I have been rereading The Complete Tightwad Gazette to help gear up for our new budget. I love this book! Although sometimes Dacyczyn can be a bit extreme in her frugality, I am always inspired when I read her ideas.
Last night I was reading her article on used shoes. I have always been a [...]

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Filed under: Frugal living | 18 Comments »

If you are looking for a frugal gift, how about an aloe plant. We grew this plant from a shoot someone gave us a few months ago. Aloe has great medicinal properties, we have used it to soothe burns for most of my life. Aloe plants grow well in warm climates so if you live [...]

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Filed under: Frugal living | 13 Comments »

I was reading the other day that plastic wrap cannot be recycled. I am not sure why this surprised me, but it did. This got me thinking, especially in light of my tupperware post a few weeks ago, that it would be cheaper and better for the environment to use aluminum foil.
First, foil can be [...]

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Did you know that a dirty and clogged lint screen can increase your dryer’s energy usage by up to 30%? Removing the lint from your dryer after each load will save you a lot of money every year. As well as cleaning the filter after each load, take your vacuum cleaner and vacuum out the [...]

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The economy is in poor shape and the effects are being felt everywhere, from the price of groceries to gas. If you aren’t serious about your finances the time to get serious is now. If you are in debt, it is time to eliminate it. If you are out of debt it is time [...]

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While visiting a friend last weekend, I learned a money saving homeschool tip. Many moms I know will take their workbooks to Office Depot, have them unbound and then put each page into protective covers. This allows multiple children to use the same workbook. I have always liked this idea, but was too lazy to [...]

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Filed under: Frugal living, Homeschool | 18 Comments »

I just returned from a four day trip so my tip is a quick one today. If you want to make a short term dent in your grocery budget, clean out your pantry, fridge, and freezer. I cleaned mine out last week and was able to find enough food for an entire week of meals. [...]

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Filed under: Food, Frugal living | 12 Comments »

There are numerous ways to save money, some are big and some are small. Sometimes people will tell me that the things I do really don’t save much money, and I agree. I might not save much money, but I am always saving little bits of money. Eventually those pennies do add up.
Here are some [...]

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Filed under: Frugal living, My life | 27 Comments »

My sister-in-law, who has just started making bread, recently asked me how I stored my loaves of bread. In the beginning I would purchase bread bags from Bread Beckers. I thought that was a bit expensive to do on a regular basis so I started using two ziploc bags or saran wrap. Neither of these [...]

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Filed under: Food, Frugal living | 15 Comments »

The other day my son and I ran to the store to pick up the items needed to make his birthday cake. Since he is twelve we separated in order to find our items quicker. I asked him to get the Oreos. (A bit of background here, we buy Oreos about once a year, and [...]

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Filed under: Food, Frugal living, My life | 12 Comments »