The Cheapskate Next Door

Jeff Yeager pinches pennies until they scream for mercy!

"I'm America's cheapest man!" he proclaims proudly.

The author of The Cheapskate Next Door is sharing simple everyday ways to stretch a dollar, starting with the laundry.

1) Wash your clothes in cold water and dry them on a line!

"You're going to save about $200 a year on the appliance cost, the energy, but many garments will last about 50 percent longer by line drying," Yeager explains.

2) Save those soap slivers.

'"Everybody has these little slivers of soap around they don't know what to do with.. Take an old pair of pantyhose, save up these little pieces of soap, stick it down in the heel, [it makes a] cheapskate soap on a rope!" Yeager says.

3) Vacuum-clean your refrigerator coils.

"Cleaning these coils about once a year will save about five percent on the energy use of your refrigerator!" Yeager advises.

4) B.Y.O.B. – Be your own butcher!

"You'll save significant money by doing simple things like cutting up a chicken or other piece of meat yourself. [A] chicken costs about 50 percent more if I pay to have it cut up at the store," he says.

5) Cut up your own vegetables.

Yeager says, "You're paying almost four times as much to have someone shred your lettuce. For that price difference, I will come to your house and shred your lettuce personally!"

6) Plant trees around your house.

"If you plant as few as three trees strategically around your house, it can reduce your heating and cooling costs by hundreds of dollars a month!"

7) Rent movies from the library.

"Why spend $5 for a DVD rental when you can borrow them for free at the library? Public libraries are the cheapskate's best friend!" says Yeager.