Search Results for: blog time is money1

Residual Income with Suite101 – Being Frugal With Your Time

As a work at home mom, I’m always looking for new ways to bring in money. Being a blogger for the Single Parenting, Home Schooling, and Frugal Living categories here at Families.com is one way to make a little bit of cash while doing something I love. However, there are a lot of scams and just a lot of bad deals on the Internet. Over the past 7 years I wasted more time than I care to think about. I simply learn the lesson and move on. Then again, there are places online where people make a lot of money, … Continue reading →

Health at School: Lunch Time!

Ah, the school lunch. The cafeteria has come a long way since I was in grammar school, where you had one meal option and one “alternate” Sandwich choice. Even by the time I was in high school, the cafeteria had stepped up to compete with the local eateries in town, offering multiple hot and cold meal choices. Still, your kids might not want to chow down on cafeteria food every day — or you might want to save money and send lunch from home. Here are some tips to help ease the lunchtime battle. Set a lunch allowance. My parents … Continue reading →

Determining Where to Spend Your Money

We all know the importance of setting up a budget and sticking with it. We set aside a certain amount for food, clothing, shelter, etc. and we do our best not to go over those limits. There are times, though, when we need to allow ourselves to spend certain amounts of money in some areas, and less in others. Take, for instance, at the grocery store. My kids don’t care what brand of cold cereal I get, so I get the store brand. I do the same with milk, cheese, etc. But I have one little boy who has allergies, … Continue reading →

Communicating about Money

One day, my husband attended a seminar and came home with two huge bags in his hands. He had been very impressed with what the instructor had to say, and purchased the learning materials he would need to embark on this course of study. He had indebted us for over $900.00, and hadn’t said one word to me beforehand. You can imagine, I was not the most amused person on the planet. In my husband’s defense, he studied the materials carefully and went on to excel in his studies. The time he invested in those studies, and the money we … Continue reading →

Hide Your Savings

I hated to clean my room when I was a little girl. (I still do, as a matter of fact.) But one day while performing the odious task, I found a welcome surprise. I had taken a handful of quarters and tucked them away in one of my doll socks. I was delighted to find it. I wasn’t in the habit of saving money, and consequently I rarely had any. You can imagine those quarters didn’t last long once I rediscovered them. Years later, married with children, I was having the same problem. How do you save money when there … Continue reading →

School Board Cuts out Lunch Choices

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I can remember the days of walking into the cafeteria line and picking up my tray. There were no questions of what I wanted on my plate or what I planned to eat that day. I simply got my food, sat down, and ate. Things are much different in school cafeterias today. The children walk in first thing in the morning and are given several choices for their meal that day. At 8:00 in the morning students are asked to choose between three to six meal choices. In the cafeteria the children must choose among about six different types of … Continue reading →

Financial Crisis!

There may come a point when you reach a financial crisis. This may be due to an injury that keeps you from working or from unexpected medical bills. It can be difficult to deal with the situations that cause you financial distress on an emotional level, without getting into the financial problems. If you find yourself in a situation where you just can’t seem to pay the money you owe, there are several steps that you should take. First you need to sit down and assess the situation. Is the situation permanent or is it temporary? You should compile a … Continue reading →

Save Money on Medical Bills

Do you pay attention to the medical bills you receive, or do you just pay them and forget about it? Do you pay your medical bill the day it is due, or once the insurance has processed it? Do you read all those forms that the insurance company sends you regarding service provided? Medical bills and insurance can be tricky to figure out, but it is important to stay on top of it. Recently I had my third child. This time I was able to deliver naturally—meaning no epidural, no pain medication of any kind. The reason I bring this … Continue reading →

Can You Be Too Frugal (2)

There is no such thing in my mind, as being too frugal. In fact, when you look up dictionary.com’s definition for frugal, they pull from other resources to get several definitions. The third listed is my favorite, cited from WordNet. frugal adj : avoiding waste; “an economical meal”; “an economical shopper”; “a frugal farmer”; “a frugal lunch”; “a sparing father and a spending son”; “sparing in their use of heat and light”; “stinting in bestowing gifts”; “thrifty because they remember the great Depression”; “`scotch’ is used only informally” Why do I love this definition so much? Because it points out … Continue reading →

Can You Be Too Frugal? (1)

Very often I hear about how frugal I am. And the statement or question, I hear the most often is “Can you be too frugal?”. I choose to address this question, simply because there isn’t a definitive yes or no answer. And because I plan to do a series of articles revolving around organizing all the frugal things you save. A question came in recently that was quite unusual from my typical frugal living questions. I was asked “Why do you choose to write organizing articles in the frugal living area?”. That is a great question actually, and I’d love … Continue reading →