The Frugal Free Gal

Spending money is easy. After all, there are opportunities to spend money all around us. But just as it’s easy to spend your hard-earned cash, it’s also easy to save it – on dinner, on lunches, on beauty products, on magazines. Here are five ways to save on each of those things … and it’s a lot easier than you might think.

Double Up On Dinner – Leftovers aren’t that bad and it doesn’t cost that much to double your recipes, so do exactly that and you’ll start saving lots of money. What will you do with those leftovers? That’s your decision, but most leftovers make nice lunches. Speaking of lunch…

Get Smart About Dining At Work – Dining on the job starts with lunch. As in, stop going out to lunch and start packing your lunch. Five lunches in a restaurant can cost around $50 (and that’s the low end). Five lunches packed from home and purchased at the grocery store will cost only $10 or $15. Here’s another workplace food tip: Step away from the vending machine and bring your own snacks. They’re cheaper and, in most cases, healthier.

Get Frugal With Your Beauty Routine – Beauty isn’t cheap. Face creams and other products can cost $20, $30, sometimes $40 or more. The good news is, natural options – at a fraction of the cost – are just a Google search away. If you’re still in the money-saving mood (which is all the time, right?), cut out the trip to the salon for a professional coloring and do it yourself. Read my article about how you can save on cosmetics.

Eat In, Not Out – Yes, cutting back on dining out is a great way to save money. But even delivery items like pizza can be costly. Instead or spending $20 on delivery pizza, try some deluxe frozen pizzas for half the price (or less). While you’re at it, skip the trip to the local ice cream shop – where four cones will cost you $20 – and scoop your own at home for around $5.

Skip the Newsstand – At $5 each, the cost of buying individual copies of magazines can add up – fast. Buying three magazines a month will total $180 in a year. Instead, subscribe to your favorite magazines at a rate that’s often 75 percent or more less than the newsstand price.

Should I Buy a Starter House or a House I Want to Live in Forever?

If you’ve saved diligently and have enough money to cover a down payment, now may be one of the best times to buy a house that you’ll see in your lifetime. As you probably know, interest rates are low, and in most areas, prices are down quite a bit from their peak approximately five years ago.

If this is your first house and you’re looking ahead to potentially starting a family in the next few years, you may be debating whether you should buy a starter house or one that you plan to stay in indefinitely, even after you’ve added to your brood. There are pros and cons to both decisions, so here are some things to consider as you weigh your options:

Buy a Starter House

A bigger house means bigger expenses. Typically, the bigger your house and property, the higher your taxes and maintenance will be and if you don’t have the need for those extra bedrooms or that big backyard. You may be better off delaying these added expenses until a few years down the road. Your taxes may be especially high if your neighborhood has good public schools, so you’ll be footing education costs for your kids before you really need to.

Keep your budget flexible. Lower housing payments mean you’ll have more room in your budget to make decisions for your family about things like home improvements, eating out, vacations, having one parent stay at home, etc.

Buy a House for the Long Haul

Interest rates will probably rise. If you have a chance to lock in a mortgage at an incredibly low rate now, it’d be a shame to give that up in five to seven years when you’re in need of a home with more space.

Property values may start to rise again. This is highly speculative and will depend largely on the area in which you are looking to live, but if you think your property will appreciate over time, a larger house will typically see greater gains.

Moving costs money. Moving costs aren’t insignificant, and if you move twice in five to seven years, you’re going have to pay twice for things like broker fees, packing/moving costs, and furniture/redecorating expenses.

There’s no one right decision for everyone but make sure you think through all of your options before committing to such a big decision!

The information in this article is provided for education and informational purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness or fitness for any particular purpose. The information in this article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial or any other advice. The information in this article is general in nature and is not specific to you the user or anyone else.

There are all sorts of ways to overspend when it comes to grocery shopping, which is kind of sad because groceries are expensive enough as it is. Luckily, there are plenty of tricks designed to help you beat the supermarket system and trim your weekly grocery budget. Below are five tips that will help you do exactly that!

Don’t Shop with the Kids – Kids aren’t easy to shop with – every mother knows that. But in addition to being a hassle to corral in a busy supermarket, kids can also add several dollars to your grocery bill. Take one trip down the cereal aisle with a five-year-old and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Don’t Shop Hungry – Most of us have heard this tip, but few of us actually follow this good advice. As you may know, shopping hungry means you end up buying bags of potato chips, cookies, and containers of deli potato salad that you never really needed (and calories you never needed!). To help, shop only after lunch or dinner and always shop with a list.

Don’t Buy Pre-Cut Foods – Pre-cut cheese, pre-cut sandwich meat, pre-cut lettuce, and pre-cut fruit aren’t really that expensive, but all that pre-cutting comes at a cost. Instead, buy your cheese and sandwich meat from the deli (they cut it for free!) and buy lettuce and fruit whole and cut it yourself.

Don’t Buy Prepared Deli Foods – It’s hard to pass up pasta salad or pre-made tuna salad, isn’t it? After all, they’re not only delicious, they’re also super convenient. But just like the pre-cut foods mentioned above, that convenience costs money. Instead, make it yourself for a lot less money and add your own spices to make it just as delicious!

Don’t Buy Toiletries – Of course, you should buy toiletries, just try to avoid buying them at the grocery store. Why? Because the grocery store has great deals on food, but they don’t always have the best deals on toiletries. Instead, buy your deodorants, soaps, shampoos and other toiletries from a stores that specialize in that type of stuff (like Walgreens, Rite-Aid, or CVS).

It is always amazing to see the talent and vision people possess. Women and mother’s in particular, as they seem to be taking the world  by storm as business owners and entrepreneurs these days. They tend to see potential in what others don’t, and then take something they like and turn it into a way to support themselves and their families. The whole process is quite fascinating, and might be something you have always wanted to do yourself. If you have a hobby or business idea you have always wanted to capitalize on, what seems to be stopping you? Starting your own hobby turned business adventure can be a great way to earn extra cash for your family while doing something you love. Below, you will find out how to turn your hobby into a business with just a few small steps.

Step One: Think small.
First, you want to think small. What talents do you have? Can you bake? Write? Paint? Have a way with children? Ask yourself how much you enjoy these tasks. Could you do them daily and no get tired of them? If the answer is yes, keep on reading!

Step Two: Identify the need.
The reality is, there is something you are good at that someone else is not. People are willing to pay for that. Whether it be cleaning a house or baking a cake, people are willing to pay others to do the things they can’t or don’t want to do. Decide what the need or demand would be for your talent.

Step Three: Say so long to fear.
Naturally the fear sets in next. We talk ourselves into thinking we are not good enough, or that we don’t have the start up funds, or that we will just table the idea for another time. Say so long to fear and write your ideas and goals down somewhere you can revisit them often.

Step Four: Execute your plan.
Do you like to bake? Start off by advertising your services for children’s birthday parties. Offer to do a friend’s party for free to get your name out there. Like to make jewelry? Invest $40 booth rent in a local show to promote yourself. Take custom orders and get your name out. List a piece on Etsy. it is only a .20 cent investment. Love to upcyle? Save old chairs from the curb, add a fresh coat of paint and a new cushion and viola! List it on Craigslist for sale.

Step Five: Make $1.00 at a time.
Make a dollar, then two, then twenty. Make one customer a happy camper, then two, then twelve. Learn to stretch your business dollar-get free business cards on the internet (they are everywhere!) and find local shops to consign a piece or two. Find one first customer, treat them like gold. The rest will follow. Learn to live off of very little, and save every dime you can. Then watch your small idea bloom. And the rest…well the rest just seems to fall into place!

If you could use a little extra spending or bill money each month, give this step by step plan a try. Your talents and hobbies can easily be tapped into and function as a business for you, a business where you are the boss and can earn a real income. It won’t always be easy, but when you are doing what you love, the ambition will always be there to make it possible.

Best of luck! Now get to it!

Are you ready to save money this year? Check out these 6 ways to go frugal and save money.

Get rid of your car.

We are proud to be owners of both of our vehicles. Several years ago we bought a used Saturn for $600 and we drove the car for a while! We ended up giving that car away once we started having kids, but now we are proud owners of two used mini-vans that we paid cash for totaling less than $10,000 total.

2. Take in a renter or a boarder. This is something we haven’t done, but there is extra space if someone needed to “live” here for a few weeks. A friend of mine also “rented” out her space once for my cat when I needed to be away for an extended period of time.

3. Downsize your home. I have mentioned this before. I prefer a smaller home. The less space you have in your home, the less you have to clean, organize, and furnish–saving lots of valuable time and money.

4. Change how you use credit cards. Thanks to the Dave Ramsey program, I no longer use credit cards.

5. Only use coupons or go generic. I use coupons for just about everything now. From grocery coupons to department store, craft stores, restaurant, oil changes, and using coupon codes online, these have been a HUGE money saver for me. Make sure you read my coupon tips by clicking on the tab at the top of my homepage.  If I can’t get name brand for cheaper than generic after coupons, I go generic, but with using coupons now, I almost always get the name brand item cheaper than the generic! Along with using coupons, we always score great military discounts on top of all of this!

Best Places to Find Online Coupons

6. Dump High-Tech Toys. I actually do use the library for checking out books. I even take advantage of the “lending library” here where I can check out toys for my daughter to play with! I also find all other toys at thrift stores, for as little as $1.00 or less! I rarely EVER buy toys full price. Just not worth it. One thing I WILL NOT cancel is my gym membership. Health is a priority and I LOVE my membership. We did get it at a discounted military rate so we barely pay anything for it as it is.

What areas have you been extremely frugal in?