These four sundae glasses we’re $1 each. Aren’t they great? My family loves them!

This Rubbermaid chip and dip tray and cover was only two bucks and is in excellent condition. We use containers like this all the time and when we can’t used it for food anymore, we’ll find another use for it, probably for storing craft supplies.

These banana split dishes were a $1 each and at first I only bought three because I didn’t see the other one. When I went back another day to donate some items, I spotted it. Needless to say, between the sundae glasses and these, we’ve been having a lot of ice cream lately. lol

This post is part of Frugal Friday and Second Time Around.

This post is part of Thrifty Thursday and Tablescape Thursday.

Rates of Return
One of the most important aspects of any investment is its rates of return. Thus, if you have a Roth account, you should be aware of how much money you generate from it. You should be certain that you are getting the best possible returns, particularly if you dream about retiring in comfort.

Currently, investing your Roth IRA in bank certificates will yield returns of no more than 4%, though the anticipated inflation rate is at 5% for the next twenty years. Note that financial experts and advisors do not see the rates of interest of CDs to increase much.

Some experts will influence you to join the bandwagon of stock market investors, specifically if you are looking forward to long-term investing, however, as you’ve noticed for the past months, it’s an incredibly unpredictable market and nobody expects it to become steady in the near future. Profits from this market for the last five years were documented at no higher than 8%. And recently, people who have tried their luck investing in the stock market mislaid over 20% of their contributed funds.

Roth IRA Interest Rates
To learn how to save money for retirement through a Roth IRA, it’s best to get educated about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) policies as well the specific rules and regulations of a Roth account. You should assess the income limit and find out if you are eligible to contribute for this kind of retirement plan.

To become profitable with a Roth plan, keep in mind that the best rates of interest are attained by people that carry out self-directed investments. The good news is that there are no limits and restrictions on how much money you can generate when you invest in your preferred assets. Therefore, looking into non-traditional investments like the real estate will present you with opportunities to make tremendous amount of money, especially if you are able to tap the most lucrative segments of this market.

Investing in Real Estate
If you are tired of mediocre return that is less than your Roth IRA income limit, you should really consider placing your funds in the real estate market. Research and study the sectors with the most potential for profit. You can effortlessly recognize a 30% investment return each year with the right market segments.

If you want to obtain the best returns from a Roth IRA, you should get a good custodian who will allow you to invest in almost any assets permitted by the tax code. In addition, a skilled custodian will efficiently walk you through the entire process of retirement investing.

With numerous retirement savings option available in the market today and the overflowing online and offline resources concerning them, you can easily discover how to save money for retirement.

Whether it’s your dad’s birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, or your daughter’s graduation, you should never worry about going into debt when you purchase gifts. Remember the following pointers, which are an idea beyond the traditional thinking, “it’s the thought that counts.”

Packaging –
Prevent yourself from purchasing gift bags and wrapping papers. As an alternative, save up all the gift bags and wrapping papers that you’ve received from other people and use them again. You can also try to go eco-friendly by wrapping your gifts up with old newspapers or you can be more creative by making a collage of old photos and use it as gift wrapper. Through these steps, you are not only saving money, but you are also supporting a good cause to save the planet.

Dollar Stores –
There is no point in visiting expensive shops and boutiques for a birthday gift if your budget is limited. You can learn how to save money buying gifts by making your present more personal and sentimental. You can buy an album or a picture frame from a dollar store. Place your favorite photos in it and include a personal letter that recounts what happened in each picture. Your relative, best friend, or special someone will surely be appreciative for the gift’s personal touch.

Dinner Date –
If you want to surprise your special someone, you can cook his or her favorite meal in your home. Set the tables and then light the candles. This absolutely beats splurging lots of money at a fancy restaurant and compensating the server a tip.

Music –
If you are searching for a gift for someone who loves music, you should get in touch with his or her inner deejay by making a personalized CD. Make sure that the album cover features him or her.

Poetry – How about making a poem for your friend, loved ones, or special someone? Even if you are not into poetry, when you begin to think about his or her special qualities and attributes, you’ll definitely come up with a great poem. You can place it in a frame and decorate the frame with his or her photos.

Books – Books are gift ideas that will help you recognize how to save money buying gifts. Bookstores always have sections where they sell books at a bargain cost. For only a few dollars, you’ll be delighted to see the books you can purchase such as dictionaries, former bestsellers, and even how-to and DIY manuals.

In the end, you don’t have to spend a fortune to show your receiver how much you love and appreciate him or her. Check out flyers for discounts and deals, create your own gifts at home, and always remember to reuse gift bags and wrapping papers.

1. Make Your Own Curtains

You can save a lot of money if you can sew simple straight lines with a sewing machine. If you are inexperienced start with short sill length curtains such as those for kitchen windows and progress to full length curtains for your living room. Choose a light washable cotton fabric for your kitchen curtains and add a heading tape of your choice. If you work neatly and measure accurately you will have no problems at all. Later you can progress to using lining and making fancier items such as window valances and tie backs.

2. Choose Cheaper Fabric

Fabrics vary enormously in price but you can make very effective curtains with simple cream calico or cotton. You can create more effective window treatments by being generous with cheap fabric than you can by creating curtains from expensive fabric where you can not afford enough to create a full effect. You will find that plain fabrics are often cheaper than patterned ones. If you think they are too plain you can always add interest with trimming.

3. Buy Ready-Made Curtains

If you have standard windows you will usually find ready-made curtains work out cheaper than having curtains custom made. Your choice will be more limited but you will usually find something to suit if you check out curtain sites online.

4. Go Simple

It can be enough in a contemporary home to put up simple cream or gray window blinds which you can buy very cheaply. You do not have to get carried away creating elaborate window treatments when “less is more” is often more effective.

5. Add Layers

If you would like elaborate window treatments (and they suit your home) but you can not afford them purchase items over time. For example you could start with a simple blind and then later add dress curtains and then later still a window valance or wooden cornice.

We’d all like to save money each month, but how to go about it is another story. Start by making a budget; that scary, imposing, restrictive plan that keeps you in line. Only it doesn’t have to be that way, a budget is really only putting down on paper your priorities and recognizing you absolutely cannot spend more than you make in any given time period. It also, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t have to come together in one sitting, start the first month with just writing down general categories and amounts. Over time you can refine and fill it out more completely. It took us three months to get a good handle on our budget, each month getting more and more detailed, even today we are constantly adjusting the numbers.

Once you know where you money is going it is now time to start trimming the fat. If you look at your monthly expenses, looking to saving $500 it will seem overwhelming and impossible. But what if instead you looked at shaving a few dollars off each item? As we began looking at our budget we decided to go through and renegotiate each item we could. After knocking out the cable and downgrade our cellphone plan – saving $65, reviewing our car insurance and changing our coverage – $25 less and changing our restaurant habits to only twice a week. This all totaled approximately $125 a month in savings. Besides the mortgage payment, food and general merchandise are our biggest expenditures.

Even with the constant coupon clipping and avoiding the pricier groceries stores we couldn’t make the budget numbers and the real world numbers agree. That’s where web surfing finally began to payoff. There are plenty of websites out there that can multiply you efforts. The blogs that track specific stores rewards programs, letting you know what items are free or worth the most rewards points/bucks, will give you an edge. Lots of promotional programs let you trade your name and email address for free samples and /or coupons.

Also look to farmer’s markets and co-ops, we spend $17 every two weeks for $50 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables. Little by little we have shaved almost $200 off our monthly grocery bill.

Due to the fact that we didn’t start our marriage with the financial acumen that we now possess there is a tidy sum sitting on credit card balances. This can be a dangerous lever, waiting to dump us over the edge at a moments notice. We headed it off by finding a low APR, zero interest on balance transfer offer and moved everything we could onto that card. Then we proceeded to cut up our physical cards except for one emergency card and have begun applying the snow ball methodology. The snow ball theory has you paying off the lowest balance card while making minimum monthly payments on the others, as you pay off a card you roll what you had been paying on it into you payment on the next one. With this consolidation we erased about $50 a month in additional interest fees.

Lastly, we began looking at efficiency around the house and in our travel habits. By lowering the thermostat by 3 degrees and running only full loads in the dryer, we cut $15 off the electric bill. Using public transportation and walking for quick trips to the nearby store translated into more than half a tank of gas saved every two weeks; which at today’s price means $50 a month left in our pockets. Together we have identified our spending priorities, changed our spending habits and challenged ourselves to find fun and rewarding ways to save a little bit in each category on our budget. This has tallied up to savings of almost $400 a month, which comes in handy when saving for the next rain day.

Food is the second highest expenditure in most people’s lives, yet they don’t pay attention to it. Pay yourself by using the information inside of 5 Meals for $5. This cook book is not only filled with delicious and plentiful recipes, it is filled with the information on how you can get the same prices and lower than the recipes listed!

You don’t need to change what you eat, just the way you shop! And you don’t need to rely on Spam or unhealthy meals to live in today’s debt ridden economy. It’s not all about coupons and Jaci will show you how!

If you think you might starve because of portion size, think again! If you’re single, freeze the leftovers and save or cut down the recipes and eat a fresh meal every day and using Jaci’s Buddy Shopping System.

5 Meals for $5 also has a weights and measures chart, free date night ideas, measure conversion tables, Jaci Rae’s “The Plan” on how to get out of debt and much more!

One recipe example:

Pot Roast
Cost per person $0.97
Total cost five people $4.87
2 lbs chuck roast ($1.92)
(my store just had a sale for $0.69 a lbs. A lot less than listed here!)
1 lb. potatoes, diced ($0.40)
4 carrots, chopped ($0.10)
1 onion, chopped ($0.30)
1 beef bouillon ($0.16)
1 garlic clove, minced ($0.01)
Salt and pepper to taste ($0.02)
Iceberg Lettuce and Cucumber Salad ($1.45) (recipe listed in book)
Basic Vinegar and Oil Salad Dressing ($0.42) (recipe listed in book)
1 lemon, sliced in 5 wedges ($0.09)

Saute chuck roast in a dash of oil until both sides all dark brown (about 2 minutes on each side on high). Combine all other ingredients into a large stew pot or crock-pot. Once meat is browned, put into pot with other veggies and spices and cook on low for 2-3 hours or until Meat is tender and fully cooked. Make salad and serve with chilled water and lemon wedge.

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For me, organization is the key to saving money with coupons. I work on finding and organizing coupons just once a week, and generally save $5 or $10 a week from my shopping bill. I search for online sites that offer coupons for the items I usually buy, and register and bookmark the pages for easy return. Some sites allow you to load coupons to a store card electronically. Others allow or require you to print the coupons.

Next, I check the local advertisements, and once I know what products are being offered for a good price, I pull out any coupons that can be used on my next shopping trip. I also use some higher-denomination coupons to try out a new but higher-priced item, or to occasionally splurge a bit on a special item. Since an expired coupon is a useless coupon, I keep the printed versions in a small tabbed file container, about the size of a recipe file box. Each coupon is stored according to its expiration month, so I never encounter problems at the checkout counter.

When I am in the store aisles browsing merchandise, I compare prices associated with the coupon-item I’m thinking of buying. If there is another acceptable brand that would be less than the discounted item, I put the coupon away for later use. It is important to check whether a coupon discount will really get you the best deal. Sometimes there are other offers that beat the coupon you have – a different size that is even less expensive, or an in-house sale price that cannot be combined with coupons, for example. By using coupons to look for the best deals, I also learn to shop with discrimination. It pushes me to check the price-per-unit of a grocery item, and to consider no-names or generics.

Coupon use also helps me to plan out my shopping, rather than pick up items from memory (or impulse) as I go down the aisles. I am sure that focusing on coupons, and the list of items I intend to buy, has saved me even more than just the coupons alone. Remember to toss out expired coupons, and to share higher denomination coupons with friends who may want them. You can find coupon sharing clubs on the internet, at church, work, or through you network of friends. Everyone enjoys getting a good deal, and if all else fails, I’ll leave an unexpired coupon (for something I have decided not to buy) right next to the product on a store shelf. Who knows, the next person to come along may be looking for that exact item and use the coupon themselves!

There are tons of ways to save money on monthly expenses but most of these ways consist of cutting back on day to day luxuries that we don’t really need. I’m always trying to find good ways of saving money and I always end up finding something new to “get rid” of in my life. But this can sometimes be a good thing. Let me talk about a few ways.

The first for me would definitely start at home. I live in Texas so the weather gets a little crazy here. I find that weather sealing my windows and doors saves me a ton of money during the winter. Spending a mere $50 dollars in the first month to make my gas bill in the low $100’s the rest of the season is way better then spending close to $300 a month for almost four months in a row.

Next in home would definitely be energy saving bulbs and fans during the summer months. I once had an electricity bill of close to $600 bucks in a one bedroom apartment. That is all it took to wake me up and make me more aware of how much electricity I was using each month. I found that the energy saving bulbs cut it back about $8 bucks a months so they pay for themselves in the first month.

Next I bought some plug-in stand up fans for each room. I figured that the air conditioner cooled the whole house, but why would I need to cool the whole house if I’m only in one room at a time? Well I don’t! So for about $100 bucks at a place like Wal-Mart or Target you can almost cut your electric bill in half depending on the size of your house.

Now we move on to eating habits. Eating fast food everyday like the average American can lead to it becoming a habit of spending $15 to $20 bucks everyday just to eat! I pride myself on breaking that habit and spending $15-$20 bucks on food a week. That’s roughly a $120 a week difference. But not only do you save a ton of money, you can lose weight, feel better, and overall end up healthier. Plus you learn a lot of fun fruit and vegetable recipes. So just remember, the grocery store is the way to go.

Last but not least is saving money on gas. This one isn’t for everyone, but for some of us, its huge. I personally live about a half a mile from work. So of coarse, I walk or ride my bike. Some people spend close to a grand a month on gas. That to me is insane. I drive only when I have to. Which is going out of town, across town to see friends or family, or in a minor emergency. And in this case, just like with food, you lose weight and become more healthy from walking or riding a bike.

These are just a few simple ways to cut back on money each month. You can always come up with new and improved ways to save money. So feel free to use mine and come up with some new ones of your own.

In this warmhearted guide to living the good life on less, Deborah shows you how to live within your means and enjoy doing it. Among other things, she shows you how to:

* Eat like a king on a peasant’s budget
* Take the sting out of gift-giving
* Dress well on a shoestring
* Save big bucks on family expenses
* Slash household expenses
* Save on medical expenses
* Involve the whole family in saving money
* Save more for the things you want

From basement to attic, cradle to grave, Frugal Living For Dummies covers all areas of life with common sense advice and guidance on:

* Working with your partner to achieve financial goals
* Going to the grocery without being taken to the cleaners
* Quick and thrifty cooking techniques
* Providing kids the basics on a tight budget
* Putting kids through school without going broke
* Looking good and feeling good on a tight budget
* Frugal holiday fun year round
* Saving money around the house and driveway
* Finding quality in pre-owned merchandise

Packed with tried-and-true techniques for cutting costs and stopping the insanity, Frugal Living For Dummies is the ultimate financial survival guide for the rest of us.

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