Frugality

Here are my tips for being in the frugal mindset. It’s easy to be led into temptation, but hopefully these tips will help you out: What would my frugal mate do - when I am about to spend some money, I think about a really frugal friend I have and I ask myself what would he [...]

Well, I screwed up big time.I was absolutely sure that MyPoints emailed the gift certificate code to me. So I put off ordering the cards until this weekend, to ensure that I would have the full amount necessary for 2 $50 cards.Turns out, I was wrong. The gift cards are mailed, which means I'll be lucky to get them in 2 weeks. Meanwhile, Amazon informed me I had only 6 days left for standard shippi

For the past few weeks, I’ve started taking advantage of another university facility that I didn’t use for the first three years of college (but still paid for). Since this semester was somewhat of a breeze, despite short periods of torture, and I needed something to do, I started working out. To the gym it [...] Related posts:Please Keep The Markets Falling I’ll probably receive a bunch o

What happens when something that was once a special treat, slowly becomes an expected part of your daily routine? Trent, over at frugality blog The Simple Dollar, noticed that things he had previously done as a treat of sorts had become necessary components of his day much to the determent of his wallet. Describing how [...]

Okay, well a lot has happened in not much time. But I have to warn you I'm just exhausted. Maybe it's the craziness of the past week or the stress of finances. But I'm a tad punch drunk and so my humor will probably be a little stranger than normal. Don't say I didn't warn you.As I was discussing before, Tim is in need of some sort of electronic organizer. Seems like a great idea. I had all sorts

If you grew up during the 1980’s, you’re familiar with the term ‘Conspicuous Consumption’. It was the age of The Yuppie Generation, preoccupied with the acquisition and flaunting of wealth.  The BMW was the car of choice. Power suits, corner offices, and Republican dinners were a requirement for the up-and-coming young professionals of that time. It [...]

Yes, today is Halloween. (Happy Halloween!) But if you are truly frugal, your mind has already moved on to Christmas. I know, I know, it’s sacrilege to begin thinking about Christmas before Thanksgiving, let alone on Halloween, but if you want to do some major Christmas budget slashing - get over it! And with that in [...]

Our Super frugal tip - full pantry inventory - FREE FOOD post was featured in the Festival of Frugality #149 Monster Mash Edition. Check it out here! There's lots of great frugal tips and ideas in the latest issue!

As of writing this post, I have been bike commuting exclusively now since the beginning of September.  I have not been able to ride every day during that time frame because I was sick for about a week in early October (and my wife made me drive) and we house sat for friends who live [...]

This past weekend as our family’s vacation to Branson, MO, wound to an end, we took our “traditional” trip to a handful of the various outlet malls in the area. Honestly, this is more of a futile attempt to stretch out our vacation than an opportunity to shop.  But when walking among the assorted discount [...]

Happy Friday! This weekend i'm off to my 3rd, and final, wedding in a row! And to be honest, i'm not too sure i'll know what to do with all the free time afterwards...it's a good thing i have blog to keep me company ;)Here are the carnivals i participated in this week:Carnival of Personal Finance #142 - the " Meltdown" edition, hosted by Debt Kid. I knew that was coming sometime, but I like his bl

I've always been an impatient lass.If I think of something, I want to do it now. And I'm not exactly good with waiting for other people to find their own methods, either.The latter trait is from being a precocious little overachiever in school. I'm always (annoyingly) convinced that my way is the best way and that no other way will arrive at satisfactory results. When Tim tries to do a web search

Almost Frugal hosted this weeks Festival of Frugality. Thanks for including my Couponing 101 post! Here are some of the articles I enjoyed:Digerati Life has an amusing post on Smart Cars and Other Ways to Say No to High Gas Prices.On that note, Five Cent Nickel has a unique way of looking at the issue. He highlights a valuing system from Consumer Reports on how to Get the Best Mileage for Your

We're desperate for room in our one-bedroom apartment. And moving up to a 2 BR is a no-go, given current rents for those hover around $900+.So this morning I found myself huffing and puffing to and from the car with boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. Thank goodness I picked a ground-floor apartment!Tim's eczema is also on his feet, where it tends to cause splits. So guess what happens when he doesn't

Be sure to stop by Fire Finances for this weeks Festival of Frugality. -of-frugality-140-frugal-quotes.html There are tons of great ideas from a huge collective of minds including yours truly.

Okay, I know I began to allude to this in yesterday's post, but I might as well state it for the record.The reason I felt so compelled to start a blog is because I could never find many frugal tips that could be applied to my situation. There are so many great frugal tips out in the world. But what about those of us with severe fatigue? Or other physical limitations?I think of PF blogs much in the

Not too long ago, I wrote that perhaps the most important thing about frugality was mere thinking ahead.I received two comments, both of which had the same tone: It's easy to think ahead, but their real weakness lay in social invitations. When asked to a movie or play or some other activity, they didn't want to spend the money. But they also hated saying no.This startled me as a general concept be

Welcome to the 138th edition of Festival of Frugality - The First Principles.  When it comes to frugality, some people seem to think that if it's not already within us, it's impossible to become frugal.  As personal finance bloggers all know, this is simply not true!  With so many great articles about the subject this [...]

By: Roshawn WatsonYesterday, we discussed why European shoppers are taking over New York. That begs the question though: where have all of the American New York shoppers gone? Image Credit: crizlaiAmericans are becoming increasingly more inclined to spend less as we distance ourselves from stores such as Neiman Marcus, Jimmy Choo, and Best Buy. Although not everyone has changed, several indicator

Yesterday I decided to do my first giveaway/contest over at my other blog.  I got so excited about it, that it just didn’t seem fair … to not do one on my new blog here! So have you heard of America’s Cheapest Family?  Believe it or not their real last name is Economides!  Isn’t that interesting? And [...]

Hi All, I just wanted to say a quick thanks

This weeks Festival of Frugality is being hosted at Squawkfox.  You definitely need to go to her site and check it out; her tricks with fruit are kinda cute.  The Festival included my post  Living in a Van Down by the River.  Some of my favorites from the other posts include: Getting the Goods When You’re [...]

Hello, and welcome to this week's Festival of Frugality! It's a bit scary hosting one of these things all by myself for the first time, so I brought along a good friend of mine today - Mr. Frugal Gump. I hope you don't mind ;) As many of you know, Frugal has led a very financially rewarding life, and I thought we could all learn from an experienced man like himself.We sorted through all the chocol

  Who doesn’t love the thought of vacationing to a completely different country? The experiences gained are surely intensive, but traveling to the other side of the world can open your eyes up to different sensations, emotions and feelings that have never hit you before. Of course, there is always the question of money, and if [...]

Free Cash : $50 SmartyPig Gift Card Give away ENDED - The winner is....Alan, the third commenter on the post. Please email me with a valid US address within 4 days or the prize will be redrawn. There were a total of 14 entries through comments and emails and the number was picked [...]

Our article, Things to Do in Our Lifetime, was listed in the Festival of Frugality #129 - Try a Little Harder This Week Edition. I constantly pick up new frugal ideas at thie Festival. Some that I especially liked What Will You Do If Gas Prices Go… Down? by FinancialRamblings.com. The is a great article reminding [...]

This week’s Festival of Frugality was hosted by MoneyNing. Here are a few posts that I enjoyed from the carnival. Saving Advice on Why You Should Focus On Spending Less Over Earning More Balanced Life Center on 43 Things To Do When You Stop Watching Television Our Fourpence Worth on Frugality to The Extreme, Would You Eat Out of [...]

I’m honored to host this week’s festival of frugality! As someone who reads frugality posts, I trust that you are already being frugal. However, I’d like to challenge you to try a little harder this week. Do one more frugal activity than you normally would, change another habit that’s costing you money, [...]

I have the honor to host the Festival of Frugality slated to be up next Tuesday! For those that aren’t familiar with the festival, it’s a collection of very good posts from around the blogsphere about topics related to being frugal. Another update is that I started another blog called OC Golf Course. This [...]

Lately, I’ve been in an experimental mood. It’s something I get into every now and then: I push myself toward a new goal; I crunch spreadsheets of data; I find new and more creative ways to save money. I’m pretty sure it annoys my wife, but it keeps me entertained and what’s better than [...]

The 127th Festival of Frugality was hosted by Funny About Money… Here are my favorite posts from the carnival in no particular order… - 15 Tips For A Frugal, Relaxing, Earth Friendly Vacation, Car Free from Money and Values - How To Create An Effective Spending Plan from Financial Zip. - Save Money By Taking The Train or [...]

Many people have a warped view of what frugality is.  When I talk to my friend about saving money he just replies that he wants to enjoy his money now while he’s young not wait until he’s old and retired to enjoy it.  He thinks saving money now means a life of no fun until [...]

The other day I was chatting with my friend David, who writes two blogs - My Two Dollars and The Good Human. Many of you are probably familiar with My Two Dollars, because it is part of the M-Network, along with Cash Money Life and several other great personal finance blogs. If you aren’t familiar [...]

Our article, Cinco de Mayo, Celebration and Bar Tabs, was listed in the Festival of Frugality #125 - Save Some Money If You Are Rich Edition. This edition of the Festival has a tongue-in-cheek theme where some of the ways that rich people might try to save money are pointed out. The Festival is worth [...]

digg_url = '-spread-frugality/'; A number of consumer advocate groups are teaming up in hopes of spreading the frugal gospel. In what will hopefully be a successful nationwide advertising campaign, the groups will try to change the spend first, borrow/spend second, and save last attitude that has slowly become our norm.   This new coalition has released a [...]

Our article, Home Maintenance Tips, was listed in the Festival of Frugality #124 at Frugal for Life. This festival is always large, and it is easy to find some exceptional posts. Think Your Way to Wealth has a long list of frugal ideas in 30 Ways To Save on Your Grocery Shopping and Food Bill. One [...]

[I have not been missing because I was on the beach in Rio; we have all had stomach flu. As Shakespeare wrote: "Something there is in rotovirus that hath the power to blight the keenest appetite."] Mr. Annie recently forwarded me this very interesting article by Sarah Dickerson about the fact that, while many Americans are [...]

Our article, Home Health Remedies, has been listed in the Festival of Frugality #123. Aryn at Sound Money Matters has an interesting theme for the festival, Supercapitalism, where she discusses a few thought from Robert Reich’s book of the same name. Aryn reminds us that, “frugal people understand that being frugal sometimes means spending more [...]

This weeks edition of the Festival of Frugality is hosted at On Financial Success. It includes my post “Do Reward Cards Actually Reward You.” Some of my favorites from the rest include: “Inconspicuous Consumption” from Money Changes Things.  Not buying stuff in the first place is even better than recycling. “10 Frugal and Eco-Friendly Ideas” from [...]

Our article, Grandpa and the Great Depression, was listed in the Festival of Frugality #122. Aaron Stroud at On Financial Success formatted the festival as a running story with links to the various blogs woven within the story. The original presentation, alone, makes this Festival worth a visit. Aaron gave our article an “everyone must [...]

The American Economics Blog Carnival hosted my article “Is Present Value - Value in the Present? The Economic sense behind Net Present Value" and featured some interesting posts. I especially liked:Fuels Costs, High Gas Prices and the Real Estate Investor @ BiggerPocketsThis article discusses some interesting effects high gas prices might have on real estate investors. An interesting point made is that increased fuel costs will also affect the selection process of the average home buyer as longer commutes to work become more costly. I believe low gas prices have created an inherent inefficiency in real estate and urban planning. I find suburbs to be one of the main problems created by this inefficiency resulting in commuters jamming highways and roads, pollution and waste of resources an

The American Economics Blog Carnival hosted my article “Is Present Value - Value in the Present? The Economic sense behind Net Present Value" and featured some interesting posts. I especially liked:Fuels Costs, High Gas Prices and the Real Estate Investor @ BiggerPocketsThis article discusses some interesting effects high gas prices might have on real estate investors. An interesting point made

Our article, Free Is Almost Never Free, was listed in the Festival of Frugality - Tax Day Edition! I may have said it before, but at the risk of repeating myself, I really like the posts in the Festival of Frugality. I go along with most of Kyle’s “Editor’s Picks” in the festival as being worthy of [...]

When we try to cut our expenses and be a little more frugal, most people start with the bigger ticket items.  The theory is simple and logical.  Cut one big expense and it can cover 10 different ones.  While this is great, the problem is that we almost always stop thinking about the little expenses [...]

Over at , the Festival of Frugality #121 - Tax Day Edition is now up!My post, "Buying a new house is not cheap: Expenses not to forget when buying a new house" is included in the festival, as well as a ton of other great reads. In fact, here are a few of my favorites:Madison presents 30 Money Saving Tips posted at My Dollar Plan.Joe D presents If You Don’t Need It, It’s Not A Great Deal posted at Know The Ledge.Flexo presents The Frugal Lifestyle: Are We Missing Out on Life? posted at Consumerism Commentary.Four Pillars presents Emergency Funds and Tax-Free Savings Account posted at Quest For Four Pillars.While you're at it don't forget to enter our book review and giveaway contest! Enter by doing the following and leaving us a comment:Subscribe to Bible Money Matters by RSSSubscribe

digg_url = '-start-your-frugality/'; We hear from a good number of people that they would like to have more money.  Not just have more, but make more.  They talk about the need to get a better paying job, how they can barely afford to pay the bills and if only they made more money every month, then [...]

Two of our articles were listed this past week while we were gone Avoiding Impulse Buys was listed in the Festival of Frugality #120 Hanging With the Joneses was listed in the Carnival of Personal Finance #147 We have just returned from a week-long vacation in Yosemite National Park so I am a bit out of touch. I [...]

Sometimes my frugal nature costs me. I’ve been needing to get a lock for my bike for a couple of months. Whenever I was in a store that sold bike locks I’d check the prices but I always thought I could get a better price. I figured my bike was safe enough where it was [...]

Back when I was getting over a problem with gambling I used a technique I call ‘forced frugality’ to help deal with it. Basically whenever I received money I would immediately spend it on a bill. This way I never had any extra money that I was tempted to gamble away. If I didn’t have [...]

Our article, “Thousands of E-books for Free,” got listed in the Festival of Frugality #119 at Consumerism Commentary. I like the Festival of Frugality. I often learn a lot from the articles. I like the reminders from the Festival, like in Lovely Leftovers, Penny Sycamore reminds us that doing things like letting leftovers go bad is [...]

There is still 5 days 3 hours 4 mins and 36 seconds left to get entered for some great free stuff at Hanks Holiday Handout #2 giving away $200+ of prizes! This is a guest post (if you would like to guest post, contact me) from Ben at MilkYourMoney.com MilkYourMoney.com is a daily blog dedicated to helping [...]

The latest Festival of Frugality is up at Consumerism Commentary.  It includes my post Aldi v. Supermarket v. Wal-Mart.  There were a lot of posts I liked this week. Here are some of my favorites. The Lazy Cheapskate’s Guide to Saving the Planet, posted at FiveCentNickel.  I’m lazy and a cheapskate and want to save the [...]

Our article, “Farmer’s Market,” was listed in the Festival of Frugality #118: ABC Edition on My Dollar Plan. There are lots of great frugal articles listed in the Festival. Financegirl’s When I’m Debt-Free, I’m Buying the Expensive Toilet Paper!post asks the question, “What ‘essentials’ do you have that need to be re-evaluated?” Then again, she thinks Charmin [...]

Our article, “Farmer’s Market,” was listed in the Festival of Frugality #118: ABC Edition on My Dollar Plan. There are lots of great frugal articles listed in the Festival. Financegirl’s When I’m Debt-Free, I’m Buying the Expensive Toilet Paper!post asks the question, “What ‘essentials’ do you have that need to be re-evaluated?” Then again, she thinks Charmin [...]

I have seen people on Slick Deals do things that skirt the line of honesty and legality in order to get a great deal. I can even relate to getting caught up in the hype of certain deal or the possibility of free stuff. I have even contemplated doing something that I [...]

My spring break is now through the next week.  Since my school is strange and I already had a week off in February which I used to travel to Cancun I’m just going to spend this week at my mom’s house.  I can’t really justify taking a vacation both weeks when I’m earning very little [...]

Our article, Build Your Own PC, has been listed in ”From Theory To Practice: The Festival of Frugality” on I’ve Paid For This Twice Already. I really like these festivals of frugality. I often learn new ways to be even more frugal. My wife enjoys leaning these new frugal ways, as well. One that we practice is Make it [...]

Can you be frugal and still have fun? The answer is yes of course. These posts from the Festival of Frugality at Green Panda Treehouse can help answer the question. Why Reading is Frugal posted at Sound Money Matters .  It is my favorite hobby and almost completely free. 11 Practical Ways to Spend Your Money was [...]

There are times in Thailand where one can just get fed up with the standard of customer service, or lack thereof. Perhaps local Thais who haven’t seen or known any other standard aren’t as bothered, but for someone who has reference to an actual consistent standard, it’s been quite the task to keep one’s displeasure [...]

We just got our Eclectic Decorating article listed in the Festival of Frugality #116 at Green Panda Treehouse. The theme is frugal, but the number of articles is not. There are many good links here. I especially like “Too Much Clutter? 20 Tips for a Successful Garage Sale.” We are getting ramped up to do some [...]

This is a quick link back to the Festival of Frugality at BrokeGradStudent.com that listed our Shop Manual article. There are other interesting articles listed in the Festival, such as How Being Cheap Can Hurt Your Career and Dumpster Diving, so check it out.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my post “An Exercise and Frugality Hack” was a top pick at the Festival of Frugality being hosted by Broke Grad Student.  I’ve had pretty good luck at getting my posts in the editor’s picks but this is the first time I’ve had the first post listed.  Some [...]

This week No Credit Needed hosted the Festival of Frugality #114. My article The Frugality of Our Feet was included.collectingmycash hosted the Carnival of Money Stories #48 - Leap Year Edition. If I could Turn Back Time - Money Mistakes I've Made was included. (I apologize if you hear Cher in your head after you read that title. I know I do and I can't get rid of it - "If I could turn back time...if I could find a waaay.....Great, now I have that image of her sitting on that gun mount on the ship. Nothing matches the real thing - here you go!)Make sure to go and check out these great resources! ("If I could reach the staars..." Sticky song isn't it?)TurboTax Is The Easy Way To Do Your Taxes. Do your taxes for free with TurboTax Online Free Edition - Start Now.Make sure you subscribe

InflationYou guessed it. Talking inflation again. The NY Times published an article on Thursday discussing the problems facing the Fed as growth lags and inflation rises. As I’ve written in past posts the dilemma the Fed is facing is growing ever more difficult. With no foreseeable end to the slowdown and with prices increasing the danger of stagflation is becoming more and more real. The article discusses the following:1. Despite the short-term cut in interest rates home mortgage rates are on the rise.2. Prices jumped 4.3 percent in January, compared with one year earlier.3. The Fed adjusts the forecast for growth this year to an anemic pace of 1.3 to 2 percent. Joblessness is likely to climb to 5.3 percent, from 4.9 percent today.It's worth noting the current rise in prices is more dis

So it's Monday afternoon. We went out for a quick drive to do some errands. Afterwards we would be free. It was a holiday weekend for us so we were able to finish the majority of our errands earlier in the weekend. We could have gone back home but we were getting a bit of cabin fever. So what to do?We went for a walk! There's a nice trail we know of that goes by a local bridge (Throg's Neck) along the water. We parked in the lot, put the little guy in his stroller and my wife, daughter, and I went walking. It was a beautiful day too (it's still very much winter here in NYC). Let's look at a few benefits of our walk:It didn't cost us anything! Free is a wonderful thing isn't it?It was exercise. We tried to keep up a decent pace. This allowed all of us to get some exercise in fo

This is a guest post I wrote for BeingFrugal.net on September 20, 2007. In “The true earning power and the real cost of luxuries,” I discussed the concept of true earning power. If the thought of making only $3.85 from a $30 per hour wage does not motivate you to be more frugal, here are 10 questions that you can use to enhance your frugality: Photo from stock.xchng Do I really need this, or do I just want this? Is there a cheaper alternative that works just as well? Can I buy this used from somewhere else instead? Is the one I already have still working? If not, can it be fixed? Is this going to add to the clutter? How much use or enjoyment will I get out of this? Will I use this only once and not need it again? May be borrowing or renting is a better alternative. Will I be using this a few months from now when the thrill wears off? Is there something else better I can do with this money? Can I wait another week (or longer) to buy this? Whenever I am about to buy somet

Edition 101 of The Festival of Frugality was hosted by Rather Be Shopping. These are my favorite posts in no particular order : My Dollar Plan gives us tips on buying discounted postage stamps. Savvy Frugality on the backlash against bottled water. The Digerati Life gives us 15 painless ways to save money. Adventures in Daily Living shares how she sells on Ebay. This was my submission to the carnival. Share This

My favorite posts from the 98th Festival of Frugality in no particular order. My Two Dollars helps us get organized (for cheap). Stop The Ride shares four great tips on cutting the food budget. Clever Dudette gives some very sweet inexpensive ways to kiss up to your honey. Money Blue Book explains how to get the best deal on Ebay. Before you throw out your food, read these ideas from Frugal Journey. Be sure to check out the rest of the submissions here. This was my contribution. Share This

This has been another great week for the M-Network with our aggregate feed now moved to FeedBurner Ad Network. For our subscribers, this mean faster feed, less encoding errors, and you can actually see who wrote the post now! As always, we are committed to provide high-quality full feed. Group Writing Project On the week of November 12th to the 16th, members of the M-Network will share with you our philosophy of car ownership. Some of us love new cars, some of us swear by old junkers, and some think the rest of the group are nuts for owning one. We invite you to join us and write about your car ownership philosophy, as it related to personal finance, of course! If you do, just let us know and will link up to your post so that our readers can enjoy it as well. The Roundup Frugal Moving Tips @ Cash Money Life — Great tips, but there comes a time in everyone life when enlisting friends to help is no longer cool. 5 frugal things about autumn @ Plonkee Money — Early night

This has been another great week for the M-Network with our aggregate feed now moved to FeedBurner Ad Network. For our subscribers, this mean faster feed, less encoding errors, and you can actually see who wrote the post now! As always, we are committed to provide high-quality full feed. Group Writing Project On the week of November 12th to the 16th, members of the M-Network will share with you our philosophy of car ownership. Some of us love new cars, some of us swear by old junkers, and some think the rest of the group are nuts for owning one. We invite you to join us and write about your car ownership philosophy, as it related to personal finance, of course! If you do, just let us know and will link up to your post so that our readers can enjoy it as well. The Roundup Frugal Moving Tips @ Cash Money Life — Great tips, but there comes a time in everyone life when enlisting friends to help is no longer cool. 5 frugal things about autumn @ Plonkee Money — Early night

In a comment made to my recent article A Guideline Budget - How Do You Compare? a reader stated that I am not frugal. I agree, We’re not frugal, or at least I don’t consider us frugal. We are on a quest to be more frugal, but we’re not there yet. But then I began to wonder, how will we know when we get there? What is frugal exactly and what defines one as being frugal vs. not being frugal? I then began to wonder, do we really want to be frugal? Hmmmm… These questions of course kicked in the strong researcher side of me and I looked into what it means to be “Frugal” and what societies view of frugal really is. Lets look at a few definitions and perspectives on Frugality: Wikipedia Wikipedia defines Frugality as: Frugality (also known as thrift or thriftiness), often confused with cheapness or miserliness, is a traditional value, life style, or belief system, in which individuals practice both restraint in the acquiring of and resourceful use

The Carnival of Money Stories is up at Free Money Finance. This Carnival features money stories from personal finance bloggers. The carnival has quite a few great articles. Hopefully you can learn a few things from them. Here are some of the articles that stood out: Wake Up Later - Investment Income: Figure it Out. Samuel dislikes the lack of financial education in America’s schools. I have to agree. My Wealth Builder - My Wealth Paradigm. Appearances aren’t everything when it comes to wealth. The key is to spend less than you earn. Moolanomy - My Best and Worst Financial Decisions. I always love learning from others. Moolanomy shares some great experiences. Thanks for hosting the carnival FMF! In related news, the Festival of Frugality #96 has been posted to Fire Finance! My recent article, How to Vacation Without Breaking the Bank, was included. Along with my article, there were many other great money saving tips in this week’s edition. The articles that particu

My favorite posts from the Festival of Frugality 96th Fire Edition : 1. Trent from The Simple Dollar explains the difference between frugal and cheap. 2. Quest For Four Pillars provides you with three mind tricks for becoming cheap. 3. Raymond from Money Blue Book offers a simple way to get coupons for your favorite products. 4. Paid For This Twice Already discusses the dilemma of wether to buy or not buy for his daughters first birthday. 5. The Happy Rock plants the idea of leaving the city and taking advantage of free land in Kansas and North Dakota. 6. David from My Two Dollars gives ten great tips on living simple There are a ton of other great articles so be sure and check them out. This was my submission to the festival. Share This

When I graduated college I received a degree in civil engineering. Before you start thinking I earn oodles of money, I want to tell you it's not true at all. Civil engineers are paid the lowest of all engineering disciplines. I work for a company who offers civil engineering, environmental science, and architectural services. However, my company's bread and butter is civil engineering. So it's safe to assume engineers earn more than the architects.Anyways, I have noticed a startling difference between how engineers and architects spend their money. For instance, I notice a disparity between their cars. The architects drive more expensive lavish cars. Of course, there are a few who have cheap old cars. For example, one architect drives a nice new Mercedes Benz convertible. The engineers drive older used cars even though they earn more money. They are more frugal. My boss earns quite a bit of money used to drive a 1994 Honda Accord and recently "upgraded" to an used 1997 Honda Accord.

In my adult life, I have gone entire calendar years without having a single cup of coffee. I didn’t dislike coffee. I liked it okay, I suppose. I just never understood the huge appeal (much less why so many people were flat-out addicted to it). That was until two years ago. Two years ago, I began working at my current place of employment. There was three beverage options in the break room: sodas, water and coffee. Sodas cost 50 cents each. Water and coffee were free. Free coffee. A frugal guy like me didn’t stand a chance. Suddenly, I went from drinking maybe two or three cups of coffee a year (usually during the Winter around the holidays) to drinking two or three cups a day. Soon, that number was increased to four cups a day. Then the cups doubled in size. And then I began throat punching co-workers who got between me and the coffee machine. When the large paper cups in the kitchen didn’t cut it for me anymore, I borrowed one of my dad’s large coffee mugs. He

Welcome to the 88th Festival of Frugality! The Festival of Frugality is a blog carnival, which is a periodic round up of blogger’s best posts related to a specific topic hosted by various blogs. Below are the 5 articles that I enjoyed the most, followed by the rest of the 35 entries that were accepted to the festival. For each entry I included a link to selected article and a link to the author’s ‘About Me’ page. For those blogs without an easy to find ‘About Me’ I will link to the main page. The posts are listed in the order they were received. Enjoy the wealth of knowledge. Top Picks Save Gas - Tips To Save Money On Gas! by FIRE Finance I’m Frugal, So Why Can’t I Save More Money? by Silicon Valley Blogger Ten Ways to Save on Birthday Parties by Saving Advice Blog (Main Page) I Shoulda’ been a Cowgirl by Fish Creek House - INNside Innkeeping HOWTO: Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Deconstructed by Graham Other Great Articles Don&rs

Last week, I posted a list of 25 things that “we do to save money” and I have been thinking on it ever since. Some introspective questions resulted from the thinking, like: were all of those things done *actively* to save money? or were there other motivations behind the actions - and saving money just happened to be a passive outcome? if money was not a constraint, would we still be doing some of those things? There are no generic yes/no answers to these questions, but as I was attempting to answer them, I realized that a lot of our actions that save us money (or appear to do so) are (or were) situation specific - probably, saving money was not the main motivation behind all of them. So, if it’s not always about the money, then what else could motivate you to do something frugal? To answer that, here are six motivational factors off the top of my head. I will try to explain these through examples to make it easier to understand. Time: I walk to school/work and I co

Last week, I posted a list of 25 things that “we do to save money” and I have been thinking on it ever since. Some introspective questions resulted from the thinking, like: were all of those things done *actively* to save money? or were there other motivations behind the actions - and saving money just happened to be a passive outcome? if money was not a constraint, would we still be doing some of those things? There are no generic yes/no answers to these questions, but as I was attempting to answer them, I realized that a lot of our actions that save us money (or appear to do so) are (or were) situation specific - probably, saving money was not the main motivation behind all of them. So, if it’s not always about the money, then what else could motivate you to do something frugal? To answer that, here are six motivational factors off the top of my head. I will try to explain these through examples to make it easier to understand. Time: I walk to school/work and I co

I was reading this book “Living Well on a Shoestring” the other day and came across some amusing penny-pinching tips. The almost-400 page book is full of smart and frugal things to do, but at times, some of the tips made me exclaim - What!? Here 10 frugal solutions from the book that I thought you folks would enjoy - all of them are ingenious, but some of them are ridiculous, and some are just…ewww. A couple of them seriously require a *feasible* alternative - they just wouldn’t cross the psychological barrier in many people. 1. Growing tomatoes in a bra This is the first time I heard of anything like this…although, it seems to be well-known among folks who grow tomatoes (read this for example - look for the heading “Large tomatoes will require support”). Tomato plants don’t have a very strong stem and usually bend (sometimes break) under the weight of the growing tomatoes - especially due to the larger tomatoes. Generally, “st

I was reading this book “Living Well on a Shoestring” the other day and came across some amusing penny-pinching tips. The almost-400 page book is full of smart and frugal things to do, but at times, some of the tips made me exclaim - What!? Here 10 frugal solutions from the book that I thought you folks would enjoy - all of them are ingenious, but some of them are ridiculous, and some are just…ewww. A couple of them seriously require a *feasible* alternative - they just wouldn’t cross the psychological barrier in many people. 1. Growing tomatoes in a bra This is the first time I heard of anything like this…although, it seems to be well-known among folks who grow tomatoes (read this for example - look for the heading “Large tomatoes will require support”). Tomato plants don’t have a very strong stem and usually bend (sometimes break) under the weight of the growing tomatoes - especially due to the larger tomatoes. Generally, “st

Welcome to the 71st edition of the Festival of Frugality. Before we start with the festival submissions, here are some thoughts. Sometimes, when we are engrossed in squeezing out every ounce of worth from a penny, it is easy to loose sight of reason and rationality. Hence, every once in a while, to put our actions into perspective, it is beneficial to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In this spirit, let’s first review *frugality* before we jump to the articles. What is Being Frugal? by Dawn @ Frugal for Life. Because I live frugally, doesn’t mean I don’t spend money and don’t find enjoyment. I become more thoughtful about my decisions and how it will impact me in the future. I decide if this item is something I need or can use multiple times. Frugality is about restraint, discipline, finding the best value and using the item up till it can’t be used anymore. Frugality as defined by Wikipedia. Frugality (also known as thrift or thriftiness)

Recently, we started having problems with our house keys. Initially, only my key had problems getting in the lock..and we thought that it could be because it was getting worn out or something (my wife’s key worked well). However, sometime during the last week, the other key also started giving problems and the situation deteriorated rapidly. The keys would completely go inside the lock only after much tinkering and after application of considerable physical force. After some procrastination, we decided to contact the apartment management and request them to replace the lock. The lock that almost died That evening, I don’t know how it came to my mind, but I thought of applying some cooking oil to my key to see if that lubricates the lock’s interiors. So I put a couple of drops of oil on either side of the key and with great hopes tried the lock again. It took about 5 or 6 cycles of inserting the key, twisting to lock and unlock, and removing the key, and after that

This article is part of the How To Become An Outstanding Person In Twelve Weeks series. I strongly urge that you read the first article in order to get a sense of what is going on here. Frugality (Week 5 of 12) Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. Benjamin Franklin was good at managing money. In fact, he was so good at it, he was trusted by all the people of Philadelphia (ok, not all , but many!). The technique that I have been using in order to remain frugal this past week has been asking myself a series of simple question. Can I live without this purchase? Can I get a cheaper alternative without sacrificing quality? Can I use it and return it? (just kidding!) Another thing that I factored into the equation was the cost of my purchase, if it became a habit. For example, buying a cup of coffee ($1), could turn into a daily habit, and in one year I would spend a considerable amount ($365). You can also add the incentive of what kind of toll

We’re in this week’s Festival of Frugality, over at Experiments in Finance. For some great money-saving tips, go and take a look. My personal favourites this week are: A guide to book swapping services online. I never knew these existed but they’re a brilliant idea — I’ll have to give it a go! 5 ways to save money on haircuts. For the boys of course. The Bargain Queen never skimps on haircuts! Don’t make this shopping mistake at the grocery store - it’ll cost you. Bigger quantities aren’t always cheaper. New York City on a budget. Fantastic tips for the traveller! Adult allowances. A great idea for making room in your budget for the fun things in life. Mr Bargain Queen and I do this too — we each have a ‘play money’ allowance every week that we can spend on anything we want. We don’t account for where it goes and don’t have to justify what we spend it on to one another (no matter how frivolous). It’s

Mr Bargain Queen’s budgeting tip post, A dollar spent is a dollar spent, is featured in this week’s Festival of Frugality over at Tired but happy. Congratulations Mr Bargain Queen! My other favourite post in this week’s Festival is How Not to Be Frugal: Too Many Magazine Subscriptions from J.D. at Get Rich Slowly. Magazines are one of my weaknesses and I’ve been thinking of signing up for one of those cheapie subscriptions myself. Even after paying to shipping to Australia, a yearly subscription to my favourite U.S. magazines would cost the same as four or five copies on the newsstand. It sounds like a great deal… but I currently buy two to three copies a year, so it would actually cost me more to do it! And really, I don’t need to look at more pretty pictures of things I can’t afford. So no magazine subscriptions for me!