The Frugal Free Gal

One way to save money is to buy items in bulk when possible. While you may be spending a little more up front, you’ll be buying items less often and paying less for them per unit price. If you pay attention to a few tricks, you’ll be able to save money on a variety of items, from cleaning supplies to home office items to everyday necessities. Here are 10 quick tips on how to save money by buying in bulk.

1. Storage – Prepare a place to keep the extras until you’re ready to use them. Use shelves, cabinets or large containers to minimize the clutter.

2. Start Slow – Don’t go out and buy everything you see at once. Start with a few items that you can stretch out over time, like cleaning supplies or paper products.

3. Keep Inventory – For larger households, the extras can move quickly. Keep a list of what’s running low when you pull the last or second-to-last item off the shelf so you don’t run out. If you do run out, try to avoid buying products at convenience prices.

4. Budget – Set a budget and stick to it.

5. Share the Load – If you have friends or family members who are also trying to save money and spend less, talk about what items you both need, then share the load and split the items and the costs down the middle.

6. Be Selective – Great deals can be tempting. Try to stick with what you need and what you will eventually use. Items like office supplies for work-at-home-moms and paper products are examples of what you will eventually use.

7. Unit Versus Case – Pay attention to the quantity required for purchase. Some products are available in cases or in multiple units. Cases typically cost less per item.

8. Special Events – Plan ahead for special events. If you know you’re going to have a wedding shower, birthday party or house guests for the holidays, start picking up bulk items like party supplies and decorations ahead of time so you can stay on budget.

9. Special Deals – Some discount stores offer special deals on seasonal items when you buy in bulk. Take advantage of the ones that make sense.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post brought to you by Nikki. Nikki is an independent writer for DollarTree.com. Dollar Tree offers great deals on office supplies, party supplies and more.

Saving money is a challenge for some and saving money for the future and your retirement can be a bigger challenge. Are you saving for your future? If not, remember it’s never too late if you start now! There are several ways for you to save for your future!

My family started saving money after we graduated from college. We started putting a little bit of money away each month. After several years of saving, we feel we are on the path to a healthy future. The younger you are, the more potential you have to place your money away so that it can grow. It’s always a good idea to invest your money several different ways. You don’t want to place all of your eggs into one basket!

Here are a few ways that you can save for your future and your retirement!

1. Open a basic savings account at your bank. It’s great to use this account for a rainy day or to save for your future, however with this type of account you may be tempted to take your money out earlier because it’s more liquid. The interest rates may also be lower than you’d like and your money may not grow very much.

2. Buys bonds. Bonds are a great way to save for the future and they are aren’t as easy to get into as a basic account. Your money is still pretty liquid when you buy bonds but you don’t want to cash them out until they reach their maturity level. Interest rates can be pretty decent and your money has the potential to grow a little more when you buy bonds. You can choose between a Series I bond or a Series EE bond. Do a little research to see which is right for you.

3. Sit down with someone at your bank to discuss opening up a CD (certificate of deposit). There are several different options to choose from and your money has the potential to grow at a higher interest rate. I’ve tried CDs before but didn’t feel the interest rates were good enough so I cancelled them. You may have to pay a small penalty for withdrawing early.

4. Open up a no fee IRA to save for your retirement. Many places do charge fees to invest in an IRA so if you can save more money, do what you can to avoid the fees. The money in an IRA is not very liquid, so if you want to withdraw early, you may be hit with a large penalty!

Remember, if you want to save for your future, the time to start saving is now!

Note: I am not a financial advisor. This information is based on my own understanding. Please seek advice from your financial advisor to see what investment options are right for you.

Disclosure: GigaSavvy is the contributor for this review.

Are you currently saving money for your future and retirement? Do you have a children? Are you putting money away for their future, too? If not, don’t worry! You still have time to start saving for their future. It’s never too late to get started.

It can be difficult to figure out how much money you’ll need to save to have a comfortable retirement, but it can also be difficult to figure out how to save money and where to invest for your child’s future. If you feel you’d like to start saving for your child, your first step may be to compare bank accounts and figure out which bank you’d like to use to start saving for your child! You’ll want to compare interest rates as well as find banking options that do not charge fees!

My husband and I have had several conversations about saving for our girls. We’ve been putting away money ever since our girls were born to start saving for their future. I know how fast time flies, so I don’t want my oldest turning 16 and we have no money saved up to buy her first car. I also don’t want to have to take out any loans or go into debt to pay for these expenses!

I am hoping that in the future, they will go to college and eventually find the love of their life and get married. With two girls and two possible weddings in the future, saving money now while they are young is very important!

Here are a three ways you can start saving for your child’s future, and teach them how to save, too!

1. Open up banking accounts for each child. Take your child to the bank with you. Show your child how to fill out deposit slips and let them deposit money from their piggy banks or allowance to their bank accounts. Let them watch their money grow over time!

2. Look into 529 college plans. These plans allow parents to save for a child’s education tax-free. If your child receives monetary gifts from family and friends for their birthday or Christmas, use that money to stash away into a 529 college plan!

3. Buy Savings Bonds. You can buy Series EE Bonds or Series I Bonds for your children to help save for college. You can give savings bonds for any occasion such as birthdays, weddings, or graduations.

The goal here is to make sure you are saving in advance before these big events arrive- first car, college, weddings, plus more! Again, it’s never too late to start saving for your child’s future! Start now!

My husband was deployed when I bought my first iPhone. It was in the year 2010. I remember the day I bought it! It was my birthday and I guess I felt I owed myself a nice birthday present! My husband knew all about it and he wanted me to get one. When he returned from his deployment, we actually went to upgrade his phone to an iPhone as well. I didn’t think it was fair that I got an iPhone and he didn’t have one!

We still have those same iPhones that we purchased years ago. We like to keep things until they break (I suppose that’s the “frugal” in me). If we don’t need something new, we won’t buy it. However, we are starting to get that itch where we feel we need to upgrade our phones to keep up with the latest technology out there.

What do you do with your old phones? Do you throw them away? Do you trade them in somewhere? Do you give it away? Do you sell it? I’m currently looking for a place to sell my iphone for cash so that we can use that extra money to replace it with a new cell phone. We feel there’s some value left in our old phones and don’t want to just toss them if they can be used elsewhere!

Leave a comment for me letting me know what you do with your old cell phones. If you sold it, do you feel it that what you received what you expected?

If you’ve gotten yourself in a bit of debt, it can seem an overwhelming task to try and get out of it, but it’s definitely not impossible.  In fact, there are quite a few ways you can dig yourself out of debt successfully as long as you keep to your endeavor and don’t stray from your decision, making sure that you stick with your new behaviors.

The first step to trying to get out of the debt you’ve accumulated is to take control of your current financial situation and figure out how to better use the money you’ve got.  Saving money on things such as food and your monthly bills will go quite a long way to helping you get out of debt.  You can find a lot of useful information at this site about cutting down your monthly utility bills and trying to get better rates on your electricity providers.

After you’ve successfully identified where money can be saved, it’s time to set a reachable budget that you can keep routinely for the duration of your debt relieving endeavor.  By making a budget you’ll be able to better save money and keep to it so that you don’t get yourself even further into debt.  A budget will also help you see how much money you can put toward your debt every month without destroying your financial security in the process.

This is also a good time to see if there’s anything that you don’t need that can be sold to give you a little extra money.  Even if you can only get enough money to cover one payment, that’s still more than you had before and getting out of debt will happen one step at a time.

Once the budget is in place, you’ll need to look at your debt objectively and see which one is the highest priority.  While all of your debt is important in the long run, it’s true that some debt is much more painful than others.  You’ll need to look into the finer details of the debt you have to identify which ones have the highest interest rates.

The debt that you have accumulated that has the highest interest rate will need to be the first one you work on.  The higher the interest rate, the more you’re going to accumulate the longer the debt has been in place, which means you’re essentially throwing away money by not focusing on this chunk.  Dealing with this debt first will help keep your payments down overall, which will free up more money to help you pay off the rest of your debt later.

Don’t work yourself into more debt.  It’s very easy to become focused on one bill or one credit card to the point that you forget about the rest of the debt you’ve accumulated and this is one of the worst things you can do if you’re looking to eradicate your financial burden.  While it might be difficult to balance initially, it’s important that you keep an eye on everything to make sure you’re not getting rid of one problem just to start another.

Almost everyone has debt in some form or another and oftentimes it can seem hopeless, but there are certainly a few ways you can get out of the rut without digging the hole deeper.  With just a few basic tips you’ll be able to get well on your way to getting your debt to a manageable level and you’ll be on your way to financial freedom.