My friend Nick and I created Tip Hero to give folks a forum to share money-saving tips with one another. We reasoned that folks out there had a lot of good tips that could help people save some money. Personally, I always hated hearing about some great money-saving tip after the fact. For example, before starting Tip Hero, I purchased a whiteboard for $100 from an office supply store. A little while later a friend told me that I could have saved $90 by buying melamine board — the same material whiteboards are made of — from Home Depot or Lowe’s for ten dollars.

It’s been well over a year since we started Tip Hero, and the best part has been the great tips all of you have sent in. I took a little time this week to read through the hundreds of reader-submitted tips that were sent in during 2009 and decided to highlight some of them in this post. Although the list is numbered, this isn’t a “best of” list — just tips that caught my attention for one reason or another. The tips are listed in no particular order.

I’d like to thank all of you who submitted tips and comments to Tip Hero this year. 2009 has been a tough year for a lot of folks, economically speaking, and your money-saving tips really make a difference in people’s lives.

1. Here’s a cheap root touch up tip submitted by Teresa V. Instead of buying fairly expensive, one-time-use root touch-up kits, Teresa uses Just For Men for beards and moustache coloring gel and saves nearly 70%.

2. An anonymous reader wrote in with this little tip they use to teach their kids to save: Pay Your Kids to Drink Water at Restaurants

3. I thought Joy was pulling my leg when she wrote in with a tip on how she outsmarts mosquito by offering them a beer, in response to our question: What do you reuse to save a buck?

4. I love the personal stories readers submit. Gale Osborn shared with readers about the year she had no money for Christmas and how it was the best Christmas ever.

5. With five kids at home Juliann goes through a lot of hand soap. Once she realized how much excess hand soap dispensers waste she used Twist Ties to Slow the Flow of Liquid Soap.

6. I honestly didn’t know you can freeze milk until Mike the Shopper wrote in with this tip.

7. We have a lot of readers with green thumbs and an anonymous reader shared their tip for saving on potting mix

8. smokehouse1501 shows how to Use Every Bit of Mascara and Save Money

9. Are One-Way Flights Cheaper Than Round Trips? nsama16 shares how he saves money by booking separate one-way flights on different airlines.

10. UrbanSherp shares how she got an unbelievable deal on expensive office chairs by asking about floor models.

11. An anonymous reader shares a simple tip for getting great deals on shoes by Checking Shoe Bottoms at Thrift Stores Before Buying

12. Joy in Tip 3 showed us how to outsmart mosquitoes with beer and Muffins Mom wrote in to tell us how to rid the house of fruit flies with vinegar.

13. We love inexpensive homemade recipes that can take the place of expensive brand name products. Lisa wrote in with her recipe for making Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

14. Another reader wrote in about how they save 50% by making their own half and half.

15. We love it when people write in with tips from their profession. We were delighted when Sandy, a dental hygienist wrote in with some money-saving dental health tips

16. Michael Coutts wrote in with this ingenious tip. Instead of purchasing expensive landscape cloth, herbicides or spending hours on your knees pulling weeds, use good old fashioned newspaper to control weeds.

17. In the “why didn’t I think of that?” category, a reader wrote in explaining how he got tired of getting ripped off buying bottled water at the airport and decided to bring an empty water bottle to the airport and have it filled up once past security.

18. We love home remedies at Tip Hero and thankfully many of you have wrote in with your favorites. In this tip Susan shares her home remedy for acid reflux & indigestion. I’ve personally tried it and it works for me as well.

19. Rinchen contributed several great tips this year. One of our favorites was hosting a ‘Dustcatchers’ clothing swap.

20. One Tip Hero reader wrote an interesting post on the economics of living close to family.

21. An anonymous reader shared their tip on an inexpensive alternative for liquid hand soap.

22. g.johnson who manages a handful of rental apartments knows a thing or two about painting. He shared his 8 Money Saving Painting Tips with Tip Hero readers.

23. One of my all-time favorite reader submissions was from Michelle who reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas in a follow up post on the The Year We Had No Money for Christmas.

24. One mother shared her tip for helping her daughter cut costs at college.

25. Another painting tip. frugalgramma shared with readers how Hair Conditioner Extends the Life of Your Paintbrush

26. Mellie shared a neat little tip using coffee filters for plant pots.

27. We love Gale Osborn around Tip Hero. She’s always sharing great tips and comments on the site. In this tip Gale shares her recipe for making homemade bath soap using a food processor.

28. Charlie over at Pay Less Food submitted a number of great tips this year including 3 Great Tips For Reducing Food Waste

29. PNS shared a tip from her plumber about the benefits of using less detergent.

30. Many of our readers see little money-saving tidbits on TV and share them with our readers like this interesting tip on vodka.

31. Frugalgramma also shared a great DIY Trick for Fabric Softener Savings

32. We can end up spending a fortune on our hair. One reader shared her inexpensive super-hydrating conditioner recipe and another reader wrote in about how extra virgin coconut oil is the best hair hydrator.

33. one Tip Hero reader told us about how she would keep nail polish in her bathroom cabinet and it would get too thick and gunky to use within a couple of months. Her solution: keep nail polish in the refrigerator to save money.

34. We love all the simple little tips readers submit like this one from Elaine Van Leuven about how to salvage oven heat by placing a pan of cool water in the oven once it’s turned off after cooking dinner. When you finish dinner just grab the pan from the oven and you have warm water to clean your dishes with.

35. grammaj shares how she started saving money with this tip on reusing tea bags.

36. Finally to close out the list here’s another 7 great money-saving tips from our readers.

If you come across any money-saving tips in 2010 please think of sharing them on Tip Hero. You can submit tips here. Also if you have any frugal-minded friends, please tell them about Tip Hero in hopes they might have a few tips to share. I know we can all help one another save a little extra money in 2010.

Thanks Tip Heroes, and have a great 2010!

Photo credit: Elvire.R.