This past week it has been all about maximizing your savings and keeping as much of your hard earned money working for you. Check out these great articles for the Frugal Living Blog week in review: April 7th through April 13th.
April 7th
How would you like a cool desk for your home? Follow the adventures of a friend who calls herself the “Trash Queen” as she turns another found piece of trash into a real treasure for her home.
April showers may bring may flowers, but they can also bring bored kids. Here are some great ideas for entertaining your crew when they can’t play outside and you are out of ideas and supplies.
A while ago I brought you information about kids workshops at the Home Depot. These workshops are free for kids, and are generally held on one or more Saturdays in the month. Well, now I want to talk about the free kids activities at the Lowe’s home improvement store. The projects offered by Lowe’s for their Build and Grow Clinics are quite impressive. You won’t find any plain wooden boxes here.
April 8th
Some times sweating the small stuff can add up. It all depends on your circumstances and your level of frugality. Here is one of the things that we have done this past week that could be considered frugal.
Being frugal, we tend to save a lot of things that other might think are a waste of time. And, you know, sometimes they are right.
Frugal Living Week in Review: March 31st Through April 6th
Have you been stocking up on ham and bacon this week? And what about the other great food bargains? If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out last week’s frugal articles.
April 9th
Rice can be a very frugal food. But before you think that this food is plain and boring, take a look at this article. I’ll talk about how frugal rice really is, and how to spice it up a bit for family meals. Making rice a staple in your home can really save you money on your food budget, especially now.
Rice can be a very frugal food. But before you think that this food is plain and boring, take a look at this article. I’ll talk about how frugal rice really is, and how to spice it up a bit for family meals. Making rice a staple in your home can really save you money on your food budget, especially now.
April 10th
Recently, I received an e-mail from a reader who asks about reusing aluminum and other food cans. She always gets a good deal on canned food, so she uses quite a bit of it. After emptying the cans, she washes them out and stacks them in her pantry. “The cans are taking over my kitchen,” she writes. “Is there something I can do with the cans, other than recycling them?”
In reply to a reader request, here are more uses for cans. This is part two of a two-part series.
April 11th
Decorating Furniture and Accessories with Wallpaper
Wallpaper ends can be used in so many fun ways to dress up your home. Wallpaper is not just for the walls. And if you can get a hold of some free wallpaper, then these decorating projects won’t cost you a thing, except maybe a little spray adhesive.
When it comes to living a frugal lifestyle, it is nice to have someone in your corner. Like-minded people can help each other out with support and shared resources. It is wonderful when a friend of yours can get excited about a thrift store find and offer you new ways of saving money. Without that support, your frugal living could be sabotaged.
April 12th
Do you have a caviar taste and a grilled cheese budget? Do you want to a designer home made of cheap furniture? Well, your time has come! There is a new movement out there just for people like you. Forget shabby chic. This style is more modern and more versatile. Welcome to the world of Ikea hacking.
After being absent from the grocery store for about three weeks, we had a grocery shopping trip today. Although I know that food prices are rising, I was still shocked by how much some things cost. Other items stayed close to their previous prices, although the amount of the product shrunk. Here is a comparison of price changes on items that I found in one store in the span of those three weeks. The pricing may shock you.
April 13th
So yesterday, I decided to take a little bit of my own advice and combine our errands into one day. This way, we would spend less money on gas, since we could map out an efficient route that covers each stops. This lessens the extra back and forth trips to and from the house. We would also spend less gas by limiting how often we make trips to any given place. If we designate one weekend a month, for example, to errands, then we know that we need to take full advantage of the trip, stocking up at the grocery store, for example.
This is part 2 of a 2-part series. If you missed the first article earlier today, click here: Optimizing Our Errands.