How to Use FreeCycle

Imagine getting everything from furniture to baby clothes for free? How about the opportunity to avoid dump fees on items you no longer want (and keeping them out of the landfill in the first place) while blessing others. That is the beauty of Freecycle. What is Freecycle All About? Freecycle is an organization that is broken into smaller, local groups. Each group is made up of freecycle members that live in a certain area. It is absolutely free to join, and each group usually uses Yahoo Groups to manage things. Volunteer monitors make sure that everything stays fair and safe, … Continue reading

Affording Life Insurance

While no one really wants to think about life insurance, if you have a family it is an important to have it in place. Life insurance can pay for final expenses, as well as leave your loved ones in solid financial shape. Even non-working parents should carry life insurance, since the death of a stay-at-home parent means that the remaining spouse may have to incur new expenses related to child care. Should both parents become deceased, life insurance money can ensure their children’s future. The bottom line, is that your family cannot afford to be without life insurance. So how … Continue reading

How a Ceiling Fan Can Save You Money

Invest in a ceiling fan, and you’ll save money on your cooling costs and on your heating bills. In the summer, the benefits of a ceiling fan are obvious. The ceiling fan circulates air and give you a nice breeze that makes you feel cooler. It can also keep away pesky biting insects, so having a fan on the porch has two major benefits. Plus if you are comfortable outside, you won’t need to run the air conditioning inside for more savings. In the winter, you can reverse the blades and run the fan to circulate warm air down from … Continue reading

How to Eliminate Monthly Fees

Some monthly fees are a necessity, such as paying your rent or mortgage, while others can be eliminated without a great change in your lifestyle. Some necessary fees, such as insurance, may be able to be reduced with some research or a phone call. Here are some ways that you can reduce common monthly fees that don’t give you much back. Magazine Subscriptions Did you know that you can cancel most magazine subscriptions and then get a refund for the difference remaining, even if you have already paid? How many of those magazines are actually being read, and is it … Continue reading

How to Lower Your Property Taxes

Why not enjoy savings of $200 to $2000 or maybe even more this year? It is a great time to get your property taxes lowered. In some cases, all it requires is a simple phone call! As we all know, home values have dropped, a lot, and they still have not come back. This means that your home may be taxed higher than it should be. A significant drop in home value means that your home may be worth less than it was when you originally purchased it. Why be taxed on negative equity? The first step is to understand … Continue reading

Practicing Conscious Spending

When you are always aware of what you are spending and how you are spending, you’ll save money every time. Whether you seem to always be heading out to the mall, or you can’t resist creating a wall of canned goods while extreme couponing, consider reviewing a checklist of questions that will reveal the real answers behind your shopping. The urge to shop can often be a coping mechanism. It gives us a lift in the day and may be an attempt to meet emotional needs. Sometimes we simply find ourselves shopping or adding extra things to our list without … Continue reading

How to Save Money on Texting

I used to cringe ever time I received or was asked to send a text. That is because I opted out of my texting plan. I figured that I was spending enough on the phone and the data plan, so I didn’t want to add texting as well. The problem with not having a texting plan is that I was charged an obscene rate each time a text came in or went out. I still don’t have a need for a lot of texting. If you are the same or maybe the opposite (you use more texts than your plan … Continue reading

Being Frugal and the Emergency

When you are hit with an emergency, sometimes all bets are off. Think about what is happening now in Japan. Emergencies can be a real roadblock to frugality. Depending on the emergency, you are absolutely right to abandon your frugal practices and just do whatever it takes to get by. The trick is to balance that with trying to keep things under control enough so that you don’t wind up with a second emergency to deal with. We had a situation last year that wiped out both our money and our energy. We had to do the best we could … Continue reading