Frugal Simplicity

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Obopay is giving away free $10 prepaid debit Mastercards. These are set up so that you can send and receive money from your cell phone. What can be easier and cooler? Go get your free prepaid card!

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Making your own homemade laundry detergent can save a lot of money on the cost of washing clothes. This laundry soap recipe allows you to make your own laundry soap. It’s easy to make, cleans your clothes just fine, and is a frugal way to save money on the cost of caring for your clothing.

Laundry Soap Recipe

1 bar Fel Naptha Soap
3 Cups water
1 Cup borax - 20 mule team
2 1/2 - 3 Gallons of water
A big spoon and a big bucket

Grate the bar of soap. Place three cups of water and the soap on the stove. Simmer and stir occasionally, until the soap is completely melted. Fill the big bucket with 2 1/2 - 3 gallons of warm water. Pour the soap mixture into the bucket and stir well. Add the borax and stir really well. Use about 1 cup of laundry soap per load of laundry. If you like, you can add a bit of lavender essential oil or some fragrance oil.

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Saving money on food and groceries can prove to be difficult when the price of eating tends to cut deep into even the best made budget. Rather than become discouraged and spend money outside of the food budget, try incorporating some new money saving strategies into your shopping trips.

Saving money on some items can allow to budget for special treats and holiday shopping. Spending less money on groceries doesn’t mean you have to eat less or eat icky food. On the contrary, by shopping smart you can actually shop and bring home more food for yummy meals.

Planning meals a week or more at a time is a good way to help save money on the cost of buying food and groceries. If you know what you are going to cook and serve for a meal, you can purchase the items needs for those meals ahead of time and have everything on hand for preparing the meals.

Before going grocery shopping, be sure to have a list of what you plan on buying, items you have coupons for, and what’s on sale. Be sure to prioritize the shopping list, posting necessary items first. Avoid purchasing things you don’t really need unless you have the available funds within the food budget. Smart shopping and using these money saving tips will allow you to have extra money to get those extra special treats. Be sure to have your list with you when you shop. A list left at home won’t help you!

The number one way to save money shopping is to not buy name brand products. Most, if not all, generic or store brand products are put up by the big name brand companies, simply labeled and packaged differently. Unless the name brand product is on sale or you have coupons for the items, you are usually going to pay more for the exact same item that could be bought under the store brand or generic brand name. Since the packaging is just for looks, why spend money on the can, box, bag, or paper container that will only go into the trash can?

Save leftovers! Leftovers can often be frozen to make into delicious new meals at a later date. For example, leftover chicken can be served in a salad or as chicken alfredo, leftover ham could be put into omelets, a stew, or into a gravy. There are endless possibilities to revive a leftover dish into something new and yummy.

Keep a list of basic items that you always buy when shopping, such as seasonings. When you are running low or are out of a necessity make a note of it on the list. This will insure that when you shop, you won’t forget something you need.

When making your shopping list, keep in mind items that can be used in a variety of ways or prepared in different way. Items like chicken, beef, pasta, vegetables, etc, can be prepared in multiple ways. Purchase in bulk when possible to take advantage of the savings and freeze in serving size portions for later.

Invest in a good bread maker if your family eats a lot of bread. Making your own bread can save a lot of money and the homemade bread is so delicious. The bread will keep just fine for about a week, and it can be refrigerated to help it stay fresh longer.

Don’t go shopping when you are hungry. Eat before leaving home! If you go shopping for food and groceries and are hungry, you will undoubtedly end up buying and spending money above your budget. Everything will look enticing, so eat before you shop.

When making a grocery budget be sure to allow a little extra money for holiday meals and cooking. When making a grocery shopping list, try to avoid precooked meals or products. These usually cost far more than their homemade counterparts. When buying meats, buy boneless trimmed meats so that you aren’t paying for a bone and fat that you most likely will not use.

Learning better budgeting of your money when shopping for food and groceries can save you a lot of money and help stretch your food dollar further. Better shopping habits and meal planning by using these money saving tips can greatly improve what inhabits your pantry.

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Save money shopping online by using these coupon codes. Refreshing the page will bring you new coupon codes in this post. Coupon codes are great for bargain shopping! Copy the coupon code on the coupon into your order form when checking out to redeem the coupon code.

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It’s a sad fact that that the heat of the summer can wreak havor on our power bills. The hot summer sun beating through the windows just heat up the home. The air conditioners work overtime trying to keep the home cool, while the entire time the sun continues to make its way through the windows into the home.

So what is a body to do to help keep the sun out and save money on power bills?

There are several things we can do, like keep the curtains closed and shades drawn shut. But then we are left in the dark and often turn on the lights in the middle of the day, thus still running up the power bill.

Awnings are a solution. While they do cost, the money saved in the long run far outweighs the cost of buying awnings. Installing awnings over windows allows the light to shine in but shades the windows, allowing the light in but keeping the hot sun out.

Awnings are great for decks and patios. Having an awning over the patio or deck makes for a wonderful shaded area, much cooler, and very nice for being outside, grilling, working on flowers, etc. And they are so roomy that an awning is a good and safe place for the kids to play in the summer, under the awning and in the shade. When it’s raining, it allows for a cool place to sit out and watch the rain.

Having a retractable awning for the deck or patio area is a cool choice because you can have it rolled away when you want to.

In short, awnings are just a wonderful thing for a home to have! You can also get some free information about the wonders of awnings. These guys will send a free information kit and even a video about their retractable awnings.

Deck and Patio Owners! Get a FREE Info Kit & Video from SunSetter Retractable Awnings.

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Credit cards are everywhere. Turn on the TV and you will find advertising for the most popular credit cards. Sign onto the internet and you will find ads wanting you to apply online for a credit card. The temptation to apply for and acquire as many credit cards as possible can be great. After all, we can charge just about anything and pay for it later. And since the web has become the most popular way to shop, the use of credit cards has multiplied greatly.

As convenient as it is to just pull out a card and charge a purchase, it’s also one of the fastest way to get deep into debt. Learning to resist the urge to use a credit card often and controlling credit card spending is a must if we are to remain out of major debt.

The holiday season is peak season for credit card companies. They want us to use our credit cards and use them often. After all, just think of the amount of interest just one person is paying for just one card. Now multiply that by the millions of cards that are used on a daily basis, especially during the Christmas shopping season. They are raking in the dough at our expense! And let’s face it, most of us are paying the charges on these bills for years.

The easiest way to avoid going deep into debt from these charges is to avoid making the charges to begin with. While it’s a good idea to have at least one major charge card for emergencies, having a pocketful of them is just asking for a debt consolidation solution. To save yourself from having to worry about seeking help to consolidate debt, resist the urge to charge items, especially during the holiday shopping season.

One of the best alternatives to using credit cards is to use a debit card. One of the most popular debit cards is through PayPal.com, who offers a debit card that works just like a credit card. There are many benefits of using a debit card instead of charging your purchases. By using a debit card, the convenience of using a credit is still available, but there are no finance charges, and no bills to pay. Using a debit card in place of a regular charge card can save thousands of dollars in finance charges alone, depending on the amount of debt owed.

Resisting the urge to pull out the credit card and charging purchases isn’t always easy. Solve this problem by simply leaving the cards at home and taking the checkbook, debit card, or cash when shopping. If it’s not with you, you can’t use it, so just leave it at home.

Not using the card for online purchases isn’t as easy to control. Having the cards within immediate reach offers the opportunity to shop and charge with entirely too much ease. While this is great for convenience, it’s not great for the pocketbook when you overcharge and overspend.

How can we stop ourselves from going over the deep end with web purchases? A lot of it has to do with simple willpower. If we allow ourselves to spend without reserve, we will end up with a mounting debt that with no end to it in sight. The trick is to use a debit card such as PayPal.com’s. If a regular charge card must be used, use one only and set a limit on the amount that will be charged before using it. If the same item about to be charged can be purchased at a local store, go to the store and buy it rather than charging it. Make a list of what is to be charged and stick to the list.

Taking control of credit card use and spending can save a lot of money. It’s worth the extra effort to avoid charging and using other methods to make purchases. The extra effort can pay off in a nice nest egg with all the money you will save by not giving it to the credit card companies.

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Do you want to save money? There are lots of ways to cut costs, to make your money go further. I will present a few ideas here, most of which I have tried myself, and some of which I still practice.

Why buy storage containers? Those fake butter containers work just as well! Buy a container of the fake butter, use it and wash the bowl. There’s your first container! Keep buying the fake butter, washing those containers, and before long, you’ve got yourself a collection!

Want to save on buying drinking glasses? There are two ways to save on these. You can buy the cheap plastic ones. Or if you buy items in a glass jar, jelly for example, save the jar! Wash it, and there’s a drinking glass. Buy a few of the same items up, and you’ve got a set! Much less than buying drinking glasses, and they work just as well.

How many times have you went to wash your hands or bathe, only to find pieces of small or broken soap? That can drive you nuts! Simple solution! Take one of those fake butter bowls you’ve saved, and each time the soap gets that small, put it in the bowl. After a while, the soap pieces add up. You can get the bowl of soap pieces, add a small amount of water to it, and shape it into a new bar!

Are you tired of constantly buying emery boards to do your nails? Those things never last long. Make your own super duper boards for a fraction of the cost! Buy a package of sand paper. Go to a paint store and ask for some paint stirrers. You can usually get these free in most paint departments. Take a sharp kitchen knife if you have no saw, and cut the paint stirrers into small pieces. Then cut the sand paper into small pieces and glue the sand paper onto the paint stirrer pieces that you just cut up. There you are! A TON of emery boards! You have saved a lot of money, and made yourself something at the same time!

Another excellent way to save money is the brand of food you buy. A few years ago, while working for a company, I made a shocking discovery! I learned that most name brand companies put out the exact same item in a store brand and also off brand names! We all know that most store brand and off brand items sell for less. So I decided to start buying and trying the no name items rather than name brand stuff. I found that most, but not all, of the food items were the same thing I’d been buying under a well known name. I started saving TONS off of my grocery bill just by buying the store brand or off brand rather than a name brand! Add sales and coupons and there is no end to the amount you can save. It can actually trim HUNDRED�S off of your food bill every month!

Do you throw out your old junk mail? STOP! Look on the back of that mail. Is there anything on it? If not, cut it up into small pieces to write notes on! Why buy paper to scribble on and such, just to throw away? Use that junk mail and save money!

Do you need to decorate your walls with something? Take a look at your calendar, the months that have passed. Are there pictures on your calendar? Cut or tear those old months off, take the picture and find where you want it. Get some tape and place it nicely on your wall. Once the entire twelve months are up, you’ve got yourself a nicely decorated wall. And the best part is that you can get calendars free!

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