Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing my kids up and attending parties, carving pumpkins, and eating caramel apples. Although many costumes can be expensive, here are 10 ways to save big on Halloween costumes. 1- Borrow costumes from a friend. Ask friends if they have any old costumes that they’d be willing to…
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Financial Illiteracy—Why It’s a Problem and How to Avoid it
“Financial illiteracy is not unique to any one population. It affects everyone; men and women, young and old, across all racial and socioeconomic lines. No longer can we stand by and ignore this problem. The economic future of the United States depends on it.”—President’s Advisory Council. Below you will find tips and links to resources…
14 Easy Ways to Save Big on Prescriptions
Most American families have at least one prescription. In fact, studies show that Americans spend over $400 Billion on prescriptions a year. That breaks down to $1,300 a person! That number is mind boggling to me. Luckily, my family is blessed with great health so we don’t have to fill prescriptions regularly. However, at times I do…
Free Financial Boot Camp for New Parents
Babies are the sweetest things, but they are expensive! The average baby costs over $15,000.00 in their first year. Diapers, clothing, formula (if you formula feed), gear, food, supplies, etc., all add up. When I was at about 6 months pregnant with my first, I had to go from full-time to part-time work due to health issues….
How to Save Thousands on a Bathroom Remodel
Most DIY bathroom renovations cost upwards of $10,000.00—especially when they include new plumbing and installing a shower, tub, vanity, toilet, and flooring. Here’s how I did mine for under 9% of that figure. The guest bathroom needed an entire ‘gut remodel.’ There was no tub, shower or plumbing for it. And no flooring. Everything was outdated and old. This is the…
How to Save Thousands on Baby and Kid Books
I’ve always had a desire to read a lot to my children. I want them to develop a love of books, learning, and literacy. So reading aloud to them often is a personal goal of mine. We usually read for about 30 minutes after breakfast. Sometimes it is in the afternoon; and on occasion we miss a…
How to Save Money on Renovating and Decorating a Master Bedroom
Today I’m continuing on with my renovations series. I’m about halfway through. See below for the link to other before-and-afters. This is the master bedroom ‘before.’ There was water damage, so sections of the subfloor had to be removed and replaced. This is after the subfloor was fixed: with carpet, paint, furnishings, and decor. It seems…
How to Save Money on Gift Giving
Holidays and gift giving can be very expensive but they don’t have to break the bank. Here are some of the things I do in order to save over 50% on gifts each and every year. 1- Draw names. This is the single most beneficial way of slashing a ginormous-gift-giving-bill. Just draw names in the…
11 Tips to Saving Hundreds on Black Friday
Black Friday can result in huge savings for many needed items and gifts. To shop the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and to maximize your money and time follow these 11 steps. Before you get started make a list of what you want and need to buy. Download the BlackFriday app or go to BlackFriday.com. Look…
How to Coupon at Rite Aid
Rite Aid is one of my favorite places to shop. Recently, with the new release of the Plenti program there has been a change in coupon policy. So I wanted to share them with you… I save a great amount there through use of the following steps: 1. Use manufacture coupons found in newspaper and online printable…
17 Ways to Save Big on Your Engagement and Wedding Rings
There are a ton of ways to save money on a wedding/engagement ring. Here are 17… 1- The way you’ll save the absolute most and score the best deal is kind of tricky because you both have to know you are getting married and both have to be on board with it is to buy…
How to Save Money on a Disney Vacation
Planning a Disney vacation can be overwhelming…..and expensive. This last summer my family went to San Diego. Before we left my brother and I were trying to find great deals on Disney tickets and find ways to save money. It was uncharted territory for me and truthfully I had a hard time finding the best…
3 Tips to Planning a Stress-Free and Affordable Holiday Season
Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of my favorite holidays. It is a wonderful time of the year! Yet, it can be very stressful and expensive. Some of my favorite holiday memories and moments were those that did not involve stress or extravagance. As I think about past holiday seasons, I remember tons of free (or…
How to Save Money on Emergency Food Storage
Having a food storage for emergencies, job loss, economic disasters, etc. is very important. It brings a peace of mind to any parent knowing that they will be able to provide food for themselves and family during tough times. I have grown up being taught that you should have a 3 month supply of food…
How Furthering Your Education Can Be Cost Effective, Convenient, and Attainable.
My great grandfather, great grandmother, my grandmother, my mom, and I span four generations. All of us have graduated from a university or similar schooling. We all really value education and working hard to attain a degree. My ancestors really had to work hard, make sacrifices, and be strong in order to attain an education….
How to Save Money on a Kitchen Remodel
The average kitchen remodel costs $25,000-$100,000 depending on location (including appliances). There are many ways to reduce this gigantic figure. Sometimes you do have to sacrifice quality for price but sometimes you don’t. In the examples below I will show you two kitchens that I have helped to remodel which have been done for tens…
How to Save on Home Renovations
When we found my dream home. Although it was a ‘fixer upper’ it had a great floor plan, had many endearing features, matched up with most all of my ‘must-haves’ and ‘wants’, and was in the right price range. We had bid on another house shortly before we found our home but since it was a…
Native American Nursery- How to Save Thousands on a Nursery
Our daughter will be born end of November/early December and I have always wanted to do a Navajo/Native American style nursery for one of my children. With my son it wouldn’t have really worked out because of the carpet. I used the brown diamond Berber carpet as inspiration and came up with this blue, brown,…
How to Save on School Expenses
Elementary through High School can get pretty pricey. There are all sorts of things to buy: clothes; shoes; athletic gear or other uniforms; fees for clubs, teams, groups; school supplies such as pens, binders, paper, etc.; school lunches and snacks; transportation to and from school; physicals; books; and extra curricular activity expenses. Although you may…
How to Save Money on a Baby’s Nursery
The average nursery costs between $2,000-$5,000 (this info is pulled from multiple resources on the web). I was able to set our nurseries up without use of hand-me-downs for under $500.00! Now that I’m pregnant again we are going to be turning our office into nursery #2. Update… nursery #2 was a challenge but I enjoyed it…
How To Save Money While Losing Weight
Losing weight is a very difficult and often expensive thing to do. I’ve gained and lost weight multiple times in my life due to pregnancies, knee surgeries, and other life changes. As always, I try to be frugal and save where I can. There are many ways to make losing weight less draining on the pocket…
9 Ways to Save Big at CVS
For years I was always so jealous of people who lived near a CVS! They always have such great deals and promos (especially on baby items and diapers). When I found out that a CVS was going to built near my house I was really excited. It opened a few months ago and I’m so…
11 Pregnancy Tips that Will Save You Thousands
Pregnancy is such a crazy time for most of us women. We are so excited, yet often feel sick or in pain. It’s so fun to imagine our little one, who he/she is, and what they will look and act like. Yet, its unnerving thinking about costs that will be incurred for the prenatal, labor, and postpartum…
9 Ways to Get a Degree Without Going into Debt
I graduated with my bachelor’s degree at age 20 with zero debt. I didn’t have the help of any grants or scholarships. My parents stressed that us kids needed to work for and pay for every penny of our educations. Further, they made too much for us to get any kind of assistance. Thus, I…
3 Secrets to Save $102,533.35 on Your Mortgage…That Banks Don’t Want You to Know About
Two and a half years ago, I was looking at the amortization/debt schedule of my dream home that I was about to buy. It was mind boggling how much money my family would pay in interest over the course of a 30 year loan! Even at the pretty low interest rate we had secured we would end up paying $134,739.01 in interest. That is…
8 Ways to Save Money, Lower Calories and Provide a Tastier Lunch for Your Kids
Written by my sister Karen Jensen Bagel hot dog Popcorn chicken and fries Nachos w/ beef French toast sticks with chicken sausage Pizza These are actual lunches our local grade school is serving this month. As appetizing as they might sound…(or not), they sure don’t seem very healthy. And my kids probably wouldn’t eat much of…
23 Unique Ways to Save $10,516.37 on Your Baby’s First Year… Part 2
In Part 1 (Click here to read) I mentioned that I was able to save $10,516.37 on my baby’s first year. Let me clarify. That number was from my list of things that I bought for our first baby. I took what I paid and subtracted it from what I would have paid by just ordering…
