Savings Experiment: Shave a Bundle off Your Yearly Expenses

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It’s the same story every month: Once you’ve written out that fat check for your mortgage, made your car payment, and shelled out big bucks for countless other bills, there’s scant left over for savings or life’s little extras.

It’s time to re-think where your money’s going.

Here are painless ways to cut down on the costs that eat into your discretionary income and can help you save a bundle off your yearly expenses.

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Savings Experiment: How to Get a Sun-Kissed Look for Less

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So you want a golden glow that will convince friends you’ve been lounging on a Caribbean beach for two weeks. If you can’t swing a pricey vacation at the moment and you don’t like the thought — or expense — of baking on a salon tanning bed, it’s time to hit the bottle.

Today’s self-tanners have come a long way from their predecessors of the ’80s and ’90s, Megan McIntyre, beauty editor for beauty website DailyMakeover.com, tells DailyFinance. With the old self-tanners, “you ended up with orange palms and looked like an Oompa-Loompa,” she says, referring to the tangerine munchkins from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Now, “there are all sorts of products that can give you a healthy looking glow at home without looking like Snooki” from “Jersey Shore.”

We’ve shed some light on at-home tanners that will give you that sun-kissed look and save you money.

Form and Function

Self-tanners come in many forms: lotions, foams, sprays and even towelettes.

All of these — and in fact, all sunless tanners, whether they come from salons or from drugstores — work essentially the same way. They rely on something called dihydroxyacetone, which is derived from sugar and reacts with dead skin cells to color the skin’s surface area, says Carey Rossi, family and health editor for ConsumerSearch.com, a website that aggregates product reviews from experts and users.

And both salon and at-home methods deliver approximately the same tan life cycle of up to a week. (The tans usually begin to fade after four to six days, Rossi says.)

But a bottled tan will save you a bundle. “For the price –or less than the price– of one professional application of self tanning solution, you can get multiple applications” from your at-home self tanner, Rossi says.

An over-the-counter bottle of self tanner can cost you anywhere from about $8 to $35, while a single salon spray tan costs about $35 per session, Rossi estimates. Salon airbrushing, which is a spray tan administered by a technician, can range from about $25 to as high as $150, McIntyre says. That can really add up if you want to maintain your bronzy look all summer.

Meanwhile, tanning beds can cost a little bit less, but post some health concerns. “There are so many health warnings about increased risk of skin cancer,” Rossi says. “The risks outweigh the savings.”

First Things First

When shopping for a self-tanner, first consider whether you want an instant tan or a gradual tan.

Gradual self-tanners contain lower-strength ingredients that produce tans in about a week, Ross says. These products will produce a more subtle tan, which might be the preferred option for a fair-skinned person or a sunless-tanning newbie who wants to ease into a golden look, McIntyre says.

But if you want a deeper tan more quickly, instant self tanners will do the trick. “They offer more rapid results — typically six hours for a full tan,” Rossi says.

Double Duty

One way to save money on a self-tanner is to find one that also works well as a moisturizer, such as sunless tanners from Jergens and L’Oreal. ConsumerSearch.com and DailyMakeover.com each recommended Jergens Natural Glow Revitalizing Daily Moisturizer, a gradual tanner priced at about $9 for a 7.5-ounce bottle. L’Oreal’s Body Expertise Sublime Glow Daily Moisturizer, which costs about $11 for an 8 ounce bottle, is another affordable option.

Another approach is to go for a product that delivers a longer-lasting tan, thereby making each bottle last longer. St. Tropez‘s self-tanning products — which are sold a specialty stores such as Sephora — cost $25 to $65, making them pricier than many drugstore brands, but will also likely last you longer, McIntyre says.

And here’s an added plus: St. Tropez’s tanners incorporate its Aromaguard fragrance technology, which is designed to eliminate the unpleasant smell that’s often associated with self-tanners, replacing it with a fragrant scent.

Prep Before You Tan

With any self-tanner, though, extending the life of your golden glow can save you money. “By making your tan last longer you will be dipping from the bottle less often,” Rossi says.

Here’s how to do that:

o. Before you embark on your self-tanning journey, spend a week lavishing your body with lotion — preferably one without alcohol, which can be drying, Rossi recommends. Healthy, hydrated skin holds a faux-tan longer.

o. Exfoliate before you apply a self-tanner to get rid of dead skin cells that might cause your tan to streak and flake off.

o. Right before you self tan, make sure your skin is clean, dry and free of any products — including lotion, makeup and even deodorant — which can interfere with the tan adhering to your skin, Rossi says.

o. Once you’re tan, use a highly emollient body lotion, which will help prevent your tan from flaking off.

o. And don’t forget to use sunscreen with your self-tanner to protect your skin from the sun’s damaging rays.

Tap Websites for Savings

Meanwhile, you can find discounts for a wide range of self-tanners online:

o. Mine online discount beauty sites, such as Beautydeals.net, for bargains on self-tanners.

o. Look for coupons on beauty.com, makeup.com, Ulta.com and freshcouponcodes.com.

o. Keep an eye out for drugstore deals at stores like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Duane Reade.

“In general, you can’t go wrong with your local drugstore,” Rossi says. “Since all self tanners work the same way, it’s these [drugstore] brands that are your best buy.”

Follow these steps and Malibu “Suntan” Barbie will have nothing on you — and you may even have some cash left over for some cool shades!

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Savings Experiment: Trim Your Shampoo and Conditioner Budget

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In your household, does it seem like the shampoo and conditioner budget quickly goes down the drain? If so, you’re not alone.

Consumers shelled out an estimated $2.32 billion on shampoo last year, and $1.71 billion on conditioner, according to market research firm Mintel. But caring for your crowning glory shouldn’t cost you a king’s ransom. Here are some easy ways to save on this frequent purchase.

Skip the Drugstores and the Supermarkets

While drugstores might boast a selection of shampoos and conditioners that puts other retailers to shame, they don’t offer the best hair care deals.

Indeed, pharmacy chains — as well as supermarkets, which offer an assortment of hair care products that are limited, at best — price them about 10% to 15% higher than the low-price leaders in the category, Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), the nation’s largest discounters, Bob Shelton, a retail and consumer packaged goods consultant, and the former senior vice president and general manager of non-foods for Safeway (SWY), the supermarket chain, tells DailyFinance.

A price check of some of the most popular shampoo and conditioner brands underscores the point.

At a drugstore or supermarket, a 12- to 15-ounce bottle of Suave or White Rain, for example — what the retail industry calls “opening price point” shampoos and conditioners — would cost roughly between $1 and $1.25, compared to about $1 at Walmart, Shelton says.

That price difference extends to mid-priced and premium priced brands.

A 12- to 15-ounce bottle of a major mid-priced brand like Garnier Fructis or TRESemme would be in the $5 to $6 range at a drugstore or grocery chain, but you can find those brands at Walmart and Target for about $4, Shelton says.

Upscale brands such as Paul Mitchell, Biolage and Organix can range from about $15 to $20 at grocery stores and drug chains, depending on the brand, for 12- to 18-ounce bottles, but will cost in the $10 to $15 range at Walmart and Target.

While beauty supply stores house a huge assortment of hair care products, including niche brands, upscale lines and specialized products, they are not the place to find shampoo and conditioner bargains, Shelton says.

“It’s a lot like going to a pet store for pet food,” Shelton says. While a pet store will turn up a huge selection, “you’ll get a better deal on pet food at Walmart or Target,” he says.

And consumers should be wary of buying salon and professional brands in discount beauty stores and mass merchants, Sean Jahanbigloo, celebrity hairstylist and co-owner of Juan Juan Salon, told DailyFinance.

While you might be buying the authentic product, it’s also possible that the product has been compromised “because it’s been discontinued, old, or been tampered with,” he says.

Don’t Drop a Bundle on Shampoo

It doesn’t pay to shell out top dollar for shampoo, Shelton says.

“Generally speaking, the $3, $4 and $5 shampoos work every bit as effectively as a $10 or $20 shampoo.”

The higher priced shampoos add more expensive fragrances to their formulas which drive the price up, “but they [typically] don’t clean any more effectively than a lower-end shampoo,” he says.

Jahanbigloo agrees. “Believe it or not, all shampoos have the same basic ingredients,” he says.

One key exception is if you color your hair: That’s when it’s best to use a shampoo specially designed to maintain your shade, which can be pricier, Shelton says.

But while a high-priced shampoo will make a negligible difference, conditioner is another story.

“The more expensive conditioners are typically more effective than the lower-end ones,” which contain lower-quality ingredients, Shelton says.

So if you’re going to splurge on the cleaning/moisturizing duo, save it for the conditioner.

Prestige vs. Mass-Brand Face Off

While shampoo and conditioner performance is highly subjective, you can find some low-priced brands that come close to mirroring the results of high-end brands.

Jahanbigloo offers up his insider picks on which prestige brands have a discount doppelganger.

Among hydrating shampoos and conditioners:

o. Prestige Pick: Oribe Ultra Rich shampoo and conditioner costs about $24 each for an 8.5-ounce bottle of shampoo, and about $24 for a 6.8 ounce bottle of conditioner.

o. Mass Pick: If you like Oribe, try Dove’s Nutritive Therapy Nourishing Oil Care shampoo and conditioner, recommends Jahanbigloo. And for about $4.49 per 12-ounce bottle of shampoo and conditioner, it’s a fraction of the cost of Oribe.

If you want to protect color-treated hair:

o. Prestige Pick: Kerastase Bain Chroma Riche shampoo costs about $24, while the Kerastase Masque Chroma Riche softening treatment sells for a whopping $60 for a 200-milligram tub.

o. Mass Pick: If your budget can’t justify Kerastase, Herbal Essences Color Me Happy shampoo and conditioner costs about $4 per 12-ounce bottle of shampoo and conditioner.

And if your hair is damaged:

o. Prestige Pick: TIGI Bed Head Urban Antidotes Resurrection shampoo and conditioner costs about $13 for an 8.4-ounce bottle of shampoo, and about $14 for a 6.8-ounce bottle of conditioner.

o. Mass Pick: TIGI’s low-price counterpart is Pantene Pro-V Restore Beautiful Lengths Breakage Defense shampoo and conditioner, which sells for about $6 per 8.5-ounce bottle of shampoo and conditioner.

Less is More, But Size Matters

If you’re looking for another way to save on shampoo and conditioner, here’s an easy one: Use less of it.

“The most common mistake people make is using too much product,” Jahanbigloo says. “A little goes a long way.”

How much is enough? Use a dime or nickel-size amount of shampoo and conditioner if you have long, thick hair, and about half that amount on shorter hair, he says.

“Trust me; you will save tons of money by doing this. And your hair will thank you by looking and feeling healthy and shiny versus greasy.”

This is especially true of salon and professional products because “they are much more concentrated,” Jahanbigloo says.

What’s more, a salon product will last longer than a drugstore brand, and ultimately, you won’t spend much more on the salon brand, as you’re using less product, he says.

If you have a big family, and having a broad selection of shampoos and conditioners from which to choose is not a priority, warehouse clubs are your best bet.

While stores like Costco (COST), Sam’s Club and BJ’s (BJ) will carry only a handful of brands, they’ll sell jumbo sized shampoo-conditioner packs unavailable at other retailers that will save you about 5% per ounce, Shelton says.

For example, a trip to Samsclub.com turned up two 44-ounce bottles of TREsemme shampoo and conditioner for $9.99.

Tap Drugstore Coupons and Loyalty Cards

Although drugstores don’t have the best shampoo and conditioner everyday prices, you can save big when you bundle coupons and store loyalty card perks.

Unlike Walmart and Target, drugstore chains frequently run “a lot of specials and couponing events on special brands,” Shelton says.

For example, this reporter, who had signed up to receive CVS coupons, bundled a 25%-off coupon with a $2-off salon product coupon she’d earned via the store loyalty card, slashing the cost of her favorite Frizz Ease shampoo and conditioner to nearly a third of the full-price.

Now that’s a savings.

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Savings Experiment: Small Home? Space-Saving Tips on the Cheap

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“When living in a small space, a common frustration is not being able to find what you’re looking for and wasting precious time,” Olescia Hanson, a spokeswoman for The Container Store, told WalletPop.

If you’re feeling like you may have outgrown your tiny space, don’t fret. We’ve come up with a few save-spacing solutions that are budget-friendly, too.

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Savings Experiment: How to Save Money on a Mattress

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When you embark on a quest for a new mattress, you’re bombarded with a head-spinning array of mattress features to choose from. There are varying coil counts and thread counts, as well as latex foam and memory foam.

The good news is that you can ignore most of these terms. That’s because mattresses are one of the few purchases that is purely subjective: The best mattress is the one that feels comfortable to you, experts say.

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Savings Experiment: How to Nail a Manicure Deal

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It’s one of life’s little pampering pleasures: the manicure. Neatly manicured hands are the finishing touch to a put-together look — but can you really afford to keep that look up week after week?

While it’s no secret that a professional manicure costs more than one you do yourself, new, longer-lasting nail polishes now on the market are giving consumers a bigger bang for their salon buck these days.

Here’s the skinny on how to nail down manicure savings whether you treat yourself to one at a salon or opt to do one at home.

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Savings Experiment: How to Get Money for Your Clutter

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Your home has become a depository of stuff you have no use for anymore — from that peasant blouse that looked cute 10 pounds ago to the MP3 player you unceremoniously ditched after falling in love with your iPhone.

Want to unload your junk and make a quick buck in the process? Here’s a rundown of ways to offload all manner of things — from used electronics and computers to clothes and jewelry — in exchange for cash and/or store gift cards.

Get ready to declutter and reap some financial rewards.

Turn ‘Re-Commerce’ into Cash

Maybe old cell phones are taking up space in your desk drawer. Or perhaps a vintage Xbox has been collecting dust in the hallway closet ever since your kid upgraded to the Xbox 360.

Trade-in recycling programs are a great way to get back some of the money you’ve dropped on now-obsolete electronics. The practice is called “re-commerce,” and a number of companies and retailers are getting in on it.

For example, Gazelle.com, a trade-in and recycling firm, helps people sell more than 250,000 consumer products — from cell phones, laptops and tablet computers to digital cameras and video gaming consoles. The company assesses the value of each item based on supply and demand in the market, and the item’s condition, Michael Schneider, a Gazelle spokesman, tells DailyFinance.

“The average consumer gets $100 in cash back when they trade in an item on Gazelle.com,” Schneider says.

If the item is worth more than $1, the company will send consumers a free box to ship it. If it turns out the item has no value, the site will recycle it for free — so at least you’ll have done some environmental good.

The company also runs the online programs for retailers such as Walmart (WMT), Costco (COST) and Office Depot (ODP), among other merchants.

In exchange for turning in their used electronics, shoppers can also get gift cards at these stores, and Gazelle plans to spread the program to other retailers, Schneider says.

If you want an instant reward for turning in your used electronics, NextWorth.com, the trade-in recycling firm, and Target (TGT), are more than happy to oblige. Via its partnership with NextWorth, the discounter operates Target Mobile Centers at over 1,450 Target stores nationwide.

Shoppers simply bring their old electronic devices to a Target Mobile Center for appraisal, and receive store credit for them.

“The biggest point of difference [from other trade-in firms] is our in-store presence,” which offers convenience, as well as “in-store offers and on-the-spot payment,” says Ashley Halberstadt, a NextWorth spokesperson.

And like Gazelle, on the NextWorth.com site itself, consumers can also trade in their used electronics for cash.

Be an eBay Expert

It’s no secret that people buy and sell a huge variety of goods and services – practically everything — on eBay (EBAY), which bills itself as the world’s largest online marketplace.

But there’s an art to getting the best return for your unwanted clothes and accessories, for example.

For one, it’s about knowing “what to list and when, popular brands and pricing considerations, and of course, the year-round top 10 fashion items that sell well,” Johnna Hoff, an eBay spokesperson, explains.

In no particular order, Hoff says, these include: shoes, handbags and purses; shirts and tops; children’s clothes — “bundles of clothing especially sell — for example, sell baby clothes in a specific size all together” — women’s intimates, dresses, jeans, and men’s outerwear.

For a detailed guide on how to get the most out of selling on eBay, consult the company’s Fashion Selling Guide, a comprehensive primer on what sells well on a seasonal basis, such as backpacks in the fall; hot-selling brands, from Levis jeans and Nine West shoes to Kate Spade handbags; and how to present what you’re selling to nab the best price.

Also, eBay offers a mobile app that allows sellers to list items on the go, and has a research feature indicating how much similar items cost, Hoff says, “making listings even quicker.”

Tap Social Selling

YardSellr.com taps social networks to get the word out about what you’re hawking through Facebook and Twitter.

While eBay, for example, mostly charges a fee to sell your stuff, YardSellr is free. You can sell everything from clothes and jewelry to musical instruments and old Barbie dolls.

Gallery: 13 Ways to Get Free Money

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Savings Experiment: Finding the Best Buys in Footwear

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No matter what style you’re shopping for, shoes are that reliable, pick-me-up purchase. Shopping for footwear can give you an instant lift — which is not always true when it comes to buying clothes. (Trying on that cute little black dress after you’ve put on a few pounds is more torture than fun.)

But with the plethora of shopping choices in stores and online, how can you find the best buys on heels, flats, boots and sporty shoes, too? Here’s a guide to help you step into some great footwear deals this summer.

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Savings Experiment: Cooling Your Home for Less

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When summers get as hot as this one, it’s difficult to imagine what people did before air conditioning existed. Swimming holes, hand-held fans and ice cubes down your back will only go so far when sooner or later, you have to return to the confines of some stifling domicile that badly needs frosty air.

And while we may take air conditioning for granted, it wasn’t that long ago — 1881, to be precise — when a team of naval engineers built a cooling contraption to comfort a dying President James Garfield. While the device — which blew hot air upwards and employed rags soaked in freezing water — could lower room temperatures by 20 degrees, it also ate up a quarter-million pounds of ice a month. (Think of all the Pina Coladas they could’ve made instead.)

Modern air conditioners wouldn’t become commonplace until the 1920s, yet one enigma remains: figuring out how to most efficiently cool a room or a home. Window units or central air? Do ceiling fans really help? Are there other novel ways to make sure my living space stays cool, so I can use air conditioners less? One thing’s for sure: Savings are always chill, so let’s crank up some righteous coolness with this latest installment of the Savings Experiment.

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Savings Experiment: What to Focus on When Buying a Digital Camera

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Are you looking to buy a digital camera, but unsure where to start? When it comes to point-and-shoots, paying more won’t necessarily give you a significantly better picture. Check out our tips on how to save money on your Kodak moments.

There are a lot of cameras out there, but if you stick with the top brands, you’ll get a high-quality camera. PC World picked models from Canon (CAJ), Nikon (NINOY) and Sony (SNE) as the top five point-and-shoot cameras.

Michael Ip, staff photo editor for the New York Daily News, agrees. “Any company that makes professional gear tends to integrate that into their consumer gear because they’ve done their research,” says Ip. “They make their consumer goods the highest quality possible while making them affordable.”

Know What You Need

Features that increase the cost of cameras, like higher megapixel count and greater zoom, are just marketing tactics. If you’re using a point-and-shoot, higher megapixels and zoom don’t necessarily translate into a much better photograph.

In fact, when it comes to image quality, the average amateur photographer only needs four or five megapixels for good quality four-by-six photos. The market standard these days is around 10 or 12 megapixels.

“The marketplace keeps upping the number of pixels in these cameras without increasing the size of the sensors,” says Kay Kenny, photography teacher at New York University. “It is really just about marketing and not about picture quality.”

Another thing to keep in mind with megapixels — the higher the count, the more memory each photo will take up. This means you may need to buy a more expensive memory card.

When you consider zoom, only look at optical zoom, which is the result of the lens moving closer to your object. Digital zoom is the same as resizing an image on your computer: The more you zoom in, the blurrier your picture becomes.

“If you look at professional grade lenses, the lenses that have really big zooms are massive. With a point and shoot zoom, they’re trying to cram everything into a little lens so they’re cutting corners,” says Ip. “Some of the best point and shoots out there have no or very little zoom.”

Test In-store, Buy Online

Some characteristics of a camera can only be experienced — like the speed between pictures. To understand how your camera feels, you should check it out in a store that allows you to handle the equipment and put it through its paces.

But, according to a Consumer Reports study, the best online stores outranked the best walk-in stores on price, and PCWorld identifies Amazon.com (AMZN) as the best place to start. If you want to shop around, go to Nextag.com, where you can compare prices from different vendors.

To get the best of both worlds, try out your camera in-store, and shop for a good deal online. That way, you know you’re getting what you want and also getting a great deal.

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