Tag Archives: save

Avoid These Foods

All over the country, people are starting to pay more attention to the food they buy. The price of groceries has climbed to record-breaking heights, forcing people to get creative on budgeting on this very necessary expense. You really have to be a smart shopper to make your food dollar stretch far enough to feed your family. But, let me make it a little easier. If you can cut out or at least reduce the following food items, you can make a significant difference to your grocery bill. Soda Soda is basically, water, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine and carbonation. … Continue reading →

Optimizing Our Errands 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part series. If you missed the first article earlier today, click here: Optimizing Our Errands. After lunch, we visited the library to return books and stock up on enough reading and listening material to last us six weeks (the maximum amount of time we can hold items). I estimate that getting extra books and CDs shaved off at least one extra library trip. I decided not to take out any DVDs, since these are due in three days time and would require an extra trip back to the library. We have plenty of movies … Continue reading →

Optimizing Our Errands

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 … Continue reading →

Finding a Frugal Community

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. Sometimes you get lucky and move into an area that is made up of frugal people, and sometimes it is just the opposite. In our extended neighborhood, the first impression is that no one is very frugal. Moms … Continue reading →

Shutters Can Be More than Window Dressing 2

Did you know that today’s homeowners are going back to the basics of weather protection through the use of functional shutters? No longer just decorative, shutters can cut down on your heating costs, your cooling costs and even prevent your furniture from fading while letting in the light. This is part two of a two-part series. In the first part, I talked about different types of functional shutters that can be purchased for your home. The second way to take advantage of the benefits of functional shutters is to adapt standard decorative shutters into real working shutters. You can do … Continue reading →

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. March 31st Goodwill Offers and Finds Do you shop at the Goodwill? Here are some of the finds that were available Saturday at my local Goodwill. Planning Your Frugal Summer Travel I know that we just reached spring, but summer won’t be far behind. And now is a perfect time to start planning your summer vacation. With the economy the way it is, many people will … Continue reading →

The Frugal Banana

Bananas are a great frugal food, but make sure that you watch banana prices carefully. Like other foods, bananas prices will rise, due mostly from the cost of shipping them to your store. The average banana price here in my little corner of Pennsylvania is about 79 cents a pound, currently. About two weeks ago, the average price seemed to be 49 cents a pound. There are still two places where I can find the bananas for less here. The first is Trader Joes, a health/gourmet food store. At Trader Joes, bananas are selling for 29 cents pound. The second … Continue reading →

Will Your Home Sell in a Recession? Trends Can Influence a Sale

During a recession, it can be difficult to sell your home for a good price, or even sell your home at all. The reasons a home may sell has to do with a set of complicated factors that come in to play, more so when there is a lot of other homes available and few buyers. If you are trying to make a decision about putting your home on the market, take a few moments to review these various factors. They will help you make a good decision about selling or at least help you be prepared in today’s market. … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Week in Review: March 24th Through March 30th

How have your grocery prices been lately? There is no doubt in my mind that we are in for a tough time with fitting food into a frugal budget. You can find out all about how things stand through some of the articles I posted last week. Also, there are plenty of tips to save you money on food and on all other expenses. Here is the Frugal Living week in review for March 24th through March 30th March 24h After Easter Tips I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Easter. Now that Easter is behind us, … Continue reading →

The Frugal Gross Factor 2

We are talking about the different standards of squeamishness that people have when practicing a frugal lifestyle. I’m curious to know where you stand in these areas. In the last article, we covered everything about food. Click here to read: The Frugal Gross Factor. Now, we’ll go on to clothing and food. Clothing We have no problem with used clothing. I frequently shop at the thrift stores and garage sales and gladly take hand me downs for my family. I confess that unless the clothing comes from a trusted friend or relative, I wash it thoroughly, no matter how clean … Continue reading →