Thought I'd share...

7 Simple Budget Cuts that make a BIG difference

Some of these ideas aren't new but it's great to be reminded and hopefully draw some motivation from others successes.

"Extreme" ways to be frugal

I really liked this post from Money Saving Mom. Along with the link she provided from Getting Freedom's corresponding post.

A little over a year ago in my efforts to become more frugal I made a baby step by getting rid of my beloved swifter for an "old fashioned" mop. Nothing extreme about it. I actually still use my swifer for my upstair bathrooms since they are small spaces and I don't want to lug a wet mop up the stairs. Which may change soon...

This portion of Getting Freedom's post reminded me of my new mop instead of swifers...

"• Toss the disposables. Cross the paper towels, napkins, and diapers off of your grocery list. Purchase or make affordable reusable alternatives; old rags are usually free! (It has now been over three years since I bought my last roll of paper towels, and my cloth cleaning rags are still working great!) Nurtured Family offers an affordable, basic kit of “one size” cloth diapers from Econobum that can fill the need (and they don’t even need pins!). Or, contact The Cloth Diaper Foundation (formerly Miracle Diapers) for assistance. (You can always decide to “upgrade” your cloth diapers later, when your budget allows, if you want to.)"

So I am taking another baby step. I ran out of lysol/clorox wipes along with swifter wets last week and I am NOT going to buy any more!! I'll be using towels/sponges and cleaners to clean my counters, ect... from now on.

I don't have an amount that I have saved from using my mop instead of my swifer over the past year+ but I know I have saved just by the amount of swifers I used to use/buy compared to the amount of cleaner I use/buy now with my mop today. And I usually can get the cleaners for cents with sales and coupons!

I also plan to stop buying paper towels when I run out of them. I have a large package in my garage so that baby step is not upon me yet. Can you believe that my girls used about 5 paper towels one night at dinner??? That's when I knew it was a bigger expense than I realize.

What new or old baby steps are you doing to be more frugal?

Is it bad???

I just shopped at Target today and felt like I was getting a bunch of great deals on things that I really need. Which doesn't happen a lot because most of the time I am sometimes 'stocking up' instead of buying for the week.

Well, I checked out and tried to pay close attention to the check out process. What things were ringing up for and then my coupons scanning correctly. But my girls were not being angels so I could not pay 100% attention. (Let me just say my oldest bit my young child. ugh.)

My total was $60 and I saved $44. Pretty good, I guess...I did feel a bit of coupon shopping deflation. I just had to get out of there and home so I waited to be home and relaxed before looking at me receipt.

I just looked over my receipt and noticed a few mistakes. **sigh** About $2.55 in coupons, I was charged regular price for 4 items that were on sale, and was charged for a yogurt that I didn't get. Now to put it into perspective that's about $5.35 OOP. Doesn't seem like much but at the same it kind of does.

I am debating going and talking to some one in customer service tonight. I usually don't. I never have before.

But the first thought I have is this is the exact reason I don't feel too bad when mistakes are made in my favor. It has happen to me. Does it even out? For whom? I don't know. Me or the store?

Honestly though I do feel bad and dishonest if I don't point our mistakes cashiers make when it's in my favor. I point out mistakes that the store makes, if I catch them during cash out.

But here's the big dilemma...is it bad? Bad to tell myself not to feel bad when mistakes are made in my favor? Especially if I see it while cashing out and don't say anything? Does it even out?

Found this link while blog surfing. It is actually on numerous frugal/coupon blogs. I thought it was a good resource for coupons! It's called The Coupon Loop.