Set a good example of extravagance for all the world to see, that is what Laura Bush did as one of her final acts as First Lady. She unveiled the White House china that most 2 term first ladies are privileged to design. It cost $485,000! “The White House worried that general wear and tear had taken a toll on its fragile China collections and Perino says the Bushes took some time to decide on a new design.” I am sure that the 8 year old china the Hilary Clinton designed in 2000 that cost $250,000 must have been falling [...]
Read MoreFrugality
As most of you know, I list my monthly expenses ( here is last month’s) to help track where my family is spending our money. Not only is it good for us to see where improvements can be made, but posting them online has also allowed me to gather money saving tips from all of you. THANK YOU! One of the most common areas where readers say we could lower our expense was our “Phone & Internet” bill. We’ve been paying $115.75 a month to Qwest for quite some time now. This included unlimited local and long distance calling, a bunch [...]
Read MoreFor months we have had a very squeaky fan in our bathroom. The task of fixing the fan has haunted my todo list for months. It drained my energy and laughed as each day passed that I consciously put it off. The fan is a 10 year old contractor grade fan and my initial thought was just to get a new one, but the idea of spending money is what caused the task to languish. Spending money is an ordeal for the frugal at heart. It means researching prices, fan quality, and proper sizing…none of which I know anything about [...]
Read MoreHere are a 5 ways that I have saved money over the last few Christmas seasons : Skip the Gifts – Don’t try and buy significance and meaning, it doesn’t come from gifts. Talk to family and friends and see who is open to cutting back on gifts amounts or even take the plunge and see if they are willing to skip gifts altogether. I would recommend trying to replace the gifts with something significant that deepens your relationships: a heartfelt card, special dinner or get together, a family day. Here is my Christmas gift journey from the last few [...]
Read MoreI’m sure by now a lot of you have heard about the couple who for a month ate on only $1 a day. If you haven’t, check out their blog. I guess they have some new projects in the works for 2009 and a book will follow. Talk about a strict budget. I say good for them. As you long time readers know, I too am trying to shrink down my family’s food budget. Nothing as extreme as $1/day, but when you break down the numbers, we’re not too far off. Our current budget is $4.25/day. [$425 grocery + $75 dinning [...]
Read MoreI just love this satirical monologue that accurately describes a lot of my sentiments about United States government’s plan to save ourselves from our current economic issues that are caused largely by out of control consumer, business, and government spending just by spending more money. That doesn’t work for those of us with consumer debt, does it? Video embedded below: *Thanks to RINO Safari for the link
Read MoreFor those that are interested, ChristianAudio.com offers at least on free full length audio book for download each month. Dec. 2008 is 90 Days of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. Check back at the start of each month to see what the new selection is. They also having a growing collection of free books, interviews, and podcasts that also can be downloaded for free. Click here to search the list. Enjoy. Don’t forget there is only a few hours left to enter the contest for DD’s free Time Magazine subscription.
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving Everybody! And welcome to the official start of the holiday shopping season. Back when I shared my Christmas budget, I said I’d revisit the idea of whether or not Christmas is becoming too commercialized or not. Well it’s your lucky day! But first let me come clean about something. I can be an idealist at times. Not all the time, but just enough that I can be rather annoying to be around when certain subjects come up. You know my type, we’re very passionate about something about a certain topic for awhile then we move on to something [...]
Read MoreThat’s right, it sounds to good to be true, but it isn’t. Microsoft has been pushing this unique advertising ploy off and on for months now and people have been saving a ton on online purchases mainly through eBay. Here’s how to take advantage. First sign up for a Windows Live cashback account and then all you have to do is search for a product of your choice at Microsofts’ Live.com. At the top of the search there will usually be an eBay link that says Live Search Cashback in gold next too it. Just click the link and complete [...]
Read MoreAs promised, here is a post on how spending more money actually saved me money. Some of you might recall from my August Expense Check-up, that I spent $90 on a two month supply of contact lenses. In the post I said that I felt that it was too much and would try 1-800-Contacts the next time I ordered. Well “next time” turned out to be last week, so I tried it out. And am I ever glad I did! By going to 1-800 Contacts.com I was able to get a 6 month supply of contacts for $150. Or to [...]
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