This week I did well, but I still found it challenging. As many of you know, we are in the middle of moving into our first home. Things have been really crazy. The thing that I have found to be most challenging is planning on meals on the go.

The first day I did fabulously. We spent about $65 on groceries this week which keeps me well below my goal of $200 this week. The problem I ran into was we ended up eating out a few times this week because of all the chaos with the move.

I wasn’t really happy that we had to eat out, but to be honest we really didn’t have many other options. We were really starving, and nothing was thawed at the new house. We did well the first time, and only picked up Little Caesars Pizzas for $5 each. That’s pretty economical to feed a family of 5 for only $2 a person.

Last night we didn’t fair as well. The kids really wanted to eat at Golden Corral and they had helped ALL day raking the leaves in our huge backyard (almost 1/4 acre) so we gave in, and took them to Golden Corral. Let’s just say as much as we paid I made sure that we ate our money’s worth!

In my defense, the first day we were doing house work we did really well and brought sandwich meat, bread, and chips to the new house so we didn’t eat out. I at least had forethought on one of the days we were working on the new house. That counts right?!?

So, bottom line is as far as grocery purchases we are still doing well. My amount spent is at about $65 dollars, but if you count the eating out we are WELL beyond my goal of $200 for the month. Like anything in life, the morale of the story with budgeting and trying to stretch your budget is to learn from your missteps. In this case, I have learned that even though moving can be challenging having a little bit of planning for meals on the go will really help your budget. It’s also important to learn that things may not always go as you planned, and it’s ok to pick up the pieces, learn your lessons and then move onto the next week with a clean slate!

The whole of living a frugal lifestyle is to attempt to get the most bang for your buck while learning all the lessons you can along the way! It’s not about perfection, it’s about changing how you live and moving forward! Here’s to a strong week two!

Check out how everyone else did during their first week!

I am stoked to tell you guys about the new Boost Your Budget Pantry Challenge series
that I’ll be participating in and posting about through the month of January!The whole
point is to start your budget off on the right foot for 2012! The challenge is being
co-hosted by myself, Shopper Strategy, Going Crazy Wanna Go?, The Frugalista Chick, , Matter of Cents,
Coupon Pals, Thrifty Divas, Frugal Mom of Two, How About Free, TheItMom.com,
All The World Is Art, Sweeping The USA, Mommies Point of View, Mama’s Money Tree,
Fab Find Foodie, Making Time For Mommy, Adventures in Coupons,Full Price? NEVER!,
The Frugal Navy Wife, Generations of Savings, and A Savings WOW! and we’d love it
if you’d join us as well.

Here’s how it works: in January we plan to challenger ourselves to eat from our pantries – to use up all the goodies
that are in our cupboards, refrigerators, and our freezers. I am excited because this will help me get ready to move in a month.
This is not a “no spend” month, it’s a spend as little as possible challenge, and use what you have! It’s just a
challenge to boost your budget!

We will be giving away a $25 Coupon Clutch gift certificate each week to one of the participants who either
leaves a link to a challenge post or a comment about their challenge goals! Join in on the fun!
I personally want to spend as little as possible since we are moving in about a month, and the less we
have to move the better. Plus it will let us save some money for our deposit!

I am really going to try and spend less than $200 the month of January. My normal budget is
almost $500. That would be $300 in savings!

Each Monday during January we’re going to post an update of our goals and how we’re doing at meeting
those goals through the linky below. So figure out what your goals are – is it to save money? to have more
room in your pantry? to stop wasting food and thus help the environment? Figure out why you want to
participate in the challenge – I look forward to hearing what your goals are! I’ll be spending tomorrow
(thank goodness the kids are going back to school!) doing an inventory of my pantry, stockpile and freezer
so that I’ll have an accurate idea of what all I’ve got on hand and can get started on planning some menus!

Meal planning and less food wasting (aka money wasting) is definitely a goal for me in 2012! I love Food on the Table. I am not the best cook, and it offers all sorts of recipes that I can make from the ingredients that my family loves, and what’s on sale. Score!

All you have to do is click the banner to sign up for your free Food on the Table account!
Then you tell them what stores that you shop at, and what favorite foods your family likes!
It does all the rest of the work for you. It will then tell you which of your favorite items are on sale that week, and share with you recipes you can use to save big!

It’s such a time saver! Score your free membership, and check it out!

If you live in an area like I do, coupons are not that hot in your local newspaper. When other regions are getting hundreds of coupons we get ten. No joke. No, I am not telling this so you can join me in my pity party, but so you can understand I feel ya when you grab your weekly paper and aren’t seeing the savings.

Other than purchasing coupons, there are a lot of ways that you can easily save money. Whether your coupons stink or you just don’t have the money to shell out to buy the coupons, these tips will help you save big bucks on everything from groceries to personal care items. Don’t let some challenges cause you to lose your hope in saving money and getting your budget in line. Keep in mind that even saving a $1 is great! That’s one less of your hard earned dollars that you had to spend!

SavingStar: I love SavingStar because it helps you “save” buy giving you cash for items you buy. How it works is you enter in a store loyalty card like Kroger, Publix, CVS, RiteAid and then load digital coupons to your SavingStar account. When you buy those items, instead of it coming off at the register SavingStar deposits the value of the coupon into your SavingStar account. You can then cash your balance out for cash, Paypal, Amazon, or even direct deposit once you hit $5. It’s free to join, and has quickly become one of favorite new programs! It’s a great way to stack coupons too!

Cellfire: Cellfire is another digital coupon program. You load your loyalty cards and then upload digital coupons to your Cellfire account. When you shop using your loyalty cards, you save instantly at the register!

Internet Printable coupons: I have been on newspaper coupon strike lately, so I have been scoring coupons from the Internet. To save paper, I just flip the page over so I can fit two coupons on a page. Here are some of my favorite Internet printable coupons

• Red Plum: Doesn’t offer as many as some of the other sites, but still has some great coupons
• Smart Source: Love the coupons on here
• Coupons.com: My absolute favorite.
• CouponNetwork: A great website with printable coupons and what Catalinas are available in your area

Manufacturer’s Website: It’s also a great idea to check the makers of your favorite products to see if they offer printable Internet coupons there too! Plus after you check to see if they have printables, you can use their “Contact Us” form to tell them how much their product rocks.They might just send you some coupons snail mail! (Just remember to include your address and compliments go a long way rather than asking for coupons)

Check your local library and/or coffeeshop: Sometimes your local library will give you the inserts they receive with their local papers. A bloggy friend shared with me that she grabs inserts from her local coffee shop (with permission of course). These are a great way to grab free papers!

What are you waiting for? Get started grabbing those savings? Make 2012 your best savings year yet!

I joined Craftsy in the last few weeks, and I have to say that it has inspired me! I have been teaching myself how to crochet over the last few years, but really hadn’t done anything other than afghans and scarves. (They both only require straight crocheting and knowing how to turn) I found some really awesome ideas on Craftsy and last night I taught myself to crochet in the round. Check it out!  Plus my daughter rocking two of the hats I have made!

Craftsy offers a great free online crafting community. They also offer deals, classes, and forums. It’s a great place to learn, save money, and get inspired!

For those of you that are brave enough to fair the stores today and this week. This is a fantastic time to score big on Christmas supplies for next year! Every year I buy my wrapping paper, bows, gift tags and holiday cards for the next year. I don’t buy a whole lot, but just a little bit more than what I would use in a single year. This is an amazing way to save big on your holiday supplies! Last year, I scored kegs of curling ribbon for .10 cents each at CVS!

As I find the holiday clearance in the local area, I will be updating you on how big a discount the national retailers are giving. This will vary by region, but it will give you a good idea of when to shop. If you don’t mind having a little less of a selection, it’s better to shop around Wednesday or Thursday as this is when most stores start marking it down under 75% (that’s usually when I shop).

Here are the perecentages I have found so far

Meijer: 50-75% off holiday clearance items

So keep an eye on this post, as I will be updating it as I get more information about the clearance prices. Found a price near you? Shoot me an email at crunchyfrugalista@gmail.com so I can add your store to the list!

I bought 2 Groupons a few months back for the local Clothes Mentor store. I knew that they were nearing expiration, but when I went to actually print them they had expired. Cry! Money down the drain. That’s not great thing to do when you are trying to SAVE money! Enter Couptivate to save the day! It’s a great free digital wallet that lets your organize your daily deals purchases (from sites like Living Social, Plum District, and Groupon) plus regular coupons all in one place! I am so excited to use it because it really stinks when you have coupons and deals that expire before you can use them! Want to check it out? Just click the banner above to sign up for your free account and get organized!

Have you been paying attention to the dropping costs of homes and the low rates that are available for loans and refinances? Right now is a great time to look for ways to save money on what is most likely one of your biggest monthly expenses; your rent or mortgage payment! There are several options available and if you love saving money like I do, this is a chance that can’t be missed.

If you or your spouse is a veteran or member of the military, you may qualify for a VA Loan. This is a special kind of loan that extends home loan interest rates to veterans of the military that are even lower than normal. These rates are provided as part of the veteran’s benefits packages and are very helpful when buying a home or refinancing your current property.

If you aren’t a veteran or in the military, you might want to look at some of the options that the Federal Housing Administration offers, including the FHA Streamline Refinance. This refinance allows you to lower your monthly interest rate and start saving money right away.

Consider your options and start saving money on your home! Refinancing or buying a new home with a very low interest rate is one of the best ways to save lots of money each year. Make it your goal to save in 2012 with a low home loan rate.

This is a sponsored post

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I love finding new financial sites that send you quick little financial tips to your email. I love even more when they are free. Daily Worth is neat site that gives you great tips on how to improve your finances.

What’s even better is when you sign up for your free Daily Worth account, you get to head here to enter to win a shopping spree! Just click the top banner to sign up for your free account, and then click the banner below to enter to win a $2000 shopping spree!

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Do you have a home improvement junkie in your house? I am that person in mine! Join MyLowe’s for free, and get discounts, ways to organize your items you buy seasonally, and ideas on how to reduce your home improvement costs. It’s free to sign up, and sounds like a great deal to save time and money! Get your free MyLowe’s account. I just did!

I am horrible at keeping track of my receipts. That is really bad if I need to return something, or if I am trying to figure out where all my money goes each month. Lemon comes to save the day. Lemon is a free program where you can scan or enter your receipts, and it will categorize where your money has gone. They also have a smart phone application so you can scan your receipts on the go. I really excited that you could export this information into your favorite financial program like Excel or Quicken! If you are trying to manage your money, give Lemon a try just click the banner above to try it out!

I find that most moms are super busy. We are busy feeding the kids, cleaning, working, some of us homeschooling. When do we have times to plan meals? What, we are supposed to plan? I thought feeding our family was just throwing something on the table and letting them have at it!

Well, sadly the latter was more how I used to feed my family. I am not the cook in the house, but I am the shopper and the budget person. I was finding that my grocery budget was going through the roof because I wasn’t taking the time to plan out my meals. Now that I am spending more time planning, which really doesn’t take that long, my grocery budget is more under control and we are eating out less.

I use a few different ways to plan my meals. I don’t use any of them exclusively, and you might find some of them or all of them work for your family. Use what you find works, and  trust me you will feel a lot more sane about your life in general when you have meal planning down pat!

We got California internet service by zip code when we moved to our new place. I used satellite internet to help me order some things for our home that were hard to track down. My husband and I bought a house in Northern California. The home built at the turn of the century ( 1900’s). It is really beautiful but was in need of some restoring. Before we moved in someone had stolen all of the beautiful caste iron grates out of the floor. I looked into getting some new ones made and they were way to expensive. It was going to cost at least three hundred dollars to get only one custom grate ordered. So I decided that I would try to piece them together on the internet. I did a lot of internet searching and found grates that were from other older homes that would fit in the holes. Now we have no holes in our floor and the house looks fabulous. I love old homes, they have so much more characters.

I don’t know many moms that don’t wish that had an extra 10 hours a day to get everything done! We’re the cook, the taxi cab, the nurse, and the maid. Forget about getting anytime for ourselves, right?

Over the course of the last few years, I have found that incorperating all of the family into the mundane day to day tasks really helps free up some of my time, AND it has helped build a strong family unit! If we keep going at this pace, we are on pace for world domination!!! Mwwahhhh. Oh sorry, back to the point.

Parenting is a lot like management. It isn’t your job to do it all, but to delegate where you can delegate. Getting your family to work as  a team is not only going to save your sanity, but it frees up family time for the fun stuff! We are all about the fun stuff aren’t we? At least I know I am!

Ever since my kids were very little, they have had chores. Assigning chores not only helps free up your time, but it also teaches responsibility. No, my children aren’t my mini slaves, but they will leave my house knowing how to cook, clean, and launder their own clothes.  A prize catch for any spouse!

My kids have always grown up doing chores, so they know it’s expected. They know a lot of their friends don’t have as many chores as they do, but they know in return for the help in the family they get more quality time with their parents. Plus, we have super cool rewards that we give out. They can’t wait to get a hold of them.

The key to getting chores to work, is letting your kids know they are expected to do them and making it fun! With your kids help, come up with a rewards system that excites them!

I went to Hobby Lobby and got a small pine “treasure box.” The kids went to Walmart with me, and we filled it with all the little goodies that they could feast their eyes on! They are so excited about what is in that treasure chest that getting them to do their chores is a breeze, well most days!

Bringing the family together to get the household tasks done is just one way to free up some of your time. I find multi-tasking helps too. If I am sitting in line at the drive-thru pharmacy, I grab an empty shopping bag and start cleaning out my car. That way, when I get home I can just toss the bag in the garbage. Now my car’s all sparkly clean!

Setting reminders is also helpful. Get in the habit of setting reminders for yourself. If you are anything like me, you are completely forgetful! My husband loves to tell me I would lose my head if it wasn’t attached. I set my iPhone reminders to keep me on track. If I have daily tasks I need to do, I set the alarm to remind me to get them done.

I can get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I don’t realize I have forgotten something until the end of the day. Then I am aggravated because I forgot again! Reminders help me alot.

If you are on the computer a lot, you can use calendars like Google Calendars that will pop up and remind you that something needs to be done today. Trust me, you will thank me later!

Getting things done right away will also help your time come back into your life like a fluttering fairy of goodness. (I know cheesy  :)) What I mean is, clear off the table after dinner. Don’t let the dishes set. They will still be there tomorrow! Unless you do have little fairies in your life, then what do you need my advice for? For those without fairies, take 5 minutes to get the dishes done, and you are done! Whew!

Strategically put places around your house to help you get your 10 minute clean on. Have an ottoman that has inside storage? Perfect! At night, do a 10 minute clean and get the clutter out of sight! I have storage tubs in my kids room so they can do just that. Once a week, they go through the tubs and organize things a little better!

Putting things off just delays the inevitable and eventually will suck the life out of you! Staring at undone tasks is depressing. Trust me I should have a Ph.D. in undone tasks! I am living proof that ADHD and OCD are not a friendly mix. So get it done sista. 10 minute power cleans are really amazing things.

Getting your life back isn’t rocket science, but it does take some organization. Hopefully you will find by making chore time family time, multi-tasking, and not putting things off until tomorrow you will see the hours creep back into your life. You might even be able to squeeze in a bubble bath every now and then. Now THERE’s a shocking thought!

Recently hubby and I had to prioritize our spending a little bit more. Things were coming up that we needed to save for, so I took a quick gander at where we could slice and dice some expenses out of our budget.

When I am not in a dire, I have to cut to bare bones budget type of situation, I ask myself what can I live without and still feel like I am living. This really helps me understand where I can make some cuts and not feel like I have a miserable existence. You want to be frugal, but you also want to feel like you are living too right?!

Well the top areas that I feel that families can make cuts are in the extras that seem to add up without you even knowing it. This would be things like cable, cell phones, car insurance,  and credit cards. A couple bucks here and a couple bucks there, really start to add up. Just by asking myself what I could afford to lose, I was able to save my family over $100 month in about five minutes. If you can live without even more, you could save more!

Cell phones: If you have a cell phone, take a look at your bill. Are you paying for services that you don’t really use/need? I found that my data plan I had on my phone was really high. Both my husband and I had 2 GB of data we were paying for, and we weren’t even using 1GB between us! I dropped the data plan down to 200MB, and saved $30 instantly! I also took off our unlimited text messaging plan. I love to text, but I don’t HAVE to have it. BAM, another 30 dollars saved!

Take a look at your cell phone bill. Are you paying for things you don’t really use? Then get them off of there! If you aren’t in a contract, and/or rarely use your phone consider switching to a pre-paid plan that has a flat monthly payment. You could be paying $30/month instead of hundred of dollars a month.

Here are a few sites I found with great plans (not sure about coverage, but that depends on area anyway)

MyCricket: $25/month offers unlimited texts, pictures, and video. 300 minutes of call time or for $35/month for 1000 minutes of calling

AT&T: $25/month offers unlimited texts, pictures, and videos and 250 minutes of call time a month.

Consumer Cellular: $10/month a plan for those that really don’t use a cell phone, but like to have it in case of emergencies.

Cable bill: The cable bill is where I really don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room on what I am willing to live without. I have to have my DVR, that way I can see my shows that I want. I need my HD, otherwise why do I have an HD TV. Even with all that I was still able to save over $50/month on my cable bill. Those that can live without TV can score even better savings.

If you see your cable bill creeping higher, make sure to call your cable provider. Just like your cell phone, you might see things on your bill that you aren’t really watching. We downgraded our package to take off all the movie channels, and set it at the lowest digital cable package. That saved us over $50/month.

Sometimes if you still aren’t saving enough, your cable provider will give you an extra customer loyalty discount. I spoke with the cancellation department, and they gave me another $10 off month to keep me as a customer.

For those of you that can live without more TV than I can, there are a LOT of ways that you can get free or nearly free viewing experiences!

Netflix: Netflix offers free streaming online and if you have a PS3. You can watch as many movies as you want for only $7.99 a month.

Over the air television: Grab your digital converter box, and score FREE local programming. These stations come in crystal clear if you live near a larger town.

Hulu: You can watch a lot of episode of your favorite shows for free or pay $7.99 for Hulu Plus!

FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC: Many of the main broadcasting stations offer their most popular shows online for free! I just caught up on Two and Half Men!

Car Insurance: Car insurance is extremely important! You want to make sure your family is covered, but there may be some areas that you can save money. The easiest place to save money is to raise your deductible on your car insurance. It’s instant savings, and it doesn’t affect the amount of coverage you have. If you have a loan out on your car, you are going to want to check with your loan company to make sure they don’t have a maximum amount you are allowed to set your deductible at.

Give your car insurance company a call. Don’t be afraid to see if they are any loyal customer, good driver, or good student discounts you are eligible for but not receiving. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Credit Cards: I could go on and on and on when it comes to credit cards, but I will keep it short and sweet. If you don’t have them, don’t get them. If you need to develop your credit get one, but keep a tiny balance on them.

For those that have them, don’t be afraid to rate shop. Don’t do this constantly, but apply to lower your rate and consolidate some of your cards. I personally start with the card with the lowest balance, and pay that one off first. That way, you can roll what you were paying on that card onto the next card to pay it down even faster. Plus, if you are able to pay a few cards off you will feel like you have made some progress, which is going to encourage you to keep going!

Saving money can be a daunting task, but with these quick tips and tricks you can easily eliminate a few hundred dollars a month out of your monthly expenses. What could you do with $200 back into your household each month? I have a ton of things that could help with. What are you waiting for? Get to saving, and you will be amazed what you can do when you put your mind to it!

Ship alot of packages during the holidays? Join UPS My Choice! It’s free program with UPS that allows you to ship from your home in the click of a button! I hate going to find a package store. I joined because I want the UPS man to come to me! Join and sing up for your free UPS My Choice account today!

The decision to homeschool your kids isn’t an easy one. Homeschooling will take up a lot of your time and grey matter (especially in the beginning) and, if you’re anything like me, it can be filled with all sorts of mental smack-talk as your inner critic tries to convince you that you’re crazy for ever contemplating such an idea.

“What if I’m no good at this?”

“What if my kids don’t learn enough, or enough of the right things?”

“What if they grow up to be mal-adjusted social misfits who fail at life?”

Whoa, slow down there, partner! Breathe! You’re not crazy. First, understand that while there has been some form of public education or another in the U.S. since the 1600s, public schooling as we now know it is, historically speaking, relatively new. It wasn’t until the end of the 19^th century that free public education was available to all American children.

So, what did pre-20^th century people do to educate their kids? First and foremost, they taught them at home. Basic reading, writing and arithmetic were the province of parents or, if one could afford it,  the hired help, a governess perhaps, or a live-in tutor. Beyond that, there might be a visiting master or two for additional skills like music, drawing, Latin, etc… In any case, they made up or decided upon their own curriculum.

Parents today have the advantage of the Internet, a worldwide tutor at their fingertips. There is no reason why  parents can’t create their own, well-rounded, completely successful curriculum. But first, you need to do a little research.

1. Know the Score

This is the biggie. Every state has its own laws regarding compulsory education and homeschooling, LEARN THEM. Not all school districts look kindly on homeschooling and it’s not unknown for an administrator to rely on parental ignorance of the law to scare them away from homeschooling.

There are also a ton of homeschooling groups (both online and local) out there. Shop around and find one that fits. They will help you with matters of local law and with ready answers for those well meaning friends and family that hear “homeschool” and think “undersocialized nerd creature”.

2. Be Prepared

Have a goal. Decide what you want to teach, when you want to teach it and how those lessons will be conveyed, before you drag your kids to the table. Just don’t get crazy with it. A few subjects taught well will make a bigger impact on your kids than any over-thought, overwrought fantasy curriculum. It’s best to start small and build as you go.

3. Be Organized

Save yourself hassle in advance. Whatever records you need to keep, keep them in good order and in one place. Should the time come when your kids want to go to a public school, you will need their homeschool records at your fingertips. Those will likely include attendance, grades, (even if you don’t care about or believe in them) etc…

4. Relax

Nothing is set in stone. You probably aren’t pulling your kids out of public school just to replicate the same tired things that made public school an impractical (or even untenable) choice. School is what you say it is, even if that bears little resemblance to the popular idea of what school is “supposed” to be. Reading well, writing well and the ability to put a math problem in its place are your foundations. Begin with those and build.

As for scheduling, who says you have to work from 8am ‘til 3pm? Who says you can’t start at noon and end at say… four o’clock? So long as you are satisfied that your chosen subjects have been covered and understood, what else matters?

5. Play to Your Strengths

There’s no point in trying to swim against the current here. If you are a closet Art History scholar, teach it!  Use that passion as your gateway to other subjects.

6. Play to Their Strengths

Every kid learns differently, use their particular quirks and preferences to your advantage. There are as many ways to teach a thing as there are students to learn it.

7. Get Help Where You Need It

Not even the best credentialed teacher is a master of every subject, so don’t think you have to be either. Here again, the Internet is your friend.

8. Be Firm

This is your kids’ education we’re talking about here. Make it clear to friends and family when school is in, and that during those hours you will take no phone calls, answer no doors, accept no interruptions. Period.

Make this clear to your kids too. Education should be a joyful thing, but there will be times when the work is hard. Being in homeschool is not a license to slack off just because Mom or Dad is running the show.

9. Be Flexible

Not every idea or lesson plan you try will work. Sometimes you have to change plans on the fly. Understand that Bad Days Happen. Pulling your kids out of public school may solve whatever initial problems there might have been, but homeschooling isn’t all sunshine, roses and Rhodes Scholarships. Just understand that experiencing a defeat doesn’t mean you are defeated. Tomorrow is another day.

10. Enjoy the Process

This is your chance to connect with your kids in ways that no boilerplate mandatory homework session ever could. Talk to them. Involve them in the process. Be willing to learn new things yourself. I promise you, this will be a time none of you will ever forget.

Links!

A History of Public Education in the United States

http://www.servintfree.net/~aidmn-ejournal/publications/2001-11/PublicEducationInTheUnitedStates.html

Khan Academy (math and science)

http://www.khanacademy.org

Homeschool Legal Defense Association

http://www.hslda.org/

Homeschool Associations by State

http://homeschooling.about.com/library/blassocusa.htm

Lisa Jonté spends her days attempting to cram knowledge into her kids’ heads, and her nights attempting to pry pithy prose out of her own.  She can often be found at one of her two blogs: Vox Apocrypha and A Mtyhspent Youth

http://vox-apocrypha.com/  http://mythspent.blogspot.com/

 I am not the chef in the house, so I am always looking for ways to simplify the meal plan process!  Food on the Table is a great site! It pulls up all sales in your area on your favorite meal ingredients. It then gives you a list of recipes that you can cook with those ingredients! It’s a few clicks of the button, and you are on your way to planning your week’s meals. You can even print your grocery list out to take to the store! Give it a whirl. Food on the Table is completely FREE!

Are you a Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel Junkie like I am? Then you have to join Under One Roof. This is an exclusive community that you get reward in prizes and gift cards for sharing your experiences in these awesome networks. Share tips in the forums, and learn how to complete your favorite DIY projects. So make sure to join

I pride myself on being the ultimate frugalista. No, I don’t happen to be one that dumpster dives for my coupons, though nothing is wrong with that, but I do try to save asmuch as I can on each and every purchase. It has really been exciting to see the “frugalista” trend catch on; where being a savvy shopper is now “cool.” What I have also been witnessing is shoppers starting to distort their thinking. I have heard a constant murmuring that if something isn’t free it’s not a hot deal. What?!?!?! That’s just crazy talk!