We're not cheap. We're frugal.
Listen, we don't claim to be financial experts. We have our ups and downs like any normal person, but for the most part, we are fairly thrifty. We cut coupons. We shop Craigslist. We watch the sales. We never buy anything without reading consumer reviews and searching the Internet for the best price. We aren't perfect , but we have found some useful tools and information that we'd like to share with you.
If you want to save money, you need a budget. No way around it. This post explains our spending and saving philosophy: How we spend: Thoughts on the "fun money" budget plan.
If you don't have a budget, you can download great (and free) templates online. Check the links at the bottom of this page.
Posts we've written on the topic of saving money and living frugally:
- Quick and painless ways to save on basic utilities
- How to be frugal (but not cheap), Part I
- How to be frugal (but not cheap), Part II
- How to find good (as in free) deals
- Save money by working out at home
- Tips for shopping Craigslist
- Your guide to a well-edited wardrobe
- Top 5 Sam's Club deals
- How to make your computer last: Advice for the non-techies
- De-cluttering 101 (living without clutter goes hand-in-hand with frugal living)
- All finance-related posts
Helpful information elsewhere on the Interwebs
Budgets:
- Making a budget
- Mint.com: Free personal finance software
- Quicken Online: Free personal finance software
- Free Microsoft Office budget templates
- Coupons.com
- RetailMeNot: Codes for online shopping and printable coupons
- Goodwill locator
- Deal-Seeking Mom
- Consumer Search: Read reviews before you buy
- SmartSource.com
- Savings.com
- RedPlum.com
- ValPak
Free anti-virus software:
- AVG (anti-virus)
- Microsoft Security Essentials (anti virus)
- Spybot (remove spyware)
- Ad Aware (remove spyware)
Free photo editing software:
Follow me on Twitter for lots of free actions, plug-ins, and photograph giveaways.
- GIMP
- Picasa
- paint.net
- Pixlr (web-based)
- Picknik (web-based)
- 20 online photo editing websites to have fun with
- Get Rich Slowly
- Bargaineering
- Consumerist
- Wise Bread
- Frugal Dad
- I Will Teach You to be Rich
- Time Magazine's top 25 financial blogs
- Sally Beauty (salon quality knock-off products)
- Beauty Crunch (discounted high-end products)
- All Cosmetics Wholesale (discounted high-end products)
- Videos: How to cut your own hair
- Videos: How to cut layers
- Videos: How to cut bangs
- How to grocery shop
- Ziplist: Web-based printable grocery lists
- Real Simple Gallery: The Essentials of a Well-Balanced Wardrobe
- Simplify your wardrobe
- ZenHabits.net: Edit your wardrobe
- Automobile coupons and deals
- Why I drive a 13-year-old car (from the blog Get Rich Slowly)
- How to save money on car depreciation
- Metro Transit
Free or discounted music:
Sell things online:
- Cash4Books.net - Sell used books
- Gazelle - Sell used electronics
- YouRenew - Sell used computers, cameras, cell phones, etc.
- Half.com - Sell used books, music, gaming systems, DVDs
- Ebay - Auctions
- Craigslist - Online, local classifieds (read my tips for craigslisting here)
- Sell.com - Online classifieds
- OnlineAuction.com - More auctions
Have a financial, frugal living, or related website that you'd like linked here? No problem. Shoot me an email.
Photo source: Graur Razvan Ionut/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

