Exciting News!!!
Posted by: TammyI wanted to take a moment to share our exciting year-end news here at Frugal-Families! One of our forum members, Jennifer, was featured in an article entitled “Living Well on Less” in the January issue of Redbook magazine!!! Christine Larson is the freelance writer who wrote the article and she did a GREAT job! Jennifer credited finding Frugal-families.com as one of the ways she learned to save alot of money from seasoned frugalites (hmmm, not sure that is a real word, but we use it quite a bit in the forums 
). Jennifer is now one of those seasoned savers and shares her money-saving tips with everyone. Just one more reason to consider joining us in the forums!
Well, the other thing I’m thinking about is year-end tax stuff. I’ve got a garage full of “stuff” that I’ve cleared out from the house over the past months and I want to make sure to get it to the thrift stores before year’s end so I can take the deduction on our taxes. If you can itemize, it might be better taking the deduction (and supporting some great causes like Salvation Army or Goodwill) versus trying to sell the stuff yourself. It really does depend on your tax situation. I just know for us, that it works out better to donate everything.
Year-end also means that I usually start pulling together all of our statements and get a rough idea of where our money has gone. I keep a pretty tight budget so I really DO know where the money is but it’s a chance to fine-tune next year’s budget and decide if there is some place to cut and save. If you’re sitting here and saying, “Budget? I don’t have a budget”, then this is a good time to sit down and make one. We have a pretty detailed budget you can print up at this link;
http://www.frugal-families.com/printables/MonthlyExpTracking.pdf
Another good report to print up is the daily tracking sheet. This will help if you don’t know where your money goes every day (there are 2 pages to print up);
http://www.frugal-families.com/printables/printables.htm
Once you’ve decided to start saving pennies, try picking up one new frugal skill every month. It’s overwhelming if you try to do too much too fast and you’ll give up getting frugal. I didn’t always know how to do all the frugal things I know how to do now. I’ve learned it over time. So, take the time, come up with a budget and then one new frugal skill a month and you’ll be well on your way to a great new year!
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I read the article in Redbook and found your site. I love it. I don’t have a family, but my fiance and I had to purchase a new vehicle recently * we live in Michigan also and are really feeling the economic recession. so any hints that we have been able to pick up from friends and older family members has been helpful. But the charts and resources are amazing on this site. I will be sharing this site with anyone who will listen. All the support I can imagine is phenomenal as well. Wish us luck in our new found frugality!