This is some serious tightwaddy, folks. Yesterday I threw away a peanut butter jar with likely a teaspoon or two left clinging to the inside of the jar. I wish I had seen this post first! How to use up the last bit of peanut butter in the jar I LOVE the Asian peanut dressing […]
Doing frugal stuff when you don’t have to
The other day as I was melting down my lipstick, I thought, “If someone saw me doing this, they might assume I’m very poor and can’t afford a new lipstick.” I do a lot of black-belt tightwad stuff like that. But I’m not poor. I’m quite privileged among the inhabitants of the world, in fact, […]
Hacking my lipstick
Every mom of small children has had the experience of opening a lipstick tube, only to find that its contents have been smashed into the hastily slammed-on cap. A certain 4-year-old has ruined two of mine recently. One I found in my bathroom, the other (empty) tube somewhere in the van, its contents missing. But don’t worry. […]
The right size for a home may be smaller
I read this post recently from Becoming Minimalist’s Joshua Becker and found myself agreeing with every word: 12 Reasons Why You’ll Be Happier in a Smaller Home Since we’ve decided to buy a home, I’ve been thinking a lot about our real needs. Our current home, while lovely, is simply too big for us. A […]
June’s budget meeting, savings update, and announcement!
Point one: Frugality seems to be catching, like an infectious disease. First hubby told me he was being more careful with items he uses everyday in his line of work, trying to make things last longer and carefully re-using things. It showed, because he spent $586 less in June than in May on work-related expenses, […]
Stress = spendy, broken arm edition
Ruby, my 6-year-old, fell out of a tree. Again. And broke her left arm. Again. Hubby spent a fun night in the ER Wednesday. Thankfully, this break wasn’t as bad as the last one and didn’t require surgery. Don’t let the cute little picture fool you. She’s been pretty miserable. The worst of it is […]
Frugality and investments: calculating payback time
This is update #7 in my series on the No Spend Summer Challenge. Hubby and I are saving up this season for a down payment for our first home, so we’ve enacted a fiscal freeze. Monday I went to a consignment shop to get my teenage daughter, who insists on getting an inch taller […]
Short (gray) hair. Don’t care.
Months ago, I decided I would eventually chop my hair off and at that time, stop covering the grey. And that’s exactly what I did. Why I stopped coloring my gray hair I started coloring my hair almost 15 years ago, in my 20’s, because gray began popping up. I blame genetics (my dad was […]
The one in which the kids plan the menu and cook
Remember my complaint about the kids being lazy unproductive slothful bored this summer and getting on my last nerve? I have been working on that. The first plan of attack was to have the kids plan a menu and cook four nights a week. I placed them into two teams: Team A is the 18-year-old […]
No-Spend Summer: update #6
This is update #6 of my No Spend Challenge we’re doing this summer. Hubby cleaned out his work shop and found a ton of tools he didn’t need, so we hosted a Manly Man yard sale. I consider it a success since we got rid of most of the stuff and pocketed a couple hundred bucks […]