I shop the sales in advance for meat, chips, etc. If it's an adult party, I'll serve one themed drink in a pitcher- e.g. mint juleps for Kentucky Derby. This way I don't have to buy a variety of liquors.
When I was still working in an office, they started adding "healthy choice" stickers next to some of the vending machine options. Since I work at home now, I don't run into vending machines as much these days, heh.
We usually don't go out to eat much on regular days, so when there is some occasion we go out to eat at a nice restaurant, usually using a Groupon or some other deal.
Our strategy is usually to ask everyone to contribute a dish (potluck style), and relying on outdoor grilling for the proteins. Costco has great prices on meat, and we can usually stock up on a variety of food.
Otherwise, I like the idea of buying 4th of July decorations a year ahead when they go on sale. I guess I'll be stocking up for next year!
I agree with you on a lot of this. The airline industry is the only industry where a customer can pay for a service, not get it, and not be given any sort of refund. Flights at 6 pm on a Friday are more expensive than flights at 11:45pm on a Friday .... but if my 6pm flight is delayed to 11:45, tough luck! You don't get what you pay for, and you can't do anything about it.
I don't know what you're talking about with all your references to the good ol' days of our grand air travel industry. Under strict regulation, planes were routinely flying with only 1/3 of the seats full, and flying was so expensive that most people couldn't afford it. Partial deregulation helped a bit with that, but there's still not enough competition in the industry to make any of them care about passengers.
The best solution? Build a national high speed rail network. The airline industry needs a competitor.
For celebrations like birthdays and holidays we use a long lead time to find items on sale to make the meals. I have a general idea what the birthday people want and zero in on the final options with them a month or so in advance. Almost always those very things come up at a good price/with a coupon over that time. I stock up on baking basics as a matter of course so cakes are a cinch.
We have a little trailer on the river and we all get together there. I stock up on hot dogs and hamburger meat when it is on sale and I can double coupons. I can always get chips and condiments and drinks mostly free with coupons. Everyone that comes also brings food. We play games and just enjoy each other. At midnight there is a free fireworks show that we can see from our sun room.
Summer holidays are celebrated with the family at MawMaw's pool, at a bbq with everyone contributing meat, drinks & a side dish. Family birthdays are celebrated with homemade cakes & a joint cooking venture, such as meatballs & spaghetti, again, with everyone contributing something. Happy celebrations don't always have to be expensive.
Bacteria in non fat dry milk are not always killed by
heat treatment. Dry milk infected with staphylococcus
toxins have infected thousands of people with
gastroenteritis.
The Centers for Disease Control
have blamed increases of outbreaks on non-fat dried
milk.
As a result of that column, many readers wrote to me,
wanting to know how many live bacterial cells are
permitted in non-fat dried milk by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. Standards for Grades of Nonfat Dry Milk
allow 10,000 bacterial cells per gram. Since there
are 454 grams in a pound of dry milk powder, expect
to find no more than 4,540,000 live bacterial cells
in each pound of product.
-- Robert Cohen, notmilk.com
My house is right by a fabulous park. For $10, I can rent a campfire pit any time year round. As such, we've made potluck picnics our go-to party event. Frugal, fun, and memorable!
My friends and I like to take our parties wherever the fun is. Communities almost always have different events that are holiday-themed and cost very little or nothing at all to attend. For instance, we have a huge street fair for the 4th of July that we like to go to. We listen to area musicians for free, see fireworks for free, get a tan for free... Christmas is another great time to find events to attend.
I buy last years decorations, plates, and napkins and save them till the next year. It looks like I spent alot of money on decorations but actually I paid 50-75% off full price.
We have a small kitchen in our rental. While not as small as yours, still frustrating. We bought some utensil holders that were meant to hook on to a dry rack, and mounted them on the wall. We bought some that were a little more decorative. It works well. We also have a space rack on the wall as well as the pots and pans that could be hung. Our 'laundry area' is in the kitchen as well, so we have the microwave on top of the washer and the toaster oven on top of the dryer. We do the quartlery review of our stuff and always end up getting rid of several things. And I'm about to add my food processor and blender that I haven't used in a year to the donation box. Thanks for the tips and motivation
When celebrating for the 4th of July I hit up all the Dollar Stores for decor and red white and blue items, and pinata stuffers like candy, figurines and glow in the dark items. And snacks too like chips or dips
For me celebrating the 4th means being creative For example, having potluck BBQs, making homemade crafts like flag pinwheels, pinatas, and pipecleaner firecrackers sprinkled w/ glitter and homemade rockets made from toilet paper rolls. Homemade rockets also make great party favors as well since the inside of the paper roll can be filled w/ small candies like hershey kisses or mini reese's pb cups
I do buy food items on sale and use coupons which help and any giftcards if I have them.
Also, another frugal thing we do in our family is those with young kids 12 and under they get a homemade red, white and blue tote bag or backpack to take the parades or BBQs or parties or pinata parties. To help save on having to buy large treat bags each year
We don't buy fireworks, since its illegal to set them off in my state and too dangerous in my opinion, but we do other fun things like putting red and blue food coloring in the bubbles and using the bubble machine toys
I would have to disagree with this post. I am a full time student and work a full time job, so any free time is highly valuable to me. I started couponing as a way to save money and with a food/store budget of $50 a month, cheap food is a necessity. My last trip to the grocery store was $140 worth of products for $43. This was everything I needed for the month, nothing more-nothing less. I do not stockpile, I do not hoard, If I get more than what I need it goes to my grandmother who lives off social security, and I donate leftover coupons to troops overseas (ocpnet.org). I spend no more than 3 hours clipping, organizing, and planning a week but to me it is fun rather than a chore. I have not seen the couponing show but I have heard alot about it and it seems to be creating a horrible stereotype for those of us that coupon responsibly. Others like myself do not clear shelves, dumpster dive, or spend hours in a store - my trip takes me 30 minutes or less.
I will say, that after the hard financial times I had this year, it is nice to have actual food in my home rather than just Ramen and Spaghetti. This is thanks to couponing.
Depends on the celebration. I prefer to save money on birthdays by having parties at home and doing my own "catering." However, if it's a big, elaborate thing, like a grandparents' wedding anniversary with all the family coming, I'll spend the money to plan something catered so that I can enjoy my time with my family instead of worrying about if we're out of canapes or ice cubes.
I shop the sales in advance for meat, chips, etc. If it's an adult party, I'll serve one themed drink in a pitcher- e.g. mint juleps for Kentucky Derby. This way I don't have to buy a variety of liquors.
When I was still working in an office, they started adding "healthy choice" stickers next to some of the vending machine options. Since I work at home now, I don't run into vending machines as much these days, heh.
What are your go-to vending machine eats?
"Liked" on Facebook!
We usually don't go out to eat much on regular days, so when there is some occasion we go out to eat at a nice restaurant, usually using a Groupon or some other deal.
Our strategy is usually to ask everyone to contribute a dish (potluck style), and relying on outdoor grilling for the proteins. Costco has great prices on meat, and we can usually stock up on a variety of food.
Otherwise, I like the idea of buying 4th of July decorations a year ahead when they go on sale. I guess I'll be stocking up for next year!
I agree with you on a lot of this. The airline industry is the only industry where a customer can pay for a service, not get it, and not be given any sort of refund. Flights at 6 pm on a Friday are more expensive than flights at 11:45pm on a Friday .... but if my 6pm flight is delayed to 11:45, tough luck! You don't get what you pay for, and you can't do anything about it.
I don't know what you're talking about with all your references to the good ol' days of our grand air travel industry. Under strict regulation, planes were routinely flying with only 1/3 of the seats full, and flying was so expensive that most people couldn't afford it. Partial deregulation helped a bit with that, but there's still not enough competition in the industry to make any of them care about passengers.
The best solution? Build a national high speed rail network. The airline industry needs a competitor.
For celebrations like birthdays and holidays we use a long lead time to find items on sale to make the meals. I have a general idea what the birthday people want and zero in on the final options with them a month or so in advance. Almost always those very things come up at a good price/with a coupon over that time. I stock up on baking basics as a matter of course so cakes are a cinch.
I liked you on FB!
*Liked* you on Facebook!
We have a little trailer on the river and we all get together there. I stock up on hot dogs and hamburger meat when it is on sale and I can double coupons. I can always get chips and condiments and drinks mostly free with coupons. Everyone that comes also brings food. We play games and just enjoy each other. At midnight there is a free fireworks show that we can see from our sun room.
Summer holidays are celebrated with the family at MawMaw's pool, at a bbq with everyone contributing meat, drinks & a side dish. Family birthdays are celebrated with homemade cakes & a joint cooking venture, such as meatballs & spaghetti, again, with everyone contributing something. Happy celebrations don't always have to be expensive.
Sorry this doesn't make sense:
"After appearing in the documentary, Nicole Buffett (granddaughter of Warren) disowned her."
I think you mean that Warren disowned Nicole.
For celebrations, I buy what I can on sale but I will splurge on some things that I think are worth it. It is a celebration after all.
Yikes:
Bacteria in non fat dry milk are not always killed by
heat treatment. Dry milk infected with staphylococcus
toxins have infected thousands of people with
gastroenteritis.
The Centers for Disease Control
have blamed increases of outbreaks on non-fat dried
milk.
As a result of that column, many readers wrote to me,
wanting to know how many live bacterial cells are
permitted in non-fat dried milk by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. Standards for Grades of Nonfat Dry Milk
allow 10,000 bacterial cells per gram. Since there
are 454 grams in a pound of dry milk powder, expect
to find no more than 4,540,000 live bacterial cells
in each pound of product.
-- Robert Cohen, notmilk.com
My house is right by a fabulous park. For $10, I can rent a campfire pit any time year round. As such, we've made potluck picnics our go-to party event. Frugal, fun, and memorable!
My friends and I like to take our parties wherever the fun is. Communities almost always have different events that are holiday-themed and cost very little or nothing at all to attend. For instance, we have a huge street fair for the 4th of July that we like to go to. We listen to area musicians for free, see fireworks for free, get a tan for free... Christmas is another great time to find events to attend.
I buy last years decorations, plates, and napkins and save them till the next year. It looks like I spent alot of money on decorations but actually I paid 50-75% off full price.
We have a small kitchen in our rental. While not as small as yours, still frustrating. We bought some utensil holders that were meant to hook on to a dry rack, and mounted them on the wall. We bought some that were a little more decorative. It works well. We also have a space rack on the wall as well as the pots and pans that could be hung. Our 'laundry area' is in the kitchen as well, so we have the microwave on top of the washer and the toaster oven on top of the dryer. We do the quartlery review of our stuff and always end up getting rid of several things. And I'm about to add my food processor and blender that I haven't used in a year to the donation box. Thanks for the tips and motivation
When celebrating for the 4th of July I hit up all the Dollar Stores for decor and red white and blue items, and pinata stuffers like candy, figurines and glow in the dark items. And snacks too like chips or dips
For me celebrating the 4th means being creative For example, having potluck BBQs, making homemade crafts like flag pinwheels, pinatas, and pipecleaner firecrackers sprinkled w/ glitter and homemade rockets made from toilet paper rolls. Homemade rockets also make great party favors as well since the inside of the paper roll can be filled w/ small candies like hershey kisses or mini reese's pb cups
I do buy food items on sale and use coupons which help and any giftcards if I have them.
Also, another frugal thing we do in our family is those with young kids 12 and under they get a homemade red, white and blue tote bag or backpack to take the parades or BBQs or parties or pinata parties. To help save on having to buy large treat bags each year
We don't buy fireworks, since its illegal to set them off in my state and too dangerous in my opinion, but we do other fun things like putting red and blue food coloring in the bubbles and using the bubble machine toys
Hello potlucks! Then, i usually only have to make a dish or two (usually made from ingredients I mostly already have on hand).
Hello! We host a website devoted to all things frugal and the like!
I would have to disagree with this post. I am a full time student and work a full time job, so any free time is highly valuable to me. I started couponing as a way to save money and with a food/store budget of $50 a month, cheap food is a necessity. My last trip to the grocery store was $140 worth of products for $43. This was everything I needed for the month, nothing more-nothing less. I do not stockpile, I do not hoard, If I get more than what I need it goes to my grandmother who lives off social security, and I donate leftover coupons to troops overseas (ocpnet.org). I spend no more than 3 hours clipping, organizing, and planning a week but to me it is fun rather than a chore. I have not seen the couponing show but I have heard alot about it and it seems to be creating a horrible stereotype for those of us that coupon responsibly. Others like myself do not clear shelves, dumpster dive, or spend hours in a store - my trip takes me 30 minutes or less.
I will say, that after the hard financial times I had this year, it is nice to have actual food in my home rather than just Ramen and Spaghetti. This is thanks to couponing.
Thanks :)
sondra
We ask friends to bring sides when we host a party. That way we just provide the main course and drinks and nobody minds!
Depends on the celebration. I prefer to save money on birthdays by having parties at home and doing my own "catering." However, if it's a big, elaborate thing, like a grandparents' wedding anniversary with all the family coming, I'll spend the money to plan something catered so that I can enjoy my time with my family instead of worrying about if we're out of canapes or ice cubes.
Movies for kids --- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Richie Rich. Lots of money conversations can be started after watching these!