The Quintessential Cheapskate

Craigslist

2010-04-14T17:49:00.000-05:00

Let me just say, I love Craigslist. I love buying stuff on there, I love selling stuff on there. Just today I posted something, and less than 3 hours later, it was gone, and I had cash in my hand! Yay! I usually can find some really nice stuff on Craigslist for the kids...and for me, too! I've sold a lot on there, and I've bought a lot on there.

Recently added to Craigslist is the fact that to sell anything, you have to have an account on Craigslist. This actually makes it easier for me to see what I've got posted and keep track of what I want to post.

I'd say, without trying to brag, that I am marginally successful on Craigslist, as I can generally sell what I post.

For those looking to make money online, Craigslist can be a lucrative opportunity, if you know how to post correctly.

Come back soon for tips on the best ways to post to Craigslist!

Free Coffee for a Year- an Experiment

2010-03-02T17:26:00.000-06:00

I decided in December of last year that I'd like to try a new experiment when it comes to free stuff. I decided to try to get free coffee for the entire year, whether through samples, coupons, or rebates. So far, I've contacted 8'Oclock Coffee and got two bags of coffee free. Since I'm the only one who drinks coffee here, I still have a bag and a half left. (Learn How to Contact Companies for Coupons) I also got some samples from a recent hotel stay.

Just today, I was able to sign up early for a Starbucks BzzAgent campaign. I'm anticipating either a free bag of coffee outright, or a coupon for a free bag. So, at the start of March, total money spent on coffee the entire year: $0. I would guess, before having the Starbucks coffee, that I have enough coffee to last at least until April.

Another key to saving money on coffee which I do nearly every time I make a pot, I add some dried, ground dandelion root. Since I have issues with kidneys/liver, the dandelion root really helps. Adding a little to the coffee grounds helps to get rid of dark circles around the eyes and relieve menstrual cramps. I know I sure have felt a difference. I picked the dandelion root and roasted it myself, so I spent no money on it.

Do your taxes for FREE!

2010-02-16T09:57:00.000-06:00

Do your taxes FREE this year with Free Tax USA. It's quick, it's easy, and best of all, it's free for your Federal return.

Free Preparation
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State tax prep costs $9.95. That's the cheapest you'll find on the internet! Check out Free Tax USA and leave a comment to tell me what you think.

eHow UK Debacle

2010-02-13T22:27:00.000-06:00

As most of you probably know, there has been a huge issue with eHow recently using user-submitted content and posting it on the new eHow UK site without compensating the writers. eHow redirected the articles so that the articles on the UK site now redirect to the US site. Somehow, because of all this, many articles dropped out of Google search, even the articles hosted on the UK site (which, by the way, were also ranked better than the US versions of the exact same articles). After months of user's complaining on eHow's forums about the mess, the Powers That Be at eHow decided to compensate the writers for using the articles for so long without compensation.

The compensation I received was about what I would make on eHow on a better-than-average day, or a day when the earnings update the previous day was skipped. When I discovered the amount of compensation given to me, I was livid. I was under the impression I would be paid the difference between the earnings I had made over the past 6 months and what I had lost. I was totally wrong. How can a site like eHow clone their site and not pay users for the earnings on their articles? Apparently the compensation was due to the usefulness and popularity of the articles hosted on the UK site. I'm still scratching my head at that one. Funny how the articles I wrote garnered so much pay on the US site, and when the articles I wrote were hosted on the UK site, they were not useful or popular on that platform. Of the articles I have written, I would think they would have an appeal to a UK audience. Hmm...

To further complicate matters, several of the articles I wrote months ago which were top-ranked in Google search are now totally gone from Google. At least, when I searched, the articles were not in the first 30 pages of Google for their keywords. When this issue was brought up in the forums to the community liason at eHow, he said, basically, that we should learn how to write better articles. I have almost 300 links to my public profile. Seems to me that would mean 300 or so different people find my articles at least worthy of a back link. So now, I and all the other writers on eHow who dropped out of Google have to do the work ourselves of re-indexing on Google, when it is my contention that the UK fiasco caused the articles to drop out of search in the first place.

Your thoughts on the issue?

Tis the Season for Televisions!

2009-11-24T07:09:00.000-06:00

If ever there was a time to get a quality television on the cheap, this is it! Many electronics stores are holding sales online and in-store. With the electronics industry suffering the same as other industries (perhaps even more so) and new technologies being released and scheduled for release, the perfect storm is brewing for consumers to get a great deal. The Quintessential Cheapskate is going to predict great deals on televisions now through the end of January.

Some tips on snaging an awesome price on a quality television:
-research the size and type of television you want.
-get a 1080 if the television is over 40 inches, get a 720 if the TV is under 40 inches.
-shop around for the best deal; if you don't, you may find you didn't get such a great deal after all.
-get cables and the wall mount (if desired) seperately from the TV. If you shop around for television components, you'll find you can pay a fraction of the price as you would if you had gotten everything all together with the television.
-plan to future-proof your TV set as much as possible. Plan to have this TV for a while.

Buring Wood

2009-11-20T07:49:00.000-06:00

Is a wood stove or fireplace for you? Do you already have one in your home but don't know whether it would be cost-effective to use it? Some simple math can help you decide.

Look at your energy bill. How much do you pay for heat? Let's say last December you paid $310 for heat. Divide the number by the days in the month, in this case, 31, to get how much you pay for heat each day. In this case, it would be $10 per day.

How much would wood or pellets cost? Let's say you could get a chord of wood for $200. You could use the chord to heat your house for 50 days (depending on the type of wood and the type of fireplace, wood stove, etc). $200 divided by 50 equals $4. So you could heat the house for $4 a day for 50 days using a chord of wood.

This means you could save $6 per day on your heating costs by switching to wood for 50 days. $6 per day multiplied by 50 days equals $300. Nice.

Don't forget to account for the other costs associated with using a wood stove or fireplace: having it cleaned once a year or every other year (depending on how often you use it), buying tools to help stir the fire and clean the ash, and maybe some fire starters. Let's say this stuff costs you $100 per year. This means, using the wood stove, even just on weekends, can save $200 per year. If you're home on the weekends, and you already have a wood stove or fireplace, why not save a little money?

Revamp and Redaeux

2009-11-19T07:57:00.000-06:00

The Quintessential Cheapskate is back! After a rather lengthy hiatus to deal with other projects and "real life", the Quintessential Cheapskate is back on, with more practical tips on saving money in your everyday life. The blog even has a new tag line: "Because being frugal is cool!"

Check back often for new postings, including ideas on watering house plants, using a wood stove or fireplace, and even help figuring taxes. We'll also be discussing Christmas spending and the January hangover.

Now that we're back on, it's time to shake up personal finance once again! Check back soon!

Telling Children No

2009-07-28T13:17:00.004-05:00

Telling a child she can't have something can be difficult, especially when the reason has to do with money. Certain times, it has to be done. The key in telling children no is to offer a thorough explanaition along with the no. Small children can be especially difficult to explain to things about money and reasons we can and cannot spend money. Talk with your children about money often. Let them see you paying bills and writing checks. Explain checks, cash, and debit and credit cards. Gently explaining that money is too tight for the new toy, without becoming hostile or raising your voice, will speak volumes to children later on. Money is a subject everyone should know about, as we all use money in our everyday lives, whether we like it or not. Talk about value with children. Everything and everyone has a certain amount of value, whether monetary or not. Talking about value and money with children gives them a definite leg up when they begin earning and spending their own money. Telling a child no can be easy when you follow with a gentle explanation of money and affordability.

Examiner Referral Contest

2009-07-16T08:18:00.002-05:00

Examiner.com just announced a referral contest for fellow Examiner.com writers. The top 20 examiners to refer writers to examiner.com will win cool prizes, ranging from a Wii to an Examiner.com tee shirt.

To sign up for the Examiner.com, click here and use referral number 10783 or use name "Elizabeth Rose". For a video tutorial of how to sign up, click here.

Examiner.com is primarily a citizen-journalist news site, with local and national news around the country in various subjects ranging from paranormal to finance to gardening. The Examiner.com requests writers to post timely, accurate news every few days. All Examiner.com articles are to be written in the third person, and, best of all, all articles should be fairly short (400 words or less). Examiner.com currently pays $10/1000 page views.

Is it Time for a New Stimulus?

2009-07-10T14:12:00.002-05:00

Is it time for a new economic stimulus from the Fed? A popular opinion creeping up seems to think so. Many claim the first stimulus did not do enough for the common American, as national unemployment creeps toward 10% and new data claims 20% of homeowners are under water in their mortgages.

While most agree they are tired of the current economic climate, what many don't realize is government programs cannot work miracles overnight. Only 56.3 billion dollars of the 499 billion allocated have been spent. Only 157.8 billion dollars of the 499 billion are available for spending. By this math, one-third of the available funds have already been spent. Approximately one-third of funds allocated toward the economic stimulus are currently available for spending.

What, then, is the answer? Some leading economists, and even the Fed itself, claim the answer is to be patient. While this seems like a slap in the face to many Americans who are currently jobless and getting foreclosed on, the only other alternative would, of coarse, be to initiate another stimulus package. American taxpayers are already allocated to be the ones picking up the tab for the first stimulus. If a second stimulus is undertaken, this would mean, quite simply, more taxes for Americans to pay later.

What is your opinion regarding this issue? Should Americans receive another economic stimulus?

June Earnings

2009-07-05T19:37:00.002-05:00

As I've been posting online earnings for the past six months, I've decided to stop posting after this update. My goal is to write more for this blog, but no more earnings posts.

So let's jump right in then:

MyPoints: I've been lazy with BzzAgent, so I've not racked up the MyPoints points as quickly as I had anticipated. Still working toward the $25 gift card.

eHow: $49.79: 21 cents short of my goal for the past 3 months! My long-term goal in January was to be making $150 per month from eHow by the end of July. Barring some miracle, that's not going to happen.

Bukisa: $0.60 with a total of 30 articles.

Inbox Dollars: Still averaging about $3. Getting closer to payout! I may just get payout by September, at this rate.

CashCrate, mystery shopping, and surveys garnered me nothing this month. I was too busy in the garden.

Examiner: $54.64 with one referral. Decent.

And I finally made a little money on Adsense.

As far as this month goes, I'll be focusing on InfoBarrel and Examiner mostly. More articles were taken from eHow, so I hope to write a few this month to get me up to 80 on eHow. We'll see.

Saving Money through Self-Sufficiency

2009-06-15T07:55:00.002-05:00

Being more self-sufficient is a foreign concept to a lot of us. More and more people are begining to rely more on themselves because of the troubled economy. I've decided to add some links to my blog to articles on self-sufficiency to help those looking to become more self-sufficient.

How to Make Laundry Soap

How to Clean with Vinegar

How to Make Hand Soap

How to Roast Dandelion Root

How to Make Pizza Crust

Easy Money

2009-06-10T08:53:00.003-05:00

EHow is starting to come more easily to me. I've written 75 articles in about 8 or so months. At first I found it difficult to find the time, mostly, to write content. I also found it difficult to adhere to the how-to format. Writing in general can be difficult for me sometimes. Prose just flows very easily, as in the content I have been writing, but even prose sometimes is difficult for me to crank out. The most difficult thing for me in writing, I think, is the slow start with money. I'm finally now starting to make some money at it, even though it's way less than I had hoped I would make.

Now that my content is up, on eHow, Examiner, and other various sites, it's nice to sit back and make money while I am not even trying to make money! I can write an article in half an hour and spend the rest of my day hanging out with my girls, working in the garden, working toward saving money, or whatever I want. That article is still being viewed, even as I sleep, and is making easy money!

Of coarse content writing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It does take time, to write the articles, promote them, and give search engines time to pick them up so still more people can view them. Making easy money is a better use of my time, though, than reading celebrity gossip!

May Earnings

2009-06-01T11:40:00.004-05:00

May was a middle-of-the-road month as far as earnings are concerned. I was too busy in my garden to make much money.

MyPoints: I decided not to cash in this month. Usually I go for the $10 gift cards, but I decided to save up for a $25 one. I should have enough for that in a few days!

eHow: $44.98, which is exactly 16c more than last month. I'm convinced that in June I'll make at least $50 on eHow.

Bukisa: 55c. I wrote 2 articles on Bukisa this month.

Inbox Dollars: about $3 again, just for checking email!

CashCrate: nothing. No time due to the gardening.

Mystery Shopping: again, nothing, because of the garden.

Surveys: $6 this month.

Finally, examiner.com: about $2.50, after 2 weeks and 6 articles. Pretty good. If you sign up for the examiner, be sure to use referral code 10783.

Altogether, that's a grand total of about $57.

Refinance

2009-05-26T08:14:00.002-05:00

We've finally been able to refinance. The whole refinance so far has been a long, drawn-out process. Once the refinance is complete, we'll be saving a bunch of money every month on our mortgage, so that's good. I just can't wait for the whole process to be over so we can just sit back and recoup the benefits. We're nearing the end of the refinance process, so that's good. I highly recommend getting your mortgage refinanced if you qualify. The historically low interest rates make it worth the hassle of refinancing.

Examiner.com

2009-05-13T11:17:00.001-05:00

I just started writing for a website called examiner.com. I've written one piece so far as the gardening examiner in my area...the rumor is that the examiner pays about twice that of eHow. I guess we'll see!...

April Earnings

2009-05-05T08:06:00.002-05:00

Here are my earnings for the month of April:

MyPoints: nothing this month. I know I'll be cashing in in May, at least once.

eHow: about $45. I've been climbing by $10 per month for a while now...

Bukisa: $0.40. Interesting that I made more when not writing...

Inbox Dollars: about $3 again. I'll get to payout someday...

CashCrate: $2. I had a few minutes one day this month to work on it.

Mystery Shopping: $30

Surveys: $3

So that brings my grand total in April to about $83.

Is it Deflation or Just Gas?

2009-04-21T08:05:00.004-05:00

CNN.com reported yesterday that the consumer price index fell from March 2008 to March 2009, the first decrease since 1955. The website paints a rosy glow, though, stating that most of the decline has to do with the price of gas. In March 2008, the average price was about $3.20 per gallon, whereas in March 2009 the average price is around $2.00 per gallon. That's all well and good, but what does that say about our economy as a whole? If energy prices (gasoline) can fluctuate so wildly throughout the past year, with no real official reason (I speculate speculation), how stable is our economy in general? So the consumer price index can decline year-over-year, but that does not count as deflation? Something is horribly wrong here.

Definitions

2009-04-16T08:27:00.003-05:00

This is a rant. These couple of words have been bothering me recently. Seems there's been been some confusion due to the current recession.

1. Stay-at-Home-Parent. This means you have chosen not to work outside the home in order to raise your children. This does not mean you have been laid off from your job and now happen to be home with your kids. Staying home is a choice, a sacrifice you have consciously made. Being unemployed, whether you are home with your kids or not, is just being unemployed.

2. Frugal. Again, a choice. If you are saving money because you have to, for whatever reason, you're not being frugal. You're doing what you have to do to decide. If you have consciously chosen to save money in order to put yourself in a better financial position, then you are being frugal. If you feel you do not have a choice in the matter, you are not being frugal.

March Earnings

2009-04-06T07:16:00.002-05:00

I started a few different things this month, including affiliate links. Since I started in the middle of the month, I haven't made anything off that yet, but I'm hoping to use the affiliate links to compliment my adsense to hopefully make a little more money.

MyPoints: $20 this month. Pretty exciting!

eHow: about $35. Slowly but surely...

Bukisa: about $1. I experimented with not writing anything at all for 2 weeks on Bukisa to get a feel for what I would make if I stopped writing on there altogether, how much I would make per article per day.

Inbox Dollars: about $3 this month. Not terrible for about 3 minutes' worth of work...

CashCrate: no more money, but a few more referrals...

Adsense: another 1c.

I also did some mystery shopping this month, for $150. It was one job, for something I've been wanting to get anyway.

I also got $6 altogether from surveys.

So my total earnings in the month of March are $215. I would guess I did perhaps 40 hours worth of work altogether.

The Base Price

2009-03-30T08:53:00.004-05:00

The base price is the highest price I will pay for something. Being a quintessential cheapskate is more a mindset than anything. I have a mindset where, for example, I won't pay more than a dollar-fifty for butter. Of coarse I won't let my family starve because prices are too high. The trick is to know when the next sale is coming, to anticipate. After following your local grocery store's sale cycle for a while, you should get a good idea of how long they go between putting certain items on sale. Every 5 to 6 weeks, for example, my local grocery store puts milk on sale. The best price I could find for milk used to be $2.50. This was my base price. Recently, my local Aldis has had milk at $1.89. This is the lowest price I can find locally, so now $1.89 is my base price. Of coarse since Aldis priced their milk at $1.89, the other local grocery stores have followed suit in order to stay competitive. Their milk price is usually higher, but their sale price is typically now $1.89.

The point of all this is to keep track of what local prices are for specific items you usually buy. Keep track of when these items go on sale at your local grocery stores. Be sure you keep track of at least two different local grocery stores in order to consistently find the best price. This may take some practice at first, but after even a few months, it becomes second nature.

Using Coupons

2009-03-25T06:58:00.003-05:00

Using coupons, in and of itself, is not rocket science. In order to maximize savings, there are a few things to know.

-Know if and when your grocery store doubles coupons. Strive to go on that day, if it makes sense.

-Match sales and coupons in order to get the most savings. Check your math carefully, this may not be the best deal.

-Be sure you make a list every single time you go shopping and stick to the list.

-Don't limit your coupons to Sunday papers. Coupons are everywhere, from magazines to the internet. If you can't find a specific coupon, write the company and ask for one.

-Use coupons for everything (again, as long as you're sure you're getting the best price). Think outside the grocery store. Use coupons for haircuts, oil changes, shoes, dining out, even (especially) while traveling!

Free Coupons

2009-03-16T08:35:00.002-05:00

Last week I started another round of contacting companies for coupons. So far I haven't had much luck. My strategy is simple: I'm not too brand-specific, so I'll ask different brands for the same product. For example, I just asked Gold Medal brand for flour. If the company does not send a coupon, I ask a different company. Gold Medal did replied to my query saying they do not send out free coupons. So I asked Pillsbury, hoping to have better luck. I aim for 5 coupons a week, but I usually end up only asking for 3. This time I received coupons for Jif Peanut Butter ($0.35 off) and Cottonelle Toilet Paper ($1 off). I say I haven't had much luck because I seem to remember not too long ago companies giving out two and three free product coupons at a time. Must be a sign of the week economy, I figure. Wish me better luck this week! Of coarse, I'll be reporting my results.

Buying in Bulk

2009-03-08T22:02:00.004-05:00

Buying in bulk is something anyone can do- it just takes a few tricks and some space to do so. I'll share some tips I use when buying in bulk.

Check the price. Seems obvious, I know, but hear me out. In our current economic climate, even I am getting weary of buying in bulk because I worry the price will go down. If I find something at a price I haven't seen in a while, I will buy the product. My attitude on this is that even if I do end up inadvertently spending more now on, say, Kleenex, if I find a sale for even cheaper I'll get more then. Meantime I doubt I'll find as good a sale any time soon.

Buy things with long expiration dates. Kleenex does not expire. If I buy something that has a short expiration, I make sure to process it as quickly as possible to preserve it. I recently bough ten pounds of chicken for 49 cents a pound, an awesome deal in my area. As soon as I got home from the store, I divided it into freezer bags and put it in my chest freezer. Now in a few months when all my vegetables are ready for harvesting, I'll be ready to make and can soup.

Plan ahead. Make sure you know ahead of time where you'll put items that you buy in bulk. Before I left for the store I checked to make sure I had room in my freezer for my chicken. I have a designated place for Kleenex (I actually usually buy Puffs), toilet paper, shampoo, et cetra. Make sure you're organized! Also be sure you have all the equipment you'll need to process your bulk purchase. I bought a peck of apples this summer to process into canned apple sauce. I already knew I had the cans, the water bath pot, and so on.

Do the math. This goes back to my first point, but do be sure you are getting an awesome deal. I recently got toilet paper at half it's regular price, so I got a few packages. I know I probably won't find it cheaper any time soon. It's the probably part that kept me from getting more packages.

Tips for beginners. First of all, before you start bulking up, make sure you are well-aware of current prices. How good of a price can you get on toilet paper or chicken? Is that the absolute lowest price? Make sure you know. Secondly, don't bulk up all at once! You'll have no money left, and you'll most likely have to buy all that stuff again all at once because you'll run out of everything all at once. Use coupons whenever you can. My motto is, a dollar is a dollar. If you use a fifty-cents-off coupon on a $20 worth of hot dogs or whatever, you not only saved money on the hot dogs by buying that much all at once, presumably, but you still saved fifty cents on top of that.

Finally, just so we're clear, I'm not talking about walking into some wharehouse club and getting agiant pack of toilet paper just because it's in a giant pack. You're usually better off getting this stuff at your local grocery store in small packages. The trick is to get a large quantity of smaller packages. Say you buy 4 packs of Kleenex for a super good price. If you have four fifty cents-off coupons, you saved yourself two more dollars.

I'll be back in a few days with more money-saving tips! Enjoy your Monday!

Making a Meal Plan

2009-03-05T18:59:00.002-06:00

Making a meal plan seems easy enough: sit down and write out what you want to eat over the next week or month or however long. Ideally, sure, making a meal plan is as simple as that. But if you want to save the most money on your grocery bill, making a meal plan most effectively is definitely a good thing to know.

Start by looking in your cupboards, your refrigerator, and your freezer. If it's easier for you to keep track, write down what you have available. Do you have any potential meals in there right now? I usually have ingredients for at least 5 different meals on hand. Mostly this is because I cook from scratch: I make bread, taco seasoning, waffles, garlic bread...if you can buy it, I can make it. More on cooking from scratch later, though.

As I've said before, I prefer to make a meal list one week at a time, whether I am planning on shopping that week or not. I often make my meal plan on Sunday, to go from Monday through Thursday. I'll go to Friday if I know for sure what I'll have available.

Typically I make a big meal for dinner on Sunday. Usually we're all home all day Sunday. If not, that usually means we're either at my husband's relatives' house or my parents house, having a big dinner there. We're very Lutheran...ha, ha, ha...

Monday is usually Meatless Monday around here. This not only cuts down on cost (since meat is expensive and I grow a lot of vegetables myself), but also forces us to try new recipes. They usually go over very well.

Tuesday is leftovers because of my Master Gardener class. This is from Sunday and/or Monday.

Wednesday I make something with meat, whether it's soup, a slow cooker dinner, a casserole, or a full dinner.

Thursday is either leftovers or another full dinner. If I serve leftovers on Thursday, I'll often reuse the leftovers we have to create a leftover casserole.

If I cook on Friday, I always make something gourmet. Otherwise we go out to dinner. If we're running low on money in our eating-out budget, I'll make a restaurant-style meal so we don't feel as though we're depriving ourselves. For as much as I love leftovers, I would strongly suggest not serving leftovers on Friday because it will increase the temptation to go out to eat- whether you can afford it or not.

While we sometimes plan to go out to eat on Saturdays, most Saturday nights we stay home. I often make a slow cooker meal or a casserole, sometimes I'll make soup. That brings us back to Sunday.

February Earnings

2009-03-02T08:58:00.004-06:00

I've decided to move my monthly earnings from my other blog, Write Now with Mommie Rose, to this one. January earnings can be found here.

Now, on to the earnings:

MyPoints: $10 gift card again (ask me about MyPoints!)

eHow: $23.41

Bukisa: $1.05- still nothing from my network. Darn.

Inbox Dollars: about $2 again- the emails ended up in my spam for about two weeks. :-( (See sidebar for info on Inbox Dollars)

CashCrate: Nothing- I didn't work at CashCrate at all last month.

Xomba: nothing- just started there this month, which is why I haven't been working at CashCrate. Xomba is nice, though, I encourage you to check it out!

Adsense: nothing at all this month. I've been working at figuring out how to optimize, though.

So my total earnings this month were about $35. I spent maybe 20 hours at all this stuff this month. It seems like a lot of work for a little money, but a lot of this is residual, so I'll be making more later even though I won't be doing any more work for it.

Making a Grocery List

2009-02-28T10:01:00.003-06:00

Making a grocery list is an essential part of saving money on groceries. The process of making a grocery list seems simple and straight-forward at first glance, but it can get quite complicated. The easiest way to make the most concise grocery list is outlined below.

Look in your cupboards. If you tend to be forgetful or if you have a lot of different things in your cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer, it would be best to make a list of what you already have available. If you already have a routine set as to what you have and what you usually get, you can get by without making an actual list. I would recommend making the whole big list every now and again in order to force yourself to stay current with what ingredients you have so nothing spoils and goes to waste.

Write up a meal plan. This can be done weekly or monthly. I prefer to make my meal plan weekly in order to best utilize left-overs. I can't commit to a specific dinner a month in advance, anyway, but to each their own. Be sure to include ingredients you have on hand in your meal plan. If you don't plan to use something, what is the point of having bought it?

Look at your grocery store ads. By this point in the process you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to get from the grocery store. Looking at the sales helps because you can buy one thing over another to save money. For example, let's say you have celery and carrots in your fridge. You've decided to use them to make soup. You can use pretty much any meat to make a soup, so when the ad says chicken is on sale, your choice is pretty simple. Obviously you are not bound to buy only what is on sale and use it only this week. Using sales is a great way to stock up on items you use regularly.

Match up sales and coupons. The secret's out: this is how I get a lot of free groceries. It's quite simple, really, it just takes time. I get a lot of pasta this way, along with other various items: frozen snacks, cereal bars, oatmeal, and so on. As far as stocking up, yes, I definitely buy pasta in quantity when I can get it for free! Of coarse I won't use all the pasta all at once, but it stores well.

Write your list. Now you can write your list, including sale prices and making notes of coupons. I like to write out the sale price and the price minus coupon so I know how much money I will be spending at the grocery store. I usually spend about $17 per week on groceries on average for my family of four.

Save Money on Food

2009-02-23T07:12:00.002-06:00

It's easy to save money on food if you know how. It becomes second nature. And it's fun!

Saving money on groceries may be as simple as matching up sales and coupons. I do this all the time and routinely come home with free items. Especially if you have a store in your area that has a double coupon day, it may be worth going on that day. Remember, though, if you end up spending more than you planned in order to reach the minimum purchase requirement to get the coupons doubled (or tripled) it may not be worth it. If you spend $10 more than you planned in order to get $5 more in coupons, you're still not coming out ahead.

Planning ahead is essential in order to save money on food. Make a budget for your food. Make a grocery list. Organize your coupons.

This post is an introduction to the wonderful world of grocery shopping. More tips and tricks will follow.

Tax Payers Still Angry Over Bail-Out

2009-02-10T07:43:00.002-06:00

A recent poll has concluded tax payers are still angry over the bail-out of the banking industry. I thought this was quite funny. It's as though the government and the people are a couple who's recently had a big fight. So the government leans over to the people and murmurs, "Still angry?" and the people turn away from the government with a curt, "Yeah."

I like to think of myself as the average American, for the most part. I have a great interest in economics, both micro- and macro-. I read economic news every day. From what I understand, if the Great Depression has taught us anything, it is that banks should not be allowed to fail because then everybody loses their money. What I don't understand, then, is where does FDIC insurance come into play? Quite frankly, I don't care if my bank fails, as long as it's FDIC insured and I still get my money.

So then what does it mean to have money that is FDIC insured? Does that even mean anything? I thought it meant my money is insured by the Fed, so if anything happens, the Fed can give me my money. I'm not so naive as to think the Fed just has all this cash lying around to cover all the deposits everywhere in the country. I think many Americans are led to believe this.

If my money is FDIC insured, does that simply mean the government will use my money to reward irresponsible parties who couldn't hold on to their own money?

I know this is a very cynical view, and I don't mean this to advise anyone one way or another. This is simply an opinion piece. If there is anyone, anywhere, who is actually happy with, or OK with, using their own hard-earned money for the bail-out, please respond!

Key wording

2009-02-05T07:18:00.004-06:00

I am planning to overhaul this blog, along with my other blog, Write Now with Mommie Rose. While my other blog is going to have more changes made to it, this blog will most likely be getting more attention.

I've been learning about key wording and have decided to make more of an effort to implement it into my blogs. The advice I give on money-saving is free. I get paid via ad clicks. My plan is basically to reword my thoughts in such a manner that I get more relevant ads on my page, and, in turn, more ad clicks. That's basically key wording in a nutshell. It's not rocket science, but there are certain methods that work better than others, as far as I can tell. I'll keep you all posted on the progress of my key wording adventures as we move forward.

I want to stress the fact that my advice will stay the same. I have no hidden agenda. I won't recomend anything based on the possibility of getting paid for it. The only difference you as a reader may notice is a slightly different wording.

Spending Versus Saving

2009-02-02T20:55:00.002-06:00

I could not agree with this opinion more. Basically the idea is that, when the economy is good, savings should increase, when the economy is bad, savings should decrease. Simple as that.

I was born in 1983- after the recession of 1980-82. I've been doing some reading about the subject, but there is a surprisingly small body of reading regarding the recession of the early 80s. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

As a child, I never went hungry. My parents weren't rich, but they were indulging. I was spoiled, as was my brother and sister. I never went without anything. I was also sheltered from most of the "bad stuff" in life, though I can remember seeing a homeless person or two throughout my childhood.

I often wonder how many of my generation and younger have never been without. Quite frankly, I consider the tech burst of 01 to be laughable compared to what is happening with our economy right now. That "recession" is the closest me and a lot of my contemporaries have come to what is occurring now.

Obama's Economic Stimulus Package

2009-02-02T09:04:00.003-06:00

I don't think President Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan is going to work out the way a lot of average Americans think it will. (For a break-down in simple terms of what the Economic Stimulus Plan means, click here.) From what I gather, there is a lot of confusion surrounding the plan itself. This plan has nothing to do with bailing out banks or car companies or any other major industries, for once. Some of the proposals within the plan would help out industry, but it's not an all-out bail-out. The American people aren't getting their own bail-out here. These trillions of dollars aren't going to land in our pockets overnight.

However, President Obama is doing all the government can do to help our ailing economy. If the Economic Stimulus Plan passes, it will bring about a slow turn-around in our economy if all goes as planned. My doubt falls along this line. I don't think it will work out as planned. I think projects will get started and people will realize more money needs to be had to finish these projects. Sure, there's always room for improvement, especially when it comes to our infrastructure, so I can see this going one of two ways. Either not enough gets done, in the view of the average American, or everything they had hoped for will get done, but it will end up costing too much.

Basically, you could compare this package to FDR's New Deal. If you really read into the New Deal, you'll see it didn't end up doing a whole lot for the economy outright. It improved moralle. That's what was needed then, and that's what's needed now. Sure, eventually after the Great Depression the economy straightened itself out, and I don't doubt that eventually things will get straightened out again. But President Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan is not the cure for the economy.

Savings

2009-01-29T07:12:00.003-06:00

What percentage of your take-home pay are you saving? How does that translate into real dollars? Do you have an emergency fund, no matter how meagre? Sure, the point of an emergency fund is to have living expenses for 3-6 months (I recently read that in this market you should have enough for 8 months!), but for every dollar you put in, you feel that much better about your entire financial picture. I'll be the first to admit, I don't have much of an emergency fund. But I have one. And month by month it's growing.

I do realize most people don't just wake up one morning to find money falling from the sky. I realize saving money is hard when you don't have any to start with. If your expenses are greater than your income, then yeah, you don't have the money to start an emergency fund. If you've pared down as much as you can and you still are barely staying afloat, then you don't have the money.

On the other hand, if your expenses include daily (even weekly) lattes, expensive haircuts, frequent dinners out, etc, then you do have room for an emergency fund. I recently read that an alarming trend is for people who have decent salaries to piss all their money away without saving any of it. A lot of those people are just now starting to save, after we're two years into a recession. If you are among this group, I want you to think long and hard about every single money decision you make. Oh, sure, it's just a five-dollar latte, but wouldn't that five bucks look a lot better a few months from now when you've lost your job and you need to pay the mortgage? If you eschew 20 lattes, you'd have a hundred bucks in your pocket.

Plan Ahead. That's what saving is all about. If you want to take a trip, plan and save for it. Don't put it on your credit card. And don't plan on using your credit card or your HELOC as an emergency fund. Banks are rescinding HELOCs left and right, and now is about the worst time to depend on a credit card. (More on credit cards later.) How much would you need to live for 3 months without your income? Plan for that first. An emergency fund should be your first priority. Can you make improvements to your house to increase equity? Do you need to make certain improvements? A new roof, for example, may be something you will need in the near future. How will you pay for it? Start saving now. What about your childrens' college funds? If you have money in a 529, I bet it took a real beating. But your kids are still going to want to go to college. Notice I didn't mention your 401(k) because I think we talked enough about that already. You need to save. Make voluntary cuts in your spending now so later you won't be forced to.

Newsflash- Children Cost Money!

2009-01-28T07:49:00.003-06:00

In case you have some of your own and hadn't realized this yet, children cost money. Don't get me wrong- I have nothing against raising children with love and hardly any money. In fact, I work very hard to ensure my children have a lack of entitlement. Here are some thoughts on children and money.

Whenever you make a decision regarding your children and your money, you should think about whether you are actually helping your children with your money. Even if it's just a Happy Meal or new shirt, what benefits does this have for your children? If you really think about it, you may find some of your decisions aren't really helping your children at all. Instead you are hurting not only them, but yourself because your children come to expect a certain "standard of living". If you buy them lunch every Tuesday, they will expect you to buy them lunch every Tuesday. If you buy them new clothes every time you get paid, they will expect new clothes every time you get paid. If you give them $20 a week to go have fun, they'll expect $20 a week.

What message are you sending to your children about money? Is money something you can simply ask for and receive, or is money something you have to work for? What is money really good for?

I don't think any age is too early to talk to children about money (or any subject, for that matter). I talk to my two-year-old about different types of money (green paper money, checks, and debit card are all different forms of money we use for different things). I talk to my three-year-old as I'm paying the bills. I explain that we have to pay to have our house warm, we pay for our lights to go on, etc.

I really don't understand the connection between ignorance about money and innocence. I mean, sure, don't go telling your preschooler, "Well, Sweetie, we're twenty thousand in the hole, and that's why Daddy can't buy you a new scooter." But if my three-year-old ever asks for something at the store, a habit she's just starting to get into, I explain to her that either the item she wants costs more money than what we were planning to spend, or that the item is simply not on our list, and we only buy things that are on the list.

While I don't advocate telling your preschooler your entire money picture, it's perfectly ok to tell him no. In fact, by telling him no to an item at the store, for example, you're enforcing the idea that things have a monetary value and money doesn't just fall from the sky.

In order for this plan to work, however, you need to get rid of your own Gimmie Gimmies. A mature, responsible adult realizes he or she must save their money toward something they want, no matter how much he or she wants it. Seperate wants from needs. Consider the language you use in everyday speech. Do you need new Christmas ornaments, or do you just really want some? Do you need to buy milk? Probably. But do you need to buy soda, even if it's on sale?

A Different Perspective on Investing

2009-01-26T07:57:00.002-06:00

I know I've made this point before, but I think it's worth reiterating.

I know a lot of you must read some of my posts and think I'm just insane. "401(k)? Sure, I would allocate my funds if I had any in there!" I know. And I know this sounds corny right off the bat, but your greatest asset is yourself. Now, follow me here. A lot of financial gurus will say your greatest asset is your income. I don't think so because you can easily lose your income in our current economy with no warning. So you're left with yourself.

Your greatest asset is yourself because you can spend your time gaining knowledge. No one can take that knowledge away from you. Even if the markets crash and burn, you still have your knowledge. So make it count. Don't spend your time reading about celebrity gossip. Instead read about what a sideways market is. Learn about annuities. Better your knowledge base in your current career. The more you know, the more valuable you are. Learn about how to make your home more energy efficient. Learn how to garden.

The key to investing in knowledge is to follow through with action. Make your home more energy efficient. Make a garden in your yard. Sell your services on the weekends, whether your area of expertise is dog bathing, fixing cars, or what have you. Use your knowledge to make yourself some money to pad your emergency fund.

More on 401(k) Funds

2009-01-23T11:16:00.002-06:00

Since I'm going through this process myself, I've been writing articles on eHow and Bukisa about how to properly allocate 401(k) funds. Because I like dealing with money so much, I'm having a lot of fun with all this 401(k) business, but I fear people who aren't very knowledgeable in the area may be confused by my writings. If you read any stuff I write and get confused, please comment!

Pressing on to how to properly allocate 401(k) funds. If you haven't read the above articles, please do. The advice below is supplimental to the advice in those articles.

This article, from Bankrate.com does a better job explaining asset allocation by age than I ever could. Basically, the younger you are, the more risk tolerance you have, so the riskier your investments. You have plenty of time for the markets to make up for any downturns. In the same way, the older you are, the less time you have for the markets to come back from any downturns, and the less risky you want your investments to be.

Did you check your 401(k) yet? Do you know where your money is? All of it? Do you have a good idea of what all the symbols mean? This is your responsibilty. Take advantage of the time you have and the fact that we've got sideways markets right now. Reallocate your assets.

401(K) Check-Up

2009-01-22T07:09:00.004-06:00

If you haven't done so recently, it's time to check up on your 401(k). The holidays are over, the market is slowly beginning to stabilize. It's almost time to do your taxes. It's time to take a look at your 401(k) and determine whether you should move some things around a bit. If you decide to leave everything as is, that's fine. Just stop being scared to look at it. You lost money. We all did. Now is the perfect time to take a fresh look and determine what stays, what goes, what gets tweaked.

Now I'm not going to recommend any specific stocks or mutual funds or bond funds. I'm not a stocks expert. My only advice is to look at your retirement savings as unemotionally as you can, at least while you're analyzing how to organize your portfolio. Step back and look at what you've got from a straight numbers perspective. Yes, it's your money. Yes, somebody royally screwed up and made you lose a bunch of money. Yes, you have every right to be beyond pissed about that. But not right now. Right now is time to take a look at things from a mathematical standpoint.

I don't care how scary it is. I don't care who screwed you with your own money. It's still your own money. Your money is your responsibility. No one will ever care about your money more than you will. Do it today. At least start the process. You don't have time not to.

Free Furniture

2009-01-20T07:09:00.004-06:00

I've furnished most of my house with free used furniture. Some of it I had to pay for. I think altogether I paid about fifty bucks for all the furniture in my house. Just to give you an idea of how much furniture I actually have, I'll list as many pieces I can think of. I'll probably forget a few. We have a kitchen table (with built-in benches), dining room table(cost $10) with 4 chairs, a giant metal desk(cost $10) with a wooden hutch on top, entertainment center, couch (with recliners), easy chair, about 6 bookshelves and/or shelving units(2 cost us $10 each, so $20 total), love seat, 2 coffee/side tables (1 cost us $5, the other was free), porch swing, plastic lawn chairs, 2 hardwood dressers(1 cost us $8, other was free), queen-sized canopy bed, 2 nightstands, a toddler bed, and a crib. As I've said, I'm sure I'm forgetting something. All this doesn't even mention all the appliances and electronics we've gotten for free or deeply discounted. Just so we're clear, I've just listed all the furniture in my entire house. I don't have 10 more pieces of furniture I'm just not counting because I paid full-price for them. I don't pay full-price for anything.

So what's the trick to getting all this for free, or practically free? It's called delay of gratification, or, to put it nicely, patience. Get rid of the Gimmie Gimmies and you'll be surprised what you might find is worth waiting for. I really really really wanted a porch swing for the longest time. I finally found one laying on the side of the road, waiting to be picked up and hulled into a garbage truck. It had some peeling paint. With a new coat of paint, it's a whole new swing. Perfect.

So why would we want to have all this salvaged junk? After all, we could afford to buy this stuff brand new. The main reason we acquire used things, whether by paying for them or simply hauling them away, is because of the environment. Yeah, I'm going there again. I won't give you statistics about how much junk is thrown away, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure you've heard it all before. Quite frankly, as an aside, I'm getting sick of all the greenwashing myself. But I'm also sick of the consumerist society we've all become accustomed to.

Take this recession as an opportunity to rethink the way you live. Seperate wants from needs. Get rid of the Gimmie Gimmies. You may be surprised at how happy you are, despite how little stuff you have.

Mystery Shopping

2009-01-19T12:54:00.002-06:00

If you're low on cash and have some spare time, mystery shopping may be the gig for you. For some, mystery shopping comes very easily, for others, not so much. You need to have a very keen sense of detail, and good grammar skills are a must. You also must excel in communication. Oh, and you need a lot of patience. I've had some not-so-good experiences with schedulers...

I would highly recommend volition.com as the premier mystery shopping site.

I would also recommend reading through the following articles before beginning your mystery shopping journey:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4713185_become-mystery-shopper.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4713391_be-successful-mystery-shopper.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4715510_understand-mystery-shopping-terms.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4715541_be-discreet-mystery-shopping.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4715556_mystery-shop-kids.html

I'm Not Running a Light House

2009-01-16T07:15:00.002-06:00

It took a while for us to get into the habit of turning off the lights when we leave a room. Now that we automatically do it, I honestly cannot say the act of turning out the lights alone has made a huge difference in our electric bill. I think it's more the frame of mind that really helped lower our costs. Wastefulness does not have to do with huge amounts of electricity, food, or anything, for that matter. The most waste is thrown out in one form or another in small doses. We all justify throwing out a couple of bites of food or leaving the light on for five minutes after leaving the room because it's "not that bad". The fact is, these justifications are what has caused America to be what it was before the recession took hold. I think these small acts of wastefulness and the idea that "it's not that bad" had a part to play, even if a small part, in the current recession. As I said, it's not the act of doing it that's so bad, it's the frame of mind.

Bukisa

2009-01-15T10:13:00.004-06:00

Today I joined a content-writing site called Bukisa(http://www.bukisa.com/join/3879). I've heard a lot of good things about this site from eHow.com (http://www.ehow.com/members/mommierose.html?view=3rd). I've been writing content on eHow for about 3 months now. I have to say, I am rather disappointed at the earnings I've gotten so far from eHow, but I also know it's my own fault for not allocating enough time toward working on eHow articles.

I know this post is a departure from my usual posts, but don't worry- tomorrow I'll have lots more money-saving tips. Do check out the above links, though. You'll have fun, I promise.

Recessionista!

2009-01-14T08:11:00.006-06:00

What is a recessionista? A recessionista is a person who will not only fair well during the current recession, but will come out on top. My husband and I take pride in the fact that we are recessionistas. Of coarse, nothing is guarnateed, but right now we're in a good spot to benefit from the recession.

How? Well, we've always followed a few basic principles, outlined below. I borrowed these from my other blog, "Write Now with Mommie Rose" (http://mommierose.blogspot.com/).

1) Live below your means. This is prudent advice in any economic climate, but especially important during an economic downturn. In case you lose your job, you should have an emergency fund set aside, ideally for 3-6 months' worth of bare-bones expenses. Although popularly toted advice, I have to admit, I don't know anyone who has nearly 3 months' worth of expenses set aside. Another good reason to live below your means is if you have to take a pay cut. Making some small sacrifices now will result in not having to make major cut-backs later. A good goal to work toward is to save 10% if your gross income, not including your 401(k).

2) Keep a budget. I cannot stress this enough. You cannot control your money without a budget. Know where every dollar is going before you have it. Setting up a budget is not enough- you need to keep a budget. You deserve to be the master of your own money. You worked hard for this- don't throw it away.

3) Look for opportunity. I don't mean you should be overly optomistic. Be realistic about the current financial situation. No doubt you just lost a lot of money in your 401(k). You may not even know right now if your job is stable. What I mean is, look for opportunities to impart new ways of gaining the things you need or, less importantly, the things you want. Learn to barter. Perhaps you have something lying around the house you don't use, or you have a certain skill you're really good at. If you need a service done or if you need an object you cannot afford, consider bartering. You may be able to acquire what you need through barter.

Look for opportunities to save money wherever and whenever you can. Look to make money by capitalizing on skills you have. If you have the time, consider making a hobby into a part-time job.

Learn new skills. If you want to make improvements to your house in order to increase equity, consider a simple do-it-yourself project. Borrow a book from the library or research your project online. Whatever skill you wish to acquire, be sure you absolutely know what you are doing first. Take a free class at your community center or library. You may even consider, if you have the money and time, enrolling in college to learn a new trade altogether. It's also prudent to learn as much as you can about your current job and profession so that you are more valuable to your employer. Even if you are laid off, if you have more knowledge than the other applicants, you will be more likely to land a new job quicker.

Obviously these are not the only keys to success in a recession. This is just a start, some concepts to think about.

Book Review

2009-01-12T06:54:00.000-06:00

I've decided from time to time I'll post a book review. I'm not trying to sell the book-remember, I make no money from dispensing advice in this blog. Since I'm not promoting a book one way or another, I would hope that you, the reader, would take the review as an honest form of advice.

First book review: Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover

I'll start with the bad news first. I've noticed, perusing around the internet, it's difficult to find any critisms of this book. There are plenty of positive reviews, with good reason, but there are no bad reviews, as far as I can tell. I consider this to be bad news because in my oppinion that would mean no one is actually giving a fair review of this book.

The thing that bothers me the most about the book is a facet of the debt snowball in which you work your ass off at any job you can to make as much money as you can to pay off your debt as quickly as you can. While it seems like a good idea in theory, when does that leave time for your spouse or children? If debt is a hot-button issue amongst families, which I know it is, wouldn't having one or both spouses working all the time at jobs they don't care about exasperate the issue? Admittedly, I've never done this step, because of the next critism of the book.

I never got gizelle intense about my debt. Altogether, I think my family is sitting pretty well as far as our debt is concerned. We have pretty good interest rates, and we don't owe that much. We're almost through paying the car, and we have a giant (consolidated) student loan we're not in a huge hurry to pay off. Dave would say I'm in denial over my debt. Maybe I am. But I also pay more than $100 over the minimum payments on our debt every month. I may be in denial, but I'm not stupid.

The book did, however, have its high points. Included were statistics I was not aware of, such as the average American's salary (in 2003) or how much a car dealership stands to profit if you buy a car with a loan versus buying a car with cash.

I also really liked the philosophy of being completely transparent with your spouse about money. Before reading the book, I didn't insist that my husband sit down with me and take a good look at the budget. He assumed I was doing ok and would let him know if something came up. We weren't the kind of couple in which one person did all the money stuff and hid it from the other person. He just didn't have much interest. I made him read the book, and he has a different perspective on the issue now. We still are the kind of couple in which one person does most of the money stuff, but not as much anymore.

In all, I would reccamend the book. Thumbs up- just read with a grain of salt.

What do you think of Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey?

Consider Paring Down

2009-01-10T20:05:00.001-06:00

With the current recession going full bore with no end in sight, many people are considering paring down on services and items they are now finding not-so-necessary. Here's my take on a few things:

Phone Service
I can't for the life of me find any good, legitimate reason for a household to have a land line when everyone in the house has a cell phone. If you have a good reason, please, let me know! I know a couple in their sixties who have a land line, which they pay too much for, and both have cell phones. Nobody ever calls either of them on the land line anymore. The only calls they receive are from telemarketers. Why do they still have a land line then? I've asked them myself before, and they can't think of a single good reason, and yet they still have the land line. They still pay for it every month. If you want to save money, ditch one or the other. My husband and I decided to ditch the cell phone. Yup, you read that right. We only had one cell phone between us to begin with, and it didn't have good reception where we were previously living. Now we just have the land line, and, as far as I can tell, we haven't missed a thing. As a disclaimer, though, we did invest in a Tracfone in case of emergency. We don't use it for regular calls.

Cable Service
I know a guy who gets like 700 channels on his big-screen television. He works 7 days a week, for 12 hours at a time. (He has two jobs.) My best guess is that he may have about 2 hours each day in which to enjoy his 700 channels. In all fairness, he does get about tow full days off per month, but he usually doesn't spend his days off watching television. So ask yourself, do we really need x-amount of channels? How often do we even watch television in the first place? Sit down and figure out how many hours per month you watch television and divide that by the amount you pay every month for your cable bill. I can't tell you how much a reasonable amount to pay-per-hour would be. I'm biased, though, because I find television generally to be a waste of time. There are plenty of other things I could be doing with my time. At the same turn, my children watch Sesame Street 2 or 3 days a week, and my husband and I watch between 1 and 4 hours a week as well, depending on if the Packers are playing or not. Needless to say, we don't subscribe to cable service.

Going Out to Eat
Do you often find yourself driving through for lunch or dinner? Do you then wonder at the end of your pay period where all your money went? This goes back to budgeting. I'm not against fast food altogether- I consume the occasional burger as well. If you haven't yet, watch the documentary "Supersize Me". You'll have a better understanding of what happens to your body and your health when you eat fast food. I'm not a nutritionist, but it's common sense to know eating fast food is not healthy for you. That feeling you get a while after having consumed a bunch of junk? That should be enough to tell you the "food" you just ate is wreaking havoc on your body. At the same time it's wreaking havoc on your wallet. So what to do? Eat at home. Learn to cook. I'm not talking about buying a boxed meal from the grossery store (misspelling intentional) and warming it over. Adding water doesn't count either. I'm talking using real ingredients to actually prepare a real meal. If you think you don't have time, make time. Eating real food is too important to make excuses for. Your health, and the health of your family, depends on it. Stop robbing yourself of real nutrients in exchange for stomach filler. I'll stop my rant now to give you time to look up some recipes.

Rummage Sales and Used Clothes

2009-01-09T20:12:00.000-06:00

I love rummage sales. I would guess I save at least 90% off retail by buying my kids' clothes at rummage sales. They don't look like paupers, either. They both dress in name-brand clothes that look new. They wear better clothes than I do! Some of the brands they wear include Gap, Old Navy, etc. Not that I'm brand-specific. More about that in another post, though.

I buy a lot of stuff at rummage sales. Not only can I find clothes for the whole family, but also toys and books, garden stuff, even a chest freezer. Don't be afraid to buy used! My view is that once you take a new item of clothing home from the store and wash it, then it's used anyway. Buying brand new clothes is like buying a brand new car. Both depreciate in value the minute you take them home. Clothes just depreciate in value a lot quicker.

A friend of mine has two small children. She buys all their clothes brand new. She buys the clothes on sale, but still pays at least $10 per item. Her kids dress in the same brands my kids dress in. I usually pay about 50c and item. We had a rummage sale together. She priced her kids's clothes between $4 and $6 an item, on average. I priced mine at 25c to 50c. I sold more of my clothes, and she ended up taking a lot of her clothes to Good Will. I took my clothes there, too, knowing that I still broke even as far as what I paid for the clothes in the first place, how much I used the clothes, and still making a small profit off them.

Eventually, we all assume, someone uses the clothes at the bottom of the food chain. Eventually, years after having been passed around, rummage sale to used clothes store to rummage sale again, the clothes end up in some church give-away pile. No one really wants them. So if you know, ultimately, that these clothes you're buying right now, eventually no one will even want them anymore, then why are you paying $20 apice for them? Do you really need to be at the top of the clothes food chain? Who are you trying to impress?

Budget- part 2

2009-01-08T07:28:00.000-06:00

As you are writing up your budget for the first time, don't worry about cutting corners. The point of writing out your budget is to find out where your money goes. Write down how much you spend on gas and groceries, household items and going out to eat. Remember to check your bank account ledger and your credit card bills from the last 3 months so you can have a good average. There are several different models of budget-making that you can download from the internet. You can write out the budget the way you want it. Remember, the most important part of a budget is to simply have one, and to keep it.

My method of budget making and keeping is to have a notebook in which I only write out our bi-weekly budget. In the back of the notebook I have a chart that lists all our monthly bills, when they are due, and each month they got paid.

A simple monthly budget is found below:

Monthly Take-Home:

Savings:

Giving:

Expenses
Rent/Mortgage:
Car Payment:
Phone Bill:
Electric:
Water:
Internet:
Cable:
Other (student loan, personal loans, etc)

Gas:
Groceries:
Household Expenses:
Eating out:

Notice that the budget is in a loose order from most important to least important.

The most responsible thing to do with your money is to tell it where to go, before you even have it. Strive to make your budget before the month or pay period for which it is intended. Make your February budget in January. If you are getting paid the third week of February, make your budget the second week of February. You are not a slave to your money- you are the master of your money!

Budget- part 1

2009-01-07T07:14:00.000-06:00

I love budgets. I have different budgets and/or timetables for probably 20 different categories. I don't think this system is necessary to manage money. I just really like budgeting. Plus I've been doing this a really long time, so it comes very easily to me. The most important part of budgeting is just to have a budget. If you don't have one, make one.

A good budget does not just include how much you pay for your bills. Write down how much you pay every month for each bill that you owe. This is a good start. Then write down how much you spend every month for groceries, gas, household items, and miscellaneous. If you don't know, check your bank statements for the last 3 months and average. You don't need an exact number to the penny here. In fact, even with all the compulsive budgeting I do, I don't even have the numbers narrowed down any further than within $20 or so. You may think a budget involving how much you spend for groceries and gas seems ridiculous since the prices of these things have been fluctuating so much within the past year. While you cannot control the price of certain things (gas, for example), you can still control how you use your money. If you anticipate the price of gas going up (which it surely will), then over-budget. More on over-budgeting later.

How do you want to set up your budget? How often do you get paid? Are you salaried, or does your paycheck vary widely? A budget is a very personal matter. I'm not going to tell you exactly how to set up a budget that will work for your individual situation. I'm not even going to tell you how exactly my budget is set up. I will give you some general advice and pointers that do work across the board, though.

Let's say, for ease of demonstration, that you get paid $1000 every two weeks. You are salaried, so that number does not change. If you get paid every two weeks, that means, generally speaking, you get paid twice a month. So you take home $2000 every month. You should set up a monthly budget, which includes everything you need to pay for within the month, including savings and giving. From your monthly budget,t hen, set up two separate budgets, one for each pay period. Is your car payment due during your first pay period? When is your electric bill due?

Though this is an awkward time to leave off, this is also a lot to swallow all at once. After I started writing, I realized budgeting is going to take at least a week to fully explain! I'll write more on the subject tomorrow. Meantime, if you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll reply.

Thanks for reading.

The Quintessential Cheapskate

2009-01-06T07:43:00.000-06:00

This blog will focus mostly on smart money management, frugality, and money-saving tips. Every now and again I may sprinkle in a rant or two about stupid money moves, like paycheck-advance stores or using a credit card for a night on the town. I know how to get free groceries, household products, or meals out. I get paid to shop. I'm the kind of lady who gets a fifty bucks worth of groceries for $10.

One of the most important things you should know about me is I'm not some guru. I don't write books or give lectures. I don't have gimmicks or corporate sponsors. I'm just a regular person. I'm so regular, if you saw me on the street, you probably wouldn't even remember me afterwards...unless my kids were making a scene (ha, ha...). The point is, I could be your neighbor, or the person behind you at the grocery store.

So why make a whole blog about it and tell the world how everybody can save as much money as I do? The honest truth is, I try to tell this kind of stuff to my friends and family, and nobody listens to me! They can all agree I have some good ideas, but they're all too lazy to implement them! So, if you've read this far, I'm assuming you are at least motivated enough to save some money.

If you're ready to read some great money-saving tips, check back every day. Also, you must know, saving money takes work on your part. Reading something you read online and thinking, "Hey, that's a great idea!" is not going to save you any money. You must work toward goals, implement plans, and have the motivation to spend a little time working toward your goals. If you can dedicate five or ten minutes a day toward saving money, you can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per year. I'm living proof!