I could obviously tell you to skip the over-priced coffee… but I am not that cruel, yet. However, one way that I learned how to cut the price of that coffee and still get a fairly close enough taste of the real thing is to ask for a “americano, with such and such syrup added (cinnamon dulce, anyone?) with room… Read more »
When you have a carton of ice cream, don’t you try to squeeze every last bite out of it? What about the Ketchup bottle? The salad dressing? Peanut butter? This might seem like a very extreme cheapskate tip but there is a mental process behind all this. When you take the extra steps to get every last drop, crumb, blob… Read more »
Politely decline “home parties”. Or, be honest and upfront, you don’t have the money but you wish them the best success. If I attended every party I was invited too, I could easily end up spending hundreds a month. That is not feasible. It’s super hard to do this because I want to show support for small businesses and when… Read more »
Now is when stores are trying to clearance and clean out their winter inventory. Now is the time to see what your child will need for next season! The most common excuse I have heard not to do this is that parents don’t know if the child will be one or two sizes bigger by next year. Buy 2 sizes!… Read more »
Full Time Wife Life blog, hosted this very cool, “Homeschool Favorites” that we all could participate in and so I thought it was super fun and wanted to share some of our favorites this month. For the youngest two children (ages 2 and almost 4), we love these Go Fish alphabet cards. I found them at the Target… Read more »
Impulse buying is generally the biggest money waster. My children often go into a store and want to spend their hard earned money on an item that will probably fall apart before we even get home. I tell them to wait 24 hours (or sometimes 48 depending on when we can get to the store next) before deciding that it… Read more »
There are many concerns that people have about buying used: repairs, condition, mileage, etc etc etc. Even with replacing a transmission on a vehicle, you are more likely to save money than buying a new vehicle. That is not always the case, research plays an important role here. Our rule has always been to stay under 100,000K miles, we try… Read more »
How many times have you gone to look for something and have been overwhelmed by the amount of items blocking the way? How much time have you spent picking up toys that seem to be cluttered from one end of the house to the other? Paperwork? Needle and thread? One way I am constantly wasting money is by purchasing items… Read more »
Our generation consumes more meat than previous generations. The United States has the second highest meat eating ratio compared to other countries. I am not about to go vegetarian though. Its one of the wonderful privileges I have for living in the United States. However, meat, especially beef, can get a little bit pricey for 7 meals a week. Just… Read more »
Gary Chapman talks about the different languages of love in his best-selling book, The Five Love Language Probably the one I relate to the most is the language of gift giving. Its a tangible way for me to show my love for you by a token. Which is kinda of funny coming from me. But anyway, you can imagine what… Read more »
Now that we all know my one-weakness (cough, sputter, grimace– note of sarcasm?) aka- reading, lets talk about books. I mentioned the great resource we have in your local library where you can get free books, but there is another way as well. Using your Kindle, you can get free and discounted books. There is much research that shows that… Read more »
I have a not-so-secret addiction: books. Addiction: Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. If had to buy all the books I want to read, we would be broke, super quickly. Also there are several books that I thought I would be very interested in and never finish because they weren’t what I… Read more »
I talked a bit about ebates to get cash back but there is another way you can earn cash back; Mypoints, Swagbucks, and other like-minded websites offer points which you can “cash in” for gift cards and sometimes paypal amounts. I typically use Mypoints to print coupons and click their 5point-email offers and swagbucks search and polls. I want to… Read more »
I generally don’t do a whole lot of online shopping. I use Amazon, Etsy, and a few other random sites occasionally. However, when I have some purchases to make, I want to get the most bang for my bunk. For cash back I use ebates. I know there are several others but I have had the… Read more »
When you have four children, this can get interesting. The minimalist in me wants to take everything to the thrift store when we are done and just wait until something is needed before purchasing again. However, the frugal part of me knows that the best decision I can make is to save the clothes for the next child. I actually… Read more »