Our Frugal Journey

I finally made it over to my local Dollar Tree to check out its newly installed freezers. As a couple of my most wise readers predicted here, the vast majority of the food is highly processed, heavily packaged, high in fat, high in salt, all-around bad-for-you.
Think frozen dinners, hot dogs, salami, burritos, french fries and [...]

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If you are a Chick-fil-A fan like me, you might want to consider buying a $20 gift card — or two — or three — or ten.
The 2010 version of the infamous cow calendar is out and it’s yours for FREE, with the purchase of a $20 gift card.
But wait, it gets better.
(Can you tell [...]

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With Halloween upon us, my thoughts have already turned to Nov. 1. That’s the day all the retailers put their Halloween merchandise on clearance.
For frugal shoppers, Halloween clearance can be a great way to stretch their hard-earned cash. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you haunt those Halloween aisles:
*Think next year. Buy all your [...]

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Are dollar stores really a bargain destination for the frugal-minded?
I got to thinking about this after reading a story done by Consumer Reports ShopSmart magazine via a link on the Bargain Blog.
The magazine sent mystery shoppers out to buy 11 household items at dollar stores across the country and then price compared those items with similar [...]

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Harris Teeter kicked off its latest triple-coupon promotion Wednesday, which meant more free and ridiculously cheap groceries pouring into my pantry. So, in preparation for the new items, I took a good hard look at the shelves to analyze the stockpile.
Seems I was a tad overzealous purchasing cereal.
With Kellogg’s at 25 cents a box (or [...]

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Raised by a veteran garage sale shopper, I am a veteran garage sale shopper, raising the next generation of garage sale shoppers. Yet, I have always more or less winged it.
As a new young mom, I found a treasure trove of clothes, toys and baby equipment at a fraction of the price. Baby clothes for [...]

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