Week Three of the One Month Pantry Eating Challenge

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This week was harder with the one month pantry eating challenge than the previous two weeks.  This was because we haven't had much fresh food in a while, plus our town's water had a yellow tint to it one day, and was muddy the next.  So we had to buy some stuff to drink, and we opted to eat out as well.

How to Stock a Gift Closet On a Budget

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Several years ago, I began putting things back for gift giving occasions.  I hadn't heard the term "Gift Closet" or "Prize Closet" (as those who enter sweepstakes often call it.)  But I knew the concept.  I also knew our amount of money to be spent was next to nothing.

Week Two of the One Month Pantry Eating Challenge

Two weeks ago I announced my husband and I were going to do a one month pantry eating challenge.  I am a bargain shopper, avid coupon user and have so much in the pantry that I want to see how little we can buy and still eat for a month.

I often stock up before winter, but it's not as needed anymore, and so I'm going to see how long the one month pantry eating challenge will last.    Here's what we ate and what we spent last week.

A Budget is NOT a Bad Thing -- In Fact it is GOOD!

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I was scrolling through Facebook and saw someone mention a budget.  To my surprise, every response was negative.  I "learned" that having a budget means you can't buy your kids something they want, and you have to eat Ramen.  My response was "Being on a budget means you can afford the extras without feeling guilty because you have been careful with your money in other areas."

Week One of the One Month Pantry Challenge

Last week I announced my husband and I were going to do a one month pantry eating challenge as a way to both save money and help clean out the pantry.  Here's how the first week went.

Day 1:  Burgers from McDonalds ($5) Okay, so it looks like we failed before we even started, and in a way we did, but we hadn't planned on having burgers that night.

4 Ways I Paid Off My Student Loan EARLY

I graduated from college in 1998.  I had over $16,000 of student loans.  That probably seems like change to today's graduates, but it seemed a lot to me at the time, especially because I became ill soon after graduating and couldn't hold down a full time job.  I started selling on eBay (this was in the early days and people rolled their eyes even more then than they do now.)

Five Ways You Can Save Money on Hotel Rooms!

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FiveWays you Can Save Money on Hotel rooms!

I love taking road trips, but I try to be frugal about it.  The two most pricey things in road trips are the cost of hotel stays and eating out.  Today I'm going to talk about ways to cut down on the cost of hotel rooms.

1.  Find one or two chains you LOVE and be loyal to them.  For me, I have decided that while I have two chains I love, it's easier to reach rewards with one chain.  While it was tempting to go with the International Hotel Group as they have more of a variety of hotels (including Candlewood Suites which boasts a kitchenette in their rooms, cutting down on food costs for your trip), I opted to be loyal to the Hilton brand of hotels.  (This includes the Hampton Inn.)  Do everything you can to earn reward points for the hotel of your choice.  Sign up for their credit card so you can earn points on every purchase you make, even on groceries.  (Just be sure and pay it off at the end of each month so you aren't carrying a balance.)  Sign up for e-mails.  There have been a number of times I have been able to get extra Hilton points for just filling out a survey or updating my profile information.  While 1,000 points may not be a free night, it certainly helps.

One Month Pantry Eating Challenge

I'm working on a series that will be posted in full this year.  As part of that series, I want to show how much money can be saved by using what is in the pantry.  I don't know about you, but my husband and I tend to buy things and forget them, and then they are so old we don't feel comfortable about eating them.  Combine this with the fact one of our favorite stores is an Amish close out store where they often sell past-dated foods.  I am careful what I buy there, but usually I think, "I'll use this soon," and sometimes I don't, which means I only wasted money instead of saving it.

The Ultimate Guide to The Best Deals at Sheetz

I love Sheetz.  I've been shopping there for decades, and I want to share a few tips on how to stretch your dollar at Sheetz.  It's quite possible to get some great deals, especially on the Made To Order food.  I am such a "Sheetz Freak" that my credit card actually got shut down one time because the issuer thought it had been stolen because I had made so many stops at Sheetz in a 24 hour period. But why wouldn't I?  It's quality food, low prices and I don't have to cook!

If you don't have their My Sheetz Card, get one next time you go.  It's free!  This is key to the most savings possible.

Cut Your Grocery Bill WITHOUT Cutting Coupons

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Everyone knows someone who is a coupon queen.  (I used to be one.)  But what about those of us who don't want to take time to clip coupons and still get a good deal at the store?  Is it even possible? Yes!  Absolutely!   Here are my tricks for couponless savings.

How to Save Money on ANYTHING

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Every couple of months I receive an e-mail asking, "How can I save money on going to Disney World?"  I've received the same question about XBox Ones, PS4s, flights to Hawaii, and more.

Did you know you can save money on anything?   Well, kind of.  So often I see people who only want to save towards big purchases and don't think about the smaller ones.

Here are a few tips.

Five Myths I believed about Student Loans

I realize graduating from college almost 20 years ago makes my experience with student loans totally different than what today's kids are facing, but here are a few things I wish I had known.

I though the future was so far away I'd never have to pay back my loans.  I know this sounds silly, but when I took out my first student loan at age 16 (I graduated high school at 15.), I didn't really comprehend this.

How to Create a School and Office Supply Stockpile on a Budget

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Have you seen prices on notebooks and crayons in February?  They certainly aren't on sale by any means! If you ran out of glue when your son was working on his science fair project, you likely ran to the store and could have kicked yourself for not buying another bottle when it was on sale during back to school sales.  You had the hassle of going to the store, and you also had to pay more than you would have in August so he could cover Saturn with copious amounts of glitter.

The first thing you need is a storage spot.  A shelf in a closet, a bin in the garage, a box under the bed in the guest room.  Just somewhere heat won't melt crayons and no musty smells will get into paper.

First, decide what you need.  This will vary depending on if you have children or are stocking for your home office (or both!).  Then it will depend on how old your children are.

Why you shouldn't compare your "Amount Saved" with someone else's

I often hear people bragging about how much they saved on something.  While it's true that they got a discount, but you have to wonder how much they spent, and if they purchased something they didn't need.

I donate items, sell on eBay, as well as buy items for my household.  Last month, I posted a photo of a receipt on social media where it said, "Today you saved $1200.00".  Many people commented on it.  But how I did it was Christmas items were 90% off and I bought tons of stuff to sell on eBay.  I was asked how I did it, but honestly, all it took was putting items in my cart.

As an eBay seller, I got a great deal.  I spent a little over $200 that day and made it back in a couple weeks with the stuff I purchased and still have stuff I can sell for quite some time.  However, as an individual, there was little that I wanted or need.

Five Tips to Save Money on Gasoline

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Even with gas prices dropping, I am sure everyone still wishes there was a way to get gasoline even cheaper.  Well, there is!  Here are a few things I do.  Each station is different, and promotions may vary, but here are some ideas for you to see if they will work for you.

*The GasBuddy App.  I think most people have heard of this.  You can look up to see what stations near you have the cheaper gas.  I've seen it vary as much as ten cents a gallon with stations on different sides of the road.

Debt Free For Seven Years. . . Now Paying Off Credit Cards

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I was debt free for seven years until the day I got married.  No, I didn't marry a man with debt, but most of it was because I got sick on my wedding night.  I
didn't have insurance, and my husband's insurance didn't kick in for another week.

I had done everything right.  I had saved a $10,000 emergency fund like Dave Ramsey suggests in The Total Money Makeover.  That went out the window when we were doing what we thought was a small update to my house, and discovered an electrical problem.  It was something we didn't feel safe putting off until we had saved up the money, so the emergency fund was depleted.

Seven Tips to Write a Killer eBay Title that will Help Your Item Sell

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Writing a title for an eBay item is MUCH simpler than many people make it.  In the beginning it takes a little thought but soon it will become second nature.  I have actually seen titles that said "A++++ Very Good Condition"  But how could anyone know from that what item was being sold?  How would anyone find it?

Here are a few things I have learned after eighteen years of selling on eBay.

*Give basic information.  Look at your widget.  What color is it?  Size?  Year made?  Is there a model number? These are often called "key words".

Book Review: Hard Core Poor

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Here at Books, Bargains, Blessings, I haven't been reviewing all the books I read, but possibly I should change that?  I saw the Kindle edition of Hard Core Poor on sale and decided I was going to see if it was any good -- or a disappointment after years of thrifty living like most books on frugality tend to be for me.

I was very surprised at how much new knowledge was presented in this book.  Of course, I've never researched how to get the best deal on diapers, and there was a pretty lengthy section dedicated to the frugality of diapering on a dime, but there were a lot of other things I didn't know included as well.  Such as the best way to air dry clothing when you have hand washed it.

I'm the one who used to keep little bits of deodorant and when I had enough melt them down to form a new stick.  I was once that poor.  I was surprised this wasn't mentioned in the frugal hygiene section in this book, but the rest of the tips made up for it.

Reading Books when on a Budget

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I love to read.  I mean, I REALLY love to read.  That's all I did in the summers as a child, and I still read as much as I can when I can find the time.  (How to find time to read will be another post for another day!)

Books can be expensive.  Here are a few ideas on how to read on a budget.

My 5 Favorite Stores to Shop to Reduce Grocery Spending

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It's Wednesday so it's time to link up with Five Faves over at The Big White Farmhouse.

Does it matter where you shop for groceries?   I believe it does!  Here are my five favorite places to shop for groceries on a budget.

1.  Local scratch and dent / surplus / salvage / closeout  stores.   There are some chains in parts of the country (Sharp Shopper in Virginia, for instance -- the chains often have higher prices than a local store).  This is my FAVORITE place to shop on a budget, but you often really have to watch best by dates.  There's a grocery closeout store run by the Amish near where I live, and sometimes you can find great deals, and other times, stuff is really past dated.  I buy what I can there and fill in around the edges.  There is very limited produce here, sometimes only tomatoes if that.  They don't accept coupons of any type, but the prices are fantastic.  Sometimes as low as 50 cents for a can of Progresso Soup or $1 for a box of cereal.  A problem with shopping here is they will get new stuff on a daily basis, and once stuff is sold it's sold.  It's tempting to buy a lot of one item, and then not get around to using it all before it goes bad.  That is NOT a savings.

2.  Aldi.  I think everyone has heard of the place you have to "rent" a cart (you put 25 cents in for a cart and then get it back when you return it.)  You have to bring your own bags here, but the prices are good.  There's a better overall selection than a scratch and dent store, but you won't find tons of brand names, nor will you find lots of varieties of any one item.  If you have a more specialized diet, it might be difficult to shop here.  (My mother had to have a low sodium, low potassium diet and I had a difficult time finding things at some stores she could eat, and Aldi would be one.)  But I love their produce section!  (Do not confuse Aldi with Save-A-Lot.  I often see prices higher at Save-a-lot than at Walmart, and I think the quality is lower.)  Aldi is the store to go to!

3.  Kroger!  Of "traditional" grocery stores this is my favorite.  They readily accept coupons, they have great offers with their Kroger card (be sure and utilize digital coupons!)  You can set your Kroger card up to give back to charity (why not, it only takes a couple minutes and you're set up forever, and help out a school or community organization.  I donated almost $6 without even thinking about it last quarter.  I have mine set up to go to an extremely rural school in West Virginia that has only 140 students), Ibotta savings,  Savingstar, fuel perks, and a credit card that offers extra cash back when shopping at a grocery store, and it's easy to see why Kroger is my favorite traditional grocery store.  (In one recent shopping trip, I spent $128.15, saved $206.27, and got $1 back with Ibotta, and $9.26 back with SavingStar)
.  I figure they can use the money.)  Kroger has free Friday downloads where you can get one free item a week through their digital coupons, and a few times a year they have stock up sales where you might get $10 off for buying 10 participating products.  Combine that with coupons,

4.  Walmart.   I'm not a huge fan of Wal-mart, but there are a few things that I can't get at the above places.  For instance, the only place I can find Jimmy Dean turkey breakfast sausage is Walmart.  I also live an hour from my closest Kroger, so I only get there once or twice a month.  I also use the Walmart Savings Catcher.  Because of my rural area, there are few stores it compares on my receipt, but it only takes a second.  If I live in a more populated area I'm sure I'd get more money back from it, but the only stores it compares for lower priced items for me are drugstores, and dollar stores.  My Walmarts are very bad about accepting coupons, and the coupon policy changes depending on what cashier you get and what manager is on duty.  I've been told that I can't use totally free item coupons, more than one like coupon (say I'm buying two boxes of Cheerios, I couldn't use two coupons, but would be limited to one.) and more stuff that goes against the corporate coupon policy.   I used to carry a copy of the coupon policy with me, but the cashier, CSM or manager would would make up a story about how that wasn't THEIR policy.  Yet, unless I want to travel for an hour each way, this is where I have to pick up some stuff.

5.  Amazon.  Yes really!  You have to watch prices on items, especially food items, but this is often the cheapest place to get household items and health and beauty aids.  I have been able to find things on Amazon that were impossible for me to find in stores (remember the low sodium diet I mentioned my mother was on?  I found a number of no salt added items on Amazon I couldn't find at Wal-mart or Kroger.)  Amazon is my go-to for trash bags, dishwasher tablets, facial wash, and more.  Years ago I switched to using Swagbucks as my search engine and have earned hundreds of dollars of Amazon certificates for doing what I normally would be doing online.  In fact, I have one I can cash in right now, but haven't yet.  When you use the certificates you earn from your everyday web searches, you can save even more on your order.  Having Amazon Prime has a whole host of benefits, and it seems like these days people focus on the streaming video and forget that there is free two day shipping for prime members no matter the size of your order.  They also have a Prime Pantry grocery area, which I think is more expensive than shopping the regular site, but if you have enough Amazon cards you earned for free, it is another way you can save.


Your milage may vary depending on what stores are in your area, but for me, these are my go-to stores!