Ah, birthdays. The four times of the year I love and dread all at the same time. My babies are growing up and I love watching them grow and mature. I dread the birthday shopping. This last year, I started something new. Instead of a gift that could possibly end up in the giveaway box in a few years, I give them something they love. That they can consume. Without sharing with their siblings if they so desire. I give…
With all the decluttering I have done in the office and seems to never end in that room, I have come across an amazing amount of papers. School papers. Notices. Junk mail that I thought was not. Things that I printed out. The things these papers all have in common? Only one side is used! The waste! I have trouble letting some of this paper go because the other side is clean and available. So we reuse it! If it…
How many packages do you get? What do you do with all the packing materials that come with those packages? I hope you don’t throw it away! I ship a lot of items from selling on Amazon and eBay. I am constantly looking for ways to reduce my costs without giving the appearance of being cheap on the packaging materials. One of those ways is to reuse the packaging materials from my online purchases. Unless the shipper has used a…
This week’s frugal tip is an offshoot of yesterday’s post about Corn Casserole. In the tips and suggestions, I have listed one about using up the ends of pasta that are in boxes. I don’t let these gems go to waste! This is still food and money spent. I have actually helped people clean out their food pantries and kitchens and they will throw these away. What?!?! Don’t do that! Let me help you! Invest in one of these: I…
I have a question for the good readers of this blog. Basically, do you use coupons or not? To what extent? I stopped the hardcore couponing because the price of the Des Moines Register went from $2.00 for their Sunday edition to $3.75. In the meanwhile, the coupon selection has decreased. I was not impressed so I quit paying for the Sunday paper at home. I will buy a Sunday newspaper when I am at Rob’s house because the Star…
I am going to start something new this year with this blog. I would like to give each day its own meaning and theme. I will keep the Monday Frugal Update and Whatnot, but every Friday, I am going to post a frugal tip for everyone and hopefully keep them a bit unique! This week’s tip came to me while in the shower! Great ideas can happen when I am trying to be clean. I am sure we are not…