Reddit mentions of Magical Defrosting Tray

It's a lot of little things, and it's different for everyone because everyone has different priorities, resources, and abilities.

• The basics are exactly what you expect - you have to make a budget, and you have to keep careful track of cash flow, which is where the computer is helpful in my case.
  
  
• The best starting advice that I can give you is to first find out where your money goes. If you mostly use your debit card, then this is just a matter of going back through your statements. It's important to be honest and consider how to work within your own personality and values. You also need to be constantly reviewing and adjusting.
  
  
• Keeping one's happiness up is important - if seeing one movie per week is necessary to keep you content enough the rest of the time to be less tempted to go off budget, then it just might be worth it.
  
  
• My problem is that I am disabled and have ADHD, so my energy is extremely limited, and I have to make a lot of room for errors - I can't fight that, I am better off accepting it, and spending money on things that might seem counterintuitive, but save money in the long term. I am also cash heavy, but with no income - I am working off of savings - so this means that I can invest in things upfront, but also that my margins are very thin in the long run.
  
  
• I do a decent amount of couponing (check out CouponMom.com - awfully designed website, but it's actually a great resource). I only clip coupons for stuff that I am already planning to buy (except the occasional interesting new item that I want to try out - again, need to keep happiness up, so I allow myself the occasional culinary adventure).
  
  
• You're going to need to learn how to cook well if you want to save money - there is no way around that. It's also important to have decent freezer space and freezing containers - I bought a whole bunch of store-brand containers, so they all are a uniform size and I don't have to worry about matching lids. I don't eat very much meat - mostly just fish, if anything, because it is pretty forgiving, filling, nutritious, and so easy to cook directly from frozen. I've worked my menu down to a few basic things that require very little effort and time, and use only packaged ingredients, and a full package at that, or batch cook meals or mise en place and freeze, all so that I have less food waste and my expenses are constant and predictable, allowing me to take advantage of deals and keep margins tight. I also try to do my shopping in large quantities, but less often.
  
  
• So, for instance, I buy milk in individual little 8oz cartons, which is more expensive per ounce than buying them buy the half gallon or even quart, but I know that I never end up coming close to finishing an entire carton before it expires. So, buying the small cartons means that I don't have to keep replacing a whole milk carton, and I save money overall. I can also buy the small cartons in bulk packs because they are shelf-stable, so I can stock up when they are on sale, saving me even more. It also helps with portion control.
  
  
• It can also end up being cheaper to have groceries delivered than to go shopping - especially if you tend to impulse buy, or tend to get too tired and just order out. It costs a $15 flat fee for delivery from my local place (slightly less if I do a curbside pickup), and I can order online. If I do very large orders at a time, this can save me quite a lot of energy - if it saves me one take-out order, then it has paid for itself.
  
  
• If you are near a Shoprite, I highly recommend them - they are my favorite damn grocery store. Their everyday prices almost always beat their big competitors and they have a very large store-brand selection of even organic foods that are excellent quality, plus an excellent online delivery setup. They also have bi-annual "Can Can" sales, where I stock up on canned and packaged goods. I'm all for getting to know one store very very well, so you can learn the rhythm of its sales and be less inclined to impulse buy or get de-energized when you don't know where things are. Again, predictability is key to maximizing your money, because you can then afford to keep margins tighter. I used to get clothing at a steal because I just picked a store and learned its system. (Generally, clothing stores have a three-week cycle for women, so I would just go shopping 3 weeks early, pick what I liked, and then come back in 3 weeks and the thing will be on sale...it is also important to understand how the store views its merchandise - basics vs. nonbasics, etc...I could do a whole post just on that, but this is become a huge comment).
  
  
• There is also this thing, which makes using mostly frozen things easier. It thaws anything within about an hour - so, no excuses if I forget to thaw something overnight. It's well worth its purchase price.
  
  
• I cut all of my sponges in half, and water down all soaps by half because I know I'm a little squirt-happy - and decant everything from large bulk bottles into smaller bottles that I actually handle, thus making me less likely to overuse it (it's some weird psychological thing - we use less when it seems like there is less of a quantity available).
  
  
• I keep a careful eye on unit prices on price tags. Whenever I buy something, I check the prices of all competing brands - the cheapest stuff is usually in the horizontal center of a grouping of items, and below eye level. I am a huge fan of the dollar store for certain things, and Amazon for others.
  
  
• I try to find dual uses for everything. I wait long periods of time and carefully consider before making big purchases. I take care of my car - I had just bought a newer used car before getting sick. Although it's hard to have to be paying that lease when I owned the previous car outright, it is actually much much better having the newer car because it's dependable and so the costs are much more predictable (predictability being the big theme, here, once again). So, overall, I was lucky that I had the capital and credit at the time to have purchased it when I did.
  
  
• I keep things as clean and tidy as possible, just for the sake of improving my spirits. You are also more likely to eat the food and use the items that you already have if they are presented well. Anything that helps the spirit helps your mind stay on task and on budget. Organization is also a holistic thing, and organization always helps when margins are tight - ready and quick access to information really helps in making the process easier, and when quick decisions need to be made in the moment, and ready and quick access to the tools you need make you less likely to feel want.
  
  
• The other stuff that I have had to do is NOT recommended for long-term financial planning, and I just had to do it to survive for the short term until I get my disability claim processed - stuff like getting a bunch of zero-introductory-interest credit cards while I was technically still employed. I was only able to do this because I had a good credit score to begin with, though (clearly, it has suffered since then due to high credit usage). This and savings is how I have had any money at all to work with - though, it is not much, and won't last forever. Once that disability check is in hand, it will start going toward that debt using the "snowball" method.
  
  
• (My long term advice: start putting together a rainy day fund as soon as you get a paycheck. It's more important than paying off debt, because you can't do anything with $0 in the bank, and $200 in hand is worth more than -$200 of debt. Also, avoid credit cards until well into your paycheck-earning days, unless you have REALLY good self-control, which most of us do not - and then, go for low interest over any points/rewards gimmicks).
  
  
• I'd be happy to share some recipes if you are interested. Here is a great recipe book written specifically for people on [SNAP] (https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf)
  
  Hope this is helpful.
  
  Edit: Added bullet points to make this all more readable. Also, some more thoughts:
  
  
• A good haircut is worth investing in. Go to a salon, and have them give you a cut that can "grow out" well, so you can get haircuts less often. A trendy-ish haircut can make even the most out-of-style clothes look stylish, and a good haircut helps a LOT with confidence, which in turn makes us less likely to impulse buy or feel "wanting". It all adds up. Invest in your cut.
  
  
• Shampoos are mostly all the same, it is conditioner that is actually important to your hair, so buy cheap shampoo, water it down, and use it only on the roots.
  
  
• Coats and shoes are also worth investing in. Find yourself a good consignment shop to get quality goods for cheap.
  
  
• If you have flu-like or arthritis-like symptoms that don't seem to go away, get tested for Lyme disease - even if you don't remember getting bit and don't have a bullseye. And always wear bug spray with DEET when going anywhere near areas where there are "dear-crossing" signs. TRUST ME. Losing your health is the most expensive mistake that you can make. While I'm at it - keep really good care of your teeth.

Maybe this?

Aluminum does a great job exchanging heat. If you could find a big enough chunk, you could just set it on that but that would only be effective if the bottom of your laptop was getting hot.