Mrs. McFrugal

Here is something that society won't tell you: Money should not be the reason to avoid a baby. To some extent, I can agree with the author of this article. I could also find reasons to argue against it though. First, why I agree. 1. Hand-me-downs. Luckily for me, my sister had a girl and is expecting boys, so by the time I have kids, I'll have plenty of hand-me-downs to choose from! 2. Always save 10%, and put it away for unexpected hardships. Teach this to your child as well. 3. Know the difference between needs and wants...ask yourself, "What will happen if I don't have this?" If the answer is nothing, you probably don't need it. 4. In times of plenty, put it away for the lean times. 5. Saving money is great and debt is bad for your marriage. I'm not married yet, but I've heard this is true! 6. The benefits provided through your company should have allowances for children...figure out whose benefits are best and add the child to that plan.

I'm getting on the Pinterest bandwagon...enjoy! http://pinterest.com/msmcfrugal/

I thought these artcles were useful and interesting! For parents who are trying to save some money, here are some tips on 5 Products to Avoid Buying Used . Better to be safe when buying things like cribs, carseats, bicyle helments, etc to make sure they are up-to-date to all the safety regulations! What about that used car you're driving that constantly breaks down; should you Fix It or Trash It?  A rule of thumb is that if the repair costs less than 25% of the value of the vehicle, it gets decent gas mileage, and is otherwise sound, go ahead and repair the vehicle instead of replacing it. There are also good tips on appliances, clothes, and other things that go into disrepair frequently. And finally, since J is looking at buying a house in the near future that will need some renovations, I thought this article was particularly interesting: Will this home renovation pay off?  This will help you decide where to best invest your cash into your home, with resale value in mind.

No no, I'm not having one...but my sister is! She already has a little girl who is almost 22 months old, and is expecting twin boys in the first part of November. YAY!!! Now, many of you know I like to shop--one of the main reasons I'm in debt in the first place. I have so enjoyed shopping for my neice these last 2 years, and now I get to do it all over again for 2 little boys! But being the bargain hunter that I am, I do it the ultra-clearance way. For instance, this last weekend I went to two different Toys 'R Us locations and got two giant bags full of clothes for about $60! Combining that with some items I already had, these kids are off to a good start, and I'm having fun doing it! To make sure I don't buy myself into deeper debt, I'm trying to only buy the necessaries. After going through this once with my neice, I've learned that babies don't really need shoes before they can walk (even if they are really cute!). I've also learned that mos

One of my biggest hunks of debt is my car loan...I purchased a new-to-me car in February of 2010, because I felt that my car at the time couldn't be relied on to last much longer (with 230,000 miles on both the engine and transmission). So, I bought a lightly-used 2008 Chevy Cobalt--a small car for a reasonable price. I also bought it in an undesirable color (canary yellow) to save a few bucks. But since it was my first major purchase, I couldn't get a decent rate without a consigner, and I wasn't about to ask my parents to cosign on another loan. GMAC financing, through the dealership, was generous  (italics indicates sarcasm) enough to give me a 72-month note at 9.84% APR. YOWSA. But, I needed a reliable car, and I wanted something I could drive to Michigan whenever I wanted, so I could see my beautiful new niece :) It has now been a little over a year, and in looking at my finances and helping me with my debt pay-off process, J encouraged me to re-finance my car loan

I don't have time to delve into these articles, but I've read them all, thought they were great, and wanted to share! 10 Insider Grocery Savings Secrets 11 New Tools for Your Money Save Money by Not Letting Your Food go to Waste  (yeah, not the most clever title) 20 Ways You're Getting Ripped Off 23 Ways Your Laziness is Costing You Money How Do 'Quick Mops' Stack Up Savings Wise? Happy Reading!!

Time for some cleaning tips from yours truly! Many of these are things I do myself, as well as good ideas I've read or heard along the way, and a few I've picked up from my mother. (Have I mentioned I'm somewhat germophobic?) Kitchen Use a fresh dishrag each time you wash the dishes. If you're worried about creating too much dirty laundry, don't--ultimately, dishrags are small and will not take up much space in your washer or dryer. Use HOT water when you wash dishes--pretty much as hot as you can stand to put your hands in. When hand-washing dishes, start with the least-dirty dishes and work your way to the dirtiest. That way, you won't be depositing food germs on every dish you wash. Try to avoid using sponges or dishwands at all. If you must, run them through the dishwasher frequently, or microwave your sponge for 30 seconds to zap the germs. If you really like the convenience of a dishwand, try the brush variety with nylon bristles (nylon doesn't ho

Found some great articles on Yahoo! Finance today: Five Times It's Worth Asking for a Discount Check around online before you go to the store; if you can find it online for cheaper, the store may honor the online price (be sure to bring a dated print-out of the online price, or make sure you can pull it up on your smart phone) Price-matching between stores is a great way to get the price you want at the store you want. Walmart will match a competitors price on the same item if you bring in the competitor's ad. This could save you trips driving between stores to get all the best prices! If you just missed a recent sale, try asking for the sale price. OR, if you buy an item at regular price and it goes on sale within the next 14 days, I know Target will give you the difference back in cash! If you are a frequent customer of a car dealership or a restaurant, this will work to your advantage when you go to make a big-ticket purchase--loyalty still goes a long way! Rethinkin

An article an Yahoo Finance today entitled " Forget Frugality: Focus on Earning More " got me thinking...the author of the article submits that finance and budgeting shouldn't be about "No, don't buy that!" but instead should be about "Yes, you can afford that." The theory is that if you're constantly denying yourself things you want, you will get discouraged and probably give up on budgeting. After all, we don't like being told we can't do something! So, how are you supposed to be able to "budget" and still have the things you want? Instead of scrimping and saving, this author suggests you try to find something you enjoy and start charging a fee for it. This would be your extra income and would take the place of cutting items out of your budget. Instead of saving a couple hundred dollars a month by not getting ice cream and not going to movies, perhaps I could instead earn a couple hundred extra dollars by employing a hob

Well-known financial guru Dave Ramsey once said something along the lines of, "Why take money advice from someone who doesn't have any? They obviously don't know what they're doing!" So, here I am, a person who doesn't have a lot of money, blogging about money. So why should you pay any attention to me? I believe there are a few reasons why... I'm not giving financial advice. I'm not trying to tell you the best ways to invest your money, or the best money market accounts with the highest returns. I don't claim to know how to make more money than you have, I only try to help you make more of the money that you do have. I am on a financial journey. I suppose everyone is technically on a financial journey, but I have a lot more learning to do than most people, so why not share what I learn? I'm not coming up with new ideas here...basically, I'm just researching and sharing what I find! I may add my own opinions and revelations along the

Saving money. We hear it all the time these days, and even more recently with TV shows like "Extreme Couponing." Yahoo Finance has almost daily articles about different ways to save money. Then today, they had an article called "Dumb Money 'Saving' Mistakes" and I found myself guilty of a few. First, it addresses the classic "Buy One, Get One Free" (or any variation of that). Basically, unless you were already planning to buy the One in the first place, the Free one isn't really "free," now is it? I've fallen victim to this at Victoria's Secret, when their lotions and perfumes are Buy 3, Get 2 Free. This would be really awesome, if I needed 5 (or even 3) beauty products all at the same time, but usually I'm only out of one item in the set--lotion, for example. So, instead of buying the one bottle of lotion that I actually need, I end up buying lotion, body spray, body cream, and then scrambling to find 2 more items to c

Did you know that military families stationed overseas can use manufacturers coupons at the Commissary (grocery store) and PX or BX (department store) up to 6 months past the printed expiration date? I know that I personally have stacks of unclipped coupons from Sunday newspapers. I've been wanting to get involved in this for some time, and I'm excited to get started! I will commission J to help me with the clipping :) If you don't know anyone personally in the military who is based overseas, you can just send your unused or expired coupons to the base directly. For more information, see the Overseas Coupon Program's website . Or you may find other programs just by Googling the phrase "sending expired coupons to military bases." Be sure to send them sooner than 6 months past the printed expiration date. OCP recommends that they are no more than 2 months past the date, since the package will take a while to arrive, and then will need to be sorted and dist

Recently, I was inspired by someone close to me--we'll call him J--to do some heavy Spring Cleaning. I've always attempted to do this in the past, but have never been very successful. I always think, "What if I need this someday? I don't want to have to buy it again!" I think this stems from not always having the money to buy all the things I want, but that's another story... The idea for this came from J, who had recently been inspired to do some spring cleaning of his own. He is currently on a journey of finding the balance between "having" and "giving," as giving to those who are less fortunate is the Biblical mandate for all who claim to be Christians. How much is required of us? Do we need to give away everything and live amongst the poor, or are we allowed to enjoy some material possessions? I don't know the answer, and I don't know if there is one set answer for every person, but I do know that I was doing too much "ha