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Posted
Jul 08 2008, 07:37 PM
by
Karen Datko
If you've lived in Florida, you know about flea infestations, dive-bombing palmetto bugs, tarantula-size spiders, and other creepy-crawlies you wish would go belly up in the night. Whether you're facing super-sized bugs or standard household invaders, you'll welcome some pet- and child-safe frugal pest-control measures. Two posts on the subject were featured in this week's Festival of Frugality.
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Posted
Jul 03 2008, 12:45 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The old saying "When you buy cheap, you get cheap" isn't always true. I've gotten some terrific products cheaply at thrift stores and yard sales. And you may not have to pay top dollar for certain products -- a mop bucket from the dollar store does the job as handily as one from a more upscale retailer.
But you need to pick your spots, as evidenced by a recent item on the Five Cent Nickel personal finance blog. Owner-operator "Nickel" has a 10-year-old son who loves wearing a watch. Thus far, that's been a "kid" timepiece that costs between $10 and $12. Why spend good money on something for a 10-year-old, right?
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Posted
Jun 13 2008, 09:09 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Years ago, my dad taught elementary school all day and then went to his second job of teaching adolescents deemed too unruly for regular high school. One evening, a student flipped a penny at him. Dad picked it up and put it in his pocket. The teens laughed, and another one flipped a penny. Then another one.
When my father had 12 cents in his pocket, he said, "Guys, I want to thank you. All I need is 38 more of these and I'm going over to the Fairfield and have a draft beer -- on you."
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Posted
May 29 2008, 03:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a super deal to keep kids entertained during summer months: Raising4Boys has provided a list of free or discount movie specials available at theater chains this summer. "Dad" (aka "Nickel" at FiveCentNickel) says, "In case you're not aware, theaters often have special summer promos where they show G or PG films on weekday mornings for free, or nearly so."
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Posted
May 28 2008, 08:37 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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A good time doesn't have to cost a good piece of your paycheck. Some readers of the Smart Spending message board listed scores of ways to enjoy life on the cheap -- specifically, for $1 or less.
Although some of the pleasures on this thread are best enjoyed by families with young children, many will also translate to singles or couples. Unleash your inner kid by flying a kite. Invite your significant other to a picnic in the town park when there's a free evening concert. Walk your new girlfriend from gallery opening to gallery opening -- you get props for having an artistic soul, and the two of you can enjoy the free snacks that many galleries offer.
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Posted
May 07 2008, 10:51 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
How to be a one-income family, pay off debts and still save for retirement? There's no magic formula for reader "Steph041401" -- just a bunch of coping strategies. Among them:
Drinking mostly water. Baking at home. Cutting out most processed foods. Shopping with cash only. Trading magazines with friends. Making single-serve snack packs with dollar store ingredients.
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Posted
Apr 21 2008, 09:33 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Just kidding! Wow, you TV people are scary when you're mad.
I don't really think you should kill your television. But how about turning it off? Say, for most of the time.
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Posted
Apr 03 2008, 12:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
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We have to admire anyone who can come up with a list of 90 tips about anything, let alone ways to keep kids occupied in productive ways. Debbie Dragon's list at Destroy Debt is incredibly creative and amazingly simple. In fact, we want to try some of these because they sound like so much fun. There's "target squirting." Put plastic cups on a fence post or a person's head and squirt them off with a water gun or simple plastic water bottle. She also suggests a fun game to play with water balloons. (We're in!) A lot of these ideas are great for summer when kids are out of school. There's "dirt restaurant." Send them outside with some plastic dishes. "They can make salads from leaves and flower petals, mud pies, and tree-bark chicken," Debbie writes. (Just make sure they don't eat it.)
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Posted
Mar 24 2008, 12:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
A letter to Dear Prudence at Slate so outraged "Feminist Finance" that she morphed into advice-columnist mode and wrote her own response. The letter went something like this: The writer, who called herself "Not Made of Money," generously buys clothes and toys for her niece and nephew with the caveat that she'll get them back to give to her own children, whenever she gets around to having some. Surprise of surprises, she's hardly gotten back a thing. In fact, she found out that her sister-in-law actually sells outgrown kids' clothes and uses the money to buy new ones. "How do I remind her that I want things returned, other than writing 'Aunty wants this' on each piece?" Not Made of Money asked. Prudence, in her own response, wrote: "Regifting is a useful and economical practice, but you've taken it to a new level: ungifting."
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Posted
Mar 14 2008, 08:40 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Yesterday would have been the 73rd birthday of the person who probably should be writing this column: my mother, Geneva Burgess Hanes.
She was the youngest of 10 kids born to an uneducated Tennessee couple who eventually pulled up stakes and moved north for opportunity -- that is, for the chance to work in South Jersey factories and vegetable fields.
Despite hunger, poverty and violence, my mother became the first in her family to finish high school. She owned two dresses ("one on, one off") and never had a square meal or a bath in a real tub until she married my dad right after graduation.
They had four kids in five years, which sounds impossibly grim by today's standards. But we didn't seem to notice that we were poor. Everyone we knew pinched pennies. Nobody did it like my mom, though.
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