I just cut $1000 a year of “fat” from our budget. And it wasn’t horribly painful. I’ve let a few fun “me” things slip into the budget that I absolutely love and use. But my husband has been unemployed for nearly 2 months now. It’s time to tighten the belt a bit more, because I…
Budgeting
Meals & Deals: Week of 6/28/2015
Meals: Do you have one paycheck a month that is squeaky tight? Or all of them? The one that especially gets us is around the end of the month, when our mortgage comes out. The payment isn’t bad, but when you add in daycare for two kids, gas and groceries, there’s not much left over,…
Meals & Deals: Week of 6/21/2015
Here are the meals I’ve got planned, along with my shopping trip. It’s a less ambitious plan than my last one. I made a lot of the recipes last week, but there were a few that I forgot about. I’ll save them for later, since they’d been rescheduled a couple of times. If they don’t…
Cheap Thrills @ Goodwill Part 2
Houston, we have a problem…. After finding my great deals yesterday, I had to sleep with the fact that there was an amazing array of Fiesta-ware still sitting on the shelf in Goodwill, calling out to me. “Kim, buy us! Take us home!” So I found myself back today. Somehow my car drove there all by…
Cheap Thrills @ Goodwill
I confess. I’m a thrift store junkie. Goodwill has kind of become my Walmart. I can often find things made better and for far cheaper than the Chinese junk Walmart is peddling these days. As a working mom, I don’t always have time to stop for yard sales, especially on the weekends with small kids…
Meals & Deals: Week of 6/14/2015
I’ve started to combine my meal plans and shopping trips so you can see how things are going together and to keep myself organized as well. Here are this week’s meals and deals! This Week’s Meals: I must be crazy or hungry, because there are a LOT of recipes on this week’s plan, particularly new…
Meals & Deals: Week of 6/7/2015
Meal Plan: I had more elaborate plans for the week, but have been kicking my own butt in the garden and doing a lot of spring cleaning lately. So much has piled up and there’s so little time some days. I could barely move after all the exertion, so I’ve kept most of the meals…
Cheap Thrills: Grocery Deals This Week
I finally got a chance to hit the grocery store today and stock up on a few things. Money has been tight lately as life continues to be crazy. Thank God we’re frugal! Last week we had a whopping $35 for groceries and we ate mostly from the pantry, fridge and freezer. This week we’re…
Cheap Thrills: Grocery & Household Deals This Week
Even though groceries seem sky-high these days, there are still many ways to save at the store. And who doesn’t love a good grocery deal? I work full time and have small children, so my shopping and planning time is severely limited. I have found shopping on my lunch hour to be the best way…
Vintage FMs: The Price Book
Needs Updating for the modern world! This is my favorite tightwad tool, and so simple! Here is what you need:One 3-ring binderLoose-leaf paperPenSome time to do thisReceipts 1. Start by listing all of the groceries you buy on a sheet (or two or three) of paper. Don’t list things you occasionally buy, list things you…