http://frugalmoms.today.com Making Cents Stretch like Dollars Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:39:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There are several areas in life a person can cut expenses.  From bills which are reoccurring expenses, to entertainment which should be an occasional expense. STEP 1 Cut the monthly expenses down.  I did several things.  I took several things off my phone and asked for slower internet.  I paid 60 dollars ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/10/cutting-expensis-one-step-at-a-time/ Besides gardening, how can a family of four dent their grocery bill for fresh fruits and veggies?  Apples are up almost 18% this year and potatoes are up 83 cents for the year.  With winter around the corner, I bet you never thought getting fresh food might be a problem. 1.  ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/09/saving-on-fresh-fruits-and-vegetables-when-they-are-up-over-10/ Do you have an old sweat shirt? Instead of rushing out to Walmart to buy the baby gloves come the first snow, make a pair in a snap.  Take that old sweat shirt and trace with about an inch of wiggle room, around Jr.'s cute little hand.  Make sure you ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/08/quick-ways-to-make-gloves-for-wee-ones/ 1. Keep the thermostat down.  This means dealing with cooler temps.  You can put long underwear under your clothes or a sweater on to compensate.  The point is to make sure you use less heat than last year.  Always keep it above 50 degrees F to ensure no one gets ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/07/5-ways-to-heat-your-house-for-less/ enough to save. I write on this wonderful site, today.com.  I love this site.  The owner is awesome, the people are awesome, and the site is very easy to use.  Not to mention I get $1 per post and a little for every unique visitor.  So to pay off one student ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/06/what-i-do-in-my-spare-time-to-make-money-when-i-dont-have/ Besides being frugal, families can find other inexpensive ways to ensure they remain financially stable.  If your like me the idea of massive layoffs scares the bejebus out of you.  In reality the news stories may be more fright than right, but having an effective plan in place to ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/05/5-ways-to-stay-ahead-in-todays-economy/ I apologize for my sudden disappearance from Today.com.  I have been battling illness and also missed 2 weeks of college and my day job as a result.  I apologize that I didn't write my blog in advance as I normally do when missing for long periods of time.  The nature ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/10/04/missing-for-the-past-few-weeks/ Kids at this age really enjoy the company of their friends.  In fact, I would say they would prefer their friends over a visit from aunt Thelma.  However, birthdays are an important time for the family, the child, and friends.  To be frugal at this age is very difficult.  They ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/09/08/parties-for-the-10-to-13-year-old/ Birthdays at this age are the easiest to throw if you can handle the noise level.  The first rule is to have immediate and extended family, and after that up to 6 friends.  Second make sure that you are aware of every guest that is or is not coming.  For ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/09/07/frugal-birthdays-for-a-child-ages-4-to-9-years-old/ Okay last one on this topic I promise.  This is from my prospective as a person who sews.  For my little children I have to buy maybe a yard of material to make them clothes, which costs anywhere form one dollar to 4 dollars.  For my eldest daughter I am ... http://frugalmoms.today.com/2008/09/05/how-losing-weight-can-save-money-part6/