Last week I introduced my new trend for my Frugal Tip on Friday. Read my first tip here.
Use old newspaper to wash your windows. Newspaper has more friction than paper towels which helps get off spots. If you don’t have a newspaper subscription, grab an add when you are at the grocery store. This is a great way to get your windows squeaky clean and re-use old newspaper.
Visit Frugal Friday for more money saving ideas.
{ 2 comments }
My goal with my Friday posts is to give inspiration, direction, or ideas on ways to live a more frugal lifestyle. As I was skimming a list of post ideas for something to post today, I had a little epiphany.
I realized that I have done a lot of posts about money management and budgeting and some of the BIG ways to save money, but I have not really mentioned a lot of the little things. It is the little things that really make a difference in saving money. Saving $1.00 here or there with a coupon really adds up.
So over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of the little things that we do around the house to save money. I would love to hear some of your ideas in the comments!
Photo CreditUse half a dryer sheet instead of a whole one. The clothes still smell nice, and the static is gone. This way we buy dryer sheets half as often.
Visit Frugal Friday for more money saving ideas.
{ 2 comments }
-Dave Ramsey
A little over a year ago we sold Daniel’s truck. We still shed a tear or two when we think of our old friend. Since then we have moved 3 times, and a truck would have been a great thing to have!
In the last 16- ish months since we sold the truck we have saved $50 a month on auto insurance, $25 every 3 months on oil changes, $30 a year on registration, plus the additional gas and unforeseen maintenance expenses we might have had. The biggest bonus is that we are debt free.
The past 2 years Daniel has had 5 different jobs and several periods of unemployment. Having no debt and low monthly expenses has been a lifesaver during this time of variable income. Though we miss the truck, we would make the decision to sell it to be debt free in a heart beat.
What have you given up to be debt free or work towards being debt free?
{ 0 comments }
It is easy to fill our homes with stuff – some good stuff, some meaningless. Daniel and I moved in January. As we packed our boxes, we were able to do a little evaluating & de-junking.
I realized during this process that one day- I hope in the not terribly distant future, we will live somewhere for longer than a year. Then the dejunking process will have to become a part of our daily lives instead of a moving task.
Over the next few weeks I will share with you a few ways that we try to cut back on clutter along with ideas that I have for managing it as our family grows. I am learning a lot from this moving stage of life that I hope will help me keep things simple as life gets more complicated. I am excited to hear your ideas as well- so please share!
Step One: Evaluate Purchases
This is where it all starts- in the store. Daniel and I try to evaluate our purchases based on budget & space. In times when we really don’t have the money to spend, it is great to know how to substitute and do without. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you make a purchase:
Using these questions to evaluate our purchases not only eliminates unnecessary purchases. It also makes us more pleased with the purchases we do make, because we know they are items we really want and can afford. This process significantly reduces clutter in our home.
{ 0 comments }
I watched the video in this post a few weeks ago on Money Saving Mom about a family that chose to live a no waste lifestyle. I honestly had never heard of this before. Of course I new there were a lot of people who were really good at recycling- but this is a big step above that.
No waste would be a huge step for us, and I honestly am not motivated enough to do what it takes. But this video inspired me to be better. Wouldn’t it be nice to never have to take out the garbage?! I think that there are a lot of little things we can do to simplify our lives that also reduce waste.
Daniel and I thought of several little things that we do that save us money and also reduce waste:
Those are just a few simple, little things that cut back, but we are very, very far from a no waste lifestyle. I do not currently recycle, so I have decided to start. I know that it all starts with forming the habit. Natasha wrote an article on Reducing Food Waste you can read here.
{ 0 comments }
Kroger had their whole chickens 87 cents a pound a few weeks ago, so I decided to conduct an experiment. How much meat do we actually get from a whole chicken? What is the actual cost for the meat because we don’t eat the skin and bones that makes up for some of the weight.
First let’s look at the chicken prices. These are prices that I pay for chicken in the Memphis, TN area, your meat prices could be different.
I cooked the 5.5 lb. whole chicken most of the day, then separated all the skin and bones from the meat being very careful to get each and every piece of meat on the chicken. Next, I weighed the meat and found that, from my 5.5 lb. whole chicken, I ended up with 1 lb. 12 oz. of dark and white chicken meat, the rest was skin and bones. Shocked? I certainly was, I figured I’d get about half the weight I paid for but I was wrong.
*Update: Thanks to the reader who suggested comparing cooked to cooked chicken-it didn’t even cross my mind. I did some research and the general rule is for every 4 oz. raw fish/poultry you will get 3 oz. cooked. I reconfigured the numbers below based upon this rule.
If I were to purchase a whole chicken at Schnucks for 69 cents a pound this week I would save $6.60 (or 67 cents a pound) than if I bought the same amount at Costco. I purchased my whole chicken at 87 cents a pound which is a 12 cents a pound savings compared to chicken breasts from Costco.
That being said, it is well worth my money and time to purchase breasts over a whole chicken. Now I can buy my favorite Chicken Breasts without feeling like I’m splurging.
What about you? How do you buy your chicken?
{ 11 comments }
A great way to save on Christmas cards is to make your own. I used Adobe Photoshop to create my Christmas card and had them printed at Costco for 13 cents each. I printed 160 cards which cost $20.80 plus tax. I plan to use the standard envelope, under $1.00 for a box for 60 or so, for the few cards I’m mailing, but most of them won’t be needing an envelope at all. So for under $25 I can give away 160 photo cards!
I quickly sketched a desgin on paper, then choose what colors I wanted to use. You’ll need a photo editing software
Begin by sizing your card, I choose to print a 4×6 size. SAVE YOUR CARD, and continue to do so every few mintues! There’s nothing worse than loosing all the work you’ve done because something unexpected happens.
I used squares as my overall theme so I started by creating a background, then layering three squares on top of each other, filling them with the colors of my choice. Below I have created three different squares.
{ 1 comment }
Meet Natasha, founder of Saving a Bundle and mother of four rambunctious boys, and LeaDawn writer and new mother of one boy. Raised in a frugal lifestyle we continue the family tradition by cooking from scratch, using money-smart techniques,
living simply, hunting for good deals, have fun with frugal crafts, and use coupons. Join us on our journey as we, two sisters, learn & share ways to live a more frugal lifestyle to reach our common goal to save our families money.
Copyright © 2008–2012