let's try some problem solving people!!!

I understand that many people don't have a choice when it comes to driving. I live about 30 miles from the nearest decent-sized town, so we have to drive a car. Every trip to town is costing about $7, and I expect it will be up to $9 by the end of the summer.

But, there are things you can do so that you aren't forced to choose between eating and driving.

First of all, re-evaluate what you drive. Maybe you don't need to drive a giant 4x4 SUV. Maybe something smaller and more fuel efficient would work better for you.

Car pool. Ride with a co-worker. Share a ride with a neighbor. Take the bus. Ride a bike. Walk.

Combine trips. Plan your trips so that you're traveling as little as possible. My parents live next door to us, so whenever one of us is going to town, we either ride together or we pick up things for each other.

Learn to budget! Take a good hard look at where your money is going and you might be surprised. What other things could you trim from your budget? Can you give up a few toys? Scale back your cell phone or cable TV packages? Eat out less? Give up smoking? Give up soda? Use coupons? There are hundreds of little things that you can do that will save you enough money to counteract the increasing fuel costs.

It always amazes me that many people are so quick to cut the important things in their lives rather than to take a good hard look at what stuff is cluttering their lives and destroying their finances. Food and shelter are basic needs that should come before everything else. I cannot relate to people who are willing to give up food to have a flat screen television and then cry because they can't put a tank of gas in their Yukon.

If you have a responsible budget that you stick to, slight increases in prices shouldn't force you to choose between gas and food.

Free Land O' Lakes Butter

Need some butter?

You can try a one-pound package of Land O'Lakes Butter in 8 Half Sticks for FREE, thanks to this rebate form I got from Be Thrifty Like Us.

The offer is good for up to $4.39 and doesn't expire until October 15, 2008.

Land O' Lakes also has free gift-giving labels that are perfect for those tasty treats you baked for friends or family. They even give instructions for how to print them on self-adhesive Avery labels.

Coupons, Drawings, and Goodies from Earth's Best

Earth's Best Baby Food has quite a few goodies posted on its website - including contests, coupons, and freebies (shipping fees apply).

Click here and fill out the form to get $1 off any two Earth's Best Sesame Street products.

Click here and fill out the form to get $1 off 10 jars of Earth's Best Organic Baby Food.

Get a free Sesame Street placemat with 3 UPCs from any Earth's Best Sesame Street Product and 99 cents shipping. Read about it here.

You can also get a copy of the adorable children's book Guess How Much I Love You with 12 UPCs from any Earth's Best product or an Earth's Best Cereal Bowl with 10 UPCs from any Earth's Best product. Each item has a $1.95 shipping and handling fee. You can get the redemption form here.

Earth's Best also has a link for a FREE subscription to American Baby magazine. This is a great magazine that not only has good information, but frequently has good coupons for baby products in it.

If contests are your thing, Earth's Best has those, too.

You can win a Super Sea World Family Vacation, Earth's Best prize packs, or a Shamu hand puppet and coupons, by entering the contest here. This contests ends April 30, so hurry.

Blog-free Weekend!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I will not be posting this weekend.

I need a bit of blog break to catch up on much needed stuff around the house. (I know, I know it sounds like so much fun!)

Rest assured, I will be back on Monday.

Until then, you can read some of the things I've been reading:

Freebies4Mom has a TON of great free samples this week (too many to link to here!). And she's started a cool feature highlighting sweepstakes and giveaways. If you've never seen her site, you should really take a look. You should just look anyway. There's something for everyone!

Frugal Dad writes about Language of the Perpetual Poor. You know you know someone like these people.

BeThriftyLikesUs writes about being forced to fundraise. This post definitely got me riled up... and I don't live anywhere near them or have a kid in day care. Sometimes it's the principal of the thing, ya know?

Now that the snow is melting and we're having a Minnesota heat wave (55 degrees, woo hoo!), I'm thinking about ice cream. And what's better is that WiseBread tells how to get free ice cream. Mmmmm.

Have a great weekend!

Get Free Bags, Seeds, at Walmart Saturday

As part of Earth Month 2008, Wal-Mart and Kellogg’s will be partnering to give away one million custom-made reusable shopping bags on Saturday, April 19th at 8AM local time. (While supplies last). You can also buy reusable shopping bags at Wal-mart for $1.

Kids can also pick up a Nickelodeon Wildflower Seed Card starting at 8AM local time. The cards can be planted under 1/4" of soil to produce wildflowers that can help create great environments for honeybees and birds.

The back of the seed card also has an invitation to play The SpongeBob Eco-Adventure game at http://www.biggreenhelp.com/, the game where you can help SpongeBob and Patrick save Bikini Bottom from an undersea avalanche of un-recycled trash–and the dreaded dirty bubbles.

Upromise... is it worth it?

Like most parents, I'm interested in my children's future. I'd like them to be able to go to college if they want. I'd also like it if they could have a great college experience without a ton of student loan debt when they are done.

I've used the calculators. And let's just be honest here. There is NO WAY that we could ever save enough to fully fund our three boys' college educations. We'd have to put away nearly $2,000 a month to do it and that is just flat out impossible for us. We can't afford that, and we really do need to focus on our own retirement. Our kids can borrow money for school; we can't borrow money for living expenses when we're older.

When our oldest son was born, my uncle asked me if I'd signed up for Upromise. I had never heard of it at the time. For those of you who may not know, Upromise is a program that gives you money for your child's college tuition (in the form of a 529 plan) based on the products and services you buy.

At first, I was pretty interested. I mean, it's free money for college. It sounded like a no-brainer. But then, I learned I would have to give Upromise my debit card and credit card numbers so that they could track ALL my expenditures.

I couldn't sign up for it. It felt way too much like Big Brother for me. Essentially, Upromise could see how I spend my money, and then use that information to target me. I didn't feel comfortable doing it. But I also carried around a little parental guilt for turning down free money for my kids.

Then I saw Smart Money's article "Can Upromise Ease Parents Anxiety Over Tuition Bills?" and it reminded me of why I didn't sign up for the program:

"SUPPOSE YOU OPEN the door one fine Sunday morning to find a well-dressed man on the stoop. He's got a camera, a clipboard and an odd request: "Can Irummage through your closets and cupboards, watch you surf the Web and read your credit card statements for the next 18 years?" Good lord, he must be one of those consumer-data pervs. But just as you're about to slam the door in his face, he offers the clincher: "I'll pay your kid's college tuition!"

That's exactly how I felt about the program. Quite torn. But here's the real thing. People aren't making all that much money in exchange for their loss of privacy. Here's what the article had to say about potential earnings:

"While some parents have earned thousands, that's a tough feat unless you shop almost exclusively with Upromise partners. In reality the average member hasearned just $47 so far."

Less than $50 bucks? Lucky if that will buy a textbook in 2026. If I'm going to give a company access to my personal spending habits, I want a lot more than that.

What do you think? Have you joined Upromise? Why or why not?

Free Kraft Cheese Singles

Kraft is celebrating National Grilled Cheese Month by giving away a coupon for a free package of Kraft Cheese Singles.

To get your coupon, click here, then write 500 words (or less) about your favorite grilled cheese memory. The first 1,000 people to enter on Wednesday, April 16, will be mailed a coupon.

National Start! Walking Day

Today is National Start! Walking Day.

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one killer in America. So in honor of the fight against heart disease, the American Heart Association wants you to get on your tenners and head out the door. It's not to late to get in some physical activity.

Their website lists some compelling reasons on why you should walk:

"Walking has the lowest dropout rate of any physical activity, and is the
simplest positive change individuals can make to effectively improve their heart health. Research has shown that the benefits of walking and moderate physical activity for at least 30 minutes total on most or every day of the week can help you:

Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease
Improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels
Improve blood lipid profile
Maintain body weight and lower the risk of obesity
Enhance mental well-being
Reduce the risk of osteoporosis
Reduce the risk of breast and colon cancer
Reduce the risk of non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes

Did you know that for every hour of regular, vigorous exercise we do --
like brisk walking -- we can live two hours longer?"

Their website has a lot of great information, including a FREE online tool that can help you
track your exercise and diet. Information and challenges like this help motivate me to live a healthier lifestyle. After all, a healthy lifestyle means I will feel better and hopefully save money on things like doctor's visits and over-the-counter remedies.

I'm currently in week two of my pledge to do 30 minutes of exercise three times a week. I'm doing well, and soon, I plan to increase my pledge to four times a week. Eventually I'd like to be doing something every day of the week. Won't you join me?

More Baby Coupons in the Mail!

As I've said many times before, sometimes it pays to just ask.

Such is the case with my quest to get coupons for baby products and other baby goodies when my twins were born.

One of the places I forgot to check with for parents of multiples programs was Luvs. It was a totally major oversight since I use Luvs diapers frequently. A few weeks ago, I sent the required info and this week, Proctor and Gamble sent me coupons in the mail.

Here's what I got:

• two coupons for $1 off any size Luvs wipes


• three coupons for $2 off any size Luvs diapers


• one coupon for $5 off any Luvs Jumbo pack of diapers or larger


• one coupon for a FREE jumbo pack of Pampers (WOO HOO!)


• one coupon for $1.25 off Crest Pro-Health toothpaste


• one coupon for 50 cents off Charmin Freshmates

The same day I got the above coupons, I also got a bunch more Earth's Best coupons. These weren't as lucrative as the ones I first got (free jars!), but they were still good.

If you, or anyone you know, has infant multiples, by all means, make sure you sign up for all the multiple births programs out there. Every little bit helps.

Saving on Gas: Tales from a Road Warrior

Editor's Note: The following post is written by Guest Blogger Susan, my very good friend (and a frugal one, too!). She's got so many good ideas, I wanted to share them with you. Enjoy!

I used to drive 120 miles a day, 5 days a week. For 3 years. No, I didn’t have some weird driving addiction or a social anxiety condition that forced me to be in a confine space 10 hours a week. I happened to be living in a place that made sense at the time and got a job that was everything I needed a job to be, except it was 60 miles away. So I drove my Toyota Corolla back and forth between the two. I realize most people don’t do that much driving but what I learned can help anyone who wants to save on gas.

1) Tire Pressure is really important. I think it has to do something with the fact that if your tires are under inflated your engine has to do more work to push your car down the road. To check this all you need to do is buy a tire gauge and remove the cap from the stem on your tire. Push the gauge on to the stem and see what the gauge tells you. If you don’t know what your tire pressure should be, it’s written right on the tire! Somewhere it says “PSI “ and then a number in raised letters on the tire. If it the pressure isn't what it should be add (or remove) air until it is. While you are at it, check your spare tire. Trust me, it’s much easier to do that in your driveway at home than find out you should have on the side of the road. You need to check your pressure at least 2 times a year, when the temperature changes (think spring and fall).

2) Put in a new air filter once a year. Your engine sucks in air to operate. If it can’t get the amount of air it needs easily, it has to work harder thus using more gas. To do this, go to an auto parts store and tell them you need an air filter for your make, model and engine type (if you don’t know your engine type, they will help you figure it out, God bless 'em). Mine is located on top of the engine and to install it all I have to do is open 2 clasps and flop the filter housing box open and put it in. Check your manual to see where yours is.

3) Don’t carry extra weight. That case of water, those golf clubs, that box of books you meant to take back to the library all are things your car doesn’t need to haul. Leave them at home if you don’t need them on this trip.

4) Have your engine tuned up as often as the manual says. If the engine is running like it is supposed to, it will use waste less fuel.

5) Don’t speed. Going faster uses more gas.

6) Take the most direct route for your trips. I have a list of all the places I need to go and I plan a “great circle route." I do my best not to backtrack over any area I have already been, leaving the grocery store for last (so the ice cream doesn’t get too soft). Not only does this save me fuel but it also made me feel efficient which is always good.

7) Avoid idling. It’s horrible for gas economy! Those of us who live in cold areas often warm up the car before we go. A minute or 2 is okay, 5 is too long. Just buy warmer gloves. This holds true for stop and go traffic too.

Other stuff I learned about making driving better:

1) Keep a snack in the glove box. It will save you from falling in to the drive-thru trap until you can get home.

2) Get books on tape from your library. I listened to more books than I ever would have read otherwise. Make sure they are unabridged. I would start with the Harry Potters if you have never listened to one. They are fantastic!

3) Fill up when you are ½ full. 2 reasons. The first has to do with getting stuck in a snow bank and freezing to death (I know it won’t happen but still……) and the other has to do with the fact that gas prices aren't going down. Why not have the joy of a full tank and save yourself 8 cents between now and next time you fill up?

4) Use Rain-X on your windows. I love this product. Buy a bottle (not the wipes) and some paper towels and put it on every other month. You can ignore the temp range for application. It makes rain slide off your glass; it makes bugs wash right off and best of all IT MAKES ICE EASIER TO SCRAPE. Need I say more?

5) Use gas station free stuff to your advantage. Find the station that give you free coffee with a fill up and apply for the company credit card that gives you a gas discount. I got 6 micro fiber cloths from Shell in March for purchases of gas.

6) Turn your headlights on if you are driving. Please. I can tell you it makes a huge difference in being able to see you coming. It won’t cost you a thing but it could save your life.