Category Archives: Frugal

Learn how to pinch your pennies without giving up the good things in life here at the Families.com Frugal Living Blog.

When You Can’t Afford Sports 2

As parents, we want to be able to provide our children with everything that will keep them happy and healthy. Activities in sports and the arts are valuable experiences that we can provide to our children, unless we can’t afford to do so. What then? Do are children lose out? A better solution might be to look for ways to save money on children’s sports, so you can provide them to your children without putting your family in danger of economic failure. This post is part two of a two-article series on the subject. If you missed the first post, … Continue reading →

When You Can’t Afford Sports

It is an odd child who does not attend two or three different activities in addition to school. These activities are generally concentrated in sports or the arts and can take up a lot of time and money. Well, I have three such odd children. We just don’t have the means to support so many activities for so many children. At an average of $3,000 to $5,000 a year on average for each serious sport, you can see how it all adds up. I just don’t know how these parents do it. So last year, we cut out all of … Continue reading →

Why Buy New When You Can Redo?

I admit that I am not very talented in the arts and crafts. I can get by with macaroni pictures or helping a child glue foam shapes on paper, but when it comes to taking a furniture find and turning it in to something fabulous, well, it will probably wind up looking like that macaroni picture. Still, that doesn’t give me the excuse to buy new when I can redo (or at least get a talented friend or family member to do it.) One simple project I completed with the help of my oldest child was to redo an old … Continue reading →

How Getting Enough Sleep Saves You Money

Ah sleep. It is one of those things that most of us dream about (literally). Remember the days before kids, a house and responsibilities when you could just sleep in whenever you wanted to? Yeah, me neither. My memory doesn’t go back that far. Still, I try to make every effort to get as much sleep as possible. My body needs it, and it saves me money. If you need an excuse to take care of yourself, this is a good one. There are several ways that getting enough sleep has a direct correlation to saving money. People who get … Continue reading →

How to Let Go of the Unwanted

There are many reasons for letting go of the unwanted in your life. When you let go of extra baggage, whether it is emotional, mental or physical, you are freed up to live a healthier and happier life. Think about how life might be if you could let go of everything from extra pounds to extra stuff? There are special challenges for those of us who practice frugal living in regards to letting go of the unwanted. Because we want to make sure that we are good stewards of our money, make wise buying decisions and reuse whatever we have … Continue reading →

Independently Frugal

Being frugal takes a bit of an independent streak, a willingness to take the road not travelled by most of the world. Buying the things that we want when we want them at whatever price is available seems to be the thing to do. Oh sure, most of us still look for bargains, but when we really want something, we usually buy it anyway. It takes the ability to not follow the crowd, when you shop at thrift stores, make your own laundry detergent, cook from scratch and spend the summer hunting down free entertainment. With the recession, came an … Continue reading →

Castle Birthday Party Idea Part 3

The games are done, and everyone is ready to eat. In this series, I am sharing my ideas for throwing a castle-themed child’s birthday party for less than $100. If you missed Castle Birthday Part Idea Part 1, click here. If you missed Castle Birthday Party Idea Part 2, click here.  Food for a party can be one of the biggest expenses. You want to make sure that there is enough food for everyone, to accommodate different tastes. I suggest a mixture of home made food with some convenience items, such a a bulk package of frozen chicken nuggets or … Continue reading →

Castle Birthday Party Idea Part 2

Host a castle birthday party for your little knight or princess, all for less than $100! I will share how we are doing it. If you missed part 1, you can find it here. So, the kid have just defeated the knight who escapes. They then climb up the castle (swing set) to meet the princess, who will be played by the birthday boy’s sister. She tells them that the evil knight has hidden a map in one of the abandoned village huts, but those on the quest must be careful. There is a grouchy old hermit who still lives … Continue reading →

Castle Birthday Party Idea

This next weekend, we are having a birthday party with a castle theme for our youngest son. We are planning  to include theme-based games, decorations, prizes, crafts, a large spread of food and a complete castle cake for less than $100 total. Now that is frugal! How are we doing this? The ideas and preparations are elaborate, so follow this blog over the next few days to get all of the details.  Here is our strategy. By having the party at home, we spend zero dollars on rent for a hall or one of those theme birthday places, saving anywhere from … Continue reading →

Frugal Is as Frugal Does

Life may be a like a box of chocolates, but for the really frugal minded, those chocolates were half price and purchased with a coupon. Pick a random group of 25 people and ask them what it means to be frugal and how they make choices to be good stewards of their money. Chances are that you will get a lot of different answers all across the board concerning frugality and saving money. It tends to mean different things to different people. I recently read an article in a national women’s magazine about a family that decided to be frugal, … Continue reading →