When you need to cut back, dining out is one of the first luxuries to go.  By utilizing these tips you may not have to completely eliminate eating in restaurants. Read more »

Food expenses can be the easiest place to cut back when money gets tight.  If you don’t already know how to cook, take the time to learn – this one tip will save you a huge amount of money over eating out over the years.  Here are a few cost-cutting strategies: Read more »

In the winter the largest part of your utility bills go to heat your house.  There are ways to reduce these costs without being uncomfortable.

1. Close the heat vents to any rooms you rarely use.  No point in paying to heat unused rooms.
2. Lower the thermostat to the lowest comfortable temperature.  Wear a sweater and lower it even more.
3. Do not turn off the heat while you are gone.  The energy it takes to reheat the place when you get home wipes out any savings from having it completely off.
4. If you spend most of your evenings in the living room use a small space heater to heat only that room and turn down the central heat.  Use a small portable heater in your bedroom at night.
5. Replace the filters in your heating unit every 3 months.  Get a reusable washable one and save even more.
6. Seal door and window gaps with weather stripping.  Re-caulk windows if needed.  Also seal the attic door as if it was an exterior door.
7. Install flexible door seals at the bottom of all exterior doors to seal out drafts.
8. If you have a window AC unit, caulk or tape around the perimeter or better yet remove it for the winter.
9. If you have a fireplace you do not use, seal it off to cut heat loss.
10. Add extra insulation to your attic and exterior walls if needed. A few hundred dollars of insulation could save you as much as 20-30% on your heating bill.
11. Never leave bathroom or kitchen ventilation systems on for more than a minute or two.  In just an hour they can suck all the warm air out of your house, putting a strain on your heating system to reheat the whole house.
12. Install a programmable thermostat.  Set it to go down at night while you are asleep and also while you are away at work.

Having fun with your kids doesn’t have to cost a lot.  What your children really want is time with you.

1. Make a homemade bowling alley.  Turn empty 2-liter bottles into bowling pins.  Add sand or small rocks to stabilize them.  Use a kickball,  softball or whatever kind of ball you have on hand for the bowling ball.
2. Scavenger hunt.  Go to the nearest  forest or body of water.  Give each child a list of items to find.  These things can be items they take with them like a shell or feather or just things they spot like a certain kind of bird.
3. Watch teams in your community play sports like soccer, softball or volleyball.
4. Attend free concerts in the park if your community has them.
5. Go to any nearby free museums.  Some museums have one free day a month or week.
6. Have a history day.  Explore historic buildings or sites in your area.  Many can be toured for free.
7. Check out movies from your local library and have “Movie Night” at home.
8. Have a “Game Night” where you play board games, word games or card games.
9. Lay out under the stars after dark and try to identify the constellations.  Check out an astronomy book from your library to help identify them.
10. If you have stale bread or cereal you are about to throw out go to your local pond and feed the ducks or a park and feed the pigeons.
11. Borrow a tent and go camping.  Sing songs, tell ghost stories, roast marshmallows around the campfire.  Quite a few free campgrounds can be found around the country or just camp out in your own backyard.
12. Check your local library for free puppet shows, storytelling, and workshops.
13. Take your kids to a playground and let them run around until they get tired. Bring snacks and have a picnic.
14. Lie down on the ground and look up at the clouds.  Try to pick out pictures out of the clouds.
15. On a warm day, turn on the sprinklers and let your kids run through them in their swimsuits.
16. Go for a hike.  Let the kids bring their backpacks with water and snacks.  Let them collect rocks and bugs.
17. Attend any parades your community may be having…Christmas parades, Veteran’s Day parades, Fourth of July parades.
18. Go to a local creek or lake and let them splash around.  Skipping rocks across the water can be fun.
19. Check out a cookbook for children at the library and let them try their hand at cooking.
20. Have an arts and crafts day.  Get crafts books at your local library.  Save items around the house to use for crafts such as milk cartons, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons….

Ben Franklin was one of America’s most influential founding fathers and possibly the most accomplished American of his age.   He was an author, statesman, diplomat, inventor, philosopher and scientist.  Some of his inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove.  He formed the first public lending library in America.  Many of the thrifty quotes below came from his publication “Poor Richard’s Almanack” which he published for 25 years.  Amazing how many of these quotes still hold true today. Read more »

• “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.’ - Henry David Thoreau
• “Saving is a very fine thing.  Especially if your parents have done it for you. — Winston Churchill
• “He who does not economize will have to agonize.” — Confucius
• “You will never “find” time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it.” — Charles Buxton 
• “Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.” — Samuel Johnson
• “Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
• “We make ourselves rich by making our wants few.” — Henry David Thoreau
• “How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, the sound of the sea. . . . All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.” — Nikos Kazantzakis
• “It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.” — Aesop
• “The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash.” — Author Unknown
• There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else. — Andrew Carnegie
• The amount of money you have has got nothing to do with what you earn.  People earning a million dollars a year can have no money.  People earning $35,000 a year can be quite well off.  It’s not what you earn, it’s what you spend. — Paul Clitheroe
• There are plenty of ways to get ahead.  The first is so basic I’m almost embarrassed to say it:  spend less than you earn. — Paul Clitheroe
• “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. –   Will Rogers
• Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. –  Elise Boulding
• If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy. - Author Unknown
• He who buys what he does not need steals from himself.  –  Author Unknown
• I like to walk about among the beautiful things that adorn the world; but private wealth I should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.   –  George Santayana
• Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.  –  Leonardo da Vinci

1. Coast as much as possible.   Look ahead for any stops or slow downs in traffic coming up and immediately take your foot off the accelerator. The more constant you keep your speed the better your mileage.
2. Keep your speed below 55 mph.  For every 5 miles you drive above 55 you lose about 10% of your fuel economy.
3. Avoid routes with lots of traffic and stop signs/stop lights.  A longer route with fewer stops may be more fuel efficient.
4. If your job has flexible hours try going in earlier or later to avoid traffic.
5. Change your oil every 3000 miles.  Newer oil is thinner and gets pushed through the engine easier, thus increasing fuel mileage.
6. If idling for more than a minute turn off your engine.

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