Archive for Out of the Box Frugality
Getting Food Out of the Box
Although I’d rather be sewing or playing piano, my non-wife.homeschooling.mother ”official” profession (that I retired from in the late 90s) is in the health industry. I’ve spent years studying nutrition, herbs and other holistic modalities that don’t conflict with my Christian beliefs. I’ve really enjoyed helping others get well. Health research still fascinates me. In an ideal world, [...]
Out of the Box Birthdays
We have a birthday today. Birthday Child saw the start of this post and said, “Oh Mom! You’re not going to blog all about my birthday are you?” and sighed. Well, no. But I did want to talk about frugal birthdays. Because we save a lot of money by not giving gifts on all the “appropriate” holidays, we [...]
When Enough is Enough
You all know that I’m for outside the box ideas, but the money saving ideas in the article I stumbled on this morning were a bit much: Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn’t save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch [...]
Dump Your Toy Box
It’s always encouraging to know that you’re not alone. Apparently quite a few of us have been struggling with a broken Frugal Want-To. I hope you got some sleep, like I did, and you’re feeling better. I’m still tired and battling it. Three sick munchkins and recovering from my second round of the flu this season [...]
When Your Want-To Is Broken
I woke up this morning wondering what I would write about. Actually, I’ve been wondering about it all week. I have several topics that I plan to share eventually, but zero inspiration to write about any of them today. Honestly? I can really commiserate with the sentiments at the links Meredith shared yesterday at her [...]
Frugal New Year
Today or Saturday is a great day to take a few hours, sit back with a cuppa and make some financial goals and a spending plan for the New Year. This is the time that can make grown men cry, but know that it’s worth it! Nothing feels as good as sending in that last payment [...]
Out of the Lunch Box
With holiday traveling comes the need to feed the troops when there is still 5 hours remaining on drive to Granny’s or Aunt Mable’s. Today I’m going to share some of my tactics for keeping the masses fed without stopping at a fast food place for $1 hamburgers, or worse. We’ve saved thousands by bringing [...]
Christmas, Out of the Box
With my mom and her brain tumor and me being over 500 miles away from home this holiday season, how we usually celebrate November through January is out the window. Although I encouraged the kids to collect and put away the pumpkins and autumn-colored silk leaves and hang the red bows on the light posts [...]
Health is frugal?
Hi. {waves} Miss me? Sorry I haven’t been around. Life has been anything but sane recently. My mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a golf ball on November 11th (a meningioma for those in the know) and was operated on the day after Thanksgiving. She got her staples out yesterday and [...]
Worth the Cost – Part 3
Different parts of the country are more apt to be DIY than others, simply out of necessity. As Meredith pointed out in a comment, the questions in Part 2 “presume that one has the money to spend on hiring professionals in the first place.” Absolutely. That’s why everyone has to carefully evaluate the choices they make. What’s [...]
Worth the Cost – Part 2
I really wish I could find the piece I read years ago, before my Five Fat File days. I’ve been looking for it for months. I think it was written by Erma Bombeck, but I don’t remember. It was a humorous piece with a very serious undertone: Life has worth. In essence, it talked about what different [...]
Worth the Cost – Part 1
This week I wanted to offer ideas to determine when frugal crosses the line and becomes plain old cheap. Kim beat me to it by posting this great article. I doubt I can top those cheap ideas, so I’ll just substitute it with something that’s been on my mind a lot this past week: Time is [...]
Frugal for Me, Frugal for You
If every one you admired jumped off a bridge, would you jump too? I think most of us have heard some variation of that phrase at least once. Most references were probably related to peer pressure when we were teens. As teens, it was all about acting or looking or having things like the most [...]
Finding More for Less in Unique Places
Last week we had some great interaction on when to buy “the good stuff” and when to pass. Thanks for your experiences! There are things that really make a difference when you buy quality. Did I mention I wish we would have bought the $900 dishwasher instead of the $550 model? (Apparently $550 isn’t what [...]
Frugal is Not Necessarily Cheap
When I was a little girl, frugal was not a familiar word in my vocabulary. I’m not sure, but I don’t think I heard it until after I married Rich. And then it was used in reference to New Englanders who knew how to “pinch pennies” and be “tightwads.” It was a pretty sorry introduction. As I’ve [...]
