Mrs. McFrugal

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