$10.00 Eye Exams! Expires 9/17/16

Visionworks is having a special on eye exams for only $10.00 per exam!! That is an amazing price! Here is a link to a coupon. Only valid in certain areas and it expires on 9/17/16.

https://www.visionworks.com/couponDetail?storePromotionId=1400011&gclid=CjwKEAjw3Nq9BRCw8OD6s4eI5HASJABsfCIaPhml9Rn1bmdi87gtq2upOBXPTNFRsjgG4NWYWUeSmhoCU5bw_wcB

Happy Savings!

Save on School Supplies!

Now is the time of the year to stock up on school supplies for the whole year! Many stores have great deals on school supplies right now, just to get you through the door. If you take advantage of these deals now, later on in the year when you need something, you will have it already in stock. You won't have to make a special trip to the store or pay a higher price not to mention you will get good deals on what you need right now for school.

It can be hard when you have back to school clothing and everything else to buy to stock up. However, once you get the ball rolling, after the first year of this, you will rarely need to pay full price for any school supplies! Take advantage of different store deals (keeping in mind the gas you will spend. of course), rebates and whatever else you can find and then keep a special drawer full of supplies. When your son or daughter says they need some colored pencils, for class, you will have them handy and will save both time and money, as they will already be there! No special trips to the store and no full price for the items!

Happy Savings!

Dehydrating Foods

When we were camping, I found these amazing Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms! (Take care if you don't know anything about mushrooms! Some are poisonous!) Chicken of the Woods mushrooms are very good so I put these into a few baggies and took them home. A few years ago, I bought this dehydrator at a garage sale and just now got around to trying it out. So, after eating fresh mushrooms to our hearts content, I dehydrated the rest. 

It took a lot of mushrooms to make this pint jar! However, now, all winter when I want some mushrooms to put in soups or casseroles, I can grab this jar!

Since the mushroom project was so successful, I decided to dehydrate some raspberries this year. I usually freeze all the raspberries and make jam or juice them. My husband loves raspberries so he is using these on cereal and ice cream. 

I was concerned about any moisture left in the berries and mushrooms and so I dug some moisture "soakers" out of some supplements I had and put them into the jars. I'm sure a few grains of rice would work just as well but you would want to be careful not to get them into your cereal and break a tooth! THAT wouldn't be frugal. ;)

A dehydrator is not needed for dehydrating. Some people dehydrate in the sun or in their ovens. Here is an article on dehydrating: http://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/dehydrate-food-without-dehydrator-0161531/

 Happy Savings! 

Free Slurpee at 7 Eleven Stores Today Only

http://fiftee.slurpee.com/post/147173254546/free-small-slurpee-on-711-from-11am-to-7pm-get

And according to this article: http://www.wesh.com/news/its-free-slurpee-day-but-waittheres-more/40450718

On Monday, 7/11/16, enjoy a free small Slurpee between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. But that's just the beginning.

Slurpee Week kicks off Tuesday, and that means when you buy seven of the cool drinks with the 7-Eleven app, you'll get 11 Slurpees free.

The offer is available 7/12/16 through 7/18/16 to members of the 7Rewards Program and only at participating 7-Eleven stores. Check out the app for more details.

Change Your Think into a Thunk: Frugality is a Mindset

Frugality is a mindset and something that should be practiced everyday in order to live a truly frugal lifestyle. Sometimes people practice frugality like they practice dieting. A crash diet is when you eat what you want and then suddenly realize you weigh too much and then you starve yourself in order to fit into that size 10 dress for so and so's wedding. This is not a good way to diet and it isn't a good way to practice frugality.

If you were to eat right every day and not overindulge, there would be no need for a crash diet because eating right would just be your lifestyle. So too with frugality.

I write a lot about "changing your think into a thunk" because in my thinking, the goal is to change to where frugality is part of who you are. Frugality isn't just something to do as a hobby or to save a few dollars after a big splurge at the mall. It is a lifestyle to be lived. 

Just as there are many benefits to eating right every day (and we all fall off the wagon once in a while....and must forgive ourselves). there are benefits to being frugal every single day. I don't think berating yourself is a good approach if you overindulge. The key to my way of thinking is to remind yourself of what you are gaining and not what you are losing.

What are you gaining? Less stress. More peace. Freedom from worry. Learning a new skill. More fun in the long run. A better savings account. Retirement! There are so many things you can gain. Every day small sacrifices can cause big gains in the future. So....change your think into a thunk and.....

Happy Savings! 

Finding Deals Everyday: Today I Made at Least $29/hr Tax Free!

Once a week, I go into town to do some shopping. This time of year I go on a day that there are garage sales. I stop at a number of garage sales, making sure I have cash in my pocket to spend in case I see something that I could use. 

Today I hit a number of garage sales. I got a number of items we can use. In addition, I stopped and got a haircut. I used a pre-paid card that I got last winter. Every winter, our area Great Clips has a deal that you can buy as many pre-paid haircuts as you want for $9.99 each so I buy enough for the year.

Aside from the garage sale deals and a hair cut deal, I also looked for deals at Wal-Mart when I went. No matter what store I shop at, I scan the clearance and mark down areas to see what I might find. Today I hit the jack pot on meat!! I have never seen prices this low, so I assessed how much space I had in my freezer (in my head) and bought everything I thought would fit in there. 

I bought two turkeys that were $25.77 each for $6.33 each. .48 cents a pound! These are ready to cook turkeys. They were marked down because the handles on the bags were broken. Use by or freeze date on these was all the way out to 1/18/18! 

Duck was marked down from $2.84 a pound to .50 a pound!! I bought four ducks. Use by date on these is more recent, but I am not worried as it is only a use or freeze by date. 9/24/16. 

  

Boneless Turkey Roast was $12.23 and was on sale for $2.98! I bought three of these. I knew I had to quit as space was limited.  The use by date on these was all the way out to 06/14/17. 

So all this meat would have cost me $157.87 and only cost $33.88!! 

Add to that, I checked the clearance aisle. I am not listing everything but I got 2 of these bottles of  25.4 fluid ounce shampoo for $2.00 each plus they have coupons for free styling products that I will get next time I am at the store. 

If I count only the meat I got today and nothing else....no garage sale savings or clearance savings, that is a savings of $123.99. Let's just guesstimate and say I saved $50.00 more on other items (a low estimate). That is $173.99 in one day and I spent about 6 hours out. That's $29.00 an hour tax free! I save like this on a regular basis by simply keeping my eyes out for deals.

Happy Savings!

Changing Your Think into a Thunk: Deciding to Work or Stay Home

There are many factors involved in whether to stay home with your children or work outside the home. First, there are your own personal values to consider. Is being at home with your children uppermost in your list of values? If so, it is good to consider how much it really costs you to work. It costs a surprising amount of money to work a job. Assuming you have a spouse who will bring home one income, let's consider some of the costs of working outside the home for a second income.

1. First, is the cost of child care. Child care costs are very expensive.  

The average cost of center-based daycare in the United States is $11,666 per year($972 a month), but prices range from $3,582 to $18,773 a year ($300 to $1,564 monthly), according to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA).

 2. When you stay at home, your food costs are much lower. You won't need nearly as much convenience foods and stretching the budget is much easier. 

3. You won't have as much expense for automobile costs as you will be driving less and, if your circumstances allowed, could possibly even get buy with one less car.

4. You won't need to spend as much on clothing. Plus you will have time to shop at thrift stores vs just running in and out of stores buying what you need as fast as you can. 

5. You will pay less in taxes. This is a real cost when you consider hourly pay.

6. You will have more time for thinking of how to be more frugal in every area of your life.

7. You may find yourself feeling content with less since the friends you have will have more of the same frugal mindset than dual income couples.

8. You may be able to come up with a way to create income from home. 

Here is a stay at home calculator. (I haven't personally used this but there are many such calculators online and you can find one to fit your needs!) http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/considering-baby/financing-family/calculator/ Using this, you should be able to calculate whether you can afford to quit your job or not.

For me personally, I felt I couldn't afford to not stay home with my children. It was something I deeply wanted to do. Having done so, I learned to be very frugal. It was such that, after my children were older, (and since I wasn't paid a huge hourly wage!) that working more than 20 hours per week actually cut into what I was able to make, because after 20 hours, I wasn't able to be as frugal as before because my time was spent at the job rather than doing frugal things. 

This is a very personal decision for every couple, but I think you would be surprised at how much it actually costs you to work and that you just might be able to quit and make it much more easily than you thought!

Happy Savings!