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Need some ideas to help you save money?

Penny Raine is giving away a free study guide to help you do just that –”101 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY”.

To get this freebie, go to Penny’s bookstore and click on the “Freebie Download For Today” tab at the top of the page, but get it soon –it’s free through this weekend only (January 22-24, 2010).

Blessings,

Denese

Are you trying to cut back on your grocery bill? Do you want to save money on your family’s food, without sacrificing taste and quality?

Eating Better Than Beans and Cabbage, by Gail Kappenman, has some great menu ideas, tips and quick and easy recipes to help you cut back on your food budget -the author feeds 8 adults and 2 children for less than $700/month!

This is another free resource that was in last Friday’s Freebie Friday Newsletter, from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Free for a limited time.

Be sure and stop by Gail’s blog and thank her for this wonderful money-saving resource.

You might also be interested in:

Free E-book: How To Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half

Free E-book: Menu Planning

Money Saving Tips Free E-books

Blessings,

Denese

Free Getting Out Of Debt Info

Learn how to get out of debt with a free cd, "How to Get Out Of Debt", from financial author Dave Ramsey.

Read Dave Ramsey’s column online:

Dave Says

Related Posts:

• Money Saving Tips Free E-books
• Major Ways to Save Money
• Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill
• Frugal Living: Buying Clothes
• Free E-book: How to Cut your Grocery Bill in Half
• Free Public Library Services
• Frugal Living: Uses for Bread Bags
• Frugal Crafting: Plastic Bag Crafts

Denese

Do you all know Susanne, the Hillbilly Housewife?

Her website is all about low-cost, home-cooking from scratch and she’d like to show you how to cut your food bill in half.

Learn how to eat well, spend half as much as everyone else and stop wasting hundreds of dollars each year in food gone bad with her free report "How to Cut Your Grocery Budget in Half".

You can also sign up for Susanne’s free Meal Planning Guide on the same page, and while you’re there, check out the rest of the Hillbilly Housewife for some great frugal shopping and cooking tips, menus and recipes.

Related Posts:

Free Grocery Savings Ebook: Eating Better Than Beans and Cabbage

Free E-book: Menu Planning

Homeschool and Household Time Management and Planning Freebies

Homemaking Freebies: Spring Cleaning

Money Saving Tips Free E-books

Blessings,

Denese

Do ya’ll know Tawra Kellum of Living on a Dime?

Tawra is known on the Internet for her expertise in frugal living and she publishes the frugal living web site, Living On A Dime, and advises people daily how to make wiser financial decisions, save money and get out of debt.

Getting Out of Debt Is Easier Than You Think!

Tawra and her husband were able to pay off $20,000 in credit card debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income!

Would you like to know how they did it?

“Winning The Credit Card Game” e-book

Stop worrying about finances and rapidly eliminate debt.
Learn the secret of how you can use 0% credit card offers to your advantage instead of being taken advantage of.
Get out of debt faster and gain control of your credit cards and no longer let them control you!

For one week only, through March 16th, you can get the “Winning The Credit Card Game” e-book for only $5!

This plan is easy and simple, you will learn:

• Are these deals for real?
• Scripts to follow to ask for lower interest rates
• What traps credit card companies set to keep you in debt
• “What about those companies that can erase my bad credit?”
• When to close extra cards
• What to do if you are late on a payment

So get on your way to being debt-free with “Winning The Credit Card Game”, only $5 through Monday, March 16th.

Would you like to win a copy of “Winning The Credit Card Game” ?

Tawra has graciously allowed me to give away one copy of her “Winning The Credit Card Game” e-book.

To enter,  just leave me a comment on this post telling me you’d like it.

If you have ordered the e-book and end up winning, Tawra will gladly refund your money.

Contest ends midnight Saturday March 14th.

You can also enter at:

PennyRaine.com

Phyllis-Sather.com

Denese

Where Do You Buy Your Clothes?

Do you buy them new? Do you buy big-name labels or store brands? Walmart perhaps?

I used to buy a lot of my family’s clothes at Walmart from the clearance racks, great deals there…or are they?

How long do Walmart clothes last?

The ones I bought never lasted as long as my children could wear them!

I have noticed over the years that Walmart clothes weren’t put together very well, after two or three washings the clothes start coming apart, and the last two dresses I bought started unraveling at the seams the first time I washed them.
Not such a deal after all!

Where I Buy My Family’s Clothes

I buy some of our clothes new: underwear, my husband’s t-shirts and boots, and (sometimes) socks.

I purchase the rest of our clothes at yard sales, second-hand stores and, my favorite place, Foothills Flea Market.
You can find very nice clothes at places like this and most of them are hardly worn and some have never been worn.
The quality is very good also, you’ll find name brands and designer label clothes…without the high prices.
Some examples:

• Carhartt John Deere Camouflage Insulated Coveralls for my son, like new -$5
• Levis and Wrangler bluejeans, boys and men sizes -10 cents to $8
• Flannel shirts -10 to 25 cents
• Socks, like new -10 cents
• Nylons and stockings, still in the original package -1 to 10 cents
• Liberty and Sears brand overalls -$2 to $8
• Winter coats, some new and like new -10 cents to $5
• Sketchers boots for my daughter, like new -25 cents
• Dresses, skirts, blouses and shirts by Liz Claiborne, Worthington, St John’s Bay, Jantzeen, Ralph Lauren, Polo, The Disney Store and others; like new -10 cents

We never fail to get compliments on our clothes and my daughter lets everyone know where we buy them.

Big Sale

If you live in Blount County, Tennessee or close by; the Foothills Flea Market has all their clothes on sale for 1 penny through the month of March, with new items added daily. They are open Thursday through Sunday, 10 am to 5pm (weather permitting) and are located at 3711 East Lamar Alexander Parkway (321), going towards Townsend, on the left, just before Heritage High School.

We stopped by a couple of days ago and I found two pretty jumpers, a couple tops, socks and brand-new stockings for my daughter; three shirts for my son; and one jumper and four tops for me, all like new.

The Foothills Flea Market has many other items besides clothes; toys, books -10 cents, crafts -1/2 off right now, furniture, tools…something for everyone!

Check out your local second-hand stores and yard sales today, you’ll dress well and save money!

Denese

Did you know you can crochet with bread bags and plastic grocery bags?

Crocheted Plastic Bag Projects

Check out My Recycled Bags.com for:

• Instructions for cutting bags and making plastic yarn

• Recycled Bread Bag Tote

• Recycled Round Plarn Rug

• Recycled Plastic Baseball Cap

More Tote Bags

Marlos Crochet Corner is another site with plastic bag totes:

• Round Plastic Bag Tote -blue and white

• Plastic Bag Tote -white with yellow and blue stripes

A couple from Got to Knit:

• Plastic Bag Tote with Handles

• Pink Plastic Bag Tote

Plastic Bag Purses

• Plastic Bag Knitted Purse -from Instructables

• Plastic Bag Granny Square Purse -crocheted

More Rugs

• Woven Plastic Bag Rug -from Thrifty Fun

• Rectangular Plastic Bag Rug -crocheted

Using Plastic Bags in Crafts

• Crocheting with Plastic Bags -Hints and Tips on for using plastic bags for craft material

• Tutorial: Fusing Plastic Bags -make a useful homemade craft supply

Related Posts:

Frugal Living: Uses For Bread Bags

Happy crafting,

Denese

If you buy bread, save your bread bags.

Uses:

• Store homemade breads in them.
• Store leftovers (roasts, chicken, etc.) in them. (Wrap in wax paper first, if desired.)
• For breading meats, chicken, etc.
• Lunchbags.
• Trash bags in the car.
• For compost clippings.
• Plant seeds or cuttings in them.
• If they’re clear, use them over pots of seedlings and cuttings to make a mini-greenhouse.
• Use them for collecting, on nature walks.
• Save up a bunch of them and stuff a pillow.
• Wet or snowy weather? Pull them over your children’s shoes and add a rubberband around the pants leg. Instant mud boots! (use two over each shoe)

What do you use them for?

Denese

One of the best ways to lower your electric bill is to not use electricity.

(It can be done, but I’ll tell you about that another time.)

Here are a few ways we keep our electric bill low.

• No dryer. I told you all about that already.
• We use only cold water to wash our clothes. (Most stains come out better in cold water anyways.)
• No electric heat. We use a woodstove for heat. If you can cut your own wood you will save even more money.
• No air conditioning. We use fans and keep the windows open in the summer time.
• No microwave.
• Non-electric kitchen gadgets. I don’t own an electric can-opener, potatoes are mashed by hand and we even do beating and whipping with a whisk instead of an electric hand-mixer. I have never owned a food processor, I chop everything up with a knife. (I do have a good set of knives and know how to sharpen them!)
• No curling irons or blow dryers. (We do have one blow dryer but it’s used for thawing out pipes in the wintertime!)
• Gas stove. It has cost us less money to use a propane cook stove than an electric one, but the price has gone up over the last year. (One of our goals for this year is to build an outdoor, wood-fired oven.)
• We only have one television. Does everybody really have to have their own? Television can be a big time-waster, too. We don’t own any video game consoles either.
• Unplug stuff. Even if they’re turned off, electric devices draw power as long as they’re still plugged in.

Warning: A lot of these things will cost you more time and physical labor… but they will save you money.

Denese

Here are some free e-books on saving money:

"Valentine’s Day On A Dime" e-book from Living on a Dime -free download through February 14th

“Money Matters For All Ages” free e-book from DebtFREE Revolution

“Money Saving Strategies” e-book, free download from My Two Dollars and Penny Meals

"66 Ways to Save Money" from The Consumer Literacy Consortium

Related Posts:

• Free “How to Get Out Of Debt” CD
• Major Ways to Save Money
• Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill
• Frugal Living: Buying Clothes
• Free E-book: How to Cut your Grocery Bill in Half
• Free Public Library Services
• Frugal Living: Uses for Bread Bags
• Frugal Crafting: Plastic Bag Crafts

Denese