Split A Meal, Save Some Cash

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Sitting across from my son and his girlfriend in a restaurant, I listened as they picked a meal to share. My first thought was to question whether they’d both get enough food. Then, my mind was flooded with memories of bringing home leftovers or being miserably full when leaving the restaurant. Maybe my son was on to something that could help my wife and I cut our bill when dining out. By sharing an entrée, you can significantly reduce the overall cost of eating at a restaurant. However, there is a little bit of art to the process. Some entrees […] Read more »

Five Second Fruit Smoothies for $1

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Fruit smoothies are cool creamy treats enjoyed by many, including myself. But with a price tag of five to eight dollars depending on the food vendor, I don’t indulge often. That changed when I recently acquired a personal sized bullet style food blender. I received a NutriBullet blender for free as part of my employer’s healthy living incentive program. The blender came with a sizable book of recipes to make vegetable and fruit smoothies. Unfortunately all the recipes had at least half a dozen ingredients. I knew I would never use any of them. I wanted something simple and convenient, […] Read more »

My Favorite Generic Products

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Store brand and generic products generate strong feelings of poor quality. As I put away my groceries over the weekend I couldn’t help but feel this perspective is many times unwarranted. I was surprised just how many of the products I had purchased were store brand or generic products. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite store brand products: Soda I’d be lying if I said store brand soda tastes exactly like the high profile brand names. However, for some flavors such as orange and root beer, I like the store brands just as much, and they cost significantly less. […] Read more »

Dollar Store Shopping: Save Money On Decorating Supplies

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Shopping at a dollar store is very controversial. Laugh all you want, but bring it up the next time you’re having a conversation with a group of friends. Some think dollar stores are the best thing since sliced bread, others think they’re full of generic, expired, low quality junk. While looking for supplies to build a homecoming float for my daughter’s cheer team, I stopped in a dollar store and found a couple of items that were well worth walking in the front door. Poster board At the dollar store I visited, I got a large sheet of poster board […] Read more »

3 Ways To Prevent DIY Projects From Costing You Money

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    Do It Yourself projects can save a person a lot of money if they’re done right.  Done incorrectly, you might just end spending as much or more money than hiring someone to do it in the first place. I found this out recently when my garbage disposal decided it was time to retire. A chunk of metal broke off my garbage disposal during normal use. A quick look below the sink gave me confidence that I could replace it myself. I picked up a replacement from a local hardware store, installed it, and made sure it worked. I […] Read more »

The Simple Reason Subway Has Lost My Business

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I’m switching sub sandwich restaurants for a very simple reason. Customer loyalty is a funny thing. We may live and breathe a specific brand name or restaurant because of a great experience, a certain product, or proximity to our home or work. But we can also switch in an instant for an equally, seemingly trivial thing. For me the thing that is causing me to change sub sandwich restaurants is the very simple thing of saving a little money. For my entire adult life, I’ve been a huge fan of Subway. Whenever anyone would suggest trying another sub sandwich shop, […] Read more »

I’m Not Spending a Penny On My Wife For Christmas, and She’s Going To Love It

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I’m not spending a penny on my wife for Christmas this year, and she’s going to absolutely be thrilled about it. With the holidays approaching, conversations of gift ideas are being had between spouses, family members and friends. My wife and I were having a discussion about tasks that needed to be done yet to prepare for hosting Thanksgiving at our home. She got a little off topic, listing other less Thanksgiving critical tasks she wanted to have done. Sensing I was about to go into my usual speech about prioritization and doing only the things absolutely needing completion by […] Read more »

Cosmetology School Students Can Save You Money On Hair And Spa Services

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A visit to the salon for my wife was on the list of discussed and approved expenditures for the weekend. A few hairs on her beautiful head had dared to turn the wrong color, and needed to be taught a lesson. She called around gathering current pricing information as well as potential time slots, finding she would be paying somewhere between $70 and $90 for a single all over color. She then remembered the name of another salon that had been used by our neighbor to have their daughters’ hair done for homecoming a few weeks prior. The salon had […] Read more »

Save Money By Cooking At Home: Mexican Night Edition

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“I want a Margarita,” said my wife. We both had had a busy day doing separate activities and we were making plans for the evening together. My wife was in the mood for an adult beverage, and we began discussing where we could get a good margarita and dinner. We both made a few suggestions, but nothing really sounded good. Neither of us really wanted to be around other people. What she said next was music to my ears. “We could just get stuff and make drinks and dinner at home.” Not being a fan of dining out, I was […] Read more »

18 Smart Ways to Save Money on Your Utility Bills

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18 Smart Ways to Save Money on Your Utility Bills

I’m all about saving money wherever I can.  Especially when it comes to saving money on utility bills and other recurring expenses that can get out of hand very quickly if you’re not paying attention. So I thought I would share with you all the ways I’ve found to save money on your utility bills. Saving Money on Utility Bills is Easy! It’s really not that hard to save big bucks on utilities when you know what to do.  Sometimes saving money simply comes down to changing one or two habits, and sometimes it entails making an investment now that […] Read more »

The Inner Workings of Married People Dates: Coupons, Frugality, and Stealing My Wife’s Roast Beef

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It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and my wife and I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with just each other. We were able to have our first Friday lunch date of the school year last week, but we decided to take advantage of the fact that we had nothing going on this past weekend and have a date night on Friday as well. Our destination was a recently remodeled bowling alley nearby that advertised having bowling lanes, a game room, and laser tag. As I slid into my mini-van seat, I realized I had forgotten something. […] Read more »

We’re NOT Going Out For Breakfast……Because I Can Cook!

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“What would you like for breakfast?” I asked my wife. Weekdays are full of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for work and/or getting kids off to school, so on weekends I like to put my cooking skills to use and make my family a big breakfast. “Can we go out for breakfast?” was her reply. We were out of hash browns, plus she couldn’t decide exactly what she was in the mood for. She was thinking that if we went somewhere with a breakfast buffet she could have a little of everything. Eating out is something I would […] Read more »

9 Tips For Creating Discipline With Money

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9 Tips For Creating Discipline With Money

I frequently get questions from my readers about how to resolve their various financial problems.  The questions range from not being able to save enough, to tackling huge amounts of debt, to how to stop living paycheck to paycheck. One of the common themes I’ve discovered in the hundreds of emails I’ve received, is that most of those readers tell me the root of their problem is a lack of discipline. Lack of Money is Not the Problem Learning discipline when it comes to money is not always easy, but it’s necessary if you want to get ahead financially.  Many […] Read more »

13 Ways You Can Save Money On A Low Income

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save money low income limited income

I get a lot of questions from readers wanting to know how they can save money on a low income, so I thought I would write a post about some of the suggestions I’ve been giving out that can help you put money in the bank, even when you’re living on a limited income.  I’ve also included some great resources along with the suggestions that will help you get started putting money in the bank right now!   You Can Still Save Money On A Low Income When you’re living on a small income, it can be especially hard to […] Read more »