Think you have the craftiest upcycling project? Share it with us in the comments section below the YouTube video for a chance to win a $50 gift card!

See also: Tips for cheap summertime fun

As America’s Cheapest Man, I’m sometimes asked if I ever splurge and buy something. In fact, I’ve been asked the question often enough (the answer to which is a resounding “YES!”) that for one of my books I decided to poll hundreds of my fellow cheapskates about the issue. Their answer — a bit of a surprise even to me — was that virtually 100 percent of the frugal folks I polled said they splurge on things from time to time. It’s good to know that even cheapskates can celebrate National Splurge Day, a truly universal, nondiscriminatory holiday.

When cheapskate’s splurge, they do so selectively and deliberately, following these three golden rules of splurging cheapskate-style:

1. Splurge Guilt-Free:  “If I know I that I can’t afford it, how can I really enjoy it?” This is a common sentiment expressed by cheapskates, which is why even when they splurge they make sure that they can truly afford to pay for it before they pull the spending trigger. Sometimes they will set aside a special “mad money” account to fund their guilt-free indulgences. After all, where’s the joy in splurging on something you’ll be paying off on your charge cards for years to come?

2. Splurge without Regrets: Even though a splurge, by definition, is something you really don’t need but simply something you desperately want, that doesn’t mean it should be something that you’ll later regret. Check out these tips for preventing buyer’s remorse whether you’re shopping on National Splurge Day or any other day of the year.

3. Splurge on Experiences, NOT More Stuff:  In my cheapskate poll, by a margin of more than 10 to 1 respondents said that when they do splurge, they tend to splurge on experiences — like travel or celebrations with family — rather than on material objects. Social scientists agree that experiences, even ones that don’t cost a fortune, tend to result in greater happiness than simply acquiring more stuff.

Enjoy National Splurge Day, but remember to Stay Cheap!

Photo credit: londoninflames via Flickr. 

Cheap Life host Jeff Yeager shares his tips for frugal summer entertainment if you like to take in baseball, theme parks or a swim at the beach.

Be sure to enter your your favorite free summer activity at the bottom of the video for a chance to win a $50 gift card.

Also of Interest

• 5 Frugal Lessons from My Father
• How to Have a Successful Yard Sale
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more

My parents: Doug and Joyce Yeager

As Father’s Day rolls around once again, I’m thankful for all of the things my dear Dad has taught me over the years, including some invaluable lessons about money. Here are the top five lessons I’ve learned from my frugal father:

1. If you can’t afford to pay for it now, you simply can’t afford it. That’s right. It’s “old school” for sure and easier said than done, but if you live by this simple credo and refuse to borrow money to buy almost anything other than a house, you’ll rack up huge savings compared to the $600,000 most Americans are now projected to pay in interest costs over the course of their lifetimes.

2. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your wallet. Dad loves Will Rogers (like father, like son), and this is one of his favorites from the master of quotable quotes. Yep, think twice — or even three times — before parting with a buck or thinking that you can beat the odds by investing rather than saving.

3. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. I’ve always loved this colorful gem from my father. If you’re as clueless as I was when I first heard it, it simply means that if you’re greedy and selfish in your financial dealings — and life in general — you’re likely to pay for it in the end. There’s nothing wrong with the pursuit of prosperity, just so long as it’s never at the expense of others.

4. A penny saved is a penny earned. When it comes to wisdom and one-liners, in my father’s book Ben Franklin is right up there with Will Rogers. And Dad got a good chuckle out of my attempt to one-up Ben when I argued in one of my books that a penny saved is actually worth about twice as much as a penny earned, once you factor in the taxes you need to pay on the earned penny and the various expenses you probably incur in earning that penny.

5. Don’t take any wooden nickels. Based on this old standard saying of my Dad’s, as a kid I searched endlessly for a wooden nickel. I thought it would be the crown jewel in my coin collection. After years of looking, I finally realized that the joke was on me, and anyone else who has the middle name of “Gullible.”

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad, Doug Yeager, and to all the other dads out there who take the time to teach their kids some important lessons about money, and life.

No, I didn’t temporarily lose my miserly mind in the heat of the Nevada desert and roll the dice in some swanky Vegas casino. I’m way too cheap to tell people to throw away good money like that. I’m talking about a mere $25 for the cost of admission to the three-day AARP Life @50+ National Event held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. That’s right: $25 ($35 for nonmembers) for all three days combined, total.

By my calculations, that $25 wager returned more than 10 times that value in entertainment (including some big names, from Bob Newhart and Don Rickles to Candace Bushnell and Terry McMillan), education and information, plus free swag. It proved once again that the now biannual Life @50+ events are the bargain of a lifetime and a can’t-lose bet for anyone who attends. And if you really want to win big, you can also volunteer a few hours to help staff the event, which gets you FREE admission, a special t-shirt, and even a meal voucher. Talk about having Lady Luck on your side!

[See the lineup of celebrities, programs and more for the Life at 50+ National Event in Atlanta, October 3 - 5.]

What’s so special about Life @50+? Well, let’s start with some of the celebrities who you have a chance to hear speak and maybe even meet in person. In Vegas, in addition to the ones I mentioned already, there was Jane Pauley, Emilio Estefan, Martin Yan and Billy Bob Thornton, to name but a few. Where else can a cheapskate like me rub shoulders with famous folks like that?

At the Life@50+ National Event in Atlanta in October you’ll be able to hear from Whoopi Goldberg, Tyler Perry and Emilio Estefan — and those are just a few of the speakers.

All-star experts were on hand at the Vegas event to help you get every aspect of your life in order. Folks like AARP Love and Relationship Ambassador Dr. Pepper Schwarz were there to help whip your love life into shape, and Travel Ambassador Samantha Brown had tips on how to travel the world in style. Jean Chatzky, AARP Financial Ambassador and one of my favorite personal finance gurus, talked about smart planning for retirement, took audience questions and stayed around to meet people and sign her book. (In my book, Jean is an “11”—that’s a “10” who’s also a fellow cheapskate!)

Add to that star-power tons of other free sessions on everything from cooking demonstrations, to special Movies for Grownups screenings, to understanding Social Security and Medicare — even fitness workout sessions! You can see why Life @50+ is such a winning ticket. (Blogger Becca Niederkrom isn’t even a cheapskate, and she came up with a Top 10 List of reasons to attend.)

Mark your calendars for October 3-5 this year, when Life @50+ will come to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Hope to see you there!

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Also of Interest

• 8 Ways to Save Money This Summer
• Find Cheap Places to Stay When You Travel
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more

What’s the best deal you’ve ever gotten at a yard sale? Share it with us in the comments section on the YouTube page for a chance to win a $50 gift card! See full contest rules below.

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See also: Try Our Summer Savings Quiz!

Take a little time this week to check off the items on this Summer Savings Checklist and you’ll rack up savings all summer long:

• Buy a sun visor for your car windshield: This simple, inexpensive device will pay for itself in short order by keeping your car cooler when parked in the sun so you don’t have to crank up the AC as much and burn extra gas.
• Stock up on ketchup: Right now is the best time to get good deals on ketchup, and there are lots of other bargain-picking shopping opportunities to keep an eye open for throughout the summer, according to Mark Di Vincenzo, author of Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There.
• Sprinkle coffee grounds in standing water: That’s just one of my cheapskate tips for winning the battle against mosquitoes this summer.
  
• Buy a rain gauge: Monitoring weekly rainfall with a simple rain gauge can save you big money on watering your lawn, since most lawns require just two inches of water per week during the summer months. Keep track of how much rain you receive, then just top-off your lawn to bring it up to the two-inch level.
• Shop thrift stores for winter clothes: I was in my favorite thrift store the other day, and all sweaters were marked down to between $4-$10 to make room for warm weather apparel. Check your local thrift store now for possible deals on cold weather clothing.
• Clean/replace air conditioning filters: Cleaning or replacing the filters can reduce the electricity used by an air conditioner by as much as 15 percent, but that’s only one of the simple tips for decreasing AC expenses.
• Get out the cooler for family road trips: Stock it with drinks and snacks rather than pay the not-so-convenient prices charged at roadside convenience stores.
• Put a bag of rice in the freezer: Keep a 5 or 10 pound bag of rice in the freezer during the day to use as a “chilly pillow” to help you fall asleep on hot summer nights without turning on the air conditioning.

 Photo credit: 401(K) 2013

See also: More Ways to Save on Travel

Be sure to enter the comment on the YouTube page for a chance to win a $50 gift card. Travel safe and stay cheap.

Join the discussion: Where Would You Most Like to Travel?

See also: How to Recover From a Financial Setback

Remembering my parents’ wise advice, I was fascinated by the results of a poll recently conducted by CreditCards.com. It showed that more Americans would now rather discuss their views on religion, politics, or even their love lives with someone they’ve just met than reveal the amount of credit card debt they are carrying.

In fact discussing money issues in general, like your salary or the amount of your monthly mortgage or rent payment, were generally considered greater taboo topics than sharing one’s views on politics or religion, or even revealing personal information, like the details of health problems, your age or your weight!  More than twice as many people said that they’d gladly share their views on religion in a social setting than dare discuss the current balance on their credit cards.

I also found it interesting that people are more reluctant to discuss their indebtedness now, as compared to before the recession (the same survey was conducted pre-recession as well), even though during that time most Americans have actually decreased the amount of credit card debt they owe. Financial experts analyzing the survey data concluded that that is because before the Recession, carrying debt was often encouraged and considered almost a patriotic thing to do in order to stimulate the economy, whereas now indebtedness is commonly viewed as a personal failure.

Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to money matters, I’m not suggesting that people should bare their balance sheets in public. Although, as I’ve written about here before, having an open and honest conversation about money problems with family members — as well as full and ongoing disclosure about financial issues with anyone you’re involved with romantically — is definitely a prudent course of action.

In the meantime, take comfort in the fact that the latest CreditCards.com survey reconfirmed that “the weather” is still the number one most appropriate topic of polite conversation in a social setting. Maybe at the next dinner party, try some schmooze-talk like this: “So, what do you think of this weather?  It just makes you want to pay off all of your credit cards, doesn’t it?”

Photo by: Andres Rueda via Flickr.

Also of Interest

• Retiring with Debt? Join the Club.
• How Much Income Will Your 401(k) Provide?
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more

This week’s episode of “The Cheap Life” is all about how to cut the cost of doing laundry and make your clothes last longer, too. You’ll also find instructions in the show for making your own laundry and cleaning supplies as well as some repurposing tips for used fabric softener sheets.

Plus, if you leave me your favorite “clean” joke or laundry tip on the show’s YouTube page, you might even win a $50 gift card and a rather unusual — and truly “priceless” — bonus gift I mention at the end of the video. Check it out!