Festival of Frugality #166 – The Winter Is Almost Over Edition
Welcome to the 166th edition of the Festival of Frugality — The Winter is Almost Over Edition. Taking a break from the love related themes from the last two festivals, this week we bid farewell to the month of February and look anxiously towards the spring that is only a few weeks away. If you live in a northern climate, I’m sure you understand where I am coming from. Spring could not come soon enough.
Photo by Nicholas_T (Flickr)
Editor’s Choice
- Could you live in a freight container? Heather at The Greenest Dollar argues that these containers provide a funky, green, affordable, and comfortable form of shelter, in what is definitely a fun read. I don’t think I’m quite ready for the container life, but it is certainly interesting.
- Kathryn at the Money Saving Blog has a great list of twenty things you can sell or re-use that you already have in your home. It really got me thinking about what I have lying around my place right now.
- A frugal question: Megan at Counting My Pennies wonders about sacrificing for the whole — would you give up some of your paycheck to help prevent layoffs at your company?
- A second frugal question: The Smarter Wallet asks the question: with limited income, would you rather downsize and cut costs, or work a second job? I am not sure what I would choose — maybe both?
- Jeff (via a Frugal Dad guest post) presents some tips on how to save money at a sporting event — something that has always seemed like a herculean task to me. Its amazing how expensive things can get once you cross through the ticket gates.
Frugal Tips
- Pimp Your Finances exposes five everyday businesses that trick you — the bar, grocery store, restaurants, malls, and more; it really is like a form of constant psychological warfare.
- Kelly from Almost Frugal takes a look at how she can better frugalize parts of her routine, focusing on quantity, quality, time, and money.
- Aryn at Sound Money Matters presents the wonders of the Diva Cup. The start of the entry — “Move along, guys. Nothing to see here, unless you find menstruation interesting.” I think I’ll leave it at that and move on!
- Manshu Verma (via a guest post at Cash Money Life) shares some areas where one can alter spending habits to save money. The most surprising and rewarding technique? Asking politely for discounts.
- MoneyNing has a straightforward suggestion, albeit perhaps counter-intuitive, for lowering your spending — do less of it to begin with! If you’re accustomed to eating ice cream every night, it is harder to go without it.
- Catherine at the Frugal Homemaker Plus lets us in on five inexpensive kitchen tools that save her money. Who needs those fancy kitchen tools?
- The WalletPop Blog presents the case for the comeback of oatmeal. I think I’ll pass on the oatmeal burger, though.
- Benjamin at Tress Full of Money shares a recipe for Spicy Peanut Pad Thai Noodle; it sounds absolutely delicious — so much so that I may have to give it a try, despite the fact I have no business in a kitchen.
- Tristan at Find Financial Freedom retells the story of a man who squeezes every dollar out of his gym membership, saving on monthly living expenses. I’m not sure if the man in the story is crazy or ingenious, but its certainly a way to save a buck!
- Continuing with story time, FMF at Free Money Finance shares a story of a guy who paid off his mortgage by brown bagging his lunch to work. Just goes to show how little savings can add up over time.
- Alex at Home Life Weekly provides some great printable mothers day cards — no excuses, don’t forget about mom! In case you’re wondering, in the United States, Mothers Day falls on May 10 this year, but if you’re in the UK, Mothering Sunday is right around the corner on March 22.
- One Family’s Blog profiles the world of stamp collecting, highlighting some of the best worldwide stamp catalogs out there. Seems like fun!
- Have a few strawberries lying around? Julena tells us how you can make your own organic skin care products using strawberries. Who knew?
- Dawn at Frugal For Life tackles the unpleasant issue of odors in the bathroom. The frugal thing to do? Try matchsticks.
- Jeff at stretchyDollar shares how you can earn real rewards for searching over the internet through Swagbucks.com. I had heard about Swagbucks from someone, but had never actually looked into it — seems like an interesting concept.
- The Personal Finance Start Up takes us step by step through exercising smart, frugal spending — determine if you really need the purchase, research your purchase, wait for a deal, and don’t forget cash back. All in all, a nice plan.
- The FSC blog considers some of the simple strategies families can employ when making frugal everyday choices.
- The Home Security Beat suggests ten low cost security improvements you can make to your home. No one wants to think about threats to one’s own home, but the peace of mind can be worth it. Don’t use a hide-a-keys, for example, seems like a smart tip.
Photo by noahg. (Flickr)
Frugal Shopping
- The Chief Family Officer shares a simple but effective frugal tip — if you’re going to shop at both a normal chain grocery store and a discount grocery store, go to the discount store first! Order matters – you’ll find yourself making better use of your money.
- Amanda at Value For Your Life shows some impressive returns from her discount grocery store plan — an amazing 43% savings during one week! The difference between full priced grocer and discount grocer is remarkable.
- Jennifer at Getting ahead encourages us to think beyond food when it comes to stockpiling and to make use of a smart plan for choosing which items to stockpile and how often to do so.
- Kate at A Simple Walk also looks at stockpiling, declaring this the month to stockpile. Also has some great tips on where exactly you can put your stockpiled items — something with which I have always struggled.
- David at the Personal Finance Analyst provides an elegantly simple tip for finding Staples.com coupons — simply head on over to their website. Easy button!
- Mara at the Secrets for Money blog makes the case for finding deals at the dollar store. I’ll agree that it is definitely surprising some of the deals you can find in the dollar store.
- Kathryn at Out of Debt suggests a clever way of using secret shopping programs to perhaps get your taxes done for free. Very impressive if you can manage to swing it.
Photo by stpauliesgirl. (Flickr)
Frugal Philosophy
- Are you a CoCo? Miss M at M is for Money identifies herself as one — one of many Conscious Consumers that are emerging today, all part of a growing frugal consciousness.
- Caleb at The Greenback Guide takes a moment to consider on the secret to being smart with your money, coming to some nice conclusions about the proper role of money in our lives. Its all about priorities.
- Ryan at Uncommon Cents reflects on the role of discipline in everyday frugality. I tend to agree with the conclusion — discipline may just be a daily struggle, but its an important one.
- Living Almost Large shares her experiences with an evolving frugality and discovering what works for her — a refreshing story that reminds us that being frugal isn’t a set path.
- Elizabeth at Modern Gal considers what it should mean to have frugal priorities — arguing that it is not about getting as much stuff for as little money as possible, but rather more about being a good steward to limited resources. Seems like a good characterization.
- The Wise Curve pauses to consider the relationship between happiness and money. Is a free experience the key to everyday happiness?
- Todd at HarvestingDollars tries to assess whether he is actually obsessed with retirement planning, and how exactly that planning fits in to his short and long term goals and dreams.
Frugal Reuse, Recycling, and Resale
- From Lisa at Greener Pastures, information on a proposed federal program to offer cash in exchange for old gas guzzling cars. Unfortunately, the program’s on hold — a bogus development, according to Lisa.
- FCN raises the question of saving money by renting out a room, a great way to save money across the board, from rent to groceries to utilities.
- Pinyo tackles the question of where best to sell used books and textbooks, offering a nice comparison between several stores.
- Buying a house? Chris at Home I Own shares some tips for minimizing expenses when house hunting. Its all too easy to just let expenses build up little by little.
- Savvy Frugality offers some suggestions for how best to sell your gold; one hint — don’t fall for the TV commercials. Amen.
Photo by spisharam (Flickr)
Frugal Finances
- Free From Broke provides a reality check in the form of nine excuses people give for not starting a budget. Do you see yourself reflected in the list?
- More on budgets: Thursday at Wealth Junkies covers some suggestions on how to decide your budget priorities, including how to handle introducing new priorities.
- Silicon Valley Blogger gives a nice overview of the ING Direct Orange Savings account, including a great summary that will be accessible to those unfamiliar with online banking.
- J. Money highlights a wealth of data from US News and World Report on 401(k)s, breaking things down by age group, job tenure, asset allocation, and more. Interesting stuff.
- BankMan provides a helpful warning regarding withdrawal limits on savings accounts – don’t get caught going over six!
- Peter at BibleMoneyMatters covers the first baby step in Dave Ramsey’s baby steps to getting your finances in order. First up? Making a decision to change.
- The Shark Investor attacks five myths people use to justify not saving, providing some nice counterexamples. There is no reason not to save, people!
- Christian Debt Help answers the question of when you can expect your tax refund from the IRS, including a comprehensive table of expected date. Yikes, I haven’t even really gotten started with my taxes yet!
- Continuing on the subject of tax refunds, The Frugal Duchess shares some suggestions on how best to put your tax refund to work with tips from the Consumer Credit Counseling Service.
- And if you are just starting those taxes, FIRE Finance has compiled a list of discount coupons for filing with TaxCut.
- Deposit Accounts also encourages (implores!) us to carefully consider how to use those tax refunds when they start coming in. It is a great chance to boost (start?) that emergency or retirement fund.
- Kate at the Paycheck Chronicles warns against opting for debt protection insurance, providing a nice factual rebuttal to many myths associated with the insurance.
- Sun gives us a rundown of the highest-interest online savings accounts, noting that it is becoming increasingly hard to find banks offering over 3%.
- Jim focuses instead on CD rates, researching the highest short-term CD rates available.
- Madison highlights a nice sign-up bonus with the Ohio 529 College Advantage plan.
- Beginner Investing presents a simple suggestion for beginning investors — pay off your credit card debt!
- Dan at Darwin’s Finance gives us the start of his rundown on lowest mortgage refinance rates, also offering some tips to consider when evaluating an offer rate.
- DebtLife considers what might be the root causes of debt.
- Scott at DebtGoal has a nice overview on how to understand your credit report; if you are unfamiliar with what a credit report is, its probably a good idea to take a moment to find out more.
- Abigail at i pick up pennies has a rather comprehensive and informative guide to dealing with debt collectors. Sadly, it seems like dealing with debt collectors inevitably involves going to battle, so it pays to be prepared and empowered with information.
- The Debt Freedom Fighter provides some insight into how the debt collection process operates; a sobering reminder of the effects of not paying bills.
That’s all, folks!
Thanks for sticking around until the end. To learn more about the Festival of Frugality, head over to the carnival website. Next week’s Festival of Frugality will be hosted over at Green Panda Treehouse. Should be fun!
Hello Everybody: I’m Back!
Photo by Justin Marty (Flickr)
Well, I am officially back to blogging. What started as a simple break from posting over the Christmas holidays inadvertently turned into a much more lengthy break from regular blogging than I had intended. It turned out to be much harder to start back up than I had planned.
Nevertheless, I am committed to continuing this blog both as a way for me to continue exploring personal finance and frugality issues, as well as a way to share what I have learned with others. If anything, the month off gave me a chance to decide if I really wanted to continue to work on the blog — and the answer is a definite yes.
Festival of Frugality
To start things off, I will be hosting the 166th (and as-of-yet unnamed) Festival of Frugality next week. I really enjoyed hosting the Festival last time around, and am looking forward to being able to share some great entries from around the frugality community. If you’re interested in submitting a post for the festival, as usual, head over to the carnival page.
Stay Tuned
In addition, I have some ambitious plans for the blog over the next couple of months, including more frequent posting, regular features, a new blog theme, and more. I would love to hear any feedback you might have for me on where I can go from here, so please don’t be shy.
So please stick around!
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