Save Money Now! More Living Frugally in 10 Minutes or Less

In yesterday’s article, Save Money Now! Living Frugally in 10 Minutes or Less, I shared how you can save lots of money by taking advantage of those little moments in your day that otherwise might be wasted. Here are even more ideas that you can put to use right now! Lower the thermostat. Even a few degrees can save money over time. (For even more savings, consider installing a programmable thermostat.) Hang up a load of wash instead of throwing it in the dryer. Depending on the size of the load and the efficiency of your dryer, you can save … Continue reading

You Know You’re Really Frugal When…

Whether you need a quick laugh or some more ideas on how to be frugal, check out this list of signs that you are really frugal. You look forward to ironing just so you can warm up your hands on the ironing board when you are done (free heat). You look forward to the day you’ve save up enough for that big ticket item at the thrift store. You make do with newspaper until the price of toilet paper goes down. You check the coin star machine at the grocery store to see if anyone left any extra money in … Continue reading

The Third Principle of A Frugal Lifestyle: Recycle

If you can recycle, you can save money. How? Read on to find out the basics of this third principle of frugality. When we think about the word “recycle,” we often think of recycling glass and paper to help the environment and conserve natural resources. While that is certainly a big part of the principal of recycling, there is so much more to learn about it, when it comes to saving money and living a frugal lifestyle. When we talk about recycling in a frugal lifestyle, we basically mean recycling items both among our families and also with other frugal … Continue reading

The Second Principal of A Frugal Lifestyle: Reuse

If you learn how to reuse what you have, you can save a lot. This is the second principle of living a frugal lifestyle. In an earlier article, I talked about how The First Principle of A Frugal Lifestyle is to reduce consumption. The next step, or second principle is to reuse everything you can. You will purchase and consume less, and therefore save money. There are so many ways that you can practice reuse in your life and home. We’ve all heard about washing out plastic baggies to reuse them. That is just one example of stretching out the … Continue reading

The First Principle of A Frugal Lifestyle: Reduce

Learn how to follow the first principle of a frugal lifestyle when you reduce your resources and save money. “Reduce” is the very first thing you can do when embarking on a frugal lifestyle. It can be as simple as conserving energy use by turning off lights. The idea is to look around your home and your life and see what you can do with using less. There are so many things that can be reduced without much of an impact to yourself or your family. Did you know, for example, that if you let your clothes soak in the … Continue reading

Reducing Your Trash 3

We are on a mission to reduce the amount of trash that exits our homes. With just a few changes in our lives, we can affect the amount of garbage that our families contribute to the landfills, and as a result, also save money. If you missed the earlier articles in this series, you can find them here: Reducing Your Trash and Reducing Your Trash 2. And now, here are some more ways to reduce your trash. Stay away from convenience foods, which have a lot of extra packaging. Pre-prepared food is generally less healthy for you than food that … Continue reading

Find Your Reuse Inspiration

I love it when I come across ideas for reusing unusual things. For example, this summer, I posted an article about reusing inflatable toys. I think it is so inspiring when these types of reuse ideas come up. It shows how creative people can be with what they have. One of my favorite sources for creative ideas is a personal friend of mine. She is constantly coming up with amazing ideas that repurpose items in very creative ways for her home and garden. She often serves as inspiration to me. This morning, I got an e-mail from her telling me … Continue reading

New Uses for Old VHS Cases

We are slowly in the process of getting through our many VHS movies. Over the years, we’ve picked up quite a few of them from thrift stores and yard sales. Friends have given us their VHS tapes when they have upgraded to DVD because they knew that we would use them. We were one of the last hold outs in purchasing a DVD player. Some of the movies are starting to wear out and are so loved that we will have to attain the DVD versions. Others have been watched a few times but are not worthy of precious space … Continue reading

New Uses for Old Inflatable Toys

Now that summer is here and in full swing, you are probably raiding your garage, closets, attics, shred and wherever else you store your summer swim toys. You know the types of toys I am talking about? Those inflatable tubes, mats, beds, dolphins, snakes, water wings, beach balls, etc. And chances are, when you go to blow them back up, at least a few will be flat as a pancake and unable to be used. Maybe the toys were split at the seams near the end of last summer, got thrown into storage and forgotten about. or maybe they got … Continue reading

More Using Diaper Boxes

In a previous article, Using Diaper Boxes, I talked about some great uses for these boxes in the garage and on our porch. Now I’ll cover even more uses for these handy boxes. What are diaper boxes? They are the large, sturdy boxes that you get when you purchase your baby diapers in bulk. Bulk diapers can be purchased, usually, at a warehouse store or even at some baby stores, such as Babies R Us. I find that purchasing diapers in bulk really saves money. And to save even more, I take advantage of the boxes in which the diapers … Continue reading