Tuesday
Jan082008
WFMW: The Backwards Edition
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 10:35PM 
This week over at Rocks in my Dryer, Shannon has organized another "Backwards Week." This means that I get to pose a question for YOU to answer. So here are my questions:
- What do you do to save money?
- If you clip coupons, where do you usually shop to redeem them?
- What are your favorite "cheap knock-off" products?
- What is your favorite easy-peasy frugal recipe?
- What are your favorite frugal websites?
- Any other tips or tricks?
When you're done here, head on over to Rocks in my Dryer to find out what is working (or not working, in this case) for other folks!
Oh yeah...I almost forgot! The Bloggy Giveaways "It's Your Turn" Giveaway Carnival is coming up. I'm taking suggestions on things to offer for a giveaway! What would you like to see being given away here?
Reader Comments (11)
Check out www.thegrocerygame.com. It's super easy and inexpensive... completely legit, even though it sounds too good to be true. :) We've been Grocery Gaming for a year and a half, and it's wonderful.
Rebecca's last blog post..http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/tLzq/~3/214067874/thursday-thirteen-edition-2.html' rel="nofollow">Thursday Thirteen Edition 2
Check out this www.smartspendingresources dot com
I have a lot of friends who swear by her grocery saving tips.
Janel's last blog post..http://smallinspirations.blogspot.com/2008/01/wordless-wendesday.html' rel="nofollow">Wordless Wendesday - Disney Memories
That's hilarious. It's no secret that I'm far more liberal than anyone else in my family. Justin's only consolation was that I (in his words) "at least didn't agree with huckabee... it could be so much worse!) Regardless of political affiliation at least we agreed on that one!
Saving Money: Basic Cable ($12), No long distance on home phone, no car payments, no credit cards unless emergency (like when your central heat dies... sigh), we rarely eat out, (and by rare.. I mean once every 6 mos or so.. including ordering pizza), reuse pasta water to water house plants; bath water for outdoor plants. I could go on and on. :)
I don't clip coupons. We buy 99% of our products in generic form and those tend to be cheaper than the brand names WITH a coupon.
Easy Recipe: Spaghetti and Meatballs. With the left over meatballs, make meatballs subs the next night. With the extra spaghetti, make spaghetti calzones. No one will realize they ate the same meal 3 nights in a row.
Websites: LikeMerchantShips, FrugalHacks and MoneySavingMom.. all of which have been mentioned. :)
Other tips: Simply put.. live within your means. It will never look the same as another family.
To save money I do all sorts of things.
One of the big savers is using vinegar and washing up liquid for cleaning instead of expensive products.
I put it in a spray with water, and it works great.
Feel welcome to visit my entry for wfm at my blog
http://www.laaneworld.com/2008/01/works-for-me-backwards-edition.html" rel="nofollow">Laane on the World
Have a great week!!!
Laane's last blog post..http://www.laaneworld.com/2008/01/news.html' rel="nofollow">Sir Edmund Hillary has died
I'm really big on coupons, and I play the grocery game. I've been doing it a few years. I think one of the best tricks is to combine a sale with a coupon. The second best one is to stock up when your favorite things are on sale, as much as you can. If something is half price and we use it a lot, I'll buy at least 2 of them. It isn't frugal to say, "oh, that's on sale but I don't need it right now. I still have half a jar at home." Yeah...and when the half jar of mayo runs out, and you want mayo, you end up spending a fortune on it. Isn't it better to reach into your pantry for the jar that only cost you 99 cents?
One of the best investments we ever made is a small freezer. A great place to keep meat, vegetables and some other things when they go on sale. Ours cost less than $200, is very energy efficient, and surprisingly roomy for something that takes up so little space.
I'm willing to try store brands, and often use them. OTC meds come to mind. But I won't buy an inferior product to save pennies. It doesn't work out in the long run. I've yet to find a store towel as good as Bounty, and store toilet paper is about as nice as newspaper. (We use Angel Soft--not badly priced.)
Oh...back to coupons. A really good idea is to take the money you save at the grocery, round it up, and put it right into a savings account! That way, you'll be encouraged to continue saving as you see your account grow each week. I transfer the money from checking to savings right on line.
Hope these help!
mom2fur's last blog post..http://sortafrugal.blogspot.com/2008/01/question.html' rel="nofollow">A question
A friend gave me a book that I absolutely love. I think the title is Miserly Mom, and the author gives a gazillion great tips. Like, homemade cleaning products (i've made everything from homemade window cleaner to homemade baby wipes!), cheap recipes (more homemade stuff), and how to save $$ on your bills and stuff in general.
My favorite thing that she suggests is having a soup night once a week. It's been great, and usually I do it Thursday. Like last night we had onion soup. Bag of onions, stick of butter, a bit of garlic and beef broth...I toasted some stale bread for croutons and we had provolone cheese....yummy bummmy!! Not the healthiest, but still tasty and cheap!
Soup is usually cheap to make, and the family likes it.
I love thriftiness, and am a newbie when it comes to this stuff.
alli's last blog post..http://sillymomma99.blogspot.com/2008/01/whoa.html' rel="nofollow">whoa.
I have 3 posts on how I use coupons and grocery sales to save money. Specifically, I use the Coupon Mom site. You can read the first of the posts here: http://jenuinejen.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/works-for-me-wednesday-the-coupon-mom/.
I ususally redeem the coupons at local grocery stores, Target, and CVS. Sometimes I shop at Wal-Mart as well.
The main "knock-off products" we purchase are store brand OTC medicines. Since I use coupons in conjunction with store sales for so many of my other purchases, I am able to purchase brand names at the same prices as store brand products.
Websites that I like are: www.couponmom.com, slickdeals.net, moneysavingmom.com.
I like to cook Chicken in Cream Sauce with rice and green beans. The recipe is on my site but it is basically chicken wrapped in bacon topped with a mixture of cream of mushroom soup and sour cream baked at 325 for 2 hours.
Jen @ JenuineJen's last blog post..http://jenuinejen.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/create-your-list-wish-a-list-of-everything-you-want-to-be-do-and-have/' rel="nofollow">Create Your Wish List: A List of Everything You Want to Be, Do, and Have
Hey, I like your blog :)
[...] the HUGE success of the Backwards WFMW a few weeks ago, I have decided to squeeze one more week out of my topic! I got so many tips, tricks, recipes and [...]
It is cool that we can get the loans moreover, that opens new opportunities.