It could have been a frugal choice.....

I'm doing my very best to be ahead of the game (not true, I just am trying to stay busy while my husband is away)I've spent the last two days making my Christmas cards. Oh they are going to be so pretty, I can hardly wait to send them out (3 more months)I make my own cards because I like to and because it's a very frugal thing to do. This year it was not so frugal, I could have made all my cards for mere pennies, I have several Christmas themed stamps I have lots of paper and I have stacks and stacks of old Christmas cards just perfect for being remade into new Christmas cards. But no I've spent LOTS of money more than I've ever spent on any crafting project. I do have my husbands permission and blessing and our gift fund is paying for it but still I do feel a little bit guilty about my splurge this year when I didn't need to. I have bought:
2 ink pads
glitter
paper
ribbon
special super sticky adhesive
A new stamp set - it is oh so lovely and can be used for many projects not related to the holidays
small clear page protectors (I'm making a small "brag book" of sorts, it's a card but with a few pages inserted for my letter and pictures

Everything I bought (minus the paper) can be used again and again for other projects.

I can't help feeling guilty with myself, what could have cost me literally pennies by using what I have has turned into a project that costs well over $80.

Yes they will be beautiful cards
Yes I'm having a great time making them (I'm quite proud of my efforts)
and Yes I'm feeling a wee bit wasteful and I'm not sure it was worth it.

I'd post a picture of my Christmas card but I want it to be pretty surprise for my family.

Money was not an issue, we set aside for Christmas expenses but my frugal spirit is torn. What do you all think about a splurge like this?

Plans to make a birthday cake

A friend's birthday is this weekend and my neighbor and I are making the cake! We found the perfect cake to make for our eclectic friend. Being the frugal fanny that I am, I'm tweaking the cake design a bit. There's no need for us to buy a bunch of candy to decorate a cake. I have some red hot candies in the pantry to use for decorations but I'll also pipe some frosting designs. (I just got some new cake decorating tips for my birthday-a perfect excuse to use them)
My friend is going to buy some fruit roll-ups for the cake (I gave her a coupon) we only need one but they'll make nice treats for the neighbor kids.

I can't wait to post some pictures of how our cake turns out.

We are making the cake and frosting from scratch with ingredients we have on hand.
This cake won't cost us very much but I'm pretty sure the results will be impressive.

sticker shock!

I haven't posted a Frugal Friday tip in ages. I haven't had an original frugal idea lately. Oh well that shouldn't keep me from posting. Today I was browsing the mall with some friends (we were passing time before a movie showing) we went into a couple of stores and I was floored at the price of clothing. I was sick with sticker shock. $60 for a shirt, $130 for a pair of pants and the prices went upwards from there. Now maybe these prices are perfectly normal and I've just been out of the mall scene for too long but I was still shocked.
After seeing clothing prices I'm all the more happy with my bargain wardrobe.

My Frugal Friday tip is avoid the mall and other high-end stores when shopping for clothes. Try the bargain stores like Ross and TJmax, better yet visit a thrift store or a yard sale. There are good deals to be had on nice clothes at a fraction of the cost. I'm happy to be digging around looking for my size when it means I pay $6 for a shirt instead of $60.

pineapple smoothie

Crystal posted about Smoothies for Frugal Friday and I knew I had to chime in with my newest and currently most favorite smoothie recipe. It's so simple:

1/2 cup plain yogurt
pineapple chunks and juice (frozen)
a squeeze of honey to taste.

blend in a blender until smooth and enjoy, so YUMMY! and refreshing. (makes one serving)
I've been drinking these every day for the past week.

I take a can of pineapple chunks and it's juice and freeze in an ice cube tray, I use about 5-6 frozen pineapple cubes in my smoothie

This particular smoothie is cheap to make ( at least for now) I had bought half a dozen cans of pineapple for 45 cents a can (They were on the clearance shelf and have a few dents but still just fine to use. One can will make at least three smoothies) and I make my own yogurt which is significantly cheaper than buying it (basically the cost of milk)

I just love smoothies! (they feel like such a virtuous treat, being so full of healthy ingredients)

Refried Beans

Tonight there was a request for double decker tacos, I had everything I needed and ready to go except the refried beans, an essential component to double decker tacos.
I like to stock up on cans of refried beans when they go on sale, it's considerably easier than making refried beans. Don't get me wrong I like making my own beans, I prefer homemade over canned but sometimes it's just too easy to open up a can and get going with dinner.

Sadly, I had no cans of refried beans hidden in the pantry and I had no time to make beans from scratch not even with a quick soak method, you really have to plan ahead to make refried beans so that they are ready in time for dinner. When I do make beans from scratch I like to make a large batch and freeze meal sized portions.

Tonight I got creative and it worked. I had a can of pinto beans (the kind for chilies and soups) I cooked a little onion and garlic until soft added the can of beans, some cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. I could have just mashed the beans but I like a "creamy" consistency so into the blender the spicy bean mixture went. The result tasted great and was just what I wanted. While not as convenient as opening up a can of refried beans or having some homemade beans in the freezer ready to go, it worked in a pinch.

We ate our double decker tacos and they were fantastic.

I am always proud when I make use of what I have in my pantry, it makes me feel creative and it saves me money.

go to here for more Frugal Friday tips

Using your library

This Frugal Friday post is nothing spectacular or any sort of new frugal trick, but it certainly saves money. Here it is -Use your public library.

For cheap at-home entertainment you can borrow movies from the library. (free beats the couple of dollars you pay to rent movies)

We've lived here for four months and I just recently went to the library. I'm so mad that I hadn't visited sooner. The movie selection was awful but the book selection was fantastic the best selection of brand new books that I have ever seen in a library. I checked out 6 books and wanted to take more but I knew I could only read so much in a two week period.

I checked out a brand new Martha Stewart cook book and several other books I've wanted to read for a while (a couple books I had almost purchased several months ago).

My frugal tip - use your library you may be surprised at the books you'll find and you avoid spending money at a book store or movie rental store.


Totally unrelated to Frugal Fridays - I volunteered to read during the story hour at the library I'm super excited I absolutely love reading to children and I can't wait.

Birthday cookies

I love Frugal Fridays, I love to bake, and I love to give away what I bake. I made cookies for a friend and neighbor's birthday today. To spruce up my humble gift I made a paper tag and added some ribbon to my package (a leftover cherry tomatoes box).

Frugal Gardening

There's no doubt that having a vegetable garden is frugal, growing your own food is a huge money saver. I love summer, and I love eating what I've grown. My gardens have all been in containers and quite small, but I still enjoy every bit of it. Someday we'll be settled in somewhere and I'll have a garden large enough to feed our neighborhood. until than I'm pretty content with my few vegetable plants.

Starting up a garden could get expensive fast. I know I'm tempted to spend a lot of money at the Home and Garden store every spring. Here are a few of my ideas to start a garden without a lot of cash:

1. Plan ahead and grow from seeds, it's more tedious but it's also fun to watch the progress from tiny seed to mature plant. You can even harvest your own seeds from vegetables you've already eaten, bell peppers and pumpkins are good candidates for this.

2. Forgo buying the fancy seed germination pots and kits from the garden store, use what you have at home. Any small container will work, just be sure to poke a hole in the bottom for drainage. I used yogurt cups but I think that an egg carton could also work.

3. Thinking about a container garden? consider using 5 gallon buckets you can get these for free from grocery store delis or bakeries, just ask.

4. One more thing. It's OK to buy a mature plant and replant it instead of starting with seeds, you'll make your money back on the plant pretty quickly once you start harvesting the produce. The idea is to have fun gardening and save money while at it.


For more Frugal Friday Tips go here.

Grow your own herbs

You don't have to be a master gardener to grow your own herbs, just sunshine and water. I've grown basil and parsley for a few years now, I like to use big pots (it makes weeding easy) one year I used five gallon buckets to grow my herbs.

Fresh herbs improves my cooking 110%. The flavor and fragrance of fresh basil can't be beat. I love making a basic cheese pizza and topping it with fresh basil leaves, when it cooks the leaves become wilted, a bit crisp and bursting with flavor (so so good.) Sometimes I pick a few stalks of herbs and place them in a vase, instant fragrance and beauty on the cheap.

One of the best rewards of growing your own herbs is the cost savings. Fresh herbs are expensive, I know I'm not the only one who's substituted dry herbs for fresh or simply omitted them from a recipe because I didn't want to spend the money. The good news with growing your own herbs is that after the initial cost of buying the plant (cheaper if you start from seed) they are free. Home grown herbs are convenient too, right in your own back yard.

Here is a fantastic post about how to use fresh herbs in your cooking there is even a part 2 to the post that discusses how to keep fresh herbs fresher longer.

Here is a favorite and more unusual recipe using fresh basil

Here are more Frugal Friday Tips

Frugal Friday Boast

So today I don't have a tip, but I do have a frugal boast. I was so so happy after leaving the grocery store today. I had $40 cash to buy my groceries, I'm using cash to keep our grocery budget in check and it works really well but today I had my doubts. I went shopping with a half finished list and a wandering mind. My cart just kept getting fuller and fuller, I was so afraid that I would have to whip out the debit card and fess up to my grocery budget woes or put something back. During the check out process it turned out that I bought the wrong brand tuna for my coupon, which just added to my mental stress. I put the tuna back but my total rang up at $60 and some change. I hoped and prayed that my coupons would bring down the total and praise the Lord after all my coupons were scanned my total was only $37.92 well within my $40 cash budget and enough left over to tip the bagger. I was so glad, it makes cutting coupons worth it. At the bottom of my receipt it said I saved 38%, so much for getting all worked up. In the future though I will be making it a point to have a more detailed list and make good use of my calculator, there's no need for me to get all worked up and stressed about my grocery bill.

Read about Crystal's attendance to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Live Event (I'm so jealous, I want to see Dave Ramsey too!) and more frugal Friday tips.

Meaningful Decorating

Our house is very spartan, there is minimal furniture and most of the walls are bare. I don't like a bare house but spending money on decorating our house is a very low priority. When I go to yard sales or head to the thrift store I'm on the look out for items that can be used to help decorate our home, I usually pick up picture frames for under a dollar.
On a side note that could be it's own frugal Friday tip: I never throw away greeting cards, I save them in a box and reuse them to make new cards or gift tags. Sometimes a card is just too special to be torn up and reused and I would like to keep it for sentimental value.

If the card has a pretty picture I like to frame it, I use coordinating paper cut to the frame's size as a background for the card. Framing cards adds a bit of decor to our home and I get a nice feeling every time I see the cards and remember the person that sent them and the good memories associated with them.

You'll have to forgive my pictures they are not the best, I took them early this morning and the lighting was awful and I used the flash which reflected back in the frames glass. Also never mind the wirey mess behind the counter, I placed the frame and a few planters there to hide our coffee maker that my husband has all torn apart, it looks messy and cluttered but it's temporary.


For more Frugal Friday Tips go here

Impromtu Gifts and Frugal Packaging.

I save a lot of things that some people would say belong in the trash. Pretty much any food container that could possibly be reused is washed, dyed and put into a big box loaded with "trash" and saved for any future craft project or gift container.
I get excited when my container collecting pays off. Sunday night we were invited to a birthday gathering, celebrating two belated birthday's with some board games and good company. It was very impromptu and we were invited two hours before it started. I couldn't bear to show up empty handed with no gifts. I had cookie dough in the freezer (a huge time saver) in 20 minutes I had freshly baked cookies in the most adorable packaging made with a quickly stamped tag and a little ribbon to dress up my blue trays I found in the "trash" box ( mushroom containers from the grocery store). I just love reusing items, it's such a great way to save money, Plus my gift packaging is original and receives plenty of oohs and awes (boosting my ego just a wee bit)

Reusing packaging works for me.

for more Works for me Wednesday tips go to Rocks in My Dryer.

for more frugal tips go to Biblical Womanhood for Frugal Fridays

Making homemade sandwich rolls

Making bread is cheaper and healthier than store bought bread and it's easier than you think.
Yesterday, made some good looking and super tasty sandwich rolls. Most of them will go in the freezer for future meals and a few will be saved for lunches this weekend, I was thinking tuna sandwiches but the rolls look just right for some French dips, so who knows.

These rolls were made from a hamburger bun recipe, I shaped them into rectangles resembling a sandwich roll (think hoagie or sub sandwich) I sprinkled the tops with sesames seeds and ran a paring knife down the middle of each roll before baking to give the tops the split look that bakery rolls have.

I spent a whopping 15 minutes of "work" on these rolls (quite possibly less). I used my bread machine (bought from a thrift store for $5, given to me by my mom) I dumped in all the ingredients and let the machine do the rest, just before the machine was ready to "bake" I stopped it, removed the dough, shaped the rolls and baked them in my oven.
It's true that the total time to make bread can be hours, which requires a little bit of planning ahead, but actual working time is not much at all and it's reduced even less with the help of a bread machine.

My Frugal Friday Tip is to bake your own bread. Homemade bread is a fraction the cost of store bought and with twice the taste it's worth every bit of effort.

For more Frugal Friday Tips visit Biblical Womanhood.

Frugal Scrapbooking - Use what you have.

It's spring break for me and I've been cleaning up the house and scrap booking. I'm just a few pages shy of finishing up our Key West Vacation photos. Today as I was cleaning up my scrap booking mess, (so much for a clean craft room) I realized that I did not purchase a single thing to scrapbook, I seem to always run the craft store to pick up something special for whatever scrap booking project I'm doing. Today's frugal tip is a no brainier but here it is USE WHAT YOU HAVE.
I used my computer to print out a few signs and labels for my pages as I always do but I did not purchase new paper, stickers, stamps, or new crafting toy.

One big tip that helps me is keeping a box of scrap paper, I never throw away paper, even the smallest scrap can be used for a tag.

Getting photos out of the shoe box and into an album : a few days and $0
Preserving memories for your children's children : priceless

It's been a nice week off and a frugal one at that.

For more Frugal Friday Tips visit Biblical Womanhood.


Also, since I've been cleaning up and crafting I couldn't help but go through old projects. Here are a few photos from my wedding album which took more than a few days but I'm awfully proud of it.

Homemade Soft Scrub - Frugal Friday Encore Edition

I just finished cleaning my bathroom with homemade SoftScrub and my results were so great I knew I needed a second Frugal Friday Post.

I have the day off and I planned on doing a bunch of household chores that I have been putting off for days and days. My biggest excuse for cleaning was that I didn't have the proper cleaning solutions for the job. I have moped around the house for a while "organizing" cabinets and being distracted by all sorts of things until I came across a forgotten list of homemade household cleaners I had printed off a while back. For whatever reason I was immediately motivated to get cleaning and I quickly made a batch of homemade "soft scrub" I just finished cleaning the bathroom and scrubbing the tiles in the shower stall and my homemade cleaner worked beautifully.

To make SoftScrub simply mix baking soda with enough liquid detergent to form a paste with the consistency of frosting. Apply with a sponge, swish, swipe and rinse. My shower stall is clean and shiny. I love it. I also used the mixture to clean the counter and sink, I had days of caked on toothpaste and all sorts of gunk..now it's pretty and clean.

The best part about this soft scrub substitute is that I can make as much or as little as I'd like. I made just a small amount- enough to clean my bathroom once, so I don't have another container of cleaner taking up space in the cabinet.

Pizza Night

I'm starting a new tradition at our house. Pizza night is every Friday. I love pizza! it's quick and easy to make, it can be a well-balanced meal , it's cheap, and tastes soooo goooood. I thought I'd share how I make pizza for Frugal Friday. My picture came from last week's pizza made with zucchini, mushrooms and caramelized onions so good. One of the best things about pizza toppings is that you can be creative and use what you have in the fridge or pantry. Pizza is also nice because it's easy to change it up by trying new toppings and ingredients. To keep the cost down I don't usually go out and buy "toppings" at the store, it's always what I already have on hand from other meals. (I do like to buy pepperoni if I have a coupon)

You don't need much for pizza, here's the basics:
a crust
marinara sauce (this can be homemade or from a jar)
grated mozzarella cheese
Romano or Parmesan cheese
toppings

I use a baking stone for my pizza, you can use a baking sheet or if the crust is frozen bake right on the oven rack.

FOR THE CRUST (it's a thinner crust) :
I have tried many crust recipes and they have all been ok, nothing fantastic. Since our move I have tried something completely different and original for my crust and it has worked really well. Before we moved I packed away some non-perishables from our pantry amongst those items were ziploc bags filled with the dry ingredients for no-knead bread (I've made this often, it's really great). When we moved in to our house I had all these bags filled with flour and such. On a whim I tried making pizza crust with those and it worked beautifully, I've since used this method about half a dozen times, and now I'm down to two ziploc bags, it's funny because I have not made no-knead bread at all since moving.

In the bags are 2 and 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 teaspoon yeast, 1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt. I take about 1 and 3/4 cup of the flour mixture and add 3/4 cup water. I mix until a dough forms and than knead on a floured surface a few times until the dough is smooth and a little springy, it's a soft dough but not sticky. I cover the dough with a tea towel to rest a few minutes, while it's resting I gather all my pizza ingredients and prepare to make my pizza.

SOME TOPPING IDEAS (the list could go on and on, just use your imagination):
pepperoni (of course) you can make it if you are ambitious-someday I will try to do so.
Canadian bacon and pineapple
bacon and caramelized onions (My husband's favorite combo)
mushrooms
zucchini
peppers
yellow squash
eggplant
tomatoes-big slices or cherry halves
basil leaves
feta
spinach
sausage
mini meatballs

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
I like to dust my baking stone with corn meal, to help give my crust a crispy crunch. I put my dough right on my stone and use my rolling pin to roll it out thin and evenly, I used to use my hands to spread the dough, but I like using my rolling pin since it turns out thinner and more evenly. As a side note some people preheat their baking stone, I don't out of convenience and because I like to roll out my crust on it. Once my crust is rolled out I spread my sauce about 2/3 cup or so, it's really to taste, I just eye ball it. Next, I add my grated mozzarella cheese about a cup and half, again this is eyeballed you could use more or less to taste. Then comes what ever toppings I am using. Last, I like to sprinkle the top with some Parmesan cheese.
I bake my pizza in a hot oven (475) for about 12-15 minutes, sometimes a little longer, I judge the doneness by the color of the crust, I like it to be a golden color.

It takes me less than 20 minutes to get a pizza in the oven and we are often eating within a half hour start to finish, you can't get pizza that fast from delivery. While the pizza is baking I am cleaning up the kitchen, preparing a side salad if we are having one, or setting the table.

Pizza is by far my favorite meal to make and eat.

For more Great Frugal Friday Ideas go to Biblical Womanhood

Frugal Shower Caddy

This post was recommended by my husband, who thought that my idea was fantastic, he thought it should be on Works for me Wednesday, but I'm a little late so Frugal Fridays it is. Honestly I think it's ugly and not real classy but it's working for us right now.
We live in a VERY humid climate, mold and mildew is an issue, and it's recommend that we dry out the shower after each use. To make drying the shower easier I didn't want to have shampoo bottles and such stored on the bath tub ledge and I know from past experience the bottoms of shampoo bottles get all mildewy and leave rings behind when left on the tub ledge. I really wanted a fancy shower caddy, but couldn't find one less than $12 and Greg hates buying "unnecessary" things. Of course I whined about it for a long time, thinking that a shower caddy was necessary and he was being unfair because he doesn't clean the shower and I do. Once I got over my bad attitude about not buying stuff I thought we needed, I decided to make do with what we had at home. I took a plastic flower pot left over from an a house plant that was recently replanted, I drilled a hole it in and hung it on a hook. The pot fits three bottles nicely and has built in drainage holes, if it gets mildewy I can just throw it in the dishwasher. If I ever come across some cheap spray paint I would like to paint it, but it's not really needed. My re-purposed plant pot was a good solution for us, I got my shower caddy albeit it ugly and we didn't spend any money (keeping the husband happy).

Head on over to Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday Ideas.

Frugal Craft Storage

To keep my craft items organized I love to use labels, they are so easy to make and items look organized and cute at the same time. To keep organization frugal I have to be a little creative when it comes to containers. I have containers and bins that I've purchased over the years, but my craft supplies have increased beyond the containers I own. Rather than buy some more craft containers I've taken a milk or juice carton, cut it to size and wrapped it in pretty paper like a present and attached a cute label identifying it's contents. My milk carton container is functional and looks prettier than anything you could buy at a store plus it takes up hardly any space on my craft table.

Check out Rocks in my Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesdays

For Frugal Tips check out Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood

Take along your calculator

My big fat frugal tip of the day is to take a small calculator with you to the grocery store, even if your are not a coupon queen. In my recently reorganized coupon box I have a little room on the side for a calculator. With it's new home, I never forget to take along my calculator when I go grocery shopping, which means no more stopping and crowding the aisle while I fumble with my cell phone calculator because I left mine at home. The biggest or smallest box isn't always the best deal and with several different sizes, prices and brands, it can be tough to decide which item is the best buy.
Today my calculator came through for me. I am easily distracted with eye-catching pretty packages and convenience products. I have to work hard to avoid marketing ploys and save money. When buying dishwasher detergent I had a great coupon for $1 off. The individual dishwasher soap tabs were almost the same price as a box of powdered soap (same brand). I love those dishwasher tabs and they were on sale and I had a coupon, WOO HOO! I was willing to spend a few cents more for a little convenience and a pretty package but my frugal mind never stops and the price of the tabs were easily calculated in my head at a little over 10 cents each (easy math) as I put them in my cart. 10 cents per load, ummm? how much per load would the box of plain powdered soap cost me? A little bit of calculator action showed me that the price per load was less than 2 cents (this was also on sale and with my coupon was cheap too) WOW! the dishwasher tabs are 5 times more expensive. (this may not always be the case) I gladly put them back on the shelf and picked up the box of powdered soap, telling myself that I didn't like all the packaging produced from individual soap tabs anyways.
Without my calculator I would have never been able to easily figure the price per load, I would have more than likely grabbed my dishwasher soap tabs quite happy with my coupon and went on my merry way.

To put it in perspective how big of savings this was:

20 tabs with my coupon costs $2.39 effectively 20 washes
1 box (75 oz) with coupon $1.99 -this took a little math but, If using the same amount of powdered soap as one soap tab (by weight) the box will yield 106 washes.

At the grocery store I wrote down how much weight the box of soap tabs was. When I went home I weighed out enough dishwasher powder to equal the weight of one soap tab. I found that it was enough powdered soap to fill my soap dispenser about half way. I know this seems like a lot of work, I normally don't do all this work for the sake of frugality after all time management is just as important as saving a few dollars, but I was wondering if my calculations in the grocery store were accurate and curiosity always gets the better of me. I found that I probably use to much soap in the dishwasher, if filling it halfway will get my dishes clean and I may not get 106 washes out of my one box unless I'm careful to fill the dispenser only halfway each time.

Becuase I was thinking about this post and I was on a math roll, I calculated how much it would cost me in dishwasher soap for one month (30 washes)

the soap tabs at 11.9 cents each times 30 = $3.57
the powdered soap at 1.8 cents (a measurement equal to the weight of one tab) times 30 = $0.56

I effectively saved myself $3 this month just on dishwasher soap.

Keep in mind that my dishwasher soap example is just something that happened to me and I used it here as an example to show the importance of calculating unit price. This was a unique example because both soaps were on a great sale and I had a coupon that could be used for either item.

A few tips on using your calculator when shopping:

First, always check the shelf price tag, at my grocery store a unit price is printed right on the tag and tells me how much the item is per pound or ounce. This is the easiest way to find the best price, one look tells me that brand A is 35 cents an ounce and brand B is 42 cents an ounce. The calculator comes in handy when I have a coupon for brand B and want to find out if brand B is a better buy than brand A with my coupon. A little simple math is all it takes - subtract the coupon from the price, with the new price divide by the total number of ounces giving you the price per ounce which you can than compare to brand A and find the best deal with or without a coupon.
I also use my little calculator when the unit price on the tag isn't shown with the same unit, one tag may say price per ounce and another lists price per pound. To find the price per ounce I take my calculator, punch in the price and divide by the number of ounces listed on the package, the resulting number is how much each ounce costs.
It may seem silly to tinker around with your calculator in the grocery store-in reality it doesn't take much time and more often than not the shelf tag will give you the unit price. Still, keep your calculator handy, it's always nice to quickly find the best price and know that you're getting the best deal.


For more great Frugal Friday tips go to Biblical Womanhood.

Organize Your Coupons

I recently reorganized my coupons, using an envelope system. I decorated a small cardboard box to keep them in, the envelopes added bulk and would not fit nicely in my old accordion style coupon holder. This has been the best system for me so far. Before my coupons were organized with broad categories such as Bathroom Items. This worked fine for a while until my coupon collection grew large and I spent a long time in the store sorting through piles of coupons. Now I have very specific categories such as shampoo. When I have shampoo on my list of things to buy and I'm on the shampoo aisle, I pull out the shampoo envelope and flip through only shampoo coupons, to find the best deal. This new system works for me. (Hey! maybe this should be a Works for Me Wednesday post). Of course there are several ways to keep your coupons organized, you can read more about coupon organization and using coupons here.

Here are a two more tips for saving money and using coupons:

1. Use a list and stick to it, don't buy anything extra unless it's free or nearly free. It helps to plan ahead and pull out the coupons you plan to use during your shopping trip. Make sure you take all of your coupons with you because you never know when you'll find a great deal or unadvertised special.

2. Don't buy something just because you have a coupon for it, remember that coupons are marketing tools to get you to spend more money and try out new products. Make sure you spend your money on the best deal and something you would have bought anyways coupon or not, sometimes the best deal doesn't come with a coupon.

For more Frugal Friday Tips go to Crystal's site at Biblical Womanhood.