Discount meal

Today's savings: $90

Trying to save money by not eating out but you're really missing that dining experience? Especially when celebrating a special occasion?

Web site restaurant.com offers discounted gift certificates for meals at local restaurants. You can search the site by zip code, finding coupons for local eateries.

A real costume treat

Today's savings: $30

Thinking about a Halloween costume? If your child aspires to be more creative than a hobo this year, costumes can be expensive unless you're really crafty. But even crafty people have busy schedules and may not have the time to sew.

Save the bananas

Today's savings: $25.74

Like bananas but don't like how fast they age? Store your bananas in a plastic bag. It will extend their shelf life.

Bananas left in a fruit bowl can turn brown in about a week, which is great if you like banana bread. If you take a green/barely yellow bunch of bananas and store them in a closed plastic bag, it takes almost two weeks before you'll start to see brown spots develop. By then, though, you would have eaten all the bananas instead of throwing some away. 

Music to our ears

Today's savings: Hundreds

No rotten eggs

Today's savings: A painful stomach ache

A federally graded egg is safe to eat three to five weeks after the expiration date printed on the carton. But don't push it. If you question whether eggs have gone bad, there's a simple test to see whether an egg is safe to eat.

Fill a pan with water and gently place the egg in the pan. If the egg sinks or bobs below the surface, it's safe to eat. If it floats sideways to the top, it's bad. Be careful when throwing it away, though. The stench of a rotten egg is not easy to chase out of the kitchen.

Student discounts

Today's savings: Thousands

Have a child attending college? You can use that student's college registration receipt to get discounts on airline tickets, computers, software, cell phones, textbooks, insurance policies — anything a student may need during the time they are in college.

According to Cyrus Shepard, president of GlobeStudentDiscount.com, "as long as the parent is purchasing for their children, they save." Savings can range from 10 to 80 percent, and can extend to schoolteachers, too, who have educational identification.

Pay annually, not quarterly

Today's savings: $60

Insurance companies charge a small processing fee when you pay your life, car, home or other insurance monthly (or quarterly), so you can save money by paying these bills annually, eliminating these monthly fees. It'll take a little planning to have that much cash on hand to pay for each policy a year in advance, so arrange to stagger insurance bills to come due at various times during the year.

Moving pennies

Today's savings: Thousands

Making a long-distance move to a new home? You can save by doing some or all of the packing yourself.

It can cost thousands to hire a moving company to pack and move, but many companies offer a reasonable price to provide boxes that you can pack yourself, saving the fee of having the moving company do that hourly work. Companies often drop off the boxes, scheduling a pickup time for the packed goods.

Watch this

Today's savings: $25

In the market for a basic watch? Before you buy, check the watch to make sure you can change the battery yourself. 

It can cost as much as $30 for a jeweler to change a battery if the back of the watch requires a special tool to open, but you can change the battery yourself for as little as $5. It doesn't make sense to shop for a discount $40 watch just to pay $30 to change the battery in a year. So, before purchasing, ask the store clerk to open the watch package to make sure the battery can be changed at home.

No broken bones

Today's savings: The cost of orthopedic surgery

This is a suggestion for those of you who use canes or walkers to propel yourselves around in this world. There are seven steps that lead into my mobile home and they are painted dark brown. I have painted a white edge on the top and front edge of each stair. White tape will work just as well and will enable the person coming or going to see where each step ends or begins.

This is probably not a money-saver, but it may be a bone-saver.

  — Trudy Whitman, Norway

Berry clean

Today's savings: $22.90

Heard about the benefits of a blueberry facial mask but don't want to pay the steep price? Make a Maine blueberry facial mask at home.

Mash 10 blueberries with a spoon and add a tablespoon of plain yogurt, mixing the ingredients until smooth. Wash your face, then spread the mask on your face. Remove with water after 15 minutes.

Homemade fruit fly traps easy, inexpensive

Today's savings: $9.75

Is your kitchen a haven for fruit flies? Instead of buying a commercial brand trap, there's a cheaper, greener way to kill fruit flies.

Two canisters of pheratech brand fly traps cost about $10. Instead, put a little cidar vinegar in a dish, add a few drops of dish washing soap, and cover with saran wrap. Punch a few holes in the wrap and the flies will be drawn to the vinegar/soap mixture and die under the saran. If you have a narrow neck bottle, you can do the same thing without using the plastic wrap. 

Savings tweeze

Today's savings: $36

I have purchased three pairs of good-quality tweezers over the years and, after much use, none of them worked well. In desperation, I gave them to my husband to see if he would straighten them or do some magic thing to get them to work.

He took a piece of fine sandpaper, folded it and ran it along the inside edges of the tweezers. I think he filed off a very fine layer of body oil that had collected from their use. The tips are shiny and work wonderfully now. They grip so much better that it hurts less to pluck an eyebrow.

A little romance

Today's savings: $48 per person

On Monday, the public is invited to a free performance of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," performed by the Poland Players, on the lawn at the Auburn Public Library. The play, which will begin at 6:30 p.m., will last about an hour. In case of rain, the performance will be held indoors.

In the best tradition of public park summer theater, this performance is a true bargain, and families are invited to bring a blanket and picnic dinner to enjoy.

Refinishing the tub

Today's savings: $245.76
Living with a nasty tub that you want to refinish but aren't terribly keen on the price tag to hire out the work? There's a simple, effective homemade solution that you can try.
Wet the surface of the tub and sprinkle it with cream of tartar. Rub the powder with the cut surface of a lemon. A little elbow grease, and 30 minutes later your tub will be white as new. Two lemons and a half-jar of cream of tartar generally do the trick, and can be repeated as often as the tub requires.

Sleeping easy

Today's savings: $50 per day

Heading out on a family vacation this summer but don't want to spend $98 per night to stay in a hotel?

Just ducky

Today's savings: $7

This week's savings: $184.83

Six months' savings: $7,081.15

Want to tidy up the bathtub and keep your child's toys contained but accessible?

Next time you cook a turkey, save the mesh bag it comes in, wash thoroughly, and run an old shoelace through the netting several spaces down from the top. After bathtime, fill the mesh bag with the wet toys and hang the bag from the shower head to drip dry, or hang it from a couple of suction cups on the shower wall.

A crib note

Today's savings: $49.95
Like to take your pet with you in the car but hate the hair, dander and lingering pet smell? A back seat car cover can run $49.95 or more, but there's a cheaper way to effectively protect your back seat.
Use a old crib sheet. The fitted corners fit snugly over the cushions of most bench-style back seats, and the sheet is easily washable so you can keep the car clean from pets and kids, or whatever makes a mess in the car.
-- Tightwad Gazette

Savings to draw on

Today's savings: $47.34

Spreading more cheese

Today's savings: $5.72 to $13.52

An 8-ounce brick of Philadelphia cream cheese costs $3.25. A similar-size tub of cheese costs $3.69, or 44 cents more than the brick. It's the same cheese, so it would be cheaper to buy the brick of cheese and store it in an air-tight container to keep it fresh. A brick of cheese can discolor or dry up if it's stored in its original foil and cardboard container.

Pick your own

Today's savings: $12.04

On Saturday, I picked strawberries at Stevenson's Farm in Wayne. The berries are not as sweet as usual because they're growing without sunshine, but they're ripe and ready to pick.
I picked 16.30 pounds, about 11 quarts, and paid $25.28. That's $1.55 per pound. A 16-ounce container of California strawberries at Shaw's this week costs $2.29. A 6-ounce bag of sliced frozen berries at Hannaford is $1.59, $4.24 per pound.

Filtering savings

Today's savings: $45.98

OK, most homeowners haven't had a great need for air conditioning yet this season because the wet weather has kept temperatures down, but it's still important to take care of your air conditioning units, including replacing — or recycling — filters as manufacturer-recommended periods, which is typically every one to three months.

Replacing filters can be expensive, and you can easily recycle most disposable filters to save money.

Veterans days

Today's savings: $9

Maine's Legislature recently passed a law, which will be signed by Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday, to permit Maine veterans who have been honorably or generally discharged, a free day pass to any of Maine's state parks. The bill was passed as an emergency measure so veterans could take advantage of the free pass for the 2009 summer season, dismissing the usual 90-day wait for bills to take effect. So, as soon as the ink from the governor's pen is dry, the park passes will be available.

Supporting the troops

Supporting the troops

Total savings this week: $150.44
Total savings this year: $6,896.32

In the shade

In the shade

Today's savings: $40

My mother was brought up in the Depression and she taught me to cut and re-sew the bottom of a window shade if only the bottom part is worn -- where you pull on the shade and the sun weakens the crease. This task was taught to my mother by her mother, so I am the third generation doing this simple repair job.