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How Being a Stay-at-Home Parent Saves Money

Are you a stay-at-home parent or want to be? Good news! While you may not be earning and income, chances are you are saving a ton of money. Here is how. Child Care Fees Let us start with the obvious, child care fees. If you aren’t staying home with your children, you will probably need to pay for child care. The cost of child care can be high, sometimes wiping out any income you are gaining by working. Obviously this depends on your position and income level, but it is the first expense you should allow for in your budget. … Continue reading →

Thinking Ahead to Save Money

A little thinking ahead can save you a lot of money. for example, have you ever had to pay a late fee for not getting a bill or a form in on time? Don’t put things off. Make thinking ahead a part of your normal lifestyle, and you will reap the rewards. Recently, my daughter has been taking ice skating lessons. I was chatting with one of the other parents while the kids were pretending to eat a pizza off of the ice (sound strange, but it is way to practice balance). I found out that we actually paid 10 … Continue reading →

Planning a Frugal Resort Vacation pt 2

Summer is here and it is time to get away as a family. If you are like most families, you took a staycation s last year. This year, you may be more inclined to actually go somewhere special. A resort vacation will probably fit the bill. With that said, going to a resort for vacation does not mean throwing all rules on frugality out of the window. Instead, you should be even more frugal than normal in order to get the best vacation for the least money. In part 1 covered the early stages of planning such as determining your … Continue reading →

How I Saved Money By Meal Planning

As I mentioned in the previous article, I have spent the greater part of this year utilizing meal planning to help stay more organized and save some extra cash. I was able to show you yesterday, that I did indeed begin saving money after practicing meal planning. And here is how I did it each month, what it included and my own brief review of each month. Month 1: $543 (average out to about $18/day in food) This was when I realized we obviously had a huge problem with food spending. I knew we had a large family, but there … Continue reading →

A Meal Plan Review

This year I practiced meal planning on a pretty much regular basis. I even kept a notebook full of my meal plans and how much I spent approximately per meal. The reason I did this is that I wanted to see if it really would save a great deal of money for me to practice meal planning or if it was just an organizational method that people were using and trying to pass off as a money saving opportunity. For the first three months before I began the actual meal planning, I had been keeping track of how much money … Continue reading →

Three Ways To Save Some Money In The Kitchen

Food is one of our most expensive resources, and we have to have it to survive. It is certainly not a want, but definitely a need. So how do you save more money after using coupons, sales and other discounts? Easy, follow these tips. Eggs – This has got to be one of my favorite things I have learned to do in the kitchen. After starting to cook one night, I realized I was out of eggs. While I am sure I could have gone and knocked on my friends door to see if she had one I could borrow, … Continue reading →

Meal Planning, Saving Food and Cluttered Pantries (2)

After spending all that time cleaning out my cluttered pantry yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by what I found. More than enough meals to cover several weeks without more than a $10 grocery bill to boot! Since I had so many items I had forgotten about, and found a need to incorporate them into meals in the upcoming weeks, I set out to create a good meal plan. Here are a few tips to help you after you clean out your pantry: Canned Veggies go great in casseroles, soups, add them to some noodles to create a pasta dish. Canned … Continue reading →

Darn It – It’s February!

I dislike February for a number of reasons. First, it’s just sort of a gray month. Sure, you’ve got Valentine’s in there, and it sort of perks things up for a bit, but the rest of the month is just gray. There’s an impatient feeling about it, like it’s waiting for spring. Second, you never know if you’re going to have sunshine or snow. Is it jacket weather, or coat weather? The unpredictability is psychologically disturbing. And the reason I even bring it up today … February is a short month, and for most people, a short month means a … Continue reading →

Groceries: Making a List and Checking it Twice

Sounds like a popular children’s Christmas carol doesn’t it? But making a grocery list is a serious budget keeper and money saver! Not to mention there is some truth in the “checking it twice” area. Let me teach you how to save a little money on your food, especially with the drastic rising costs. Grocery lists can be written on anything. A napkin, a scrap of paper or you can actually use those cute little pads of paper that say ‘grocery list’ at the top that you can find at popular stationary stores and other locations. Don’t spend your money … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Week in Review: January 7th Through January 13th

From freezer cooking to reusing our items, we have been working our way through the kitchen to save money. We’ve also thrown in a few other surprises. I’m so glad that the holiday spending is over, and we can get back to being really frugal. Here is the Frugal Living week in review for January 7th through January 13th. January 7th Even More Frugal Kitchen Tips Have you been following our frugal kitchen tips? They are great ideas for saving money in the busiest room in the house. I like to concentrate on this room, because I find that establishing … Continue reading →