Let me introduce you to my friend, Robert Routh. He holds the key to information that will delight even the least frugal of you, in economic times such as these. I like to think of Fridays as Frugal Fridays. This is when I call up Robert to get the scoop and attempt to learn from the master. Undoubtedly, I’ve already missed out on some spectacular deal that he, of course, was able to fully exploit. He sees opportunity everywhere, and there’s no doubt he’s going to find it if it’s hiding from plain view. Mega-shopping deals, an easy way to save money, or a crazy combination of promotions to get the most he can for less from retailers. You name it, he probably invented it. But now, the secrets will be revealed…one by one…week by week. Robert has agreed to let me step inside his ever-churning head and pull out some of his best tricks and secrets…well, at least for that week.

So it’s yours free for the taking. Beware, some of these tips are not for the lighthearted. Take what you can, and thank Robert for not keeping the secrets all to himself. Here are the 5 ways Robert managed to keep more of his paycheck than the rest of us this week.

1. Fight back against crazy high gas bills in the winter. - Robert’s utility bills don’t go up too much when the winter months hit. First, he has a fire going every night. He burns whatever he can find…all of his trash, dead tree limbs he picked up (that you left on the curb) on the side of the road, you know standard stuff. I mean, I usually go out in my car in the middle of the night several nights a week looking for tree limbs people left out after cutting down a dead tree, a wind storm, or something…don’t you? Like I said, he sees opportunity everywhere, even for dead tree limbs. He bought a kerosene heater last year “on sale”, of course, for about $35 that holds a 5 gallon tank. He just refills those for $3/gallon and can keep most any space he’s in heated well for days on end between that, the fire and a couple of electric space heaters in other rooms. Just in case the temperature in the house starts getting a little nippy, he’s got the heat set to come on at 60 degrees.
2. Get better prices on Christmas Decorations than the day after Christmas - You went the day after Christmas to get all of your Christmas decor for next year. Not Robert. I don’t think he started his Christmas decoration shopping until around the 15th of January. He just pops in random retailers regularly and waits for their Christmas decor to go down from 50% off (what you probably bought it for) to 80-90% off. He’ll ask employees there when the merchandise will be further discounted, and they tell him. So he waits patiently. Then he goes nuts buying the stuff. Some of it might show up in his house next Christmas, but most of it is for the Summer Garage/Yard Sale. This is where he makes money on all the discounted merchandise he’s bought all year long. He’ll sell the stuff for 50% off retail when he got it for probably 90% off retail…oh and he got an additional 10-15% off that because he had a coupon of some sort. If you want to keep the stuff yourself and don’t want the picked over leftovers, he has a solution for that too. It’s perfectly legal, but I don’t think I want to exactly promote it on here.
3. Don’t discount the discount stores - It is not uncommon for him to frequent these $1 item retailers, and upon leaving give the cashier $100. He gets cleaning supplies, soap, detergent, pot scrubbers or sponges…whatever everyday necessity he can think of for $1 each where we pay several dollars for them at the grocery or pharmacy stores. He then stock piles them and uses them all year long. There are some great ways to save money on everyday needs as well as creative projects you can do in and around your home at these stores.
4. Save tons when it comes to Paint - Robert never buys paint at retail when there are plenty of perfectly great colors and ready-made cans of paint in the rejects section. The rejects section is just where people picked a color and bought a paint that they didn’t like when they got home. They bring these paints back, and the stores sell them for a ridiculously low price in comparison to the freshly mixed paints custom for you. He gets creative and even mixes the rejects together, but personally, I’ll leave color mixing like that to Danielle on Color Splash.
5. Never pay retail - His last tip of the day is never, never, never pay retail for anything. If an item doesn’t go on sale (which, many times it actually does somewhere, somehow), he says to always use a coupon. Many retailers regularly give coupons (Bed, Bath & Beyond’s 20% off, etc.) to customers, but you can find them in newspapers, online…anywhere if you just look!

Let us know if you have any tips or tricks of your own in the comments section or feel free to just leave general comments. More frugality tips revealed next week…so stay tuned, and make sure you come back to learn more of Robert’s frugality secrets revealed!