Frugality

Simple and Frugal Soft Drink Recipes

April 2, 2012

Written by Kate Tietje, Contributing Writer
In my house, the beverage option is usually simple: water. It's always there, it's very cheap, and my kids know to ask for it (and not ask for other stuff).
Of course, this gets boring sometimes. Who wants to always drink water?! I know I don't. However, buying drinks is expensive. I know [...]

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My Mama Cloth Adventures and Review of Four Sources

March 30, 2012

Written by Natalie Klejwa, Contributing Writer
What in the World is Mama Cloth?
Eighteen years ago I cloth diapered my first two babies in white cotton pre-folds coupled with Gerber's hard, crinkly plastic pants. Not because it was fun and I wanted to. I did it because we were dirt poor. We didn't have a "pot to [...]

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10 Ingredients to Make From Scratch

March 21, 2012

Written by Erin Odom, Contributing Writer
When I first started cooking from scratch, it didn't seem too hard. I gathered my ingredients and followed the recipes. But then one day it hit me: I wasn't buying processed, pre-packaged meals anymore, but I was using processed, pre-packed ingredients to make my "from-scratch" meals. And these ingredients were just [...]

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Moving to a More Natural Lifestyle: Ramblings of a Former Coupon Queen

February 27, 2012

Guest Post written by Stacy Myers.
Hello – My name is Stacy and I used to be a coupon addict. No…really. I would take my coupon binder camping – in the woods – with all of nature – and no electricity. There I was, in the woods…just me and my coupons with the Sasquatches. A year ago, [...]

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Using Beans to Keep the Food Budget in Check

February 7, 2012

I recently shared a very popular $250 sample grocery budget, and mentioned that one of the ways that I would stretch things out was with the use of vegetarian meals, most of which feature beans and legumes. Katie has written an incredible recipe ebook called The Everything Beans Book (keep reading for a coupon code!), [...]

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Increase Your Wardrobe — Without Spending Any Money {Developing a Women’s Clothing Exchange}

January 27, 2012

Written by Erin Odom, Contributing Writer
My family operates on a tight budget. And since having children, there hasn't been much--if any--room in that budget for adding to mine or my husband's wardrobe.
But just over a year ago I discovered a way to increase my wardrobe--without spending any money: a women's clothing exchange.

Image by agador
My Sister's Closet
A local [...]

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How I Would Improve my $250 Grocery Budget Even More

January 26, 2012

If you haven't yet read my initial post, What I Would Feed my Family on a Monthly Budget of $250, I would suggest going there first, and then coming back to this post.
First, Some Answers to Your Questions
1. No, this isn't how we regularly eat. I did mention that in the other post, but I [...]

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What I Would Feed my Family on a Monthly Budget of $250

January 23, 2012

*After you read this post, be sure to read the second post in this series, with thoughts on how I would improve upon this budget.*
I had way too much fun writing this post.
I hinted on Facebook last week that I was working on a post detailing what I would buy if I could only spend [...]

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Basic Necessities for a New Baby

January 20, 2012

Written by Natalie Klejwa, Contributing Writer
I'm not a child expert or anything. I've had a few babies. I've learned over the years that there is a lot of paraphernalia out there you could purchase or register for to get ready for your new family member, but most of it is completely unnecessary and a total [...]

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Yes, You Can Stop Using Credit Cards!

January 19, 2012

Written by Kate Tietje, Contributing Writer
In the new year, one of the major resolutions a lot of people make (after losing weight) is getting out of debt. A lot of families are reeling from their Christmas expenses -- I think I've read the average family spends over $2000 on Christmas each year! Much of that [...]

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