Posted 3 weeks 5 days ago by Thursday Bram
As a rule, we don’t buy souvenirs for their usefulness. A t-shirt from the Hard Rock Café or a shell sculpture from Hawaii isn’t going to increase your productivity — in fact, dusting it may just make your life that much harder. But souvenirs are good things to have: they’re meant to remind us of the amazing experiences we’ve had. Your souvenir doesn’t need to be useful or productive.
Posted 4 weeks 1 day ago by Thursday Bram
During my last trip to the grocery market, there was a sign in the egg case announcing that, yes, the price of eggs are rising. I’m guessing that there have been a few complaints. There are several reasons for that rise, with consumers blaming everything from the Atkins diet to ethanol — Atkins because of a higher demand for beef, eggs and other food high in protein and ethanol because of the use of corn (also used for chicken feed) in ethanol production and an upwards trend in corn prices. One key issue is actually the rapidly rising cost of transporting eggs from the chicken to your kitchen; that is to say rising gas prices mean rising food prices.
Posted 4 weeks 5 days ago by Thursday Bram
There are some meals that I am a flat out sucker for — one restaurant’s appetizer, another’s entrée, several deserts. But eating out is one of the less frugal approaches to meal planning. I can’t justify going to Olive Garden every week just because I find it impossible to get enough of their spinach-artichoke dip, even if I could get good coupons.
Posted 8 weeks 1 day ago by Thursday Bram
I’ve embraced the compact fluorescent light bulb revolution wholeheartedly. I preach their money-saving abilities and cite statistics about energy. I comment on brands and varieties (daylight bulbs remain my favorite). I even point to them as environmentally friendly options since the use of CFL bulbs practically guarantees less light bulbs kicking around the local landfill. But, with the growing use of CFL bulbs, a little problem with that claim that a purchase of a CFL bulb is support for environmentalism. You see, when more CFL bulbs are used, more are also thrown away. And CFL bulbs contain mercury.
Posted 8 weeks 4 days ago by Thursday Bram
It seems like, every other week, there is some natural disaster threatening people’s homes. Worrying about that sort of thing has lead me to be a little more prepared than I might be otherwise. I’ve got an emergency plan, I’ve backed up my hard drive, and my cats’ carrier is easily accessible. Now, I’m starting to focus on what might happen after a disaster. The key to starting over again seems to be knowing what you might need to replace. Insurers will insist on such a list, for instance. So, I’ve been developing my own home inventory.
Posted 9 weeks 4 days ago by Thursday Bram
I’ve managed to cut my grocery bill in half, but I’ve struggled with one set of expenses more than I ever though possible. I use a lot of spices and every time I turn around, I feel like I need more cinnamon or basil. I’ve been investigating my options and in the past two months I’ve made a dent in the amount I spend on my spices. That dent only adds up to a few dollars so far, but if I can keep at it for the long haul, I think I’ve found another way to be frugal without feeling like I have to give something up.
Posted 12 weeks 19 hours ago by Thursday Bram
For breakfast, would you like a greasy McBreakfast or an expensive caffeine boost from CoffeeBucks? Or would you like something that is not only fast and cheap, but actually might be good for you?I know that time is a precious commodity in the mornings, but there are options beyond the drive through. Some of these recipes can be made even cheaper, if you’re willing to put in a few extra minutes somewhere along the way.
Posted 12 weeks 1 day ago by Thursday Bram
When you’re traveling, half the fun is seeing the sights — museums, historical locations, that sort of thing. But more and more of those sights are trying to make money off of tourists: they charge entry fees, mark up gift-shop items and offer outrageously priced cafeterias. There are ways to keep your sightseeing on the inexpensive side, especially if you have an opportunity to plan your itinerary ahead of time.
Posted 13 weeks 2 days ago by Thursday Bram
I think I’ve lucked out — plenty of my friends live in my immediate vicinity. One even lives in the next apartment building over. This does mean, however, that people are in the habit of dropping in all the time, since they always ‘happen to be in the area.’ I don’t mind the visits. I enjoy having my friends over. But, as a good hostess, I always seem to wind up inviting them to stay for lunch or dinner, or offering them a snack. This can be a bit of a problem — I generally plan my meals in advance and only have an appropriate amount of meat or another item defrosted.
Posted 13 weeks 4 days ago by Thursday Bram
I'm planning out a garden for this spring. I don't have any access to a yard to plant my garden in, but I have a balcony on my apartment that gets plenty of sun. This is my first adventure in gardening, assuming you don’t count my stealing radishes from my grandmother’s garden as a child. Not only have I been reading up on container gardening, but on gardening in general. I’m also trying to be as frugal about the process as possible — repurposing containers and the like. I’ll be updating regularly as my garden progresses.
Posted 14 weeks 3 days ago by Thursday Bram
I like kitchen gadgets as much as the next girl, but I just can’t justify splurging on a crepe pan (or other tool) that I’ll use maybe once a month, at the most. So which kitchen utensils can do double duty and pick up for that missing crepe pan? I know these are just a few examples — please add yours in the comments!
Posted 15 weeks 1 day ago by Thursday Bram
I'm taking just one course this semester, with just one reasonably priced textbook. According to the back cover, the price was $29.95, but that isn't the price I paid. I purchased a brand new copy at Amazon.com for $19.77. I could have bought it for $15.89 but I would have lost out on free shipping.
Posted 15 weeks 5 days ago by Thursday Bram
One of my fondest memories from my childhood is the time I spent helping my grandmother bake challah . The woman is still an artist in the kitchen and her recipe is the basis that my aunts, cousins and I all use. If you haven’t had challah before, it’s a sweet braided bread, although not so sweet as to be a dessert. This is a fairly simple challah recipe. I started baking my own in college — after I found out that, at least in the Midwest, the few bakeries which made challah managed to charge almost double than it would cost me to pick up the ingredients.
Posted 16 weeks 22 hours ago by Thursday Bram
I've been on the go a lot this last year: I lived in Dublin for four months, accompanied my family to Israel, and made it to plenty of other points on the globe. But no matter which city I was in, I still had to eat. I learned a few tricks to keeping myself comfortably fed on the go, without breaking the bank.
Posted 16 weeks 3 days ago by Thursday Bram
I have a long-standing dislike of grocery shopping. Pushing a cart around a store is not one of the ways I amuse myself. I've found that because of my attempts to get in and out of the grocery store, I wind up forgetting things. The only way I can manage is to have a perfect grocery list — the type that includes even the little things that we need on every trip. There are some tricks to figuring out a grocery list, though, and I'm sharing them here and now.
Posted 17 weeks 1 day ago by Thursday Bram
It’s turning into quite the snow day here in Maryland, so I pulled out all of my “keep kids amused and out of trouble” recipes, to share with parents who are facing cooped up kiddos. I’ve stuck to those recipes with simple ingredient lists. We're talking cheap, easy fun, that doesn't involve having to listen to fights over the TV remote all day long, and a chance to introduce kids to a little DIY fun. The ingredients lists are all fairly basic and rely on pantry staples.
Posted 17 weeks 3 days ago by Thursday Bram
I have a hard time resisting the urge of buying every cookbook that comes along — I thoroughly enjoy trying out new recipes, especially cookies. I came to the conclusion, though, if I bought every cookbook that caught my eye, I wouldn’t have any money left over for ingredients. Instead, I try to find recipes for free — another exercise in creating a frugal kitchen. The resources below are a great starting point for putting together a personal recipe book, but I’d love to hear if you’ve got any resources!
Posted 18 weeks 4 days ago by Thursday Bram
Pizza delivery for just two people can quickly top $30, depending on where you live, not to mention the hour that you usually have to wait for that delivery. Buying frozen pizzas at the supermarket can halve the price and lessen the time commitment. Making your pizza from scratch, though, can make for a cheap meal with only a marginally higher time committment. The sauce to go with it isn't much better, costing dollars for the same amount of tomato product that you can get for cents. Here are some fairly quick recipes that can save you bucks at the checkout line without putting an end to hot pizza!
Posted 18 weeks 5 days ago by Thursday Bram
As much as I enjoy cooking, I hate doing more work than I have to. I’ve made a point to start making dishes that easily become something else for the next meal (or two or three). I’m not talking about just recycling leftovers, though. I like making meals that at least look completely from scratch. I save plenty of money this way, too: not only do I get the price drop that comes from buying ingredients, rather than prepared meals, I get an added benefit from buying fewer ingredients. So what recipes do I rely on?
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| Posts | Cmts | |
|---|---|---|
| Carrie Kirby | 4 | 2 |
| Julie Rains | 3 | 12 |
| Linsey Knerl | 11 | 25 |
| Margaret Garcia-Couoh | 3 | 3 |
| Myscha Theriault | 6 | 23 |
| Nora Dunn | 3 | 5 |
| Paul Michael | 10 | 21 |
| Philip Brewer | 11 | 66 |
| Xin Lu | 10 | 31 |
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