Small (Frugal) Household Investments With Major Returns

I came across a good article at Yahoo which details a number of things you can do around the house to save money. While there is an initial outlay of cash for each of these household investments, the return on that investment can be substantial.

$55 Bread maker. If you spend $4 a week on store bought bread, then you can save about $208 a year.

Credit Cards. Get a credit card with a sign up bonus. Then cancel the credit card after receiving the sign up bonus.

Libraries. Quit buying books and magazines and go to the library, if nearby. So long as your commute is short the return on investment can be infinite.

Cable. Replace your cable with a Netflix service. If you already getting the major networks then you might be able to tolerate losing the premium networks and still achieve an estimated 98% return on your investment (ROI) in Netflix

Herbs. Order a few bags of seeds and start growing herbs on your Apt balcony or in your back yard. We already do this at our own apartment. The Yahoo article alludes to an estimated 400% ROI.

Cell phone. Switch to a pre-paid cell phone and augment it with internet phone calls at home. Estimated ROI 500%.

Coffee. Start making your own coffee and save up to an estimated $1000 a year which could be a 1000% ROI.

Here's the full article by Brett Arends of the WSJ.