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Posted
Aug 29 2008, 06:23 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Lara from Coffee Can Cash left an intriguing comment recently about my post on minimalist kitchens: I'm sorry, but I can't agree with the idea "when in doubt, buy it cheap." ... If you want to save money for the long haul, buying cheap on one occasion isn't what's going to do it; it's the fact that you're cooking at home as opposed to going out. My cheap (read: not frugal, but CHEAP) ex-boyfriend had these disgusting old pans and cookie sheets when we first got together. It was quite clear to me that they were dollar store finds from three or four years ago and they were flat-out gross (you could see the burn marks from cookies past). I'd rather have the $4 AirBake cookie sheet that's going to last me 20 years than have to buy $1 pieces of crap that burn stuff every three years.
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Posted
Aug 08 2008, 04:40 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Recently I've heard a lot of parents grumbling about the exorbitant cost of buying school clothes for their kids for the upcoming year. A few parents were at least putting all of their eggs in the basket of the tax holiday on clothes in Iowa -- and they were quite proud of this, certain that they'd be getting a better deal than everyone else. Guess what? If you put in a little bit of time, you can get your kids plenty of clothes for just pennies on the dollar -- and it'll be exactly what they pick out, too. Even better, the same strategy works for your own clothes shopping. This is the way to get cheap clothes.
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Posted
Jul 25 2008, 05:31 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. One of my favorite debates with my wife has to do with socks. I tend to wear my socks into oblivion -- until they're literally falling apart. Holes around the toes, deep wear on the heel, and I'll still wear them. Since I tend to wear them only inside of shoes or around the house, I figure, "Why not?" But my wife's not so approving. So I sat down with her to figure out the numbers on this one.
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Posted
Jun 14 2008, 08:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a concept we can wrap our mind around: A Bankrate article talks about 12 "new necessities" of modern living that are actually "entitlements" we can do without. The article quotes psychotherapist Olivia Mellan by way of explanation: A lot of us in wealthy, overspending America are either born or raised with a tremendous sense of entitlement. We say to ourselves,"I work hard or, I work at a job I hate -- at least I should be able to have a Starbucks coffee every day or eat out for lunch." But of course, those are not needs, they're wants. They're pleasures.
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Posted
Apr 22 2008, 03:18 PM
by
Karen Datko
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An article at MSN Money about things you should buy only when they're new prompted Mrs. Nespy at Mrs. Nespy's World to come up with her own top 10 list. Among her items: child car seats, helmets, mattresses, children's shoes, makeup, hot tubs and many car parts. She also offers an action plan if you really can't afford to buy these things new.
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Posted
Feb 29 2008, 09:17 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This guest post comes from Lynnae at Being Frugal. When I was a kid, my family didn't have a lot of money. In most areas, I never felt deprived. I have three younger brothers, so I was always busy playing outside with them. Or picking on them, but we won't talk about that. One thing I did notice was that, with four kids and not a lot of money, we didn't have a lot of clothes. My brothers and I each had three school outfits. We wore two of the outfits on Monday and Tuesday, the third on Wednesday, when my mom did the laundry, and the first two outfits on Thursday and Friday. Every week. I even remember my mom commenting that one of my friend's moms had mentioned that her child had enough clothes to last a week without doing laundry. My mom didn't know how they could afford it. I remember being jealous. Now that I'm an adult, surprisingly, I'm not tempted to overbuy clothes for myself. I hate shopping for myself, and my relatively small wardrobe shows it. However, I do have a tendency to overbuy for the kids. I think that somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I'm afraid that they won’t have enough clothes.
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Posted
Feb 25 2008, 07:23 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Count on Lynnae at Being Frugal to assemble a comprehensive list of money-saving tips for the home and garden. Her "75 frugal hacks for your home" includes lots of great information on home maintenance and improvement, including a number we hadn't heard before and definitely need to incorporate into our routine. "The cost of living is going up, and oftentimes salaries aren't going up to meet those costs," she writes. "In response to the money crunch, ordinary people like you and me need to cut costs to make ends meet." Dirty miniblinds? Put an old sock on your hand, dampen it with rubbing alcohol and then run your hand along the blinds. Lime deposits clogging up the showerhead? Tie a plastic bag filled with vinegar around it for an hour "and you should be good to go," Lynnae says.
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Posted
Feb 09 2008, 01:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
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DogAteMyFinances is trying to pay off her credit card debt and, in fact, has stopped buying clothes as part of her frugality. But now she has to cough up $275 for a hideous "rich chocolate" bridesmaid gown. "Second, I will have to pay for the bachelorette party/bridal shower/kitchen-gadgets shower/home-repair shower/chick-flick shower," she writes, adding, "Weddings are out of control." The last time she was a bridesmaid, it cost her $1,250. Other personal-finance bloggers have experienced the same budget drain. Ms. M&P at My Money and Politics last month paid $240 for a bridesmaid dress (plus made a $265 deposit on a hotel room for another wedding she's attending, and spent $468 for plane tickets to go to yet another wedding). Mrs. Micah says that if she were asked to be in a wedding, she'd have to pass because of the cost. "This is crazy, folks. We need a solution," she writes.
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Posted
Feb 06 2008, 07:51 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Here's a question for you: How many owners did R2-D2 and C-3PO have? OK, we're not sure how many, but we know it was lots. Why? Because the rebels knew how to recycle. That's one of nine lessons in frugality Paul Michael at our partner blog Wise Bread derived from the Star Wars movies. Of course, Paul is talking about those in harmony with the Force, not the dark side. "The Empire is anti-frugality in almost every way," Paul observes. "They build enormous, no-expense-spared Death Stars; they have fancy shiny uniforms; they own the latest technology; they're not exactly thrifty."
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Posted
Jan 23 2008, 09:34 AM
by
Karen Datko
We thank Escape Brooklyn for pointing out this survey: When women were asked to pick between having a body like Jennifer Aniston or having a million bucks, 78% chose the money. As Editor-in-Chief Jane Chestnutt of Woman's Day magazine, one of the online poll's sponsors, pointed out in a New York Post article, with that kind of money you can pay a personal trainer to whip a broadening behind into shape and still have lots left over. (And we're sure the women would invest the money wisely and not blow it all in one place.)
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