Category Archives: Frugal Living

Frugal Christmas Shopping

Posted by shopaholicsavers on December 7, 2010 1 comments

Click HERE to read 30 Ways to Save Money This Holiday Season

Being broke and living more frugally teaches you a lot. I am refusing to use the heat in my apartment unless absolutely necessary and another benefit of cooking myself is that using the stove warms up my apartment. Not using the heat and obviously not using the air conditioning will save a lot on my electric bill this month. When I’m cold now instead of running for the thermostat I dress more warmly, I use throw blankets when I sit on the couch, and there is an extra blanket on my bed.

In my living room is a Christmas tree and decorations that my roommate borrowed from her grandparents. We can even do Christmas cheer on a budget. My brother and I decided, after hauling too many boxes of surplus Christmas stuff into our mother’s attic last year, that no one in the family is allowed to buy anything that has to be packed up again after Christmas. It will be a more practical Christmas than ever before but it will still be fun.

This year I went so far as to ask my loved ones a few months before Christmas what they really, really needed or wanted. I think I’ve done a good job with that list. Hidden behind the couch in my apartment sits the stack of Christmas gifts I’ve been collecting for the last six months when I found things that for the right price that I knew my loved ones would enjoy or could use.

I have become an expert at Christmas shopping on a budget. Many of the items I’ve collected have been free through couponing including personal items and stocking stuffers. I have new clothes for my family that I bought at Rue 21’s $3 clothing sale. I have best selling/collectible books that I bought for .10 cents to $1 at thrift shops and the library book sale. I got four free gifts when my Borders reward card gave me a free $10 gift certificate. I got two gifts for about $1 when I found a free $5 Hallmark printable gift certificate. I bought items such as headphones at CVS when they offered them free after CVS dollars. I hit up the $1 sale at Claire’s. I used coupons to get items free at Bath and Body Works with any purchase, usually buying the new sample fragrances for $1 in order to get two gifts for $1.

I followed sales and used my resources. My work is giving away a free $20 gift card each shift to the person who gets the most people to give them their e-mail. I did my best with this every shift when most people weren’t even trying. So far I’ve won 6 of them. I will use them as gifts or to buy gifts for free.

My couponing has provided me and my loved ones with so many household products that I will be making Christmas gift baskets for other families for free. Sure, there are things that I would love to buy my loved ones that I can’t afford right now but then I would love to give them the moon and stars too, but I know they will settle for the small mountain of gifts that I have amassed as cheaply as possible.

Write For Rights Write-A-Thon

Posted by shopaholicsavers on December 7, 2010 None comments

Yesterday, my brother came to visit me and I am always excited to see him. We both ended up with the day off of work and it always makes me happy that he would choose to drive an hour each way and spend gas and toll money to see his big sister. We thought about going Christmas shopping, but knowing that neither of us had much money to spend we decided to go to the Orlando branch of Amnesty International’s 2010 Write for Rights Write-a-thon. We spent two hours having snacks and learning about people around the world who were prisoners of conscience. These were people who had been stripped of all rights and freedoms, often without explanation. We wrote letters to government officials in the hopes that they would not be forgotten and we also wrote letters to the prisoners themselves trying to give them hope. We left having learned about people who were fighting for the freedoms we take for granted every day. All it cost us was a little bit of gas and toll money and it made an impact on our lives a lot more than spending money going Christmas shopping would have. If you would like to get involved or learn more CLICK HERE.

After, we had spaghetti for dinner. A year ago we would have gone out to eat or gotten take out but being broke teaches you to be resourceful. I had spaghetti sauce, pasta, and a block of cheese that I had gotten for free/almost free couponing. We stopped at Walmart and got ground meat and garlic toast. I now know that you can make garlic toast with garlic powder, butter and salt and I will make it myself next time to save even more money. I grated the cheese myself to go over the spaghetti with the cheese grater I got for $1 at a thrift shop (a year ago I probably would have bought shredded cheese). Dinner cost a little over $4 and it was way more than enough to feed the two of us and my boyfriend. I now have food cooked for at least the next couple of days and cooking with my brother while we watched the latest episode of Hoarders (the epitome of waste) was a lot more fun than sitting in a restaurant.

Article- “Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year.”

Posted by shopaholicsavers on December 7, 2010 4 comments

When I was reading news articles on the internet the other day I came across an article written by a woman named Donna Freedman titled “Surviving (and thriving) on $12,000 a year.” For some people this would be unimaginable, but in these current times of economic hardship it is becoming a reality for many Americans. Donna starts by saying “I’ve made my choices, and they include no more husband, a college education and huge changes in the way I spend money.” She goes on to explain that she is living off of alimony and a school grant, about $1,000 a month, while she goes back to school to finish her college education. After her rent and car insurance she has only $382 dollars a month for all other bills and expenses.

In the article, she describes the sometimes extreme lengths she goes to in order to save money/survive. Donna states in her article that her current financial situation is temporary but it made me again wonder how many Americans in today’s world are going to extreme lengths to survive financially. I give her credit for everything she did in order to finish her education. I enjoyed reading her story, which you can find HERE.