Saving Families Money Since 2007
Today’s question is from Kourtney:
Do your readers have any suggestions on how to privately purchase a reliable used car on Craigslist or from a private seller. I’d love to know what common issues to check for, how to get a deal, and any other advice your readers might have for me.
Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
The My City Mommy Coupon Binder is the most comprehensive, customizable way to organize and store your coupons with the lowest coupon binder price on the web. 
“I love my binder! And I never thought I’d feel so confident while shopping. Having the ads and coupons organized, knowing what I’m there (at the store) for specifically, and having a distinct plan have been a huge help to me.”
“I love my binder! I’m afraid to say that I would have been too overwhelmed and unmotivated to venture into the couponing world without the amazing binder. It’s like my 4th child…I never leave home without it!”
The My City Mommy Coupon Binder is $29.99. For more information, pictures, and a video detailing the contents of the binder, visit My City Mommy.
To enter to win one of five My City Mommy Coupon Binder, just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. Five winners will be chosen and posted on Monday. This giveaway ends Friday, September 23, at 11:59 pm, CST.
Nicole asked on my 10 Weekly Goals Post:
Crystal, how do you decide which books to read next? I love your book choices, and am wondering how you make your selections? Is there a webpage you visit, is it through friends’ recommendations, or do you have a book list you follow? -Nicole
Well, truth be told, there’s no scientific reason behind the books I choose to read and the order I read them. I did make a booklist at the beginning of 2011 with 24 books I planned to read this year. I planned this list from books I already owned and had been wanting to read for some time.
The two books per month I’m supposed to read from this booklist are my first reading priorities each month and I try to not allow myself to read much else until I’ve finished (or almost finished!) these. However, since I often read at least five or six books per month, I specifically only planned two books per month so that I could have room to read quite a few other books throughout the year.
Most of the rest of the books I chose based upon suggestions from friends (I’m constantly asking my local friends, “What are you reading right now?” I get lots of great ideas this way!) and from the blogs I read (Catherine from A Spirited Mind posts many great reviews and I’ve found quite a few excellent books based upon her suggestions.) I also occasionally find books I’m interested in on Pinterest or from an email or comment from a reader. Since I love to read, I’ve learned that just keeping my eyes and ears open for good book recommendations pretty much guarantees I have an endless supply of good book ideas.
As soon as I find a book I’m interested in reading, I write it down. And, at the next available opportunity (usually that same day), I’ll check out the reviews on Amazon. While these are not always unbiased (some authors get a bunch of their friends to write glowing book reviews for them), you can get a good sense in skimming the reviews as to whether the book is worth reading.
If I’m still interested after reading the reviews and description on Amazon, I check to see if our library has the book. Most of the time, it does, so I go ahead and place a hold on it. Since I recently spent $25 to get a Gold Card membership, I can request unlimited holds–something that comes in very handy at the rate we check out books at our house.
The thing I love about checking out books from the library is that I don’t feel any sort of obligation to have to read the book. If I get it and start skimming through it and realize it’s not what I thought it was, I can just return it to the library, without any guilt. I’d rather spend my time reading high-quality books that I’m going to enjoy and benefit from, instead of feeling obligated to read a mediocre book because I paid for it.
In the cases where our library doesn’t have the book, I’ll check PaperBackSwap to see if it’s available there. If not, and it’s a book I really want, I add it to my Amazon wishlist and then wait for when we have some extra credit from Swagbucks to use toward buying the book.
As books come in from PaperbackSwap, from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, someone sends me a book (companies often send me books in hopes I’ll read and recommend them on my blog), I keep them on a bookshelf in our schoolroom that is just for books I’ve yet to read. As I finish one book, I choose another from this bookshelf to read. When library books I’ve put on hold come in, I make those higher priority since I have to return them in a timely manner (it’s not saving money to check books out from the library if you end up having to pay late fines repeatedly!).
(Pages of notes I took from Organized Simplicity)
I try to always have three books going: one that is an easy, highly-interesting read; one that is somewhat business related (about marketing, blogging, writing, growing a business, being a leader, personal finance, etc.); and one that is encouraging and building me up spiritually. I don’t always follow this formula exactly, but that’s what I aim for when choosing what book I’ll read next.
Another thing I’ve implemented this year is to be consistent in finishing books before starting new ones. I used to be the queen of starting books, but was really, really awful about actually finishing a book. I found this to be quite unproductive, since it starts becoming overwhelming and crazy to try to process what you’re reading if you’re reading snippets of 20 different books.
So in 2011, I’ve made it a point to only have three books going at once–in addition to my current devotional book and my current “running” book (I have a spiritually-deep book by the treadmill that I read a few pages out of while I’m doing my pre-run walking warm-up. I’ve been reading really thought-provoking books during this time as I’ve found it then gives me a lot to think about and mull over while running.) Setting a specific boundary on my book-reading has helped me to actually finish many, many more books than I usually do–and I feel like I’ve gleaned a lot more by concentrating and focusing on reading fewer books at a time.
For those who are interested, you can see the books I’ve read so far in 2011 here. You can also read reviews of many of them here. (I’m behind on writing book reviews, but I am hoping to get caught up sometime in the next week!)
By request, we now have the downloadable menu planners available in a customizable format. This allows you to type into the planners and then print them and/or save them to your computer. For those of who like to create menu plans to use more than once, this should save you some time and effort!
How to use the Customizable Menu Planner Pack
- Download the 14-page menu planner pack (14 pages, 668K pdf)
- Open the file in a PDF reader such as Adobe Reader, which you can download for free.
- Use your TAB key to tab through the customizable fields.
- Type in your text.
- Print out the document when you’re done typing in your text.
- Save your document if you’d like to save your changes. You’ll be able to open the document again to add different text at any time.
New here? Make sure to check out all the free customizable planning pages we offer.
I found a recipe for Homemade Oxiclean on Pinterest not too long ago. And right then and there I decided I wanted to try it myself.
We go through Shout like crazy. Something about three, busy, active, on-the-go children who seem to think it’s their God-given duty to find new and creative ways to get stains on their clothing each hour of the day. 🙂
I invested in a big bulk box of Shout almost two years ago using my Amazon giftcards from Swagbucks to pay for it. We’re nearing the end of that bulk purchase and I’ve been surveying my options.
So this Homemade Oxiclean jumped off the page at me. Maybe this would be the answer to my stain-fighting problems?
I had all the ingredients on hand already so I knew I at least had to try it and find out. The worst thing that could happen would be for it to flop and not work.
1 cup water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup washing soda*
Mix all ingredients together and store in a dark spray bottle. (Hydrogen peroxide loses its effectiveness if stored in a light container. I have mine in a yogurt container for now, and plan to check the dollar store for a dark spray bottle in the next few days.)
To use: Spray on soiled laundry and let it sit overnight. Or, if you have a number of clothes that are soiled, you make up a batch of this and soak them in it overnight. Then, launder as usual.
The jury’s still out on whether or not this will replace my incessant use of Shout, but I’m really hopeful that I’m going to be duly impressed with it over the next few weeks as it was very simple and inexpensive to make.
*Many recipes online call for baking soda instead of washing soda. While this might work, from the research I did supposedly the chemical properties of washing soda are more accurately suited to getting stains out. Or something.
Don’t ask me to try and explain chemistry stuff because I’m pretty much clueless about all the formulas and anything that has words I can’t pronounce. 🙂 But I’m hoping maybe some of the chemists here could better explain why you should use washing soda instead of baking soda.
From Chapel Hill to Chickenville shows you how to make Chocolate Acorns.
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Looking for creative ways to get your children to eat healthful foods? Or just want to make mealtime more fun? Check out Fun Food Friday for dozens of fabulous ideas.
Thanks, Laura!
Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins + the beautiful flowers my husband bought for me
We have plans on both Wednesday and Thursday afternoon of this week, so instead of doing my usual Freezer Cooking in an Hour session, I’m splitting it up over three days and just doing one 20-minute freezer cooking project each day. It might not be quite as efficient as my usual Freezer Cooking session, but I think it will work out alright. At least I’m hopeful it will!
Here’s our menu plan for this week:
Breakfasts
Popcorn Cereal, apples
Steel Cut Oatmeal in the crockpot, Pick Me Up Smoothies
Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins, fried eggs
Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, fruit, scrambled eggs
Waffles, fruit, scrambled eggs
Oatmeal, fruit
French Toast, fruitLunches
Snack-y lunch
Salad with shredded turkey and hard-boiled eggs, apples
Cheese Ravioli, frozen peas, nectarines
Salad with hard-boiled eggs, feta cheese, dried cranberries, toasted rolls
Macaroni & Cheese, frozen veggies, fruit
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Leftovers x 2Snacks
Granola bars
Fruit/Veggies
Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Easy Morning Glory MuffinsDinners
Steaks, Twice Baked Potatoes, salad, fruit
Turkey and Cheese on Hoagies (my family had these leftovers from an event and shared them with us), leftover Twice Baked Potatoes, frozen veggies
Macaroni & Cheese With Beef (from the freezer), Easy Morning Glory Muffins, frozen veggies
Homemade Pizza Pockets, fruit, veggies
Dinner with extended family
Dinner outFreezer Cooking Projects
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Easy Morning Glory Muffins
Whole-Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.
Guest post by Misty from The Frugal Family
I know, it’s 75 degrees today. The corn stalks are swaying and it’s not even really fall yet! But, if you’re a smart shopper, you’re going to start early!
Take it from me. My husband and I buy gifts for about 35 people and any of those people get multiple gifts from us. Yes, I know, it’s insane. Good thing I know how to shop, huh?
Here are a few things I do each year to get started:
If you don’t make a list, you’re going to end up with several people you forgot on December 23rd and you’re going to have to run out and find something, most likely paying more than if you had strategically planned. Don’t forget Sunday school teachers, classroom teachers, the mail man, or the paper delivery guy. Those are the ones that sneak up on me!
It never fails. My dad and father-in-law are the hardest people to buy for. Every year Andy and I scratch our heads trying to decide what to buy. This year we already have gift ideas on the list next to their names. That way, if we come across something that’s a great deal and it’s on our list, we can scratch it off!
Who knows when you might be in the mall and find a clearance section that has items at 75% OFF! “Wait, did I already get him a gift or not? I can’t remember…” This is why you carry your list with you. If you find a great deal, you can just pull it out and you’ll know if you need to purchase the item or not.
I used to be bad about this. I would pick up things throughout the year for my nieces and then it would be time to wrap gifts and they’d have 10 gifts because I forgot all the other little things I’d picked up for them here and there. Keep a list, keep it with you, and keep it up to date.
This was a huge problem for me. I love giving people gifts. It’s honestly one of my favorite things to do so I hated the thought of not spending as much as I used to on the people that I loved. I had to realize these things:
Like I just mentioned above, giving of your time is costs you nothing out of pocket. You can always make a nice gift certificate on the computer and give free babysitting, lawn care, baked goods, house cleaning, and more. The ideas are endless.
If you have craft skills, find some local fall festivals and sell your goods there. You can sell things you make on Etsy or Ebay. You could also give sewing, piano, or music lessons if you’re good at what you do.
Another idea is to take surveys and earn cash or gift certificates. I did this last year (surveys) to make extra Christmas money and ended up with several Amazon Gift Certificates in return which helped to save me money on Christmas gifts! I’ve also sold hair bows and chocolate popcorn at local vendor fairs to make extra cash.
Last year I was able to score several (seven, if I’m remembering right) Milton Bradley board games for around $1.20 each after coupons and rebates. Keep your eyes open. Deals like these will come and you need to be ready to grab them!
Misty is a wife and stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to her three small children. She loves, loves, loves to save money and get a good deal! Misty has a great desire to serve God and finds joy in sharing her money-saving tips and the deals she finds on her blog, The Frugal Family.
Here’s some sage advice from Have a New You By Friday that I thought might encourage some of you in your goal-setting (or just with life in general):
5 Ways to Guarantee Success at Anything
1. Set a goal.
2. Keep your goal reasonable (Don’t bite off more than you can chew.)
3. Don’t second guess yourself.
4. Don’t listen to the naysayers.
5. As Winston Churchill said during a time of war, “Never give up.”
-from Have a New You By Friday, Kevin Leman, page 202
It’s simple, but profound advice. Now what are you waiting for? Go set some goals and start chipping away at them!
Here’s last week’s goal list:
Mothering Goals
1. Finish reading Davy Crockett: Young Rifleman aloud to the children. {With the garage sale last week, we didn’t do any extra reading outside of the assigned school reading. I aim to remedy that this week as we missed our leisurely afternoon read-aloud time!}
Personal Goals
2. Run 12 miles (total).
3. Go to bed by 10:00 p.m. or before every night.
4. Get up by 6:00 a.m. every morning.
5. Finish reading What Women Fear and When I Lay My Isaac Down. {Still working on All the Money in the World.}
Home Management Goals
6. Make Homemade Oxy-Clean.
7. Go through our house from top to bottom for our garage sale on Thursday.
8. Finish knitting the dishcloth I’m working on.
9. Start working on a rag quilt.
Business Goals
10. Shoot video for 31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget series. {Hopefully this will happen this week!}
My finished dishcloth (Experienced knitters: you have my permission to laugh, I’m still working on learning to follow a pattern correctly and not twist my stitches! However, I’m just happy that I actually finished a knitting project. Usually I start them with great intentions and then get frustrated when I mess up, take a bunch of stitches out, and never actually finish it. So the fact that I actually finished this is a big accomplishment for me. Now I just need to work on perfecting the basic stitches! :))
And here are my goals for this week:
Mothering Goals
1. Finish reading Sarah: Plain and Tall aloud to the children.
2. Take children on a field trip.
Personal Goals
3. Run 12 miles (total).
4. Finish reading All the Money in the World and Tribes.
5. Finish embroidering quilt block for my sister’s baby quilt.
6. Work on Rag Quilt.
Home Management Goals
7. Spend 10 minutes picking up/cleaning our bedroom/bathroom every day (I’ve really been working with the children on keeping their room/bathroom cleaned and I realized that I’ve not been setting the best example for them!).
Business Goals
8. Shoot video for 31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget series.
9. Finish putting together talk for a speaking engagement next week.
10. Put together a list of speaking topics and speaking page.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? If you feel comfortable doing so, I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!
You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
I didn’t get this posted on Thursday, as usual, since we were busy with garage sale stuff all day long and then I had a fun evening with Stacie from The Amazing Mess and Motherhood on a Dime and Jenae from I Can Teach My Child. And Friday we had the garage sale, plus I helped some friends with cleaning a house they bought and are remodeling, and then Jesse and I went out on a date.
At any rate, my life has been full of a lot of wonderful things but blogging’s been low on the priority list. However, here’s a little peek into my freezer cooking session this past week:
Silas helped me mix up the Peanut Butter Banana Muffins. He’s all into cooking and “helping” right now. I love his spirit–even if sometimes it means he makes more mess than actually helping. 🙂
The mixture for the Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps. These were fun to make and oh-so-good! We served some for dinner and I froze the rest.
And the final results of about an hour’s worth of work:
No Bake Energy Bites — these were fabulous and actually didn’t last a full 48 hours! I promise I wasn’t the only energy-bite-eating culprit, though. 🙂
Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps — these were a hit and I’ll definitely make them again!
Peanut Butter Banana Muffins — these were just so-so. If I stuck some chocolate chips in them, the children would probaby be more excited about them, though.
Phebe Sky offers handmade children’s clothing at affordable prices. They offer pillowcase dresses, tutus, and other handmade girls’ clothing items in sizes newborn to size 7.
They also offers a selection of pajama pants and hand knitted hats. Every piece is designed and created with love. They strive to keep their prices low while also offering well-made, quality items.
They sent Kaitlynn a pillowcase dress and I was very impressed with the thoroughness of the sewing and quality of the dress itself. Plus, it was just very cute–especially for my little dresses-loving girly-girl!
To enter to win a free $50 gift certificate to Phebe Sky, just click on the link below and type in your name and email address. This giveaway ends Sunday, September 18, at 11:59 pm, CST.
A testimony by Erica from Super Steals
I used to have a credit card habit–-a bad one. Before I got married, if I needed something that I didn’t have the cash for, it went on the card.
Needless to say, that habit eventually racked up a significant amount of debt. The first project that my husband and I took on when we got married was working on getting rid of that debt, or at least lowering it. Little by little, we paid off most of our cards and whittled it down to student loans. (I wish that was still true, but now we have a mortgage!)
While we were in the process of paying things down, we also decided that we wanted to save up for some exotic vacations. So, we sat down, made a list. It looked something like this: Egypt, Greece, Italy, baby.
Our plan was to go on three big trips and then start a family. My Mom is a travel agent, so finding out how much a trip to Egypt would cost was easy. Saving that amount, however, was not as easy! She said we needed about $6,000 to make it happen.
I remember feeling overwhelmed by that number. How were we going to come up with $6,000?
I turned to coupons.
In just one year, we cut our spending on groceries, dining out, and shopping so dramatically that we were able to save the $6,000 needed for the trip and about $1,500 in spending money to take with us.
Long story short: we paid cash. Yes, cash. Imagine that! No credit cards–just straight out of our bank account.
We flew to Cairo in June 2010 with a couple of friends, visited the Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx, sailed down the Nile on a cruise and spent a few days at a beach resort on the Red Sea. We even visited Mount Sinai and saw what is believed to be the burning bush. It truly was an incredible experience.
Six months later, when the holidays rolled around, we decided to use some more of our coupon savings and fly to Paris for a few days. What a beautiful city and the perfect place to spend Christmas and New Year’s with the love of my life!
We also saved another $6,000 this year and went to Greece in May. We spent 17 days touring the mainland and the Greek islands. On some days, I felt like I was living the movie Mama Mia. Greece is so rich in history and culture–and it just has this magical feel to it. I honestly did not want to leave!
We also spent a weekend in Madrid, Spain, where we celebrated my 28th birthday. That part of the trip meant a lot to me, because my great grandparents were from Spain.
Now, we’re saving for our next adventure–Italy. We plan to spend time in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Sorrento. I am so excited. We now have our couponing and saving down to a science, and it has gotten much easier than it was at first.
Yes, sometimes it’s a lot of work. Yes, sometimes I feel like giving up and just spending money on whatever I want. But I saw a quote on Facebook the other day that made a lot of sense. It said something along the lines of: “Don’t sacrifice what you really want for what you want right now.”
That quote hit home for me, because saving for these vacations–and saving in general–is sometimes a challenge. Couponing and being frugal sometimes feels like a second job. But, when it comes down to it, traveling with my husband is what I really want, and couponing made it happen.
Erica Rodriguez is a full-time PhD student at the University of Florida and part-time TV news reporter. She lives in Ocala, Florida, with husband Steven Kight and their two rescue dogs Mili and Max. She blogs at Super Steals.
Guest post by Jennifer from Savviest Girl
As a former real estate agent living on an island in coastal South Carolina, I am far too familiar with the quirks of Homeowner’s Insurance. Exclusions for mold, separate wind and hail policies, and insurance not written during a named storm are just a few of the interesting issues I’ve come across.
Here are a few ways to save money:
Some insurance policies have deductibles as low as $500, but raising the deductible may be the better choice in the long run. Consider putting the money saved on the policy into an emergency fund.
Are you a member of the military or a member of a union? There may be discounts available for you. Fire hydrants, nearby fire stations, generators, and a security system can also add up to big savings in the form of discounts on the policy.
I had a Certified Wind Mitigation Inspector check my home for wind mitigation items such as certain framing techniques and impact resistant glass. I paid the inspector $50 dollars and saved 20% off my policy! Ironically, the qualifying discount items were code for homes built in 2008 or after. While this may only apply to people living in coastal areas, it is worth exploring any discounts available.
Don’t be afraid to shop around. A few phone calls may save hundreds of dollars!
All insurance policies are not created equal. Be careful to consider not only the price, but also the deductible, exclusions, and various itemized amounts such as loss of use or content value. Consider discussing “loyalty” with the insurance agent for an additional deduction.
While saving money is important, it is also comforting to know how an insurance company will handle claims. Talk to friends, family, and neighbors about their experiences with insurance companies before making a commitment.
Do you bundle your utilities to save money? This is the same idea. Talk to the insurance companies about combining policies for vehicles, homeowner’s, and other policies in order to maximize the discounts.
Other suggestions:
Jennifer Bell, a former teacher and a former real estate agent, is a wife and mother of four children. She recently started Savviest Girl–a blog that focuses on money-saving and money-making information for young adults.
Here’s a quick tip submitted by Mary:
I’ve been earning money by writing articles for TextBroker.com. It’s really easy to get started with them; you sign up with your email address and a password and then you have to submit a short writing sample. They “grade” your writing (Levels 1-5), and your payment per word is determined by your writing level.
As you submit more articles, your writing level can change based on what the editors think of your writing. I’m at level 4 (Level 5 is for “professional writers” only) and get 1.5 cents per word.
It’s not super fabulous pay, but I usually choose articles that are really easy to put together without doing much research, and I’m happy with the amount per hour I end up making (about $12/hour or so–though it obviously varies). I don’t think anyone would get rich writing for them, but it can provide a decent little bit of side income. -Mary
Find more Income-Earning Ideas here.
