If you have money to spare in your budget, consider pre-buying gift cards from restaurants and retailers that are offering promotional gift cards or coupons for purchasing a gift card. Many stores are offering a free $5 gift card for every $25 that you purchase before Christmas. That’s a 20% return on your money! I’m not suggesting that you go on a wild and crazy shopping spree for gift cards, but do take a look at the promotional offers available {Read More}
2012 Christmas Bonus Gift Card Promotions
December 20, 2012 by
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Homemade Tide Laundry Detergent for $.03 Per Load or Less!
November 8, 2012 by 8 Comments
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Everyone knows I love my Tide laundry detergent. I thought I was doing pretty good to get a 50 oz jug for around $2, but now I’ve come up with a way to make 3x that amount for around $2! I started with this recipe for laundry detergent from Pary Moppins’ friend. I decided to half the recipe because I didn’t want the extra detergent sitting around for years. Here’s what you’ll need: 1/2 bar Fels Naptha or Zote laundry {Read More}
The Easiest Way to Make a Half a Million Dollars
October 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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In keeping with the “Money doesn’t grow on trees, it grows LIKE trees” theme, here’s a quick compound interest fact. When you find out your kids (or you) are expecting their first child, start saving $50 a month. By the time your grandchild (or child) is 1 yr old you’ll have $1000. Invest it in your grandchild’/child’s name and don’t touch it. When they are 64 years old they can withdraw between $50,000 and $586,000 (5%-10% interest). Either way you {Read More}
New Kellogg’s Rewards Program Fall 2012
October 9, 2012 by
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I noticed last week that Kellogg’s has begun a new rewards program. It’s a points system where we can enter codes from Kellogg’s products to redeem for Starbucks gift cards, Kellogg’s coupons, toys, books and other prizes. We’ve seen similar incentives before that were only on specific products and for specific prizes, but this program is valid on over 500 Kellogg’s products! While we don’t eat too many boxes of Kellogg’s cereal at our house, I might as well sign {Read More}
Do You Hate Looking for a Deal on New Tennis Shoes for Your Kids?
September 27, 2012 by 3 Comments
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By now most of you know that one simple way to save yourself time and money is to buy things at a good price in multiples (notice I did not say in bulk). The same principle can also be applied to kids clothes. This summer I was looking for some reasonably priced tennis shoes for Little One. Call me cheap, but $15 is not reasonable for a pair of shoes a 2 yr. old will wear for maybe an average {Read More}
Guest Post: Saving Money With Your Kitchen Appliances
September 11, 2012 by
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The truth is, you use your kitchen appliances. Every day. Multiple times in fact. That fridge is opened at least 5 times a day. Gas stoves are leaking. (not gas, but they are certainly bleeding cash) They might be less expensive and fast – but energy wise, they are woefully inefficient. These things are some of the biggest uses of your home energy. And it’s certainly no wonder. When you take into consideration the state of the economy, more and {Read More}
Tips to Get Started with Couponing Today
August 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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This week there are quite a few new visitors on the site searching for how to get started with couponing. Be sure to check out the Getting Started tab on the drop down menu above for several useful posts. If you’re in the Tyler, TX area I teach couponing classes every few months or so. If there isn’t a class soon, here are 3 good posts to help you get started right now: Help! I don’t have any coupons, but {Read More}
Lessons Learned from Financial Adversity
August 9, 2012 by 4 Comments
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I constantly get asked how we are able to keep all of our purchases at a total of $400 or less per month. Here’s a little background. When we first married our salary was a joke. Truly. We were on a single teacher’s salary before there was a state protected minimum salary law. Nearly 1/3 of our income went to medical insurance. The first few months we were also paying for a semester of grad school before we decided that {Read More}
Getting Out of Debt July Check Up
August 2, 2012 by
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Our $400 spending budget has to cover all groceries, household supplies, clothes and other shopping purchases, as well as home improvement and entertainment. It’s about a 30% reduction to our spending budget. My goal is to save enough to cover a trip to Disney World in the spring (essentially we only have to pay for airfare and 1 child’s ticket). It’s the best time for our family to go educationally and financially, but I only feel comfortable doing it if we can {Read More}
Furnishing an Apartment on a Shoestring Budget
July 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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If you’re moving into your first apartment, or maybe your first apartment that’s not furnished courtesy of Mom and Dad’s checkbook, this guest post is for you! Furnishing and decorating an apartment on a budget can always be a challenge, especially when you’re making the transition from college student to that first “real” job. With a little ingenuity and some handiwork, you can stretch that shoestring budget to make yourself a comfortable apartment. Check out some ideas below! Budget bookshelves {Read More}