by crystal on January 27, 2008
Instead of my usual grocery pictures, I wanted to share a great deal I got on a wreath for our front door.
For a number of months, I’ve been looking around for the "perfect" wreath for our front door. I just love wreaths–I think they make everything feel so warm and inviting! But I’ve quickly learned that nice wreaths are expensive and the deals on them seem to be far and few between. So for the last little while, I’ve been pricing them and waiting and hoping to spot a good deal.
I was thrilled as can be to discover this wreath on sale at JoAnn’s for only $12.99, originally priced at $29.99…
Now I just have to figure out how to get it up on the door–that’s one of the projects on the to-do list for Saturday!
I also received a few fun freebies in the mail this week including a Schick razor, a book from PaperBackSwap that I’ve been wanting for ages, magazines, and some tea from Celestial Seasonings. I loves me some freebies!
by crystal on January 23, 2008
by crystal on January 22, 2008
From Debi:
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the site, IncMoms.com, but it has a place on there where there are daily jobs listed for work-at-home positions. Not ‘scam’ positions, but actual writing, blogging, transcription, etc. work. I was searching through it and it seems as if they search out Career Builder, Craigslist, and the like to find the best work at home positions and then post them together on this one site.
I checked this site out myself and was very impressed with what I saw. If you are looking for work-at-home opportunities, you’ll definitely want to bookmark this!
by crystal on January 21, 2008
There is nothing that will squelch the joy in frugality faster than pinching your pennies so hard that you never have any fun. And if you’re planning to practice thrift for the long haul, you need to strategically come up with ways to keep life interesting, exciting, and fresh.
Just because you don’t have a lot of money or are trying to live on little doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to have fun and splurge a little without breaking your budget. Here are a few things we’ve done:
-Go out for dessert and coffee. Or, if you’re really strapped for cash, skip the dessert and split a latte. We used to do this at Barnes and Noble back in our law school barebones budget days. We’d browse books, buy a drink and split it (often paying for it with a card I’d earned through reading emails from MyPoints!), and then sit and read and talk for awhile. It made for a very relaxing evening that cost us next to nothing!
-Take your children to the pet store and then to McDonald’s for $0.99 cones. (Use the seasonal free cone coupons–if you have them–to save even more!)
-Plan one nicer dinner each week. If beans and rice make up a large part of your diet, plan ahead so that one night per week, you have "feast". It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate–maybe something like meat loaf, a potato dish, some homemade bread, veggies, and a dessert. Or if you can’t even afford that, add a dessert to your normal fare and bring out the nice dishes or add a centerpiece. A dessert and a candle can make you feel like you’re having a gourmet dinner even if it’s hamburger helper!
-Ride your bikes or put the kids in the wagon and walk to the nearest ice cream shop and order a few cones to split.
-Have a progressive dinner at your own home. Decorate four different rooms with four different themes and then serve a coordinating menu item for each. (Read about one such dinner I planned here.)
-Rent a movie with a free code from RedBox (or the library), make some special snacks, and watch the movie together under blankets in the living room.
-Plan a CVS "date." Have extra ECBs to spend? Why not make a fun evening of it? Let each person pick one treat for under $3 to buy and then go to the park and share the goodies!
-Go yard-saling or thrift store shopping as a family or couple. Give each person a small amount of cash to spend and see who gets the most bang for their buck!
-Go to the library as a family (or as a couple, for date night!) and browse different books that you usually don’t get a chance to look at and check some out. You’ll feel like you went shopping and you won’t have spent anything!
-Have a "Loose Change Date." Take all of the loose change you can find in the house and figure out a creative way to maximize it. Divvy it up between the family members and let each person decide how they want to spend their part for a family evening out.
-Find out if any nearby bowling alleys have $0.99 night or discount nights (many do). When we were first married, we’d go on $0.99 night and rent our shoes for $0.99 each and play two games at $0.99 each–and it was such a fun outing and it only cost us around $6!
by crystal on January 18, 2008
by crystal on January 17, 2008
I had this "brilliant" idea yesterday to make homemade crackers to go along with our chili for dinner. And I thought I’d found the perfect recipe.
I was all excited to tell you about this new frugal idea–so quick and easy, so much better than store-bought, and as frugal as it gets. Only my homemade crackers were nothing but a complete flop.
I followed this recipe exactly, but it turned out too dry. Like this…
I had to add quite a bit more oil and water to make it even somewhat able to be rolled out. The dough still really fought the rolling pin, though, and I finally just ended up pressing them down on a cookie sheet with my hands.
And then I baked them for the time recommended they ended up burning quite badly. So badly, in fact, that they weren’t really even edible. Unless burned sandpaper is now considered "edible."
I guess my homemade cracker experiment can be chalked up to another frugal failure. Yep, right up there with washing our laundry in cold water.
by crystal on January 16, 2008
Get it here. (Note: This is a Costco sample but you do not need to be a Costco member to receive it. Just leave the Member ID blank if you’re not a member.)
More freebies:
Free sample Laci Le Beau super dieter’s tea
Free sample of Tetley British Blend tea
Freebie offers have been rather slow recently–I hope they pick back up soon! In the mean time, though, I have been receiving some fun things in the mail. Like the mailer with 10 or so double-packets of Celestial Seasonings tea I received last week for signing up for the Celestial Seasonings book club starter kit (they are all out of freebies now, though!).
by crystal on January 15, 2008
My friends from Living on a Dime have put together a special offer for my readers.
You can get all 17 of their practical, money-saving ebooks for only a $1 each! This ebook package will help you learn new strategies to stretch your paycheck, get out of debt, and fight high prices.
The regular price of all of these ebooks put together is $119, but through Thursday of this week, you can get them all in one big package for one low price–only $17! With the rising price of gas and groceries, it’s good to know that some prices are actually going down!
Click here to check out this money-saving package!
by crystal on January 8, 2008
I received a free subscription to Good Housekeeping awhile back and have enjoyed it–especially the coupons which are often in the issues!
You can earn a free one-year subscription to Good Housekeeping by watching about 15-minutes of video ads from AdPerk. Go here and here. Learn more about AdPerk here.
Thanks, Pam!
(Note: I try to be careful what I post here to make sure it is completely family-friendly, but I didn’t watch all the commercials so if you find anything objectionable, please let me know.)
Labels: Freebies
Now I just have to figure out how to get it up on the door–that’s one of the projects on the to-do list for Saturday!
I also received a few fun freebies in the mail this week including a Schick razor, a book from PaperBackSwap that I’ve been wanting for ages, magazines, and some tea from Celestial Seasonings. I loves me some freebies!
