From the Freebie: Thoughts on the Economy: Want versus Need
New research, printed in the Summer 2009 issue of Yes Magazine, indicates fewer Americans consider things such as televisions, air conditioners, clothes dryers, dishwashers and microwave ovens as necessary. The percentage decrease among people who do consider them necessary dropped sharply from 2006 to 2009. So, for instance, in 1973, approximately 55 percent of us believed a clothes dryer was a necessity; in 2006, that had increased to 80 percent of us, and in 2009, only 65 percent of us thought so— about the same percentage as 1983
Our belief that we need certain things based on want rather than necessity is the result of our continual bombardment by advertising and information—more in one day in 2009 than we received in an entire year of the 1950s. We’re always being told how much we need something—not because it will make us cleaner or healthier get us from place to place—but because our family, friends and neighbors will admire us for our shinier hair and brand new vehicle. This kind of assault creates discontent: You begin to feel that, if you cannot afford the car or even the shampoo, you are not as worthwhile as those who can.
Carol Holst, co-director of the advocacy group, Simple Living America , explains that “The whole idea is to live better on what we have, and be proud of ourselves for the constructive ideas that lead to a simpler, more fulfilling life.
“Voluntary simplicity is not about deprivation or sacrifice but about discovering what is enough–money, stuff and time–for the things that matter.”
We surround ourselves with stuff that is supposed to make us better, happier people, but does it? A friend of mine recently hired a professional de-clutterer to clean her house. “The process was painful, emotionally draining and an incredible amount of work,” she said. “But the result was totally unexpected: I no longer feel like a prisoner to my possessions. I feel free for the first time in years.” She simplified her life and that made her happier. She discovered something our grandparents and parents knew decades ago: Simple is stress-free, uncomplicated, more healthful and more fulfilling.
We need to open our minds to new ideas and ways of living that economize in ways other than financial—but “financial” is a good place to start. If we can get a handle on how to live and be satisfied within our means, with what we need instead of always what we want, we can be well on the way to a fulfilled and contented life.
-Alice Rose Kieft
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It's not too late!
Halloween is just a few days away, but it's not too late to save money on spooktacular costumes, treats and decorations.
Get money-saving ideas for everything scary and spooky in our eBook, A Frightfully Frugal Halloween, by Margi L. Washburn, now for sale for just $9.95 from www.FrugalLivingPress.com, —CWL
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Fewer trips to the grocery store lead to greater savings
A few weeks ago I overheard a family member lamenting the fact that she found she was spending a lot more money lately on groceries. It wasn’t only the increasing costs of food she found upsetting, though that was bad enough for a couple on a fixed income.
We did a little digging into what was causing the spike in a grocery bill for two retired people, and we found some interesting new developments.
For one thing, there were more trips to the grocery store—quite a few, in fact. Over the past six months she has found herself chauffeuring another family member to the store on an almost-daily basis to pick up this and that. Turns out that the passenger was wanting to get out just for the fun of it and that was costing both of the women quite a lot more than they were used to paying.
The odd thing is, they thought they were being “frugal” because they took advertisements with them to the store that would match prices. But once inside, they both were tempted by other items they thought they needed and before long, they noticed that they were writing a lot more checks and their bank balances were dropping at a steady clip.
We checked out the ads that they most often used and found out that some were good for three days, while most were good for an entire week. We also got into the spirit of savings and realized that the two of them could come up with a week’s worth of menus (each woman has one other person in the home) quite easily.
With those ideas in mind, we went to work on menus, and before long we had matched the special ads with planned meals, coordinated the dates on the ads themselves and the women picked out one day to go grocery shopping.
Everything has gone very well for both couples, and they have shared their new-found wisdom with others who have found themselves in similar circumstances.
Now, with the money and time they have saved in shopping trips over the past few weeks, the women and some friends have found they have more time to spend with one another and it’s not costing them a thing. In fact, they’ve gained something precious: Peace of mind.
Lessons learned: Don’t shop every day; you’ll spend far less on groceries if you make a list for at least a week’s worth of menus, and stick to it. Scour the newspaper food ads, and plan your menus based on what’s on sale. And don’t use grocery shopping as your form of entertainment
For many more ways to save money on food, buy our eBook, Real Food, Real Cheap: How to Save Money on Your Food Bill and Still Eat Well, http://frugallivingpress.com/browse.php?sid=1256235293-752739&sort=2&pg=2
~Margi L. Washburn
We did a little digging into what was causing the spike in a grocery bill for two retired people, and we found some interesting new developments.
For one thing, there were more trips to the grocery store—quite a few, in fact. Over the past six months she has found herself chauffeuring another family member to the store on an almost-daily basis to pick up this and that. Turns out that the passenger was wanting to get out just for the fun of it and that was costing both of the women quite a lot more than they were used to paying.
The odd thing is, they thought they were being “frugal” because they took advertisements with them to the store that would match prices. But once inside, they both were tempted by other items they thought they needed and before long, they noticed that they were writing a lot more checks and their bank balances were dropping at a steady clip.
We checked out the ads that they most often used and found out that some were good for three days, while most were good for an entire week. We also got into the spirit of savings and realized that the two of them could come up with a week’s worth of menus (each woman has one other person in the home) quite easily.
With those ideas in mind, we went to work on menus, and before long we had matched the special ads with planned meals, coordinated the dates on the ads themselves and the women picked out one day to go grocery shopping.
Everything has gone very well for both couples, and they have shared their new-found wisdom with others who have found themselves in similar circumstances.
Now, with the money and time they have saved in shopping trips over the past few weeks, the women and some friends have found they have more time to spend with one another and it’s not costing them a thing. In fact, they’ve gained something precious: Peace of mind.
Lessons learned: Don’t shop every day; you’ll spend far less on groceries if you make a list for at least a week’s worth of menus, and stick to it. Scour the newspaper food ads, and plan your menus based on what’s on sale. And don’t use grocery shopping as your form of entertainment
For many more ways to save money on food, buy our eBook, Real Food, Real Cheap: How to Save Money on Your Food Bill and Still Eat Well, http://frugallivingpress.com/browse.php?sid=1256235293-752739&sort=2&pg=2
~Margi L. Washburn
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Our Live TV Experience
Preparing to appear on a television show can make your stomach do flip-flops for weeks, and it turns out to be more work than you might imagine.
Last Tuesday, Carol and I appeared on Paula Sands Live, a show out of Davenport, Iowa, to plug Margi’s eBook, A Frightfully Frugal Halloween. We had two, four-minute segments: one to show Halloween decorations and one to show and demonstrate Halloween treats. I did the decorations; Carol did the food. Sands asked us to provide promo pictures, bring and demonstrate the food and decorations, and show copies of our eBooks. Sound easy? Well, it was a lot of work!
For Carol, it meant that she would need to make everything twice—once for the promo shots about 10 days before and again for on-air. (And, if she made a mistake, that would mean making it three times.) For me, it meant spending an afternoon shopping for gourds and pumpkins at Miller’s Farmer’s Market, then combining them with decorations either left over from last year, or bought or made as inexpensively as possible. Then Margi and I made a scary “dude and dudette”—life-size “monsters” that you’d place on your front porch to greet trick-or-treaters—and it took most of an entire day. But they turned out way too cute and not at all scary, so back to the drawing board I went. Three hours and a lot of ideas later—voila!—Scary Dude.
Here are pictures of some of the projects we showed on Paula Sands Live:
I love these Spider Web Cupcakes, and they’re surprisingly easy and inexpensive to make. Hint: The spider is made from three gumdrops.
What would a Halloween party be without Blood Soup with Floating Eyeballs, or eyeballs staring back at you from your plate?
No Halloween is complete without a black cat somewhere. You don’t have to be an artist to “draw” this kitty on your cake.
Every Halloween party needs a Boneyard Dessert, complete with worms, tombstones, ghosties, and gummy skeletons.
Then there are decorations: a $1 skull with a purple, sparkly ribbon, draped in a spider web; a few kernels of candy corn strewn on a black tablecloth makes a festive and frugal decoration.
In a basket of small gourds—the uglier and wartier the better—a serpent gourd peaks through the Indian corn and sticks out his tongue.
And last but not least, meet Scary Dude. He is made of old clothes stuffed with pillows, newspapers and towels. The head is a plastic colander covered with a black stocking, and he is wearing a hat. On TV, a raven perched on top of his hat.
All in all, the show was great fun. Sands made us feel comfortable and tamed the flip-flops, and it was exciting to see some of the ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween come to life.
Instructions for these projects and more can be found in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween, for sale now at http://www.frugallivingpress.com/.
—Alice Rose Kieft
Last Tuesday, Carol and I appeared on Paula Sands Live, a show out of Davenport, Iowa, to plug Margi’s eBook, A Frightfully Frugal Halloween. We had two, four-minute segments: one to show Halloween decorations and one to show and demonstrate Halloween treats. I did the decorations; Carol did the food. Sands asked us to provide promo pictures, bring and demonstrate the food and decorations, and show copies of our eBooks. Sound easy? Well, it was a lot of work!
For Carol, it meant that she would need to make everything twice—once for the promo shots about 10 days before and again for on-air. (And, if she made a mistake, that would mean making it three times.) For me, it meant spending an afternoon shopping for gourds and pumpkins at Miller’s Farmer’s Market, then combining them with decorations either left over from last year, or bought or made as inexpensively as possible. Then Margi and I made a scary “dude and dudette”—life-size “monsters” that you’d place on your front porch to greet trick-or-treaters—and it took most of an entire day. But they turned out way too cute and not at all scary, so back to the drawing board I went. Three hours and a lot of ideas later—voila!—Scary Dude.
Here are pictures of some of the projects we showed on Paula Sands Live:
I love these Spider Web Cupcakes, and they’re surprisingly easy and inexpensive to make. Hint: The spider is made from three gumdrops.
What would a Halloween party be without Blood Soup with Floating Eyeballs, or eyeballs staring back at you from your plate?
No Halloween is complete without a black cat somewhere. You don’t have to be an artist to “draw” this kitty on your cake.
Every Halloween party needs a Boneyard Dessert, complete with worms, tombstones, ghosties, and gummy skeletons.
Then there are decorations: a $1 skull with a purple, sparkly ribbon, draped in a spider web; a few kernels of candy corn strewn on a black tablecloth makes a festive and frugal decoration.
In a basket of small gourds—the uglier and wartier the better—a serpent gourd peaks through the Indian corn and sticks out his tongue.
And last but not least, meet Scary Dude. He is made of old clothes stuffed with pillows, newspapers and towels. The head is a plastic colander covered with a black stocking, and he is wearing a hat. On TV, a raven perched on top of his hat.
All in all, the show was great fun. Sands made us feel comfortable and tamed the flip-flops, and it was exciting to see some of the ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween come to life.
Instructions for these projects and more can be found in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween, for sale now at http://www.frugallivingpress.com/.
—Alice Rose Kieft
Thursday, October 8, 2009
An Unflappable Halloween
When I was growing up, I owned only one store-bought Halloween costume—Minnie Mouse. I have no idea why I had a Minnie Mouse costume. I don’t remember selecting it or ever having any desire to be Minnie Mouse, and I have a difficult time believing my parents bought it for me since they didn’t think Halloween costumes should come from the store. I was Minnie Mouse for a couple of years, but for the rest of my Halloween career, I made my own costumes.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Simply scary savings tips for Halloween
For a number of years, the memoir has made its presence known as folks nearing Baby Boomer age, along with those a bit younger and older than that race to put down their memories before they forget them. Stories about family relationships, friends, school years, jobs and more make up the tales told for the benefit of a younger generation.
What I often find within the pages of these books are the ways our grandparents, parents and those generations lived their lives. It’s a common theme echoed over and over, and you would think that we’d learn some lessons. But it’s true: Experience is sometimes a better teacher.
For those of us who threw caution to the wind and charged ourselves into enormous debt, we learned our lesson the hard way. Too many sleepless nights and worrisome days later we realize that maybe we should have listened to Mom and Dad and their parents.
That’s why I love researching and writing our eBooks for Frugal Living Press. We draw upon our own experiences and the ones who lived before us and share those money-saving tips with you. It’s the best way I know of changing the way I used to think, which went from, “What can I charge today?” to “How can I get what we need for free or next to nothing?”
Take our latest eBook, “A Frightfully Frugal Halloween: Simple and scary tips for costumes, recipes, parties, decorations and entertainment!” With money-saving tips on inside and outside decorations that will look like you spent a small fortune, to recipes that will delight party guests, plus ideas for games and entertainment, this eBook should help you hold onto more of your hard-earned money.
Let’s face it: Once we come to terms with the fact that we simply cannot afford to spend more than we have, we’re ready to turn the corner toward financial freedom.
One of my favorite ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween is the table I decorate with freebies from Mother Nature. Add a few inexpensive items from yard sales or thrift stores and your creation will be the talk of the party. It’s easy, fun and I didn’t go into debt to celebrate one of my favorite holidays like I have in the past.
Adopting a lifestyle that allows me so many ways of saving money has made a huge difference in our family. It’s fun looking for bargains, creating new traditions and as a bonus, we don’t lose sleep because we got caught up in the excitement and forgot that there really are a multitude of ways to enjoy this awesome time of the year without spending too much.
Have a happy—and frugal—Halloween this year. –Margi Washburn
What I often find within the pages of these books are the ways our grandparents, parents and those generations lived their lives. It’s a common theme echoed over and over, and you would think that we’d learn some lessons. But it’s true: Experience is sometimes a better teacher.
For those of us who threw caution to the wind and charged ourselves into enormous debt, we learned our lesson the hard way. Too many sleepless nights and worrisome days later we realize that maybe we should have listened to Mom and Dad and their parents.
That’s why I love researching and writing our eBooks for Frugal Living Press. We draw upon our own experiences and the ones who lived before us and share those money-saving tips with you. It’s the best way I know of changing the way I used to think, which went from, “What can I charge today?” to “How can I get what we need for free or next to nothing?”
Take our latest eBook, “A Frightfully Frugal Halloween: Simple and scary tips for costumes, recipes, parties, decorations and entertainment!” With money-saving tips on inside and outside decorations that will look like you spent a small fortune, to recipes that will delight party guests, plus ideas for games and entertainment, this eBook should help you hold onto more of your hard-earned money.
Let’s face it: Once we come to terms with the fact that we simply cannot afford to spend more than we have, we’re ready to turn the corner toward financial freedom.
One of my favorite ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween is the table I decorate with freebies from Mother Nature. Add a few inexpensive items from yard sales or thrift stores and your creation will be the talk of the party. It’s easy, fun and I didn’t go into debt to celebrate one of my favorite holidays like I have in the past.
Adopting a lifestyle that allows me so many ways of saving money has made a huge difference in our family. It’s fun looking for bargains, creating new traditions and as a bonus, we don’t lose sleep because we got caught up in the excitement and forgot that there really are a multitude of ways to enjoy this awesome time of the year without spending too much.
Have a happy—and frugal—Halloween this year. –Margi Washburn
Simply scary savings tips for Halloween
For a number of years, the memoir has made its presence known as folks nearing Baby Boomer age, along with those a bit younger and older than that race to put down their memories before they forget them. Stories about family relationships, friends, school years, jobs and more make up the tales told for the benefit of a younger generation.
What I often find within the pages of these books are the ways our grandparents, parents and those generations lived their lives. It’s a common theme echoed over and over, and you would think that we’d learn some lessons. But it’s true: Experience is sometimes a better teacher.
For those of us who threw caution to the wind and charged ourselves into enormous debt, we learned our lesson the hard way. Too many sleepless nights and worrisome days later we realize that maybe we should have listened to Mom and Dad and their parents.
That’s why I love researching and writing our eBooks for Frugal Living Press. We draw upon our own experiences and the ones who lived before us and share those money-saving tips with you. It’s the best way I know of changing the way I used to think, which went from, “What can I charge today?” to “How can I get what we need for free or next to nothing?”
Take our latest eBook, “A Frightfully Frugal Halloween: Simple and scary tips for costumes, recipes, parties, decorations and entertainment!” With money-saving tips on inside and outside decorations that will look like you spent a small fortune, to recipes that will delight party guests, plus ideas for games and entertainment, this eBook should help you hold onto more of your hard-earned money.
Let’s face it: Once we come to terms with the fact that we simply cannot afford to spend more than we have, we’re ready to turn the corner toward financial freedom.
One of my favorite ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween is the table I decorate with freebies from Mother Nature. Add a few inexpensive items from yard sales or thrift stores and your creation will be the talk of the party. It’s easy, fun and I didn’t go into debt to celebrate one of my favorite holidays like I have in the past.
Adopting a lifestyle that allows me so many ways of saving money has made a huge difference in our family. It’s fun looking for bargains, creating new traditions and as a bonus, we don’t lose sleep because we got caught up in the excitement and forgot that there really are a multitude of ways to enjoy this awesome time of the year without spending too much.
Have a happy—and frugal—Halloween this year. –Margi Washburn
What I often find within the pages of these books are the ways our grandparents, parents and those generations lived their lives. It’s a common theme echoed over and over, and you would think that we’d learn some lessons. But it’s true: Experience is sometimes a better teacher.
For those of us who threw caution to the wind and charged ourselves into enormous debt, we learned our lesson the hard way. Too many sleepless nights and worrisome days later we realize that maybe we should have listened to Mom and Dad and their parents.
That’s why I love researching and writing our eBooks for Frugal Living Press. We draw upon our own experiences and the ones who lived before us and share those money-saving tips with you. It’s the best way I know of changing the way I used to think, which went from, “What can I charge today?” to “How can I get what we need for free or next to nothing?”
Take our latest eBook, “A Frightfully Frugal Halloween: Simple and scary tips for costumes, recipes, parties, decorations and entertainment!” With money-saving tips on inside and outside decorations that will look like you spent a small fortune, to recipes that will delight party guests, plus ideas for games and entertainment, this eBook should help you hold onto more of your hard-earned money.
Let’s face it: Once we come to terms with the fact that we simply cannot afford to spend more than we have, we’re ready to turn the corner toward financial freedom.
One of my favorite ideas in A Frightfully Frugal Halloween is the table I decorate with freebies from Mother Nature. Add a few inexpensive items from yard sales or thrift stores and your creation will be the talk of the party. It’s easy, fun and I didn’t go into debt to celebrate one of my favorite holidays like I have in the past.
Adopting a lifestyle that allows me so many ways of saving money has made a huge difference in our family. It’s fun looking for bargains, creating new traditions and as a bonus, we don’t lose sleep because we got caught up in the excitement and forgot that there really are a multitude of ways to enjoy this awesome time of the year without spending too much.
Have a happy—and frugal—Halloween this year. –Margi Washburn
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