Frugal

I recently wrote a short report — not quite an ebook, not quite a blog post — about how you can save money on household expenses. 

I did it to offer up the tips I use in my own home, and so far, the downloads have been off the charts.

This is clearly something we all care about.

When Glen asked me to guest post, I knew that pulling my favorite tips from this report would be a big hit.

In writing the document, I focused on the areas where we all seem to spend the most money — things like electricity, cable/satellite TV, and cell phone bills.  (I also talked extensively about lowering your heating bills — the report was released in February — but I’m hoping we’re over that hurdle at this point, so I’m not going to address it here.)

Below, a few of my favorite tips for cutting your monthly expenses.

[Read more…] about Four Simple Ways to Cut Household Expenses

Frugal, cheap, tightwad, miser, tightfisted, penny pincher. . .

We tend to use all of these words interchangeably to refer to people who are tight with their money, but there is a distinct difference.

The Definition of Cheap

Cheap has a negative connotation, as does tightwad, miser, and tightfisted, perhaps with good reason.  If you look up the meaning of cheap, you’ll see it says, “giving or sharing as little as possible” (Merriam-Webster).

Scrooge in A Christmas Carol is the perfect example of someone who is cheap. 

He does whatever he can to hoard as much money as possible and does not want to share with others.  We’ve even coined a term for people who don’t want to share or aren’t charitable–scrooges–after the character in A Christmas Carol.

I had a friend in graduate school who, if he took a girl out to a dance club, would only take her when it was ladies’ night and the woman got in free.  Then he expected his date to split his cost to get in!  When he took a date out to eat, he only went during happy hour and would only order off the appetizer menu so he could get the food half price.
[Read more…] about Frugal Vs. Cheap: Which Are You?

The average American family has 2.1 children (Hoover Institution). 

However, there are many families that exceed that number.

If you look at celebrities, there are families like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who have 6 kids, and you can’t forget the Duggars, who make headlines with their 19 children.

Of course, plenty of non-celebrity families have large families.

My son is only in 4th grade, but one of his classmates, who is the oldest in the family, already has 6 younger siblings.  Though large families aren’t as common as they were 60 years ago, they still exist.

While all of us need to stretch a buck to some extent, for those with large families, the need is even more important because there are so many mouths to feed and people to clothe and house.

However, there are plenty of ways that large families can save money.

Here Are 7 Ways A Large Family Can Be Frugal

[Read more…] about 7 Ways Your Large Family Can Keep Frugal and Not Go Broke