Happy First Day of Spring .......???

Hi all Happy Spring.......... I think............. I woke up this morning to this............

I don't know how well you can see it, but those little white spots on the pictures is snow. (if you click on the pic you can see the snow in an enlarged view) Here I was planning my bumper crop of container garden veggies and we have snow. What a wonderful world this is huh.

OK on with the March Tip Fest: Stop using your credit card and pay with cash. When you see that hard cash leaving your hands it will help you think twice as to whether or not you really want to make that purchase. Along with this is get and save your receipts for every purchase you make (yes even that cup of latte) Then at the end of the week go over your spending and see where you can cut some expenses. And Dont forget to put the money you save into savings not spending.

Good Morning All

At least its morning for me. I got up early today just so I could post the tip of the day before going to work.

My brain has been on Spring planting lately. I've got my seed catalogs and need to start getting ready to plant.

That leads to my tip of the day:

Make your plans before you buy anything. Make a drawing of the way you want your yard to work so it will give you an idea of how it will look. This will help you know exactly what you need and you can decide where to get it by keeping an eye on the sales, yard sales, and don't forget to check thrift stores and the google group Freecycle. This way you can plant your landscape or garden with minimum cost.


Have a great day everyone.

This Tip May Not Be For Everyone But....

As the title says this tip may not be for everyone but it is something everyone should consider. This is a big one not only for saving money as a family but environmentally too. Here in the States we place great emphasis on independence... doing things on you own with no help from anyone. This can lead to great things but it also robs us of a vital support structure as families move all over the place.

If you are lucky enough to live close to your family then consider sharing a resident. That's right share one home instead of two. Think of how much you can save by doing this. There will be no duplicate purchases. One couch instead of two, one TV, video game system, dining table, set of pans for cooking, etc etc and on and on. There is also only one set of bills Heat, electric and if you want cable TV you could get all the extras and still pay less then if you were paying for it in two houses. This also means more money into savings and more people to keep an eye on the kids (Lets face it most kids are not getting enough adult supervision)

Now I know what your thinking....... NO WAY we would be fighting day and night.... Well this is something else we have lost through the insistence of personal independence... The art of compromise. It is so easy to move away from the problem that we no longer face them and it is something we pass on to our kids.

Now don't get me wrong I am not saying this would be an easy thing to do. It would take a lot of discussion.....Who's house do you use... (assuming both parties have their own) Do you sell both and buy one that is big enough to house both families. How about the kids do you give the boys one room and the girls another or do you make sure that each families kids have their own rooms? Who does which chores ? Who pays which bills... do you make a joint bank account where all working parties deposit money to pay the bills and for emergencies.... If you buy a house together how do you split it if you life forces you to separate?

For the money matters I suggest you put in writing how you are going to do it and how you will handle splitting things up later.

With things getting tight all over ( and yes I think things will get worse before they get better) it is something worth considering.

Happy St. Patricks Day

I hope everyone remembered to wear some green today or......PINCHY PINCHY PINCHY LOL

If not then here is a four leaf clover just for you.

And now the March tip madness continues to help you keep a little green in your pocket.

Do you find when you go shopping you tend to buy a bunch of stuff you didn't plan on buying... Try this trick: Go grocery shopping with you list while you are in a hurry. Maybe you only have a half hour before you pick up the kids or your favorite can't miss show is coming on. By having a deadline you are less likly to browes and buy things that aren't on your list. Make sure you HAVE your list though or you might forget something and have to make a second trip which of course doesn't save you money.

A Spring Visitor and Another 3 Tips

This handsome visitor has been driving my cats nuts for the last couple days. I finally got a decent shot of him.

I wasn't able to get online this weekend. Weekends are always a little nuts around here. But to make up for it here are three tips to help you get cooking on saving money.

1. When choosing your fresh fruits and Vegetables remember to buy seasonally. In March these choices should include.

Fruits: Grapefruit, Oranges, and Pineapple

Vegetables: Broccoli, Chicory, Endive, and Escarole, Parsnips, Sweet Potatoes and Turnips.

Keep in mind this list is Seasonal for the U.S. Since that's where I live and visitors from the Southern hemisphere will probable have a different list.

2. Keep a lid on it. When your cooking there are some simple things to do that will save you some cash. The first is to use a lid on your pots. This keeps the heat in and helps things cook faster. Along with this is don't keep opening the oven to check your food it lets the heat out and your oven has to use more gas/electricity to reheat the oven. Use the oven light to check instead. Also make sure you use the right size burner for the pan you are using. If it's too hard your wasting energy to heat nothing. If its too small it will take longer to cook.

3. Consider planting an indoor herb garden. By growing some of the herbs you use most you won't have to buy them and they will be more flavorful fresh. As an added bonus they beautify your home with living green plants.

Start a Change Jar

This is something my hubby and I have been doing for years. We pay for our purchases with paper cash and put all the days change in the change jar. Our Change jar is a rather large container that use to have pretzels in it. You will be amazed at how fast those nickles, dimes, pennies and quarters add up.

Save even more by wrapping them yourself. Don't use Coinstar or any other counting machine they can cost up to 10% of the total That's $10 for every $100. If you don't feel like wrapping them yourself then pay your kid the $10 to wrap them for you then they can save up for something they want. Don't by you coin wrappers either you can go to your bank and get FREE coin wrappers.

After you've wrapped up the coins make sure they go into savings better still deposit them into a vacation or Christmas club account where you can't touch them until it's time. Even if you don't use it for that purpose it's still a good way to keep yourself from spending it and a great way to save up a safety net for emergencies.

Just a Quicky today

Ok it's been a long day today so I'm just throwing out a quick tip.

Keep healthy snacks close at hand. In your car or in a drawer at work. Nothing breaks the budget faster then unplanned spending on Fast Food or the Vending machines at work. Save your cash by having a stash!!

Ok now I'm off to catch up on all the blogs I love to read and missed yesterday. Don't forget to say hi.

Do a Double Take

Stop those unnecessary purchases by thinking twice. There is a reason they are called impulse buys but if you stop, leave the store and wait at least 30 days you will know for sure if its something you really want or if it was something you were just considering because you were there.
This of course goes back to the stick to your list tip. If you want to write it down for future consideration. This also gives you time if you decide it is something you really need to watch for it to go on sale. Most of the time though you will decide you don't really need it.