I love to live simply but it’s impossible to completely avoid the need to shop for clothing and the like. Here are the tips I use to stop the shopping experience from driving me crazy.

1. Only go into two stores in a single trip.

If I go to a giant mall, I only visit two stores. I keep this rule even when I’m visiting an outlet mall or somewhere I’m only going once and that will have potentially amazing deals. Two stores and I’m done in terms of my patience for shopping.

2. Scan the barcode by throwing away the box or tag.

I tend to stick to the same products e.g., I just buy the same sneakers over and over. Before throwing the box away I scan the barcode into my Red Laser and Amazon Price Checker apps so that I can easily reorder the same item when I need to replace it. Often I get last year’s model to save even more.

3. Know your criteria for buying an item.

For example, I love hoodies. When I look for a hoodie, I want it to meet the following criteria

– 100% cotton
– full zip
– Women’s XL or Men’s Medium. I buy oversize so that I can throw it in the wash and not be bothered by shrinkage.
– Not grey.
– Under $50.

Once it meets this criteria, I buy it. If you know your criteria, you will know to say yes to a particular item rather than continuing to look around to see if you can find something better.

4. Have a replacement schedule.

For example, I replace sneakers every 6 months. I like summer style sneakers, even in winter – they’re more breathable and I like summer colors better than winter. Therefore I know to shop when summer items are going on sale. Flip flips are another items where I know I regularly wear out an replace these.

5. Buy the cheapest.

I will usually always buy the cheapest for things like microwaves or other small appliances, and basic items like band aids. If I find out the brand isn’t any good, I’ll just avoid that brand next time. The vast majority of the the time, the cheapest brand is just fine. I’m not brand loyal or particular about brands that pay celebrities or sports people to advertise for them.

6. Shop online where possible.

Where I live, stores are option out of the item that I want. It’s very frustrating to go to the store to find that they don’t have the item I went for. Shopping online solves this problem because you’ll now instantly whether they have the item or not.

7. Don’t stock up.

There’s little to no reason to stock up, unless you think you’re going to need to replace a seasonal item before it becomes in-season again.

8. If I only need the item for one thing, don’t buy it e.g., one occasion or an ingredient I’ll only use in one recipe.

If I only need a fancy dress or something like that for one occasional or less than once a year, I’ll just do without it and find another solution. That might involve being slightly underdressed for the once a year I need some type of fancier clothing.

If I need to buy an ingredient for a recipe and don’t think I’ll use that ingredient in any other recipe, I won’t generally make the recipe.

1. Google Plus – Location Sharing – Free.

Google used to have a product called Google Latitude that would allow people to share their location with select others in real time. My spouse and I used this service so we knew when the other had arrived home, was on the way home from work etc. It saved phoning each other when we were driving etc.

The latitude product has been discontinued but essentially has been folded into Google Plus. Download the Google Plus app onto your child’s phone. Set them up with a Google Plus profile, and set it up so that they are sharing their location with you.

Why? – For safety. An older teen will know how to just turn it off if they want to get up to mischief but, if your younger child has a phone, then it’s a good bet. For older children and teens, you could also make having a phone contingent on them having the location sharing turned on. This app turns the phone into a safety device.

2. Find My Iphone or the Android Equivalent

If you are purchasing a phone for your child and they lose the phone, you can use Find My Iphone to find it. The app is also good for busy Moms or Moms whose kids like to play “hide my phone.”

3. Gas Buddy

As a Mom, you probably do a lot of driving around running errands and driving your kids around. With the touch of one button, the Gas Buddy app will tell you the gas prices of stations near you and the distance. This app is great if you want to fill up while you’re waiting for your child’s sports practice to end, or just to check out gas prices in different neighborhoods you visit.

I could’ve really used this app on a recent road trip when I got gouged at a gas station at a highway rest stop and then realized there were gas stations less than a mile down the road that were charging over 50c a gallon less. It was a little bit naive of me to pull into the first gas station at the exit and not realize I’d be paying a premium at the first gas station off the exit. I didn’t trust my instincts that there would be another cheaper gas station down the street and instead thought “well, there are lots of other people fueling up here.” Turns out there are lots of other stupid people!

photo credit: DaveLawler via photopin CC

Here are 7 ways you can acquire an extra $50-100 without any sacrifice. You could use these to, for example, travel an extra day a year. Try working through all of these at the rate of implementing one suggestion a week for 7 weeks.

1. Eliminate all ATM fees easily.

A Charles Schwab checking account will reimburse you for any ATM charges you get for using any ATM anywhere in the world.

If you get caught out a couple of times a month that’s at least $5 in “other bank” ATM charges you’ll be paying, or $60 a year. If your spouse does the same thing, that’s $120 a year you’ll save. There’s also no monthly fee on the Charles Schwab account so if you’re currently paying a monthly fee, you’ll save on that too. Frequent travelers swear by this account.

2. Cancel one recurring subscription.

Most people can identify at least one $5-10 a month subscription, or an under $100 a year annual subscription that they’re paying for but not using. Sometimes it’s only the hassle of canceling that gets in the way of canceling. When every day is busy, it can see like $5 isn’t worth taking that 15 mins to do the cancellation. It’s easy to think “I’ll do it next month.”

3. Sell one unused item.

Virtually everyone has at least one unused item that they could sell for $50-100 second hand. Put that sucker on Craigslist or just do a Facebook blast to your friends to say you have it for sale.

4. Take one less trip a week to the store.

If you can take one less trip a week that costs $1 in gas, you’ll save $50 a year. Try keeping a list in your glove box for a month. Each time you have to take what’s probably an unnecessary extra trip, write it down. Over a month you’ll notice any patterns and any extra trips that could easily be eliminated. For example, by using you bank’s app to deposit checks, or putting an item on an Amazon “subscribe and save” vs running out and needing to go to the store.

5. Renegotiate your insurance.

Spend a few minutes on the phone to try to knock $100 a year off your insurance bill. As a starting point, let your existing company know what you’re trying to do and see if they’ll work with you to find those discounts. Possibilities include things like taking an online defensive driving course, which will cost you around $20 and a couple of hours but will save you around $10 a month typically.

An alternative is to ask your most frugal friend who they’re insured with.

6. Let Other People Contribute

For one event a year where you would invite people for dinner, make it a potluck.

7. Do any one thing that will save you $1 a week.

This suggestion is a bit like the suggestion about taking one less car trip per week. Do anything that will save you $1 a week or $50 a year.

It could be ordering toilet paper online at a discount or buying something you use often in bulk.

photo credit: Unhindered by Talent via photopin CC

1. The Chicken Nuggets Principle

The Chicken Nuggets Principle is to make your child’s food dip-able. For example, if you’re going to feed them an apple, give them something to dip it in, for example some yoghurt or some cashew cream.

2. Don’t prejudge what they’ll like and not like.

For example, my 3 year old loves Japanese food!

3. Show yourself to be eating healthy food.

Kids tend to want to eat what their Mom eats.

4. Don’t let them get a taste for sugar, but don’t sweat their food fads too much.

Try not to let your child get a taste for sugar. However beyond that, don’t get too stressed if they go throw phases of refusing to eat or having very limited variety. If they’ve not been eating enough for more than a few days, focus on them eating enough rather than what they’re eating – sugary foods excluded.

5. Hide it under cheese or peanut sauce.

All adults know that almost any vegetable is delicious if it’s coated in cheese or peanut sauce. All your child to have vegetables, rice and rice noodles with cheese or peanut sauce.

6. Arrange for them to eat at other people’s houses.

If you have friends or play date parents who have more success in getting your child to try new foods, get them to go to dinner or lunch there. Ideally they should bring home a doggy bag so they also get used to eating the foods they tried out at home.

7. Traffic light sandwiches.

Make traffic light sandwiches with foods that are red, yellow/orange, and green. Use a small round cookie cuter to cut windows in the bread.

8. Make sure your child isn’t constipated.

Kids will often avoid eating if they’re having trouble going to the toilet. Who wants to eat if their bowels are packed solid with poos or if they know that expelling the food is going to be uncomfortable.

9. Make healthy versions of unhealthy food.

For example, low sugar froyo instead of icecream, popcorn with just a little salt/fat/icing sugar (or none), homemade chips or crisps, homemade chicken nuggets make out of better chicken etc.

10. Grow food at home.

Let your child have their own tomato plant, let them plant potatoes etc. Watch them become fascinated by the process of food growing before their eyes. Buy them their own watering can that they can use to water their plants.

photo credit: Hamed Saber via photopin CC

– Christine from Holistic with Humor writes about 6 Ways to Stop Glorifying Being Busy. She writes about we bring on excessive busyness by not setting good boundaries and by an attitude of “I’m totally full of myself and think the world revolves around me?”

– Around the World Food has a feature about how she has made the switch to traveling with carry on luggage only, after never believing that would be possible. She even includes an item by item list of everything that’s in her very tiny bag. Bravo on the simple living! What’s in my Bag?

She has another feature about how she snags amazing bargains by being flexible and having a sense of adventure. Here is her story about saving over $400 by using Priceline’s name your own price feature to book a transcon flight the day before her travel.

– Psychologist Mary E. Pritchard, Ph.D writes a very personal post about her own eating disorder. Quite a big confession from someone who is a professional food researcher.

– Happiness writer Gretchen Rubin writes a post classifying “Are you a satisficer or a maximizer?”
Satisficers are people who will stop researching when they have found an option that meets their basic criteria. Maximizers are people who keep doing endless research before they want the absolute best option available.