Cutting Back: Frugal is Doable and Fun

Cutting Back
Everybody’s talking about economics. The“economic crisis” seems to be the topic of at least one story in every news program and is mentioned in many advertisements that promise savings just when you need them. Even television dramas and comedies allude to the recession and the difficulty of finding and keeping a job and the need to save money. A character on CSI scrapping to get a job investigating finally applying for a government grant to pay for her salary. A character on Cold Case taken off her fictional position. While the nonfiction and fictional reports of worldwide and particularly national economic duress are undoubtedly exaggerated, they’re all based in grim reality.
Most of you can say you’ve either lost money in the stock market or have been or know somebody who’s been laid off. Many of you can say you know someone who has been foreclosed on or are facing foreclosure yourselves.
Many of you have had to take a cut in pay and have consequently had to cut spending. You’ve had to take the kids out of piano lessons or soccer. You can’t go out to eat as often or buy that new computer you’ve been saving for.
You’re getting a lot of financial advice too, from those news programs, from friends and relatives, from bankers.
As the daughter of a pastor who his whole life has earned not much above what’s considered the poverty level, I’ve always been in an “economic crisis.” The funny thing is, I’ve enjoyed it. Living on the cheap can be fun, even if you want to look attractive and up-to-date, have nice things and live in a lovely home. What I’d like to suggest, what I think it really comes down to is—thinking.
Any change in lifestyle involves a change in thinking, in this case, a change in thinking that can make saving money not only doable, but a game.
Learning to live at or below your means can be compared to a weight-loss program. If you really want results, you’ve got to do more than make a few temporary changes. You’ve got to change your mindset. The more you want to save, the more your mindset has to change. And as with certain weight-loss programs that say and show you how if you change your thinking you really can eat more and weigh less, so, I’d like to help you see that if you change your thinking about money, you can shop more and spend less. You can save money and enjoy life, have nice things, do enjoyable activities, and go on great vacations.
But remember, even for small, lasting results, you’ve got to change the way you think about money.

Changing Your Thinking
Before I charge into some ideas on saving money, I think it’s important as a Christian, for me to remember that God comes first, that all I have comes from Him, and I do what I do to be freer to serve Him in whatever way He sees fit. Refusing to tithe, to give to God’s work, is unbiblical and not a good means of saving money. Ultimately giving is a great investment, because heaven is our eternal home. On this earth, I want to be as free from money woes and as good of a steward as I can be.
To that end, first you need to evaluate your current thinking. Do you feel like you have to have whatever you see that you want when you’re walking through a department store, the mall, or a grocery store? Do you just buy it because you like it, you want it, and it’s not terribly expensive? Do you feel like you should have certain brand names or the latest technology? Do you routinely go out and buy something when you need it, like shampoo, birthday presents, Christmas decorations? Do you spend much time evaluating your purchases?
If you answered “yes,” even reluctantly, to any of the first three of these questions and “no,” to the last, you need to rethink your money thinking. Even if you answered “no” to the first three questions and “yes” to the last, you still may benefit from the following ideas.
First of all, you can learn to think of saving money and spending money wisely as playing a game like Monopoly or UNO or basketball or golf, whatever gets your competitive drive going. Or if you just aren’t the competitive type, you can visualize it as a creative endeavor like drawing, music, or gardening. If you’re neither competitive nor artistic, you might compare it to planning or organizing.
The goal is to get what you want for the least amount of money or to use what you have to the best effect or to cut back to what you really want and need, so that everything has a place and is in it. You’re not sacrificing. You will still live well. You won’t be some eccentric, dumpster diving Scrooge who wears rags, eats rice for every meal, and won’t turn on the heat. You will get what you really want and need, just for not so much money. You’re playing a game, creating something extraordinary, being orderly and efficient. You enjoy this task, this leisure activity. It’s not a crisis; it’s a career, not a liability, but a lifestyle. It’s not drudgery; it’s delight.
The Game
The object is to get the best deal, what you want/need for the least amount of money possible. To play: Shop often. Shop recreationally. Once a week can do the trick if you’re savvy. Know what good prices are. Look for good deals in clearance sections and at garage sales and thrift stores. Many times I don’t even look at clothing items not marked down or priced at at least fifty if not seventy-five percent off retail. The percentage off, of course, is only a savings if the resultant prices are truly inexpensive. The clearance aisle in one store may be more expensive than the regularly priced items at another. However, the more expensive things may be better made. You’ll need to get some experience playing, practicing so as to know what constitutes a good deal.
Don’t just shop for what you have to have now. Know what you already have and what you might like to have or will need to have in the future and be on the look out for those things. What is the next clothing size your kids will need? Could you use another set of queen sheets? How do you want to decorate your house for Christmas next year?
When you find something that is a good deal and that you’d like to have and think you might use, ask yourself if you really want it, if you don’t already have something like it or that you could use for the same purpose. Could you easily get it somewhere else for less? Try to talk yourself out of the purchase. If you’re shopping with someone else, ask for critical advice. If you do think it’s the best deal you’ll probably be able to get for that item (or at least a very good deal) and you do like it and think you’d use it and don’t have something else like it that should be sufficient for a very long time, then, depending on the item, consider purchasing more than one. If you’ve bought the item before and know it to be worthwhile, consider stockpiling it, be it toothpaste, cereal, or possibly even toys or wrapping paper.
Buy it and take it home. Once you get it home, you might let it sit a while. If it isn’t what you thought it was, if a short time later you find a better deal else where, if you do already have something like it such that you don’t really need it now or in the future, take it back if possible, either for money or store credit. This process at first may slow you down a little, but can soon become second nature. You’ll be able to fairly quickly evaluate your purchases, especially if you have the help of a friend or relative with the same goals and mindset.
Once you figure out when and where the deals are, you’ll get better and better at saving. It’s sometimes fun to have many “partners in crime,” others you know who are also playing the game who you can brag to and compete with. “I got this top for $3.00, can you believe it?” Of course, points go to the one who not only spends the least money but who also gets the most attractive and useful item. Don’t fall into the trap of just buying something because it’s cheap.
Also, be willing to accept gifts from friends, hand-me-down items, in particular. They are eager to get rid of these things anyway, and you can return the favor when you have something you no longer need or want that they can use. You can exchange services sometimes, as well. You’re good at finding deals on kids’ clothes; your friend’s a great cook. You can shop for her and she can cook for you.
There are many advantages to not having much invested in things, besides just saving money. It’s easier and more fun to take risks when there’s not much money involved. You can get something that you are drawn to, think you can use and don’t already have, even if it’s something you’d not usually think to get or wouldn’t buy because of the price. I’ve bought many an item on clearance that is a little off my usual choices and have come to really appreciate it. As a generally more classic, traditional type of girl, some of my more modern pieces fall into this category, and they’ve served to update my style. Also, and this point is so noteworthy when you have small children like I do, inexpensive items are more easily dispensable. Of course, one great way to save money is to use and reuse things, for different purposes and as long as you can, but if something does get wrecked, it’s often not quite as much of a loss as if you’d spent a great deal for the item.
The Art Form
This approach involves the creative ability to problem-solve, using what you have or what you get cheaply to make your life better. Shop your house. If you stockpile lovely, useful good deals from clearance sections, garage sales, and thrift stores, you can have as much fun shopping your stockpile as shopping retail. But you must first learn what you like and what works well for you. What do you want to look like? What impression do you want your clothes and home to convey? What do you enjoy having around you? What is currently considered attractive? Trusting your own instincts and listening to others’ advice as well as occasionally perusing magazines and watching television shows about these topics can help you find your sense of style, one that can be very appealing to others and yourself. You, after all, have the potential to be a great artist, the best artist for your world, making it lovely in a way no one else can.
When you know what you like and you shop enough that you have some things stockpiled, you can shop in your stash when you are working on your house or working in your garage, decorating your home, or looking for items for parties or holidays or gifts or hobbies. The challenge of working with what you have, things that you like and that you didn’t overpay for, can be quite rewarding and can truly bring out your creative abilities. Also, your efforts will be more individual than they would be if you just went out and bought something to fit your needs at the moment. You will use items that have more history and character to them. And what you do will reveal talent, not merely money.
We purchased a five-year-old split level that needed work because fixtures had been removed. We spent two years replacing items and found things on sale, display models, etc. My husband put in our kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, sinks, toilet, mirrors, doors, closet shelving, some carpeting, and built a deck. We also painted all the rooms and tiled our kitchen countertops. We had help from family and friends. Our four bedroom, two bathroom home on a culdesac had a home theater and an open concept living -dining great room with a vaulted ceiling. It was a much nicer home than we could have afforded on my husband’s small, private school teacher’s salary if we hadn’t fixed it up ourselves.
In the garage, my husband had large filing cabinets given to him by a friend who works at IBM. He uses them to organize his tools and sporting equipment. He also had a serviceable cast off work bench. His fifty dollar bike was a Target clearance item and the kids’ bikes and bike trailer we got at garage sales or were hand me downs.
In my daughter’s nursery was a garage sale crib and rocking chair, a changing table given to us by friends, and a trunk that belonged to my grandmother. The trunk cushion was re-covered and although the furniture did not match, the curtains, crib bumper and sheet, pillows on the rocker, and woven baskets with liners that held baby items on the changing table pulled the room together. The bumper had pink and pale green and the curtain the same pale green along with a pillow on the rocker, while the other pillow on the rocker was floral in the same pale colors as the bumper. The light-colored weave of the baskets on the changing table was a nice balance between the dark crib and trunk and the white rocker and changing table. Over the crib were antique-looking-frames holding old-fashioned prints of little girls. One I purchased at a garage sale and the other was a card I put into a very inexpensive frame. Both pictures had cream-colored backgrounds and the walls of the room, the cushion on the trunk, and the carpet, were also cream. I thought the room had more personality and was more appealing than a matchy-matchy nursery with a brand new furniture set, linens, and accessories and I spent significantly less on the items in it, as all the items were clearance, garage sale or hand-me-down.
The master bedroom had a matched furniture set with a queen-sized cherry sleigh bed, bedside table, and two dressers, as well as a comforter, shams, and sheet set. The furniture we got from a discount furniture warehouse and the bed set, which included five pillows, came from Wal-Mart on clearance.
My closet is full of thrifty buys. Hardly any single item in it cost much more than five dollars and the vast majority of the things I bought new. Expensive name brand items in good condition can sometimes be found at great prices at thrift stores or garage sales but can’t be returned if they don’t fit or work with the rest of your wardrobe, and often are still pricey, while cheaper items may not be in very good shape. But you shouldn’t pass up cheap, nice, unique secondhand things that are in good shape. They’re often worth the risk, especially if you can try on clothing to make sure it will work for you. (With kids, virtually all of their things may be bought secondhand, especially the smaller sizes. Babies go through things so quickly and often have layettes and baby shower gifts galore.) I own many blouses, suits, dresses, and lined skirts and slacks. I like to dress up when I can and taught college for quite some time so needed a suitable wardrobe. My drawers are full of t-shirts, sweaters, Capris, jeans, slacks, pjs, underclothing, also almost all bought on clearance and also useful, contemporary, and cute, in my opinion.
Our living room furniture was also under a thousand dollars, the couch and loveseat set from an outlet mall furniture store and the bookshelf a twenty-five dollar clearance buy at Target, the media cabinet a hand-me-down. Our dining room furniture we purchased from IKEA, two tables put together, eight chairs, four hundred dollars total. My husband stained them. Garage sales, secondhand stores, Craigslist are other good options for finding furniture.
My daughter’s day bed was mine as a child, my sons’ bunks belonged to my brother and me. The boys’ dresser, toy box, and shelf I painted red. They were given to us by a neighbor getting ready to move.




Many other people are better deal finders and decorators than I am, as evidenced by shows like Decorating Cents, though many TV programs and magazines tell about rooms decorated on the cheap that to most of us aren’t so cheap, especially to those of us who have this mindset of really trying to spend as little money as possible, as part of the game and the creative challenge. But you can learn from even these shows and magazines and get ideas that you may be able to duplicate for less money.
Meals are a fun creative outlet. Use what you have to make a great meal for your family. If there are lots of eggs in your fridge, have a fun breakfast night with an omelet, pancakes, and fruit—fresh or canned.
I keep a stash of gift items handy for birthdays, Christmas, weddings. I specifically get items for family and friends long before their actually birthdays or Christmas as when I see something on sale I think they would like, I buy it and put it in my stash. I keep used bags and bows (not wrapping paper, doesn’t seem worth the effort especially when you can purchase it so cheaply on sale) and strive to put together unique, lovely gifts on those special occasions. I often send books to friends in the mail. They make great long-distance gifts not only because I love books and you can find some kind of book for everybody (use Amazon’s thirty-dollar gift card when you first open an account) but also because they’re easy to store and cheap to send at book rate.
You can also stock pile cheap scrapbooking, crafting supplies or what you might want for whatever hobby you enjoy. Just remember, don’t buy it unless you really want it and it’s really cheap.
Buying holiday supplies on clearance after the holiday and storing them until the following year is affordable and fun. The next year it’s exciting to see the old and new things together and remember what you planned the previous year for this year’s decorating and tweak those plans as you put them into action.
Another way a saving money mindset can bring out your artistic abilities is as you market your artistry. I have friends who sell art work or music online or who sew for people. They do some hobby they enjoy and receive a monetary reward for their efforts.
The Management
The in-charge person can save money by staying on top of what he or she owns, doing research, and wisely using resources. Don’t keep something if you don’t really need it or want it for now or the future. Go through your things frequently so that you know what you have and edit. Doing so will help you to really enjoy what you have, as you just keep what you really like and have a use for. It will also keep you from duplicating items as you’ll be more aware of what you own. Most importantly, it will keep you from becoming a junk collector living in a pile of junk, so that your life is better as well as thriftier. Try to fix broken things and imagine new uses for things. Keep items that you can use in the future. But be able to really justify keeping what you keep and if you can’t justify it, get rid of it. Donate it if someone else can use it. Give it to a friend who could use it or leave it on the curb for someone to take. Drop it by a secondhand store that takes donations. Sell it in a garage sale or on the internet if you think it’s worth your time. I only try to sell items that are really worth some money and that I think people will buy. Throw it away it it’s junk, broken, without reusable or recyclable potential.
You don’t need five waffle irons in case four of them break. You probably don’t really even need more than one. You’ll know when your waffle iron is getting close to the end of its life and you can be on the lookout for a nice cheap one or you can probably even get by without a waffle iron for a little while until you find one for a good deal. Don’t just go out and buy one at full price if you can help it. Of course, you may occasionally have to do so, but your general mindset is to get the best deal possible, and this method isn’t conducive to that goal. Something you don’t really need takes up space that could be used for something you do really need or want, and space is money too. You can store in it or live in it.
I love looking at my books and thinking about the grand experiences I had reading them, escaping in them. If I didn’t have a grand experience or a learning experience with one or if I have several copies of it, I’m happy to give it away and make room on my shelf for another better book or a sweet photograph of one of my kids.
Don’t just get by with something you don’t like. If those jeans you just bought don’t really fit you well, take them back. Who cares how little you paid for them. Remember that the fact that something is on markdown does not necessarily mean it’s a good deal. Retailers can mark things down to make you think you’re getting a good deal. Know what a good deal is. Even if it truly is a good buy, four bucks is still four bucks and you’re better off not paying it at all than paying it for something you’ll not really be able to use. And if you’ve had them for a while and you can’t take them back, donate them. Your drawers will have less in them and you’ll be more likely to wear something that does fit you well and looks nice on you and less likely to find yourself thinking “I need new jeans because mine aren’t very good.” You will actually save money by not hoarding them. You’ll look better and feel better about yourself and that will save you money. We all buy things from time to time to make us feel better, after all.
Plan ahead. Know what you will need in the future. Buy accordingly. Don’t purchase more size four kids’ clothing if your kid has almost outgrown that size. If you live in Minnesota, do buy those too big snow boots even though there isn’t any snow on the ground. There will be snow next winter. If you live in Florida, don’t bother. I know it seems obvious, but I often need to be reminded of the obvious.
You don’t know of anybody who is getting married any time soon but you work at a college and young people are always pairing up. Buy that pretty crystal bowl or photo album marked down to almost nothing. Stash it away and have it ready when the time comes. And don’t forget that you have it or where you have it. Be organized.
It’s exciting to realize you need something and you have it on hand, stashed away. It’s fun to know you paid very little for it. It’s thrilling to play the game of not getting caught without something you need because you are on top of things and you have planned ahead. Of course, you won’t always be able to foresee every need, but you’ll be surprised how many you can plan for, with the caveat that you must be realistic and not try to plan for every eventuality under the sun. You know yourself and your family and what’s most likely to be of use to you.
Shop around. Research purchases. Take advantage of deals. Know what you have and use it or get rid of it. If you are a careful manager, there will be money for worth-while splurges or gifts, all the more special because they are unusual and within your wisely used means.
Organization can truly save you time and money and make your home and life more pleasant. Developing organizational skills can also make you more productive in managing your family or job responsibilities.

I know many of you probably do try to analyze your purchases, use what you have first before you buy, and strive to plan ahead. But for you, what you’re concerned about, what’s giving financial woes, is the big stuff, not the little things. Does enjoying saving money, rising to the challenge of spending very little and still having a lot, work for the big stuff? Can you live in a nice home, drive a nice car, get proper medical care, eat well, and take great vacations on the cheap? Yes, yes, I think you can.
Houses
When looking for a house, you shouldn’t lose your mindset of trying to get the best deal. Follow the same principles of stringently evaluating your choices, knowing what you need and want, and shopping around, as well as, if possible, not being in too much of a hurry to buy. Get on a real estate site daily and check to see what pops up. Don’t completely shy away from fixer uppers but don’t overestimate your ability to fix something up or how much you can cut corners in doing so. An older home may have many hidden costs such as a higher utility bill because of old, inefficient heating and cooling systems or poor insulation. Beware of mold and mildew. Superficial fixes are the most affordable and doable, though they may at first be the least appealing. An older home with beautiful hardwood floors may be more enticing than a new one with dingy carpet but cleaning and replacing carpeting may be significantly cheaper than replacing rotten wood you didn’t notice under the former owner’s couch. Really scrutinize the place and have it appraised. Bring someone more knowledgeable to look the home over if you don’t feel confident about your own ability to do so. Don’t purchase on a whim. Don’t get in over your head. It can be a great thing to build or have a house built but if you’re the contractor you need to know what you’re doing, keep up with it, and be prepared for surprises and delays. If someone else is the contractor, you must be sure that he’s trustworthy. This option probably isn’t best for most people, but it might work for you. We’re currently building a house in Edmonton, Alberta. My husband is serving as the contractor and doing some work himself, utilizing some friends with construction experience and connections. It’s a huge job but has allowed us to customize our home, build a large house, where we want it, for much less than the going market.
After you’ve gotten a feel for the market and shopped around until you’re certain you’ve found a good deal, jump on it quickly. Go see the place and crunch the numbers. Make sure it’s well within your budget and plan to make a fairly sizeable down payment. Remember the bank is charging interest and the house will therefore cost you significantly more than the sticker price. The sooner you pay off your home, the less you actually pay. True, you might be able to earn more interest on the money if you invest it in the stock market, but then again you may not, as recent history testifies. You will have to pay the bank the interest. There is no way around it. The only liability is that the more you have into the house, the more you stand to lose if you let the bank have it, but that’s not in the plan and should be fairly easy to avoid if you take steps to do so.
Shop around for a payment plan too. Get something fixed at the best rate available at the time. You can usually refinance later, generally at least one time for no charge, if rates go down. If it’s the same interest (or very close) for a thirty or a ten-year mortgage, take the thirty and try to pay it off in ten. If something happens, you can drop back to paying just what you have to.
When we purchased our house in Minnesota, we were living in an apartment and felt no real pressure to buy immediately. I checked the internet daily, and we looked at several homes in the lowest price range, most of them older and needing lots of work, sometimes work that was very evident and sometimes less so, but all of it pricy and not jobs my husband felt very confident about doing on his own, so we’d have to factor in the cost of having someone else do them.
I really wanted an older home and was disappointed when we were unable to find one that Ernie felt was truly a good deal. I looked at the initial price while he was more aware of the costs of fixing the place up and paying for utilities.
Finally we found a newer split level that had been stripped of kitchen cabinets, appliances, the sinks, one of the toilets, the doors, the light fixtures, and the air conditioning. The former owners had left a great deal of junk in the garage and the back yard as well. At first I wasn’t very interested in the place in spite of the fact that it had some nice features but Ernie helped me to have a vision for what it could be and to see how much more affordable, useful, and attractive it would be for us than the other homes we’d been looking at. We offered ten grand less than the house was listed for and said we would clean up the junk. We got the house for five grand less than it was listed for. We bought three years ago in 2006 when the housing market was fairly strong, certainly stronger than it is now. Ernie was teaching full-time and I part-time at a small college. Together we made about twenty-seven grand a year. We paid enough on the house to drop our payments to six hundred dollars a month with a ten-year mortgage by the time my husband lost his job two and a half years later, when the college closed because of financial problems. Not only did we put a relatively substantial amount of money down on the house initially but also whenever payments were due, we tried to pay more than the minimum if we could. With a rapidly-growing young family, we couldn’t do as much as we might have liked, but we still did well enough that for the six months my husband was without a full-time job, we were never even close to being at risk of foreclosure. Also, we had a lovely home and fantastic neighbors and because we’d fixed the place up ourselves, not only were we able to save money, but also we personalized our place with items we particularly liked, though we tried to buy things that would appeal to others as well, add value but not over-invest, as we were not in the very best part of town, our culdesac being located closer to shopping districts and factories. I got spoiled by having efficient, newer things and clean relatively recent construction. It was hard to contemplate living anywhere else after we sold our home. Even with the market having dropped, we didn’t have to take a loss on our house, unlike so many of our contemporaries.
You also must keep up your home so that it holds and appreciates in value. But your house is primarily a place to live, not so much an investment. We’ve seen how insecure of an investment it can be. It should at least not be a loss, if possible; ideally, it can be a gain. It’s smart to make improvements that future owners will also appreciate, though of course it is your home and you want to make it yours.
To recap:
Shop carefully and take your time. Only look at homes well within your price range. Start by looking at the cheapest homes (that have a sufficient amount of space).
Buy a fixer, but not too much of a fixer. Watch out for future costs, including utilities. Be able to do the work yourself or get family and friends to help, if possible.
Get the lowest fixed rate of interest. Put a sizeable amount of money down so that your monthly payments are very affordable. Pay more than the minimum.

Vehicles
Car payments can really get people into trouble. First and foremost, you don’t want to buy a new car. It’s like asking someone to rip you off. Buy a five-year-old car in good condition with relatively low mileage and trade it in while you can still get a fair amount of money for it, close to what you originally paid for it, preferably. Purchase something reliable that will hold its value, like a Honda.
Don’t buy using a payment plan. Buy something you can pay for upfront. Evaluate how many vehicles you actually need.
We bought four vans in five years. We had a credit card that gave us money back with the purchase of a new or used vehicle. We’ve never purchased a new vehicle but have frequently purchased newer used vehicles, selling what we had before getting something else. We’ve been able to get more money back on our vehicles this way.
Also, think about how many vehicles you actually need. Could you get by with two, instead of three, or one, instead of two? Would it save to use public transportation or bike or walk to work, if these are possibilities? Crunch the numbers and find out. Remember you pay insurance on your vehicles, as well as gas and mileage and initial cost.

Technology
These purchases are easier and more important for some of us than for others. But no matter which category you fall into, the same general rules should apply. Don’t buy the latest thing and don’t keep what you buy until it’s completely outdated. As with a vehicle, you’re better off selling when you can still get a decent amount of money for the item. Don’t buy top of the line with all the bells and whistles. Practice a little delayed gratification and buy that new thing when it’s not so new and Best Buy has a great sale on it. Then when the next new thing is not so new and is on sale, buy it, and sell your old thing—lap top computer, digital camera, GPS system—on Craigslist or in the paper or to a friend or family member. Flat screen TVs are getting cheaper and cheaper. You’ll have to make the call as to when the best time is to jump in and buy one (if you’re interested and haven’t already bought one) but an after Thanksgiving sale might be a great opportunity. You might find a great deal online. Shop around.
Cell phones are popular and may be very affordable if you just go with a cell phone and quit your land line and always stay within your minutes, which ideally could be a plan around forty to fifty dollars a month. Of course, what works well for one lifestyle and area may not work for another. In Minnesota, we found that having a landline for local calls and using a calling card for long-distance calls saved us money. The calling card charged about four cents a minute for long distance and our landline cost around twenty dollars a month. In Edmonton, we’ve used very inexpensive but not perfectly reliable internet phone plans (with a yearly rate of sixty dollars), one for Canada and one for the U.S., as well as having a cell phone plan for Ernie.
Cable TV and internet may really be unnecessary. Try just having basic TV for a year and see if you really miss the cable channels that much. If your computer picks up wireless internet, you can probably pick up the internet at many places all over town, and possibly even in your own home. You also can use the internet at the library and sometimes at your job. Library videos or dollar or two dollar video rentals can substitute for TV viewing. You might want to try an introductory deal that gives you free cable for three months and then cancel at the end of the allotted time. Be sure to cancel if you do ever join a club or get a service at an introductory offer. If you forget to cancel, you won’t save any money. If you do still feel the need to pay for cable or high speed internet to have it consistently, again, be sure to shop around for a good deal and watch out for rising prices. If the company raises the prices, go with another company. Many companies have introductory deals.
If you do spend time on the internet, you can use it to aid you in your cost-cutting endeavor. Coupon sites and other deals are sometimes helpful but be very skeptical and watch out for scams or gimmicks. Companies want to make money, not help you out. The coupon isn’t really worthwhile if you don’t need the product. It’s often difficult and costly to return something that you purchase online and decide you don’t want, so check out return policies.
You can watch television shows and sometimes movies online, access magazine articles, recipes, all kinds of information online, as well as use the internet to keep in contact with friends and family. Swagbucks allows you to—slowly—accumulate “bucks” while you surf. These go toward gift cards for Barnes and Noble or Amazon or Target or Penneys.

Food
Food is another area that can be a real pitfall. Grocery shopping is part of the package of the money-saving but great-living mindset. Yes, you have to eat, but you don’t just go out and buy whatever you want whenever you want it. Peruse the flyer and buy what’s on sale. Stock up on items that are really marked down. Many grocery stores have a marked down meat day when you can get nice cuts of meat for half price because they’re close to date. Many grocery stores also have tent sales or other special sales. Stock up and freeze or use quickly. Don’t feel like you have to spend all your time coupon cutting. Most of the time you can just buy off-brand and/or comparison shop. If it’s always your goal to get the best deal, you’ll take a little time to see what the best deal is on each item you purchase, even if you can’t always wait for the item to actually be on sale. Don’t buy what you can’t use. Use what you have or get rid of it.
Enjoy fixing meals as part of your creative outlet. What can you do with what you have? You have hamburger and eggs and tomato sauce and bread. Make meatloaf or meatballs. You have chicken and cream of mushroom soup. Make chicken and rice or add green beans and tater tots for tater tot casserole, also great with hamburger. If you’re missing a fairly insignificant ingredient, leave it out or try substituting something else. You may come up with a new favorite. Why order take out when homemade pizza is so much better and fun to make as a family? Just be aware that sometimes, if you can get nice frozen pizzas on sale for two fifty or three bucks, they’re probably cheaper and definitely easier than making pizza from scratch. Planning and eating nicer meals—on the cheap(marked down steak and on sale frozen veggies and baked potatoes) can help you avoid the pitfall of dining out, which isn’t generally the best way to win the game. But don’t make too elaborate plans too often or you’ll not be able to overcome entropy enough to put them into action. Spaghetti with drained, skillet-cooked hamburger added to canned tomato sauce on top of noodles is easy, inexpensive, and delicious. Boxed mac and cheese can be dressed up by adding hamburger to it. Grilled chicken or pork is a great husband’s specialty but moms can fix it too. A roast with potatoes and carrots in a crock pot is an extremely easy, tasty fix, as is grilled cheese and tomato soup or quesadillas—basically a grilled cheese sandwich on tortillas with salsa and/or meat added if you feel like it. Most people prefer homemade food to store-bought so why eat out frequently? Also, always keep in mind alternatives. My husband makes a recipe of Pizza Hut pizza that he got off the internet. It’s pretty close to as good as the real thing and a lot cheaper. Make your own coffee. You can even buy the flavored syrup, whipped cream, and your own espresso machine (especially if you get one secondhand) and still save money. Think about how often you purchase coffee at Starbuck’s. Add the cost up. You’ve heard about the savings gained by skipping this luxury, but think about how fun it would be to still enjoy it and save the money, by making it yourself.
When you do eat out, if your mindset is still to get the best stuff for the least amount of money, an especially common outlook in countries than practice bartering, you’ll still do well. You can use coupons, drink water with lemon, skip the appetizers or make a meal out of an appetizer, avoid buying fancy kids meals for kids too young to eat them. Don’t buy combo meals at McDonald’s. Eat off the dollar menu. Don’t routinely buy kids happy meals. They’ll appreciate them more if you only buy them rarely. And you’ll appreciate dining out more if you just do it rarely too. Go on nights when the kids eat free or eat out at lunch. Subscribe to birthday deals. As an alternative to going out to eat, buy a deli fried chicken and take it to the park along with paper goods and sides (like canned pineapple or fresh fruit, carrot sticks—it can be cheap and easy) from home. Don’t purchase expensive prepared food. If you want to go organic, consider gardening and canning. It can’t get much more organic than that, or if it sounds like too much work, buy from gardeners and canners. Get to know and purchase from local farmers. Many times this method is actually cheaper than normal retail.

Insurance
Yes, insurance is expensive. Shop around for the best rates. If you can’t get decent medical coverage through your employer and you don’t qualify for state aid, consider having a fund to cover medical expenses yourself. Calculate what you would pay in a year through a typical insurance plan and what you spend in a year for actual care. Many times you would spend less if you paid for everything yourself and if you did so, you’d be careful to get only the treatment you really need and want. Of course, it is possible that you may face a totally unforeseen emergency health need. Having a special emergency fund for such circumstances would be wise and might still be preferable to typical insurance in terms of saving you money. As with many bills, it is also possible to explain your situation and ask for a discount. So many times it really does pay to negotiate. You never know if you don’t ask. Still, if you do have many health issues, just get the best insurance deal you can and prioritize for it. If the program raises the price, you may want to switch programs. Many have introductory offers. The sticky thing about switching insurance, though, is that you may sometimes find that your former insurance is very reluctant to pay past bills and of course your new insurance won’t cover health care you received before coming on with them. If you keep at it, you should be able to get your old insurance to come through for you, but it can be a big headache. Once again, I think, if you don’t have many health issues, you’re better off planning for and footing the bill yourself.
With other kinds of insurance, it’s often best to just get what you have to have, at the best price you can find. Teachers can often get special discounts and sometimes taking a defensive driving test or getting insurance packages, combining home and car insurance, for example, can help cut cost.

Entertainment/Recreation
Most of your entertainment/recreation can be free. Go biking, hiking, roller blading, ice skating, play in the backyard or at a local park with the kids. Play tennis. Feed the ducks. Go to free zoos if there is one in your area. Some charge to drive through, but not to walk. So you can walk. It’s also great exercise. You can get your sporting equipment at garage sales or second hand stores or on major clearance. If you’re not a sporty person, there are still lots of great free activities. Some museums are always free or are free or discounted at certain times. Churches have many free family activities. Being part of a church family is a wonderful way to incorporate inexpensive (hopefully), meaningful recreation and times of growth into your life. Make use of your local library and get books and DVDs and CDs frequently and be aware of and take advantage of activities such as special speakers or films shown on site. Most libraries allow you to request items that they don’t carry.
Red box movie rental is just a dollar. Have over friends to talk and play games. Join book clubs. Be careful about getting involved in some kind of club with fees. Make sure you feel it’s really worth it and try to avoid any of the costs you can get out of. Tupperware type parties can be a monetary frustration, especially if you feel guilted in to buying something you don’t want. You’re generally probably better off not attending. Virtually none of the items for sale are really worth the money, in my experience. Shop with self-control. It’s fun to see what’s out there, get great ideas to help you make the most of what you already have, and look for really fabulous deals, the kind that are truly desirable and useful. And if you want to splurge occasionally, do so—occasionally. It will mean more if it’s infrequent, as well as saving you money. Even your splurge can be getting the most for your money. If you want to see a great play or musical, consider rush tickets sold just before the show, generally considerably cheaper and often better seats than those purchased ahead of time. Matinees are much more affordable than evening movie showings, though going to the movies is generally not a very cost-effective choice, as it’s so much cheaper to rent or check out at the library for free. Once again, there’s a great deal to be gained by practicing a little delayed gratification.

Vacations
Although vacations do involve extra spending, they don’t have to be as expensive as they often are. As with anything else, it’s important to shop around for the best prices on flights, accommodations, and attractions. In general, no matter how good the salespeople make their packages sound, time shares aren’t a good buy. Let’s say you pay upfront for a time share, something in the neighborhood of ten grand and you have maintenance fees of five hundred dollars a year, all of which allows you to vacation for a week or so a year at one of the places (assuming you have options) available through your time share. You still have to pay to get there and to do anything. The time share typically just covers the hotel bill, though often it does provide you with a suite, something more spacious and versatile than what you might otherwise end up with. Most of the time, weekends are more high demand as are certain times of the year. You may find it difficult to book time when and where you want to vacation and even if you are able to get what you want, you probably could have found cheaper and possibly better accommodations for five hundred dollars. Furthermore, you may not want to vacation every year, and if you don’t, you simply lose the money you must pay that year. And the definite deal breaker is the initial cost involved. You can’t really recoup it, even by yearly savings, which are rarely noteworthy, as I’ve already mentioned; it’s hard to even save more than what you pay in maintenance fees, and it’s virtually impossible to sell at the cost you paid. Definitely, don’t plan on making a profit. While it’s possible that a time share might be useful to some people in certain situations, for the most part, it’s not a wise move. Stay away and stay in the game.
If possible, vacation on the off season. Use frequent flyer mileage and/or shop around on the internet to get the best deal on flights. Camping (which doesn’t mean you can’t go far; there are places to camp everywhere, in Hawaii, in Europe, etc.), hostels, colleges with available rooms, relatives are great alternatives to expensive hotel rooms. But shop around for the best deal on hotels and bed and breakfasts if you go that route.
Purchase food from grocery stores rather than eating out all the time. If you do eat out, be savvy, as already mentioned. Go to McDonald’s (value menu) for a quick fix; eat at a nice authentic restaurant for a special vacation treat. Share a more elaborate, expensive entrée. Drink ice water with lemon.
Do things that don’t cost money. Don’t go on guided tours. Get manuals and check out internet suggestions and be your own tour guide. Just pick one more expensive outing.
Don’t buy very many souvenirs. Most of them aren’t really worth the price and won’t be valued for long. Consider purchasing specialty food items for friends.
See how little you can spend and how much fun you can have!
My husband and I love to travel. We honeymooned in Europe. We took backpacks, loaded with a pup tent and an air mattress and sleeping bag as well as toiletries and limited clothing items—mine were jeans, khakis, a couple casual tops and a more dressy one, as well as a black skirt. We spent three weeks in Europe, traveling Euro rail and ferry. We went to France, Ireland, Italy, and Switzerland and stayed in very nice and not so nice hotels, hostels, campgrounds, bed and breakfasts, and with my aunt and uncle in Italy. We bought sandwich fixings to take sight seeing or hiking and ate baguettes and pizza by the slice purchased from local vendors, enjoyed Italian espresso and Swiss chocolate. We toured the Louvre in France and castles in Ireland, getting to the castles via a rented car which Ernie reserved on the Internet. In Switzerland Ernie rented a motor scooter. We brought home Venetian linens, a Swiss tea set (purchased at a second hand store), and prints of the Eiffel Tower, along with other small items for family and friends. Our entire three-week vacation, including all travel expenses and all other expenses, cost us less than three grand.
We’ve camped in Colorado and near Yellowstone. We’ve stopped at attractions while on the way to see family in Canada. Banff is beautiful and has much you can see without paying a penny. We walked around in San Francisco, enjoying the Ghirardelli chocolate samples and having a fabulous lunch in China town, later drove the coast and stayed near the Grand Canyon. We had flown to California for my sister-in-law’s wedding and decided to vacation while we were there. She put us up with friends of hers for part of the time. In Mexico, we stayed at an all-inclusive hotel and did some snorkeling on our own, limiting ourselves to one more extravagant outing, to Chichen Itza. In Washington D.C., where we also went on vacation after going to a friend’s wedding in Virginia, there are lots of fun free things to do, as many museums and monuments are no-cost attractions. Listening to a time share spiel is often a way to get a couple free night’s stay somewhere, and you are not obligated to buy and generally shouldn’t do so. Just say no firmly.
Hawaii has many no cost sights such as Pearl Harbor in Oahu and great hiking and waterfalls on Kauai. Get souvenirs at second hand stores or buy cheap shell jewelry on the beach or chocolate-covered Macadamia nuts at the local Wal-Mart.
The key to vacationing is to think and act as you normally do, looking for deals, doing fun things that don’t require a lot of money, enjoying the people and the place, not being a tourist so much, as trying to be more like the locals. They can’t and don’t want to blow their money every day and are still enjoying where they live. Imitate them.
Credit Cards, Debt, and Investment Portfolios
Credit cards can be very useful if you can practice self-control. In fact, many credit cards have introductory offers and give you money back. Shop around for the best credit cards. Pay your bill off every month and keep the bill as low as you can as part of the game.
If you have debt, get rid of it. Refinance if you can and pay it off by saving in other areas and putting the excess toward getting rid of that debt. The only worthwhile debt is for your home, your business, or your schooling, and even it should be limited and quickly eliminated.
Invest in a wide-variety of areas. Take advantage of any offers through your job. If they’ll give you free money, by all means take it. Invest as much in your 401K as you can.

Kids
Kids are tremendously expensive but certainly are more than worth the cost for the added dimension they bring to our lives. There’s no better investment than people, after all. Even before their birth, it’s good to plan for the cost of kids. You can cut doctor’s bills by foregoing certain unnecessary tests that will not necessarily be accurate and may scare you for nothing. You can also ask questions about costs, such as, is it more expensive to keep the baby in your room? How much does it cost to stay an extra day? For example, we discovered that it’s significantly cheaper to have your little boy circumcised at the doctor’s office than in the hospital. Of course, what’s more important than money is that your needs are taken care of and that you make this tremendous transition time as smooth as possible. If you don’t want to keep the baby in your room at the hospital, don’t feel obligated to do so, cost or other’s opinions aside. If you want an epidural, by all means, get one, whatever it costs. Obviously, your money should serve you as you use it to do a better job serving God, you don’t serve your money. If you have good insurance, then you don’t have to worry about any of these costs, which is a nice situation to be in, but regardless, there are other costs to worry about.
Life insurance is probably not as helpful as good investments. Remember the earlier caveat about insurance. You tend to put far more in than you ever get out. A school fund can be helpful and might be an idea for grandparents. What they invest for your kids now can really become a substantial help to them by the time they want the money for college.
It may be cheaper and more rewarding for you and your kids for mom to stay home with the baby, particularly when you have more than one child. Day care costs are rising and the costs of being part of the work force are noteworthy as well. Another idea is for mom to work at home or to work part-time. If a family member can watch the child some or all of the time while you’re at work—especially if Dad and Mom can trade off—you may be able to “have the best of both worlds,” though if Dad and Mom trade off too much and don’t see as much of each other, their relationship might suffer.
For other babysitting, trading favors with friends may be a workable idea. Maybe Dad could help an older couple with handyman work or Mom with their grocery shopping and they could in exchange watch the kids from time to time. You could watch your friends’ kids for free and they could do the same for you the next time. Dad and Mom can have fun for free or for very little cost too—playing tennis or going for a walk at a local park, browsing in an antique store or strolling the mall, getting dessert out or getting rush tickets to a play. If the kids go to bed at eight o’clock, every evening can be a date night in for Dad and Mom, watching a video, discussing a book, browsing the internet together, playing a board game, eating chocolate and laughing and talking together.
Immediate needs, such as food and clothing and other baby paraphernalia can be managed quite inexpensively, if you’re willing. The temptation in the excitement of having a new baby is to spend a great deal on this sweet little person, while this is a time in the child’s life when you really have to spend very little, hardly anything, if you don’t want to. With a first baby, you’re quite likely to have someone give you a baby shower. Some of these items you might want to return and use the money for diapers, the only thing you really need to buy retail for your baby, providing you want to use disposable, by far the easiest and most likely option, though cloth are cheaper. I had four kids in under five years, so though I used cloth diapers for a while with my first baby, I’d definitely gone to disposable by the time I was pregnant with number two. Other items will be wonderful to have to make your little sweetie cute and comfortable, though clothes, blankets, bibs, washcloths, etc. can be had for a pittance at garage sales or for free from friends whose children have outgrown them. Babies grow so quickly that they may often wear an item only three or four times before they outgrow it, particularly an outfit for church. Toys, swings, bouncers, carriers, and cribs can also be obtained very cheaply secondhand, though make sure things are not very old and meet safety regulations. We bought a carrier with the box and the instruction manual at a garage sale. It was used for one year by one child for whom it was bought new.
I’ve also bought baby things on clearance for very little money. Even baby food and diapers are sometimes drastically marked down. When you find sales, stock up. Buy the cheapest off-brand diapers you can. If possible, change baby only after you feed her, every two to four hours, and hopefully less at night—not at all at night if you can help it as the less you mess with babies at night the better, since they’re supposed to be sleeping.
Nursing your baby is good for you and baby and saves money, even if you only nurse for a few months. You also don’t have to be as thorough about sterilizing when feeding older babies formula.
You can make your own baby food and of course mashed bananas and purchased applesauce with no sugar added are cheap, easy baby foods. Cook squash and put it in the blender with some added water. Freeze it. For older babies, a food grinder (you might find one secondhand) can be a great purchase and helps them adjust to table foods. You can just serve them what the rest of the family is eating. Pasta dishes and casseroles work especially well.
It doesn’t seem to make sense to buy much of anything new and definitely not to spend much money on toys or furniture for kids. They are so hard on things and so quickly outgrow them. Also, they don’t really care how expensive something is. A toddler can have a blast playing in the dirt or scribbling in a notebook you got for ten cents at a back to school sale. You can get fantastic toys and clothing items at garage sales and you can give friends things your kids have outgrown and they can do the same for you. Get rid of excess and broken items so that your home isn’t as much of a constant disaster area. That’s worth a great deal too. But do organize and keep a reasonable and adequate amount of stuff for the next child, if you hope to have more. Don’t forget you’ve kept it (or where)!
Kids’ birthdays and Christmases don’t need to be spendy times either. Sometimes you can find things secondhand that look brand new, nor is there any rule that says a gift, particularly for your child, has to be “new.” Something you had as a child can be a special gift. Clearance seasonal toys or dollar store items can also make great gifts. My oldest son has a summer birthday and I often get things on sale the year before that I save for him for his birthday, like a Spiderman water slide, two bucks at Target, and a great hit with him. Kids don’t need to get a large number of items, either. Two or three presents are fine, especially as Grandpa and Grandma and/or aunts and uncles, other family or friends may be giving him or her gifts too. The biggest gift doesn’t have to be from you, just something thoughtful, targeted to the recipient. The same goes for Christmas. Keep gift items you’ve purchased on sale stashed away in your private “store,” along with wrapping paper, bows, bags, Scotch tape, and cards ready to be used when needed. You can also find party goods on sale and stash them away. Simple games, water balloons, a homemade cake, fun at the park are as fun as or more so than a McDonald’s or Chucky Cheese party or rented items. For my son’s fifth birthday party, we made cupcakes and a piñata. He really enjoyed being involved in preparing things for his party. Many of the party favors doubled as activities, such as sidewalk chalk we used to decorate the driveway and grow in water creatures we created after the birthday meal. For his sixth birthday, I made cars out of boxes. The kids put them on and raced around the room. For my daughter’s fifth birthday, she made a castle out of boxes and helped me make her cake. We also put together some simple, fun, homemade games, like a variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Hers was “Kiss the Frog” with paper lips to be stuck on a large paper frog taped to the wall. A party with family is often just as thrilling as and less overwhelming for little ones than one with lots of friends. It can be more special for kids as well as more cost-effective to just throw birthday parties certain years.
It’s nice to get professional pictures taken of your children. You can shop around for these as well. Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, and other portrait studios have introductory deals from time to time that allow you to purchase a one pose package for under ten dollars. These generally have more pictures than you could have made for the money. Of course, they may also be more pictures than you want, but still may be cheaper than what you do want. Family and friends will enjoy receiving the extras. Be sure to just buy the introductory package. Go to the photo session knowing that package is all you will purchase and be more concerned with how that first picture turns out (if your package deal will be the first pose) than with the others. It’s more affordable to go many times and get a different pic/pose each time of your kid at different ages/stages than to buy a more expensive package one time. Furthermore, at the rate kids grow and change, pictures get outdated quickly, and you’ll be glad to get a new one every year or every six months the first year or so. Some of my friends take their own pictures and have wallets made of them. Crunch the numbers and decide what you like best.
We order snapshot pictures on line, so we can choose what we want. We also order pictures every four or five months or so, so that our order is large enough to get the best deal possible.
When kids reach school age, cost issues can be more complicated. You may really want to send your kids to a private school. First, visit the schools you’re considering, and visit the public school option(s) too. What really seems like the best place for your child? If you still feel a certain private school is best and worth the money, ask yourself why? Is it the curriculum? The classroom size? Homeschooling may be a better, and more affordable, option.
If you decide to homeschool, avoid the pitfall of spending money because you’re saving money. Curriculum can be expensive. Consider renting, borrowing, or buying material from someone else who can also vouch for its worth. The internet also has many free resources. Don’t buy anything that you’re not convinced is good and useful. Do your research. Get involved in a group and connect with other trustworthy, similar homeschooling families.
If you decide to put your child/children in a private school, prioritize for the cost. Save in other areas so that you have the money for school. Find out if there are scholarship options available or if you can save money in any other way. Sometimes multiple children can receive a discount or older children can serve as a teacher’s aid with their “salary” going toward tuition. You may be able to work at the school part or full-time in some capacity and receive a full or partial scholarship for your child. Talk to other parents and find out what they do.
Whatever you do, you may change from year to year and from child to child according to what’s best for your child, your family, your situation. The public school in one area may be better than the private school there while in another place you may have the reverse. One child may thrive in a homeschool setting while another really does better in a traditional classroom. Cost is really only a small factor in this decision, as you want to do what you believe is best for your child and your family.
Extra-curricular activities are money hogs, but it’s good for kids to be involved in something they enjoy and excel at. You might just have them pick one thing. Often, a plethora of activities isn’t healthy for them or the family anyway. Piano lessons or soccer? Maybe a skillful teen can teach your child to play the piano. Maybe you can. Is there a discount for kids whose dad is the coach? Being involved helps you cut cost and is better for your connection to your child. You might want to teach your child to swim yourself rather than enrolling him or her in swimming lessons. A family membership to the Y might be comparable in price to or cheaper than having the children involved in different sports, as well as being better for your family to bond together and for Mom and Dad to get exercise as well as the kids. If you live in a place where the weather is nice for most of the year a park with a basketball and/or tennis court might be a better option yet or family bike rides.
Clubs and field trips that cost money might also be limited or eliminated. Again, perhaps one club, probably or extra-curricular activity like music lessons or sports. If school or church has too many scheduled activities with a price tag attached, consider asking leaders to limit them, exchange them for cheaper or free options, and if your kids are old enough to earn money through a job outside the home or an allowance, have them pay for things themselves. You may not want to give your kids an allowance, but if you do opt for one, it shouldn’t be large. Teach your kids to have the same mindset about money as you are striving for—that giving to God comes first and efficient saving is a game, allows them to be more creative and individual and more orderly. Teach them to have good taste and find bargains, be able to put together cute outfits, decorate their rooms, find games, toys, sporting goods from garage sale and/or clearance items.
Graduation can be a spendy time, but it doesn’t have to be. Those big ticket announcements can be homemade on the computer and turn out just as well as and be more personalized than those ordered from a company. Or put together a photo announcement and have it printed. Wal-Mart sells cheaper class rings, and sometimes your son or daughter would rather have something else or a different kind of jewelry anyway. A senior picture taken at Sears or Penney’s is generally just as nice and is much cheaper than one taken by a ritzy portrait studio. If your child has a friend who enjoys taking pictures, the two of them might have a grand time doing a photo op in your backyard or in a park in town. A graduation party should be simple and fun. Homemade sloppy joes and/or ice cream sundaes or just a few snack items are great.
The next milestone is college, another one with a price tag attached. Although most of us want to help our kids out with college bills, they will benefit from paying for part if not all of their college experience themselves. Having taught on the college level, my husband and I have found out that students whose parents pay their way are often less conscientious about their time. If they don’t have a job, they have more time, for one, and so don’t feel as much pressure to use their time wisely. Odd as it sounds, the more time they have the less time they often spend on school work. Furthermore, it’s not as earth-shattering to spend your parents’ money to retake a class as it is to spend yours.
Scholarships and work studies should be taken advantage of when available. Sometimes, attending a junior college for a couple years before going to a four-year school, especially if a student isn’t sure what he or she wants to major in, can be a cost-saving move. For the most part, the first two years of general requirements vary little from one place to the next. This can be a time to find more scholarship options to take advantage of as well. It is important, however, to find out if credits will transfer.

Special occasions
Weddings
A wedding can and should be one of if not the most exciting event of a person’s life. But excitement and joy are not measured by money. I have attended and been part of both very cheap and very pricey weddings and some of the most enjoyable and special cost the least.
If you have your wedding and reception in the church you attend, there is usually no cost for the building, nor is there, to my knowledge, much if any cost to have the wedding and reception on the church grounds or at a local park. If the minister is your minister or a family member or friend, there’s not really a need to pay him a large sum for his services. Musicians can also be friends or family and a small sum of money or a nice gift may be sufficient to repay them. Gift items can be from your stockpile, especially if you’ve been shopping with this need in mind, though make sure they are nice and appropriate. Jewelry or ties or purses, something that can be worn at the wedding, makes a nice gift. Sometimes friends and family are happy to be involved as their gift to you. You can tell them that you don’t want a gift from them as you see their involvement in your wedding as their very appreciated gift. Wholesale flowers arranged by a friend with that talent or by yourself if you believe you are up to it are a nice alternative to hiring a florist. A friend of mine did all her flowers herself, and she had a large wedding and used exotic flowers, all at a relatively low cost. One of my sisters-in-law bought a bunch of daisies and put them in baskets that were first outdoors for the wedding and then moved indoors for the reception. The bride and bridesmaids held handfuls of the flowers tied together with ribbon. My husband’s best man’s mother did our flowers at cost. Because of her kind help, we were able to have many, many flowers and bouquets at our wedding, which had an English garden tea party theme. I know of many people who have used silk flowers for the decorations and real flowers in the bouquets and corsages or who’ve used silk for all the flowers, and cut cost that way. Silk petals for the flower girl are cheapest made from purchased silk flowers, rather than bought as petals. I prefer real flowers, but have seen some silk flowers that look more real than some real flowers. Arranging flowers and making corsages and boutonnieres isn’t terrible difficult and attendants can be taught to do them. I made bridesmaids’ bouquets in the last wedding I was in, and I’d not done much flower arranging before.
Rather than renting tuxes, groomsmen can use dark suits they already have and just wear matching ties—a gift from the groom. The groom can do the same or rent a tux if the bride or he desires. The bride’s dress should be one she really loves, but it might be her mother’s or a friend’s, one she bought secondhand or off the rack at a retailer, perhaps on markdown. Spend some time looking for this item. Also, don’t worry about size. If it’s too big, you can have it sized down; however, a seamstress may charge a great deal for this service. If the store you bought the dress from won’t affordably tailor the dress for you, you might ask around to find out if you have a family member or friend who could do the job, again, perhaps as a wedding gift to you, or for a reasonable charge. I bought my wedding dress, and granted my wedding was almost eight years ago, for one hundred dollars at a bridal shop. The dress was an Alfred Angelo discontinued design and it was a couple sizes too big. The dress was raw silk and the bodice was overlaid in lace. My sister-in-law altered the dress for me as a gift.
Bridesmaids dresses are cheapest bought off the rack; it can be quite expensive to have a dress made, and unfortunately people don’t sew very much anymore, though perhaps with the cost of fabric, notions, and patterns, they’d save very little by doing so anyway. They don’t have to be billed as bridesmaids’ dresses at all. My bridesmaids’ dresses were flowy chiffon floral dresses from Maurices that were fifty dollars off the rack and could be found in all Maurices’ stores. One of my sisters-in-law made her bridesmaids’ dresses herself and another simply told her bridesmaids to wear a pretty dress. You might suggest formals of a certain style or color. In my sister-in-law’s case one of the girls ended up having the same formal as my sister-in-law had, so she let the other girl wear her dress and they both had matching dresses for the wedding. Having fewer bridesmaids makes finding dresses easier and cheaper as well.

Flower girls and ring bearers can wear dress clothes bought on sale after Easter. Borrowing clothing items or buying secondhand are affordable options as well. Sometimes you can just let your little people’s parents choose something appropriate, if you trust their taste and don’t have too specific ideas of what you want the kids to wear. Our ring bearers’ moms got together and chose and purchased outfits for their boys. My newest sister-in-law, my brother’s new wife, let my older two kids, who were the flower girl and ring bearer in the wedding, wear dress-up clothing they already had. I showed it to her ahead of time, and she was quite pleased with it. The dress my daughter wore was actually the dress one of the flower girls wore at our wedding, a white eyelet lace Easter dress I bought on sale at Wal-Mart a few months after Easter. The mother of the flower girl gave me the dress when I had a daughter, her daughter having long since outgrown it. Although it’s not usually the bride or groom’s responsibility to purchase their attendants’ clothing, when they do so, or at least help them save money, they give them a gift and contribute to furthering this mindset of saving money as a creative and wonderful way of life.

My husband bought my engagement ring before he even knew me. He found a beautiful, three-fourths carat marquise-cut diamond on sale and purchased it for the bride he trusted God might bring to him some day, whom was better than he’d ever expected to get, so he said, just as the ring was better than he’d thought he’d be able to afford. My wedding ring, which attaches to the engagement ring, with two small rubies and two small diamonds on either side of it, we purchased from a jeweler who is a friend and Ernie’s fairly simple two-toned wedding band we bought from him as well. Shopping around for this special item makes sense. It also makes sense to ask the advice of others and to not lock yourself in either to purchasing from a big-name jeweler or to purchasing from Wal-Mart, Costco, or Sam’s Club. Be open to what seems best after you’ve explored all your options, having really given yourself sufficient time to do so and budgeted appropriately. If you can’t get as nice of a ring as you’d like to now, remember that there’s no reason you can’t buy something later, when you have more money and are even more deeply in love with the person for whom you think you feel so strongly for now.
The reception can be a meal or just cake and punch or anything in between. You can make the food yourself or have friends and family make it or purchase it. It can be formal or informal or anything in between. The mother of one of my cousins made a classic lasagna dinner for her sit-down reception. One of my cousins had a cookout. One of my sisters-in-law had strawberry pie and cupcakes. One of her friends made the strawberry pies and another, with whom my sister-in-law was taking a cake decorating class, made the cupcakes, decorating them with flowers of yellow, white, and blue, my sister-in-law’s colors, and arranging them on a three tiered stand so that they looked like a layer cake. You could make the cake yourself or have a friend, relative, or acquaintance make it, or purchase a small cake from a bakery and have sheet cakes made or make sheet cakes. I’ve even heard of people simply having a Styrofoam cake or some layers of Styrofoam in their wedding cake (just to look at, of course). We gave our cake baker raspberry jam to use for filling in our cake and he, being a friend of my husband’s—gave us a better price than what he usually charged. We had a tea party reception, with scones my maid of honor and I made ourselves. There was also raspberry jam for the scones, strawberries dipped in chocolate, prepared by my bridesmaids, a carrot cake for the groom’s cake, as it’s my husband’s favorite (my mom made his cake) and nuts, as well as tea and coffee. We purchased the napkins, plates, and silverware wholesale and were able to return the excess. The lady who did our flowers also made tablecloths for our tables.
Wedding pictures may for many be the biggest budget item. They were for us, although I priced around and finally found someone who’d been out of the business for a while and was just slowly coming back into it, so he did our pictures at cost. We got our engagement pictures taken at Wal-Mart for seven dollars, I think. We just got the one-pose, advertised package. Now, with digital cameras, an amateur photographer may do a better job than a professional and is also generally easier to work with. I’ve had many friends who’ve just gotten someone who likes taking pictures or who has had a few classes in photography do their pictures for them and I believe they were quite satisfied with the results. The cost in these situations was nothing except for what it cost the bride and groom to get their pictures printed at Wal-Mart or at snapfish or some other company on line. The friend served as photographer as a gift to the bride and groom and for practice and/or fun. The sister of one of my close friends had a friend of hers take pictures at their wedding along with the professional photographer. She actually thought that the friend did a better job than the professional. She caught more relaxed, candid poses and took so many pictures that they had plenty to choose from. It’s helpful to make a list of the poses you want to make sure that the photographer at least gets those, and then give him or her room for artistic license. He or she might really surprise you! You might also want a friend or relative to videotape the event.
Don’t feel you have to have your hair or make up done professionally. Sometimes a friend who is good at such things and willing to help out can be easier to work with, as he or she knows more about you and what you like and is probably easier for you to communicate your likes and dislikes with. Or you may wish to fix yourself up on your own. After all, you want to look like yourself on your wedding day, just an especially lovely version of yourself.
One of my relatives hired a professional hair stylist, make up artist, professional musicians, photographer, florist, and caterer for her wedding, which certainly was lovely, but I’ve been to weddings that had no hired professionals that were just as lovely and more individual. If you can cut back in any area, you’ll save money that you can spend toward setting up house and beginning your life together or on your honeymoon or simply to keep you from debt.
A honeymoon likewise can be extravagant or very inexpensive. We had friends let us stay in their cabin for four nights in exchange for some electrical and construction work Ernie had helped them with. Then we backpacked in Europe, as I’ve already mentioned. Other friends of ours have gone camping or spent a few nights in a nice bed and breakfast without too much on the agenda.

Holidays
Most people agree that Christmas should be about family, not about money, but for how many of us is that the reality? Don’t fall into the trap of buying new Christmas decorations every year before Christmas. Treasured family decorations used year after year are precious, not merely a money saver. My mom gave each of us kids a new ornament each year, one that she purchased on sale the year before after Christmas. She dated these ornaments and when we left the home we took them with us, so that we were all set to decorate our own Christmas trees.
Many stores drastically mark down Christmas items after Christmas. Plan your decorating, if you do want some new things, the year ahead, and you can save as much as ninety percent. You can also plan your decorating around what’s on sale, much as chefs plan a menu around the current fresh produce. One year I used blue poinsettias, another year gold ornaments, another year burgundy ribbon, another year angels. I put nativity ornaments on a smaller tree and family ornaments on the larger one. Garage sales and second hand stores also often have seasonal items. Reuse gift bags and bows and even wrapping paper, if you want to. A lot of “cheap” ideas are also very environmentally friendly, so you have lots of reasons to feel good about having an organized storage of holiday items ready to use and reuse when the time comes. Don’t feel you have to decorate every room of your house. It’s not only more expensive; it’s more to clean up afterward and more to store. Some people string popcorn and make paper ornaments or hang candy canes and gingerbread men on their trees. Homemade decorations and gifts can be lovely, endearing, and very affordable.
It’s smart to buy Christmas presents the year before at after-Christmas sales along with Christmas decorations. I’ve purchased presents for all my friends and family the year before. Other times, I shop throughout the year for Christmas presents. There’s no need to give huge gifts. Thoughtful presents are often, if not always, better than expensive ones. Think about the people the gifts are for, their hobbies and collections, their role in your life, experiences you’ve had with them. This advice I find helpful in preparing birthday presents and presents for other occasions as well. Nor does a present have to be an object. It can be an outing. My husband and I like to do something on our anniversary that reminds us of our wedding or honeymoon. We might go to Subway, as we went through Subway’s drive through after our wedding was over, or have a tea party or fresh strawberries or stroll through the park or the grounds of a “castle,” like the castle ruins we visited in Ireland, or simply take some time to reminisce. Other times we might be more extravagant. One year we went to Cancun on our anniversary and another to Hawaii.
Having certain Christmases or birthdays that are special present years that all the kids know to look forward to can be a fun family tradition. For example, the fifth birthday might be the year to get a bike (it doesn’t even necessarily have to be a brand new one) or the fourth Christmas might be the year to get a piggy bank.
Some families draw names, but this practice can keep you from knowing sufficiently in advance to buy presents ahead of time as well as make you feel like you need to spend more money on gifts, unless you set a monetary limit, which can also be misleading when you buy something that is worth more than what you spend on it. When I was growing up and my mom had my dad’s family to get Christmas gifts for—he has twelve brothers and sisters and there were many grandchildren, around fifty or so—she would often make gifts, fudge, homemade dough ornaments, raffia angels. She’d buy pretty baskets secondhand and fill them with theme gifts, not just for Christmas but for weddings and other occasions, food items, candles and candle holders, picture frames, fancy glasses and sparkling grape juice, lotions and other items for the bath. Eventually the families did just start drawing names.
Working with what you have for special food items, decorating, and gifts is creative and saves money. Any holiday celebration can be very affordable and very fun. Purchasing items ahead of time that you think would work well for a holiday celebration aids in this endeavor.
You can buy Easter clothes on sale after Easter the year before. You don’t have to use an item in the way it’s intended, much as your children probably often don’t play with their toys the way they’re intended to be played with. On sale Valentine cookie frosting tubes can be used for birthday cakes. Clearance Christmas candy can work for Valentine candy, especially if it’s red and silver foil wrapped Hershey’s kisses. You can eat out the green ones or save them for St. Pat’s day. Those silver kisses will work in plastic Easter eggs too. Of course, you want to use up food items fairly quickly, before they expire, but the life of chocolate candy can be extended by freezing it. A valentine card making kit can be perfect for making Mother’s and/or Father’s Day cards. Serving food in the colors traditionally associated with the holiday can be an easy and fun way of celebrating the special day, red food on Valentine’s Day, green food on St. Patrick’s day, red and green for Christmas, red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. It’s obvious it’s necessary to be organized in order to store and find these items.
I got a huge box of cards for free at a garage sale. Everything from valentines to Thanksgiving postcards. What a boon that was! Cards are a fun, affordable, if you don’t spend much of anything for the card, and increasingly more and more original way of celebrating holidays. Of course, e-mail and facebook are cheaper ways of giving greetings, though I personally don’t find them quite as enjoyable.

Moving
The cost of a move is frequently, but not always, covered by your new employer. Still, if your employer gives you a lump sum, regardless of how much you actually spend in moving costs, you’ll benefit from being frugal. Certainly if you don’t get any money from your new boss to make the move or you move for some reason other than a job, you’ll want to do what you can to limit expenses.
There are a couple of opposite theories about saving money when moving. One is to keep as much stuff as possible so that you won’t have to spend money purchasing new items for your new home. The other is to get rid of as much stuff as possible so that you won’t have to pay to move it or have it damaged in the move.
Both have merit, and something in between the two extremes is probably, as is usually the case, the best bet. Think about what you have that you really want to keep and what it would cost to replace what you have as well as how much money you have in to those items and what kind of condition they are in. Price moving costs. One reasonably-sized truck about the size of a one-car garage seems like an adequate choice for most families, though I’ve had friends purchase the smallest van available and others the largest semis. Some have movers pack their things and load them on a truck that also contains other people’s things or just their items. Generally, packing your things and moving them yourself is the cheapest way to go. You also will know where your belongings are and can ensure that they are packed the way you want them to be. Yes, it’s work, but if you start earlier, as soon as you’re fairly certain you’ll be moving, and keep steadily working at the job, you’ll not find it so overwhelming. You’ll also have the opportunity to go through your things, enabling you to know exactly what you have and get rid of what isn’t aiding you, isn’t in good shape, or is no longer appealing to you.
Having a garage sale might be smart. I’ve had friends sell virtually everything they owned at a moving sale. This idea works well if what you have is saleable but not overly valuable to you because you don’t have much invested into it or because it would not be very difficult for you to replace. However, if you are keeping quite a lot of your belongings and most of what you want to get rid of would not be likely to bring you that much money and you don’t have that much invested in it, I’d suggest you donate most things and possibly just advertise and sell bigger and/or more valuable items. Garage sales are very time-consuming, and time is worth money too. You’ll have to make the call for yourself, evaluating what you have and what you want to do with it. If you live on the cheap and feel like getting rid of everything and starting over on the cheap, reinventing your world with garage sale and secondhand store purchases, go ahead and get rid of most of your belongings at a moving sale. Remember though that if you need something and have to buy it immediately, you’re not as likely to get as good of a deal.