Browsing Category: "Frugal Shopping"
Planning a wedding involves what seems to be a never ending list of details to take care of. One of those is choosing what gifts to give your guests at the reception of your wedding. Because the costs can begin to mount some people begin to consider using discount wedding favors. Let’s take a look at why you still can get the results you are hoping for using these popular favors.
Choosing the theme of your wedding is one of the most important things you do. This is where you inject your personality into your wedding. If you have a flair for decorations you can add it to your wedding and wedding reception.
The favors you give to your guests can be a part of that. These gifts are the perfect addition to an already perfect day. Now you get to direct the spotlight towards your guests and away from yourselves.
Thankfully discount wedding favors can be just as effective as ones that cost more. What many people do not realize when planning their wedding is that your guests do not care how much you spend on these gifts.
It is the thought that counts. When you plan in advance you are able to shop for souvenirs that match your wedding theme and your budget at the same time.
For example did you know that you could get flip flop favors at a discount if you are using a more casual theme. You can do the very same thing with a wine bottle stopper if your reception is going for a more elegant theme.
If you will plan in advance you can find discount wedding favors without breaking your budget. You do not want to add any extra cost if it is not necessary. However, you still need gifts for the wedding reception. This is why it is good to use discount favors.
When you are shopping for wedding favors at a discount you want to make sure that you shop around. Also, if you have a theme for your wedding you want to make sure that the wedding favors will go with the theme.
One example might be to give out cake candles which you can get in a color matching your colors at your reception.
Another example would be if you are going to have a beach wedding than you can find beach wedding favors that will be beach related. This might include beach stylish sailboats or candles that would add to your beach wedding decor. Shopping online is a great place to get more ideas.
When buying favors for your reception at a discount you will not be purchasing anything that is of cheap quality. Most of the times you can find inexpensive items that are on sale because they have been overstocked or the store is trying to get rid of their remaining inventory.
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I always talk about coupons and how to save money with them and use them just like cash to get free stuff. Well, there is one thing I have not told anyone on here that I got a question about. Where do I get all my coupons? That is a very fair question.
I get my coupons from many sources, so here they are:
- The Newspaper - I purchase a newspaper or two if the coupons are good (or the first of the month when you get the P&G insert).
- Friends and Family - We share coupons or they just give them to me sometimes.
- Trade coupons online with forum members
- Coupon Trains - I will explain this one in full detail in a post coming up soon.
- Dumpster Diving - This is where I get most of my coupons from previous weeks from. You just go and look for dumpsters like this:
and it has many newspapers in them. The easiest thing to look for are many ads and the colered comics section, that is where the coupon inserts are at. If you have not seen one of these containers before, you can go to: www.paperretiever.com to find the closest one to you. There are about 100 in my area, but I just focus on one and usually pull out 20 - 30 coupon inserts a week. Now organizations make money from the paper that they recycle from that container, since you are taking paper out, please also put more paper back to make up for it. Its only the right thing to do. I throw all my paper from the week in the dumpster and that is more than enough to cover as much as I take out. If you are a little older for dumpster diving, maybe you can find a kid in your neighborhood to do it for you and pay him a few bucks.
Have you ever dumpster dived for coupons, or other things?
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I know I love going to the movie theaters all the time when there are great movies out that you can not wait for the DVD to come out to rent. To save some extra cash, here are a few tips to save money at the movies:
Save Money Going to a Movie Theater:
- Make sure to eat before you go to see a movie, as popcorn and a soda can be just as much as the ticket to get into the theater. Do not go on an empty stomach. We still get a small popcorn to share sometimes.
- Wait a few more weeks until the movie is not as popular or leaving the bigger theaters. Look around you might have a discount movie theater where a ticket is something like $2 - $3 per person. These are great for rainy days and cheap date nights.
- Go during the day instead of at night, this could cut the cost of the ticket almost in half. Most theaters raise there prices after 6pm.
- Buy discounted movie passes in advance to get better prices, however, you might not be able to see every movie possible the first few weeks.
How do you save money going to the movies?
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When we first started figuring out how to get free stuff, such as deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, food, ect. (You can find out also by subscribing to our full blog feeds free and get our ebook FREE!) We started to put everything into our already full hallway closet. When that started to get unorganized, we had to find another way to store everything. Finally we decided to get some cheap shelving that we stored and put it into our office closet that is a lot bigger than the hallway closet. Lets say that after we did that, we started stockpiling more and more stuff. We have well over 100 different items that we have got for free in the past three months and running out of room fast.
After reading around on the Internet what other people do, here are some ideas of where to store your stockpile of goodies:
- Put them onto shelves in the basement
- Put them into large plastic containers and store under bed or else where
- Just give out to friends and family
- Use right a way (hard to do if you have 20 of one item)
- Store in the bathroom, kitchen, where ever the item might go
- Store in the garage in plastic bags (might forget that its not trash)
- HOW DO YOU STOCKPILE?
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Paint is considered a hazardous waste item. You are not suppose to throw it away if you have it, but give it to your county for proper disposal. People donate their paint every year because they purchase too much of it. The city or county usually comes around once or twice a year to pick up paint and other hazardous items and take it to their storage facility. It sits on a shelves until either they use it to paint city buildings or if someone comes to pick it up themselves.
Contact your city or county and ask if they have a paint storage recycling facility. If they do, ask them if it is open to the public as you would like to get some paint and if so when. Some places are only open a few times a year when others are open year round. Just go there and you can take as much paint as you can handle. They might ask you to sign a piece of paper that says that you are using the paint in a legal manner, ect. This is free paint in most cases and they are glad you are taking it off of them and putting it to use.
Quick Tip: Don’t see the color you are looking for? Why not take a couple of colors together and make new colors? Remember this is free paint. What more could you want?
Have you ever done this before? How often do you change the colors of your walls?
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Have you ever rented a car before? If you have, you have probably been offered to take additional coverages, correct? I am here to tell you that if you were suckered into taking that coverage, you were over paying. I used to work for a rental car company and was one of those people that convinced other people that taking our coverage was a great idea. It was just 100% profit to our company. Even if you took our coverage that offered a “walk away” coverage (Damage Waiver) even if you totaled the car, you still have to qualify. If you did not meet those terms, then it is still your fault.
Example. You rented a car and went on a trip, you got hijacked (car stolen). Because you do not have the keys to the car, you are not covered if you took the rental company insurance in most cases!
But I only have liability. Not a problem! When you rent a car, you usually need a major credit card. Most major credit card companies will protect you for anything your insurance company will not cover. Make sure to call your credit card company before you go to the rental place. If you tell them that you are covered under your credit card, one of their tactics is to let you know that your insurance will still come first, which is true, but only the liability part of it. (Again, make sure you get the full understanding of what YOUR credit card will cover as all credit cards cover different things).
OK, so your credit card does not cover for a rental car. And your insurance is only liability. Next thing you can try is what is called short-term coverage. Some insurance companies will allow you to have full coverage on a rental vehicle while you drive it (will cost extra, but usually less than the damage waiver the rental company might charge). See if this is possible from your insurance company.
OK this is all and good, but what if you have an insurance company that does not cover rental cars at all. Yes there are a few out there. One is Safe Auto. Safe Auto WILL NOT cover rental cars AT ALL! You will either have to use your credit card or purchase the Damage Waiver. Always call your insurance company if you are ever going to rent a car and find out what they will cover and how much is the deductible if something was to happen.
But they said if I got into an accident and I did not take their damage waiver I would have to pay my deductible even if it was not my fault, is that correct? When you sell damage waiver you use the person’s deductible as a scare tactic. They will ask you for your insurance company’s name and your deductible. (they usually do not need it, but use it for their sales technique). To actually answer this question, yes they will make you pay your deductible when you return the car even if it was not your fault, UNLESS you have already had a claim filed with the person at fault’s insurance company and have a police report. Then you can talk to the loss control department for the rental company and give them all the information. If the accident was your fault you will have to pay your deductible and file a claim just like you would if it was your own car.
If you have any questions that you would like answered about the rental car process, please post a comment and I will gladly try to answer your question to the best of my ability.
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Those coupons that probably 80 - 90% of the population throw out every Sunday is real money! Think about it. How many of us go grocery shopping? 99% (I can not wait to get to that 1% when someone else cooks for me all the time, but that is far far away). Do you get the Sunday paper already delivered to your house? Great! Keep those coupons for 3 months! Why you ask? Because many coupons are good for 3 months or so and you never know when you will that product or find a great deal. (Or even find FREE stuff, for more information subscribe to our full feeds free and get our free e-book on how to do this!)
Where I am from, our grocery store will double most coupons under $1.00. Last week pancake mix was on sale for $1.00. I had a coupon from last month’s paper (not expired) for $0.50, and my grocery store doubled it to make it $1.00! FREE PANCAKE MIX! Thats not all! I also find many things that I always buy in the paper. I was making a pie and there are pie crust coupons in the paper. Every penny in coupons that you use is another penny in your bank.
Never feel embarrassed about using coupons. I used to feel that way, because I thought people always looked at me funny and wish I would hurry up. I do not care any more, I am proud when the cashier says that will be $8.00 on a $40.00 grocery bill and the poor sucker behind me buys 5 items for $40.00 and I have 5 grocery bags full of stuff for $8.00.
Don’t get the Sunday paper delivered to your house? You could always take part in our coupon giveaway contest! Just subscribe to our Full Feeds (Free) and look for the special link and code for the day to enter!
I get most of my coupons from buying the paper, but I have started a recycling program in our complex and people put the full Sunday papers in there and I take out the coupons and recycle the rest of the paper. This is a great way to get coupons free.
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So you are going on a date with your loved one or someone special. You are a frugal type of person and when the word date comes around, you think of money. Dates can become very costly. They can range from nothing to hundreds of dollars.
You will probably want to eat on your date, right? Going out to a restaurant can be very expensive. Make something special yourself and have a pick-nick or eat in, this will usually make your date feel more special because it was made by you, ask my fiance! Don’t forget a blanket, maybe eat at a local park, beach, or special place. This will cut your cost at least in half, plus it is something special.
Go to a park and enjoy the scenery. There are many parks around the country that are just a short drive away. Some have great special features. If you are the camping sort and love the outdoors, there is nothing more romantic than sitting out side by the fire with someone you love. A great site to find local campgrounds is iloveparks.com .
A beautiful FREE place to visit is a local public garden. It is a romantic place to visit and walk around with many around the country, you can not go wrong with this choice. Find your local public garden with this search site. Just put your city and it finds the local public gardens around you.
Go to the Zoo and enjoy the animals. Many people love to see animals. This usually does cost a little money. Sometimes zoos run specials for admissions. The price is worth the all day fun activities. Make sure to make your lunch or dinner with you and bring your own drinks as food and beverages are expensive at the zoo.
Museums, art galleries, and historical sites. Most museums, art galleries, and historical sites are a nice place to visit and take a date, as it will cause some conversation between each other. Some places will cost a little money, but not too much. There are places that are free. Do an online search first to make sure it is something that you are interested in and not just go first because it is a museum.
Want to be more active on your date? Try to go bicycling, hiking, bowling, roller skating, or ice skating. These are great fun and not too expensive ideas that people would enjoy.
What are you favorite “Cheap” Date ideas?
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Do you have a dishwasher? Even though that wonderful piece of equipment is cleaning your dishes to the best of its ability, you still have to clean the dishwasher itself. You can go out and buy that expensive dishwasher cleaner, or you can be frugal and use our tip.
What you do is purchase a small pouch of unsweetened lemon Kool-Aid not sugar free, but unsweetened. This contains citric-acid, which will be the active ingredient to cleaning your dishwasher. Pour the small packet into the soap dispenser and turn it on. This will help get rid of the mineral deposits in your dishwasher and make it sparkling new. The packet of Kool-aid usually runs between $0.10 - $0.25 per packet.
And it makes a nice cool drink when you need one. Try it out and see for yourself.
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Every Sunday (except holidays) great money savers come in your newspaper. That is right, I am talking about coupons, again. But you will not use every single coupon in the newspaper and I am sure you will find coupons that you wish you could have more of because it is a product that you use a lot. I am on a search this week to find the best places to trade those coupons that you do not need for ones that you would love to have. Please post any places that you like to trade coupons and I will look at their serives and will post back when I find the best coupon trading web sites out there.
Halloween is coming up here soon, hope everyone stocked up on the candy coupons! Please also do not forget that it is breast cancer month this month!
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