Tightwad tuesday: save $100 this year

Here are nine painless (and eco-friendly!) ways to save $100 this year. Each one saves $100, so if you do several or all of them...

• Purchase ten articles of clothing at thrift shops, garage sales or yard sales, instead buying them at retail prices (the photo above is my favorite local thrift store, the Yakima Salvation Army, where most clothes are a dollar an item).
• Hang four loads of laundry per week instead of using the dryer.
• Make pizza from scratch once a month instead of having it delivered.
• Write a good letter instead of making a long distance phone call (or better yet—send an email).
• Reduce soda pop consumption by four cans per week.
• Bake one batch (two loaves) of bread per week.
• Save $50 each on two children’s birthday parties by making homemade decorations, cake, wrapping paper and one present.
• Reduce whole milk consumption by two gallons per week by substituting dry milk in cooking and mixing it half-and-half with milk in jugs for drinking.
• Pack four inexpensive school lunches (or work lunches) per week.