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The Most Frugal Cities of 2013

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How frugal is the city that you live in? Are you living in a city filled with spendthrifts or savers? Take your best guess as to the answer to those two questions before you read this blog. You might be surprised about which cities Coupons.com found to be the most frugal places in the United States for 2013. Coupons.com is an extremely popular website. It is where coupon clippers go to find awesome coupons for groceries, household items, and more. Using coupons is a great way to cut down on your grocery bill. If you are serious about saving money, … Continue reading →

5 Frugal Practices That May Be Costing You Money

Sometimes even the best intentions to save money fail. Are you losing money while trying to be frugal? Here are five frugal practices that may be costing you money. • Stockpiling Do you still have cans of vegetables from 2001? Have the breadcrumbs gone stale? Stockpiling is a great way to save money and to be prepared for rising prices, but when you have half a pantry full of expired food then stockpiling is costing you money. To solve this problem, don’t give up on the stockpiling, just get a little more organized. Rotate your pantry items and keep track … Continue reading →

Winter the Fun and Frugal Way

Winter is a great time to have some frugal fun. Reduce your entertainment budget with the following ideas. Fun in the Snow If you are lucky enough to have snow in your region this winter, then you can have a ton of free fun such as: Putting water and food coloring into spray bottles, then creating snow art. Will you create the Mona Lisa or Bart Simpson? Building a snowman or two. Have a family contest for the biggest, most creative or funniest creation. You can also gift someone a homemade snowman kit. Just provide an old hat, charcoal briquettes, … Continue reading →

Frugal Advice: Reciprocating on a Small Budget

I received this question the other day: “We live in a modest home in an affluent neighborhood. My children are always being invited out to different events, such as concerts or amusement parks where the average ticket cost is $25-$50 a pop. There is no way that we can keep up with this or reciprocate by taking their kids to similar events. How can we handle this?” I can completely relate to this issue. You want your child to enjoy his or her friends and not become isolated simply because your family budget does not match the others. You may … Continue reading →

3 Ways to Save Money on Best Sellers

Want to read the latest best seller or the book series that everyone is talking about but don’t want to actually pay the ridiculous cover prices on books? Here are three ways that you can still enjoy the latest books and still save money. Have a Personal Book Exchange Thanks to a friend of mine, I am now enjoying several books in a popular series. She lends me three or four of the books at a time. She is also welcome to borrow books from my personal collection as well. When borrowing books from a friend, especially well-loved books, it … Continue reading →

Six Critical Skills for Frugal and Eco-Friendly Kids

These are frugal times, and these are times when environmental consciousness is rising. How can you prepare your kids to live as adults when times are more frugal and much more ecologically conscious? This generation of parents has lost a lot of the skills that our grandparents had. I know I have, and I’m trying to regain them. Here are six ways that you can help your children become frugal adults. By modeling these skills and allowing your kids to help, you’ll give them great know-how for the future. Preparing Food Prepared food is something that is easy for kids … Continue reading →

My Best Use It Up Ideas

Extend the life of common household consumables, from laundry detergent to cleaning wipes with my best use it up ideas. You’ll save more, spend less and have fewer trips to the grocery store. Cleaning Wipes/Baby Wipes It is inevitable that once you use that last wipe up, you still have a nice little pile of cleaning solution left in the container. Take advantage of the extra cleaner to get another five or six wipes, more cleaning than you expected. Simply detach a few paper towels and put them in the solution where they will soak it up and be as … Continue reading →

Used or New? Which Pre-Owned Baby Items are Best?

When it comes to baby, you want to make sure that everything that you have is safe and wonderful. Part of the excitement of having a baby is going out and getting lots of cute things in anticipation of the blessed arrival. And then, for some of us, reality sets in. Babies can get expensive. Baby showers can help, but sometimes you wind up with a lot of clothes that they outgrow within a few weeks or stacks of baby blankets, and you find yourself missing essentials, such as a crib or a car seat. To fill in the gaps, … Continue reading →

Frugal Things to Do with Coffee Grounds

Wait, don’t throw those used coffee grounds away. There are many things you can do with coffee grounds. Why waste something that can be put to work for you for free? Keep Bugs Away Coffee grounds can be used as a natural way to keep ants and slugs off of your garden plants. Mound up the grounds and form them into a ring around your plants. The bugs won’t cross the ring. Deodorize Dry the grounds first and then place a bowl of them in your refrigerator. The coffee grounds will absorb stray odors from food and keep everything fresh … Continue reading →

Are Store Brands Second Best?

There are those of us who swear by name brand items and those of us who never buy anything that isn’t a store brand. So who is right? Can you get just the same quality out of a store brand item as you can the name brands? Or are store brands usually second best? Rather than give you a clear cut answer to this one, I am afraid that I have to say the two words you probably dread to hear: It depends. Most of the time, in fact I would say about 90 percent of the time, the store … Continue reading →