Our Frugal Journey

I couldn’t resist showing off my Valentine’s Day cheesecakes, made from scratch (OK, I cheated on the crust), made with love and made without spending any money.
I made one with chocolate chips and sauce drizzled on the top, as I had planned, and I made a second with cherry topping, which I happened to find [...]

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Since I posted my plans for celebrating Valentine’s Day in the midst of our No-Spend Challenge, I’ve had lots of requests for my recipe for cheesecake. 
It seems there are lots of folks out there who have the same overabundance of cream cheese that I do after a great sale with coupons several weeks back.
I am thrilled to share [...]

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After announcing our family’s No-Spend Challenge for the month of February, a reader asked how I would go about celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Amy P. wrote:
I think that your No-Spend Challenge is a great idea! I had a question about how you handle Valentine’s Day. Did you buy little gifts ahead of time, do you make things for [...]

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Today’s post is one I’m recycling from last February when I made my very first batch of gift tags out of our stack of Christmas cards. With store-bought gift tags readily available at 90 percent off in the after-Christmas clearance, I did not save tons of money making my own tags. But I did do my [...]

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I’ve got my apron on doing the Turkey Day shuffle from kitchen island to stove top to oven and back again.
Lots of food, purchased frugally, of course. Surrounded by family. A Scrabble game and an afternoon walk the only things that remain unchecked on my To Do list.
Lots to be thankful for!
Wishing you all an equally wonderful [...]

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Our Thanksgiving Day menu is pretty standard: turkey, stuffing, green beans in one form or another, along with the ubiquitous sweet potato — some years with and some years without the marshmallows. Topped off, of course, with pumpkin pie.
But as much as the menu has stayed the same, I have to say it has evolved, with our [...]

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Awhile back, I confessed my unabashed love for my crock pot. There are few things closer to a frugal cook’s heart, I dare say, than her (or his!) slow cooker.
But I do have a few more beloved objects on my list of favorite frugal things. And my apple peeler-corer-slicer is among them.
Mine happens to be from Pampered [...]

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Merry Christmas from the folks over at Google.
Travelers at 47 airports across the United States can log on to their laptops and take advantage of wireless Internet service for FREE now through Jan. 15, 2010.
What a deal! Especially for weary holiday travelers who find themselves marrooned at an airport in the middle of a winter snow [...]

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It’s raining today  — and cold — and the fall leaves here in the Raleigh, N.C., area are covering the ground like shag carpeting  in all the best colors of those amazing 1970s.
Perfect timing for that first cup of hot cocoa to sip while pondering THE bird.
In a frugal household such as ours that pondering [...]

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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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