Guest Post

Budgeting Basics – How to Get Started (a Guest Post)

February 7, 2013 By Simply Frugal 2 Comments

budget

The following post is a guest post by Mr. CBB from Canadian Budget Binder! Enjoy!

When we first started to use a budget we really didn’t want to commit to such a boring task. Like many, we were used to tracking expenses in our head and checking in on the bank account to see how much money we had left. Looking back it was probably the worst thing we did for our personal finances and I can’t believe we did that.

Budgeting can be overwhelming at first but it doesn’t have to be if you plan it out correctly. No matter what your situation or money mistakes are, or were, a budget is necessary. I don’t care if you don’t think you make enough money or have too many bills and not enough money to budget, you need one. I typically equate this to a business that has a yearly budget so they know what they can and can’t do with the company money. How on earth is a company supposed to sustain themselves if they have no budget? That’s right; they probably would go bankrupt or close shop. Your budget is just as important as a business.

One of the first things I did when I started to blog at Canadian Budget Binder was put together a 10 step budgeting series for the fans. So many people wanted to know how we were saving so much money or what’s our success formula? It’s not really about how much money we were saving. The question should be how we got to the point where we were saving money. The easy answer was with a budget and that’s where I’m going to show you today the steps we took to get from Step 1 to Step 10 and eventually to complete debt freedom. We own our vehicles, have no consumer debt and will be paying our mortgage in full this year. All of this and still over 30 years until retirement (of course we may plan to retire early). The magic happened just from paying attention to our personal finances and spending less than we earn. It also helped that growing up we were savers but the bulk of our money came just in the past 10 years. Not everyone wants to lead a frugal life but it has it’s pros and cons and for us, well worth it.

One of the first steps I talk about in my budgeting series is simply “gathering all the information”. You can’t sit in front of an empty budget spreadsheet or however you will be budgeting (some like the paper pencil method) with no numbers. You need to get all the numbers from your bank accounts, credit cards, lines of credits, bills, whoever you owe, how much you owe, interest rates, due dates, etc. It’s like getting ready to bake a cake. If you don’t have all the ingredients for your recipe how will your cake grow? It won’t. It will sink because all the ingredients (in this case the numbers) are not available.

What is Net and Gross Income?

Net Income in simple terms is the amount of money that you get after all your taxes are paid. So for those that get direct deposit from your employer that is your net. If you are self employed or no taxes are taken off that is NOT your Net Income that is your Gross Income. Don’t get the 2 mixed up or think of it as a fishing Net, what you bring home is what you net.

You can read in more detail each step of our budget and why we did what we did. The budget spreadsheet I designed for our family changed numerous times over the course of the year. A budget will always change and so should yours. You should never just set it and forget it. We are in the process of finalizing and testing our budget spreadsheet so we can post it on the blog for those that want to check it out.

There are a myriad of free budget spreadsheets and free budget programs to track expenses on the internet if you do a Google search. I’m not selling anything here so you need to pick what works for you although I have created a host of free downloadable money saving tools that we use and may help you. If you want to have a binder with pages so you can manually track your budget and expenses, then do it. As long as you know exactly what is going in and out is what’s important. Some people chose to use a cash system and put it in envelopes or jars. If that’s what it will take to motivate you to start budgeting than do it. You will see over time how easy it becomes and you will continue to challenge yourself further each month. We no longer carry cash we use credit cards for rewards. I don’t recommend this unless you are at a stage where you can pay your credit card in full every month.

10 Steps in Designing Our Budget

Step 1 - Gather all the information - As mentioned above, the first step in designing a budget is to gather all the information. You will need to get all the numbers from your bank accounts, credit cards, lines of credits, bills, whoever you owe, how much you owe, interest rates, due dates, etc.

Step 2 – Categories - Every person/family is different so you need to decide what categories will suit your budget. You may need daycare so that would be a category.

Step 3 – Tracking Receipts - This is so important and I can’t stress that enough if you want to know where you are spending your hard earned dollars. Have a plan in place so you save your receipts and input them into your tracking spreadsheet.

Step 4 – Note Taking - Always make notes so you can backtrack information. Know where the purchase was made, how you paid for it, dates, etc.

Step 5 – Organization - Keep organized and keep your workstation free from distractions. You may laugh but it works.

Step 6 – Who Does What and When - If you are in a relationship budgeting doesn’t have to be a one person job. In fact my wife and I both share the budget duties as a team. If in the event something should happen to one of us we both need to know what is happening with our personal finances and so should you. Don’t put the burden on one person.

Step 7 – Balancing Our Budget - Your balance has to budget each month. If you can’t balance your budget you have to do one of 2 things 1- Make more money 2- Spend less than you earn.

Step 8 – Knowing Our Coupon Savings - That’s right our Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet allows us to track our coupons savings, gift card and discount savings as well. We want to know how much money we are actually saving over the course of the year.

Step 9 – Reading Our Bills - I can’t tell you enough to make sure you always read your bills and receipts when you are shopping. There have been times when I found errors on my communications bill where they charged us for services we did not get. You may also notice the wrong charge on your grocery bill which could result in a scanning code of practice where you get the item free up to $10 if the store participates. Most of all you catch an error where you were paying more than you should have. So many people get burned by not reading.

Step 10 – Projected Expenses - This is a big category for us as we save close to $15k a year in it. What is it? In short, it’s an account where we keep money for items that we know we will have to pay for at some point in time during the year that our regular budget won’t be able to handle. We were always taking money from our emergency savings for these items which was wrong. A sticker for our vehicle once a year is not an emergency but should be saved all year long so the money is ready to be used when it comes due. We save $7.50 a month in a separate account for 12 months to pay for the sticker. $90/12 months. This has been the biggest stress reliever for us and one of the biggest reasons people fall off their budget. If you don’t factor in the small stuff, you may not have the money to pay for it. You should budget it in and save it.

I encourage you to take a deep breath if you are wanting to budget but are feeling like there is no end in sight. Start living instead of existing and take back the control of your personal finances. A budget is one step in the process in working towards debt freedom but one that may allow you the opportunity to drop that debt and get back in the game. Time to look at a budget as part of a lifestyle rather than a chore.

Mr.CBB is the voice behind Canadian Budget Binder a blog about Personal Finance, Relationships, Recipes, the famous Grocery Game Challenge and more. Join him on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Beauty on a Budget – 6 Ways to Save Money on Makeup

February 1, 2013 By Simply Frugal 4 Comments

The following post is a guest post by Leah! Enjoy!

According to Industry Canada, revenue from cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores, reached 808.9 million in 2010. It is so easy to get caught up in the latest products and spend money needlessly (dry shampoo anyone?) Here are a few tips for looking great and saving money!

1) Simplify your routine. Stick to the basics. Moisturize, apply foundation only where you need it, a little liner, blush and lip gloss and you’re done!

2) Double duty products. You don’t need expensive under eye cream if you have normal to oily skin. Just use your existing moisturizer. Cream blush can double as a lip stain. Use light pink shimmery eye shadow as highlighter for your cheekbones.

3) When purchasing products, check for bonus packs. Most will come with a great basic like black mascara or liner. Get to know where your favorite store keeps their discounted makeup and buy what you need not just because it’s cheap.

4) Get more out of what you already have. Use a lip brush to get the last bit of lipstick out of the tube. Foundation tubes can be cut to access more of the product (store in a sealable bag so it doesn’t dry out). If you buy a lipstick that is the wrong colour don’t throw it out! Be a makeup artist and mix it with other colours you already have for a custom look.

5) Look for inexpensive alternatives for the products you love. I was shocked the last time I had to replace my liquid eye liner. I then decided to give Essence cosmetics at try (you can find them at Shopper’s Drug Mart) their liquid eyeliner is a mere $2.99 and it is amazing. They also have tiny bottles of nail polish for next to nothing. Great if you want to try a new colour without spending a fortune and finding out you hate it. They have a complete line of products so have a look and see what you can discover.

6) Don’t get caught up in the frenzy of a new product. If you know something works well for your skin, stick with it. This is especially true if your skin tends to be sensitive. In the long run you’ll save by not wasting money on products that just end up sitting on the shelf.

We’re all going to buy products we “thought” we were going to use. Yes, I was the one that bought the dry shampoo – oh well! Just remember that above all else you’re beautiful because you’re you – and that is priceless!

Leah Leitch is a mostly stay-at-home mom to two wonderful teens. She loves to write and wonders why people excercise when they can get just as many endorphins from scoring a great deal?

How to Save Money when you Follow a Special Diet – A Guest Post

October 4, 2012 By Simply Frugal 3 Comments

how to save monwy on a special diet

The following post is a guest post by Ruth. Enjoy!

I love saving money, using coupons and getting freebies. My husband Mark and I have always lived a frugal life since we’ve been married while we were both in university. We have always cooked mostly from scratch, since my husband cannot have artificial colours, flavors or salicylic acids (these are found in tomatoes and in varying amounts in many fruits.) Mark has followed the Feingold Diet since he was fourteen and found out about these food sensitivities. Consuming foods with these ingredients do not cause an allergic reaction, they cause a metabolic reaction. He becomes hyperactive!

Our lives became a bit more complicated when I began following a gluten free, dairy free, no refined sugars diet that was necessary to manage a chronic health problem. This diet has done wonders for my health. But it has not been easy on the check book. Many of the items I need are only available at Organic Markets.

However, I have picked up some tips and tricks since I started following this diet in July 2011. If you also follow a special diet, maybe these tips can help you!

Check the Supermarkets for Organic Products

Many major supermarkets have started carrying organic products. You may be getting a better deal, but make sure to do your homework, because often you aren’t. This really surprised me until I realized that the Organic Markets buy many items in bulk, therefore they can offer a better price. Also, the Organic Markets always have month long specials going on. I use unsweetened Vanilla Blue Diamond Almond Milk as an alternative to Cow’s milk. This is a very popular brand. I can find some sort of special on this milk (usually buy 2 for a reduced price) every month.

Shop at Bulk Barn

If there is a Bulk Barn in your city, go there first! They have a great selection of gluten free pasta, flours, crackers, and packaged food.

Buy in Bulk

Buy in bulk whenever possible, regardless of where you’re buying.

Visit Costco

Costco has started carrying things like Organic Agave Nectar (A sweetener I use in baking) and Amy’s Organic Soups (The Lentil Soups are a great source of protein and don’t contain sugar). I am on the lookout every time we do a Costco run because I believe they will continue to offer more organic and specialty items

Make as much from Scratch as Possible

If you have a special diet that requires you to spend more on groceries, make as much from scratch as possible. This may involve taking a cooking class. In my case I learned by trial and error and eventually discovered some good blogs, where I get many of my recipes. The best blogs I found are Hope for Healing, Chocolate covered Katie and Oh She Glows. I have also become more adept at adapting regular recipes, but that takes time and depends on how comfortable you are experimenting in the kitchen.

Look for Coupons for Organic products

There are actually some coupons to be found for organic products. Go to the website The Healthy Shopper Canada. You just need to register and you will be able to print out e-coupons and use them again and again. They don’t expire until March 2014. You can also find their coupon book in stores at around February each year. Last year I only discovered about their coupon book in May. They also give you the option of paying $4.50 (through pay pal) to have their coupon book mailed to you. I did this last year, but found I didn’t make my money back in terms of money saved. This year, you can actually flip through the coupon book on the website, and if you look through the coupon book, it is almost identical to the e-coupons, you just save a little bit more with the coupon book. On their website you can click on a link to find out where to find their coupon book in your city. In 2013 I plan to contact them and find out exactly when their coupon book is coming out, so I have a better chance of finding one in Edmonton.

For those of you that follow a special diet, what are some of your money saving tips?

Ruth has been married for eight years to a wonderful man who has eventually won her over to a frugal way of life. Her passions are blogging about 1:12 miniatures, her newly launched homemade beauty care line, cooking up a storm, camping, hiking and traveling.

3 Easy Ways to Save on Baby Stuff

June 1, 2012 By Simply Frugal 2 Comments

This post is part of the Frugal Parenting series with MrsJanuary.com, FrugalEdmontonMama.com and SimplyFrugal.ca.

This guest post was written by Cassie of MrsJanuary.com

Are you looking for ways to save on baby stuff?

If you’re like most parents, it’s likely that you are.

Here are 3 easy ways to save money on items for your bundle of joy:

Buy Used

Purchase used for as many baby items as you can.

You can find fantastic bargains on clothing and toys at yard sales and thrift stores. Ebay is another great resource for used goods.

The only items you don’t want to buy used are a stroller, car seat and crib. Those are things you want to invest some money in, since they will be used heavily.

Borrow

Do you know someone with kids? If so, there’s a good chance they have baby items that they no longer need.

Ask if you can borrow those items until your child(ren) no longer need them.

Great items to borrow include play mats, change tables, bassinet, bouncy seat and crib mobile.

Be sure to pay it forward the next time a friend or family member needs baby items!

Buy in Bulk

When it comes to things like diapers, wipes and formula, a great way to save is to purchase these items in bulk.

Consider shopping at a wholesale store, such as Costco, to pick up these items.

In addition, watch the sales at your regular grocery and drug stores. There are always coupons available for baby items and when matched with a sale, you can often get these necessities inexpensively.

These are 3 simple ways that you can save money on baby items.

Don’t believe the myth that babies cost you thousands of dollars every year. By being frugal with your purchases, you can easily save quite a bit of cash on the things you need to buy for your child.

Cassie Howard is a stay at home mom living in Mississauga, Ontario. She writes daily on her personal finance blog, MrsJanuary.com – a website dedicated to frugal living. She’s what many would call an extreme couponer and saves a minimum of 50% off her grocery bill every week by using coupons.

Would you like to read the other articles in the series? Here you go:

Guide to Frugal Gifting for Kids

May 25, 2012 By Simply Frugal 2 Comments

This post is part of the Frugal Parenting series with MrsJanuary.com, FrugalEdmontonMama.com and SimplyFrugal.ca.

This guest post was written by Lori of FrugalEdmontonMama.com

With birthday party season right around the corner, gifting can break the budget. It’s one of those things that I don’t really think about when planning our $100/week for entertainment and miscellaneous costs, and an oversight that most parents make.

Planning ahead for birthday gifts can save the budget, but also saves time. Planning ahead can reduce those trips to Toys R Us to pick up a suitable gift minutes before the party, where you are likely to overpay not only for the gift – but for cards and gift wrap too.

Here are some of the ways that money can be saved on children’s gifts:

Shop Sales, Shop Early

Look for sales that advertise 40% or more off of the regular price of gifts. Shopping these sales is a great way to get brand name toys, high quality wooden toys and themed toys, for less. Large retail stores, like Toys R Us, have certain brands on sale every week. Consider the popular toys for your child’s age group or future toys that can be stashed away and pick them up to get the most bang for your buck.

Buy Quality Toys

Buying high quality toys, from well known brands, that are going to last is going to save on the cost of replacing these items in the future. High quality toys don’t have to come with high price tags; shopping sales and comparing prices reduces the cost, and the chance you are going to be running off to replace the toys.

Think Outside of the Toy Store

Toys R Us may be the first place that you think of when it comes to shopping for toys, but there are many online boutiques offering low prices and even deals including free shipping. Signing up for communication from these Canadian online toy shops can give you deals like 40% off of the entire store, reduced shipping and even free local pick-up if you live within driving area of the store.

Use Coupons

We’ve been seeing more and more coupons for toys over the course of the last year. From coupons released through Websaver for Fisher Price toys, or the same coupons found in the pages of Today’s Parent magazine, it makes it that much easier to save while shopping for toys. Combine coupons for Chapters and shop in the sale section to save and keep your eyes open for coupons for leading toy stores to save even more.

Buying toys doesn’t have to break the bank. Using these tips, you can stop the pre-birthday mad dash to the toy store and save money on holidays for your own children, too.

Lori is an Edmonton mama that can help you to change the way that you shop through coupons and deal-hunting. Money saving and coupon using made simple is the name of her game. Lori blogs at FrugalEdmontonMama.com daily.

A DIY Bathroom Makeover For Under $250 – A Guest Post

April 30, 2012 By Simply Frugal 1 Comment

The following is a guest post by Jessi Snow. Enjoy!

While it may not be the biggest room in the home, the bathroom is certainly one of the most important, especially when you live in a little house like ours. It’s nice to have a space that’s welcoming and organized because sharing is the only option – whatever we see, our guests see too.

Over the past few years we have gradually transformed our boring bathroom into a room I’m happy to let others use. It’s filled with earth tones and beautiful blues, and best of all, the whole project cost us less than $250 bucks! Here is how we did it.

New counter top – One of the biggest changes we made to this bathroom was the counter top. The original one was plain white and totally lacking character. For $80 from our local home improvement store, we were able to pick-up a piece of laminate counter top in a warm brown shade. We cut the hole for the sink ourselves and the whole installation process took less than two hours. You can find a great step-by-step on how to do this over at the DIYNetwork.

Shelving unit – Next up was the tiny little cupboard and shelving unit above the toilet. It served its purpose, but we knew we could achieve the same thing with something a whole lot more attractive. We found this dark wood piece for a little less than $100 and it was exactly what we were looking for. It has three shelves inside, three hooks below and looked great against the counter top.

Paint – We added a couple coats of paint to spice up the white walls, and went with a neutral green shade that we could match with a lot. The can of paint put us back about $30 but we had a lot leftover, so we could have purchased a smaller can and saved a few dollars.

Mirror – The small mirror above the sink was simply not big enough to be shared by two people. We’re often both in the bathroom at the same time, getting ready for work, brushing our teeth, etc., so something that size just wouldn’t do. Lucky for us, a friend of ours was getting rid of a large piece of mirror he had leftover from his basement bar. This new piece covered the whole area about the vanity and totally changed the look of the room – and it was free!

Accessories – It took me a long time to figure out exactly which direction I wanted to go in when it came to accessories. My decorating style tends to be heavy on the blues and turquoises and in the end, the bathroom was no different. I loved the turquoise against the green walls and dark counter – browns and blues are made for one another. The shower curtain is actually a soft material with a hint of shine, it looks much different in person. I also added a neutral bathmat, a picture I had hanging around, a basket and a candle, bringing the total cost of accessories to around $40.

All in all, our mini-bathroom makeover cost us around $250, but we made sure that money went as far as possible. By taking the project into our own hands and reusing items we already had, we were able to do a lot with a very limited budget. To put it into perspective, had we brought in a professional to install the new vanity, paint the walls and hang the shelving unit, we probably would have paid out an additional $200. That’s almost enough to makeover a whole other bathroom (if we had one haha)!

My bathroom is small banana’s compared to Taya’s beautiful new baby room she DIY’d, but I hope it helps to show that you don’t need a ton of money to make a big difference around the home. A little time and some creativity will go further than you think!

Thanks to Taya for opening up her blog to me today.

Jessi is a fellow Canadian living on the East Coast. Her interest in DIY and home improvement started when she began working as a Community Coordinator for PartSelect, and she now writes to help encourage others to take household projects into their own hands.

Start Your Own Local Coupon Exchange – A Guest Post

April 16, 2012 By Simply Frugal 3 Comments

The following post is a guest post from Louise of CanadianCouponSaver.com. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for a fun and unique way to find some new Canadian coupons, then why not consider starting a free coupon exchange at your local grocery store? My local Co-op started such an exchange recently, and it’s turning out to be quite the talking point.

Unlike most coupon trading programs, this particular exchange works on an honesty basis but is extremely effective. Very simply, a basket labeled “Coupon Exchange” is located in the entrance to the store, and customers can take and replace grocery coupons as they wish.

You could say it works like a “take a penny, leave a penny” tray.

When I first noticed this coupon exchange basket a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but get excited by the idea. Since the basket is located at the entrance to the store, it’s in the perfect place to browse for coupons that might be useful on that particular shopping trip. If you don’t use them then you can just pop them back in the tray on your way out.

Now that this coupon exchange is in effect, I always bring a few good food coupons along with me whenever I shop at Co-op and add them to the tray for the benefit of others. I’ve noticed that the supply of good coupons has increased gradually since the program was started a few weeks ago, which indicates that the general response to the idea has been really good.

Maybe this is the start of a new trend in supermarkets across Canada? If you’re interested in starting up a similar coupon exchange at your own local store, then why not have a chat with the staff at the Customer Service Desk? If they agree to your idea then you could volunteer to donate the basket and a few of your own coupons to really get the ball rolling.

Louise Fiolek is the author of CanadianCouponSaver.com, a website dedicated to helping Canadians save money with coupons, daily deals, free stuff and frugal living tips. She enjoys encouraging others to live well and enjoy life to the fullest, while being savvy to money-saving opportunities.

It’s Time to Spring Clean your Car to Save Money – A Guest Post

March 26, 2012 By Simply Frugal 1 Comment

The following post is a guest post from Jeffery of ConsolidatedCredit.ca. Enjoy!

Now that spring has sprung, the annual spring cleaning of your home is inevitable. But do you ever think about spring cleaning your car? Today you can’t help but notice the signs announcing the high price of gas. It is almost enough to make you feel guilty about using your car.

If you want to run a car efficiently it needs to be properly serviced and you need to be aware of what you can do to help reduce the cost of running your vehicle.

Spring is a good time to take control of your car expenses. Using cars more efficiently and even leaving it at home sometimes will help to reduce your gas consumption and wear and tear on your vehicle.

Here are some road-worthy tips on how to take control of your gas consumption:

Maintain your vehicle

Keep the tires properly inflated and if you need a tune-up then pay the money if you can afford it. Your vehicle will run at its optimum performance, thus saving gas.

Remove your snow tires

These tires are designed to work best during the cold weather months. Once the warmer temperatures hit switch to your regular tires, this will help with reducing your gas consumption.

Fill up the tank

Don’t buy ten dollars at one station and then ten dollars at another a few days later. Locate the cheapest gas and fill the tank and then don’t go back until the tank is a quarter full. If you keep topping off the tank then your car is burdened by the extra weight and not as fuel efficient.

Stop driving

Okay, not literally but maybe you can take public transportation or ride your bike to the grocery store. Think of ways you can keep your car in the drive way. Another option may be to select a day during the week that everyone carpools together to work and rotate the driver each week.

Slow down

If you can’t stop driving then slow down. Many people speed off at a green light and operate their vehicles at high rates of speed. There is no reason; do the speed limit. Also, when you see a stop sign or red light coast to a stop; don’t keep your foot on the accelerator.

What are some of the ways you try to save money on vehicle gas costs?

For more information on how to better manage your personal finances check out Consolidated Credit’s website.

Jeffrey Schwartz is the Executive Director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada and President of the Credit Association of Greater Toronto (CAGT). Consolidated Credit is a national non-profit credit counselling organization that teaches consumers about personal finance through web-based budget and debt analysis tools, financial literacy community outreach programs and in-person or telephone counselling. CAGT is a non-profit association with a mission to provide a dynamic forum in which members can share information and expertise.

image source.

How to be More Frugal in 2012 – A Guest Post

February 28, 2012 By Simply Frugal 8 Comments

How to be more Frugal

The following post is a guest post by Cassie of MrsJanuary.com. Enjoy!

Was one of your New Year’s Resolutions to save more and spend less?

If so, you’re not alone. Saving more and spending less has been one of the top 3 resolutions for years now.

Unfortunately, many people fail or give up on their resolutions by the end of January. So if you’re still at it in February – good for you! You’ve made it past the hardest part of your journey to financial happiness.

One of the best ways to save money is to adopt a frugal lifestyle. Frugal does not have to equal boring – you just have to be creative with the free and low cost resources that you have available.

Below are 5 ways that you can become more frugal in 2012.

Learn to say no

This is something that a lot of people seem to have problems with. They say “yes” to every opportunity that comes their way, without first thinking about whether or not they truly want to spend the money to do whatever it is that was suggested to them.

If a friend invites you to a movie, suggest watching one at home. If a relative wants to spend the day at an amusement park with the kids, suggest a free museum. If a co-worker thinks a trip to the book store would be fun, suggest the library.

In addition to enjoying time at home, there are many free activities available in your community. Consider them before you go out and spend money on entertainment.

Switch to homemade coffee

Are you one of those coffee drinkers that picks up a cup of caffeine on the way to work each morning? If so, stop! Coffee shops have over-inflated prices and you will end up paying way more for your coffee than you would if you just made it yourself.

There are many great coffee brands on the market (Van Houtte, Melitta, even Starbucks and Tim Hortons sell their coffee in stores) that taste just as good – if not better than the kind you will pay 10x the price for at your local coffee shop.

Stockpile groceries

I’m a big fan of stockpiling. I believe that in addition to using coupons, stockpiling is one of the best ways that you can save money off your grocery bill each and every month. It’s a fantastic way to avoid paying full price at the grocery store!

Set aside a bit of money each month for stocking up on great deals. When those bargains come around, pick up as many as you need and can afford, and add them to your stockpile.

Invest in energy efficient products

There are some things you should spend your money on, such as energy efficient products.

If you’re in the market for a new dishwasher, refrigerator, washer and/or dryer or chest freezer – take a look at the energy efficient models available. They may cost a bit more, but considering all the money they will be saving you in the future, they are well worth the investment.

Don’t forget about smaller energy efficient products, such as CFL light bulbs. These do cost more than traditional incandescent light bulbs, but they last much longer and are much more environmentally friendly. Our hydro bill was cut in half (and no, that’s not an exaggeration!) when we switched from incandescent to CFL light bulbs. I’d say that was well worth the extra bit of money we spent to make the switch!

Buy used

One way to save a ton of money this year is to buy used for everything you possibly can. Do you need new clothes for your kids? Check out thrift stores in your area. Need a new couch? Online classifieds are great for that!

Just because something is used, doesn’t mean that it’s garbage and that it can’t be used and enjoyed by someone else. Before you head to your local big box store, check out all of the alternatives – try to buy used instead.

I’m often told that people who are frugal are just “cheapskates” that are boring and never fun. I have to laugh, because of all my frugal friends, none of them are boring and they are all a ton of fun (some more so than my friends who choose NOT to be frugal!).

Being frugal does not mean you live a life of deprivation. You are simply being smart about the resources that you have and learning to love the simple life.

Cassie Howard is a stay at home mom living in Mississauga, Ontario. She writes daily on her personal finance blog, MrsJanuary.com – a website dedicated to frugal living. She’s what many would call an extreme couponer and saves a minimum of 50% off her grocery bill every week by using coupons.

Shopping Smart Increases your Bottom Line – A Guest Post

February 24, 2012 By Simply Frugal Leave a Comment

Statistics Canada released its inflation numbers for the 12 months to March 2011. At that time the Consumer Price Index rose 3.3 per cent, the largest year-over-year increase since September 2008. If inflation continues to trend high and interest rates start to rise it will become even harder for people to make ends meet. The Bank of Canada has been advising Canadians to take control of their spending and start saving since the Fall of 2010.

One area Canadians need to take a more aggressive approach to reducing their spending is at the grocery store. Putting together a money-saving strategy for grocery shopping will have a positive impact on your finances and allow your savings to increase at a faster rate.

Focus on your household budget as if you owned a business and the bottom line is your savings. Every spending decision you make affects your household’s bottom line.

Try to implement these strategies to save money at the grocery store:

Menu planning:

Save money by planning a weekly menu
Keep track of the staples in your larder; be careful not to over buy
Create a grocery list

Weekly Flyers

Review the flyers from the stores in your area
Match sale items to your grocery list
Look for key words – ‘save’, ‘2 for 1’, ‘price dropped’, ‘price match’
Use coupons on sale items to save even more money
Buy fruits and vegetables in season

Do it yourself

Bake your next birthday cake: a cake mix and tin of icing can save at least $10 over a store-bought cake-turn it into a family activity
Avoid unnecessary vegetable spoilage by: Washing lettuce and peeling carrots as you need them – the pre-washed, bagged vegetables spoil quicker once the bag is open
When ground beef is on sale make your own hamburger patties and freeze them for future use

Be a Price Conscience Shopper

Prices vary between grocery stores; make sure you are buying the sale item at the lowest price
Buy store brands instead of national brands especially if they are the same
Check the non-traditional stores, such as drug stores, for price comparisons
Buy in bulk when it makes sense
Don’t use your credit card to pay if it means going further into debt
Don’t invest so much – it leaves you short for other purchases
Purchase non-perishable items, ie paper products

For more everyday money-saving strategies Consolidated Credit has free PDF versions of their booklets available at: http://www.consolidatedcredit.ca/personal-finances/money-management/smart-spending

Jeffrey Schwartz is the Executive Director of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Canada and President of the Credit Association of Greater Toronto (CAGT). Consolidated Credit is a national non-profit credit counseling organization that teaches consumers about personal finance through web-based budget and debt analysis tools, financial literacy community outreach programs and in-person or telephone counseling. CAGT is a non-profit association with a mission to provide a dynamic forum in which members can share information and expertise.