It’s back– the one and only yard sale guessing game!! We’ve done this in past years and its always fun to see who guesses the actual price I paid. Check out the goodies we scored Friday afternoon– you can click on the picture to enlarge it. The 41 items included: 16 pieces white dinnerware...
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Thanks to all of you who volunteered for a budget makeover!  In just 24 hours I heard from two dozen families, so you are not alone!  I will be contacting the family I’ve chosen in the next day or two, but I’ll keep the emails of everyone who contacted me just in case I...
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I’ve been asked to write some posts at BlogHer.com about frugal living, and I’ve cooked up an idea that I want to run by you.  I haven’t the foggiest idea if it will interest anyone, but here goes. In high school our economics teacher asked us to come up with a clothing budget for...
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…I have to ditch my frugal-food ideals and buy the first, gorgeous cherries of the season. Pay twice as much as they’ll cost a couple weeks from now.  Gobble them down with abandon.  $17 worth of cherries, gone in hours, with the help of my family.  Before they’re all gone, I bring a few...
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I’m in the van with my 12 year old son, driving past a pair of thrift stores whose proximity to each other always lures me in.  I remember that my 8 year old daughter needs shoes.  Her play shoes literally have holes in them.  I’ll buy new if I need to, but I always...
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I’ve had the same sturdy set of Corelle dishes for 20 years. It began as a small collection given to us by my sweet mother in law. Over the years as our family grew, she kept her eye out for more dishes in the same pattern so that we’d still have enough. Many times...
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Monday was rainy, one of those glum, grey, stuck-in-the-house days. In an effort to keep my mood from being sucked into the vortex, I went looking for a project. Projects are my happy place, always. My first thought was birthday party decor, for my daughter’s 8th birthday on Saturday. Maybe a cloth garland like...
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Recently I went thrift store shopping and happened across a couple of big rolls of solid blue wallpaper. It was boring as wallpaper, but I decided it would probably make excellent thick, rich-feeling gift wrap. I snagged both rolls for the princely sum of $2. On a hunch, I scanned the next two thrift...
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This week I chatted with Coppelia from Air 1 radio about my cookbook Family Feasts for $75 a Week, and you can win a copy!  To enter the drawing, simply share your favorite affordable meal in comments.  (Get to comments by clicking on the title of this post, above.)  I’m looking forward to hearing...
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Thanks for all your great comments on my grocery post. I wanted to talk just a bit more about getting past the challenges faced by working-class people living in true poverty. Regarding choice in grocery shopping and lack of transportation, if I didn’t have a vehicle and had to only shop in my neighborhood,...
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