Budget A word that strikes fear into the soul of many a consumer. Take a deep breath and relax. We are going to take a few minutes to talk about this useful tool. That’s right, I said a tool! Remember folks, the budget doesn’t exist to impose some sort of dictatorship over you, but rather… Keep Reading
Am I Quirky?
Recently I had a reader and fellow blogger mention me in a post they wrote. They said that I have “quirky” frugal ideas. To be honest, I was a bit floored. I don’t TRY to be quirky-the things I do seem pretty common sense to me! But I guess this is like me and being… Keep Reading
Best Of: The rest of the Baby Stuff
And here is the last installment of the “Best of: Baby Stuff”. ********************************* In answer to a readers question, lately I’ve talked about breastfeeding/bottlefeeding, and also about feeding a toddler, but I promised to talk about “Everything Else”. So here we go! Opinions highly vary on what is “necessary” gear when you have a baby…. Keep Reading
Best Of: Time to Think About-Christmas?
With the family Christmas in July party planned for today, I have been thinking a lot about Christmas*. I think that it is a good reminder to us all, especially in this time of rising prices and extremely high projected winter heating costs, to start considering our Christmas gift and travel plans early. Maybe this… Keep Reading
Frugal Philosophy-Playing With The Hand You Are Dealt
You know, a lot of frugal living is not “glamorous”. Shocking eh? I don’t mean that frugal living is dreary (I don’t think it is) or that living a frugal life is confining or ugly or any of those things. What I mean is that a lot of frugal living is about what you don’t… Keep Reading
Our Fairly Frugal Wedding, Revisited.
This is my absolute favorite wedding picture. Yankee Bill and I have been married 9 years, as I mentioned yesterday! We were married here (although we were stationed in Alabama at the time) in a lovely Episcopal Church service. Yankee Bill wore his dress uniform, and I wore a dress (purchased at Davids Bridal for… Keep Reading
Driving Dilemma
This afternoon is an errand afternoon. With gas prices up to $3.75 a gallon (EEEKKK!) I’ve been trying to combine my trips and head out of town with the car as infrequently as possible. Thus comes the dilemma. When is it worthwhile to drive out of your way to pick up a bargain, and when… Keep Reading
Starting Frugality-Saving on Food Part II-Price Books, Sales and Coupons
We all know that eating at home can save you money! Even if you buy expensive ingredients and cook gourmet meals, in most cases you will save money over eating the exact same meal at a restaurant. But what frugalite worth their salt would want to purchase expensive ingredients (save for a very special occasion)?… Keep Reading
Starting Frugality-Saving on Food Part I
A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from Alan. He had made a New Years resolution to become frugal-and was looking for a push in the right direction. Of course there are many ways to be frugal, depending on your personal situation. I started out discussing how to tracking your spending and saving… Keep Reading
Beer Bread-An Experiment in Thinking Outside the Box
Sometimes the best frugal ideas are not about what you plan to do, but rather what you do to use what you have in an unexpected way. Last night I made homemade Mac ‘n Cheese for dinner. Although it was already loaded with carbs (albeit whole wheat ones-I used ww noodles), I really felt that… Keep Reading
