It is no secret that our family endured almost a year of unemployment and a mountain of credit card debt that came along with it. I often look back on that time in our lives and wonder how we ever did it. How did we make that situation work? How did our marriage survive it? How did we manage to keep our home and our car?

There are so many families right now that are truly suffering... in much worse ways than we have ever had to endure. This time of difficulty is supposed to turn around in our economy and in many ways it has for many. I know though that many others are still enduring hardship and struggling to overcome these difficulties.

With that being said, I wanted to share with you some ways you can make a difference in the life of someone who is undergoing financial struggle and unemployment. You can make an incredible difference in the life of someone who is struggling and, in most cases, it won't even cost you a dime!


Lend an Ear- The most important thing you can do for someone who is having a hard time financially is to just sit and let them talk. Let them share with you the anger that they have over their situation, let them cry tears of grief over the struggles they are enduring, and celebrate with them when those times turn around.

Let them talk about what they feel like talking about and try not to push them to tell more than they feel comfortable with. It is a very brave thing to do to open up and tell someone that you are struggling and it takes time and trust for them to want to share this private information with you.


Offer To Babysit- The #1 cause for divorce is money problems. When a spouse is unemployed, particularly the male in the family, it is such a difficult time in a marriage because so much of one's pride and self-esteem comes from being able to contribute financially to the family.

The best thing you can do to keep that marriage growing strong is offer to support them by babysitting for them. Give the family the time they need to have a date night or just to have time to quietly do some job searching.

If you have the finances to offer a gift card for a night out, that is a wonderful and thoughtful touch. Think of fun budget-friendly things they could do like going bowling, or a gift card to Barnes & Noble for books or coffee, or a gift certificate to the movie theater.

Better yet, supply a gift that they could use for several nights in like a new board game, an electronic game, a Netflix membership, or ingredients for a fun meal that they could make at home. These are simple gifts that could supply many nights of fun for them during a difficult patch in their marriage.

Meals on Wheels- One of my favorite things to do for people during these times is to just drop off a dinner to them or to bring a meal when I come over to spend time with them. Try to make a big batch of food that could get them through one or two nights when money is tight.

If you lack the cooking gene, head over to the supermarket and pick up a take-and-bake pizza, popcorn, and some break-and-bake cookies. These are likely fun food that have been removed from the grocery budget and will be just as much appreciated as a home cooked meal.

Hire the Unemployed- Check around at your own place of unemployment, contact your friends through social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, and tap into as many people in your network as you can to find a job for your loved one. Do your part to get their resume out there!

If you aren't able to find them a job, consider hiring them for some odds and ends jobs around your house. When one of our family members lost their job, we offered to hire him to remove wallpaper and paint our bathroom. It was a job in our house that we were not looking forward to doing and he was looking for a way to make some extra money. We both felt really good about the project and, in the end, it was the money that helped put the Christmas gifts under their tree. In my opinion, that is a total win-win situation!

Be an Anonymous Giver- Pride gets in the way of sometimes getting the help that someone might need. No one wants to say, "I don't have money for groceries this month. Can you give me some?"

I have some very prideful people in my life who would never tell me when they were struggling. I have learned that anonymous gifts are sometimes the best kinds of gifts to give in these situations. Mail them a gift card or leave pantry ingredients on their doorstep.

Little Things are Sometimes the Best Things- There are so many little ways that you can help those that are struggling that can add up in big ways. Clean out your pantry and bring over the extra food to someone who is struggling, pick up a movie for them, stock them up on diapers for the baby, buy them detergent or paper products that can typically drain the grocery budget, offer to babysit while they run resumes, pass on your old magazines or books for a sweet little pick-me-up, weed through your children's clothes and share those hand-me-downs, send them a card that you are thinking of them, pray for them daily, and cheer them up when you talk on the phone.

Even though I don't like to focus on the negative, here is a little advice on things not to do-

• Don't harass them every day to ask if they have found a job yet. Know that you are likely going to be one of the first people that would be contacted and let them talk about their successes when they occur.
• Don't criticize their unemployed spouse. As I have said before, marriage is hard when a spouse is unemployed and it is important that you do your best not to contribute to the negativity. Allow them to vent, but don't fuel the fire.
• Do your best not to chastise them if they are angry or hurt over what is happening in their lives. Many well-meaning people try to correct anger instead of letting them work through it. Simply saying, "I know this must be tough!" will go a lot further in these situations then correcting their feelings.

As someone who has been on both sides of the fence, you will never know what it will mean to that person to be a steady rock for them to lean on. Try to think beyond yourself and do one nice thing for someone who is unemployed today. It will mean more than you will ever know!

Are you struggling with unemployment or have you struggled with it in the past? What is one thing you could recommend that others can do to help? What is the best thing someone has done for you or someone you love?

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance, Things To Do

I don't know about you, but I never knew how creative I would have to be in order to squeeze in a little alone time with my spouse. We don't get to escape as often as I would like and it is hard to find people you really love and trust enough to watch those that are most precious to you. Not only that, but teenagers sure seem to be a lot busier than they used to be! I am so thankful for the grandparents who offer to take our kiddos time and time again so we can get that time away.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you some creative ideas for dating that will cost you little/no money and won't even require paying a babysitter. These are the ideas that have worked for us through these years and I hope you can share some ways that you have found to creatively date your spouse when you are low on cash and sitters.


Book Club Night- My husband and I have started, what I jokingly refer to as, our "magical book club" together. I have been dying for him to read the Twilight series and he has been dying for me to read the Harry Potter series. We made a deal to exchange books and talk about them each night. Obviously, this is not intellectual material we are talking about, but I have to say that I am so enjoying every moment of this exchange.

You could also read the same series together or tackle a literary classic together. Better yet, reread those amazing books from your childhood. Have a book club night together instead of a night parked in front of the television.

Once we have finished the books though, we plan to have a screening night of the movies together too. I am wondering if I am pushing the envelope too much if I make my Edward cupcakes?

Engage in Conversation Starters- I think I know just about everything there is to know about my husband, especially since we have been together since we were teenagers. Conversation starter questions though can sometimes lead to some beautiful surprises of happy memories that we had never heard before. Look at these unique conversation starters, these sweet conversation starters, or this list of fun questions to get the ball rolling. My husband & I sometimes just ask each other questions in Facebook quizzes. Anything that gets you talking together is a great investment of your time!

Late Night Dinners- When our kids were really little, our time alone really felt few and far between. We would sometimes shift our dinner hour until after the kids went to bed to enjoy a romantic and quiet dinner together. I would put table linens on the table, break out the beautiful dishes and stemware, and make a fancy dinner that the grocery budget would not be able to normally accommodate. After all, you are still staying in so there is still a great savings in that!

Don't be afraid to move your dinner somewhere else in the house. Sometimes I would set up a folding table and chairs and dress it up in a different area of the home or put a fancy spread out on the coffee table with a fun movie. In those long days of newborn feedings and diaper changes, this little change in location was really something to look forward to.



Game Time- My husband & I are both very competitive so we love to play games together after the kids head to bed. For outdoor games, we love a good badminton match and for indoor games we love a good board game challenge or a fun game of Wii bowling. Challenge each other to a match and feel free to indulge in childish behavior to escape the reality of adulthood.


Dollar Store Extravaganza- This is something that I have planned for the two of us as a fun date night idea. Just make a small budget of $10 or less and challenge each other to a contest to see who you can come up with the most creative gift from the dollar store for each other. You can really put a lot of creativity into this and it will be a fun exchange to do after the kids go to bed. See if your husband really knows what your favorite candy in the world is and he can see if you know how to pick a great book for him or what type of puzzle book would be a fun one.





Enjoy Some Time By the Fire- After the kids go to bed, we love to start a little fire in our fire pit and sit by it together. We are finding it is a great way to unwind and have some time to discuss the day together. Make some s'mores and snuggle up under a blanket together. If you have a fireplace, you can do the same thing with some cocoa in your warm house on a wintry night.

Plan an Anniversary Getaway- I decided awhile ago to begin putting money into a separate savings account for our ten year anniversary. At the time, we were really penny-pinching, but $25 a month didn't seem like a ton of money so it has been automatically transferred every month for our anniversary getaway.

I swear that we talk about this (at least) once a month. Even though there is just $1,000 saved, we have come up with a zillion places we could go to and have been number-crunching to see how much we will have from making this tiny investment each month.

Sitting around and just planning a vacation can be so much fun together. It is such a fun way to spend your time, imagining the places you will go and talking about how quickly we are approaching our big anniversary.

Make it more fun by challenging each other to plan the best anniversary getaway package. You could each research and put together your own vacations and then sit down together and see who came up with the best ideas for the least amount of money. File it away for future reference when you actually do to get to go on that getaway.

Exchange Babysitting With a Friend- I am really lucky because if I really want to go out with my spouse, I can call up my sister and ask if we can do a babysitting exchange. If you have a good friend that you can exchange babysitting with and trade nights out, then you get great care for your kids without having to shell out any money.

While you are enjoying some time alone, you can still enjoy the frugal things in life. Some of my favorite date nights are hitting a movie at the second-run theater, packing up a picnic dinner and taking it somewhere with a view, lounging around Barnes & Noble looking for home improvement inspiration, or even enjoying an evening at home without the kids.

If your spouse can take off work, use a vacation day and try and plan your date during the day. You can take advantage of cheaper matinee rates and even affordable meals out at restaurants because of the earlier hour.


Start a New TV Series- Now that I have given you lots of ideas that don't involve the television, I think I can bring up an idea that does. I love to pick up a new television series together, particularly in the summer months when nothing good is really on television. You can rent these using a movie membership or check on Hulu or the network websites to watch a series. Try looking for an older series that you have never seen before and watching it for the first time. On our list of never seen television- Lost, 24, and House. We also love to watch rerun sitcoms and relive all those funny moments all over again and watch Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, & That 70's Show just for laughs.

I don't mean to brag, but this man of mine is awesome! He works a full-time job AND manages to run all of the programming on this website too. I am willing to set aside as many fun & free nights as I can to hang out with him. Even when times were very lean, we have found creative ways to spend time together. I know we both benefit from it and so do our children!

What is your favorite budget-friendly date night activity? Please share your creative and unique ideas for keeping the romance alive!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Marriage

I am bringing back this little post today as I am heading out of town. Between packing and throwing our birthday bash, I am tapped out for the week!

Money-free weekends are one of my favorite ways to get our budget back on track and I hope it will inspire you to take a weekend off from spending. Take a peek at our No Spend Challenge or visit Rachel, at Small Notebook, and join her in her family's challenge to not spend. There is so much inspiration there and it is always fun to have a virtual friend to take a challenge with you!



Experiment: Can our family survive a money-free weekend?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 07.24.08

Materials Needed: Please see The Simple Dollar for the full instructions on ideas for completing this task. Since it is a money-free weekend, you can bet that all those materials need to be free and laying around your house.

Results: I will admit it, we have the most trouble with our spending on the weekends. All of the leisurely free time just makes me think of all the things that I could be buying. It really doesn't help that we live off the main drag for shopping either!

For this experiment though, we made a commitment to have a money-free weekend. I had withdrawn our grocery money earlier in the week though for our grocery shopping, but that is where our spending ended.

What did we do on our no spend weekend? Well, we played board games in the evenings and caught up on our favorite shows. I spent some time working on knitting some washcloths for my grandma's birthday. I cleaned out my closet and took a load of stuff over to Goodwill to make a donation. But our favorite no spend idea that we did... well, maybe our kid's clothing choices might help you guess!


No, we didn't get to see a free game, but my husband's work throws an amazing tailgate and we thought this would be the perfect way to celebrate not spending that weekend.


And you know what is free at those events. Yup, tons of free food! My kids gorged themselves on a plethora of sugary treats and salty snacks. We all ate until we were in food comas and then swung by to see the local radio station all set up and distributing stickers and football necklaces for a special little treat for the kids. We threw our name in a raffle and chatted for a bit at their table. We watched all of the craziness that ensues for Notre Dame games and just drank in all the fresh air and sunshine.

"How convenient," I exclaimed to my husband, as we walked over to our car! "We just so happened to have parked right next to the Starbuck's. Momma could go for some delicious coffee." My husband just grinned at me and kindly replied, "Oh wait! Didn't you say we were having a NO SPEND weekend? Awww, too bad!"

I think one of us took this no spend thing a little too seriously!

Conclusion: I really loved having a money-free weekend and I plan to do this more regularly in our house. Thanks to Trent, at The Simple Dollar, for encouraging families to save instead of spend!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Notebook Experiments, Things To Do

I wanted to bring back this entry because it really is the best showcase of all of our grocery saving advice on the site and on our blogs. If I could add only one tip, I would urge you to pull your fruit basket up so your child does not sink her teeth into each piece of fruit to stake her claim on it.

With grocery prices rising and package sizes shrinking, it can be difficult to stay within your grocery budget. Here are 35 steps towards improving your grocery budget and making the most of your money.

1. Buy the least expensive ground beef and rinse the meat instead to reduce the fat content.
2. Stop buying baby carrots and chop the carrots yourself.
3. Milk your milk budget by using powdered milk when the milk prices are too high.
4. Try making your own coffee syrups and coffee creamers to help save on your coffee expenses.
5. Dispose of the disposable items and switch to cloth napkins, washcloths, and and microfiber cloths to replace your paper napkins and disposable wipes.
6. Try making your own bread using a bread machine or making bread the good old-fashioned way.
7. Start keeping a price book to cash in on the best deals (you can download a free one here).
8. Take advantage of grocery delivery services or free in-store shopping services to help avoid impulse shopping.
9. Give wholesale club shopping a try for items that you use frequently, just be sure to use your price book to compare the prices.
10. Start making your own homemade cleaners.
11. Learn the art of stockpiling and create a system for storing your stockpile that works for your family.
12. Create a series of menu plans that you can rotate so you can make your grocery shopping easier and keep yourself under budget.
13. Try using coupons and utilizing free coupon services to help you score the best deals for your money.
14. Start gardening with simple foods that are easy to grow like tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, and squash.
15. Try canning items from your garden to help cut costs in the winter months.
16. Make your own baby food or find a way to buy it cheaper.
17. Give cloth diapering a shot! They have come a long way and can save you hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
18. Sign up for free samples of food and toiletry items. You will waste less money trying new items out and these samples can help get you by when times are more lean.
19. Make your own mixes instead of buying them.
20. Try shopping at a less expensive supermarket.
21. Bring your own grocery bags for a grocery bag credit at most supermarkets.
22. Shop at stores that will double your coupons.
23. Bring cash and a calculator instead of using your debit card. This will help you to stay on budget better.
24. Utilize a slow cooker so you can buy cheaper cuts of meats and use the slow cooker to tenderize them.
25. Try making your own condiments like pancake syrup, croutons, and salad dressings.
26. Take inventory in your fridge, pantry, and freezer before shopping to avoid buying repeat and unnecessary items.
27. Try replacing one evening meal with breakfast foods instead. Most brunch dishes are less expensive and you can omit or stretch meat in these dishes a lot further.
28. Instead of buying prepackaged bagged ingredients, try packaging your own ingredients once a week instead. It will help get dinner on the table faster and it will save you money in your grocery budget.
29. Make a homemade pizza instead of buying pizzas in the frozen section.
30. Schedule a day in your kitchen every week to make cooking easier and to help save on the cost of buying convenience foods.
31. Feed your freezer and/or give once-a-month cooking a try to save on time and money.
32. Eliminate meat or make one night a meat-free night.
33. Make snacks items convenient so you don't have to buy the prepackaged goodies.
34. Buy and prepare whole chickens instead of buying chicken breasts as a meal or shred this meat for your casseroles.
35. Buy your meat in bulk.

Am I missing a tip? Feel free to share the ways you reduce your family's grocery budget?

Labels: Budget, Grocery Shopping, Personal Finance

My husband and I celebrated nine years of marriage last month. We wanted to celebrate our anniversary in a special way and so we decided to take a little trip to Traverse City, Michigan and enjoy a weekend getaway for just the two of us. My husband's family was kind of enough to take care of the little ones and we were off for two days of sightseeing, window shopping, and delicious eating.

We remained true to our budget through careful planning and research and I wanted to share with you a few ways we found to save on our memorable weekend getaway!

We Researched Hotel Rates- There were tons of great places to stay in Traverse City and I wanted the place that we stayed at to be close to the downtown shopping and a fun getaway for us. We checked Kayak for room rates and found the Grand Traverse Resort to be approximately the same price as the other hotels, but it had many amenities. The reviews on the hotel were great and we were thrilled to find a rate that saved us about $70 a night versus the hotel rates.

All of that being said, it seemed because we had booked this discount rate, we also got the discount room. Our room was the one without the view, on the ground floor, and smelled like a smoking room. We also had no idea that they would charge a resort fee of $9.95 a day for all of those amenities that we did not use.

We still did score a great rate, but realized that the amount of time we spent in our room was not worth the grandeur and we will find a less expensive place next time!

We Requested A Visitor Packet- While the visitor packet for this town lacked coupons, it did give us some ideas for neat places to visit and offered great historical information on the places we planned to visit. Through this packet of information, I was able to jot down some ideas for places to eat and see while we were in the town.

We Found the Best Places to Eat- I wanted to eat the coolest spots in town and we were able to do that with just a little research on my part. I hopped on Chow and checked through the forums for information on the town we were visiting. People offered honest opinions on the best spots in town and we decided to eat at two of the restaurants that had been recommended.

This first restaurant is called Trattoria Stella and was a fantastic Italian place in a renovated insane asylum. No, I am not joking! My husband, who watches many of those ghost-chasing shows, was thoroughly creeped out and it made for great conversation with our waiter. The food and wine choices relied heavily on local farmers and local wines which made for a fresh and delicious dinner.

The other recommendation was for Don's Drive-In, which was absolutely everything that I adore about diner food. Greasy burgers, giant shakes, and the best fried mushrooms ever. We took our shakes to go and drove near the water for a view. It was far too cold to sit too long, but we prided ourselves on making the most of our two day getaway!

We Talked to the Local Folk- When someone comes to my town, I love to be a local authority. Isn't it fun to share all of the hidden gems of your town? We talked to anyone who would chat with us and they shared their special places to eat, shop, and their favorite wineries to visit in town. People just love sharing about their home and that is how we were able to discover an out-of-the-way winery that was not listed on maps. It ended up closing before we arrived, but we were able to take some wonderful pictures of the view.


We Put Together Our Own Tours & Packages- The Grand Traverse Resort offered a room package that you could take to tour the local wineries. The package included a two night stay and a tour of three wineries. The price? A whopping $224.50 per person. They had the wineries listed where they would be touring and I jotted them down and we decided to do our own tour. The price for us to do our own wine tour? Gas plus $3-5 per tasting at the wineries. With the money saved, we were able to take home a bottle of wine from each of the three wineries as a memento of our special anniversary. The two highlights for us were Shady Lane & Black Star Farms.

We saved ourselves even more time and money by trying wines at the restaurant and even picking up a bottle at the gas station. We discovered what wineries were not worth visiting and which ones we could not wait to enjoy at their winery.


We Put Our GPS To Good Use- We had a gift certificate last year and we put it towards a little GPS unit for our car. It has saved us so much money in gas and an inevitable divorce because we always get lost. It has been one of the best investments for our family- I truly could go on and on!

If you have a GPS unit, program it with all of the places that you would like to go before heading on your trip. I visited all of the sites of the restaurants, our hotel, even the downtown shops that I wanted to hit so all of the information was right at our fingertips. We enjoyed a scenic view to the town and we were able to navigate our way around without any problems to all of the places we wanted to see.

If you don't have a GPS, print out maps for the places you would like to go and tuck them in a folder for your trip.

We Stuck To Window Shopping- I won't say we didn't make any purchases, but the majority of the day was just spent window shopping and picture-taking. I was able to take pictures of all the beautiful windows and antiques that we saw and that seemed to satisfy any urge I had to shop. We did enjoy oodles of free food samples downtown and shared a slice of pizza on a park bench to people watch over our lunch.

What a happy 9th anniversary that was and almost 15 years of being together!

Do you have any weekend getaways planned? What is your favorite way to save on your vacation travels? Please share!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Marriage, Things To Do, Travel

Is there such a thing as being sick on a budget? Our family seems to think so! We try to even address our budget when it comes to our illnesses in life. Here are some ways that you can save money when you are sick:

- Try home remedies before reaching for the cough syrup. There are tons of wonderful remedies that you can do that don't require a big expense. I am a big believer in chicken soup, a warm bath, hot tea, and lots of rest. The rest alone is sometimes enough for me to kick what is ailing me.

- If you need over-the-counter medications, try and stock up on these items when doing your drugstore rebates. Usually CVS & Walgreens both will run rebates on these medications and you can get them for free or really inexpensively. Other great resources are the Dollar General, the Dollar Tree, and the generic equivalents available at your large superstores. The best way to save a buck is to have your medicine cabinet stocked with these items before you are ill. A 24 hour drugstore with no sale will run you quite a bit more than what you would spend normally.

- Organize your medicine cabinet so you know exactly where your items are. We have a three drawer plastic container where we have our medications divided by ailment (cough/cold, pain relievers, stomach) and we put these in there. I get really mad at myself when I have run out to get a medication, only to find it days later in a hidden drawer. Keeping this and your First Aid kit organized are the best ways to know what you have on hand when sickness and emergency situations arise.

- When you go to the doctor, ask if they have any samples of the medications you might need. Sometimes, particularly with my children, I am able to get enough for a few days.

- If they don't have any samples, ask if there are any prescriptions that they could give you off of the $4 list or free antibiotics from your local retailers. Call around and price check before you fill your prescriptions and always ask if you can get the generic version of any medication.

- If you start to feel ill, try right away to get in the doctor for treatment. A visit during normal office hours will be a lot less expensive than an urgent care clinic.

- When choosing a doctor, ask about evening hours and Saturday appointments. Pick a doctor with extended hours and this alone can save you quite a bit. I love that our doctor's office is open until eight in the evening and that I have many more options for appointment times.

- If you do become ill, try after-hours clinics or places like MedPoint to get the care that you need (unless the illness is life-threatening). I have saved our family a lot of money by visiting these places instead of the emergency room. Just walking into the emergency room can put me in the negative, before I have even been checked, so these after-hour clinics can be a wonderful option for the frugal family.

- If your illness does require a hospital stay, make sure to check your bills. There are many expensive and unnecessary charges that can be added to your bill. This is one of those types where diligence will be your best defense in lowering your hospital bill. Don't be afraid to ask what the charges are and have them explain the vague & general charges. You don't have to be rude, but you can be very firm and polite when asking someone to explain what a "lab fee" is for. You are your own best advocate when you are educated about what you are paying for.

- Don't forget to set up your emergency account for these types of situations. Check into getting a flexible spending account for your medical expenses. Consumer Reports offers this advice..."If your company offers a flexible spending account for your out-of-pocket health-care costs, go for it--but don't go overboard." Flexible spending accounts are usually use-it-or-lose it accounts. Figure out a rough estimate and go a little under that. Don't know what to do with all that leftover money at the end of the year? Check out these 24 suggestions for spending your leftover flexible account money.

- The best way to stop yourself from getting sick is prevention. Exercise, take a daily multivitamin, and make healthy lifestyle choices. People who do these things save tons of money on doctor visits and medications. If that isn't a powerful motivator, I don't know what is!

(image credit: Bryan Warman)

Potential Monthly Savings: $20 or more

What are some ways you save money when your family is sick?

Labels: Budget, Health, Personal Finance

(originally aired: October 14, 2007)

I debated a long time about whether or not to post this, but I figured it might help someone else out there so I thought I would share my experience.

When my husband started his new job, we started a ninety day lapse in insurance coverage. We have purchased a temporary policy with a high deductible, but we are going without some of the perks that we had with our old policy. One of those perks was a reimbursement program on my prescription drugs.

I do want to begin by saying that the medication I was on was not working for me. I have IBS and I have depression and the drugs that my family physician had me on were not helping me at all. If there was a side effect listed with the medication, I had it. I am one of those people who experiences terrible side effects, which makes me hesitant to ever fool around with a good thing when it comes to my medicine. Unfortunately, since I have had Emily, I have not found that magical sweet spot where I have felt good and we have been bouncing me around on all sorts of medicines and no relief from either ailment. When my stomach medication was pulled by the FDA due to people dying from complications, I threw my hands up in the air and knew that I needed to make a change.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I talked with a girlfriend who is a firm believer in homeopathic remedies. My feelings towards these types of treatments have always been disbelief. I will admit it, I have always considered many of these remedies a waste of money. Her sister-in-law has three homeopathic practices and a long line of happy clients, so she said she could ask her some of the things that I could take after I explained everything that I was looking for, what wasn't working, and so on. I remember thinking that if it sounded too "weird" or "out there" that I would not take them.

Another important element to me was that I was not paying more for my treatment than I was for the prescription drugs. Always the frugal girl, I wanted my treatment to be affordable, but also to feel better.

My friend gave me a list of what she had suggested and none of it was strange or unheard of. For my stomach, one of her recommendations was a cup of hot water with lemon before bed (how frugal is that?) She also had a substitute for my anti-depressant and a few items that would boost my immune system.

I have been doing this for about a month now and I have never felt better in my life. My constant tiredness and that cloudiness that I felt is gone and I am feeling more like myself than I have ever felt before. I am amazed at the difference that I feel and how I react towards my family. I am experiencing no side effects and I see a noticeable difference in myself. I feel like me again and it has been a long time since I have felt that way.

The icing on the cake is the extra $200 that will be sitting in my account each month. My new medicines only cost me $50 each month! What a savings!

If medications aren't working for you, homeopathic remedies might be worth looking into. My depression and stomach problems were mild, but were having a negative effect on my life. With care from an expert in the homeopathic field, you might be able to relieve yourself of your symptoms and keep a little extra money in your pocket at the same time.

If you do have to take medications though, my articles on going without health insurance and my article on going without prescription coverage might provide some help! I also blogged on treating ailments when you are without coverage or are looking for the cheapest way to treat sickness.

Have you ever substituted homeopathic remedies for prescription drugs? What are your feelings towards these types of remedies?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Health, Personal Finance

I don't know what it is about men, but it seems that people are always looking for gift ideas for them. I have never really had a problem with buying for guys, in particular, but struggle more for those people in my life who seem to have everything. Buying gifts for the guys in your life doesn't have to be difficult and I want to arm you with some of my favorite gifts for guys that are always a hit.

Give the Gift of Music- I am a big music-lover and the men in my life are music lovers too. Music is always a great gift to give because it is something that can be enjoyed for a very long time. I love to make a "mixed tape" of great music and then follow these instructions for making a very personalized CD cover with pictures that I know the recipient would like. Print the covers on heavy card stock and add a personal message to the recipient.

If the man in your life is more into the digital music, why not give him an iTunes gift card that can be redeemed for picking his own favorite music? These gift cards start at just $15, which would make a great gift for any music lover.

Give the Gift of Movies- One of the best gifts I have ever given has to be the gift of movies. Netflix offers a wide range of plans that you can choose from and you can purchase a month or two for your recipient for very little money. Their plans start at $4.99 and you can present the subscription in a fun way or even tuck the gift in with a popcorn tub and and some movie theater snacks.

Give the Gift of Reading- Guys love magazine subscriptions and I have found that magazine subscriptions can be bought very inexpensively off of eBay. Make your own card and tell your guy that the gift is redeemable for any magazine of his choice (except those filthy magazines which will never be purchased for your guy thankyouverymuch) and that you will get him a gift subscription. I have found subscriptions to magazines for $3 or $4 for an entire year versus the newsstand prices. If it is in your budget, you could subscribe to two or three without breaking the bank and let him think you spent a mint on him.

Give the Gift of Food & Drink- They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I have found this is absolutely true. Whip up a special batch of his favorite snack and pair it with some of his favorite coffee. You could make him a batch of these sugar and spice nuts and pair it with a little bucket of his favorite beer. By pairing your homemade specialty with a store-bought favorite drink, you have a great combination for a perfectly budget-friendly gift.

If you want to extend the gift further, wrap up his favorite snack and give him coupons to redeem the snacks for later. This is especially effective with college-aged guys and we have made more than a few college students happy with our boxes of goodies. You can download and print our free college coupon template and mount these to card stock for holiday gift-giving.

Give the Gift of Accessories- Just like women love a good handbag, a pretty scarf, or a hot pair of shoes, men have a desire for accessories too... just not the same kind as us. If your man is into gadgets and already has them, why not supply him with some accessories for the items he already has? For example, if he has a Nintendo Wii, you could give him some Wii points to put towards one of his favorite old Mario Brothers games. Likewise, if he uses any other game system, you could buy an extra controller or a different style of controller so he could play with more of his friends. If he has a Kindle you could give him a gift certificate to Amazon to buy some book downloads. Is he into computers? Why not try and find some computer software that he could put to good use by taking advantage of those rebate offers from the office supplies stores. We often forget to reload the tech gadgets we already have so this is a cost-effective way of building upon investments that have already been made.

There are the other accessories in life too so take a peek at his belt, his wallet, his hat, his scarf, his planner. While not maybe as much fun as some of the other gifts on the list, upgrading your man's accessories can be very thoughtful and will be used for years to come. I love to go to stores like TJ Maxx and Marshall's to find these accessories because they are so deeply discounted and you can get some really great brand-names for an affordable price.

Give the Gift of Believing In Your Man- I know how much I appreciate it when someone believes in me and what I do so why not try and make that into a gift for someone you love? Are they self-employed or trying to start their own side business? Why not place an order for business cards for them? VistaPrint offers very affordable prices on business cards and think how much that would mean to someone who is trying to start their own business. You could pair that with a business card case that has been engraved with his initials which would make the gift even more personal.

Does the man in your life have a hobby that he is passionate about? Why not get him a book, a tool, or some items off of his wish list to support that hobby. Make these gifts more personal with a note that tells them that you are proud of them and give him a free pass to watch the children so he can go and pursue his hobby for the day... with no flack from you. Men value their alone time just as much as women so give him permission to go hit a few of those golf balls that are wrapped under the tree and enjoy some of your own quality time alone with the kids.

Give the Gift of Memories- Do you know something about the man in your life that you could use as a creative gift? Think of their favorite book as a child or think of a gift that he said he always wanted, but never got when he was young. Try and find those items on eBay and write a personal message to them about how you always remembered that this was special to them. You don't have to pay to get a first-edition of the item, remember that the thought is there and he will appreciate that you remembered that about him.

Another way to capture those memories is by finding an old picture that would have significant memories for him and have it printed up through a photo place and frame it for his desk at work. Maybe it is a picture of you with your father? Maybe it is a picture of you and your spouse on your honeymoon? Maybe it is a picture of your grandfather with his grandkids? Frame it and give it to them as a way of remembering all of those wonderful memories.

Whatever you do, just remember to make the gift as personal as you can. Wrap your gift creatively and tuck in a letter of what that person means to you. Everyone wants to feel loved and appreciated and nothing says appreciation like a little time invested into a personal gift. Don't just give him the supplies to wash the car, give him a coupon that says it is good for one car wash done by you. Don't just give him a magazine subscription. Buy one magazine to wrap that says that it is good for the subscription and then tag the magazine with sticky notes with funny notes from yourself. Don't give him a generic coffee mug, have the children create one with you and fill it with his favorite snack. Make it as personal as possible and your gift will say a lot more than any expensive gift that is wrapped under the tree.

I hope these ideas have helped since this was a topic our readers really wanted to see!

Please share-what do you like to give to the men in your life? Have you done any of these ideas from this list?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Gifts, Holidays, Shopping

Two envelopes came to us this week filled with two things that I had never seen before. No, in my entire life I have never held a title in my hand and I am now the owner of not one, but two old cars. This calls for some celebrating!

Just like our credit card free party, it was time to bring the kids into the celebration and share with them our great news. I decided we would have a Cars Party and hunted in the pantry for what we could fix.

Ethan worked on the centerpiece and picked his favorite cars to display. We put it out on our patio table and started gathering up the food.

No steak for this celebration? I had enough time to throw some hot dogs in the slow cooker and we put out all the hot dog fixings, a big bowl of pretzels, and cheese wedges.

In an incredible twist of good luck, Ryan had a presentation at work so he came home with a projector. I climbed on a patio chair and rigged up that old sheet from this weekend and made a very hillbilly-esque kind of outdoor theater for the kids. Yeah, you know it, they thought I was the coolest mom ever.
What did we watch? Walt Disney's Cars movie of course! They have seen this movie a ton of times, but it is like the first time every single time for Ethan.

We put our centerpiece to good use and played with our cars on the real and rugged road.


If that road feels too bumpy though, you can always use your legs for the road.

What's a movie without snacks though? I whipped up a batch of our homemade slushies and we brought the popcorn popper outside and popped a big batch of popcorn to share. Slushie sloshing and popcorn throwing were completely fine at this outdoor event.

If you need to take a nap while watching the show, seating is also available. Ethan pulled his clean blanket off the clothesline and took a little rest while he watched the show.


My liens on cars have been released. With credit cards and car payments behind us, we can start making a dent into those student loans and finally... our mortgage. Each step brings us closer to our goal and each step brings me more peace of mind.

The beauty of it all wore off yesterday as I screeched and clunked my way to stop. My car will be spending this week in the shop for some repairs. My husband's car is lacking A/C and will need a turn in the shop as well.

They might be a couple of old clunkers, but they are OUR clunkers now.

Boy, am I proud!

Labels: Budget, Family, Personal Finance

We finally celebrated our debt-free party, after making the final payment on our credit cards today. I wanted to make sure that it was really special and that the kids would be an active participant in our joy and elation of all we did to work towards this day.

Above is our centerpiece for the event. As cheesy as it was, it was symbolic of the fruits of our labor. I put the amount of money that we paid off into the basket to show Ethan what a big sum it was and how excited we were that we didn't have to pay this anymore. The money came from our Monopoly game and we were able to let him count it out and also used it to show how borrowing money works. This made things more tangible for him and we tried to make this a great teaching opportunity for why debt it so bad.

What should a debt-free family eat for their celebration dinner? Steak, of course! I used this marinade recipe and marinated the steaks while I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the meal. I got a big loaf of crusty bread with oil to dip it in, I made this Creamy Spinach Ravioli (minus the dill and prepared with half & half instead of milk), and I made a big batch of brownies for dessert.


Even Emily seemed to appreciate my modest culinary efforts. Most of the ingredients came right from the pantry so it was still an affordable dinner. The writing didn't turn out on the brownies, but we devoured them anyway. That will teach me to get anxious and pipe before they are throughly cooled.

What's a party without a good toast? I got a bottle of wine for our celebration and used our cut up credit card as an accent to our wine glasses. I poured pink lemonade for Ethan in the fancy wine glass so he could celebrate a toast with us.

We clinked glasses several times to get the best shot for you! Ethan loved clinking the glasses so he didn't mind the extra takes.

I finished the evening by reading my entry that I wrote about our happy return to the land of no credit cards. It actually was quite emotional for me to read it out loud to my husband because we went through so much to get to this point.

Thank you all for sharing in our journey with us and for supporting our efforts on the site. Cheers to you!

Labels: Budget, Entertainment, Family, Personal Finance

When the American dream consists of a McMansion, giant flat screen television, and an expensive car, I often feel like my American dream seems modest and unremarkable.

Yet, as modest and unremarkable as it is, I feel as though I am living what I would consider a dream come true. After battling a year of unemployment with my husband and a mounting pile of debt, we made our last credit card payment today. $13K of debt stands behind me and in front of me is a future that seems as bright as sunshine.

Yes, my dreamy life is now simple and delightful. I am living in a house that I can afford, in fact, we have been paying extra on it each month so it can feel more like OURS than theirs. My house is nestled in a safe neighborhood with people who care about and for us.

Our house rests on a bit of land that I can do whatever I want with. I can grow food for us to eat and sit outside with my children while they play on their hand-me-down swing set. My clothing can flap in the breeze on the line and we can eat outside in that beautiful fresh air.

My husband goes to work and comes home with a paycheck that we can rely on. When times of self-employment faced days of wonder about whether he would get paid at all, when he was laid off from job after job, when he worked for employers who did not appreciate what a great employee he was something like this almost seems foreign. We are so grateful for this amazing opportunity and for him to have a boss that says, "Please don't ever leave- we need you!" is nothing short of phenomenal.

I am able to put food on my table and gas in my car, despite the rising costs. We might not buy as much or go as many places to make up for the hike in prices, but we go where we need to and eat when we are hungry.

I stay home with my children, which is exactly where I had hoped to be. I cut every corner I could to make it possible, and I sit here amidst a pile of blocks in the floor and a crunching of Cheerios as I scoot my chair back, but one kiss from my peanut butter & jelly smeared daughter makes all of the noise of my life come to a standstill.

When my daughter lays down for her nap and my son enjoys his moments of quiet time, my house is quiet and still. The phone does not ring with collection calls, but it does ring on occasion to let me know that my library materials I request are in. To enjoy answering my phone and to not be fielding these calls is a relief.

Best of all, I share my stories and someone reads them. I never thought anyone would read anything I ever wrote and to know that our site continues to grow and that I am paid to write about my ordinary and extraordinary days is beyond what any person could ever hope for. I have a community that supports me and a family that loves me and it so wonderful to know that the people around me care about what I am doing.

I share these accomplishments, not to brag, but to show how you can overcome debt and that you can lead a simple and beautiful life with your family. As an American, you can chose to live whatever dream you could ever want, but it doesn't have to be a dream of consumerism and being hostage to a credit card company.

And if you are a person who can't answer your phone without worry, if you are struggling with an unemployment situation, if your credit card debt is bigger than your yearly income and you wonder how you can ever get out, I am telling you now that it is possible. Take it one day at a time and put as much as you can towards reducing your debt and building a safety net for your family. We started out with only minimum amounts put towards the debt and slowly worked our way up from there.

It was not without struggle, but rarely have I ever read a good story without a good struggle. Would I even want to read a story where it was smooth sailing and happy rainbows? Probably not! But a story where the heroine overcomes a mountain of debt, struggling each step of the way and documenting her wild ride to the top of the mountain, and then slides down her credit card statements to a rosy finale...now that is a story I would love to read.

So here it is...this American's dream came true and she tackled that mountain. And here she sits with Cheerios crunching under her chair and living that happily ever after that she always dreamed of.

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance

Circled and etched in my mind for the past four years has been the 17th of each month. I have it circled on my calendar, I get an email reminder that the date is approaching, and the number to make my payment is programmed on my telephone. Yes, American Express and I have had a long relationship together... a relationship that has went on for far longer than I had ever dreamed.

Sometimes when people talk about their debt, they have a period of "fun spending" where they bought great items for themselves and their homes. They reference their shoe collection or expensive furniture that they just had to have and ended up charging them to a card. My debt had no element of fun in it. There was no rush of fun spending and then a feeling of doom and gloom afterwards- it has been doom and gloom all of the way.

The sad thing was that we were doing everything right. We were excellent at saving our money and had socked away well over the recommended amount needed to fund our emergency account. We both worked hard at our jobs and we lived well, but modestly within our means.

The loss of a job, we figured would be an annoying setback, but nothing more than that. The setback went on for almost a year though and sent our world into a tailspin. The only job that replied during my husband's search was in the Midwest and they could offer him less than half what he was making at his current job.

I remember sitting on a moving box and crying, as my son crawled at my feet. I remember the feeling of hopelessness and despair. As we packed, my husband suggested giving away stuff or getting rid of our things so it would be easier for us in the move and I remember telling him that we EARNED our items and that we DESERVED to keep what we had. Yes, everything felt like it had been taken away and I was keeping everything that I owned and no one was going to stop me from that. You could take my husband's job, you could take my car, you could take my house, you could take away my church and my friends- but I was taking EVERYTHING out of that house with me.

As we journeyed to our new home, I peeked at Ethan behind us and looked at my husband's sad face. I was so angry at God and angry at the world for what was happening to us. We had done everything right and here we were...with everything so wrong. I wish, at the time, that I realized that I had everything I needed sitting in that car with me that day. I didn't need that moving van of stuff that represented what I was. These two people who rode in the car with me were everything that I could ever want.

As we settled into our new home, we started our life behind on all of our bills and with over $13K of debt. The kicker was that almost $8K of it was the cost to move all of our belongings cross-country. The rest was my husband's student loans that we had gotten behind on and then the occasional, "Oops, we are overdrawn again" and a frantic writing of checks to ourselves from those convenient checks that they kept sending me.

Finally, one day I decided to not be a victim anymore and decided that I was going to be proactive about tackling our debt. I made a plan for how we would pay everything back and make our financial lives right again. It was a simple technique of snowballing our debts, but just to have a plan made me feel far more liberated and in control then I had felt in years.

We have been working on our financial goals since then, sticking to our plans and meticulously documenting the progress that we have made towards our goals. I am so happy to say that April 17th will be the last date that I have with American Express and I am ending our relationship for good. Our time together was never fun, we never had that great of a relationship- they just always seemed to be at an advantage. Frankly, I am tired of paying for our dates and I am moving on.

In honor of our final payment to the company, I am going to have a wild and crazy party (within our means, of course). I was wondering if anyone had any fun ways to celebrate ridding yourself of credit card debt? I am looking for fun party ideas- cheesy ideas, wild ideas, symbolic ideas for celebrating.

Remember, this is a party that has been four years in the making! I am ready to party like it's 1999...or um, something like that but a little bit hipper.

I can't wait to get your feedback and ideas!

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance

We are down to basic channels, thanks to the writers strike! I am finding my life to be much fuller since we cut down our television watching. Direct TV had raised our rates again (just another $5 after the numerous $5-8 rate increases) and I just thought to myself, "Now what sensible person would continue taking it from the man?"

Ryan isn't really as on board with this decision, but I suggested all of the great things we could do with our thirty dollar a month savings. We could maybe get a couple of new Wii games, we could have a great date night (and TALK!), we could read the same book and talk about it, we could play board games, we can enjoy taking walks... the possiblities are endless!

I went on the website, I picked the option to change my plan, and then I thought of all the shows we couldn't see and that I would miss.

We will see how it goes, but I am committed to trying!

Sound Off: Do you have cable or satellite television? What type of plan are you on?

Labels: Budget, Frugal

I have always tried to keep money in an emergency fund for the unexpected because, frankly, the unexpected seems to happen a lot in our family. About five years ago, we faced an unexpected time of unemployment for my husband's job. Without that emergency fund strongly in place, I truly believe that we could have ended up in bankruptcy. Trying to be dedicated savers, we had put all of our money into a savings account to prepare for those rainy days.

Well, that rainy day came in our house. And it rained. And it poured. And it thundered. And it... well, you get the picture. He went almost a year without finding a job and I tried to help with the finances by working full-time until he found something. Even though we were drawing an unemployment check and I was doing my part working full-time, we were just covering my husband's pay and we were missing our additional income. We had a new baby, a new mortgage, and a huge amount of student debt.

What we had to be thankful for was a fat savings account that would ride us through the storm. We had saved up around $15,000, after purchasing our home, for those rainy days that were ahead. During that time of unemployment, we managed to eat through all of that saved money and then accumulated more debt on top of that.

Now we are better money-managers, but we are working with only one income. I feel very privileged to be home with my children, but I miss being able to jump right in with my own income in these emergency situations. That safety net just isn't what it used to be. In fact, my net looks a little threadbare and it often scares me. I have found because I have faced uncertain times in my financial past, that it is rare for me to feel true certainty when it comes to my finances. What I mean to say is that I can't seem to put my finger on a magical number that would be right for my emergency fund so that I could feel at peace with an unemployment situation happening again. Gosh, $15,000 seemed like a magical number at the time and yet...it wasn't magical enough.

Now with each paycheck I am trying to sock money away into an emergency fund for our family. The big question is...what is more important- building up your emergency fund OR paying down your debt?

An emergency fund trumps debt, at least it does in my family. We are steadily paying down our debt, but we are also putting our nickels and dimes away in our emergency fund too. If given a choice between putting money towards my credit card or putting my money towards my emergency fund...I would lean towards saving. The reason is, if something unexpected should happen, I would need that money from my emergency fund a whole lot more than looking at my extra $25 payment that got absorbed into my credit card.

I am wondering what the scenario is in your homes. Do you have any emergency fund? Is your emergency fund in a savings account or do you keep your money elsewhere? What is your magical number/equation you use for deciding how much to put in your accounts?

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance

Last week I went to a local market to stock up on meat for the month. I have been really disappointed in the quality of the meat at our supermarkets in town so I decided to go to another town to stock up on meat there based on some great recommendations from my mom's group. I ended up getting some really excellent deals for my money and the meat was a much better quality too.

I brought home ten pounds of chicken, ten pounds of ground beef, and two whole chickens. I broke out my FoodSaver, purchased from the thrift store, and one of my favorite kitchen tools...my postal scale.

I got my postal scale off of eBay and I use it often for shipping purposes. It has saved me a lot of time and hassle at the post office, but it also has been such a useful tool for me to weigh ingredients when cooking in bulk.

I divide my meat into one pound portions because that is the amount we typically use in a meal and it also thaws a lot quicker when it is in these smaller portions. Each one pound portion was vacuum-sealed and labeled for the freezer.

The whole chickens were rubbed with my Sticky Chicken dry rub and are all ready to go for a yummy meal one night. The chicken breasts were cleaned and trimmed, and then cubed for the various dishes I will be using them for.

With the grocery prices rising, this is one easy way that I can save my family money during the month.

Sound Off: Do you buy your meat in bulk or do you have store that you usually find good meat sales at? What would be a good price on meat in your area?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Grocery Shopping, Homemaking

As the year draws to an end, we all begin to focus on the things that we would like to change for the new year. It is a great time to be reflective and see what didn't work for us and also to find our opportunity to make positive changes for the upcoming year. Isn't renewal great? A chance to start fresh and to begin the year on good footing. That is the best part for me about starting a new year. Sure, I am a year older...but I am also a year wiser too! Another year to draw experience from and to begin our reflective thinking on how we can be BETTER! How amazing is that?

Here are some great ideas for making a positive change in your finances this year:

1. The Power of Positive Thinking- One way you can begin the year on good footing is to begin the year by thinking positively and trying to carry that positive thinking with you throughout the year. This is one thing that I am really going to be working on and I believe that it will improve my outlook greatly.

Looking back in the year, you can maybe see things that you didn't do correctly. Maybe you used your credit card? Maybe you had enormous medical bills for the year? Maybe you strayed from your budget?

While you can look back on your year and kick yourself for all of your stupid financial mistakes, the simple fact is that it won't change anything about what you did wrong....But, what you can do is look at those stupid experiences and say, "Here is how I am going to change that this year."

The pure and simple fact is that I have made dumb financial mistakes. I took out a lot of student loans and didn't finish school. I got a gym membership that ruined my credit history and caused me to take out high interest loans for my schooling. I borrowed against our credit cards when we had no money coming in for almost a year. My life is paved with some really stupid financial moves.

BUT! I am pulling myself up by my boot straps and I am working my tail off to make things right. I have put pen to paper and made financial goals for my family and we are working to meet those goals. I am wiser with my money now and I am making positive changes in our budget to reach the goals that we need to reach. We are beginning to see light at the end of our tunnel and it feels GOOD!

Focus on these things- not the bad! That is a goal for me this year!

2. Get Organized- I have been flipping through this month's magazines and am beginning to see a theme into what people are looking for. This is the time of the year where we say that we want to get organized. But how does organization relate to the financial situation? To me, finances and organization go hand in hand. Without organization, my finances would be a wreck and that is why it is a continual goal for me to get my stuff in order.

Organization in your life will lead to lots of positive changes and your finances can change right along with that.

Are your bills late? Are you always losing those receipts for your reimbursements for your medical expenses? Did you misplace important tax paperwork and won't be able to use for your deductions?

Those scenarios can be sickening, especially if those are positive amounts that could be made into your account or you are suffering from fees and higher interest rates because you can't get your stuff in order.

Figure out how you can get things in order so that you can make these scenarios work. For your medical expenses, a three ring binder divided by months can be great for keeping track of receipts and your Explanation of Benefits. Use this to keep track of what has/has not been paid. Then if the company calls and says they never received your payment, you have your written proof that payment was sent or reimbursements weren't made.

Start keeping a calendar with dates for important account activities or send yourself email reminders from the company for your payments. Better yet, set up automatic deductions so you don't have to stress about whether or not your bill has been paid.

There is so much that I plan to organize this year and the magazines are proving that I am not the only one looking for answers. Getting my life in order is top priority.

3. Get Healthy- Getting healthy and losing weight are top on everyone's priority list right now. Getting healthy is important to me and it is not only important to me because I want to feel good, but being healthy is top on my financial priorities list too.

If I can make positive changes in my activities and I can get my health issues in order, I can save myself a ton of money. I will be making less trips to the doctor, purchasing fewer prescription drugs, and I will have more energy to help with our family finances.

Getting healthy, to me, will not require spending money. I will probably be discussing this more in a future article, but I really did want to say that. When people say that they want to lose weight or get healthy, many times these scenarios involve spending money. I don't like to spend money, so I am trying to do this through cheaper means.

This means that I will get exercise through walking or jogging outside (during the warmer months) and renting free exercise videos from the library for the cooler months. No gym memberships for me because I can get exercise for free from home.

Drinking more water is also tops on my priority list and, lucky for me, this is free!

I also did make the switch to herbal medications and have seen so many positive changes from switching to these instead of my prescriptions. These are saving me tons of money and I feel a hundred times better. While this option might not be for everyone, I am saving hundreds of dollars for our family by seeking alternative medications.

4. Relieve Stress- Stress can do a number on our bodies and my stomach is living proof of why stress is so bad for you. I am trying to reduce the amount of stress in my life and this is an important goal for me.

How does stress relate the finances? Well, if I am constantly stressed out, I find that I am in stomach pain or I don't feel good. If I am stressed out then I find myself going out to dinner because I am too stressed/tired to cook. Maybe my stress causes depression for me or it puts a strain on my family? These scenarios are not good for a family and they aren't good for my finances.

I find myself stressed often and the thing about it is...I put it on myself. I volunteer for everything because I want people to like me. I am a people-pleaser. I am a bend-over-and-take-it-because-everyone-needs-me kind of person, when I should be more of a, "Sorry, I can't help you this week!" kind of person.

This doesn't mean I am saying no to everything, but this will mean that I am going to say no. This is a really hard one for me, but I am kicking myself six days out of the week because I said yes to something that I shouldn't have.

I am going to use that time to refocus my life AND my spirit. I am trying to renew hobbies that I am missing out of my life. For example, I love to read and I never had time to do that. I want to make that time for me because reading helps relieve stress and feeds my need to connect with myself.

Other things I would like to pick back up- doing Suduko, doing yoga, and reading things that feed my spirit.

5. Reach My Financial Goals- If you haven't sat down and wrote out your financial goals for the year, there is no time like the present. Sit down and really think about what you hope to accomplish this year.

This year, my goal is to pay off the credit card. We have been working towards this goal for almost four years now and we are now under $2K. I will pay this off this year and we will be credit card free.

As we snowball our debt, we will move our credit card payment to the cars and get those paid off next. We are not that far away from owning them, but we do have some auto repairs that will need to be done this year. Our hope is to get these taken care of so that we can enjoy our first year (next year) car payment free.

These are just a few positive financial moves that we hope to make this year. I will be sharing five more positive goals you can make, in the upcoming week, and I hope that it will inspire you for making your resolutions and goals for 2008.

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance

When do you decide to let your vehicle die? At what point does the fork in the road become clear? I was hopeful it would be clear after I finished paying my car off, but now I am not even hopeful that we can even make it that far. This is the closest I have ever been to owning a car, and now I am just hoping that it lasts until my last payment is over.

I have heard some squeaking going on for a long time, and we had decided it was most likely the brakes. But then we had just replaced the front brakes, so this theory wasn't making any sense at all. I was still hopeful it was just the brakes so we figured we would replace these after the holiday season.

Then we started to hear a sound like something was dragging under the car. Ryan assured me it was probably packed ice underneath, from all of our snow, so we decided to go with that theory. After all, it was the cheapest!

My car sat in the garage for three days after the packed ice theory, melting our theory in a puddle on the garage floor. Oh no, these things can't be quite that simple.

Our theory came to a grinding (pardon the pun!) halt that day, as the dragging sound persisted. Ryan and I rarely made eye contact. He would start to talk about it and I would look out the window. "It's Christmas. It's the end of the month. This isn't the right time."

But when are these scenarios ever the right time? When is a good time to hear a dragging sound under you car?

I took it into the shop yesterday and got a twenty minute rundown of everything wrong with the car from their technician, just an hour later. The rear brakes were shot, but worse, the calipers were cracked and broken. The cost- $575. That would have to be done today.

The car is due for its 100K tune-up ($340), the car is leaking oil and requires a new timing belt ($1,200), the front brakes have 20% left on them ($240). All of these scenarios need to be happening within the next six months in order to keep my car running smoothly.

According to my calculations though, I just need the car to run another six years so that we can pay down all of our debts. Six years seems like twenty now that I receive the estimate.

I agree to the rear brakes and then wonder what is the next best step to take. Do I ditch the car (a '99 Subaru Outback) or do I pay up and trudge on with my goals in mind?

Despite the bleakness of this, here is what I was thankful for:

1. It is the end of the month and Ryan is only paid once a month. This is a very lean time for us, and we were able to pay for this repair out of our account without putting it on the credit card. Although I felt sick as I handed my debit card over, I knew that we had that money.

2. Here is why we had the money...I have this site. No, I don't make enough for a full-time income, no I am not rolling in it (by any means- see above for car description for further clarification) but I am a contributer to this household. A little pipe dream paid for my beat-up Subaru to have a little surgery. That made me feel really good. I realize my husband pays for everything else, but when it comes to emergency situations like these, my paycheck is the one that pays the bills.

So we ponied up the money and I have my car back and now we are faced with the decision on how to proceed. We sat down and decided that Ryan could definitely fix the front brakes, but a new timing belt and small oil leak would need to be done by the pros. And a 100K tune-up...well, don't all cars need that?

With ten more payments to go, do I pay up or start hunting for something else? Sound off!

Labels: Budget, Personal Finance

Convenience foods can ruin anyone's grocery budget. When my husband and I were first married, I shudder to think how many of my own grocery dollars were wasted on foods like these. We would load our cart with tons of convenience foods... and these were for the nights that we were "saving money" by dining in.

Now you will find very few convenience foods in our home and as I become more familiar with the kitchen, I am beginning to discover all of the things that I am able to make myself.

But, let's face it, convenience foods are called convenience foods for a reason. They are wonderful to have on hand for the times in your life where you don't feel like cooking and they are great when mommy isn't home.

There are things that I have been trying to do to keep convenient food in our house without going over our grocery budget. Here are a few of the things that we have tried in our house:

1. I try to individually wrap items for our family. Items like homemade granola bars, homemade fruit & cereal bars, muffins (any variety will do), and even slices of homemade breads can be wrapped in single-serving portions. These are great to throw into lunch boxes or for a quick snack as you are walking out the door. And if you have big eaters in your family, like I do in mine, then it also can help with portion control.

2. I try to take snacks for the kids in my purse, but just wrapping them in a small piece of foil or plastic wrap offers no protection from the destruction that can occur with my purse. It is easy to smash snacks when you are dragging one kid with one arm and have a little one slung on the same hip as your purse. In such cases, it is nice to have small containers that can fit inside your purse. Our dollar store has a set of four of five for $1 which fit perfectly for these kind of occasions. I like to put our snacks in these or make up a batch of trail mix for the kids for when they get hungry while we are out and about. These are helpful for when the grocery stores have not been so helpful and have put lots of goodies by the cash register for your children to throw tantrums over.

3. I try to make time to make snacks for our family. Since we have been going way over on our grocery budget, I am making even more of an effort to do this. My commitment to scheduling a baking day is working out well for us and it puts an emphasis on staying home with the family, spending time with my children in the kitchen, and staying out of the stores. You will probably find me baking on Black Friday- this will not only help our budget, but it will also help us to be home on one of the craziest days of the year.

4. Preparation is a necessity if you want to attempt making your own "convenient" food. For example, a well-stocked freezer or items that can be throw into a slow cooker can be awfully convenient when you don't feel like cooking.

5. And then, there are just those times where having convenience foods around could still do your budget some justice. For example, we have all been down and out with colds and tonight would be a great night for some good ol' Spaghetti-O's (or equally convenient food). This convenient food would still be cheaper than grabbing some junk food at the drive thru. Giving myself permission to take a night off could come from grabbing one or two items for these kinds of nights.

Sound Off: Do you buy convenience foods? How do you make food "convenient" in your home?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Grocery Shopping, Recipes

I debated a long time about whether or not to post this, but I figured it might help someone else out there so I thought I would share my experience.

When my husband started his new job, we started a ninety day lapse in insurance coverage. We have purchased a temporary policy with a high deductible, but we are going without some of the perks that we had with our old policy. One of those perks was a reimbursement program on my prescription drugs.

I do want to begin by saying that the medication I was on was not working for me. I have IBS and I have depression and the drugs that my family physician had me on were not helping me at all. If there was a side effect listed with the medication, I had it. I am one of those people who experiences terrible side effects, which makes me hesitant to ever fool around with a good thing when it comes to my medicine. Unfortunately, since I have had Emily, I have not found that magical sweet spot where I have felt good and we have been bouncing me around on all sorts of medicines and no relief from either ailment. When my stomach medication was pulled by the FDA due to people dying from complications, I threw my hands up in the air and knew that I needed to make a change.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I talked with a girlfriend who is a firm believer in homeopathic remedies. My feelings towards these types of treatments have always been disbelief. I will admit it, I have always considered many of these remedies a waste of money. Her sister-in-law has three homeopathic practices and a long line of happy clients, so she said she could ask her some of the things that I could take after I explained everything that I was looking for, what wasn't working, and so on. I remember thinking that if it sounded too "weird" or "out there" that I would not take them.

Another important element to me was that I was not paying more for my treatment than I was for the prescription drugs. Always the frugal girl, I wanted my treatment to be affordable, but also to feel better.

My friend gave me a list of what she had suggested and none of it was strange or unheard of. For my stomach, one of her recommendations was a cup of hot water with lemon before bed (how frugal is that?) She also had a substitute for my anti-depressant and a few items that would boost my immune system.

I have been doing this for about a month now and I have never felt better in my life. My constant tiredness and that cloudiness that I felt is gone and I am feeling more like myself than I have ever felt before. I am amazed at the difference that I feel and how I react towards my family. I am experiencing no side effects and I see a noticeable difference in myself. I feel like me again and it has been a long time since I have felt that way.

The icing on the cake is the extra $200 that will be sitting in my account each month. My new medicines only cost me $50 each month! What a savings!

If medications aren't working for you, homeopathic remedies might be worth looking into. My depression and stomach problems were mild, but were having a negative effect on my life. With care from an expert in the homeopathic field, you might be able to relieve yourself of your symptoms and keep a little extra money in your pocket at the same time.

If you do have to take medications though, my articles on going without health insurance and my article on going without prescription coverage might provide some help! I also blogged on treating ailments when you are without coverage or are looking for the cheapest way to treat your sickness.

Sound Off: Have you ever substituted homeopathic remedies for prescription drugs? What are your feelings towards these types of remedies?

Labels: Budget, Health, Motherhood

Well, you are going to get a glimpse inside our home since this morning's segment was taped at our house. The segment that aired today discussed ways that you can keep your home warm without raising your heating bills. Lucky for me, my segment timed perfectly with our weather cooling down or I think this one would have been a dud! According to this week's weather forecast, my tips might be put to good use this week out here in the Midwest.

For additional tips on getting your house ready for the cool weather, be sure to visit my article on Winterizing Your Home.

Sound Off: What do you do to get ready for the winter weather? What is your average heating bill in the winter months?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Organizing, WSBT

I thought I would take the plunge and do a big day of grocery shopping for our entire month. This took a couple days of planning and picking our menus for the month. I really thought it would be a great idea until I actually got to the store and realized that loading and unloading my groceries was a little like a complicated game of Tetris. Nothing fit in the cart and nothing fit in my car. The only thing motivating me was the knowledge that I would not have to do this again for another twenty-nine days. I used to only shop once a month, but had gotten into the habit of shopping every two weeks with my husband's past pay schedule. The new payment schedule motivated me to just go ahead and get it done all in one trip. Am I crazy? Maybe a little bit!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Grocery Shopping, Homemaking, Menu Plans, Organizing

I love shopper rewards, but not the kind that require me to take out a credit card. Yes, I know there are tons of personal finance gurus that would disagree with me on this, but I do not feel comfortable using a credit card. Call it lack of discipline, call it sheer fear...heck, you could call it pure laziness, but I am trying to avoid using credit cards for any reason.

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings, Shopping

Today I was working on some items to put in my freezer when I realized just what kind of savings a person could cash in on just by learning what they can freeze and how to store the items in their freezer.

Here is the view into our freezer in our refrigerator. We also have a small chest freezer in our basement, but it isn't as easy to view as the one upstairs.

What might one find in our freezer?

- Ice cube trays filled with ice to make our favorite Slushies and Magic Milkshake from Miss Maggie at Hillbilly Housewife. These make great frugal treats for the kids and save us a lot of money by not going to places like Dairy Queen in the summer.

- Coffee ice cubes to make my frozen coffee treats.

- Mashed bananas in measured containers for all of my baked goodies that might need this ingredient.

- Pizza sauce in measured containers for our Friday night pizza nights.

- Banana pops made to help the kids beat the summer heat.

- Lunch meat packets that I made for my husband's lunch and quick dinners using our panini maker.

- Self-Rising & Cake Flour- which I use less regularly, but wanted to keep the ingredients fresh and on hand when I needed them.

- Homemade soup

- Homemade waffles

- Items that I got on sale- hot dogs, shredded cheeses, butter, margarine

- Cupcakes

In our downstairs freezer you would find loaves of bread, meats purchased on sale, gallons of milk, and homemade spaghetti sauce. I also stockpile anything that I can when it is on sale

Your freezer can be your wallet's best friend if you use it. For example, when an item goes on sale and you want to stockpile that item, make some space in your freezer for the extras instead of letting them go bad in your fridge. You will have the item when you need it and you will pay a lot less money for those items.

Freezers can also be handy for bulk cooking and preparing meals in advance for your family. Prepare a meal that can be eaten by your entire family or prepare single serving dishes that can be eaten for just one. Veto the middle man and do your own freezer sessions in your kitchen and make dishes that can be eaten later. Dream Dinners even has a cookbook out that you can use to do your own freezer cooking. Check this book out from the library and see if you can come up with your own menu plans. You could start a group with girlfriends or trade meals with a buddy. (Note-This did not work for my picky family, but is great for families that are open to more types of foods).

Need help navigating the freezer? Here are some helpful resources for getting started:

Feed the Freezer Cooking Guide
Sneak Up on Freezer Cooking
Freezer FAQ
30 Day Gourmet
Recipezaar's Freezer Recipes

Books to Check Out:

Dream Dinners Cookbook
Frozen Assets
Super Suppers
Don't Panic- Dinners in the Freezer

Potential Monthly Savings- $30 or more

Sound Off: What could I find lurking your freezer? Is there anything that people might find unusual in your freezer?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Homemaking, Month of Savings, Organizing, Recipes

I apologize that our Month of Savings series has taken a small detour. My mom has been very sick and has been in the ICU these past two weeks. This past month has been a rough one and I am trying hard to keep all of this interesting, but family stuff takes the priority right now.



My husband did start his new job and with a new job comes new financial issues. No insurance for ninety days is one of the things we are facing, but I will need to spend some time looking into insurance options that might be available to us during our lapse in coverage.

He is also doing a different type of job where he goes from place to place, so lunch has now become more of an issue for him. He used to just take leftovers everyday, but now we are running into the issue that he may or may not be at a location where he can warm his food up. One day of him running out for a burger and soda (at the only restaurant nearby) for $11 was all I needed to get myself in gear and try to figure out how we could make this work.

We decided leftovers for the days he is at his office and sandwiches and snacks for days he is somewhere unfamiliar. I went to our local restaurant supplies store and got 9 pounds of turkey and five pounds of cheese. Total spent was $38, but I was able to make 38 packages of lunch meats with cheese, to store in our freezer, and had forty slices of cheese leftover for grilled cheese for the kids. Now he can grab whatever he needs for his lunch and we won't have to pay for $11 burgers.

The latest dilemma though is that he will only be paid monthly. While he will be making the same amount, only getting paid once a month is really beginning to freak me out. Does anyone have any experience with this or how to manage when only getting paid once a month? Yes, I feel I am a pretty good manager of our money, but am I THAT good?

Any words of wisdom on any of the above issues would be so appreciated!

Labels: Budget, Motherhood

There are so many great ways that you can save on your clothing and there is no reason in the world that you should ever have to pay full price for anything. I have gotten some of the best clothing for my children and most of it has been purchased secondhand. I would also say that ninety percent of my own clothing is bought from our local Goodwill store. Rarely would I ever pay more than five dollars for an item and I still maintain my snobbery towards the name brands that I love. Here are some easy ways that you can save on your clothes:

1. If you shop used, ask if they offer half off days or any special discounts. Most stores offer a deal, at least one day of the week, and those are the best times to shop. I always try and come as soon as the store opens for special discount days because you will have the most to choose from when making your selections.

2. You can be a brand name snob, but just because it is a certain brand doesn't mean you should necessarily buy it. This is something that I had really struggled with in the beginning because I was focusing too much on the label name, rather than if I truly liked the item itself. A beautiful Ann Taylor dress that is not your color or style is better left at the store instead of taking up space in your closet.

3. Know your brands when you go to a store and know them well. I loved Meredith's post on recognizing name brands because many of the brands that she has referred to were not ones that I was familiar with. Read the fashion magazines (from the library, of course!) and familiarize yourself with the quality labels. It is not only good for you to do this for your own wardrobe, but if something is not your size/style, but you know it is worth a lot, you could sell it to the highest bidder on an auction site.

4. Try and hold the items up in good lighting and really look at them. I do an armpit check, hem checks, underarm stain checks, seam checks and take an overall look at the item to make sure there are no rips or tears. Make sure you really look at the item closely before buying it. It has always been such a disappointment to me to bring home something that I am really crazy about and find out exactly why it had been donated in the first place.

5. Try on sizes that aren't necessarily your size because many times they have been donated because the item was shrunk in the wash. I might try on sizes that are two up from my normal size and find something that fits me absolutely perfectly.

6. If you are petite, you can check in the girl's sizes (sizes 14 & 16). I am really short and I have found a 16 in girls fits me perfectly lengthwise. Items with elastic waists, like jog pants, can be bought in these smaller sizes for petite adult women. The bonus, of course, is that the children's clothing is cheaper than the adult clothing so I can get the item for even less money than I would have paid in the adult sizes.

7. Finding clothing can be time consuming so make sure that you have a good block of time to work with, especially if you are hunting for something in particular. I think thrifting gets easier as you get in the groove of doing this. Well-trained eyes seem to gravitate towards the good items and I have found items start to jump out at me a little easier because I know where to look and how to navigate the stores quickly.

8. Know that it is fine to leave with nothing in your hands. I think this is one of the hardest things for me because I want a good deal so bad. There are days that I spend a half hour in the store and come up with nothing. I know there are other days though where ten items jump out at me at once so I look forward to those days and understand that there are dry times too. Patience and waiting are difficult, but you will be glad you waited when that item finally appears!

Potential Monthly Savings: $30 or more

Sound: Off: What are your tips for saving on clothing?

Labels: Budget, Fashion, Frugal, Month of Savings, Shopping

We are closing in on the end of our Month of Savings series and I hope that (at least) one of the ideas is something that you can incorporate in your house. While the truly zealous frugal person might not find my ideas all that inspiring, those who are beginning a journey into this world might be able to gain some insight on how to make small adjustments to their lifestyle, to create big savings.

Today I wanted to talk about extending the items in your home. There are two tools that I have found that have really helped me in extending the products we use. The first tool is the beloved spatula, which tends to get a royal workout in our house. The second tool is water and the art of watering down products to extend them further.

I am a big fan of using my spatula because nothing else works better when trying to clean out every last little drip in a jar. I shudder to think how much I had thrown away before, not caring if there was enough for two more peanut butter sandwiches, because I didn't feel it was worth the effort. Now that I am on a tight grocery budget, the spatula is my best friend and we share a lot of time together in the kitchen. Using a spatula in your containers is a great way to make sure you get everything you can out of the food products in your house.

I also am a big fan of water for extending the products in our home. Shampoo, for example, lasts twice as long if I water it down. Just add it about halfway with water and give it a shake. The difference won't be noticeable in the product, but it will be noticeable in your wallet. Other things that can be watered down: soap (to create foamy soaps), dish soap, and juice (for little mouths who don't need all the sugar anyway). My theory is to try things watered down and see if they still perform well. If they are still doing what they need to do, why not water it down a bit? You might have to tweak how much is too much/too little, but find that magical equation and use it each time you replace those products.

I extend other things in our home. My coffee in the morning is a great example of a simple way that I can make my coffee last. The first time I make my coffee, I use the directed amount of grounds and prepare it as it is explained. The next day, I reuse the old grounds and only add half the amount of grounds required to make a batch. The second batch still tastes great to me and I have made my coffee last a little longer than it would have if I had just dumped the old grounds out. I can also extend it further by not allowing the coffee to go to waste and keeping it in the fridge or making ice cubes out of the rest of it. The coffee just keeps giving in our house.

Another scenario of extension is when I do my laundry. I never add the suggested amount of laundry detergent because I know that my clothing doesn't require that much soap. If you use fabric softener, you can do the same thing by cutting the softener sheets in half or adding half the amount to your loads. Extend it further by repeatedly using the softener sheet until it has lost its effectiveness.

Extending these items may seem like a waste of time, but I am trying to prove how the little things really can add up towards a savings account for your family. In my opinion, it is all about the little things and this is just one way that I can work towards pulling our family out of debt and wastefulness.

Potential Monthly Savings: $10 or more

Sound Off: Are there products in your home that you extend? What are some of your favorite frugal tips for making things last in your home?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

This is something that I was thinking about today as I was getting everything ready for the week ahead. One of the best things that I have done for my budget is to schedule time in the kitchen for myself, just like I would schedule anything else going in our home. One day out of the week I am able to cook and save our family tons of money.

It isn't necessarily the meals that I am preparing, but it is all of the other things that seem to cost so much. I usually bake a special treat (muffins, granola bars, or a loaf of quick bread) that we can put in the lunch boxes or be eaten as an evening treat.

I then try to mix up all of my ingredients for the things that I will need for the week. If you plan your menus, you can determine what you will be eating and what you can make ahead for your meals. You can chop the ingredients for certain dishes and mix any of the dry ingredients that you can for your dinners. Think of this as making your own convenience food. I promise it is much more convenient for you to dirty your kitchen once then it is to do this multiple times throughout the the week. I love to mix up waffle mix pancake mix, bread machine mix, pizza dough mix, cornbread mix, rice mixes, and anything else that I can think of!

I also make a big batch of coffee and keep some in the fridge for iced coffees and freeze the rest in ice cube trays for my mochas.

I throw on some really good music, light candles, dance in the kitchen...whatever I am in the mood for! I also have a good "fluffy" book to read while I am taking breaks between things baking. I can usually squeeze in a chapter here and there, which makes it more fun for me!

When everything is done, I individually wrap everything so it is ready to go for a quick breakfast or to be added to lunch boxes. Putting it in a pretty basket makes it more visually appealing (as if a homemade treat wasn't visually appealing enough!)

Here are some of a few of my favorite recipes in our house:'

Fun Treats:

Chewy Granola Bars

4.50 cups oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup honey
¼ cup peanut butter (creamy)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease on 9x13” pan. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of the ingredients (minus the chocolate chips). Stir in chocolate chips. Press into pan & bake for 18-22 minutes. Let cool for ten minutes, and then cut into bars.

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings, Organizing, Recipes

Should a frugal gal use coupons or should she not? Do coupons really save money or do you just end up spending money that you would have not spent?

I go back and forth on this topic and it really depends on where I am doing my shopping. When I shop exclusively at Aldi, I can't use my coupons. When I shop at other stores, it is usually a toss up on whether the generic is the better deal versus the brand-name with a coupon.

You will talk to some people and they are nuts for coupons and their receipts really prove it. Others of us, don't believe all of the hype and say it is a waste of time and effort.

Since I started doing more of the drugstore rewards, in conjunction with my Aldi trip, I have found that it is possible to get items for free or really inexpensively. You could say that I am becoming a believer again in all of the coupon hype.

Here are some of the tips that I have used to help me follow the path towards coupon savings:

- Organize your coupons in a way that works for you. I have heard everything from shoe boxes to baseball card collection holders can be great ways to organize your coupons. Each person has a different system of organizing, just do what works for you. For me, I like to categorize them and then arrange by dates. I have also been known to lump everything together and then arrange by dates, to insure that I use the coupons before they expire. Right now I am finding categories works a little better for me so that is what I am doing at this point. My arrangements do change, depending on my mood.

- Make sure you put your coupons in a place that you will always have them when you need them. There is nothing worse than having all of your coupons cut and organized, only to discover that they are not with you when you need to do your shopping. Try storing them in your purse or in your car so that you will have them when you decide to make a quick stop at the store.

- There are only savings to be had if you are buying something because you normally use it and would have put it on your grocery list anyway. If you are using a coupon to just get a quarter off and this still leaves you footing a $4 tab, then using the coupon is actually doing a disservice to your budget instead of benefiting it.

- When I first started learning about coupons, I actually was pretty confused. What is the difference between the manufacturer coupons versus the store coupons? Well, the manufacturer coupons are the kind that you find in your newspaper, that come from the companies themselves. The store coupons, however, are the ones that you find in your store specific flier. The great thing about store and manufacturer coupons is that they can be used in conjunction with one another. If Dole, for example, has a coupon for $.50 off of a can of pineapple and Walgreens has a coupon for $.25 off of a can of Dole pineapple, you can use the two coupons together. Your total savings would be $.75 off of the can, and that equals a really great deal for your family. You might hear coupon queens refer to this as the "double whammy." You can also achieve a "triple whammy" if you use the store coupon, manufacturer coupon, and you pick an item that is on sale.

- If you love certain products, call the 1-800 number and rave about the product. Share your experience with them and ask if they have any coupons or if they can add you to a mailing list. Customer service representatives get a lot of disgruntled customer calls, so not only will you brighten their day, you might also be able to pocket some savings on your next trip to the store.

- Look for coupons in unexpected places. Always check your receipt, at the end of your shopping trip, to see if any printable coupons were printed. Other unusual places for coupons are inside of your magazines, hidden inside of your piles of junk mail, and inside/outside of the packaging on what you are using. I am often surprised how many coupons I can find in these unusual places.

- Visit the websites for companies and sign up for their mailing lists. They will usually have printable coupons you can use on your groceries, or will add you to future mailings on special sales they are running.

- Shop at stores that double or triple your coupons. You will maximize your savings much more if you can go to one of these stores.

- Try using the Coupon Mom website, to figure out how to maximize your savings with your coupons. This website is free and can tell you exactly what you need to buy and when. There are also services that you can pay for, such as The Grocery Game. I have never paid for the service so I have no personal experience with it, but there are many people who swear by it.

- If your friends or family do not cut coupons, ask if they will save the coupon fliers for you.

Potential Monthly Savings: $10 or more

Sound Off: Do you have any coupon tips to share? Are you a believer in the coupon hype?

Labels: Ask Frugal Momma, Budget, Grocery Shopping, Month of Savings

One of the best ways that I have found to save money is to simply ask people questions. It sounds easy enough, but I have had a hard time doing this. I might be alone, but I just hate confrontation so this has been a tough one for me. After my first victory in asking though, I began to feel more comfortable doing this.

The first time I attempted asking for what I wanted was at a car dealership. We were completely broke, but needed to get out from under an enormous car payment that we could not afford. We asked my father-in-law to come along with us, to make sure we weren't getting a lemon, and decided upon a car that we thought would work for us.

We sat down across from the salesman and he began his pitch. He wrote down the car payment amount and turned it towards me. I crossed out his number and wrote down my goal number. He would head to the back to "discuss with managers" and then would come back with another outrageous number. We then began what I like to call the "car payment tango", him handing me his number and then me handing him back other numbers. When it was all said and done, I ended up being within just five dollars of my number. Only an hour of sitting there waiting for us to get to this point, but had I not asked for what I wanted, we would have been stuck with a car payment we could not afford. My husband watched me in disbelief, but then felt inspired by my tactics and applied the same tactics towards scoring his commuter car. We ended up with two cars for less than the car payment we were making on our one car. That was a big victory in the Clark house.

More recently, I needed to get a new stove for our house and I began pricing the stoves out. Everything just seemed too far out of our budget and nothing was coming up for me on Craigslist or at our local thrift stores.

We ended up finding one online that was a store model at a local warehouse store. The price tag was around $1,000...a far cry from what I was willing to spend. I told my husband that I would walk into the store and offer them $500. He looked at me like I was nuts, but I figured that the worst that they could say would be no. After a few minutes of chatting politely, I was able to get my stove for $500...just like I had planned.

Sometimes this works, like in the case of my stove, and sometimes it doesn't work. I went back to the same store and offered $200 for a $400 dishwasher and brought cash as leverage. I was turned down and left feeling disappointed, but if I had not asked, I would have never known.

The same case in asking is great when talking to your friends and family. Without being too invasive, you can ask questions about services that they have and how much they are paying for them. For example, I talked to a girlfriend about how I would love to get the newspaper daily, but just could not justify the price for a subscription. She told me that she was able to take advantage of a promotion that they were offering for $1 a week for seven days of the local paper. I emailed the customer service department and told them that I had heard about their past deal and was hoping that I could get the paper for $1 a week. An hour later, I was on the phone with the customer service department giving them our billing address, as they honored the deal that I had requested. You could do the same thing with cell phone plans, internet service, babysitters, phone service, interest rates on credit cards, plane tickets- anything!

You can also ask for discounts on pricing if you can find a flaw in the item that you are buying. I remember when my sister did this at a superstore. She found a stroller that she wanted and the box was torn. She told me she was going to ask for a discount on it, even though there was nothing wrong with the stroller inside. She was able to get them to knock twenty percent off, simply because she asked. I now tend to look for the items that have a flaw in them, that can easily be repaired, to see if they will come down on their prices. Nine times out of ten, I am walking away with what I want for a lot less than what I would have paid if I had not have asked.

Here are some additional tips for asking:

1. In my opinion, no matter what I am asking for I try to be very ladylike and polite. I ask in the nicest way that I can and the delivery that I use usually makes people more responsive. I have seen people negotiating that come in with both barrels, using rude tones towards the salesperson. They usually leave with nothing and might have gotten what they wanted if they had asked in a kind way. As someone who has worked in retail, I know that I responded well and tried to work with a customer a lot more if they were kind to me.

2. Try and go to the stores that you know are more willing to negotiate on their pricing. Warehouse stores, discount stores, and department stores can all be great places to try negotiating.

3. Ask the salesperson if they have a floor model of an item, and if they will give you a discount on this. I love to go to Linens & Things because they offer great deals on their floor items and returns. I have gotten top of the line appliances for half price or less. If you do buy the floor models, ask if they will let you still use your coupons or discounts. I have found that they will usually do this, increasing your savings even more!

4. Always know when to walk away from a deal, particularly if you know that you can't afford what they are offering. Try to be detached from the item so that you don't become too emotionally involved and end up compromising your budget. If you do find yourself attached to the item, still act as though you don't care. In the case of my car, I wanted it so bad that I could taste it. I had already pictured myself in it, but acting like I didn't want it seemed to make the salesperson want to push harder...he was afraid I might walk away from the deal. Exercise this same tactic when doing shopping on auction sites and be firm about what you are willing to offer. Try to never budge on this!

5. For a more disciplined shopper, when asked if you would like to open a store account to receive a discount on your purchase, ask if you can make the payment to them at the register after opening the account. At The Children's Place, for example, I opened a store account when we did our back-to-school shopping. After I opened the account, I could pay the "balance" with a check or debit card. I receive the coupons and sales fliers, but if I want to use the card for discounts, I immediately pay the balance. Ask if this is possible and utilize the discount, but only do this if you can be sure that you won't use the card otherwise. I would never encourage anyone to get themselves into debt!

6. Ask if the store will take competitor coupons or if they will price match flier prices. Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupons can be used at Linens & Things, for example, so look for competitor coupons when going through your mail and papers. Wal-Mart will price match flier prices on groceries, so come armed with the prices when you come to the register. If you are appliance shopping, look for prices and comparable items in competitor fliers and bring those along with you. Ask if they will match or beat prices.

7. Ask what the price adjustment policy and return policy are at a store. Keep your eyes peeled for the item to go on sale and ask for the adjustment on your receipt.

8. Ask if the store has any discounts or coupons that they run. If you aren't on the mailing list, ask to be added. This goes back to Day #1 in our series, where I had suggested asking for those discounts.

9. Know when to be quiet. This is a great thing to do because someone has to fill that silence. Silence leaves salespeople wondering if they are going to get the deal, and then they began trying to convince you to buy the item. Sometimes salespeople will begin throwing in extras to try and get you to buy the item. Wait and be silent...see what happens!

10. On big ticket items, try to bring cash with you. I think cash, in an almost cashless society, speaks volumes and lets the salesperson know that you are serious and that you will offer exactly what is in your hand to them. I like to say things like, "I would love to give you the sale and I have brought cash so you won't even have to run a credit card through!"

11. When you make a contract with a company and they don't deliver on their end of the deal, ask what they can do to make this right. When our dining table, for example, ended up not being delivered when the furniture company said it would I requested that they give us some money back on the purchase. They knocked ten percent off for the hassle of having to wait for this item. Know what you are asking for and ask them to throw in extras for not honoring their end of the deal.

Sound Off: What are your suggestions on asking for what you want? What have you gotten just by asking?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Is there such a thing as being sick on a budget? Our family seems to think so! We try to even address our budget when it comes to our illnesses in life. Here are some ways that you can save money when you are sick:

- Try home remedies before reaching for the cough syrup. There are tons of wonderful remedies that you can do that don't require a big expense. I am a big believer in chicken soup, a warm bath, hot tea, and lots of rest. The rest alone is sometimes enough for me to kick what is ailing me.

- If you need over-the-counter medications, try and stock up on these items when doing your drugstore rebates. Usually CVS & Walgreens both will run rebates on these medications and you can get them for free or really inexpensively. Other great resources are the Dollar General, the Dollar Tree, and the generic equivalents available at your large superstores. The best way to save a buck is to have your medicine cabinet stocked with these items before you are ill. A 24 hour drugstore with no sale will run you quite a bit more than what you would spend normally.

- Organize your medicine cabinet so you know exactly where your items are. We have a three drawer plastic container where we have our medications divided by ailment (cough/cold, pain relievers, stomach) and we put these in there. I get really mad at myself when I have run out to get a medication, only to find it days later in a hidden drawer. Keeping this and your First Aid kit organized are the best ways to know what you have on hand when sickness and emergency situations arise.

- When you go to the doctor, ask if they have any samples of the medications you might need. Sometimes, particularly with my children, I am able to get enough for a few days.

- If they don't have any samples, ask if there are any prescriptions that they could give you off of the $4 list or free antibiotics from your local retailers. Call around and price check before you fill your prescriptions and always ask if you can get the generic version of any medication.

- If you start to feel ill, try right away to get in the doctor for treatment. A visit during normal office hours will be a lot less expensive than an urgent care clinic.

- When choosing a doctor, ask about evening hours and Saturday appointments. Pick a doctor with extended hours and this alone can save you quite a bit. I love that our doctor's office is open until eight in the evening and that I have many more options for appointment times.

- If you do become ill, try after-hours clinics or places like MedPoint to get the care that you need (unless the illness is life-threatening). I have saved our family a lot of money by visiting these places instead of the emergency room. Just walking into the emergency room can put me in the negative, before I have even been checked, so these after-hour clinics can be a wonderful option for the frugal family.

- If your illness does require a hospital stay, make sure to check your bills. There are many expensive and unnecessary charges that can be added to your bill. This is one of those types where diligence will be your best defense in lowering your hospital bill. Don't be afraid to ask what the charges are and have them explain the vague & general charges. You don't have to be rude, but you can be very firm and polite when asking someone to explain what a "lab fee" is for. You are your own best advocate when you are educated about what you are paying for.

- Don't forget to set up your emergency account for these types of situations. Check into getting a flexible spending account for your medical expenses. Consumer Reports offers this advice..."If your company offers a flexible spending account for your out-of-pocket health-care costs, go for it--but don't go overboard." Flexible spending accounts are usually use-it-or-lose it accounts. Figure out a rough estimate and go a little under that. Don't know what to do with all that leftover money at the end of the year? Check out these 24 suggestions for spending your leftover flexible account money.

- The best way to stop yourself from getting sick is prevention. Exercise, take a daily multivitamin, and make healthy lifestyle choices. People who do these things save tons of money on doctor visits and medications. If that isn't a powerful motivator, I don't know what is!

Potential Monthly Savings: $20 or more

Sound Off: What are some ways you save money when your family is sick?

Labels: Budget, Family, Frugal, Organizing

I use the "secret accounts" phrase completely tongue-in-cheek. I decided one day to set up an emergency account and told my husband about it, but he apparently wasn't listening to me. One day I showed him how much we had saved and he asked when I went off and got a secret account. Ever since then it has become a big joke between the two of us and when we get extra money, he always asks if I plan to store this in my secret account.

In all seriousness, creating an extra account for the extras in life can be an important way to save yourself some money. The money gurus encourage you to set up funds in other accounts that you can easily have access to and to prepare for those big things in life. Check out books from Dave Ramsey, Mary Hunt, or Suze Orman for great ideas on establishing your own emergency funds.

For example, start keeping track of all of the receipts on home improvements you have made during the year. At the end of the year, tally up how much you spent and divide the number by 12. That would be your goal to set aside for the next year for home repairs. This will save you interest and fees that you would incur from putting these expenses on a credit card. This same scenario can be applied to auto repair, Christmas gifts, medical expenses, taxes, etc... These "emergency" situations come up when we least expect them and it is nice to have that money socked away for those rainy days. Sometimes we know these situations will arise (a family vacation or Christmas) and we end up putting them on our credit card even though their arrival was looming all year long.

This month alone we had the car in the shop twice and, of course, both times these visits were unexpected. Thank goodness for that super "secret" account that we set up.

If you aren't a good saver, have the bank set it up to be automatically taken out. Even if you can only afford to take $25 out of your account each month, that is $25 that you can use when an emergency arises.

If you are more disciplined, you can use the snowball technique towards your savings, provided your debts are all paid down. If you pay your credit card or car loan off, for example, start paying yourself that same amount and moving those funds into your emergency account. You won't feel the ouch factor if you were already taking that money out anyway.

These accounts can be great for the bad things in life, but they can also be wonderful for the good things in life. We have a vacation account set up and I am hoping that we can go somewhere really special for our ten year anniversary. We have the money automatically taken out and moved into our vacation fund each month.

Here are some more great articles on creating emergency funds:

Bankrate's Simple Formula for an Emergency Fund
How to Create an Emergency Fund Now
About.com Emergency Fund Guide
6 Ways an Emergency Fund Can Help Your Budget
The Emergency Fund

Potential Monthly Savings: $30 or more

Sound Off: Do you have an emergency fund? How did you determine your budget for this account?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings, Organizing

Jenn, over at Frugal Upstate, has an excellent post today on how to homeschool on a budget. Guest blogger, Alexandra, from Happy Hearts at Home, gives the scoop on homeschooling. She lists tons of free resources and curriculum that you can use for your children.

This has been something that has been on my heart recently. I am really torn about what I should do with my son. Next year he will begin school and we have a few options in our area. I am not completely sold on any of the options though. Elementary schools seem fine, but middle schools and the high schools are scaring me. Private schools are not in our budget, but am I organized enough to take on an endeavor like homeschooling my child? Am I even smart enough to do something like that? Are there other people in the community who are attempting it?

What advice can you homeschooling moms give to someone who is just starting out? Why do you do it? What have you gained from it? What is the downside? Any books you can recommend?

Please share!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Parenting

I have noticed something about myself that I don't really like. It seems that when I get bored on Saturdays, the first thing that I want to do is go shopping. I am a smart shopper and I try to only shop at the thrift store, but many times I don't really need anything... I am just looking for a quiet escape for myself.

I have really been thinking about this a lot and am trying to find new ways to fill the boredom that makes me want to shop. To be honest, if I limited my shopping to the times where I had both the children, my shopping would be nonexistent or very short & sweet. Neither of my children enjoy shopping so I don't find shopping to be all that enjoyable for me.

There are so many other things that I could be doing and I loved the idea of a Money-Free Weekend, which has been featured several times on The Simple Dollar.

Today I decided to stay home and get some things done around here. I was able to do a little reading, accomplish some stuff for the website, mow the lawn, make a really nice dinner, bake some muffins, and pay the bills. Continuing in this theme, this evening my husband and I are having a date night and watching "The Godfather" (taped from television) and playing a board game.

Here are some ideas for things you could do instead of spending money over the weekend:

1. Mow the lawn
2. Play board games with your family.
3. Mix up some dinner in a bag.
4. Menu plan & make your grocery list for the week.
5. Watch a free movie and pop some popcorn.
6. Tackle a project.
7. Try a free hobby.
8. Organize your pantry and make a meal out of those ingredients for dinner.
9. Clip and organize your coupons.
10. Do your laundry.
11. Soak your feet.
12. Read a good book.
13. Go to a free museum day or event in your community.
14. Make some cool toys and activities for your kids.
15. Start a garden.
16. Write a letter.
17. Make yourself a special coffee treat.
18. Do some baking.
19. Bake some bread.
20. Steam your carpets.
21. Create a routine that you can live with.
22. Make croutons.
23. Make some fun things for the tub.
24. Gather up the broken crayons and make some better ones.
25. Paint a mug with your children.
26. Decorate your child's room with things you already have.
27. Make something out of the ingredients you have in your freezer.
28. Create some new & free family traditions.
29. Clean out the fridge.
30. Take a walk together.
31. Clean your grill.
32. Make a set of cleaners for each level of your home.
33. Take the week's advertisements and start making your price book (you can use our free sheet).
34. Go as a family to the library and then read the books with your child.
35. Clean out your closet.
36. Organize your laundry room.
37. Make a baby (Note: This child will not be free, but making your baby can be!)
38. Share a meal with someone else.
39. Baby proof your house.
40. Make some powdered milk for the week.
41. Cut your family's hair.
42. Make an emergency kit.
43. Start a blog.
44. Think about and repurpose an item in your home.
45. Make some frozen banana popsicles.
46. Do something dangerous with your children.
47. Make your office more child-friendly.
48. Organize your car.
49. Have a great conversation with your spouse.
50. Start planning for your frugal Christmas.
51. Make some foamy soap.
52. Exercise to some library videos.
53. Make some yummy waffles for a Sunday brunch.
54. Make milkshakes and play in the sun with the kids.
55. Organize a yard sale.
56. Pray.
57. Start a gratitude journal or focus board.
58. Make some seasoning mixes.
59. Care for someone who is sick or the family of a sick loved one.
60. Find things around your house to organize your belongings.

Potential Savings: $25 or more

Sound Off: What is your favorite free weekend activity

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Potential Savings: Immeasurable!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

We are halfway through our Month of Savings and I am learning so much! I am loving the comments to these entries!

One of the main reasons that I am able to continue staying home with my kids is because I am fairly strict when it comes to money management. I try to keep track of everything that is going in and coming out by utilizing the Quicken Software and I also hand write items that I want to keep track of on those important bills (credit card, student loans, auto loan payments).

As I had discussed before, our cash system has also enabled us to stay on track financially. I try to use cash whenever I can, not only because I feel the impact of losing cash more, but also because I want our children to see us using our cash and not the debit card all of time. It really benefits the entire family if I can use cash versus the debit card so that is what I try to use, in most situations.

Another thing that I began doing several years ago is to compare and check rates on all of my bills that I can (at least) yearly. Interest rates are always changing and companies are continually offering new and better plans out there, so I make a date in my calendar to check our bills each year. You can set this up any day that you like, but I try to do this on January 1st since we are already starting a new year and a fresh start with our financial goals.

I have always used Lower My Bills to compare rates (Note: We are not affiliated with this company, but I have great success with them!) on all of our bills. They offer rate comparisons on mortgages, cell phone plans, long distance plans, internet, credit cards and insurance quotes.

You can type in your information and it will spit out quotes and comparisons on different plans that they offer in your area. Another bonus that I have found is that they also offer customer reviews of different companies. It is great to read these before signing on with any company since customer experience is usually a good indicator of the type of service that they offer.

We accumulated some debt while my husband was unemployed and had to put our move on our credit card. I believe that it cost about $8,000 to move to this area and my husband's employer, at that time, would only help us with a few hundred dollars of this bill.

When the first bill came, I realized how foolish it was to have put it on there, but at the time we didn't feel we had a lot of choices in the matter. I began to search on Lower My Bills to see if I could find a lower interest rate. While I don't encourage card-hopping, I did think it was important to see if the rates out there were lower so that we could transfer the balance and pay it back quicker.

We found a credit card offer with a fixed balance transfer rate of 3.99%. Of course, adding any new debt to the card did have a higher percentage rate, but we had no intentions of adding to that debt so we transferred all of the balances of our cards (one with student loans and the other with our moving expenses) over to one card. We have not added to our debt and are down to less than $2K left to go.

It is great if you can check your rates yearly or when your contracts expire with companies. Don't be afraid to ask the companies you are currently with, when your contract is expiring, if you can be put on the new plans that they offer to their customers. Many times the company will want to keep your business and will be willing to work with you!

Potential Monthly Savings: $50 or more

Sound Off: What are some ways that you keep your bills in check? Do you use software or just the good old pen and paper?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Well, we have made it halfway through the series and I have really been loving your comments and hints. You all teach me so much and I really appreciated the coffee talk from yesterday. The tips are invaluable and the comments are what make this so much fun for me, so thanks!

My sister became a mom before me and I remember the first time that we came to her apartment and saw my nephew. Every corner of their apartment was stuffed to the brim with toys from family and friends. Her first words to us were, "Welcome to Toy Land!" Since my nephew has so many health problems and is in and out of the hospital, the natural thing that people want to do for him is buy him little toys and treats. What happened was that my sister's home was overrun with toys and they had lost their grown-up space.

She was the one who introduced me to the process of alternating toys and we did a lot of this when our son was born. She had several totes that she would alternate for him. When he became bored with his toys, she would haul those up into the tote and bring a new tote out. She is such a smart mom and I have learned so much from her!

We now have two children and the toys are overflowing out of our bins. We had lots of boy toys and now that we have a little girl, we need to get girl toys too. I often wish that I would have bought more gender neutral toys in the beginning because there would have been such a huge savings there.

You don't have to buy toys though to keep the kids entertained and there are lots of fun crafts and activities that you can do for free. I just want to share some ideas that you can do with your children that will hopefully inspire you to get more creative, instead of just opening your wallet.

Scratch & Sniff Watercolors

1 Tbs. unsweetened powdered drink mix
1 Tbs. warm water
Several small containers (muffin tins work really well!)

Mix water and unsweetened drink mix together in a small bowl. Repeat this step several times, using various flavors of drink mix to create different colors of paint. Allow finished works to dry overnight before scratching and sniffing.

Silly Putty

1 Tbs. liquid starch
Food coloring
2 Tbs. white glue
Plastic Easter egg or zip bag

Mix white glue and food coloring together in a small bowl. Pour liquid starch into a second small bowl. Slowly pour the glue mixture on top of the liquid starch. Allow the concoction to stand for 5 minutes or until the glue absorbs the liquid starch. Remove putty from bowl and knead. At first this mixture may look as if it's a mistake, but it isn't. The more you knead the putty, the better the consistency will be. Store in a plastic Easter egg or zip bag. You can roil this on newspaper comics or pictures printed with an ink jet printer. Slowly pull the putty off of the paper. The picture will transfer magically.

Fun Sidewalk Paint

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
6-8 drops food coloring

Mix cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl. Add food coloring and stir. Repeat the process to create different colors of paint. This paint can easily be washed away with water. You can use it to make hopscotch grids, cakewalks, even make believe roads and highways for toy cars.

Pudding Paint

1 large package of instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz)
2 cups ice-cold water
Food coloring

Whisk water and instant pudding together in a bowl for two minutes. Refrigerate for five minutes. Divide into several small bowls or muffin tins. Add 5-7 drops of food coloring to each bowl or tin and mix. You can paint with a brush or use them as finger paints.

Edible Play Dough

1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup dry milk
1/2 Tbs. honey
Plastic zip bag

Pour peanut butter, dry milk, and honey into a plastic zip bag. Close bag and knead until mixture turns to dough. Do not reuse or store this dough. You can use raisins and assorted candies to add eyes, mouths, and other features to your edible creations.

Invisible Ink

2 Tbs. pure lemon juice
Cotton swab

Pour lemon juice into a small glass or plastic dish. Soak one end of the cotton swab to write a secret message or draw a picture on a sheet of paper. When you are ready to view your secret message have an adult hold the sheet of paper near a light bulb. The heat will slowly turn the lemon juice dark brown and reveal a hidden message.

Amazing Bubbles

2.5 quarts water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup liquid dish detergent

Mix water and corn syrup together until completely blended. Gently stir in the liquid detergent. These will store for several weeks in an airtight container. You can create bubbles in different sizes using items like a plastic strawberry basket or a wire whisk.

Tornado in a Bottle

1- 16 oz clear plastic soda bottle with a cap (the rounder the bottom the better the tornado)
2 drops clear liquid dish detergent
1 tsp. glitter

Fill the bottle with cold water. Add liquid dish detergent and glitter to the bottle. Screw on the cap tightly. Holding the bottle by the neck, turn it upside down. Quickly rotate your wrist several times in a clockwise motion. When you stop rotating, a min-tornado will form inside the bottle. Using permanent markers, you can draw a picture of a city or landscape around the bottom of the plastic bottle. Add a few drops of blue food coloring to the bottle to create a sky effect.

There are lots of great sites out there that help promote fun and free activities to do with your children. DLTK's sites are excellent for finding coloring pages, cool crafts and fun activities that you can do with your child. Family Fun offers a whole a bunch of activities that you can do with your child. I love their magazine because they offer crafts for every age group. The Nick Jr and Noggin websites are a big hit with our son.

Whatever you do, your kids will love just spending time with you more than any new toy that you could give them. Try to savor these moments while they last!

Potential Monthly Savings: $5 or more

Sound Off: Do you have any great kid's recipes that are a hit in your home or a favorite kid's craft? Do you have any tips for toy clutter control?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Kid Crafts, Kid Recipes, Month of Savings

Sound Off: Do you have any great coffee tips to share?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Welcome to day 12 in our saving money series. I don't think the series would be complete if I didn't touch upon our social obligations and how we keep the budget under control. This is something that I really struggle with because I love being a social butterfly and I enjoy being a part of things. It can sometimes be difficult though, in social contexts, to not go over my budget.

It seems that many of my social obligations seem to center around something that costs money. We are usually planning to meet up for coffee or having lunch with friends. It is certainly convenient (because I don't have to clean my house), but it is not the most frugal choice.

One of the ways that I have kept this category in check for myself is that we utilize an envelope system in our house. One envelope contains our grocery money, one is for the family, and the last two are divided between my husband and myself.

Working with a cash system seems to be more effective for me. When the cash is gone, the social obligations end and we either don't attend things that cost money or we make alternate arrangements to meet at their house or ours.

I think it is reasonable to want to go out and spend time with friends and that is why we have chosen to give ourselves the allowance. I don't ask what my husband does with his ten bucks each week and I don't tell him what I did with mine.

And yes, we do only have ten dollars every week and we are still able to do fun things. I will admit that sometimes I go over budget and end up eating through the "family" money because I have to pay for the two children to eat or their admission into places, but I still feel like we are staying under the budget since we aren't running to the ATM to withdraw money.

Here are some of the things that I have tried to do to help keep us in our budget:

- I invite my friends over for coffee and I have tried to come up with fun coffee choices and syrups so it feels like we are still getting a treat, but we don't have to spend any money. This option does require me to keep up with my house a bit, but sometimes I need a good kick in the behind to do what I need to do around here.

- If we can actually bring our lunch to social functions, we will do this. I still remember one time where we met up at the mall and ate in the food court. All of the other children had Happy Meals and I was worried that my son would ask for one. I had taken his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut trains out for him and he was having so much fun driving them along the table that he didn't even care about the other meals. When he wanted more, I told him they were boxcars (just plain squares) and he lined them up with the rest of the train. Just making the meal more fun seemed to help take away from the fact that we didn't buy food from McDonald's that evening.

This has happened in other situations too and I try to keep a secret stash of fun foods that I don't normally offer for these occasions. It could be as simple as a pudding cup or buying the juice box, but it makes a difference in what he chooses. I usually give him the option and say that he can have the kid's meal or he can have a sandwich, carrots and a chocolate pudding. He usually opts for the second choice. This probably will not last forever, but I will enjoy it while I can! The idea here is just that I make it fun for him so that he doesn't feel like he is missing out on anything.

- We try to find free things that we can do in the area where we could meet up with other people and not spend money. Our local library, for example, offers museum passes to all of the museums in the area. You can check them out for a day and we can meet friends at one of these places instead of a restaurant. Parks are also a great free location and you can pack a picnic lunch for the family to enjoy.

- When entertaining others, try to do potlucks instead of supplying all of the food. If someone can bring the drinks, someone can bring a side, another person bring dessert- all you would have to do is do the main dish. When preparing your dish, choose budget-friendly foods that everyone can enjoy, but will also stay within your budget.

- Save for social obligations that you know are going to cost more than your cash allowance. Keep these occasions in mind when doing your planning and save to prepare for this occasion. It is better if you can plan for these things instead of using your credit card.

We do splurge here and there for special events, but we try to make the necessary plans and financial arrangements that we need to do before that time arrives.

These are just a few of the ways that we have been able to manage this spending category.

Potential Monthly Savings- $40 or more

Sound Off: Do you struggle with social obligations on a budget? Any tricks that you have used to get around these types of engagements?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Welcome to the eleventh day in our Month of Savings program. I have loved all of your comments and the conversations that have been fostered through these posts. Thank you all!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

To say that the past couple of weeks for our family have been bad would not really do our past two weeks justice. A couple of weeks ago my husband went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription for me. After finding out that pharmacy was closed (this was the third pharmacy too) he went to the car to head home. When he tried to start the car though, the radio would come on, but nothing else. He called me and had me come out to help him.

My first stop was the neighbor's to borrow some jumper cables (an investment we really should make) and I headed out there to give him a jump. We tried to jump the car, but still nothing happened. Defeated, I called our insurance company to see about getting our car towed and assistance with finding a shop in our area. Our insurance company offers 24 roadside assistance and helps you get your vehicle where it needs to be repaired. They sent out a towing company to tow our car over to the dealership.

The dealership called in the morning and said that we needed a new starter...that would cost $400. This must be a very special starter because we were floored. We asked our brother-in-law if he could help us, since he has been working in an a body shop, and he agreed for an exchange of babysitting for their anniversary night.

The part cost a little over $100 and a babysitting job. Who could beat that price?

Several days later, my husband is driving to work and loses power on his car. He is able to pull the car to the side of the road and put it in park. He tries to turn the key and nothing happens. He tries again and the same scenario repeats itself. He pulls the key out and the engine starts turning over and over and over. And the car catches on fire.

He is able to get the fire out, but what is left is a lot of melted wire and a car that doesn't work. We look up recalls on engines and his car had been recalled for the engines catching on fire. Thinking we were smart, we sent it over to the dealership. They said that it didn't fall under the warranty and we would need a cable replaced that went to the starter. Total price to repair a couple of melted wires and a cable...$630.

This is when I encouraged my husband to call around to places that he had heard were good. We were able to find a very honest and reliable auto repair place who said he could do the same exact thing for $280. What a difference!

I was left with the dirty work of calling the dealership in the morning to close out the account and get the car towed to the other place. The guy that I spoke to wanted to know why I was taking it out, where I was taking it, and what the quote was. I was as polite as could be and explained that it had nothing to do with them personally, but we simply could not afford the rate that he was giving us. He said he would call us back to let us know how much diagnostics cost.

When he called back, he began with, "We don't normally do this BUT..." and then he basically matched the price of the other place.

Five minutes of calling around saved us about $300.

Here are some other resources for getting the best deal when it comes to car repair:

Finding an Automotive Repair Shop You Can Trust
Finding a Mechanic
Finding Honest Repair Shops

If you or your husband are handy, it is possible that you could fix the car yourself. Look into what resources your local library offers. For example, in our area, patrons have access to The Chilton Library just by logging into their library account. This online Automotive Repair Database provides the detailed information you need to tackle both simple and complex auto repair jobs. Do-it-yourselfers can count on reliable auto repair answers to topics such as, general information and maintenance, troubleshooting, engine performance & tune-up, brakes, emission control, chassis, electrical and more.

While I wouldn't recommend going to the cheapest shop, I would recommend going through good referrals from your family and friends and then comparing those rates. The dealerships will usually not have the best price on auto repair, but they might be willing to match quotes from their competitors.

Potential Monthly Savings: $100 or more

Sound Off: Any tips you would like to share on car repair and maintenance that have helped save your family money?

Labels: Budget, Month of Savings

We have just lowered our house payment by about fifty dollars each month. How did we do this? Well, we finally got rid of our PMI.

If you don't have PMI, you are already a step ahead of us. This was our first house and we really didn't understand the concept of PMI and what exactly we were paying for. We are quite familiar with PMI now that we have gotten to pay for it for four years.

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance and it is an unfortunate expense that can get added to your account if you do not have twenty percent down on your house. Why would you have to pay this insurance in addition to your homeowners policy? This insurance is added to your payment to protect the lender, just in case you should default on your loan. The lender also believes requiring PMI is also good for you, as the buyer, because they could not offer the loan to you if they didn't have this type of insurance.

How much is PMI? Well, according to Quicken Loans, generally it calculates to about one-half percent of the total loan amount. Let's say you buy a home for $200,000 and put five percent down or $10,000. The annual cost of PMI on your $190,000 mortgage might run $950 a year, adding an extra $80 to your mortgage payment each month.

Getting the PMI removed from our mortgage turned out to be much harder than we thought. By law, this insurance is supposed to be removed automatically once you have invested 22% into the house. The Federal Trades Commission website states, "For home mortgages signed on or after July 29, 1999, your PMI must - with certain exceptions - be terminated automatically when you reach 22 percent equity in your home based on the original property value, if your mortgage payments are current. Your PMI also can be canceled, when you request - with certain exceptions - when you reach 20 percent equity in your home based on the original property value, if your mortgage payments are current."

Since we had been paying an extra hundred dollars each month on our house payment, in addition to making an extra house payment each year, we reached the amount required quicker than the lender had expected. Since we were still under the 22% we were told we would have to have an appraisal done on our home.

For $145, we had an appraiser (who was chosen by our mortgage lender) come out to our house and do an appraisal. She had to concur that our house had not declined in value due to our neglect or due to market values decreasing. I have to admit that I was quite nervous because the market in our area is extremely slow and houses just aren't selling for what they used to.

Lucky for us, we met the standard and within a week we were notified that the PMI would be removed immediately and we would no longer have to pay for it.

I will admit that we had to jump through some hoops to make this happen. When we contacted our lender, they said that we couldn't request PMI removal by telephone. We would have to submit the request in writing to the company. Upon request, they would then send us a letter, within six weeks, to explain what we would need to do to get it removed. This letter came and then we had to submit the check for the appraisal. This took another two weeks to set up and then we had to wait for the appraisal to come through. I am not surprised that this was such a lengthy procedure, after all, they are making extra money by our family carrying this.

Despite this lowering our house payment, we have continued to pay the same amount. Our taxes have lowered and the insurance was dropped, lowering our payment by about $115. We just pretend like these changes never happen and continue to pay the same. The same philosophy is applied to our credit card and student loan payments. If we could pay it before, we can pay it now.

We have lofty financial goals of having everything paid for in seven years time, utilizing the good old snowball effect. Dreams of owning our home and paying down all of our debt don't seem as far away as they used to. Visualizing that feeling is what keeps us going in the direction we are headed.

If you are looking for more information on PMI and how to get rid of it, I would highly recommend reading this article, by CNN Money, and taking the actions suggested.

Potential Monthly Savings: $50 or more

Sound Off: Have you made any steps toward lowering your house payment? Do you have any personal experiences with PMI or PMI removal?

Labels: Budget, Month of Savings

Welcome to the seventh day in our Month of Savings series. Today we will be talking a little bit about how you can brown bag your lunch and save your family loads of money.

I stay home with my kids, but I still go to playgroups where the opportunity arises for a lunch to be bought. The temptation towards going out for my husband though is prevalent every single day, since most of his coworkers forgo the savings and enjoy lunch out daily.


My husband takes his lunch daily to work and I try to take great pride in what we eat for dinner so that pride can be reflected in his leftovers the next day. For him, sandwiches aren't as filling as the leftovers. For us, the leftovers are cheaper than the sandwich meat and snacky type of foods that I would pack for him.






Sound Off: Do you have any brown bagging tips to share? How do you save your family money in this category?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Rebates can be a great way to save money for your family and no one does it better than the office supplies stores and drugstores. Unfortunately, four out of ten people never even apply for their entitled rebate. Maybe this is why these companies offer them?

Rebate Tips

• Read and understand rebate requirements, including deadlines, before making a purchase.


• Make copies of all rebate materials and put everything in a file folder, in case the company rejects your rebate claim or loses your submission. A paper trail is critical if anything goes wrong. Write down on the cover of the folder in big letters the date when the refund is due.


• Act quickly. If the rebate form is available online, be sure to print it out immediately after you buy the product. While you may have a few weeks to submit the claim, the official form may be removed from the Web site after the promotional period ends.


• Submit rebate requests promptly. Don’t wait until the filing deadline. If the company informs you that something’s missing, the extra time will be necessary to gather the requested documentation before the clock runs out. It may sound silly, but also remember to put enough stamps on the envelope, in case the enveloped is oversized.


• Keep a careful eye out for your rebate check, as it sometimes resembles junk mail.


• If the rebate doesn’t arrive when promised or at all, contact the company and jot down the name of anyone you speak with. If the matter isn’t resolved to your satisfaction, file a complaint with the state’s Attorney General where the company is based or the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov or 877-382-4357.

I used to take advantage of rebates more regularly, but have fallen off the bandwagon this summer. I checked my paper on Sunday though and the rebates were too good to pass up. I clipped my coupons, grabbed the rebates flier in the store and came armed with that week's advertisement.

Potential Monthly Savings: $40 or more

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings, Organizing, Shopping

Welcome to Day 5 in our Month of Savings. I hope that you guys are enjoying it so far and are able to take something away from it. I am surprised how long these entries are taking me, but I really want to cram as much information into them as I can.

Today I want to talk about how much ebay has saved our family. ebay can truly be a frugal family's best friend and I am interested in hearing what unusual deals you look for on Ebay. I am sure that everyone is searching for something different so I will just share some of the best deals that our family has found...

Coupons- ebay really saved our family a lot of money when we were in the baby food and formula stages because I was able to buy multiple coupons off of the website and use them when I would do our shopping trips. The cost on these is minimal compared to the savings you will find from using them. Keep these coupons in mind when doing your shopping for baby food, formula, diapers, and any other household item that you use frequently. I was able to get our baby food for less than a quarter a jar utilizing coupons that I found on the site.

Magazine Subscriptions- Magazine subscriptions are extremely cheap on ebay and can be bought for less than a quarter of the price of the traditional subscription prices. They are sold by magazine wholesale companies and the savings are huge. These are on of my favorite gifts to get people and it has really saved our family quite a bit of money to buy them through this resource.

Phone Batteries & Accessories- Phone batteries are expensive in the retail stores, but can be bought for less than half the price on ebay. We use this resource frequently when we need an item like this.

iPod Accessories- iPod accessories are extremely inexpensive on ebay and I would highly recommend using ebay for finding these types of items. In a retail store, an iPod adapter for your car costs around sixty to eighty dollars. We purchased ours on ebay for only $14.99. The accessories are not necessarily from the Apple company, but they work just as well and cost a fraction of the price.

Tickets- You can get tickets to theme parks, concerts, and sporting events for a lot less money than buying them online or at the door. Always make sure to go with retailers who have excellent feedback!

Car Parts & Accessories- If you are getting your car repaired, ask what part is needed and the price on it. Sometimes you can find the same exact part on ebay for a lot less money. This is also a great resource for someone who does their own repairs or is trying to make money by selling cars.

Not only can you save a lot of money by buying on ebay, you can also make some money for your family by selling on Ebay. Look around your home at all of the items that are just taking up space, but you are not actually using. Look up the items on ebay and see how much money you could potentially make from the sale and imagine what you could do with this new money in your pocket. You could use this money for a trip or buy a special item that you have been longing for. Check out books from the library on how to present your item and start listing!

Potential Monthly Savings- $40 or more

Sound Off: What do you look for on ebay? What is the best deal that you have gotten on the site?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

It seems like everyone is carrying around a cell phone these days. What once was a luxury is now a must-have item in our house. I can only justify having a cell phone for the simple reason that my entire family is long-distance for me to call. They only live a half hour away, yet I have to pay for long-distance service to be able to stay connected with them. We all have joined Verizon and utilize our mobile-to-mobile minutes daily. It is worth the cost of the cell phone to stay connected with my friends and family, although I try to chose the least expensive plan possible.

I wanted to share some ideas for saving money using your cell phone. This post was inspired by my brother-in-law, who showed me all of the great savings he was getting by using his phone. Much thanks to him for the suggestion and I hope that this will bring in some savings for your family.

Don't Use 411- I love Google Maps and they have a fabulous service that will save you the expense of a 411 call. You can access Google Maps through your phone or (if you are home) you can have the number sent to your phone while you are online.

On the Google Maps page, type in the name and city where you want to be heading. Click on the the name of the business when it pops up and it will map out where it is located. If you look underneath the address (on the map) you will see a "Send to Phone" option. You can have the address and telephone number emailed to your phone for free. This makes for easy storing of the number on your phone and you don't have to go through the third party to connect. Along with the phone number, the address of the business is also emailed to your phone.

Google also offers another free 411 service. You can use this service by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411.

Another free 411 service is Tellme. Just dial 800-555-TELL and say what you want! Say a business, any business. Say "Business Search" at the main menu. Ask for a business name like "Domino's" Or a type of business like "day spa". When you hear the one you want, just say "Text me the info" to have the phone number, address, and a map sent to your mobile phone.

Compare Prices to Get the Best Deals- Frucall is a free shopping assistant service that helps consumers make an informed decision at the point of purchase about a product they are shopping for. When consumers are out shopping in stores, they are away from their computers and have no access to the Internet. Therefore, they cannot check the best online price of an item or get product reviews and merchant ratings. Frucall delivers this valuable information to consumers' cell phones so that they can make their purchasing decision with confidence and peace of mind. Frucall also allows consumers to buy an item over the phone.

There are three easy ways to use Frucall from one's mobile phone:

1. Frucall Voice
   This is the easiest and the most common way of using Frucall. All you have to do is to dial 1-888-DO-FRUCALL (1-888-363-7822) from your cell phone, key in the product barcode, and listen to the best prices found online. Through its voice prompts, Frucall also lets you get product and merchant ratings. You can save Frucall's number in your contact list because it will come in handy every time you are out shopping! Learn more...
2. Frucall Text
   This is a service for SMS savvy consumers who prefer to send in a product's barcode and receive product information via text messaging (SMS). Learn more...
3. Frucall mWeb
   This service is for those who prefer to use a mobile device capable of accessing the Internet to view the product information they need. To use this service, users can point their mobile browser (typically available via an "Open URL" menu entry on the device) to: www.frucall.com/m and search for products. Learn more...

Regardless of the access method, your search history and other relevant information are saved for you on the Internet at www.frucall.com. Through this site you can set your preferences, view your search history, bookmarks, voice notes, and order status in addition to using group messaging and other features of the system.

Get Loads of Coupons- How about coupons that don't need clipping and where you can turn your phone around and flash it to the cashier to get your savings? Cellfire offers this free coupon service with oodles of coupons in freebies that come directly to your cell phone. Currently they have free music downloads, free food, and free movies listed on their deals page. The coupons are always with you and you can chose what deals you want to use. I know my readers love freebies so this one is for you!

Take Some Pictures- I love to do this with our phone because it helps trigger my memory for prices. When we were remodeling our bathroom, one of us would head to the hardware store while the other one stayed with the children. I wanted to remember all of the prices and what each item looked like in the store so I would use my phone and take a picture of the items and a picture of the bar codes.

When you are going to multiple stores it is hard to remember the difference between two pedestal sinks or what exactly the prices were on each item. I was able to flip through my pictures and recall my favorite items and the prices connected with each item. If you are in a superstore, you could take this one step further and actually photograph the aisle sign. This will make shopping easier because you can remember right where the item is, instead of walking aimlessly through the store. When doing big home projects like we have done, it is easy to become confused and everything starts to look the same!

Calculator Features- If you aren't using the calculator features on your cell phone, you are missing a huge savings. Every time we eat out, I whip out my phone to use the EZ Tip Calculator that is listed under the Tools on my phone. I can enter the total and it instantly tells me what the tip should be for our meals.

I also use my calculator to compare prices in our grocery store. You will find me huddled in a corner figuring out which laundry detergent is the cheapest or who really has the best deal on soda. The calculator does the number-crunching for me and that adds up to extra savings in our grocery cart.

Potential Monthly Savings- $10 or more

Related Readings:

Programming Your Cell Phone

Sound Off: Do you use your cell phone to save money? Are there any cell phone services that your family has financially benefited from?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings, Organizing

Welcome to day three in our Month of Savings series. Today we are going to talk about the potential savings of paying your bills online or via routes other than the traditional snail mail.

I have been paying my bills online for a few years now and I love the service that I am using. Today most banks will offer bill-paying services for free, but my bank still charges to pay my bills for me. I have had to enlist the help of a third party to help me keep track of my bills and to make my payments on my behalf.

I use MyCheckFree.com, and I have been with the company for almost four years now. I have never had a late payment and I have never had any unauthorized activity on my account. If I am unable to pay them through MyCheckFree.com, I do try to set up online payment through the companies website directly.

What benefits are there to paying your bills online? Well, for one you can be saving money on stamps and envelopes. With the cost of stamps continuing to rise, it is great to be able to save money on this and just pay your bills online or by calling into the companies to have the money taken out of your account.

Another great reason to sign up for online bill paying is because many lenders offer a discount if you sign up for the automatic payments to your account. I have seen these discounts offered through mortgage providers and through student loan companies. Of course, with the automatic payments, you will need to make sure that you have money in your account to make the payment. If your account is not stable or the timing is of the essence, it might be more in your favor to avoid setting this up and the fees that could come up with not having enough money in your account.

Here are some free bill paying options that you can take advantage of:

Capital One Customers- Simplify your life with Online Bill Payment Service from Capital One. Pay as many bills as you want, on time—guaranteed—without the hassle of stamps or writing checks.

• It's free—pay as many bills as you'd like per month at no charge
• Bill Payment Guarantee¹ —rest assured your bill will be paid on time
• Secure Site- Capital One is committed to providing safety and security when paying your bills online.
• Pay any individual—even the babysitter or any U.S. business
• Schedule payments—to be taken out of your account the day they are due
• Set up once—set up single or recurring monthly payments one time
• Track payments automatically—records and tracks your payments for you
• Pay bills when it's convenient—payments can be made 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• View your online payment history—know when your bills have been processed

MyCheckFree.com- This is the free bill-paying service that our family uses. You can receive and pay your bills in one easy and safe location. Payment processing begins as soon as you, "Click to pay," and every payment is 100% guaranteed to get there when it is supposed to. You can set payments up to be taken out automatically or you can just set them up as you receive the bills. The bills come directly to your email and you can print out the bills for your financial records or keep them stored on their site.

If you don't feel comfortable allowing a third party to handle your bills, you can go to each of the websites for your bills and sign up directly with them.

If online payment is just not for you, many companies offer a call in service where you can dial in and make your payment via phone with a representative or through an automated service. Most payments will be processed immediately upon calling in, but be sure to find this out when making your payment so it is not late.

The important thing is that you eliminate the stamps, eliminate the paperwork coming into your house and eliminate the late fees that occur from missing a payment.

AOL Bill Manager Plus- Bill Manager Plus with Spending Alerts is a FREE service for bill management and bill payment. Bill Manager Plus also helps you easily maintain a budget and protect yourself from identity theft and fraud.

Bill Manager Plus With Spending Alerts lets you:
· Get e-bills from over 4,400 supported billers & banks.
· Securely receive and pay bills using a single password -- right from your e-mail inbox.
· Automatically add bill due dates to your calendar.
· Track monthly expenditures with easy to read charts.
· Avoid late fees with bill reminders.
· No other bill pay service allows you to manage and pay your bills directly from your e-mail inbox.
· Other bill pay services don't offer you Spending Alerts -- designed to protect you from fraud.
· Credit card and banking alerts enable you to monitor suspicious activity and large transactions
· Cell phone minute alerts allow you to avoid monthly-minute overage fees from your cellular provider. You'll always know when you're dipping into that pricey talk time!

NetBank- NetBank's online bill pay and consolidated bill statement removes all the hassles of paying and reviewing your bills. Get your bills in one place.

-Pay bills anytime, anywhere
-Get an email notice when you have a new bill
-Simply point and click to pay new bills
-Helps you avoid checks, stamps, and trips to the post office
-Get access to online bill pay with any NetBank Checking account
-Schedule repeating payments so you won't forget to pay a bill
-Free if used at least once every 3 months or if the average monthly balance in your bill payment checking account is $3,000 or greater
-Keep an online record of payments for 6 months
-Organize all your bills in one place
-Get account balances, minimum payments, and payment records
-Integrated with online bill pay so you can view and pay your bills instantly

PNC Bank Online- No more checks, envelopes, stamps or trips to the post office. Online Bill Pay eliminates all that paperwork and saves you time - on average two hours a month - and you can click and pay with confidence. Your information is protected by advanced PNC security technology.

Wells Fargo- Offers free bill paying services to their customers, but only if you have certain types of accounts and maintain a certain balance in your checking account. See this page for details on what accounts qualify.

Potential Savings- $10 each month (and more if you are usually late on bills!)

Related Readings:

CheckFree Works for Me!
Friday Freebie: CheckFree

Sound Off: Do you use a third party for paying your bills or does your bank offer free bill paying services?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

This is the second day in my Month of Savings and today I wanted to share with you another excellent way to save your family money.

You might not be getting professional pictures every single month, but I bet you do get them on occasion. I am often surprised by the amounts that people spend on pictures of their children, especially in the day and age of digital photography. I am certainly not knocking the experience of a quality picture and I love to have a couple of these of our children, but I have found that I enjoy the pictures that I take of my children more than the ones that I have had professionally done. You could say that this is partly because I went to a department store versus a private studio, but regardless, it was an expensive process for our family.

The one thing that I found happening, particularly when my children were really little, was that it was hard to find an appointment time that would work with the times that they were the most happy. I would try and schedule it around naps, but it never failed that they would end up napping early/late, that someone got sick, that someone was cranky- you get the picture!

When my daughter was born, I now had two children to work around and I decided that it would be much simpler if I could begin taking my own pictures. I won't say that this wasn't just as time consuming, but the experience was entirely different for me.

I would choose the times that my child was most happy (usually when they first woke up) and I would capture these glorious moments that would have been missed if I would have relied on taking them to a studio.

I have a picture of my daughter discovering her toes, a picture of my little boy with his first morning smile, and my daughter with her crazy bed-head curls in her sweet pajamas. I have a picture of my son eating his first leaf and a picture of my daughter splashing her heart out in the bathtub. Those are the moments that I really want to remember, not a perfectly posed child on a pristine white background.

These are some of the useful tools and sites that I have found to help me create great pictures of my kids:

Picasa- This is a great free program from Google that can help you edit your pictures. The software locates all of the pictures on your computer and has simple editing tools that you can use to take out red eye, crop photos, and apply any special effects (black and white, glow, sepia, etc..). This program is amazing and has helped save many of my photos that I thought could never be printed. You can lighten the photos and adjust the colors to make those dark photos viewable. This is a great program for the beginner and I find it much easier than many of the complicated and expensive software programs on the market.

Digital Photography School- I adore this website because you can get schooled on how to take great photos, without paying any tuition! They offer loads of tutorials on how to take great pictures and explain concepts in a way that even a novice could understand. Be sure to visit their how to photograph a child's birthday tutorial and the ten questions to ask when taking a picture. This website is a wealth of information and everything you ever wanted to know about taking good pictures is right there.

Snapfish- Offers 30 free prints and free shipping using the coupon code SNAPYFRSH07. You can not only save money by not going to the pros, you can also save money on the printing process.

Photoworks- Photoworks customers can get 25 free prints on their first order (using the provided link).

Most importantly, don't forget to read your manual. The manual will offer all of the tips and tricks you need for operating your own camera and will help you choose the right settings for any situation.

If you need further help, visit your local library and check out some books on photography. You can read through tutorials or just look through pictures that the professional photographers have taken. Looking through books like these might give you some new ideas for pictures to try with your own child.

Potential Savings= $20 or more

Related Readings:

What to Get the Person Who Has Everything
Philips Digital Picture Frame
Adobe Photoshop & Premiere Elements
10 Easy Steps to Great Kids Party Pictures

Sound Off: Do you do professional photos or are you the professional in your house? What is your favorite picture of your child?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Welcome to the first day of our Month of Savings. I hope that you will benefit from some of these ideas and that you will be able to implement some new ones in your home.

When my husband and I were first married, I really didn't understand the concept of money. To me, it was just paper that floated in and out of my life, but I didn't appreciate the value of a dollar. We had jobs that paid well, rented an apartment, and we had no children. I had never really thought about how much money we could be saving if I was smarter with the money coming in.

When we moved to the East coast, we found a wonderful congregation to worship in. Unfortunately, there were very few couples our age. When a new young couple joined our church, we were so excited to have another couple to hang out with. We went out to dinner one night with them and they invited us to a local amusement park. We were, of course, interested so we made plans to go the following Saturday.

When we walked up to the booth, to pay for our tickets, the guy that we came with whipped out his wallet. He said a magical phrase that I have never forgot... "How do I get a discount admission?" He proceeded to take out every single card, credit card, and piece of identification he had and was able to score a military discount with one of the cards in his wallet.

Inspired by his demonstration, I walked up and said, "I would like a discount too!" I took out all of our cards and was able to get a discount with our AAA membership.

The moral of the story is that it never hurts to ask for a discount because you might be surprised by the answer. You can extend this further and ask if they are running any promotions or sales. Finally, make sure to ask if they have a mailing list for coupons and future discounts. I have joined many mailing lists, for companies that I frequently shop, and have been able to save a lot of money just by signing up for a mailing list.

Don't be afraid to disclose information about yourself, if it will help you score that discount. Do you volunteer for an organization? Do you do community service? Disclosing information like this can also lead to discount savings.

In the case of the AAA membership, they have over 147 nationwide listings for savings. Here is an example of some of their best discounts:

Geek Squad: At Geek Squad, AAA Members save 20 percent off in-home service for the following services regardless of where you purchased your computer when you show your membership card: Wireless networking installation, Software installation, Data transfer or data backup, Advanced computer diagnostic with repair, Internet service provider (ISP).

LensCrafters: At LensCrafters, AAA Members save when you show your membership card. Save up to 30 percent off a Comprehensive Eye Exam and/or glasses, sunglasses and eyewear accessories. Save 15 percent off partial eyewear purchases.

Target.com: AAA Members save 10 percent off items for the entire family — items for the home, furniture, toys, sporting goods, designer-name merchandise and gifts.

Potential Savings: My approximate savings for every time I have asked for a discount is around $10 or more. It just takes one question to get the ball rolling on the ways you can be saving with a company. Don't be shy- ASK!

Sound Off: What discounts have you gotten just by asking for them?

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Month of Savings

Can cheap and classy go hand in hand? Maybe I am wrong, but I believe these two can be intertwined, as long as you can try to not look TOO cheap in front of your friends and family.

Ethan celebrated his 5th birthday and had a wonderful birthday party to remember. We picked the Fourth of July for celebrating because we figured the majority of the family could come since it is a holiday. We offered to host a cook out and everyone offered to bring a dish and their gifts for the birthday boy.

I decided to make this delicious birthday cake out of ingredients purchased at Aldi. The results were fantastic! This tasted close to a DQ ice cream cake, but without the make-your-teeth-hurt sweetness from that frosting. I would recommend this cake to any mom whose child doesn't like real cake (my sister was one of those children) or as a fun summer party treat. We decorated it with little cars on top from the movie, "Cars."

Price Breakdown:

1.5 packages of frozen burger patties- $4.99 each or $7.48 total
2 packages of beef hot dogs- $1.99 each or $3.98 total
4 packages of buns (hot dog and hamburger) $.65 each or $2.60 total
2 packages of ice cream sandwiches $1.69 each or $3.38 total
2 containers of whipped topping $.99 each or $1.98 total
1 package of cookies for crumbling $.99
2 bags of chips $.99 each or $1.98 total
Homemade Pasta Salad $3.50
Birthday Banner $3.99

Total Spent: $29.88
19 Guests= $1.57 per guest

Things that we omitted this time:

Friends- If we had a small family, I would feel really inclined to do friends at the party, but our family is big and just a family party for me can feel a bit overwhelming. We are doing little play dates with friends this week and maybe we can polish off the rest of the cake as a small celebration of his birth. My nephew & Ethan are just nine months apart though and are the best of buddies so he still felt like he had a friend there to celebrate. Of course, he was the center of attention and who could possibly love or appreciate you more than your family? No one!

Party Favors- I have never been a big fan of these, personally, and so I avoided this cash trap this time. It helped that we didn't have friends coming and the kids had the best time playing with all of his new things that I felt like the party favors would have been lost in the fun anyway.

Paper Products- With the exception of the infamous birthday banner, I didn't do paper products this time (other than paper napkins that I keep for such occasions). I did do two loads of dishes, but everyone pitched in with clean-up so it wasn't a big deal at all.

The "Only Me Mentality"- I was thinking that I wanted to ask people to bring a dish since it was a cookout, but then thought that might give the impression that I am cheaper than my usual cheap self. Instead, when I called to share that we were having a get together, everyone asked what they could bring to the party. Usually, I would say to just bring themselves, but everyone seemed insistent that they did want to do something to help. And you know what? I pushed my pride aside and let them. Everyone had such yummy dishes and they were happy to share. And that made me happy to not have more dishes to have to cook. It helped that it was the Fourth of July and we would have probably done a family cookout together anyway. Combining the two events helped me feel a little less cheap.

I know many people forgo the dinner/lunch portion of the party, but we live a bit of a distance for our family to have to travel just for cake. I love to sit and visit and share food with everyone so while this could have been more affordable, I still feel like we did really well for the money and we hope Ethan will have many happy memories of his special day!

Sound Off: Can cheap & classy go together? How do you save money when it comes time to celebrate?

Related Readings:

Kid's Party Etiquette for Parents
Ten Easy Steps to Great Kid's Party Pictures
Find an Activity
Birthday Party Ideas
McDonald's Birthday Parties
Simplifying Gift Giving

Labels: Birthday Party, Budget, Frugal

The comment thread on electric bills has sparked a question. How much is my average electrical bill in the summer and just how much did my frugal endeavors help us decrease our bill? I took a look at our 36 month history and this is the actual breakdown for how much electricity we used.

6/27/2007	978	$72.46
5/29/2007	888	$66.90
4/27/2007	804	$61.86
3/29/2007	1043	$76.66
2/27/2007	1051	$77.16
1/30/2007	1248	$89.11
12/27/2006	1252	$88.87
11/21/2006	837	$63.42
10/24/2006	839	$63.56
9/27/2006	1198	$85.55
8/25/2006	1282	$90.71
7/26/2006	1043	$76.06
6/28/2006	885	$66.37
5/30/2006	894	$66.93
4/27/2006	681	$53.91
3/28/2006	841	$64.06
2/27/2006	798	$61.40
1/27/2006	824	$62.93
12/28/2005	740	$57.46
11/28/2005	864	$65.06
10/24/2005	700	$55.00
9/28/2005	1240	$87.64
8/26/2005	1292	$90.80
7/28/2005	1415	$98.37
6/27/2005	1112	$79.89
5/31/2005	728	$56.49
4/27/2005	707	$55.17
3/29/2005	755	$57.55
2/28/2005	745	$56.94
1/27/2005	1004	$72.58
12/28/2004	1116	$79.34
11/23/2004	809	$60.84
10/25/2004	765	$58.18
9/28/2004	1239	$86.74
8/26/2004	950	$69.33
7/29/2004	1247	$87.35

You can see how much our electric bill has gone up and down these past three years. I can't really put my finger on one single thing that we did to help our decreases, but I believe a number of things we did have helped contribute towards our lowered electric bills.

1. We got a new air conditioner. When we bought this house, it had a beast of an air conditioner. The air conditioner was the original to the house and our house was built in 1967. The energy it took to run it cost us extra money. The new air conditioner is much more energy efficient so it has helped our electric bills greatly.

2. We got a programmable thermostat. Unfortunately, I am home almost all of the time so there are no real set days where no one is around. It does help to program times in when we really need the cool air (when we are up and around in the house) and to be able to turn it off or down (when we are sleeping).

3. We do not use the dryer in the summer. This is a new rule this summer, but it is working well so far. It isn't just to help with the electric bill though. It is also a secret getaway for me. I can go outside and away from everyone with an excuse that I *have* to do everyone's laundry. No one can argue with that and it has become a great place to brainstorm new ideas for our site.

4. We open our windows when we can. We actually found screens to all of the windows in our shed, that we didn't even know we had! We put all of our screens in and have been opening more windows to allow that cool night air in. I am not fond of our loud birds in the morning, but it is worth it to keep our bills down.

5. We are gradually making the transition toward the CFL bulbs. I have been researching prices on these and have found the best deal at our warehouse store. If you don't have a warehouse store, look for the larger packages, as they tend to offer more savings, versus the single bulbs. When a light bulb needs replacing, we have been replacing them with the new CFL bulbs instead.

One of our contributors towards our bills being higher has definitely been the impact of the rising gas costs. If you take a look at the majority of bills now, compared to the years past, you will see a jump in your fuel surcharge. It costs the companies more to provide these services, and that has translated into higher gas prices. This, lucky for me, translates into higher bills.

As you can see, I am an open book when it comes to my bills. I think it helps me to reflect more on ways that I can improve this category and it also helps hold me accountable towards making these bills lower.

Have you ever taken a look at your electrical history? It is a fun way to see how you can make a positive impact towards lowering your bills.

Related Readings:

Saving on Utilities
The Benefits of Line Drying Your Clothes
Winterizing Your Home
How to Construct an Airing Rack

Labels: Budget, Frugal

I was browsing around the beauty & fashion section in our library, when I saw this book and had to read it! I am a girl who is on a tight budget, but who also enjoys keeping up with fashion news and trends, and I wanted to know how I could do that without breaking the bank. How to Be a Budget Fashionista by Kathryn Finney is such a fantastic book and I recommend it to every woman! I have several people in mind already that I would like to give this to for a Christmas gift. I am sure you know people in your life who NEED this book to stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on clothes...money that they don't have to spend in the first place.

This book is a great basic guide book for showing you that you truly can be fashionable without spending an arm and a leg to do it. The author was actually a woman who fell into the trap of spending more money than she earned on buying clothing. She wanted to stay fashionable, but found herself swimming in a sea of debt and buyer's remorse.

Pulling herself up by her brand-name boots, she decided to pull herself out of the trap and figure out how she could look good for less. She learned ways that she could still look good without spending a mint to do it.

In the book, Ms. Finney offers great suggestions for basic items you can look for to make a good basic wardrobe. She discloses great department and superstore brands that you can hunt for, to substitute for the expensive stuff, and shares her bargaining secrets for getting the looks you crave for less.

The thing that I absolutely loved about this book was that she ENCOURAGES thrift shopping for items and gives a listing of details to look for when shopping and brand names that you can keep your eye out for. Many of her own favorite pieces were items she found when doing her thrifting, so she actually lives by the principles she shares with her readers.

I devoured this book in one sitting and passed it on to a friend. She devoured it too and we got to chat a lot about the things we enjoyed from her list. Not only that, but we patted ourselves on the back for being so fashionably conscious that we had some of the listed as must-haves!

I couldn't get enough of this book, so I was pleased to see that Kathryn maintains a site and forum where she shares more fashion tips & deals with her readers. If you like to listen to Podcasts, she also does interviews with the big names in fashion on how to look good for less!

Sound Off: My dear fashionistas, what is your favorite piece in your wardrobe and where did you purchase it?

Labels: Budget, Fashion, Frugal

I love our bread outlet and go every other week to get all of our bread, bagels, muffins, & the occasional package of donuts. The ladies that work there know me by name and they love to get the updates on our family. They adore our Emily and give Ethan special treats when we come. I have loved going there and the great deals that I get.

When I walked in today, I noticed that they had changed all of their signs and increased their prices on every single item in the store. My whole grain bread that I was getting for a dollar was now doubled in price, as was just about everything in the store. The new prices were decent, but could be got at Aldi for the same/less or picked up on sale at other stores.

I paid for the items and expressed my disappointment over the price increase. I asked if the other outlets in the area had increased their prices as well, and they said all of the prices had increased in all of the stores in our area (we live in the Michiana area). The lady knocked a dollar off of the total, but it still ended up being more than I would like to spend on bread.

With gas at a whopping $3.39, I don't feel inclined to make the effort to go there now.

So, do you have any tried and true bread machine recipes that you would like to share with me? Do you freeze the dough? Do you bake in the bread machine or do you use your oven to bake the bread? I am looking for any insight you guys can give on this, as I need to decrease our spending in this area now.

Please help me!

Labels: Budget

I have actually read of people who budget less than us and I think that is amazing and I applaud anyone who can do it for less than this. In our family of four, fifty dollars a week seems to work for us and I was asked to share ways that we save on the extras in our grocery budget.

- We do not buy a lot of paper products, the only exception being toilet paper, which I haven’t figured out a way around yet. We use cloth washcloths for faces & dirty hands, another set of cloth washcloths (in a different color) as baby wipes, cloth diapers, cloth napkins, and microfiber cloths (purchased inexpensively at your local wholesale club in the automotive section) for cleaning the house.

- I just buy toilet paper in bulk and usually purchase this when our local Meijer runs a good sale on their store brand of toilet paper. Our toilet paper is our Kleenex. I know…we live a glamorous life!

- Our dishwashing soap and detergent are purchased at Aldi and I have been really happy with the performance of both of these products. I actually prefer the Aldi brand dishwashing detergent over other store brands and I have tried many including Wal-Mart & Target. This seems to perform the best in our dishwasher and we have hard water. To make sure that it performs even better though, I fill our little dispenser on the door with white vinegar and this helps cut down on spotting on our glasses. Periodically cleaning my dishwasher with a citrus drink mix (Tang or any other citrus type drink) also helps our dishwasher performing well and keeps it looking nice & clean.

- I make the majority of our household cleaners utilizing white vinegar and baking soda. If I do purchase any cleaners, I love The Works cleaners that I purchase at our local dollar store. This brand works well, again on those tough hard water stains, and the price is great!

- For hand soaps, I buy the dollar store brand. I received some of those pretty foamy soaps from Bath & Body Works as a Christmas gift and I just refill these foamy dispensers. I fill the soap dispenser about ¼ of a way up and then the rest gets filled with water. Give it a shake and you have foaming hand soap. One dollar can fill four hand soap containers for us and this lasts a long time. The foaming hand soap containers also work really well for baby soaps as it extends your bottles a lot longer.

- We don’t buy expensive shampoos or conditioners. I try to watch for good sales at our drugstore or I purchase Suave hair products which give us the most shampoo for our money. Leave on conditioners are made out of filling spray bottles with a ¼ the way full of conditioner and adding water. Give it a shake each time you use it and you will have leave on conditioner without the price tag.

Here are some other entries for saving on your grocery budget:

Cleaning the House:

Disposing of the Disposable Items
Frugal Solutions for the Swiffer
Microfiber Obsessions
Frugal Carpet Steaming
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags

Toiletries:

Homemade Skincare Products
Foamy Soap
Making Your Own Cleaners
Cloth Diapering 101
Frugal Momma Bath Tips

Saving on Groceries:

Wholesale Club Shopping
Grocery Shopping
Sam’s Club Click N Pull
Quest to Find Cheap Baby Food
Saving on Groceries

Please feel free to share ways you save on your groceries! What is your grocery budget? How do you accomplish it?

P.S.- We are working on a search function and also a VERY exciting project that I can’t wait to tell you all about! It will be big news for MomAdvice.com! Stay tuned!

Labels: Budget, Grocery Shopping

Everyone knows someone who knows something. That something could be as simple as how to get a stain out of clothing or it could be as complex as the types of supplements you should be taking for optimum health.

I have a theory that everyone carries around one piece of information that has stuck with them from an expert in a field. Maybe it was your vet? Maybe your doctor? Maybe you are close friends with a nutritionist? Maybe you have a really good accountant who gave you some tax advice that you never forgot?

What is one piece of advice you got that you never lost? Your piece of advice could be life changing for one of our readers. Please share away by clicking the Comments link.

My one piece of advice that I received, while not life-saving, is one thing that has always stuck with me. One of my friends went to visit a dermatologist and she asked her what was the best thing that she could do for her skin. The dermatologist suggested to always, always moisturize her neck because it is one of those areas that many people forget. That is why you see many women with beautiful skin and they show their age in their neck area. She also said the best type of facial cleanser you can use is Cetaphil. I have discovered that our local Meijer sells an off-brand of Cetaphil and I have started using this on my skin. It is much cheaper & gentler than other things I have tried.

Not everyone can afford the luxury of expert health. Many people cannot even afford the insurance needed to ever sit down with an expert. Likewise, many of us have the financial means to employ someone to help us through tough situations. Do you have a lawyer, a doctor, a financial planner, a counselor for your child?

What was that one piece of advice that they shared with you that you could, in turn, share with someone else?

Labels: Budget, Frugal

I had an email which requested that I talk a little bit about the gift closet and how we stock our gift closet. First, I am using the word "closet" in quotes because we do not have a spare closet to stick all of these gifts in. The one major closet that we had in our house was revamped and now houses our entertainment unit (People with small homes should definitely read that post!) Instead, I actually use a clear plastic tote and a shelf in our basement for keeping these spare gifts.

A gift closet is just the idea of keeping gifts that you can use for any occasion. Some people stock gifts with a specific purpose in mind, like Christmas. Other people stock gifts that they think they will be able to use throughout the year, like birthday parties, weddings, or housewarming gifts.

Now just about any tightwad I talk to has a place that they horde deals that they run across. Why should you pay full price for a gift when you can raid the clearance sections of stores and thrift for goodies that will make great gifts? The purpose of my gift closet is:

1. To have a gift that will fit any occasion. I try to stock for weddings, birthday parties, thank you gifts, get well soon goodies, and the "just because" gift.

2. You are always prepared no matter what occasion strikes. If you forgot to write something on your calendar or suddenly realize that your brother's birthday is looming and you have no funds for a gift, you can always visit your closet for a great gift.

3. Christmas is not a blow to your finances because your gift closet is stocked throughout the year. I try to buy a gift here and there instead of a giant shopping session which can cause a serious dent in our account.

The first part I am going to discuss about stocking your gift closet are inexpensive ways to package your gifts. Storing gifts, in my opinion, is just one element of stocking a gift closet. Another blow to the finances can be the packaging of your gifts. Here are some of the items that I keep on hand for making my gifts look pretty for less...

- I hit thrift stores all of the time and try to look for pretty tins in the housewares section. At fifty cents to a dollar each, they are a great way to package homemade goodies and make them more special.

- Baskets are nice to have on hand to make an instant gift basket for someone in your life. Try and buy these when they run end of the season sales at the craft stores or when you are doing your thrift shopping. Remember that baskets can be spray painted or decorated with scrap ribbon and filled with odds and ends in your gift closet (tissue paper, a pretty dish towel, or whatever else you have on hand)

- I love to keep jars on hand for gifts. These can be used to package up soups, stews, sauces, jellies, or gift mixes. I use scrap fabric to place on top and also have little odds and ends that I have collected to tie around the lid (cinnamon sticks, silk flowers, twine, etc..)

- I always have items that I can use to wrap gifts with. I have wrapping paper, but I also have other items to wrap with. I save the comics section of our newspaper for children's gifts. I also look for wallpaper rolls at thrift stores to wrap gifts with. The wallpaper looks so elegant and I can get huge rolls of it for a buck at our local stores. Scrap fabric or tulle can add elegance to any gift.

- I save anything that I think would make a great home for a gift. For example, I love those little sacks that cards come in or the boxes that note cards come in. When I receive a gift, I save whatever that person used to give me my gift in. I have started to gather quite a large collection of gift bags and boxes from hording the ones that were given to our family.

- Coffee mugs and pretty plates are also stashed away for those unexpected gifts. I love to find elegant china plates in the housewares section of our thrift store or unusual coffee mugs. For example, a china tea cup can be a beautiful holder for a small houseplant. When the plant needs to move to a bigger home (or in our house, simply dies a horrible death!) the cup can be washed out and used for tea. Fill mugs with cocoa mixes or tea bags as a sweet & simple get well gift. These are just a few of the uses for these items.

- I love to use the china size boxes for giving cookies in, particularly around the holidays. Tuck the cookies in wax paper and tie with a bow. This makes your treats look like a gift anyone could want!

- I keep a manila folder in my gift closet and place any cards that I receive in it. The front of these cards can be made into a new card or they can be used for gift tags with a quick hole punch and a little ribbon.

- I buy the stacks of card stock scraps and use these for gift tags on my gift baskets & bags. Add a small stamp to it and a quick note and you can bypass Hallmark altogether.

Those are just a few ideas that I have for the wrapping portion of the gift closet. In Part Two, I will began discussing frugal gift ideas for various occasions. If there is something in particular that you would like me to touch on, just reply in the comments section.

Feel free to share ways you wrap gifts or how/where you store your gift closet!

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Gifts

And I am afraid that he is going to be beating our family into submission this year. When you are self-employed, there is no employer to take the taxes from you, thus we end up getting physically beaten at the end of the year. We do save for tax time throughout the year, but somehow handing the money over in one lump sum hurts so much more than the nickle and diming they do throughout the year on other people's checks.

TaxAct.com is a great place to do your taxes for free or for really cheap, depending upon the plan you opt for. You can download their program or do the whole process over the web. Considering the most expensive plan on TaxAct is a mere $19.95, this is definitely one of the cheapest options out there.

When we were first married, we used H&R Block for our taxes. My parents had always used H&R Block, so naturally that was where we went to when it was time to do our own taxes. We were newly married, had nothing to claim on our taxes and were bringing in the big bucks. I about fell out of my chair when the agent told me how much we owed. Then he told us how much we owed him and a repeat performance of me falling out of my chair ensued. What a rip off! We vowed never to return there again, as it was almost like getting robbed from twice in one night. Say what you will about me, but I find H&R Block to be extremely expensive, especially with all of the wonderful programs they offer today.

I do want to direct your attention to this link where they are offering an exclusive offer to American Express Card Members. You can save 25% on TurboTax Online federal products which includes free e-filing. They also offer a complimentary TurboTax Tax Estimator. If you have an American Express Card, you should definitely take advantage of this offer.

TurboTax also offers a great tool for those of us who are guessing how much our donations are worth. It is a software program called, "It's Deductible!" and the cost on it is $19.95. You can access thousands of values for the items you donate, track your donations throughout the entire year, auto-fills tax donation forms, and it all comes out in a printable report. We are going to purchase this program as we make many donations throughout the year. A quick picture with your digital camera and you will have all the paperwork you need to make the tax deductions.

I am wondering how you do your taxes? Do you hire a private accountant? Do you do them yourself? What programs do you use?

Labels: Budget, Taxes

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Personal Finance

Frankly, I am pretty tired of being home. We have been in the house for the entire month of January, due to our entire family being sick, and finally everyone is starting to feel better...and there is a weather advisory today. I had gotten up and gotten the kids ready for the day, made plans to join my grandmother for lunch, and then noticed that my son's school had been cancelled. Despite our disappointment, this feels like it has been a month of accomplishments, as we have tried to tackle some stuff around the house. Some of the things that I have gotten done are:

Labels: Budget, Frugal, Grocery Shopping, Homemaking

First, do not be intimidated by the bright colors on our son’s walls. What appeared to be a cheery Granny Smith apple shade assaulted us with its fluorescent glow instead when applied to the walls. Although the color is a bit brighter than I had hoped, where else except our children’s rooms could we be so bold?


I had been looking for some cute artwork for his room since we had tons of empty wall space, begging to be filled with cute artwork. We did not have the budget though to go out and blow tons of money on artwork so when I happened upon this clever idea in my Real Simple Magazine, I jumped right on it and was so pleased with the results.

The magazine had suggested using book cover jackets as art for your walls. As my son has received wonderful hardcover books from his grandparents, I had been removing the jackets and putting them on a shelf in his closet (for fear that they might be damaged or torn). Two of the jacket covers were for two of his favorite books, “How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight” & “How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food.” The artwork on them was just perfect for framing.
I went to the Dollar Store and purchased two frames. I then used the cardboard insert to map out how I would frame the pictures to size them and then cut them out. For one of the pictures, I just used the picture that was on the front of the jacket. I used the back of the other cover because it contained some of the story within the picture.

My son was so pleased with his new pictures on his wall as were we! What a great way to really bring to life and share your children’s favorite stories.


The linens on his bed were also in need of being replaced. My son suffers from very bad bloody noses and I could not remove the stain no matter how many times I washed it. My mom had suggested contacting the lady over at MomAdvice to find out how to fix this (obviously I get a lot of jokes about that one!), but apparently she had no idea either.