Are No Contract Phones The Best Wireless Option?

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Last fall my family finally made the plunge into the smart phone world.  We were enjoying a cheap wireless plan as we limped along with phones that were over two years old, but envying the features and conveniences that come with smart phones.  With our scratched, dented, and worn out phones showing signs of giving up we pulled the trigger and signed a two year contract with AT&T. Multiple readers suggested that I should have checked out no contract options. I was very excited to be given the opportunity through the Collective Bias Community (#cbias) to try such a plan […] Read more »

Avoiding Debt by Minimizing Large and Recurring Expenses – Rethinking Personal Vehicles

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One of the keys to avoiding debt is to know how it overtakes us. Without a doubt, debt has many helpers in the form of large and recurring expenses. I'd like to share with you a few pages from my own playbook when it comes to handling large and recurring expenses. Specifically, I'm interested in speaking to the issue of motor vehicles. It's a good topic to address because transportation is typically 15% of the household budget of Americans...often more than what we spend on food. Cars tend to be a large expense, and even without a monthly payment, they're a recurring expense. And, as we're all aware, the price of insurance, fuel, tires and maintenance continues to climb. Read more »

The Biggest Ripoff EVER

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Every Memorial Day weekend Vonnie and I host a little get together for family and friends. While shopping for the needed supplies last week I purchased a product that could very well be the biggest ripoff on planet Earth. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed bottled water, you were close. At least with bottled water you could make the argument that your preferred brand tastes better than tap water or other brands. But this product, for what I needed it for, was a complete wallet gouger. Ice We purchased a keg of beer for our adult guests, […] Read more »

Who Says You Can’t Rock a Tool Belt with Heels?

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Tool belt and heels

When it comes to home repairs or pulling off DIY projects, it’s the ladies in my family rocking the tool belt.  Despite being a card carrying Daddy’s girl, I did not grow up with the kind of father who owned lots of power tools or worked around the house fixing things each weekend.  However, I do have a mother who currently owns a band saw and thinks instructions manuals are for babies. I am a hardcore DIY’er.  I have a list longer than the square footage of my house full of home improvement projects. My loving and supportive (and manly, […] Read more »

Online Coupon Sites That Will Save You Money

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Over the last few months I’ve been making an effort to use coupons to help save on groceries, household items, and other essentials of life. It’s obviously one of those things that you get out of it as much as you put into it. It takes time to dig through the local ads as well as websites to find coupons that match the products that my family actually uses. Through my quest for using coupons experience (say that fast 10 times!) I’ve found a handful of websites on which I have been able to find useful coupons that can genuinely […] Read more »

Real Men Use a Shovel

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In Minnesota, we joke that there are only two seasons: Winter, and Road Construction. We DO occasionally say “You betcha,” although not as often, and not as dramatically as in the movies. We eat tator tot hot dish, and in my city the average snow fall is just under 52 inches per year. Walking outside the morning after a fresh snowfall, you can hear snow blowers humming away all over my neighborhood. But you’ll never hear the roar of a snow blower engine coming out of my garage, because I don’t own one. I clear my driveway the old fashioned […] Read more »

A Family Night At the Movies for $5.50

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We were operating on a shoestring budget due to overspending during some vacation activities the first half of July. My kids had been interested, and in my daughters case begging, to be go see Ice Age 3 Continental Drift as a family. Going to a movie can be an expensive excursion, especially if you visit the concession stand. Our usual movie going technique is go see the movie as a matinee, when the tickets are $4.50 per person. However, even that was more funds than we felt comfortable shelling out. With a little creativity, my family of four were able […] Read more »

Use the Internet To Stay Connected

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Like many families, my family is spread out throughout the U.S. Before we had a child, this aspect of our lives didn’t bother me or my husband too much. It was nice to have our own space but we knew that our parents were a relatively short drive away (3 hours north to my parents, 2 hours south to his) if we needed or wanted to visit (or if there was an emergency). It was a pretty sweet set up, actually. Then we had our daughter. Both of us grew up with our extended families less than 20 minutes from […] Read more »

The Waiting Game: Saving Money Vs Paying Top Dollar

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I love reading and my favorite genre is fantasy. I’ve enjoyed George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones books and am looking forward to seeing the books in their video incarnation produced by HBO. Since I do not have cable, or HBO, my options are to either purchase the first season on DVD/Blueray or pay $2.99 per episode on Amazon Instant Video. From a financial perspective, this small purchase contains a useful lesson on spending. The retail price for the DVD is $59.99. Several stores have it in stock at the retail price and you can watch it as soon as […] Read more »

Lists Save Time, Money, and Stress

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I love lists! I make lists for everything, from to do lists, to bucket lists, to what to watch on TV lists. But where my finances are concerned I like my shopping lists best. I rarely go shopping without a list. Why? Because shopping lists save you time, money, and stress. Shopping lists save money. I consider making a shopping list kind of like shopping from home. You take a look around and decide what you need. You can make your shopping decisions without the glitz and glamour of the store. There is no wandering around the store to see if there is anything else you need. Read more »

Expensive Hobbies and Habits and Their Cost-Saving Alternatives

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cost saving alternatives to expensive coffee

Scrapbooking. Spa Days. Golf. Sewing. Travel. Gourmet Coffee. Smoking. Clothing. Dining Out. Hobbies are meant to be a time to relax, release some stress and have fun. Hobbies are enjoyable because they are always something you enjoy. Habits are formed for similar reasons. They can help you relax, help you release stress and occasionally bring fun to your life as well. All of the activities mentioned above are either habits or hobbies. And all can be budget busters when allowed to be. Some people may feel that they have to give up the things they love in order to save […] Read more »

Thanksgiving: Frugal and Fun

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I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday. One of the reasons is that I met my husband on Thanksgiving day in 2003. I had been invited to my roommate's parents house for the holiday. While I was there I met her brother... who is now my husband. But this great holiday was my favorite even before that. I like Thanksgiving because it's low-key. There isn't a huge lead up to the holiday. You don't spend WEEKS before the actual event listening to commercials and promotions so that you are sick of the holiday before it even arrives. Read more »

Do You Have Frugal Friends?

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I love my frugal friends. I love all my friends, of course, but I really love my frugal friends. I love sharing frugal tips and annoyances. But my favorite thing is that they don’t make me feel cheap for avoiding spending money. I was talking to a friend the other day about how to visit Disneyland on the cheap. I live in Phoenix which is a 5 hour drive to Disneyland. This friend just recently moved to Arizona from the East Coast and she’s never been. I was explaining that now that she can drive there it’s really not to […] Read more »

Frugal Fun: Geocaching

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My family started a new hobby this weekend and we are totally hooked! Geocaching.  It’s completely free and a total blast.  If you’ve never heard of geocaching it’s a world-wide treasure hunt. You can sign up for free at geocaching.com and there are lists and lists of hidden caches. (The caches are the treasures.) You can search by zip code to find ones near you. Each treasure has coordinates that you can plug into your GPS that will bring you within feet of the cache. Then you have to use your noggin. So far I’ve found three. They were an […] Read more »