Tight Club

They will serve you a better, stronger cappuccino if you want one, and they will charge you less for it. Ask for it in any Starbucks and the barista will comply without batting an eye. Tim Harford explains on Slate.com

Laithwaites are offering a case of wine (mixed, or red, or white) for half price as a special introductory offer for readers in the UK.  So that’s a total of £39.99 which is a great offer as only a few days ago the duty on drinks was increased.   Laithwaites was named ‘Independent Wine Merchant of the Year’ at Decanter World Wine Awards in 2007.  To receive your discount visit their online store through this link.

Any frugal guide cannot go without mentioning the freebies section of GumTree which is for our readers in the UK.   You can get a hugely diverse selection of people’s unwanted goods ranging from typewriters to sofas, arm chairs, computer monitors etc.   It is definitely worth checking out on a regular basis.

Now here’s a website which might change the way some of us travel for ever.  Couchsurfing.com is a website with a mission of seeking to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding.  So what this mean?  Couchsurfing.com is a trusted network where users are vouched for and verified, and they make their spare room sofa / couch available for you free.  There are hundreds of users in hundreds of countries, so you are bound to find something wherever you are going not to mention being able to make new friends and get the insider information in unknown territories.  

San Francisco based readers can now be paid to recycle their unwanted electronics by a new company called Green Citizen. Helping the environment and being rewarded is a win win idea. And who says you can’t go round recycling other people’s rubbish left on skips etc??

Savingadvice.com has published an article by Jennifer Derrick on the politics of frugality and comments that when when her frugal lifestyle ‘“shows” in public, more and more people are feeling perfectly free to slap some sort of political label on me.’ and goes on to demonstrate public prejudice with examples.  It’s a great read, has anyone got any similar experiences? 

“If you’ve been to the supermarket in the last few months, the rising cost of food isn’t exactly an Elliot Spitzer-level surprise. Grain prices are up, dairy products have become a luxury, and meat … well, cheap beef is rarer than a J.D. Salinger sighting these days. CNN, MSNBC, and the newspapers are finally picking up on it, too, with more stories about global grocery shortages and ludicrous shipping expenses. It appears we’re headed for a recession, and it may not get better anytime soon. ”  Kris has some very sensible tips on his Cheap Food Blog

This Book For Free is a website which gives away free copies of books to a randomly selected person once they leave a comment on their site.   And why are they doing this?  Because “ ..books are more fun shared.”   Can’t hurt to enter and save a few pennies on your reading!!

Welcome to the world of seed bombs, and seed balls in Canada. ‘Guerilla Gardens Can you dig it?’ explores guerrilla gardening in Vancouver, and was made by David Henderson-Hean, Brandon Normon, Geoffrey Hancock. It has just won the ‘5 minutes to change your world‘ competition.