Savings!!
Good news! Crystal over at moneysavingmom.com is having a major sale on her e-books. I talk about Crystal a lot on this blog- she is fantastic! Inspirational, loves the Lord, is super frugal, practical, just all around amazing. She has a group of e-books that she is selling for just $5.97! I went and looked at the compilation, and there is over $100 in savings! Some of the e-books that caught my attention were Super Market Savings 101: How To Drastically Cut Your Grocery Bill, Simple Tips For Successful Home Management, Simply Centsible Breakfasts, How To Start Your Own Business, Menu Planning Made Easy, and Thriving On One Income. The e-books I just listed are just some of the e-books you get for the $5.97 price.
I’m heading over to purchase mine today! Tomorrow the price goes up $3, and Friday the price goes up another $3. Crystal’s stuff is worth the money. Her wisdom stretches your dollars so far. Read about it HERE!
My 100th Post!!!
I can hardly believe I am now writing my 100th post! Craziness!
In honor of my 100th post, I’d like to list 10 things I have learned about finances and frugality since I began blogging back in April!
1. I thought that rolling down car windows and turning off the AC in my car would save gas. I found out I was very wrong. leaving the windows open can create drag and affect your gas mileage as well. On newer cars, your better off actually using your AC! Read more about this HERE.
2. Coupons can be powerfully effective in saving money. I have learned this through my own usage of coupons and from reading Super Savings Saturday posts at moneysavingmom.com. I have read about women saving over $200 in coupons! Read more about this HERE.
3. Accountability can have a huge impact on your willingness to stick to a budget. I started reporting on our monthly goals back in May. Knowing that I will be posting on how well we did spurs me on to stick to it! Read some of my accountability posts HERE and HERE.
4. ING Direct can be a powerful savings tool. Nathan and I saved up enough money to buy a new computer using ING Direct as a tool. I love how easy it is and the interest rate is great. I have found that our temptation to touch that money is a lot less because we have to go to the ING website and request it transferred in order to use it. The transfer process is easy enough to do when we have a legitimate need, but enough to keep us from over using it. If you’re interested in opening an account, I can refer you. (Nathan and I get a small kick back if we refer you!)
5. You don’t have to go to the gym to stay healthy. Nate and I began running this summer, and it’s awesome. I’m now running a mile and a quarter! I’m thinking I can increase to a mile and half soon! Read more about the money saving aspect of running HERE.
6. Husbands can change! 
Nathan is becoming more and more frugal with time. He did a great job in showing me how we could purchase his favorite video game. Read all about it HERE.
7. It is worth the time to request freebies! Wal-mart offers great freebies and freebies4mom.com is a great source for finding reliable freebies. Read more about my experience with freebies HERE and HERE.
8. Its okay if you don’t always have frugal success. I made a list of my frugal failures HERE. I have decided that I will always try to be frugal, and it’s okay if I don’t always succeed. I learn and move on!
9. Is giving coming more naturally now? I feel like it may be! That is good news for me as I have not always been very good at it. Read about my transformation HERE and HERE.
10. There is a difference between being frugal and being cheap. There is a fine line. Nathan and I had a decision to make when it came to being frugal vs. being cheap, and I think we came out okay. Read about it HERE.
What have you learned from other blogs or from blogging? I’d love to hear about it!
Wonderful Giving Opportunity…
Erin over at Coupon Cravings is providing some savvy shoppers with the opportunity to stretch $5 as far as they can for charity! All you have to do is provide her with a scenario for how you are going to spend the money, and she’ll send you a $5 gift card if you are the randomly selected winner. You can then choose which local charity you would like to donate to. It sounds amazing to me! Read more about it HERE!
Craft Tip Tuesday!
I’d like to start a new tradition for my Tuesday posts. I LOVE crafting– all kinds of crafting! As a frugal person, I often hear people say that they choose not to craft because of the cost. I automatically say, “It doesn’t have to be expensive!” I have found so many ways to make crafts like scrapbooking, card making, holiday crafts, and children’s crafts afforadable! So, I’d like to share some of those ways with you, here, on Tuesdays!
Craft Tip Tuesday: Remake cards!
Gift cards to me are like free paper! My mom gave me this super cute thank you card.
Once I opened it, I realized that the writing part was barely attached, underneath was this super cute card stock. I took off the note, (because that’s the only part that actually means something,) and I used the cardstock to make a new card!
I then used a glue stick, a scrap of white paper from my scrap box, a pen, scissors, some little pieces of scrap ribbon left over from my wedding invitations, and a stapler. Here was the result!
And there you have it! A brand new card made with $0 spent!
My tip for envelopes is to purchase the sets of cards at the Dollar Tree, you know those really ugly ones. Throw away those ugly cards, and use the envelopes! You can get 8-10 cute little envelopes for only $1! Try to beat that price at a craft store!
Got any great crafting tips? Share them in the comments section!
Check out this great post about sewing crafts HERE at Rocksinmydryer.typepad.com!
Give aways worth checking out!
I just love a great giveaway! Freebies4mom.com has listed some really good ones this week, (I entered all of them that I could!) All of them just take a few minutes or less to enter. Why not? You’re supporting other bloggers and someone’s got to win, right?
I recently learned how to hyperlink thanks to my wonderful hubbie!
So if you click HERE, you’ll be taken directly to Heather’s list of giveaways at Freebies4mom.com!
Great Advice for saving on Groceries!
Can I just say I love Crystal at Moneysavingmom.com? She is so wonderful and I think she has so much wisdom to pass on. I read this post about how to save money without using coupons. A lot of us busy women don’t have time to clip, so what can we do? She has some great advice. And by the way, she feeds a family of four on $40/week. Yeah. She is amazing and an inspiration to me in every sense of the word.
Check it out here!
More amazing thoughts on the Dollar Tree!
Audrey at The Jubilant Journal was inspired my Dollar Tree Top Ten List! She created her own list that her family enjoys and had some great insight on the “brand name” issue that comes up at the Dollar Tree. (I also found it funny that she is married to a guy named Nate who has picky taste!)
Check it out here!
Summer Purses on sale at Wally World!
In need of a fun tote or purse? Wal-Mart has some of their summer canvas bags on sale for $9! My sister and I got one each! We match! Aren’t we cute!
FREE Cheerios!
Sign up for the Cheerios challenge! You get free cheerios plus a coupon!
It’s a really short sign up too; it took me less than a minute!
Go HERE to sign up for yours!
A Frugal Day…
I had a very frugal day today, I love it when that happens!
I cleaned and had a healthy breakfast at home, spent time in the Word, cleaned, had a healthy lunch at home, recieved a wonderful thank you gift from my mom for puppy sitting, went to Starbucks with the Hubster to use our registered gift cards for free Vivano drinks, and then we went back to Maurices.
If you read my super savings post this week, I bought some back to school clothes there. When I was looking over the prices on my reciept, I noticed that I had been charged twice for the tote bag I bought. I went in and the girl that rang me up was so apologetic and even gave me a coupon for 10% my next purchase! Nice! They have such fabulous service. Seriously, I love that place!
Then hubbie and I walked over to the Hastings book store next door. I had found a Hastings gift card in my sister’s room when I cleaned it for her, (read my decluttering works for me post!) She was going to toss it because there was only a couple bucks on it. I kept it of course and took it with me.
I asked the cashier how much was left on it, and there was $3.85! That’s enough for a children’s book for my classroom! So I got a Clifford book for free today too!
Later on, I went to a women’s ministry event at my church and had so much fun fellowshipping, and of course it was free.
It’s just so nice to know that at the end of the day, I lived frugally and still lived well.
Thanks Lord for shining in my life in the simpliest of things.
