Category Archives: Frugal Inspiration

Search for Coupons Before You Shop

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on April 1, 2013 2 comments

Recently my sister needed to buy more of her Revlon face makeup and we knew we were shopping at Target. So she asked me to check if I had any coupons that would work. I quickly pulled up a coupon database and typed in Revlon. Luckily, I found a $2 off manufacture coupon and even better I found a $3 off store coupon for a total of $5 off of something she was already going to buy! Not bad for 2 minutes worth of work. Minimum wage for an hour isn’t much more than that.

Sometimes taking a minute to stop and search for coupons for something you need to buy anyways can really save you money. So before you head to the store next time to buy X-item that you need, you might want to take a minute to look for a coupon or two.

Here are some links to some coupons databases that you can use-

Southern Savers Coupon Database

Money Saving Mom Coupon Database

Hip 2 Save Coupon Database

Couponers United Coupon Database

Over 60 Things We Usually Don’t Spend Money On and A Few Things We Do

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 30, 2013 None comments

If I need or want something there is nothing I like better than finding a way to get it for free! That being said here are many of the things we don’t pay for. If we can do it or make it ourselves we do and I’m proud of that. It isn’t always easy but it’s definitely worth it financially.

When BudgetsAreSexy posted an article on this recently I realized that I had written an article on the same subject a loooonnnnnngggg time ago and never published it. So with a lot of revisions, here it is.

Things We Usually Don’t Pay For

1. Haircuts– My aunt went to beauty school and she cuts my family’s hair for free. We return the favor in other ways. My father and B cut their own hair using men’s hair cutting razor kits. If you don’t know someone who cuts hair/aren’t adventurous enough to do it yourself many beauty schools will cut hair for free/cheap.

2. Most Toiletries– I do not pay for shampoo, conditioner, razors, body wash, dish soap, and some makeup because I get these products for free through couponing.

3. Most Cleaning Products– Once again I so many cleaning products for free through couponing I never have to buy them anymore. I also find that soap, water and a rag work just as well as many cleaning products.

4. Paper Towels– I use washcloths and hand towels instead of paper towels and I use reusable napkins and plastic cups instead of disposable ones. This is also a green idea and cuts back on the amount of trash my household produces. See- Making Rags to Use Instead of Paper Towels or See- Use This Not That Paper Towels

5. Paper Napkins– We use reusable cloth napkins, most of which were given to us as a gift. See- 30 Ways to Save Money In Your Kitchen

6. Paper Cups and Plates– We use the real thing and then our dishwasher See- Frugal Reflections and Dishwashers

7. Plastic Silverware– Again we use the real thing

8. Car Washes– I think it would be great to have someone else wash my car but I would never want to pay for it. Drive through car washes are cheaper but still more expensive than doing it yourself. I got a car wash kit for one Christmas and it works just fine. Plus I tell myself it’s good exercise. Ways to get them for free- There is a local place that offers free car washes with an oil change and also the Mercury dealership that my father goes to offers free car washes for Mercury vehicles.

9. Take Out Coffee– Who hasn’t read an article on this? Making coffee every morning for two people like my boyfriend B and I do (I can usually get the coffee and flavored creamer for free/almost free) can save up to $4 a day or $1,460 a year and that’s a low estimate. See- What to Do When You Run Out of Coffee Filters

10. A Home Phone– Who needs one when you have cell phones? Note- Check with your internet provider, many have changed the rules so that you no longer need a home phone line in order to have an internet connection.

11. Trash Pickup– My old apartment complex offered trash pickup for $35 dollars a month ($420 per yr) and instead we drove our trash to the trash compactor on our way out of the complex.

12. Magazines– My mom, sister and aunt all buy them and they all give them to me after they finish with them. I also get free magazines off of the internet and a parade magazine in the Sunday paper. See- Why I don’t pay for Magazines

13. New Books– I do actually buy used books when I find them for dirt cheap; however, I am including them on the list because you can get them from the library for free. Many libraries now allow you to reserve books and movies online and then pick them up when they arrive (My local library will mail them right to your house). See- How You Can Save 100% at Any Bookstore

14. DVDs– They can be borrowed, you can get them free from the library, I get free Redbox rental codes, and we have Netflix. I also watch movies online for free. See- A Free Redbox Code thru May 8^th 2013

15. Late fees, overdraft frees, any kind of bank fees– I get paid by my bank to put my money in the bank (as it should be).

16. Underwear– I get mailed coupons for free expensive underwear at Victoria Secret all the time. If you join their Pink Nation program and e-mail list you will also be e-mailed coupons for free underwear. I have also received free perfume and a $10 gift certificate from them. See- How I Get Free Underwear from Victoria’s Secret

17. Manicures/Pedicure– It costs $18 for a cheap manicure and $35 dollars for a cheap pedicure plus a tip. I have all of the stuff to do professional French manicures/ French pedicures myself and I get compliments all the time because people can’t tell the difference. Plus when I do them myself they actually last longer. See- Six Step Tape French Manicure

18. Plastic Storage Containers- I honestly don’t understand why these are so expensive. For large storage projects you can use cardboard boxes which you can get for free anywhere for the same purpose. In the kitchen, reusing plastic containers that food already comes in will save you from ever having to buy Tupperware of any kind. This is also a green idea because it reduces the amount of plastic that goes into landfills. See- Who Needs Gladware?

19. Health Insurance– My father pays one amount for any dependents and because he is already paying for my brother and sister, I am included until I turn 26 under the new health care laws. I do not even have to live at the same address as he does. Also my new job is going to come with free health insurance Yay! I know this will probably change in the future so I am EXTREMELY grateful.

20. Water– We have a water well so water is free for us.We don’t have a water bill. See- Having a Water Well

21. Music– I refuse to pay to download music. There are legal ways to do it for free and sharing music with friends is also easy. There are also many free music services.

22. Computer Virus/Spyware Protection– My father is a computer expert and even he uses free spyware protection. I use AVG Free Edition and Ad-aware. See- How to Get Virus/Spyware Protection for Free

23. E-mail- Does anyone actually pay for e-mail anymore?

24. Gym Membership– Many apartments have a free gym and students at the University I attended were given a free gym membership. These are expensive and most people end up not using them. I think it would be nice to have and then I ask myself- If I’m not exercising at home, am I really going to go to a gym? See- How I Got a Treadmill for $30

25. Cats and Dogs as Pets– Our childhood dog is a purebred dog that was given to us as a gift. We rescued a Maine Coon cat that ended up in my mother’s back yard and we also have a little yellow cat also rescued from the back yard. I am a huge advocate of rescuing animals instead of paying for them and not contributing to the abuse that goes on in puppy mills. In any case, do your research before you purchase an animal and make sure that it comes from a cruelty free background so your money doesn’t fund more animal abuse. There are many animals that need good homes that don’t cost anything or only cost the minimal fee that a shelter charges and you will be saving a life. We also have a three foot long ball python that was also given to us.

26. Most Pens, Pencils, Highlighters- as a recent college graduate I always got these for free during my college years. Businesses love to give away office supplies. I would go to one college club fair, job fair, or other random fair of some sort and be stocked for the semester. They also often gave me notepads, hand sanitizer, and free food.

27. Wrapping Paper– We can use comics, redecorate the bags they give you at the store, use tissue paper, use the store’s free wrapping etc. It’s the gift that counts not the wrapping. See- Frugal Gift Bags

28. Small Trash Bags– I can’t believe that stores actually sell these. Who doesn’t just use the plastic bags that you get with every purchase you make? Note- we now try to use reusable shopping bags and on the occasions we leave them at home I don’t feel bad because we usually need more small plastic bags at that point

29. Calling 411– Calling 411 can be expensive but it was free through Google. I tried the service and it worked for me. However, when I looked up the number I realized that Google ended their service. Luckily, BING stepped in. The number is 1-800-Bing-411. I’ll keep this in mind but now I usually just use the internet on my smart phone.

30. Filing Taxes– we file our taxes online for free. There are many websites that allow you to do this. See- How I did my taxes for free

31. Most Full Price Movie Tickets– I’m sure many of you love to go to the movies and so do we, but our local theatre started charging $10 a ticket and we think that’s a little extreme. So now we mostly go to free movie screenings with passes that we get due to a connection to a friend. Some of the free movies we’ve seen include The Lovely Bones, Shutter Island, Morning Glory, Sex and Other Drugs, Easy A, Jackass 3D, Zombieland, Fast and Furious, Life as we Know It, Up in the Air and more. There have also been many passes that we have received that we were not able to use. This has saved us hundreds of dollars. If there is a movie that we can’t attend a screening to and still want to see, Tuesdays are 75 cents night at our local $2 theatre. We also bring our own drinks and snacks which I usually get for free couponing. Sometimes companies also offer free movie tickets with a purchase.

32. Paying to Pay Bills– I do not pay to pay my bills, either in fees at bill pay places or in stamps. I set up free online bill pay and it doesn’t cost me a cent more than the bill amount.

33. Ringtones– I used to get them for free from myxer.com. Now most smart phones allow you to set any music as your ring tone for free.

34. Car Payments– Our Cars were bought used with cash! See- Our Experience As A One Car Household

35. Tanning– We live in Florida. Why would I pay to tan when I am lucky enough to live by the beach?

36. Return Address Labels– These always seem to come free in the mail.

37. Weed Killer– I made my own for free and it’s eco-friendly See- Homemade Weed Killer

38. Paid Phone Apps– I haven’t found one yet that didn’t have a free equivalent

39. Warranties– Never needed one past the general manufacturer’s warranties

40. Pet Houses– We make our own See- DIY Small Pet Houses

41. Salon Beauty Treatments– We do our own home beauty treatments

42. Premade Pizza Dough– We like to make homemade pizzas. I used to knead the dough by hand but the process got a lot faster when I got a Bread Maker. See- How I got a Bread Maker for Free

43. Croutons– We used crunched tortilla chips See- What to Do With the Crunched Chips at the Bottom of the Bag

44. Taco Seasoning– We make our own. See- DIY Taco Seasoning

45. Plastic Shower Curtains– We buy white cloth shower curtains so that we can wash/ bleach them and reuse them. See- Washable Shower Curtain

46. Perfume / Body Spray– I seem to have good luck getting this for free at Victoria’s Secret or Bath & Body Works, also my sister usually wants to get rid of some of hers 🙂

47. Candles– People seem to like to give these to me or I get them for free

48. Computer Work– My Dad and B have this covered for me and I know I’m lucky because this can be pricey

49. Fire Wood– We have a fire pit in the back yard and luckily someone either always ends up getting rid of some wood or there is a lot nearby where the owner allows us to collect wood

50. Cutting Pet Toenails– This can be tricky but I think it’s less traumatic for pets when we do this at home

51. Pest Control– We live in FL where there are lots of creepy crawlies. However, I would rather deal with bugs than have chemicals sprayed in my home and they usually aren’t that bad.

52. Lawn Services– B mows our lawn and I pull weeds and trim bushes

53. Maid Services– That’s all on us

54. Computer Software– All of the software I use either came with my computer or is free, including the WordPress software for this blog

55. Dry-cleaning- All of my clothes go into the washing machine. I don’t buy anything that is dry clean only.

56. Practical Things People Give Us as Gifts– I love all gifts! That includes practical gifts and items we need. I cook with a cast iron skillet from my brother, my sewing machine was from my aunt, and my microwave was from a friend. I love that many of the things I use in my home everyday remind me of the people I care about who gave them to me.

57. Upholstery– My aunt helped me to recover the chairs on my old claw foot dining room table. It was a great housewarming gift and I love the pattern that I got to pick out myself.

58. Painting– We do all of our own painting. At this house we actually chose to keep the current pain colors which saved a lot of time/energy/$.

59. Patching Drywall– I can actually patch drywall.

60. Cardboard Boxes– Whether for moving or another project, most stores love to give these away so they don’t have to haul them to the dumpster.

61. eBooks– I have gotten some really cool eBooks for free.

62. GPS updates– I use the Free Google Maps GPS on my phone so I no longer need to pay to update my GPS

63. A Planner– I used to buy one every year and now I just use the one on my phone or the one my sister got for free and gave me.

Note- This list is true 95% of the time, there is a small 5% of the time when emergencies etc come up or we decide to splurge.

Things We Do Pay For

1. Oil Changes– My dad or brother used to do it. I know that I need to learn to do it myself but until then I have to pay for them.

2. Cable– We pay about $35 for about 200 HD channels and a DVR. We like to be at home and for us one month of cable is cheaper than one meal out or going to the movies one time. As I write this, tonight we decided to stay home and watch shows on our DVR instead of going out to the movies. We saved $30 right there.

3. A Cell Phone Data Plan– I honestly don’t know how I lived without this for so long. Especially because I have two online businesses it makes my life soooooooo much easier.

4. Face Makeup– I use an expensive 4 in 1 Face Compact from PUR minerals but it saves me sooo much time and energy from having to apply and buy 4 different products. See- How to Fix A Broken Pressed Powder Compact

5. Face Cream– I use a daily Face Cream with a high SPF because the sun is strong here. I always get this with coupons and other deals. See- Getting the Most From Expensive Lotions

6. Going Out to Eat– I love date night! I also love sharing a meal out with family and friends. We use my 50% off discount at the restaurant chain I work at, we use coupons, and gift cards. See- A Frugal Date Night

7. Travel– Traveling is very important to me. I love visiting new places. Even though we try to do it cheaply I always find it’s worth every cent. See- Free In Washington D.C.

8. Clothes– I do try to save money on clothes by bargain shopping and thrift shopping. See- Thrift Shops/Yard Sales

9.Groceries and Household Items- We have to eat but we try to stick to our $200 a month grocery/household budget See- $200 Grocery Budget

10. Bills– If I could figure out a way out of this I would. So instead we just try to keep them as low as possible.

11. Rent– Until we buy a house we have to pay rent. Someday this category will say Mortgage.

12. Occasionally We Treat Ourselves to Various Things We Want- We work hard and after all of the money saving we do 90% of the time I feel we deserve it. That doesn’t mean that we don’t try to save money on items we ‘treat’ ourselves with.

Making Cloth Rags to Use Instead of Paper Towels

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 27, 2013 5 comments

Having a Rag Bag used to be common in most households. People used them for dirty jobs instead of paper towels. I remember my Dad having one when I was a little girl. In our household, we don’t buy paper towels. We use reusable wash cloths and hand towels instead which we keep in a drawer in our kitchen and then throw into a kitchen hamper when we are done.

Lately, we have had some messier projects that I have wanted to use something to clean with that I could throw away or wash. I decided to raid our clothes donation pile for items that no one would really want and then cut them up into rags. I turned the items in the above laundry basket into the below pile of rags. It was easy to do while watching TV and now we have our own rag bag/box for cleaning. This was easy, free and fun. Even better, I still don’t have to buy paper towels and now I have less clothing to donate.

Put Your Bananas in a Bag to Make Them Last Longer

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 25, 2013 None comments

I love to keep bananas in the house. They are a cheap, easy, and healthy snack. However, they go bad quickly. To make them last longer I simply take the plastic shopping bag that they come in from the store and twist it closed. When I take a banana off of the bunch I re-close them in the bag. They last about a week longer than they would otherwise. I have no idea why this works but it does.

Click here to learn even more ways to save- “30 Simple Money Saving Tips for the Kitchen”

Candy’s Recent Designer Goodwill Finds

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 20, 2013 2 comments

This post is by my sister Candy who is a frugal fasionista. She knows designer brand names and always finds the best designer deals!

For years my mother, sister, and I have been thrifting but more recently I have become obsessed with shopping at Goodwill. One of my goals for this year was to shop for all my new clothes at Goodwill and other thrift stores in my area. Instead of going straight to the mall when I need a new shirt or dress I head to Goodwill, which is conveniently a few minutes away from my local mall. Also there is a Goodwill on the way to the university I attend. Also the stores in my area offer a 10% off student discount which I always take advantage of. Here are some of my recent finds:

Toms Wedges-Retail 69.00 I paid. 5.99 . When I first tried them on they were a little tight but I bought them anyways because I was determined to squeeze my feet into those wedges. A few weeks and sore feet later they are probably the favorite pair of shoes I own.

http://www.toms.com/ash-canvas-women-s-wedges-14

Now I have been wanting these Kino sandals for about four years now but they are only sold in Key West or online and “ain’t nobody got time” to take a trip to the keys for 13 dollar sandals. I got mine for $3.99. Not necessarily as cheap as I would have liked but I have no intentions of taking a vacation to the Florida Keys anytime soon.

http://www.kinosandals.com/sandals/lili.html

This is a Kathy Von Zeeland purse I recently purchased for $3.99 at Goodwill. This is my second purse of this brand and the first one I have was $30 on clearance at Marshalls, but I received it as a gift. I love this purse and I am currently using it.

The next item I am really happy I bought. I recently took a trip to Kentucky. While there my family and I decided to go to Goodwill. This was literally the worst Goodwill I have been it. Super sketchy but I found this amazing H&M coat for $5. (It looks a lot lighter in the first picture, the second picture is closer to the actual color)

One of the best items to buy at a thrift store is books. I never pay full price for text books or books I read for entertainment. I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while now but I just hadn’t found it at an affordable price. Then I found it at Goodwill and .99 cents is good for me.

Keep in mind with all of these items I also received 10% off with my student discount for showing my student ID. I love shopping at Goodwill but I also do my part and donate whatever items I have at home that my family members or I do not need.

The Financial Decisions That Have Saved Us $54,000 in the Past Two Years

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on March 19, 2013 3 comments

Almost two years ago my boyfriend and I moved in together. We are currently choosing to live on less income so that we both can go back to school for graduate degrees. I decided to compile a list of the financial decisions we have made in the past two years that have saved us the most money. After writing this list I have to say that I’m really proud of us!

1. Buying Our Cars With Cash– I drive a Chevy Cavalier that I bought for $2,000 and B drives a Nissan Sentra that he bought for $5,000 we could have easily spent at least $25,000 for these cars USED and that doesn’t even include interest on a car loan (See Our Experience as a One Car Household) Savings- $25,000

2. Renting a House in Our Original Target Price Range– When we were looking for a house to rent we originally decided we could spend $700 to $900 a month but quickly found that it would be very, very difficult to find a very nice home in that price range but we ended up picking out the house we are living in at $900 a month over houses in the $1200 price range Savings- $300 a month or $3,600 a Year

3. Renting a House With Free Water/Sewer/Trash Bill– We have a water well so we don’t pay for water but my sister and her fiancé used to pay $60 a month at their house (see Having a Water Well) Savings- $60 a Month or $720 a year

4. Working Jobs Close to Home– When I worked full time I commuted an hour each way to work. At one point I paid $100 a month just in tolls and I paid about $200 a month in gas Savings- $250 a month or $3,000 a year

5. Working Jobs Where We Don’t Have To Wear Dress Clothes– Dress clothes are expensive, there is nothing else to say! Savings- $50 a month or $600 a Year

6. Negotiating With the Cable/Internet Company- Our current rate would be $130 a month for a smaller package but instead we negotiated to $85 a month for a DVR/HD Channels/Internet/More Channels (See- How One Phone Call Saved Us $343) Savings $45 a month or $540 a year

7. Buying My Treadmill for $30– I had budgeted to spend $200 on a used treadmill but none came along then I got lucky and got mine for $30 (see How I Got a Treadmill for $30) Saved- $670

8. Buying Our 46 in Flatscreen TV for $150– We wanted a nice TV after we moved into our new house so we were able to price shop and use gift cards (See How We got a 46in TV for $150) Saved- $400

9. Getting Our Furniture Secondhand– Almost all of our furniture is high quality but second hand. We could have spent thousands on new furniture but we bought used and saved and our house still looks great. Saved- $3,000

10. Having a $200 a Month Grocery Budget– We try to eat healthy so we can easily spend a huge amount of money on groceries. I’m going to conservatively say that we save at least $200 a month by sticking to our budget. (See More About Our Grocery Budget) Saved- $200 a Month or $2,400 a year

11. Buying Groceries and Household Items with Coupons– We save thousands of dollars by using coupons so I’m going to conservatively say that we saved a couple of thousand dollars in the past two years. (See More About Our Couponing) Saved- $4,000

TOTAL- $54,000 We Saved Ourselves in 2 Years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really surprised when I calculated that total! The best part of this is that NONE of these are crazy things. These are regular every day things that with a little bit of extra time and effort saved us a substantial amount of money!

Do You Have a Fruit Tree That You’re Not Using?

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 25, 2013 None comments

We live in Florida where fruit trees are everywhere. In fact, people often get so much fruit from them that you can see beautiful oranges, grapes fruits, lemons, etc. dying on tree branches in their owners yard. We have three orange trees in our back yard that for some reason haven’t produced any oranges this year but they did last year (see- Waking Up to Cold Florida Air and Oranges).

My Mother was actually the one to point out that she has the huge Loquat tree you see in the picture above in her front lawn. Every year as kids we would pick some to eat and some to throw at each other but we never really ate a substantial amount of them. This year, my mother decided that she was going to try to learn more about them. She found out that they are also called Japanese Plums and that they are jam packed full of vitamins and minerals. She has been faithfully giving us bags full of them every since.

It occurred to me that especially since I am trying to eat healthy I like to keep small fruits like grapes and cherries in the house to snack on which can also be expensive. Why don’t I just eat Loquats instead? They are just as healthy, they are free and they are also going to waste. Waste not, want not. It’s never too late to start taking advantage of an overlooked resource.

January $200 Grocery and Household Item Budget Review

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on February 12, 2013 None comments

I know that I am a little late posting this but I ended up getting sick at the end of the month and it took me a little while to get back in fighting shape. However, it did make me happy that we did so well on our grocery budget last month. I don’t usually post about our grocery budget but I’m going to try to do a monthly review every month this year in 2013.

Our goal for January was our usual grocery budget of $200. We put our receipts in a reused junk mail envelope so that we can total them up periodically to check our progress. This budget is for two adults and yes we do eat three meals a day at home. We only ate out 2-3 times the entire month. I mention that not because we include what we spent eating out in the grocery budget but to show that we really do eat almost all of our meals at home. This also includes all household items such as toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, etc. Here is the breakdown-

January Monthly Grocery and Household Item Budget- $200

Number of People in Our Household- 2

Number of Meals a Month- 85-90

People I know who don’t coupon think that this is an extremely low number. People who do coupon tend to think that this is a high number. I like to think that it is in the middle.

Why $200 a month?

Things that make our costs a little higher-

– We try to eat healthy with as little junk food as possible- This means more fresh vegetables and fruits that aren’t that cheap in where we live. Also healthy foods have fewer coupons than junk food.

– We really do eat at home all the time- This means our grocery budget is a little higher but our eating out budget is a lot lower.

– This budget isn’t just food- It’s also all household items we may need like soap.

Things that help keep our food costs low-

– Couponing, couponing, couponing- While there are less coupons for healthy food that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there, it just takes a little more work

– Shopping Loss Leader Sales- Buying items at the lowest possible prices

– Shopping at Aldi a Discount Grocery Store- Food staples are simply lower at Aldi. Although Aldi doesn’t take coupons, most of the items we buy there aren’t items that usually have coupons anyways like flour and sugar.

– Shopping at Dollar Tree- Everything is $1. We can get regular sized laundry detergent for $1 and it works the same as name brand. We buy things there that are just plain cheaper than anywhere else even accounting for size and quality

– Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without- We try not to waste food and we also try to make our meals around the items that we get deals.

– Stockpiling household items- We buy them at the lowest possible price to save $ in the long run

So how did we do this month?

We Spent- $192.33

We Saved $ 197.52 (this doesn’t even count stores like dollar tree that don’t show what you save over other stores)

So we actually came in under budget which is always good. Also, $20 of what we spent was on the last day of January on groceries that we were generally buying for next month, but as I said I was sick and didn’t think I would make it back to the store for a while and I didn’t.

Tune in at the end of Febuary to see how we do with our $200 grocery budget for next month.

Free DIY Houses for Small Pets

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on January 30, 2013 None comments

Recently we ended up with a small rat as a pet. In the above picture you can see Benny enjoying a Milkbone. (Our local pet store told us you can feed rats dog food). We weren’t sure we were going to keep him so we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on his house or toys. You can also see a toilet paper tube in the background, another favorite and free toy for small, rodent pets. We originally made Benny’s house out of an empty Country Crock container.

As Benny got bigger, we got attached to our litttle guy and we realized he wasn’t going anywhere. Now he is too big for his butter tub house so we made him a house out of the bottom of a milk jug. The indented circle on the side was also a great size for a door.

As I was writing, I realized that we had also made a butter tub house for our hermit crabs. Yes, the one in the picture above is on his back and no I didn’t have to help him get up. The point of all of this is that small pets are often very happy with toys and houses made out of household items that we often throw away. I know that these things can often be very expensive at Pet Stores and honestly our little friends don’t know the difference.

A Frugal Date Night

Posted by Ney@ShopahoicSavers.com on January 22, 2013 None comments

Picture this- A couple celebrating their anniversary by getting dressed up in fancy clothes, walking through a downtown area, wandering through an art gallery and then heading to an expensive dinner at a nice restaurant. After enjoying a fantastic meal, they go to watch a movie.

Sounds expensive, right?

Well here are the numbers. We have been extremely busy the last few months and since this month was our anniversary we decided it was time for a nice date night. One of our favorite restaurants is a really nice place but it’s fairly expensive. Meals are around $25-30 per person but the food is excellent. One of the ways we save money is that I work at another restaurant that is also owned by the same company. Luckily I have a discount card that is for 50% off for up to 4 people at all the restaurants owned by the company that I work for. Also we received a gift card at Christmas for this same group of restaurants. When used together we received a huge discount. We had a $100 dinner including entrees, desert, and drinks for about $35 including a big tip (We always tip on the pre-gift card, pre-discount amount). We actually planned to go to the movies but then realized that there was nothing playing that we both wanted to see. We did however find a movie we both wanted to see at Redbox. So instead of spending $24 just for movie tickets (yes that’s what it costs where we live for two movie tickets) not including snacks or drinks, we enjoyed a movie at home.

Was it any less romantic?

No.

Did it require a little more planning?

Yes.

I am a firm believer that you can enjoy the finer things in life without spending a lot of money. For those of you who are already frugal I can see you nodding your heads. For those of you who would like to be more frugal think about this- If you can enjoy the same things for less, why wouldn’t you?