Tips For Saving Money While Eating Well

Eating well and saving money don't have to be mutually exclusive. If you've wanted to eat healthier but think you can't afford it, think again. The key to eating healthfully on a budget is to plan your purchases, learn to cook from home, buy in bulk and take advantage of local produce. Here are some tips.

One of the biggest money wasters, and threats to good eating, is going to the grocery store without a plan. You can put yourself in an even worse position if you go to the store on an empty stomach.

The grocery store is full of temptations. Foods that are full of fat, calories and additives line the aisles in the stores. Make a list before you leave the house and be sure to have a healthy snack before you go. By preparing yourself before you go you can be sure that you'll stave off temptation.

The second most important rule in eating healthfully on a budget is to cook at home. Packaged food costs a lot more money than the fresh ingredients that it takes to make them. If you haven't made a habit of cooking at home before, start with a few simple recipes.

You can always expand your repertoire by taking a local healthy cooking class. When you cook at home, you can add lots of vegetables into recipes that normally don't have them. Salads, soups and baked chicken meals can be prepared very inexpensively and healthfully at home.

You can save a lot of money at the grocery store by shopping around. Purchase products such as rice and vegetable stock in bulk. If you stock up on these basics you can save a lot of money in the long run.

Also, try to shop from more than just one store. You can often save a lot of money if you shop around and find the best prices. Make sure to arrange your cooking menu around the sales and you'll always be able to save money. After a few weeks of comparing prices, you'll know right off the bat where you can save the most on each item that you need.

Any healthy diet should be full of vegetables and fruits. For these, make sure you are looking at sources locally. Take advantage of farmer's markets and fruit stands in your area. Even if the food is not organic, buying your fruits and vegetables from local farmers has benefits over buying food that is shipped across the state or across the country.

With a little time and dedication to saving money, you can find deals on healthy food. Apply these tips on your next shopping trip and you'll be eating healthy for less.

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The 5 Most Important Tips to Remember When Selling Your Scrap Gold

This 5 step guide will take you through sorting and preparing your gold, then finally selecting a reputable scrap gold dealer to whom you will sell to.

1. Test your jewellery with a magnet
Although not a foolproof method to help identify non-gold jewellery, using a magnet is a good way of filtering out some of the junk that may be lurking in your trinket box (if it sticks, it's probably not gold). Common items that fail the magnet test include chains, necklaces and small stud earrings. One note of caution though; gold bangles very often have a steel wire running though them, to give them rigidity. If you take a pair of pliers to the rolled edges and carefully unfold the gold, you'll be able to pull the wire clean out. Some bangles have one wire, others have two. Therefore, once you've pulled the first wire out, check with that magnet again.

2. Try to remove any stones
Scrap gold dealers generally don't pay for stones and most won't return them if your jewellery contains any. Therefore, it's best to remove any stones before you send off your gold. Even if you don't want to keep the stones, it's still best to remove them as you'll be able to gain a far more accurate result when you come to weigh your gold.

3. Separate your jewellery according to its carat value
Scrap gold dealers base their valuations on two key factors, the weight of your jewellery and its purity or carat value. The higher the carat value, the more valuable your gold is.

4. Weigh your jewellery using accurate scales
It's really important to know how heavy your gold is. If you can accurately weigh it, you're helping to reduce the risk of any nasty surprises later!

If you have a set of digital kitchen scales, please be aware that they may not as accurate as you think. They may only weigh in 5g increments and it's totally possible that they can be out by several grams.

5. Only deal with a scrap gold dealer who publishes their prices
This is the single most important thing to remember when choosing who to send your scrap gold to. Never, ever send your gold to a dealer who doesn't publish their prices online.

Forget the glitzy commercials on late night TV and ignore the enticing adverts in the national newspapers. This sort of advertising costs serious money, which can only mean lower payouts. Some scrap gold dealers are known to pay as little as 20% of market value. Of course, they don't tell you that, you wouldn't be dumb enough to send your jewellery to them! Instead, these dealers get high-profile celebrities to front their TV commercials, or use language such as 'top prices', 'best prices paid' or '100% satisfaction' to lure you in. 

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