The Tightwad

Have you ever taken part in a blog carnival before?  Basically a blog carnival is a group of blogs that are listed together under a common theme every so often (usually once a week or once a month) and the event is hosted at another blog each time.  I really enjoy blog carnivals because they are a great way to find blogs that focus on subjects that you are interested in, you can meet new people and if you join in, you can bring new traffic to your blog.  Well, one of the blog carnivals that I have found just recently (even though it’s been around for awhile) is Festival of Frugality.  Needless to say with being a tightwad, Festival of Frugality is right down my alley!!!  This weeks Festival of Frugality is being hosted at: http://www.greenpandatreehouse.com/2009/03/festival-of-frugality-167/   To find out where the Festival of Frugality is held each week, then go to this website: http://www.festivaloffrugality.com/past-hosts-future-hosts-schedule

I am so kicking myself tonight!  One of my favorite products for homeschool and scrapbooking was on sale this weekend at JoAnn Fabrics.  It was the Cricut cartridges.  If you scrapbook, lapbook or are a teacher, you may know what I am talking about.  These cartridges retail price are $89.99 (off course I never pay that much for them!!!) and they were on sale this weekend for $38.88.  On top of that I have a teacher’s discount card for JoAnn Fabrics which is 15% off and I happen to have a $10 gift card right now.  So, did I rush out the morning of the sale???  No, of course not, I went on the second day about 4:00 in the afternoon. *sigh*  Well, by the time I got there, all of the cartridges were completely gone.  There was not even one left.  I am so bummed!!!  I hope I remember this important tightwad lesson for the next sale. Get there early!!!

I know this is not necessary a tightwad subject, but I think it is an important money matter.  Hopefully no one that is reading my blog is facing this problem, but if you are there may be a sliver of hope.  One thing they are finding is many banks are having trouble producing the mortgage note and you can file paperwork with the courts demanding them to “produce the note”.  This is a stall tactic and will many times delay the foreclosure and could give you time to get back on your feet.  You can find out more about a movement encouraging people to try to hold on to their homes and force mortgage companies to “produce the note” at: http://www.consumerwarningnetwork.com/2008/06/19/produce-the-note-how-to/And you can also watch this short video to learn more about this. 

With today’s economy, it is even more important to save money where you can.  Saving on groceries is a way that you can accomplish this.  Coupons are a great way to save on groceries.  You get the biggest savings from coupons when you have multiple coupons and using them against a sale.  Getting multiple coupons can be tough sometimes.  One way to do this would be to start a Coupon Club.  A Coupon Club is where you get together with others and trade coupons.  A local library is a good place to set something like this up.  Many libraries will let you use their community rooms for this type of purpose.  Many libraries will also let you put up flyers so you can advertise for your Coupon Club.  You need to think up the rules in advance and post that on the flyer.  Some examples may be have the coupons already cut out, what type of coupons will be allowed and how will you go about the exchange.   Another place you could do this is in your own neighborhood if you live in a safe area.  You could hand out flyers to some of your neighbors and invite them over for coffee and couponing.   Just make sure you keep yourself safe and don’t invite complete strangers to your house. 

If you really want savings on grocery shopping, you need a plan of attack.  Like most things, if you just try to muddle through it, you will not get the best results.  Keep a Price Book on hands to look up prices and each week when the grocery ads come out, look up the prices to see if you are getting the best deal.  Match the sale prices with your coupons to get the best price available.  Plan on stocking up on items if you are getting rock bottom prices and they are non- perishable.  Make sure you make a list out so you do not get side tracked while at the grocery store or forget something important.  It’s important to have a strategy to save money in your grocery budget.

According to Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates, the economy is going to get worse and is going to stay that way permanently.  He claims that American standard of living is going to change and it will stay that way.  Now, I do have to wonder if that is true or not since our country has survived major economic meltdowns in the past.  During the Great Depression, American’s standard of living was pretty low, but we did eventually rebound, but that does not mean that we won’t be in for some REALLY tough years ahead.  We may want to look to the Great Depression as an example of how to survive these tough times ahead.

First, you need to understand the different between needs and wants.  You must be willing to give up wants for your needs.  This will increase your ability to survive the tough times.  Many American have a lot of trouble with this, but we can learn to do without if we need too.

Here are some other tips to survive the tough times:

1.  Grow a garden.  Learning to grow your own food will help make sure you have the food you need and will reduce the strain on your tight budget freeing up the money for something else.

2.  Use reusable items instead of throw away items.  Instead of using paper napkins, paper plates, paper towel, plastic flatware; use the type that you have to wash instead of throwing away.

3.  Learn to sew.  Sewing has become something of a lost art, but if things get really tough, you’ll be wishing you knew how, even if it just for simple things like fixing a seam or sewing a button back on.  Sewing isn’t just for clothes either, it’s good to know so you can make stuff like curtains, dish towels, pillows and napkins.

4.  Borrow what you can.  Instead of rushing out and buying something you want or need, you may want to find out if you can borrow it first.  Libraries are a great example of this.  If things get really tight, you may not be able to go out and buy books or videos, but you may be able to find them at you local library.  Neighbors and family are also a good source for borrowing things.  Instead of buying tools, specialized cookware, small appliances, ect., you may see if someone has one that you can borrow.  Just make sure you return the favor.

5.  Make it last longer.  Take care of your items and they should last longer.  Don’t be so quick to trade up.  This can apply to smaller items and to even big items like cars and houses.  If things get really bad, you may not be buying a new car or house anytime soon.  You may have to make do with what you have.  A small house is not the end of the world and children can share rooms if they have too.

6. Spend less on food. Use coupons, sales and store brands to get your grocery bill down. Use less expensive cuts of meat or better yet have a meatless meal a couple times a week. Find frugal recipes and make more from scratch to save money.

Yes, things may get tough for many Americans for quite awhile, but we can survive it with just a little know how!!!

Many people do not know you can refill those foam soap containers that you get from the store filled with foaming soap.  It is really easy to do and it saves a lot of money.  After your foaming soap container is empty, fill it with a tiny bit of some type of clear (can be colored, but it probably should be see through and not have any beads in it or anything) soap.  When I say a tiny bit, I mean fill it about a fourth of an inch high and then fill the rest of the container with water until it is about an inch and a half from the top (the topper takes up some room so you do not want to fill it all the way up).  Then stir the soap and water together gently.  Now put the top back on and try it out.

Having a good coupon organizer is very important.  My favorite type of coupon organizer is a coupon binder.  What I like about it is, I can see the coupons real well and I can lay them out in the binder by aisle rows and then flip the page as I move on.  I also have a place to store other things in my binder such as a grocery list, grocery ads, calculator, pencil and a coupon cutter.  It is best to take the coupon organizer with me when I go shopping, so I have all my coupons there and I can take advantage of unadvertised sales.  The only problem I have is, I get stopped several times a shopping trip with people asking about it. Lol!!!  For more information, see this article: Coupon Binder.

Wow, it is hard to believe it is Valentine’s Day.  This year many people do not have a lot of money to spend on this day and even if you have the money to go out, you may not have the extra money to hire a babysitter.  So how can you make Valentine’s Day special at home without spending a lot of money?   Fix a simple meal for the children earlier in the evening and then get the children settled watching a movie or something.  Have a candle light meal with your spouse, using the good china and silver if you have them.  Don’t worry about major clean up until the next day, only rinse things off.  Then after your children are in bed, sit down with your spouse and watch a romantic movie while snuggling. 

I was always running out of shaving gel for shaving my legs.  It was really frustrating.  I could never tell when the can was almost empty.  It would just quit on me.  I kept hearing women talk about using hair conditioner on their legs instead of shaving gel.  It seemed a little weird to me.  I mean, why in the world would you want to coat your legs with hair conditioner???  Well, a few months ago, when I ran of shaving gel once again, I grabbed my hair conditioner.  You know what??? I have not bought any shaving gel since then.  I like the hair conditioner better and at about $1.00 a bottle (I buy Sauve) it is much less expensive.  Now, do not go using expensive conditioner for this, use the cheap stuff and make sure it smells good!