Frugal Friday: Emergency Fund Saves the Day

Yesterday was an excellent illustration on why an emergency fund is a frugal person's best friend.

Having a tire blow out on you can be a scary (and dangerous!) experience. Thankfully my tire blow out was not as dramatic as the picture looks- it was pretty much a LOUD sound and a mild jostling, and I was able to pull over quickly. I was touched by how many people stopped to see if I needed help.


Clearly there was no way for the tire to be repaired; we were going to have to replace it. We made phone calls to several area tire stores and found the replacement we wanted at a price we were happy with, but it still came to about $90.

My husband is on reduced hours at his work- which means his paycheck is also reduced. As I was dealing with the tire situation as traffic whizzed by, I was so thankful that we had an emergency fund. There was a time that an unexpected $90 would have had to go on the credit card or the need would have gone unmet. Having an emergency fund made the tire blowout a minor inconvenience rather than a major financial crisis.

You do not need a lot of money to start an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey recommends having $1000 saved for situations just like this. If you're in a lot of debt for do not have a large income, $1000 can seem like a lot, but saving little bits here and there add up over time.
For more Frugal Friday tips, head on over to Crystal's blog.

Looking Clean and Smelling Fresh

Photo by Flickr

A quick tip: When I was a maid for a professional service, we were told to pay close attention to two things before we left a home:

1. Does it look clean?
2. Does it smell fresh?

Note that there is nothing about the home actually being clean. Just looking clean, and smelling fresh. While I do my best to keep my home sanitized and reasonably clean, sometimes I have to settle for looking and smelling clean. Luckily, these are two of the most frugal ways to keep your home welcoming.

Eliminating clutter is paramount to keeping your home looking clean. It also makes it easier to deep clean on the days you have more time. We have lived in several small spaces, and keeping clutter at bay made the tiny rooms feel a little bit bigger. Having a clear coffee table and nearly lined books on our bookshelves make the room breathe a bit more. It also made it very handy to quick clean- take a dust rag with a little bit of furniture polish on it, and boom! It looks clean. Depending on what you use to clean with, it also smells fresh.

I'm also all about scents. A multitude of housecleaning sins can be forgiven if your house smells wonderful. Baking is a way to kill two birds with one stone- who does not love to come home to fresh bread and cookies? But if you're short on time, lighting a scented candle or giving your room a quick blast with air freshener or Febreze can also work wonders. I love Febreze- it is one of the few products that I always go name brand on. You don't need much scent, just a bit! Part of "smelling fresh" is not smelling like you blasted a fire hose full of scent through your house. A squirt in each room will suffice.

If you have smelly pets that are allowed on the furniture, using Febreze on your couch and chairs will freshen them considerably. I'll admit to even fabrezing my cloth shower curtain and bedspreads- it helps them smell fresh with little work on my part. Febreze has two new products out as well. One makes the bottle look more like a body spray or perfume bottle so it can blend into your décor , and one is a fabric refresher and air freshener in one. I thought that one was clever.

I'm not saying that you should never deep clean or actually wash anything, but when time is short or you're in a season in your life that deep cleaning is just not possible, doing a quick clutter swipe, lighting a scented candle, dusting, frebrezing and a quick vacuum job will keep your house from looking dirty and smelling yucky. You don't need to spend money on a maid service or spend hours cleaning to achieve this!

Frugal Friday: Challenge Your Assumptions! (rerun)

Welcome Frugal Friday readers!I'm buried under papers that need to be graded, so I'm rerunning some of my best work! Originally published in January of this year, I explore challenging my assumptions about what stores are cheapest. Enjoy!

Gentle readers, I am a recovering Wal-Mart addict.

I used to shop for nearly everything at Wal-Mart. When my husband and I got married, I would peruse the sale fliers from other stores and occasionally go pick up a particularly good buy, but my general routine was to hit up Wal-Mart once a week for our grocery needs. I’ve never been a fan of the place. The vastness of the store, the constant crowds no matter what time you go, the fact that only three checkout lanes have cashiers…it drove me nuts. But I went. Our first few years of marriage, we were both grad students with part time jobs. Our combined income was under the 20,000 mark, and we still had to buy books, keep the apartment heated, and manage to feed ourselves relatively healthy foods. Plus the gas in our limping along cars- I commuted 40 miles both way Monday-Friday- plus health insurance, supplies, and savings. I had to shop at Wal-Mart. They were the cheapest.

When I shopped at Wal-Mart, I spent about 55 dollars a week, maybe 65 if we needed cleaning supplies or laundry detergent. Every week I would vow to get our grocery bill lower. I made menus and tried to plan around what we had. The 55 dollars, while it fed us pretty well for a week, did not seem to stock our pantry. But what could I do? Besides a few deals I would find after glancing at the sale fliers, Wal-Mart was so cheap. In my mind, we simply could not afford not to go to Wal-Mart.

I vowed that when my husband had a job in his generally well paying field, I was never going to set foot over the Wal-Mart threshold unless I absolutely had to. When we moved to Wichita, my No More Wal-Mart dreams came true!

Something funny happened when I stopped going to Wal-Mart. My grocery bill went down. Not just a little bit- drastically. Part of it was that I was moving more to the pantry method of cooking, where I stock up on deals and plan my meals around that. But I had been doing that before. There just had not been a pantry as nicely stocked.

I think that Wal-Mart’s supposed low, low prices are pounded into our heads. I know a lot of people who say that they can’t get anything cheaper than they can at Wal-Mart or Sam’s…but like I did in college, they rarely, if ever, step into a non Wal-Mart store. When you repeat anything over and over, you can start to believe it, regardless of what is actually true. I had been repeating “I hate Wal-Mart, but they are cheaper than anywhere else” over and over, without really challenging my mantra. I thought they were cheaper, but I rarely challenged their prices. I just assumed that it was cheaper.

When I stopped going to Wal-Mart, I noticed that their prices are not always as great as I thought they were. When I started combining loss leader sales with coupons, I found that I was spending far less on name brand items than I spent on the Wal-Mart generics. I noticed manager markdowns that I never saw at Wal-Mart. While Wal-Mart does match prices on fliers, I have never seen ten cent markdown milk. I've never seen a Wal-Mart that doubles coupons. It does take a little time to match coupons to sales and manager's specials, but once I learned how and got organized, I found I was spending far less time doing that than I was waiting in line at one of Wal-Mart’s three open registers.

I still occasionally drop into Wal-Mart, but it’s maybe twice a year now, instead of once a week. I don’t miss fighting the crazy parking lot, the loud, oversized store, and the endless waits. And I spend 20-40 dollars a week now for a LOT MORE food than I ever got at Wal-Mart. This is not to say that your family will save a ton of money like mine has by not going to Wal-Mart. It may not. I challenge you challenge your assumptions, consider sales, consider coupons, consider other options.

What assumptions have you challenged in your frugal journey? What new things did you learn? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment or feel free to e-mail me at Frugal.Homemaker.Plus (at) gmail.com

Frugal Friday: College Books

Welcome Frugal Friday folks!

Here's a tip to cut book expenses for the college set:

My parents were extremely generous and paid for my tuition and room and board. Books and fees were up to me. I could not do much about fees, but after buying my first semester books to the tune of about $300 and only getting $50 back when the semester ended, resolved to find a cheaper way to do it. Here's what I did from that day on:

1. The library. It was amazing to me how many textbooks the school library had. The ones that were not in the library (or were checked out by other clever students) were often available by interlibrary loan. (If you're a University student in Colorado or some parts of Wyoming, learn to use Prospector. Prospector is awesome.)

"But Frugal!" you say. "My classes last sixteen weeks and I can only check out books for two or four weeks!"

That was true for me. I did my best to get around that. I was usually able to see if a book was on hold or not via the computer catalog system. (It would say "Checked Out +holds at my school if it was on hold.) If it was on hold, I would see if it was available by interlibrary loan and put that copy on hold. If not, I would turn it in and check it out again the next day. I also would find out the name of the book before the semester started and put it on hold before school started from the comfort of my office computer. It was usually there waiting for me the first day of classes. This system worked reasonably well for me.

Sometimes a book was just not available at the library. That's when I'd check the cost of used books at the bookstore. I'd then compare them to online resources, such as Amazon. I found used books for a fraction of the price on Amazon and Half.com.

For example- here's a Bio textbook that is listed on Amazon at 117.11 new, but you can get a used copy as low as $39.50. Sometimes they only had new copies, but it was still cheaper than the bookstore. Amazon had free shipping on orders over $25 even when I was a student, which saved me even more money. Plus they deliver to your door, so you don't have to go stand in that long, aggravating line at the store. WOO HOO!

At the end of the semester, I'd sell them back to my University bookstore, often turning a profit and almost always getting back what I paid. I would sell them online these days, but I was not as selling savvy then as I am today.

If they were not available at the library or online for a decent price, I would shell out for a used copy. I usually had to buy at least one book a semester, but one is better than seven or eight!

Doing these two things saved me an absolute fortune in books over my six years of college and grad school. It does take time and a bit more research than just going to the bookstore and picking up books. For me, the money I saved was more than worth it!

For more Frugal Friday ideas, go here!

Frugal Friday- Keep your Kitchen Clean! (Rerun)

An oldie but a goodie- this originally ran on August 10, 2007!


Keeping your kitchen clean may not sound much like a frugality tip, but it sure is, especially if you are out of your home a lot. I remembered the importance of keeping my kitchen clean this week, in my second week of working. Yesterday morning I left for work with the kitchen an awful mess. On Wednesday evening we had eaten quickly, left the dishes, and then stayed out late on at a function with a friend. When I came home from the function, I just could not deal with the mess. I was so tired that I simply went to bed, and left it for the next morning.

The next morning, I woke up late, left the bed unmade, and threw together a quick breakfast in my wreck of a kitchen. Since I had woken up late, I did not even have time to clean up my breakfast dishes, let alone lunch. I went and had a long, tiring day at work, then came home, took one look at the overflowing sink, grease spattered stove top, and flour covered counters, and suggested that we go out for supper.

No matter how tired you are, clean up your kitchen before you go to bed. It does not have to be showplace clean, but it is amazing how much a clean, fairly clutter free space helps you have motivation to cook. It was the thought of having to clean up, wash dishes to use, and then clean the kitchen up again after all this that helped $13 of my newly hard earned money end up at Jimmy John's on Thursday evening! Keeping your kitchen picked up can save you quite a bit over time!

Go here for more great ideas!

Frugal Friday: Quote of the Day

Wow, a lot has happened in the past week, including me getting hired to teach at two local colleges! I've been trying to get my new classes prepared before school starts next week, so I've decided to take a brief hiatus from blogging. New content will be up on Monday with Monday Morning Mention! In the meantime, enjoy this rerun from June 15, 2007:

I read the most inspiring quote the other day. It is a Turkish Proverb-

No matter how far down the wrong road you've gone, turn back.

This quote has been rolling around in my head the past few days. It can apply to so many situations in life, but I've been thinking of it in terms of debt.

I sometimes get e-mail from people asking advice. They say they are so far in debt, they have so many expenses, or they want to stay home but they are so dependent on both the incomes they do not know how they will possibly survive. And the debt and expenses and fear is all real, and there, but it does not mean that you cannot turn back.

There is still time to reform your life and change things. I know that there have been times in my life that I have been so afraid to do something that I would avoid it and say that there was no way out- there was no way out I could see. But gentle reader, there is always a way out. When I realized that there was indeed a way out and I took steps to get out of the situation, it was often much easier than I expected to be. And even when it was harder than I thought it would be, I still was able to get out of the situation. I just had to turn back.

You can turn back, even if you think you will never get out of the mess you've created. Are you drowning in debt? Are you hiding? Turn back! Open your bills and make a plan. Cut back on expenses. I've had people write and say that there is not one single expense more than can be cut, but I can almost guarantee that there is. I laugh now when I look back at myself at some of the times when I thought we'd done all we could. There was always a small way, I was just refusing to see it!

If you're going down the wrong road, it may be very stressful to turn back. However, turning around and going back will be much easier in the long run than continuing down the wrong path. If you are in debt or are making choices that you know may haunt your finances later, turn around! There's still time.

Frugal Friday: Dry Erase Bill Tracking

Here's a very simple tip that has probably saved my husband and I hundreds in late fees since we've gotten married: A dry erase board.

Not long after we got married, we bought an inexpensive Dry Erase Board and a set ofmarkers. We hung it right in our kitchen and we look at it every single day. I don't know about you and your family, but both my husband can be scatterbrained at times. If I don't write it down, it does not exist! Since late payments have hefty fees and decimate credit ratings, we figured that a $20-30 dollar investment in markers and a board would be well worth it for us, and so far it has! You can get these boards for $20 or less places like Wal-Mart or Target. We did find that higher quality dry erase markers seem to last longer, but even the cheap-o ones will last a year. Write down due dates, put it where it will be seen, and kiss late fees goodbye!

See more ideas here.

Also, Crystal is still having her E-book sale- On Thursday it is 8.97, by Friday it will be up to 11.97, but still well worth it for the amount of books, courses, and audio books you get! Check it out!

Frugal Fridays: Frugality Blogs Help Keep me Frugal!

When I started my frugality journey, I had no idea how invaluable the internet would be to me. I knew the library rocked and I frequently used them for books on personal finance and frugality, but I did not realize how many people kept frugality blogs and coupon blogs and money blogs...This blogging community has helped me save a lot of money. Keeping a blog myself has helped me stay accountable as well.


I love how blogging helps so many people! Lately I've been noticing blogs that match up coupons with sales. There's sites you can pay to use, like The Grocery Game. You can also take the time to do it yourself, which I frequently do. But sites like these are awesome. They help me catch deals that I missed, and point me to bonus things, like printable coupons or coupons that I can load onto my Kroger card. I may not have known about this without these blogs and websites, and when people comment and tell others about deals they have found, it helps everybody. Coupons are just a small example of the many blessings these frugality blogs have bestowed on me and my family.


When I started my frugality journey, I felt very alone. Most of my friends were not going out of their way to save money. It was sometimes hard being the weird one. The frugal blogging community helps me find deals, encourages me, and makes me feel a little less crazy for living the frugal way.


Check out other frugal Friday tips and hints here!

Frugal Friday: Frugal Burnout

There has been a lot of discussion the past few days about frugal burnout. Meredith pointed to two articles, which led to an article on Frugal Hacks. Crystal pointed to Being Frugal’s article on paying off debt with too much intensity.

Gentle reader, I admit that I get burned out on frugality at times. I love what our frugality has brought us- our own home (which will hopefully be paid off within the next five years), our fabulous educations, our vacations, our peaceful slumber at night, secure in the knowledge that the bills are paid and the savings are respectable. But sometimes? Sometimes I get so dang tired of planning, planning, PLANNING everything. I get tired of watching every penny, of having to dig through the racks of thrift store to find something fabulous, rather than just buying a new shirt at the mall. I love our roommate, but there are days when I miss it being just my husband and I. I grow weary waiting for the movies to come to the library, or the latest book to become available for me to read. Of figuring out what to eat based on what we have, not on what sounds yummy. It takes a lot of thought, a lot of planning, and a lot of creativity.

On the best days- in fact, most of the time for me, it is fun! It’s a treasure hunt at Goodwill, and in the long run I’d much rather have the house and wear used clothes instead of living in an apartment wearing new clothes. The trade offs are so, so worth it to me in the end. But sometimes my inner five year old just wants to throw a tantrum in front of the store, because I want CANDY and I want it NOW, DARN IT! Except maybe instead of candy, I want new furniture, that really cute skirt I saw at Dillard’s and a day at the spa.

I think it is important for frugality bloggers to remind their readers that they feel like this too, sometimes! I always appreciate it when one of my Frugal Heroes does a post on something that they find hard, or that they had a bad week. It reminds me that we are all human, and we all have days when it just seems like too much.

When these funks come over me, there are a few things that help me:

• My Comfort Drawer- I read about this in Simple Abundance when I was in college, and have had one ever since. The Comfort Drawer is a drawer full of goodies that you only turn to when you’ve had it. This is something I build up as things are on super sale- currently in mine is some very fancy bath stuff I found, unopened, at a thrift store, some chocolate, a book that I got at the Friends of the Library sale that I’m saving for a yucky day, and a few mud mask samples and other girlie goodies.
  
• Reminding myself of what I have because of our frugalness. We could not have had our house, gone to grad school, or had me stay at home without extreme thrift! We toured Europe and will be going to a wedding in an exotic local- even though we found other sources of income for the exotic wedding, we could not have said yes to it without our thrift.
  
• Like the frugal hacks article advised- take a nap, have a snack. Hungry and tired do weird things to your mind.
  
• I’m always looking for fancy stuff on markdown at the store to pull out at times like this. It’s hard to fill deprived when you’re having an appetizer made with super fancy cheese.
  
• I’ll admit it- currently we’re frugal because we *choose* to be, not because we *have* to be. That makes it much easier for me to do this- but occasionally, when we’re experiencing frugal burnout, we go ahead and do something nice- a nice meal out, a day trip…we don’t give in often, but sometimes it’s just what we need. What’s the point of saving all that money if you never, ever spend a dime of it? But we have to be careful of this one. We’ve had “eating out for one night” turn into “scrapping the menu and eating out each day for a week and a half.”
  
• Of course, when we started, we were frugal because we *had* to be. Times like that we’d go load up on books at the library, or go to the free museum that was in our area. Finding something free to do- and getting out of the house- can work wonders.
  In those *HAVE to be frugal* days, reminding ourselves of what we were being frugal for helped a bunch. That 99 cent 20 pound bag of potatoes got OLD, let me tell you, but repeating the mantra “We will be able to buy a house/go to school/go on a trip in the next few years instead of paying off debts” helped a lot. Also, reviewing goals helps. It's easier to save when you have a specific goal. Since our goals evolve, it's important to review. We once wanted to save for a down payment on a house. Now we have a house, so a new goal is to pay off the house and have x amount in savings. We can do it!
  
  What do you do for your frugal burnout? What makes you just want to give up, already? What stops you?

...more Frugal Friday enteries here!

Frugal Fridays: Coupons + sales + markdowns=WOW!

l


Here's a picture of what my husband and I picked up for $2.15 tonight:

The salad was a .99 cent manager special. I LOVE those salad kits, but I really just can't bring myself to pay three dollars a piece for them. I just can't! While I was at the salad section, I noticed coupons- two dollars off if you buy a salad and a salad entree kit. I've wanted to try those entree salad things, but they seemed awfully expensive for what you got. However, those were on sale for 2.50 each, and with the two dollar off coupon and the .99 cent salad, we were able to bring the price to something more reasonable. The yogurt was .19 cents each on markdown, and will go in our lunches for tomorrow. You'll notice on the receipt that we paid with a gift card (click to make larger). Each month I buy a gift card in the amount of our grocery budget. I don't like carrying cash, so this is a nice compromise, and we can't go over budget, because, well, there is only so much money on the gift card!

Go here for even more great Frugal Friday ideas! Go here if you'd like to learn to coupon more effectively! Crystal really knows her stuff!

Frugal Friday: Keep Snacks in Your Desk At Work

If you work outside the home, keep some snacks on hand at work! I have several things in my desk drawer- a few instant oatmeal packs, a couple of soup at hands, a few snack sized ziplock bags of almonds, and some microwave popcorn. (All purchased at rock bottom prices, of course!) Be sure to keep a spoon and fork, and a reusable bowl for the soup if your office does not provide these things.

My office provides coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, but if your office does not, keep some of these favorite things in your desk drawer. It keeps me out of the vending machine on those days when I really am hungry and could use a snack. It also keeps me from cracking and eating out for dinner- a well timed afternoon snack means I'm not too hungry to think when I leave for the day. I'm much less likely to give into temptation and pull up to the drive through on my way home. It's also usually much healthier. If I buy something from a vending machine, it usually ends up being either chips or something chocolate. And it's handy if you wake up too late for breakfast or forget your lunch. Some popcorn and canned soup can be a lunch if you need it to be.

Go here for more Frugal Friday ideas!

Frugal Friday: Clean Your Kitchen!

Keeping your kitchen clean may not sound much like a frugality tip, but it sure is, especally if you are out of your home a lot. I remembered the importance of keeping my kitchen clean this week, in my second week of working. Yesterday morning I left for work with the kitchen an awful mess. On Wednesday evening we had eaten quickly, left the dishes, and then stayed out late on at a function with a friend. When I came home from the function, I just could not deal with the mess. I was so tired that I simply went to bed, and left it for the next morning.

The next morning, I woke up late, left the bed unmade, and threw together a quick breakfast in my wreck of a kitchen. Since I had woken up late, I did not even have time to clean up my breakfast dishes, let alone lunch. I went and had a long, tiring day at work, then came home, took one look at the overflowing sink, grease spattered stove top, and flour covered counters, and suggested that we go out for supper.

No matter how tired you are, clean up your kitchen before you go to bed. It does not have to be showplace clean, but it is amazing how much a clean, fairly clutter free space helps you have motivation to cook. It was the thought of having to clean up, wash dishes to use, and then clean the kitchen up again after all this that helped $13 of my newly hard earned money end up at Jimmy John's on Thursday evening! Keeping your kitchen picked up can save you quite a bit over time!

For other Frugal Ideas, head over to Biblical Womanhood!

Frugal Friday: Finding Paint Cheap

Paint is one of the least expensive ways to jazz up your living space. If you are thinking of redecorating, are flexible with color choices and have a little bit of time, keep an eye out for paint at these inexpensive sources:

• Yard Sales:I painted our basement with paint I got for 2.50 a gallon at a garage sale. It was a basic white paint.
• Hardware Stores Opps racks: Ask where they keep returned and/or opps paint. I just painted our bathroom with 5 dollar paint that I found on the opps rack at Lowes. I was lucky on this one- it was even the exact shade of lavender I wanted! I'm currently keeping an eye out for paint to do the living room here. Yard sales are cheaper, but the opps rack tends to have more selection. I also bought higher quality paint off the opps rack than I would have if I were paying full price for it.
  
• Freecycle: Although I have never used it for paint, I've seen it offered on Freecycle sometimes as well.

Check out other great ideas here!

Frugal Friday: Quote of the Day

I read the most inspiring quote the other day. It is a Turkish Proverb-

No matter how far down the wrong road you've gone, turn back.

This quote has been rolling around in my head the past few days. It can apply to so many situations in life, but I've been thinking of it in terms of debt.

I sometimes get e-mail from people asking advice. They say they are so far in debt, they have so many expenses, or they want to stay home but they are so dependent on both the incomes they do not know how they will possibly survive. And the debt and expenses and fear is all real, and there, but it does not mean that you cannot turn back.

There is still time to reform your life and change things. I know that there have been times in my life that I have been so afraid to do something that I would avoid it and say that there was no way out- there was no way out I could see. But my friend, there is always a way out. When I realized that there was indeed a way out, it was often much easier than I expected to be. It may be difficult, but you can turn back. Open your bills and make a plan. Cut back on expenses. I've had people write and say that there is not one single expense more than can be cut, but I can almost guarantee that there is. I laugh now when I look back at myself at some of the times when I thought we'd done all we could. There was always a small way!

If you're going down the wrong road, it may be very stressful to turn back. However, turning around and going back will be much easier in the long run than continuing down the wrong path. If you are in debt or are making choices that you know may haunt your finances later, turn around! There's still time.

Frugal Fridays: Take Advantage of What Your Employer Offers

Oh, it pains me to see people not take advantage of what their employers offer! I'm not just talking about money, either, although I see plenty of people throw away that! In my and my husband's working life, we have seen people throw away many wonderful perks! What small things are you overlooking? Here are some my husband and I have seen in our working lives:

1. If they offer matching funds for your 401 K, take them up on the offer! Try to contribute the maximum amount that they will match. Even if you can't send a huge amount, contribute something! We both know many people who do not take advantage of their 401 K s or matching fund opportunities because they "can't afford it." You can't afford not to- retirement, even if you're 2o, is something we must plan for now.

2. On a lesser scale, does your employer bring in lunch ever? I worked for a company who did this once or twice a month. They announced it well in advance, and people would still ignore the free lunch and go out to eat. If you have food allergies or something, I understand, but I would see people ignore the free sandwiches brought in from Subway go out and come back...with sandwiches. Sometimes from Subway even, but not always. :-) Take advantage of this treat!

3. Does your employer reward you for going to things like health fairs? My husband's employer does. He gets a $50 dollar gift card for going to health fairs. This paid for a lot of nice meals out for us! He received $200 dollars worth of gift cards last year for about an hour of his time over the year, but he says that a lot of his co-workers can't be bothered to do it.

4. If you travel for work, or buy things for work, be sure you get reimbursed for your expenses! You may have to harp on them, but do it. I know people who have paid for large portions of business trips because they forgot to turn in their receipts by the due date. I also know people who have lost money because they did turn in their receipts, but the reimbursement people kept putting it off, and they got tired of hassling them. A small example from my own family- My husband had to hassle his reimbursement department for nearly 6 months a 5 dollar reimbursement. It was a small tool he bought at the request of his boss, and he turned in the proper forms. It may seem like a small amount, but small leaks sink big ships, and it was an item the company sent him to buy, saying that he would be reimbursed. Hold them to their promise.

5. Does your employer offer coffee or tea for their employees? Drink it! It might not be quite as good as Starbucks, but it will save you a small fortune. Even if you have to pay into a "coffee club fund" I'm sure that the cost is less than one or two visits to the local coffee shop.

Happy Friday!

The Travel Purse- Now with pictures!

My husband, roommate, and I are going to be taking a long planned trip starting this weekend. Here's one quick way to save money (and time!) when traveling- take a big purse! My mother did this when we traveled, and I have kept the tradition. In my Big Travel Purse I put snacks, a bottle or two of water, emergency rain ponchos (check the dollar store- I got two packs of two for a buck each), band aids, aspirin, tissues, toilet paper, travel guide, a few books (to pass the time in long lines), and other such items. If you buy souvenirs, you can throw them in the travel purse and eliminate hauling tons of bags across town.

The snacks and water really save money- it's too easy to shell out five or ten dollars apiece a few times a day for eh snacks. This saves time (no lines) and money. Some people have the attitude of "Oh, well you're on vacation, just spend the five bucks for the snack." I prefer to bring my own snacks and spend the money at something more exciting on the trip. Five dollars each a day would add up to $120 for a two week trip for my husband and I- that's a pretty nice night on the town!



For this trip I got a bag at Goodwill for 1.50. I decided to get this bag because it's not super feminine- it's just a small messenger bag. I'll rename it the Travel Bag and then the guys can help carry it around, and I won't feel like a pack mule.

Where are we going? The (shockingly unfrugal) location will be revealed Friday evening! Have a great day!

Frugal Friday: Using Gift Cards

I love the idea of having a set amount of cash set aside for groceries. However, in my family, it just does not work. We used to take out our monthly allotment (about 200 dollars) in cash. In theory, I was to use that for our groceries, which would make it super easy to stay in our budget. Yay! However, in practice, the cash often migrated to another expense, in bits and pieces. We really don't keep cash around at all. We write checks or put it on our cards, which we pay off in full every month. So my husband would need five dollars for some reason, and rather than write out a check, he'd pull five bucks out of the grocery money. Or I would use it. For example, last month I went to a friend's wedding in Tennessee. It seemed silly to put the museum ticket, the lunch at Wendy's, the gas for the rental car on my card. After all, each was only a bit of money...but by the end of the trip, a lot of the grocery cash was gone. I was constantly having to re-figure in my head how much we'd spent on groceries to make sure we did not go over budget. That was kind of pain, even though we do record every expense as we incur it. There had to be a better way!

Then it occurred to me- Gift Cards. You can buy gift cards at most grocery stores. Since I primarily shop at one store, with very occasional stops at a few others for super sale items, I thought it may just be easier to buy a card for that store at the start of each month. I bought a gift card for 150 dollars at my usual store, which left fifty dollars to keep in reserve if we need to make a stop at one of our other stores. I put the card on my credit card (which again, we pay in full each month) so we will even get cash back on that amount. No more trying to figure out how much is left in the grocery budget. I've also spent less on groceries since I've done this, since I am trying very hard to not go over however much I put on the gift card.

You can use the gift card idea for many types of purchases- gas stations often have gift cards. If you eat out a lot at a certain restaurant but are trying to cut back, why not get a gift card for an agreed upon amount? If you like the idea of a cash system but do not want to have cash sitting around, the gift card idea may work for you.

For other frugal tips, head on over to Crystal's blog!

Frugal Fridays: Hay

Do you have small animals that eat hay? We have four guinea pigs and a rabbit, and we were going broke buying those little bags of hay at the pet store. Hay is very important to small animal health, so we would buy it. However, the bag that lasted about two weeks (if that), and it was really killing our budget. We were spending about 240 dollars a year on HAY. It boggles the mind, thinking back on it.

A few years and a small fortune spent later, a friend of mine found out how much we had been paying for hay. She about keeled over and told us to head over to the local farm supply shop and buy it by the bale. Just be sure to ask for grass based hay, like Timothy, not alfalfa. We spend anywhere from 5-7 dollars per bale and each bale lasts us almost a year. We store it in a clean trash can, and we used this method even when we lived in a small apartment. (We kept the trash can on the balcony.) If you have as many small animals as us, this tip can save you 233 dollars a year!

They also have a lot of non-farm animals stuff. We were able to get our dog a bed there for a fraction of what even Wal-Mart wanted. Sadly, we have not found good quality dog food to be cheaper there yet, but I always keep my eye on the price.

Head over to Crystal's for more Frugal Friday Tips!

Frugal Fridays: Use What You Have

I have been watching others talking about curtains at Crystal's blog the past few days, and ideas on how to make them. Yesterday I thought that I would finally get around to making some for our living room windows. I was excited by this, but did not want to spend more than ten or fifteen dollars.

After puttering around Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart, I could not find any fabric that I liked for less than 3 dollars a yard. I was a bit bummed out. I was not going to have nice curtains like all the other ladies were making and showing on their blogs right now! I went home and resloved to be patient and to wait to see what I could find later on at yard sales and thrift stores and Freecycle. I frequently see fabric for next to nothing at all three of those sources, so I figured I could wait.

While I was fixing lunch, I had an epiphany. Um, I already had curtains. I've had them for years, and they had spent a lot of time getting dusty in a drawer, for someday. I usually don't keep things around, as I hate clutter, but these were one thing I had kept. I pulled them out, washed them, and hung them with curtain rods that the previous owner of the house had left in the utility room. Ta-Da, and it cost me nothing to do, except the gas I spent looking at fabric. When you want something, poke around your home- you may already have it!

My nice reading corner, now with curtains!

Frugal Fridays

I love Frugal Friday at Crystal's blog! This week she is asking others to answer questions, so here I go!

1. What is the best resource for frugality you've found (book, magazine, website, etc.)?

Without a doubt, The Complete Tightwad Gazette. It was the first book I found that did not cater to yuppies who were trying to downscale their lifestyle and/or stay at home moms.

2. What is the best deal you've gotten recently?

This fireplace screen. We have a fireplace at the house, so I've been looking for fireplace things. I got it yesterday at Goodwill, new in an unopened box, for 10 dollars. What a blessing!

3. What is your best idea for a creative and inexpensive gift?

Hmmm. This is one place I'm always stumped. This year, my sister asked for necessities rather than just stuff, so I got a big basket at Goodwill and filled with toothpaste, toothbrushes, rolls of toilet paper, mouthwash, boxes of tampons, shampoo, body wash, etc. Most of the stuff was very, very cheap or even free though coupon use and/or Walgreens Free After Rebate stuff. Including the basket, I spent less than five dollars on it.

I sometimes bake cookies or other treats and fix them up in tins I bought at thrift stores. This is cute and very inexpensive.

Throughout the year, I look for cute little gifts like candles that are still in the wrapping at yard sales, or clearance items, and I give those away as well.

I'm not big on homemade gifts, but that's mostly because my sewing skills are iffy, and I don't knit very well yet. I would love to give away scarves or something some year, and often see yarn at yard sales and thrift stores.

Have a happy day everyone!