Archive for Archive for May, 2011

Monetize Your Blog, part 7: Make it sticky

start here: Don’t do it for the money Take your time Get your own domain 13 Great ways to build your traffic Getting the goods Giveaways! If you’ve been following this series and working the points, you should have a good amount of traffic arriving on your blog now.  But what good is a visitor [...]

Posted by: kimc on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Frugal Links Round Up – May 30th, 2011

I’ve never (until a year ago) had a separate freezer, and so I don’t have much experience handling a freezer full of food to the most frugal advantage.  Once-a-Month Mom has some very good info on How to Prevent Freezer Burn. How to Make and Do has compiled a great, GO-TO list of Natural Homemade [...]

Posted by: Mother Hen on Monday, May 30th, 2011

Dehydrating Foods

One of our favorite snacks is dried tomatoes. Unfortunately, it’s also a kind of pricey snack. Happily, it’s not that hard to dry your own, and if you garden, it’s not very expensive. This week I dehydrated two pints of cherry tomatoes for a snack. I cut them in half, used the sharp wedged end [...]

Posted by: DeputyHeadmistress on Friday, May 27th, 2011

What Does Your Frugal Kitchen Look Like?

Turning away from the computer screen after viewing the pristine and clutter-free kitchen I had been admiring on a blog, I sighed. I like my kitchen best when everything is put away and my counters are clear. You know, the “museum look” where it appears that nobody lives here. Surveying my counters I did an [...]

Posted by: DL on Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Monetize Your Blog, part 6: Giveaways!

start here: Don’t do it for the money Take your time Get your own domain 13 Great ways to build your traffic Getting the goods Have you read all 5 parts in this series so far?  I hope so, because this is where it begins to get exciting! Part 4 mentioned 13 ways to bring [...]

Posted by: kimc on Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Planes and Trains

In 2008 our firstborn, a poor college student, managed to save up enough money from her college scholarships, grant money, and job (her grant is because she is the child of a disabled vet) and went to England on her own. She saved money on school by living at home, doing well enough to earn [...]

Posted by: DeputyHeadmistress on Friday, May 20th, 2011

It’s A Boy!

Noticing Husband’s quizzical look as I walk out of the grocery store with a bouquet of blue balloons emblazed with It’s A Boy, I got into our car with a smile. We were on our way to see our new grandbaby for the very first time! Firstborn Son and New Daughter would be celebrating their [...]

Posted by: DL on Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Monetize Your Blog, part 5: Getting the goods

start here: Don’t do it for the money Take your time Get your own domain 13 Great ways to build your traffic Now you have some good content, and you are probably receiving modest but growing traffic.  You might not be ready to start advertising in earnest, but it’s not too early to start reaping [...]

Posted by: kimc on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Frugal Links Round Up – May 16, 2011

Radical Frugality posted a handy Checklist for Saving Money on Food.  At first glance it may look like all the same old advice, but I’d venture that most of us aren’t being diligent about half of the items listed. How to Make a Budget (Even if You Hate Making Budgets) Seems like Miss Britt at [...]

Posted by: Mother Hen on Monday, May 16th, 2011

Encouraging Each Other In Contentment

Turning thoughts over in my mind while reading a book on contentment, I realized these musings could also be applied to the frugal life. How often had I thought that adding money, possessions, or time, would bring me satisfaction and assure contentment? Now I was realizing that sometimes subtracting from desires might actually provide the [...]

Posted by: DL on Saturday, May 14th, 2011

Monetize Your Blog, part 4: 13 Great ways to build your traffic

start here: Part 1: Don’t do it for the money Part 2: Take your time Part 3: Get your own domain You love blogging, and you’ve been pumping out the content.  You put a lot of thought into choosing the right domain and are now blogging at www.myblog.com – or working on getting there. Now [...]

Posted by: kimc on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Frugal Links Round Up – May 9, 2011

Made By Rae has a Basic Newborn Pant pattern – Sewing for the baby can hardly get any cheaper.  This pants pattern needs less than a yard of fabric.  Make a bunch, add some t-shirts and baby is ready for Summer.  Homemade is always cheaper. Recycle Now – This is the most clever eco-frugal gift wrapping [...]

Posted by: Mother Hen on Monday, May 9th, 2011

New on the blogroll

It’s been a while, but we have some new additions to the Frugal Blogroll.  Click through to give them a look and see what new ideas you can pick up! Janel Messenger – Bringing personal style to home sewing one stitch at a time. Find tips to improve your sewing skills and create beautiful, flattering [...]

Posted by: kimc on Saturday, May 7th, 2011

We Took a Stay-Cation before Staycations Were Cool

And it was one of the best vacations we ever had. It actually didn’t start out as a ‘staycation’ or anything special at all. It was just a pre-camping trip chore, a sort of dry-run through our camping check lists. It was July of 1998. I know this because we had a newborn.=) Our seventh [...]

Posted by: DeputyHeadmistress on Friday, May 6th, 2011

A Great Decision

Helping to clean up the lunch dishes while visiting Daughter in her new apartment, I noticed a small crocheted object. Turning this item over in my hand, I asked Daughter why it was there. She answered that it was to be used to wipe off the dishes. With feelings of intrigue, I did just what [...]

Posted by: DL on Thursday, May 5th, 2011