Thanks for all your support, suggestions, criticisms, and questions over the last couple of years. We continue to look forward to hearing your successes as well.

• 30′s Personal Finance: It’s Not Too Late
• True Frugality
• 9 On Assignment: Frugal Family
• Being Frugal: The Original Sustainability? – Chris Farrell
• How to Break the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
• Getting Your Finances in Order
• Eliminating Debt in 2009 Part 2 Extra Income
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-7: Bake Items in “Groups”
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-6: Use a Prgrammable Thermostat
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-5: Switch to CFL’s or LED’s

Duration : 0:1:25

• 30′s Personal Finance: A Change of Pace
• 9 On Assignment: Frugal Family
• Being Frugal: The Original Sustainability? – Chris Farrell
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-7: Bake Items in “Groups”
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-6: Use a Prgrammable Thermostat
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-5: Switch to CFL’s or LED’s
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-4: Wash Only Full Loads of Laundry
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-3: Air Dry Clothes
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-2: Filters
• 100 Ways to Save in 100 Days-1: Unused Appliances and Electronics

Presenter – Ray Gosling
Producer – Rob Whitehouse

Duration : 0:8:35

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http://www.kmbc.com/news/18690321/detail.html

Duration : 0:2:52

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• Debt Consolidation – Introduction to Debt Reduction Services
• Debt Reduction Lessons – Guide To Getting Out Of Debt
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Duration : 0:5:41

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“Frugality is the opposite of being a cheapskate,” says Chris Farrell, author of The New Frugality. Farrell asserts that conscientious spending is actually linked to a sustainable, green lifestyle.

—–

According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, The Great Recession may technically be over. But what’s clear is that, no matter what the GDP may be, people are hurting financially. In The New Frugality, Chris Farrell, personal finance expert for American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money” and contributing economics editor for BusinessWeek, presents a new paradigm for surviving the greatest economic crisis in a generation.

The embrace of what Farrell calls the New Frugality signals that half a century of people spending with abandon and borrowing as much as possible is done. Profligacy is out. Frugality is in. Also, The Great Recession comes at a time of another great crisis related to our over consumption: global climate change. This convergence of crises creates opportunities and new ways to be frugal. In everyday money decisions, it turns out that being frugal and being green are synonymous.

Farrell suggests we should focus not only on what’s affordable in the short term, but also on what’s sustainable in the long term. If you’re thinking about getting rid of your car and buying a bike to save money, there’s no reason you should buy a two-wheeled clunker from Craigslist that needs a trip to the bike shop every other day.

As Farrell demonstrates, there’s a difference between being frugal and being cheap. We’ll still need places to live (do we buy or rent?), to save for college, and every now and then go into a little debt. How we make these choices will be as important as the choices themselves.

The New Frugality offers smart, sustainable, and ultimately more fulfilling ways to approach our personal finances and get more out of spending less. – Berkeley Arts and Letters

Duration : 0:5:34

• 9 On Assignment: Frugal Family
• How to Budget Personal Finances : The Envelope System for Managing a Budget
• How to Budget Personal Finances : The Envelope System for Managing a Budget
• How to Budget Personal Finances : Why Budgets Fail
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-2: Filters
• Sen. Gregg: ‘Debt reduction now’
• Debt Consolidation – Introduction to Debt Reduction Services
• Debt Reduction Lessons – Guide To Getting Out Of Debt
• 30′s Personal Finance: A Change of Pace
• True Frugality

Duration : 0:5:49

• 100 Ways in 100 Days-13: Fill Your Freezer
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-12: Remove Items in Groups from Refrigerator
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-9: Clean Refridgerator Coils
• Get Ready for 100 Days of Saving Money
• Recession? Not Neccessarily a Bad Thing

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It is now a great time to begin a comparison shopping campaign if you do not already have one in place.  Finding great deals is awesome, as well as commendable, but saving money on a regular basis is a far better endeavor.  Then when you combine the deals with the weekly strategies you come out way ahead.

One of the easiest items to comparison shop is groceries.  Since grocery stores abound, you can usually find the same quality of product at several locations within a few miles.  The interesting fact is that in some cases the “everyday” price of these items will vary greatly (we have seen up to 30% differences on several staple goods).  The idea is to find what products are the cheapest at which stores and purchase the items at the best price.

We have seen and read about many different ways to comparison shop, and there is not one that is superior to the others.  It is all a matter of personal taste.  Ways people comparison shop:

1. Sales Papers- there are entire communities dedicated to this way of shopping.  If you look a little online you can probably find one for your area that will let you join free of charge.  The way they shop is by looking at the sales papers for the stores in there area, and then planning the weeks menu based on what is on sale for the week.  This is not a bad idea as long as you can make yourself conform to whatever is on sale that week.
2. Price Books-we had honestly never noticed this until we read this tip.  Since then we have noticed a few people each week carrying a book with them and writing things down as they went.  While this works for some, for us (we try to get out asap to avoid impulse shopping)  it slows down the shopping process too much.  The few times we tried to shop this way, it slowed us down by an average of 20 minutes per trip-not worth it to us.
3. Spread Sheets-This is not a perfect method, but it is the one we prefer.  We save our receipts (it took us around six weeks to get the all the items we use regularly) and then enter the data in a spread sheet.  We alternated where we bought items through various stores in our area for the six weeks listed until we got the information we needed.  Every week we enter in our receipts (takes about 5 minutes) and see where we stand.  The negative ti doing it this way is that you have to frequently either watch the prices and try to remember them, or alternate shop again (which causes a loss of money).  Luckily our savings have stayed steady, even through the price increases due to the high gas prices last year.

Just as an example, the store that has the best quality and price of meat for us has canned items (corn, peas, green beans, etc. that we use a lot of) for 89 cents a can.  Our second store just 2 miles away has the same cans for 41 cents a can.  Just this one area save us approximately $6 a week.

Comparison shopping is also great for other purchases, especially large ones, as well.  We have saved on our “normal” expenses by comparison shopping for prescriptions (seems almost everywhere has a local pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens competing for business), insurances, car maintenance items, etc.

A few considerations about comparison shopping:

• Make sure the payout is worth it.  It is of no use to spend 12 hours comparison shopping and save 12 cents.
• Consider all aspects when you compare.  I am mainly referring to appliances here, but I am sure other situations fit.  Consider the quality of the products you are comparing, the energy consumption, and warranty length of the product in question.
• Make it a habit and you will usually get the best deal that is available to you.

Thanks for reading, and we hope that you have a great and wonderful day.

Do you comparison shop?  What method works best for you?  What is the most you have saved?

• How to Break the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-14: Seal Air Leaks
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-13: Fill Your Freezer
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-12: Remove Items in Groups from Refrigerator
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-11: Use Ceiling Fans
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-3: Air Dry Clothes
• Saving Money While doing Your Household Shopping

First of all I would like to say that we are coupon users through and through.  Using coupons is just one of the ways that we save on groceries.  This past week was kind of slim on the savings, so we were just wondering how many of you feel that coupons are a waste of time?

Our process usually goes something like this:

1. We get our Sunday paper early Sunday morning before church (if we wait until after they are usually all gone). Time-10min.
2. We check our usual websites and company web pages for weekly sales that are going on in our area. Time-45 min.
3. Next, we check the coupons that are inside the paper to see if any match products that are currently on sale. Time-30 min.
4. Lastly, we clip the ones we are going to use this week and file the rest for later storage. Time-5 min.

That is equal to one and a half hours of work.  Lets say that in your freelance business, or personal work that you average ten dollars per hour, you have just “spent” $15.  Factor in the cost of the newspaper and now you are at $17.

The question in play here is this-Can you save $17 by using the coupons for that week, and if so, is it worth it?  If by using coupons we save around $25, then we are only at “net” gain of $8.  With that figure we could easily make the money by writing a blog post, taking a few surveys, or many of our other endeavors within an hour and a half.

As for us, it is worth it.  We get some really good deals more often than not.  Also, this is a family gathering, so while all of this is going on (including the shopping) we are enjoying time together as a family.

If I were strictly looking at it as a way to save money and get ahead of the game, I am not sure I would continue doing it.  Most coupons are for brand name items.  We have a few things that we only use brand name products, but for the most part their generic or store brand counterparts are just as good (in a few cases better) and are cheaper even if you use a coupon on the brand name.

That is just a couple of our views on coupon use-what are your thoughts?  Do you have a system that really allows you to save tremendous amounts?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

• Combating the Rising Cost of Groceries
• Saving Money While doing Your Household Shopping