Tag Archives: Future

Welcome

Welcome to the new Hot Deals Blog. As your new blogger, I look forward to bringing you lots of ways to save money on every aspect of your life. I am a stay at home mom with an eight year old, a two year old, and a new miracle arriving in September. We rely on a creative budget to survive. Ever since I was a child, I remember helping my mom cut and organize coupons, look through magazines for freebies, and scour the Sunday newspapers for great deals. With a continued education in retail marketing, accounting, and journalism, I will … Continue reading →

Outlet Shopping

Sure, I love the thrift stores and the yard sales, but they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Outlet stores, on the other hand, can really appeal to a wider form of frugality. Also, there are some times when shopping an outlet store is preferable to thrift stores and yard sales, even for me. This past Friday, we headed up to Lancaster County (Amish country) to have a nice family day. Our last stop for the day was an outlet mall, where a wide array of brand name stuff could be had for much less than retail. We were there specifically … Continue reading →

Frugal Contentment Thieves

Did you know that there are thieves lurking about and ready to steal your frugality happiness? These sneaks can come in to your home and rob away your frugal hard work. How? They can rob your contentment of your frugal lifestyle and tempt you into spending, spending and spending. Here are the most common frugal thieve and what they are all about. Keep them out of your home, if you can! Mail order catalogs These glossy catalogs are filled with beautiful stuff in beautiful home occupied by beautiful people. Or, the people are having them best time walking along a … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Week in Review: May 5th Through May 11th

Catch up on the latest tips and advice for frugal living! May 5th Frugal Cinco de Mayo Want to have a fun way to celebrate the day without spending a lot of money? Here are some fun ideas that you can use to celebrate today, Cinco de Mayo. Frugal Burgers The pleasant weather outside brings lots of great spring and summer food, especially food cooked on the grill. One of the favorite types of grill food is the hamburger. It used to be that hamburger in itself was frugal, but that is no longer the case. Exotic ingredients and fixings, … Continue reading →

Adjusting Your Price Book with Escalating Grocery Costs

In the previous article, Our Changing Grocery Prices, I talked about how we’ve been having to adjust what we are willing to pay for some grocery items, in the wake of rising food prices. I shared some concrete examples of items from my mental price books and how I have had to adjust them, such as cereal, apples and eggs. Making these adjustments can be tough. Since prices aren’t steady, it is hard to know what the lowest price on something is or will be. Milk at $4 a gallon seems outrageous, until it rises to $4.50 on average. I … Continue reading →

Island Hopping: Nantucket

I grew up on an island and I would be a rich woman today if I could have collected a dime from every person who uttered these words to me over the last three decades: “Hawaii is a great place to visit, but I sure couldn’t afford to live here.” I have a feeling that residents of Nantucket get a lot of the same. The only difference is that most of them are already rich. It’s true; statistics show that most of the island’s residents are second-homeowners who spend the peak summer season in their multi-million dollar oceanfront pads. If … Continue reading →

Scrapbooking Week in Review for April 28 – May 05, 2008

Is it raining in your world today? It seems as if the rain has increased, rather than let up. Isn’t the old saying “April Showers, Bring May Flowers.”? Take advantage of the continuing rain and spend some time scrapbooking and playing around with your supplies. Perhaps you could even spend some time organizing your stash, going through your albums, or even set up a fun portrait session with your kids. Here is what has been going on in the scrapbooking blog this week. Be sure and check out the new columns appearing in the scrapbooking blog that were introduced this … Continue reading →

5 Basic Photography Tips

Photography is the key to scrapbooking. Often, the better your photographs are, the more appealing your scrapbook layouts are. Photography can be tricky, and every camera is different, yet the following tips will help no matter what camera you use, and what you are trying to take a picture of. 1. Get to know your camera. Be sure and read the manual, find out what features your camera has. If you have a digital camera, try taking the same picture with several different settings. Remember which settings you used, so you can see the result when you get it up … Continue reading →

5 Quick and Fast Journaling Tips

Many scrapbookers feel that journaling is daunting task that is usually put off until last. Some scrapbookers don’t even include journaling on their pages, because it takes too much time and effort. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. There are a few ways to make it a bit more fast and easy, than simply writing all the time. Blogs – If you have a blog, and you update it at all, you might be able to use entire posts for your scrapbook. You could simply cut, paste and print it, finally placing it on the layout at the … Continue reading →

My Spring Cleaning the Master Closet 2

Come with me and help me spring clean my master closet. Add your tips in the comment section. I’m going through clothing right now, but there is more ahead. So, we are still in my master closet, and regarding clothing, I also got rid of items that needed repair. Since I hadn’t bothered to repair anything in years, there was probably very little chance that I would have the motivation to do so any time soon. Maybe it is wasteful not to repair the skirt with the pulled out hem, for example, but it is just as wasteful to leave … Continue reading →