By Cortni Marrazzo
I’ve recently discovered the joy of belonging to a special club that gives you discounts at restaurants of half off (and sometimes more). I want to share this saving opportunity with those who are not yet aware so they can save money at restaurants too. It doesn’t cost anything to join and […]

By Shannon Christman
Some people think using a coupon in public is even more embarrassing than, say, accidentally walking into the wrong restroom. I have done both, and I assure you — the latter is far more embarrassing! Here’s why I am not the least bit embarrassed by coupons:
Companies make coupons available; […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
The other day my husband and I went to a specific grocery store that we don’t normally shop at to pick up some ice-cream that was on sale. Normally this particular kind of ice-cream (my husband’s absolute favorite) is at least $4 for a half gallon — and that’s on sale. […]

By Shannon Christman
The boxes were gone. My three-year-old was crestfallen. He had looked forward to his regular job of returning the plastic bags from last week’s grocery shopping trip to the recycling boxes just inside the store. But the boxes are no longer there; an employee told us that the store had discontinued its recycling. […]

By Ann Hartter
I went to the grocery store this morning. My list included four items. I returned with ten. It would seem I had a problem with the impulse buy. That’s not, however, the case. Four of the things I returned with were on sale, so maybe it was sale-blindness. That’s not the case either. […]

By Jennifer Derrick
This weekend I was reading “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead” by Larry Winget. (A pretty good read, by the way. The advice is nothing groundbreaking, but his straight talk and no excuses approach is entertaining.) Anyway, in the book he states that […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
The most expensive day of your week completely depends on your individual circumstances and spending habits, but I think for a lot of people, that day is Friday. There are many different factors that can influence why your spending would be more on Friday than on any other day of the week […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
The other day someone mentioned to my husband something about the fact that I always find the best deals and I always have a coupon for something. That’s actually a pretty true statement. I can sniff out a coupon a mile away. It’s almost like a game for me — to see if […]

By Shannon Christman
When saving money, meals in restaurants are rightfully one of the first expenses to be cut, but if you hate to cook as much as I do, budgeting for a meal or two out each week may save enough of your sanity to be worth the expense. On the days you do […]

By Shannon Christman
If you have a lot of storage space, warehouse clubs, such as BJ’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club, can help you save some money on products you use frequently. The one we visit does not offer the best deals on every product, but we depend on it for consistently low prices (usually about […]

By Shannon Christman
As a child, I went grocery shopping with my adult sister at a store that didn’t exist in my hometown. When she checked out, the cashier gave her a number of stamps based on how much she had spent, and she discovered that she had enough saved to treat me to a […]

By Jennifer Derrick
Some people are “pound wise and penny foolish.” That is, they focus their savings efforts only on big items while letting small amounts of money slip through their fingers. Having tallied up my “penny savings” from last year, I can tell you that small amounts of money can quickly add up to big […]

By Ann Hartter
My son asked for some bananas for snack, and I started singing something I had a vague recollection of: “Yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today!” I got the melody all wrong, and as my husband and I tried to finagle the right tune, I offered banana spread I had […]

By Ann Hartter
“Silver Bells” and “Silver and Gold”, some budgets just don’t allow a gift to all who deserve something for the holidays. You know how hungry animals in cartoons see our hero as a roast bird or some other tasty morsel? Throw open your pantry and see a stack full of sparkling gifts in […]

By Shana Murray
Dinner parties can be a lot of fun to attend, but not necessarily a lot of fun to host. From staying up late the night before preparing the meal to racing home after work to finish cooking the meal, it’s almost like a second job. Don’t even get me started on […]

By Cortni Marrazzo
Lately I’ve been trying to save more and spend less, all the while trying to exercise more and eat less. I’ve learned that even though I’m trying to accomplish two different goals, the principles to succeed are very similar. And these two goals are hard enough to take on during the […]

By Ann Hartter
Do you want to know what I dislike more than grocery shopping? Coming home with more grocery bags. Plastic or paper, it doesn’t matter. I just don’t reuse all those bags, and the piles keep stacking up. So I started searching for some clever reusable and recycling grocery bag ideas, and I’m passing […]

By Meredith H. Kaiser
If you knew that a friend busted their budget in order to invite you over for dinner, would you enjoy the dinner? Probably not. Keep this thought in mind when you entertain.
When preparing for dinner guests, wondering, “What will they think about the water stains on the ceilings?” […]

By Keith Brainard from Brainard Brewing
Editor’s Note: This guest post came about from discussion of the article Life Is Far Too Short To Drink Cheap Beer - 10 Ways To Maximize Your Beer Value where several readers commented that brewing your own beer gives the best value for your money
I have to admit, I have […]

By Meredith H. Kaiser
My husband and I just returned from a 17 day, 5,500-mile road trip westward from our home in South Carolina. Even though 4.5 million visit the Grand Canyon every year, we still felt like bold adventurers because it was all new to us.
And, I have learned that as a white […]