frugality

For many people, the New Year means a new resolution to get fit and healthy. I know I personally have a goal to eat less fast food this year and utilize my new Wii Fit that I got for Christmas to tone up a bit.

Losing weight and getting healthy need not entail spending a lot of money though! Check out these great tips submitted by Cheryl at Swap Savers.




Cook your own meals – The only way to truly know the calorie content of what you eat is to prepare the meals yourself. By cooking your own meals you can substitute for less fattening or lower calorie choices when necessary. Most recipes list calories, fat grams and other useful information to help you keep track of your daily intake. When you eat at restaurants or fast food places you eat more calories and fat grams since the portions are typically larger then what you would have at home. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep track of calories or fat gram intake. Cooking at home is significantly less expensive then eating at restaurants or fast food places.

Drink Water – Tap water is free and free of calories. If you were to only drink water for a week you could probably save at least $20 or more depending on your current drinking choices. Most drinks contain 200 calories or more, whereas drinking water has zero calories. Water has numerous health benefits. By drinking water you eat less since people tend to think they are hungry when they really need water. Water helps your body to break down fat which increases fat loss.

Turn off the TV – If you eat meals while watching TV, you are often unaware of how much you eat. Research by Eliot Blass found, people eat between 31 and 74 percent more calories while watching TV. Most people watching TV are motionless which burns few calories. In terms of energy consumption, watching TV will cost you about $100 per year in your electric bill and your cable bill about $600 per year.

Workout with a friend – Working out with a friend will help you stay motivated and provides extra support or new ideas to keep your workouts interesting. You can carpool with your friend to the gym to save on gas.

Swap Savers is a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons & rewards.  Check it out!

Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and/or get fit? How do you plan on going about it without spending a lot of money to do so?

Mandi of OrganizingYourWay.net shares her tips today.

For many people, the idea of getting organized evokes images of fancy organizing systems and spending lots of time and money for a system that probably won’t last anyway.

The truth, though, is that getting organized doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. There are ways to do it very inexpensively or even free. And even more importantly, getting organized can actually save you money in the long run.

For example, an important part of being able to save money on your grocery bill is knowing what you have in your pantry and freezer so that you’re best able to take advantage of specials and coupons to stock up on necessities as well as your family’s favorites.

There are several ways to do this. One way is to keep a written inventory for both your pantry and freezer. There are great downloadable forms at Organized Home if this is the way you want to go.

Another option is to simply organize your pantry and freezer in a way that makes it easy for you to quickly see what you have so that you can look through them while making your meal plan and grocery list each week.

If you have money to invest in your pantry organization, there are great accessories available, such as this 3-tier cabinet organizer or this adjustable door rack .

Even if you are not in a position to purchase any items to help with your pantry organization, I would still encourage you to take the time to get organized. Here are a few tips to get you started:

::Divide your pantry space into types or categories of food. You might separate cans, breakfast foods, baking ingredients and snacks. Or you might keep all of your prepared foods on one shelf where they’re easily accessible and put jars/cans/mixes on another.

::Arrange food so that it’s easy to see. Turn cans so that you can see their labels. If space requires you to keep things in front of each other, put the larger items in the back so they’re easier to see.

::Keep the ingredients you use more frequently at eye level and easily accessible.

::Rotate and reorganize your pantry every 4-6 weeks. When stockpiling food, it’s easy to waste food if you’re not organized. Rotating and reorganizing your stock ensures that you use any items that are close to expiring or that you may have forgotten about.

Although getting organized may take an investment of time and/or money, in the long run it will save you money. You won’t end up buying duplicates of items you already have or having to make last-minute shopping trips because you ran out of an important ingredient. You’ll also have a better idea of what you have and when it expires so that you don’t end up throwing food away because it’s gone bad.

This week at OrganizingYourWay.net , we’ll be looking at pantry organization and the different methods for getting organized to make meal planning, grocery shopping and saving easier. Stop by or subscribe now to be sure you don’t miss anything!

Mandi Ehman is a wife and momma to three little girls (4, 2.5 and 1 years old). OrganizingYourWay.net was born from her belief that getting organized only lasts if you do it your way – to fit your needs, your preferences and your lifestyle.

Are there any other items or methods that you use to keep your freezer and pantry organized? Do you find that you save more money when you’re organized?

If you’re looking for some easy tips to get started on saving money in the New Year, you’ve come to the right place!

Today Cheryl from Swap Savers shares five easy ways you can improve your financial situation in 2009.




Many of these I’ve talked about before, so I’m going to add in a few useful links that provide additional information where appropriate.

Use Coupons – Coupons can save you a significant amount of money during the year. You can find coupons for almost any product or store/restaurant in a multitude of locations such as the Sunday paper, printable on-line coupons, magazines, email coupons sent to when you register with a manufacture or restaurant, coupon dispensers (in-stores), and coupon swap boxes in the library or workplace just to name a few places. You can definitely save well over $1,000 by using coupons on an everyday basis.

Check out my new Coupons page for useful information that relates to couponing. Also, each week I match up the best sales and coupons at CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid, as well as highlight some of the best grocery store deals, to make saving money with coupons easy for readers!

Go Green – You can save money and the environment at the same time by practicing “green” routines. Some examples are conserving energy or water, walking instead of driving, using reusable bags (my supermarket pays 5 cents per bag), and recycle cans.

Going green can even earn you perks at stores like CVS and more with RecycleBank. Or consider signing up with a service like Freepeats to pass on your gently used baby and kids’ items. Lifetime memberships are just $1 during the month of January!

Savings Account – If you don’t already have a savings account, you should open one. There are a variety of savings accounts with different interest rates and rules. Shop around to find a savings account which will offer you a high interest rate and also allow you to access the account without a hassle or fees. A savings account is a risk-free, easy method to earn money. You can directly deposit your paychecks to your savings account and then transfer the money you need to pay your bills to your checking account. By doing this, you will be more aware of the amount of money you are spending and earn interest in between bill payments.

I’m a huge advocate of paying yourself first! Pay close attention to my tips on ATM cards. You definitely don’t want this to be an easy-access account.

Create a Budget – The main goal of a budget is to prevent you from overspending so figure out a budget which works for you. Ideally a budget will help you to achieve your short and long-term finical goals.

Budgeting is a topic that I’ll be covering on Deal Seeking Mom soon, but in the meantime you can check out my unfinished series at Transcription Talk. We’re reviving that blog, so I will be finishing the series, and ultimately I’ll be reworking it to be useful to my readers here as well.

Create Realistic and Concrete Savings Goals – The main reason people are unable to accomplish their goals is due to the fact that the goals the people created were unrealistic and/or intangible. When you are creating goals you should make sure to include specific numbers and timelines with measurable quantities. You should also have realistic expectations. Start out with achievable, short term goals which you can later turn into long-term goals. For example, “I am going to deposit $5 into my savings account every Friday.”

This is an excellent tip. Small steps taken one at a time are more likely to develop into long-term habits, so try breaking your goals into bite-sized action steps.

Swap Savers is a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons & rewards.  Check it out!

What are your goals for saving money in 2009? How do you plan to achieve them?

The following is a guest post from Cheryl at Swap Savers.

Swap Savers a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons & rewards.  Check it out!

Nothing pains me more than to realize my coupon is expired or forgotten at home. If you forgot your coupon or have an expired coupon, here are some tips to prevent or correct this situation.

:: Preventive Tips

Mark your Calendar – If you have a great coupon or rewards coupon (such as CVS Extra Bucks or Best Buy Rewards), mark the expiration date on your calendar. You can also make a notation to use the coupon at least a week or two before it expires.

Use the Coupon Immediately – If you use the coupon as soon as possible, you decrease your chance of forgetting or losing it. Also, if you wait until the last minute to use the coupon, you may be unable to make it to the store (if you get sick, etc.).

Coupon Organizer – If you use a coupon organizer, you can identify coupons which may expire soon by placing them in a certain location or using a sticky tab on the soon to expire coupons.

Coupon=Wallet – Treat your coupons like dollar bills and bring them wherever you would bring your wallet. Using a coupon organizer makes it easier to transport your coupons in the car or store similar to a wallet holding your dollar bills.

:: Corrective Tips

Ask if Store Accepts Expired Coupons – Some stores will accept expired coupons, especially if it is a store coupon such as Bed and Bath. If a manufacturer’s coupon is only a day or two expired, some stores will also accept the coupon.

Ask about Coupon Reimbursement – If you forget your coupons, ask if the store will reimburse you the next time you shop. Most stores will reimburse you the coupons amount if you bring the coupon and receipt to customer service the next time you shop.

Call Customer Service – If you let a rewards coupon expire (such as CVS Extra Bucks or Best Buy Rewards) and the store will not accept the coupon, try calling customer service. One time my Best Buy Rewards coupon expired and the store would not accept it. After calling customer service, I was sent a “one-time reissue” of the rewards coupon.

:: Other Suggestions

Donate Expired Coupons – U.S. military families stationed overseas are able to use expired coupons on base for up to six months after the manufacturer’s expiration date. You can adopt a base. Here is a link https://www.ocpnet.org/base_list.htm.

These are great suggestions. It definitely pays to know the policies on expired coupons for the stores that you frequent! Do you have any additional creative uses for expired coupons?