Freebies Are Just a Click Away!

Shop 4 Freebies is a fantastic resource to save money! They offer coupons, sample, money saving tips, free meal locator, freebie hunting tips, a forum to interact with other frugal shoppers (who often share tips as well) and so much more can be found on their site! I check their site daily for deals, savings and freebies! The link above and to the left can take you directly to the deals.

Enjoy Shop 4 Freebies!

It's Hard To Be Frugal When....

....you have a very busy 4 year old boy! I had to share a personal story about my son who will be 4 in a week. I am all about saving money and maximizing my coupons to save as much as I can. That however, is proving to be just a little difficult with his latest phase, emptying things out! Yes, he has discovered the joy of emptying an entire bottle of shampoo or whatever he can get his little hands on. First it was on the stairs...a brand new bottle of shampoo of course! So I head back out to buy more shampoo...another $2 and make it a priority to keep the shampoo on the highest shelf in the bathroom closet. Fast forward a few hectic days later and I left the shampoo on the tub one evening. Of course that was just so tempting to my little guy and while I wasn't watching he snuck up to the bathroom and emptied yet another full, new bottle of shampoo into the tub this time. My first hint that something was wrong was the overwhelming scent of coconuts coming down the steps into the hall. So back out to the store I go and spend yet another $2 on shampoo making it $6 spent on shampoo within a week and a half time frame! Lovely...that's more than I spend on the kids shampoo in a month let alone a little over a week. Boys will be boys and naturally his mischief isn't limited to just shampoo. Over the past few weeks he has disposed of half a tube of toothpaste, 3 bottles of Bath and Body Hand Soap down the drain and a bottle of lotion that was squirted all over his bedroom window! I am hoping he grows out of this phase really soon! I guess this just makes me want to work harder to save money and find bargains and freebies. So please keep checking back as I post any savings I come across to my blog.

Setting Financial Goals

Living frugal doesn't mean you have to give up everything you like to do. For me it is centered around the financial goals we have set forth for our family. Setting financial goals is an important step to living more frugal and saving money. Having a goal in mind will keep you motivated to make little money saving changes every day.

There are two main types of financial goals, short term and long term. Or if you're like me, three types, mid term goals. Sit down and assess where you are at financially and where you want to be. This is a must to setting your goals. We started to look at ways to save money last summer when gas prices topped out around $4/gallon. And when the economy continued to tumble we decided to take a look at where we were at with our finances and set financial goals.

Our example is as follows:

Short Term Goal - Find ways to free up a little extra money each month so we could do something fun as a family. We like to take the kids to the zoo, a movie, go out to eat once or twice a month or even a fun scenic family train ride. Cutting back and saving money in some area's of our budget allows us to do one or two of these fun activities each month.

What I like to call Mid Term Goal - Become Debt Free! We realize that becoming debt free will make us more financially comfortable as well as help with our long term goal. I labeled this a mid term goal since it's not something we can achieve over night rather, it's a goal that will take many months and a lot of financial discipline.

Long Term Goal - Build a house or move to a newer one! This is a goal we have set for ourselves as a family and believe it will take 3-5 years to make a reality. Keeping this goal in mind is very motivating to work hard on the short term and mid term goals we have made and stick to them. Knowing there is a prize, so to speak, at the end of the road makes me want to find even more ways to save money.

Again, living frugal doesn't mean you have to give up living. Always keep your goals in mind and depending on how much you want to see those goals happen can help determine how much you want to save money. So make your plans, set your financial goals and find ways to make them happen. Frugal living won't seem like such a bad thing if you have a goal you are working for! Good Luck!

Save With Coupons

Frugal Tip Of The Day - Coupons

Clipping coupons is an excellent way to save hundreds of dollars on your groceries and more! It's been reported that coupon usage is once again on the rise. Many people are looking for ways to save money each month and turning to coupons. Your local paper and regional coupon ads are a great source to find coupons. But there are also many websites dedicated to compiling coupons making it easy for you to simply print them. Many grocery stores will even double your coupons up to a certain amount. Now is a great time to look into coupons to save some money.

I have included a few great coupon sites that I have come across:
www.couponmom.com www.coupons.com www.frugalcouponmom.com

These are just a few that I have found to be a great source. Also consider your favorite brand detergent or shampoo and go directly to their website. Often times they will offer coupons and you can sign on to their emailing lists to learn of more money saving offers.

Another source to save is online coupon codes. I love these! It also pays to sign up to be on the mailing lists at your favorite stores. I just got a coupon in my email yesterday for 30% off at The Gap!

Here are a few places to find online coupon codes:
www.retailmenot.com www.couponcabin.com www.couponcode.com

And lastly, sorry a shameless plug, you can find thousands of dollars of savings in The Entertainment Book. At an average cost of $15 a book depending on where you live this a great way to save money on Dining, Entertainment, Shopping, Travel, Movies and More! Click on the link at the top left hand corner of my blog and that will direct you to where you can purchase your Entertainment Book!

Energy Vampires!

Frugal Tip Of The Day - Energy Vampires!

Trying to focus more on green living I have been researching "energy vampires". Energy Vampires lurk in just about every home. Energy Vampire is the term given to those electronic devices that continue to draw energy even when turned off and not in use! The typical household has about 20 vampires draining power and adding an average of $200 annually to your electric bill.

An example of some notorious energy vampires is:
TV's, DVD Players, VCR's, PVR's, Computer's, Cell Phone and Cordless Phone Chargers, MP3 Player's and Stereo's.

Fortunately there are a few VERY easy changes you can make to reduce this waste of energy and help save yourself some money in the process.

First, buy power strips and plug in as many energy vampires as possible. It's wise to make sure you have one around your tv area. You can plug in your TV, DVD Player, VCR, PVR. Have another to plug in your cell phone and cordless phone charges, MP3 player too! Don't forget your computer and printers!

Second, unplug as any of these appliances as you can and remember to turn the power strips off every night. Coffee Makers, Toasters and Microwaves are easy things to unplug each evening. Be sure to unplug as many as possible when you are away on vacation too!

So make these simple changes and you can see a annual savings of at least $200 while conserving energy in the process!

I LOVE My Library

Frugal Tip Of The Day - Saving Money By Visiting The Library

Sorry I wasn't able to post yesterday. I came down with this horrible head cold and once my grocery shopping and a little laundry was done, I needed to lay down and take it easy. Still feeling not so great today but trying to catch up on everything.

Have your visited your local library lately? Library visits and borrow rates have been climbing over the past six months due to the economic down turn. There is so much more to your library than just borrowing books. Libraries let you borrow books and magazines. But did you know you can also borrow DVD's? Save the expense of rental fee's and borrow a few DVD's each week.

Trying to cut back on spending then consider giving up your internet service and using the internet for free at the library. For some of us that sounds impossible...WHAT, live without my internet!! But to someone who may have suffered a job loss or cut in pay this can be a way to save over $25 a month. Plan a couple visits each week to check emails and surf for a little while. You will want to visit your library to see what times seems to be easier to grab a free computer.

Another great freebie the library offers is many classes for your kids! Check with your local library to see what they offer. Ours has many programs for toddlers and preschoolers as well as a great summer reading program for school age children. There are so many programs available at your local libraries and you will have built in some free entertainment as well as a way to connect with other parents! So next time you visit your library be sure to ask about the programs they offer and a list of class dates and times!

Visit your local library's website to learn for yourself about all the offerings. While researching this blog post I found out you can now download audio books for your MP3 player for free! So log on to the your library's website to learn about the latest offerings you can take advantage of and save some money!

How Much Are You Saving on Phone, Internet and Cable

Frugal Tip For Today: How To Save Money on Your Phone, Internet and Cable

Whether you are looking to save money because of a job loss or just trying to cut costs to have some extra money each, it pays to look at your phone, internet and cable tv services.

Let's start by taking a look at your phone services...you have several options for savings here. If you are like me and rarely use your cell phone, I actually just like to have it for peace of mind while driving, then you should consider eliminating your monthly service and going to a pre-paid phone plan. Our cell phone plan had cost us $75 a month and one of those phones was a duplicate as my husband had a company paid cell phone for work. By not renewing our contract after it ended and going with a pre-paid phone we saved over $65 a month. We purchased pre-paid minutes at $30 for 3 months costing us $10 a month. That's quite a bit extra we were paying for something that simply wasn't used much.

On the flipside, if you are someone that does use your cell phone quite a bit then look at eliminating your land line and saving over $30 a month. Make sure you look at your cell phone plan to ensure you have enough minutes on the plan to cover what you'll need by going exclusively cellular.

At the very least look at your cell phone bill to find ways to save a few dollars each month. Consider skipping the texting and internet service. Look at how many minutes you are using and if you seem to have quite a few left each month, downgrade your plan to one with less minutes and is less expensive.

Bundle your services to save money and have them all on one bill each month. By combining cable, internet and phone with long distance through our cable company we saved over $30 a month and now only pay one bill. These plans typically average $100 a month but can vary by area. Switch to automatic online bill pay and save the postage....every bit helps.

Look at your cable bill...do you really need HD, Pay Per View and Premium Channels? Go back to basic cable and the savings will quickly add up here as well. Also, head to the library! You can borrow DVD's for free and save money on movie rentals. If you are really in a financial pinch you may want to eliminate your internet plan and use the free internet service at the library while you are there to borrow DVD's, Books and Magazines!

Saving money on these budget busters is easy to do by making just a few changes.

Brown Bag It

Brown bag your lunch instead of eating out or running through the drive thru. Not only will you add money to your wallet but chances are you may lose a few pounds by skipping the fast food. Consider this...if you spend an average of $6 a day on lunch you will save:

$30 a Week
$120 a Month
$1440 a Year !!!

WOW...with an extra $1440 a year you can put that money away in savings, pay down debt or take a vacation! And you will be eating healthier lunches for weight loss with this simple change in your lifestyle. Give it a try...your wallet and waistline will thank you!

The same concept applies to those of you who love to have their morning latte! Considering you spend $4 a day on your latte you can save:

$20 a Week
$80 a Month
$960 a Year !!!

Making your own coffee each morning or grabbing a cup at the office can also pay off big over the year.

Go Green To Save Some Green!

Save money on your energy with a small easy to make change...light bulbs! Yes, light bulbs. By switching from your incandescent bulbs to the compact fluorescents you can begin to save money on your energy bills. Yes, the compact fluorescents cost more initially at the store but they last longer which means you will need to purchase bulbs a lot less often and these energy saving bulbs use less energy adding up to even more savings! So on your next shopping trip, add compact fluorescent bulbs to your list.

These new CFL bulbs can save you 75% on your energy consumption and have a life span ten times that of your typical incandescent bulb. They also give off 75% less heat.
Consider this: If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an energy star bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent green house gases equivalent to to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars! Please check out this website www.energystar.gov I found a lot of great information for this tip from their website and they have many more ways to save energy posted on their site.

Welcome to my Frugal Mom's Guide to Saving Money

I am starting this blog as a way to share the money saving tips and ideas I have used over the years. In today's economy we can all use ideas about how to save money and make your dollar go further. This is especially true for mom's, both stay at home and those that work outside the house.
I would like this blog to be different in that I plan to post a daily "money saving tip" every day as well as new articles a few times a week.
So please keep watching as I get this blog set up. I will be adding to it frequently in the coming weeks.

Thanks!
Donna