Festival of Frugality #62

Welcome to the Festival of Frugality #62. I’m a huge fan of baseball and for years 62 was one of the game’s biggest numbers. For years, the single season home run record belonged to Roger Maris with 61 home runs in 1961. The record stood for 37 years until Mark McGwire (and Sammy Sosa) broke it in the magical 1998 season. Steroid controversies have since taken that magic away for many fans. In tribute to that quest for #62, we’ll group articles into some of the baseball’s best home run hitters. We’ll concentrate on those that played before 1970 – just to avoid some of today’s controversy.

Babe Ruth

The Babe was widely considered the best hitter ever in baseball. Here are the best of the submissions:

• Golbguru of Money, Matter, and More Musings asks It’s Easier To Be Frugal When You Are Single; True Or False?. I love the frugality table and have experienced this myself. The flip side is that there are savings to being a couple as well.
• Andrea Dickson of Wise Bread has found free pancakes for today (Feb. 20th) only. I urge people to actually pay for the pancakes if they can as the money goes to charity.
• With the passing of Presidents’ Weekend, some of the best car deals could be unavailable. Or maybe there are even better deals of the left overs. Better yet, it’s getting towards the end of the month. Ask Mr. Credit Card has some great advice on how to save when buying a car.
• Were in Debt gives some ideas on how to save money on vacations. Having moved to San Francisco, I long for the days where I can go from Boston to New York on the $20 Fung Wah bus.

Ted Williams

An argument could be made that he was every bit as good as Babe Ruth. His career numbers were not nearly as great as he lost 5 of his prime playing years to be a Marine fighter pilot in WWII and in the Korean War. Here are some Splendid ways to live on the cheap:

• Elizabeth from Money For the Rest of Us says that now is the best time to buy chocolate. She may be right, but I’m still partial to the days following Halloween.
• Sharon Rosenberg found a quick way to save money with a AAA card.
• Jenn at Frugal Upstate shows us how to mend a seam.
• My Financial Journey writes about frugal landscaping. I like the idea of a blueberry bush performing double duty.

Willie Mays
He was a great hitter, but not up there with Williams in Ruth in pure hitting ability. He was a more complete player with great defense and was always a threat to steal bases. Here are some great all-around ways to save some money:

• Grad Money realizes that Costco is a good value, but not frugal. Scott on the Money agrees and suggests not to overbuy.
• Silicon Valley Blogger has a great frugality quiz. I had to respectively disagree on a couple of points, but it’s good to compare purchases before buying.
• David from Money Under 30 writes about a group of who don’t buy anything for a year. They call themselves the compact, and having lived in the San Francisco area for 6 months now, I’m only surprised it didn’t happen before now.
• A Silver Lining realizes that it’s possible to reuse old calendars. I wonder how Energi Gal (my fiancée) would react if I reuse my old Cindy Crawford calendar every few years.

Mickey Mantle

The Mick, as he was known, was on his way to being one of the best players ever when injuries slowed him down.

• Andy of Money Walk gives us 9 ways to save money. I always keep some Ramen noodles on hand as well
• Making Our Way has somegrocery shopping tips. Tight Fisted Miser adds a few ideas of his own. I would recommend adding some tuna to each of the lists. It’s frugal and very healthy.
• Stephanie at Stop the Ride talks about some tough choices she’s making to save money. I know it’s off-topic, but I’ve never heard of home that’s completely underground – it seems a little depressing to me.
• One Big Mortar Board shows us a deal on 5 Oscar nominees for $30. My mom keeps raving about The Departed and everyone I know loves Little Miss Sunshine. The other movies I could take a pass on. I love movies and popcorn, but I’m not sure I could see 5 in one day.
• My Two Dollars discusses why he saves money. I don’t know about you, but I would love a 103 inch plasma.
• The Frugal Law Student writes on onion peels. While it’s a cool trick, I always have my hand available and rarely have an onion peel available.

Herb Washington

Herb Washington played in 102 games and never stepped to the plate. He was use exclusively as a pinch runner (from what I can tell). Here’s to some of the articles that only briefly touched on a frugal lifestyle or played smaller parts in contributing to the team.

• Nina from Queercents recounts the 101 ways Northwest Airlines employees were told to save money.
• Worldwide Success says Get out of debt.
• Wench Wisdom Declares War on the Middle Class
• One Year Exit Plan writes about abundance
• Bryan C. Fleming walks us through opening an ING Direct account, but the links are to a weird “anrdoezrs.net” site. I’d guess they are affiliate links, but they aren’t disclosed as such.
• Debt Consolidation Lowdown writes about children and money, but I fail to see the frugality in the post.