Budget Buster - Cold Cereal

Cold cereal is a major budget buster, and unless you have a very slow metabolism one serving will never fill you up. Instead of cold cereal for breakfast, try:

• oatmeal (or baked oatmeal prepared the night before if convenience is what you love about cold cereal) Try peanut butter in your oatmeal for added protein, blueberries, dried apples, raisins, walnuts or pecans, or just brown sugar and cinnamon.
• eggs and toast (hard-boiled if you need it quick)
• fruit and yogurt
• apple slices with peanut butter

What do you eat for breakfast instead of cold cereal?

Budget Buster - Biscuits

One of our Saturday traditions is making a big breakfast. Scrambled eggs, sausage, and biscuits is one of our favorites. For what you get, canned biscuits are a big budget buster. Did you know that making biscuits is really easy?

Try this instead of buying canned:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening or cold butter
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup milk
• 
  

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Cut in shortening or butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and milk; use fork to stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Using an ice cream scoop, place scoops of dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Do you have traditional breakfasts on the weekends? What are you favorites?

How the Frugal Wealthy Live

The world's frugal billionaires live well below their means and save money in surprising places. Here's their tips:

1. Keep Your Home Simple
Billionaires can afford to live in the most exclusive mansions imaginable -- yet frugal billionaires like Warren Buffett choose to keep it simple. Buffett still lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500.

2. Use Self-Powered or Public Transportation
Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town.

3. Buy Your Clothes off the Rack
While some people, regardless of their net value, place a huge emphasis on wearing designer clothes and shoes, frugal billionaires decide it's simply not worth the effort, or expense.

4. Keep Your Scissors Sharp
Cut your own hair at home. Save an average of $40 per person per cut.

5. Drive a Regular Car
The idea is to buy a dependable car, and drive it into the ground. No need for a different car each day of the week for these frugal billionaires.

6. Skip Luxury Items
Carlos Slim (who could spend more than a thousand dollars a minute and not run out of money for one hundred years) does not own a yacht or a plane. (Reducing the amount you spend is the easiest way to make your money grow.)

Free Drawing Curriculum

DrawSpace.com is a wonderful online resource for art and drawing lessons. You can view, download, and print any of the drawing lessons for free!

DrawSpace has tons of art lessons covering everything from texture, shading, cartooning, hatching, perspective, and more.

Check it out! I think you'll be impressed.

Free Math Curriculum

Here's another great math curriculum: MEP (Mathematics Enhancement Program) You can download the practice books, lesson plans, and answer keys (for upper years) through the University website. if you have questions about how to use the site, there's an email support group. Password required to use the site, but homeschoolers in the US have had no problem obtaining one when they ask.

Free Books

Instead of buying books, trade them! For every book you ship, you get to pick a book for free. I have a long wish list, so any time one of my wishes becomes available, Paperback Swap will automatically ship it to me. WooHoo!

Another way to get free books is by reviewing them. With BookSneeze, you sign up to review a new book, and then you get to keep it.

I love FREE!

What's Better Than Free??

Cheap is great, but free is better!

One really EASY way to get stuff for free is by using Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search engine powered by Google that rewards you for using it. When you use their site, you earn "swagbucks". And with your swagbucks, you can buy whatever's on your wish list. Every week or two, I earn an Amazon gift card, so this is an easy way to hack away at my Amazon wishlist without spending a dime.

Check it out!

I Might Become Krazy After All

So a few weeks ago, one of my readers asked about couponing to save money. I proudly asserted that I don't use coupons. Who has the time?

Well, then I (quite literally) stumbled across a few youtube videos about "krazy" coupon ladies and I thought: Maybe I should give it a try.

I've only been couponing for three weeks, but I've been very impressed with the little bit I've been able to save so far.

Here's this week's CVS and Walgreen's deals I made:

6 boxes Granola bars- $1 each

4 bottles of Dove Shampoo + 2 men's deodorant- 58c each

Suave Professionals shampoo- 83c

Suave Professionals conditioner- 83c

4 family-size bottles Softsoap body wash- $1 each

2 tubes Nivea lipbalm- 50c each

1 box Coldcalm homeopathic- free

1 pkg. Huggies Little Movers diapers- free

$16.15 for all of it

Edited to add: Oh nuts, I forgot the candy. I got a big bag of Pretzel M&Ms, a big bag of snack-size Twix, and a big bag of snack-size Three Musketeers for $1 total. And Halloween hasn't even happened yet!

Not too shabby. Here's what I've learned:

• They used to charge for someone to match up the sales with the coupons (i.e. Grocery Game). (That's how you save the big bucks.) Now that info is free, via sponsored websites. I get all my info at The Krazy Coupon Lady.
• I don't have to pay for 6 copies of the Sunday paper to get all the coupons I need. Monday afternoon, there are gobs of coupon inserts still in the plastic wrap sitting at the top of the newspaper recycling bins at the elementary school a few blocks from home. Takes us 3 minutes to save $18 on papers.
• My kids LOVE helping with this, which makes the task that much easier and more fun.
• It does take time. So does my husband's job. But he never complains about not having the time to go to work. Both jobs bring money. We're both willing to work for money. ;)

So, I may be a new coupon convert. I'm giving it three months before I decide. But I'm so happy with the dividends already; I don't foresee quitting any time soon.

Free for Kids

Check out this site: My Kids Eat Free. Search by city and day of the week to find restaurants that offer Kids Eat Free nights.

Also check out this site: My Kids Go Free. Search by city and state to find vacation destinations that offer a break for families with children.

Lookie What I Got!

A month ago, I started working out with Biggest Loser DVDs from the library.

I really like the fact that (1) Bob Harper wears a t-shirt and shorts; no sports bras or bare midriffs, (2) He doesn't use profanity on the DVDs, so my kids can work out with me, and (3) I can customize my workout with all the options on the DVD, so I don't get bored with it.

A few weeks ago, my neighbor threw out a pair of dumbbells, which I quickly snatched up and I've been working out with them ever since.

After borrowing the workout DVDs from the library a couple of times, I ordered my favorite one

from Amazon, using the gift cards I earned with my Swagbucks.

I LOVE FREE!!

Have you got a bargain brag? Do share!

Big Savings: Toys

Baby toys are a dime a dozen. They are so easy to find used and cheap, there's just no reason to pay retail for them. Before hitting the toy store or even WalMart, check Craigslist, garage sales, or your local thrift store.

I bet you'll find what you're looking for and I guarantee you'll save plenty of money in the process!

Have you gotten a great bargain on baby stuff? Tell me about it!

Utilities Savings: Your Hot Water Heater

Go check your hot water heater's settings. I'll bet it's set to hot or very hot. Sometimes, dishonest plumbers will set your new hot water heater to "very hot" in order to wear it out sooner, thus needing him again soon. If you find your hot water heater set that high and you aren't the one who set it there, find a new plumber.

Lower your temperature settings and see if you notice any difference. If you don't, lower them again.

I now have my set to "warm" and I haven't noticed any loss at all. And I LOVE the savings on my gas bill! I think you will too!

Two Important Questions

When your goal is to keep more money in the bank, always ask these two questions before making a purchase:

1. Do I need this?

2. Do I need this right now?

Money saved is money in savings.

How Is Saving Money Fun??

When you hear the word "frugal", do you cringe? Does it make you think of cutting back, making do, and living with less? Saving money is FUN!

• When I bought a $75 Ann Taylor skirt for a mere $3 at the thrift store, that was fun!
• When we took the whole family out for dinner on "Kids Eat Free" night and spent only $20 for the eight of us, that was fun!
• When we found an almost-new chest freezer for just $50 on Craigslist, that was really fun!
• When we borrow DVDs from the library instead of paying for them elsewhere, that savings is fun!
• When I scored a $30 book for $2 at a used book sale, that was fun!

Frugality is no respecter of persons. Rich and poor alike enjoy the benefits of saving money. This is the beginning of a series of articles about saving money. I hope you enjoy it and learn something along the way!

Have you saved money this week? Tell me about your latest bargain!