Idea Queen Tips & News

As a rule of thumb, us frugal shoppers never pay full price for certain items. When items go on sale, that’s the time to snatch them up. As my dad always says “the worst time to buy something is when you need it”. Basically meaning if you have to buy it immediately, you aren’t going to get a very good deal on it.

Which is why right now is a perfect time to buy bedding. It’s summer, and we don’t usually think about needing comforters or quilts. The companies that sell them know this too, and many are having huge summer sales.

Right now one of those places is YourKidsDirect, which currently has quite a bit of bedding and other bedroom items at up to 40% off. It’s not just stuff that’s not selling either, but some really good deals. The first item I spotted was a Hanna Montana bedding set for pretty darn cheap. There’s both girl and boy items too, so you’ll want to go take a look.

Since it’s not something you don’t absolutely  need right now, it’s a great time to buy. Stash it away for Christmas even!

I absolutely love our local farmer’s market. It started just last year, but I was looking forward to it again all winter long. Granted the selection was a little slim yesterday because there isn’t much full grown yet, but that will change as the summer continues.

The prices are really amazing on certain things you usually pay top dollar for in the stores. Peppers especially are usually pretty cheap (we got a whole BAG of them for just a dollar!), and they can be frozen pretty easy. Other produce you may have to use immediately, but if your farmer’s market is weekly it shouldn’t be a problem.

Yesterday we found things like onion, radish, and rhubarb already out. Plus of course some very delicious pies and breads we always have to give in on. You’d be surprised what you can find to cook with up there though.  You can shave a bit off your monthly grocery bill by shopping locally, while eating healthier at the same time as well!

One of the easiest ways to save a few bucks every day is by packing a lunch. And by this we mean both for the kids school lunch and for your lunch at work.

Buying lunches every day can add up to a lot of money. Think about it - the average meal out for one person can cost anywhere from $5 and up, while school lunches cost $3 or $4 a day. That’s at least $15-20 per kid a week, and $25 or more a week for adults. If more than one person in your family works or you have more than one kid in school, you could be spending hundreds of dollars just for daily lunches.

If you shop smart or send leftovers, you could be cutting that cost clear down to just a few dollars a week, saving you hundreds a month.

Take a minute today and figure up how much you currently spend every day on lunches, and see how much you could possibly save with this one small tip.

One of the easiest ways to save money on groceries is to create a meal plan for the week. Of course you can vary on this plan depending on what you find on sale, but for the most part try focusing on only what you need for specific meals.

When making your meal plans, always leave room for leftover nights so you aren’t wasting food.  This is especially useful if you’ve made the same meal several times and know there’s going to be enough leftover for at least most of your household. Leftover night should be scheduled on nights with limited time, and after at least 2 or 3 nights of actual cooking.

You can also plan to make extra meals based off of your leftovers. Pork, for example, can be put into new dishes like fried rice or casseroles. We love fried rice, so whenever we buy pork chops we pick up an extra along with a box of rice knowing it will make two meals.

The basic idea is to make a plan so there’s no wasted food or money spent on food you really don’t need.  Plus you’ll be more motivated to make inexpensive meals instead of running down to the local fast food joint.

The other day I read an article about how homeschooling is just “so expensive”, estimating anywhere from $600 clear up to $1200 per kid for one year.

Wow. They must not know how to bargain shop, huh?

Of course we want the best homeschooling materials for our kids, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be smart shoppers.

It also doesn’t mean we have to actually buy many of the resources either - how much can be made at home or printed off? I don’t know about you, but even though I’m just starting to look for homeschooling materials, I’ve found THOUSANDS of printable worksheets and activities.

I’m a bit of an eBay addict too, and have found quite a bit of items there. This includes books, games,and a whole lot of extras. Some of the stores there focus specifically on homeschool and teaching materials while others just have some “extra stuff” to sell. The drawback to ebay is you pretty much have to know what you are looking for. That’s really not as hard as you think though.

Not only can you get your supplies super cheap or free by using very simple frugal ideas, but many things you really don’t even need (despite was the companies selling prepackaged materials tell you). For my 2nd grader the only two books I need to buy are for math and English. Even then I really don’t NEED to buy them, and I really just want them as a guide for my own peace of mind. Worksheets can be printed, real life activities can be done, personalized spelling and vocabulary lists can be made (he’s very much into Garfield right now, and I’ve noticed there are quite a few “big words” in those books he stumbles over), and other things can be personalized. The school seems to think he has a reading comprehension problem, but the fact is he just doesn’t LIKE the stories he’s being given. When a book interests him, he tells you ALL about it.

Another thing I noticed from this article was it talked about how much you’d be spending on “extra” activities, trips, and games. I don’t know about you, but I spend money on these things anyway. I take my kids to fun places in the summer and on weekends. I buy them educational games because I want them to be ahead of the class. I put them in dance, Tae Kwan Do, swimming lessons, and so on. What’s “extra”?

So saying homeschooling is “expensive” is really not true. Does it cost more than sending them to public school? Absolutely! But it’s a far cry from hundreds or thousands of dollars quoted if you are frugal mom.

Mom’s can play games online too, right? Heck yeah they can! What better way to take advantage of your “special day” then doing nothing but playing games.

From now until May 16th, Big Fish is offering 40% off games when you use the code “MOTHERSDAY” at check out. Just click the link above, find a game, then buy. Don’t forget the code!

The best part about Big Fish is you can try the games out before you buy. So make sure you pick a great game you’ll like before using your coupon.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day!

Scrapbooking can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very expensive. One easy way to cut down your costs is by doing digital scrapbooking instead of the traditional form.

Not only can it be extremely low cost to buy reusable supplies from places like ComputerScrapbook.com, but often times you can find FREE supplies to use as well.

The best part about digital scrapbooking is you aren’t limited by your tools and supplies. It’s easier, quicker, and if you want a traditional scrapbook you can print at any time.

Digital scrapbooking supplies are usually very inexpensive, only costing you a $1 or less per item. To see all the items available, click on the banner at the top of this post, or visit TheScrapbookingSource.com for more details on traditional and digital scrapbooking supplies.

Since earlier this week we took some time and organized our bills, today I thought we’d work on lowering your bills a bit. Yes it IS possible!

First take a look at your finances and all the things you are currently paying for. Are there things you really don’t need? Sometimes we get carried away with those cheap memberships for various things thinking “it’s just a few dollars, why not?”. When I added up all my “just a few dollars” memberships I realized that added up it is NOT just a few dollars. Cancel what you really don’t need or aren’t really using to shave a bit off your monthly budget.

Next, take a look at your credit cards. If you are one of the lucky few who have always paid off your credit cards every month, congrats to you! I use to be one of them until forced into a bad financial spot (I am far too proud to borrow money from family, so my credit card was my life line). Your interest rates may look absolutely terrible right now, but you CAN get those lowered.

Most people don’t know all it takes is a quick call to your credit card companies and asking them to lower your interest rate. About two years ago mine was not a fix but a variable rate and quite a bit over 20%. (Ouch, right?). After one call I got it at a fixed 19%. Just with those few percentages I knocked off $20/mo. A few months ago I called again to have them review the account, and got it lowered another 2%.

So if you are like most Americans and have some nasty looking credit card balances, try getting your rates lowered. You’ll get your balance paid off a whole lot quicker without raising the amount you pay monthly on it.

This tip was pulled from “97 Money Saving Ideas“

Do you subscribe to premium movie channels? If so, you may be able to cut your movie bill in half with this one quick tip.

First off, take a look at how often you actually watch those channels. Is it daily, weekly, or rarely? How often do you watch movies on other channels? How about renting - do you rent movies more than you watch them on TV?

Before we made the switch from HBO to Netflix.com, I realized we were hardly ever watching movies on TV and renting all the time. Our total bill was well over $20 a month for both our movie channel subscriptions and our cost for renting. That didn’t make much sense now did it?

Since we don’t live anywhere close to a Blockbuster and still have to drive 20 miles to the nearest rental store, we decided Netflix was our best option. Currently we use their 1 DVD at a time option, which costs $8.99 a month. Actually, when we first started the cost was higher and they LOWERED the cost not too long ago. Pretty amazing if you ask me - when was the last time you heard of a company lowering costs for all their members?

On average, we get about 5 movies a month right now ONLY because I keep them for a few days. I could probably squeeze in 10 movies in a month if I returned them immediately. Since I don’t have to pay for the gas to return it, this is a heck of a deal to me. Plus of course I don’t have to pay extra for new releases.

Turn around time on the movies is VERY fast. When I drop a movie in the mail to return it, I can expect another one in 2 days. Plus if I wanted to watch something else in the mean time, I could watch movies online as well.

Overall we probably have saved an average of nearly $200/year just by getting rid of all our premium channels and switching to Netflix. Plus I get to watch all the movies I want to watch instead of what they want to show on TV. MUCH better option if you ask me!

If you are like me, you tend to spend quite a bit of money on fabric for various projects. Although I hardly ever pay more than $5 a yard for fabric. And really there’s no reason to unless you absolutely need something specific.

Instead of paying full price for fabric, I always watch the discounts on stores like Fabric.com. Right now they’ve got an anniversary special running until April 30th. To celebrate their 9 year anniversary, you can take 15% off your entire order (no minimum required) by using the code Anniversary15. Just click on the banner above to see all the items they’ve got in stock right now (I just love that site).

Remember to make it worth your shipping cost! I always make sure to buy at least 5 or 6 yards at a time when ordering online.