Search Results for: blog 12 ways staying home saves money

How to Find Money Around the House

Let us say that the kids are begging for the latest DVD movie. Or, you would really enjoy being able to eat out once a week. Maybe there is a small unexpected bill that needs to be paid. You know, however, that these things simply aren’t in the budget. Well, guess what? You may be able to find the money you need right in your own home. No, this is not a scam for a reverse mortgage or selling your gold jewelry. Instead, it is just a guideline on ways that with a little bit of effort, you can find … Continue reading →

Giving It All Away

One of the negative things that is sometimes associated with living a frugal lifestyle is the idea that frugally-minded people are also tightwads or stingy. That is, if you wash out your ziploc baggies, shop at thrift stores or lower your thermostat in the winter, then you must be a miserable person with no thought for others. Remember Ebenezer Scrooge? But I think that frugal people are in a unique position to be able to be far more generous than the average person. Frugal people have learned how to save money, stretch those dollars and finds ways to make something … Continue reading →

My Decision To Stay Home

When people hear that I quit my teaching job to be at home full-time with my daughter, they often respond, “You are so lucky that you can afford to do that.” I indeed feel very lucky. I know I’m blessed, and I’m thankful for it. Contrary to what people might think, however, I don’t stay home because we have piles of money just sitting around. I don’t live in a situation where we have so much money that I decided I might as well not work. In fact, my husband is a full-time student. Not only do we not have … Continue reading →

Planning for a Frugal Retirement

I used to think about retirement as a time when you get to live luxuriously and spend all of the money that you spend so many years saving. As my dad got closer to retirement I got scared because I knew that he had not saved alot of money. I knew that he had spent all of his money on us, his kids. I wanted him to come live with my so that I could give him a comfortable retirement. He wanted not part of this. Instead he chose to live frugally and he is very comfortable and happy in … Continue reading →

Embracing Frugality

Although we started practicing a frugal lifestyle to allow me to stay home with our first child, since then we have come a long way to embracing the lifestyle. A lot of it, I think has to do with attitude. We’ve gone from thinking, “How on earth can we figure out hoe we can afford to live?” to “I wonder what new opportunities will come our way today!” When you really embrace frugality, you don’t have time to moan about what you don’t have, because you are too busy living life and enjoying it. You’ve cut off the bad part … Continue reading →

Listening to Your Inner Frugal

Once you practice frugal living for a while, you may develop a little inner voice that will help support your frugal goals and practical saving. Much as a little inner conscious that helps direct decisions, I call this your inner frugal. You can help develop your inner frugal when you arm yourself with a good understanding of your financial reality and the things that you need and want in life. Then you won’t waste time and money on things that won’t contribute to those goals or make you happy. The New York Times recently had a very interesting article about … Continue reading →

How to Give When You Are on A Budget

Just because finances are tight doesn’t meant that you have to give up on giving. Here are some strategies to help you make the most impact within limited means. Play favorites Really take the time to concentrate your charitable efforts. Instead of giving a little to many charities, focus on one or two that really resonate with you and your family. Not only will this make a bigger impact to your chosen charities, but you will probably get to know the causes better than if you spread your money around every time there is a candy fundraiser, car wash or … Continue reading →

Qualities that Will Get You More Money

If you can foster the following qualities in yourself, then you will wind up with more savings and a better budget. Here are some things that every frugal living person should have. Patience The old saying may be that “time is money,” but we can turn this around to mean that being patient with time is more money. How? Well anytime that you can be patient with a purchase you will generally save money, whether it is waiting a year for the price of that new gadget to go down, shopping around for a new mortgage or saving up for … Continue reading →

Become a Home Consumer Tester and Get Free Products

One way to stretch your budget on the household items that you use is to become a consumer tester. You’ll get free products and usually a small payment besides. When my oldest child was our only baby, I did some consumer testing for a couple of companies. Basically, I would receive unmarked products in the mail, test them out and then fill out a survey with my observations and comments. After the survey was submitted, I would receive a small check in the mail for my time. Plus I got to keep the products that I tested and put them … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Can Be a Blessing

We all have different reasons for trying to save money and live a frugal life. But too often, we focus on the deprivations of living frugally, such as not being able to eat out often, or living without cell phones and cable television. But this is the wrong attitude. Frugal living is a blessing in many ways. It fosters appreciation Just the other day, my family and I were at a local park and everyone was having a great time. I felt completely blessed to have this great free resource nearby. In the past, before living frugally, I wouldn’t have … Continue reading →