Frugal Friday

With the recent news about the economy, I have decided that my husband and I need to develop more frugal habits. I believe I first saw the idea of Frugal Friday on my daughter-in-law, Kara's blog, but I have noticed that several other bloggers that I follow are beginning to post money-saving ideas or ways to simplify their lives. Barbara has posted several great sounding recipes for hot roll and bread mixes and a homemade sausage mix. Linda talks about simplicity. Ms. Smockity , when she isn't moving her large family (seven children!) across the state, is great about posting her frugal hints.

My hint for this Frugal Friday is to clip coupons! Mercy! I have not done that since we were trying to feed four hungry boys on an educator's salary. However, this week, in my efforts to be more frugal, I
1) read the Wednesday grocery ads in the newspaper,
2) made my list of needed items from the sale items and determined to stick to the list,
3) went through the coupons that I still clip (but rarely use--until now!) and found several coupons that matched the sale items,
4) shopped the store and resisted impulse buying (except for the brussel sprouts that looked delicious and were half their normal price!), and
5) got my flu shot in the pharmacy because they were offering 10% off the grocery bill with a flu shot.

At the end of the shopping, my bill totaled about $81, but by the time the coupons and the 10% deduction from the flu shot were deducted, my bill came out to about $62 and the only item that was not on sale was the brussel sprouts!

I felt like I had pocketed a crisp, new $20 bill at the store yesterday! And that is my hint for Frugal Friday.

More Good Stuff

Barbara, at Serenity Room has posted another list of ways to make things easier during this time of economic difficulties. I believe that her suggestions are good even if there is NOT a financial crunch going on.

Many of the things on Barbara's list just make good sense for everyday living and help with organization around the house. Things like making a shopping list and sticking to it while shopping; making nutritious snacks such as popcorn instead of buying chips or crackers; cooking beans, rice, soup and eating those things instead of buying prepackaged items or eating out; shopping newspaper ads and using coupons for items you buy. Learning how to make bread, learning to sew, consciously conserving gasoline and making handmade gifts for birthdays and Christmas are other great ideas to put into practice and make a part of our lives.

I know I have drifted away from some of the methods that I used to conserve money when we had 4 boys at home and I had to really plan our spending to make my husband's paycheck cover all our needs. Reading Barbara's past two posts on being prepared for an economic downturn brought back many memories of my conservative ways during those days. Funny how far I have strayed from those times.

Christmas Ideas

The past few days I have been talking to a couple of my daughters-in-law about Christmas gift giving and we have decided to curtail our spending this year in light of the impending financial crunch. We talked about: 1) focusing more on the children and 2) being more practical in what we give to the adults.


I am making some of my Christmas gifts. The past few weeks I have been creating some adult surprises for family members that I won't describe here. For neighborhood giving I am making knitted cotton dish cloths in glorious colors. I plan to make up some of my favorite spice mixes and put them with the dish cloths for adult-type gifts around the neighborhood. I also plan to begin making some of my food gifts early. I am open for more suggestions if anyone is into the Christmas-gift-making mode at this time.

I am hoping that we do not have to endure prolonged economic difficulties, but I do plan to use some of my ingenuity to create nice Christmas gifts without making a big dent in our budget this year.

Today I noticed that Barbara has a blog article on getting prepared for an economy crisis by saving for an emergency. She lists things that one might want to stock up on and in doing so might save some money in the long run. You can view her list by clicking on her name above.