Sasy’s Tips-Fab Finds

Hello fellow savers,

Its been a crazy week for me, but thankfully the weather is nice & my patio door is open.

I wanted to share my great finds this week. You can do these too!

I recently moved into a new apartment & quickly discovered, I really don’t have much in the way of house wares. UH OH!!

I found this beautiful glasses at Dollar Tree. The brand is Cristar not Cristal, fits right in my budget. I love the color & the smaller tumbler feels so nice in my hand! Who doesn’t love a beautiful find on a budget! Well, I sure do!

Another great find this week was towels & pillows. I have pillows, but you can never have too many. The more the comfier!

Kohl’s is having a sale on these puppies, regular $11.99.I paid $2.99 for each one of these fluffy beauties. I also got these huge towels only $2.99 each, regular price $9.99. No coupon, no points, no discount for using a credit card or anything. That’s just the sale. So, get on over to your local Kohl’s & pick up some towels & pillows!

psst… I don’t use credit cards… Cuddly goodness at its best!

Those are my great finds of the week.

If anyone has any questions or shopping areas they would like to explore? Just let me know 🙂 All I need is a subject matter, any ole question will do, Ill be so very happy to answer & give my best advice.

Till then, happy shopping & keep on saving!

~SASY

 

Thrifty Tuesday

Thanks everyone for my first 100 likes!

I Live Like a Minimalist

Since I have been living my new lifestyle for the past few months and as I meet new people, I get asked A LOT what I do for a living and what part of town do I live?  I didn’t realize what an invasive question that was until recently, and I have a really hard time answering.

It usually involves a long and drawn out explanation of why I am in my current situation and I don’t really like sharing that much personal information with people I just met. My shortened smart ass  answer usually involved ” I am a content writer for Diane’s Thrifty Cupboard and I live with my family.”   Then I decided to just answer that I am a minimalist.  Of course, with further mental examination, what exactly is a minimalist anyway?  So, I dug deep into the depths of the interwebz and this is what I came up with.

A minimalist can be pretty much anything you want it to mean.  Isn’t society great!  It can mean you have no home or car and you carry all of your belongings in your back pack and travel all of the exotic places and live day to day as opportunities arise.   Or it can mean you have just enough personal belongings to live comfortably in your tiny house with your family.  It means whatever it needs to mean for YOU.  The most important part of minimalism is avoiding over consumerism and not being so attached to your belongings that it controls your soul.  That’s it in a nutshell.

History has shown us, we as consumerists have become so attached to our belongings that we will kill ourselves to try to keep it; It is incredible once you think about it.  Remember Dad working 80 hours a week, so his family can have the best house, car, furniture, clothes that money can buy?  That status symbol was ever so important.  I am pretty sure that is where the coined term ‘living like the Jones’ came from.

I think now, we are moving away from that mentality.  Being happy and content with our soul is much more important than that shiny new Buick.  Well, I hope so anyway.   Makes you really think how this is going to affect us globally.  Consumerism is pretty much what makes the world go round.

I kind of like being a minimalist. I certainly live within my means.  No income, no home and very few belongings.  I even think opportunist is squeezing in there as well!   I can be a hipster with my new millennial lingo and smoke my Vape. (Much cheaper than cigarettes)

I hope this has inspired some thinking on your part, and please like and share!

With Hugs and Hope,

Diane

A Fun Way to Save that First 1000 Bucks

I was on a social media site the other day, and I saw an ad for an investment app; and since I have to start over and build my equity back up I thought this might be a good place to start.  I know absolutely nothing about the stock market and even where to begin on building a portfolio.    So, I thought I would try it out and it hit me; this would be a great way to save a thousand bucks!

 

I am trying out two of them, Acorns and Stash.  Basically you link them to your checking account and you can set up weekly or monthly transfers or just do transfers manually whenever you have an extra 5 bucks.  Oh yeah, all you need is five dollars to get the account started.  If you are leery about linking your main checking account, set up another one with just the money you want to invest and just transfer over your monthly amount.  It seems tedious, but if you are worried about overdrawing or being hacked it is a good safety measure.

I have been doing this for about a week now and with 20 dollars I have made .30 cents.  I know, you’re thinking, ‘wow a whole .30 cents’ but if you think about it, if you put that same twenty in your regular savings at .01% how long will it take to make that same thirty cents?  My guess is not within a weeks’ time!

The format seems to be the same on the two apps I am using, and you can pick stocks at conservative or at higher risk levels.  Acorns you are pretty much invested in the portfolio you pick when you set it up, and it rounds up your change from debit card purchases to add to your investment power.  Stash you have to manually transfer money into the account, but you can choose different stock options each time you invest more cash.   A fun way to save money and learn a bit about the stock market at the same time!

I hope this tip helps you in your success on sticking with your budget goals and saving for a rainy day.

Oh and one more thing, if you use this code for Acorns: http:/ acorns.com/invite/XQMRBS you will get a free $5 for opening a new account; and for Stash: http:/getstashinvest.com/dianeh611

If you have a fun way to save your $1000 please share in the comments or email

 

 

What to do When the Electric Bill Goes Over Budget

Diane's Thrifty Cupboard

I woke up this morning, and it was already 85 degrees outside.  Summertime in Texas or anywhere for that matter is gonna be hot!  With the mercury rising, so does the cost of keeping our homes comfortable.  I have come up with some short term and long term ideas to help keep our budgets cool.

What I can do now;   I don’t know about you, but I have to have my morning coffee to jump start my brain.  But, a hot cup of coffee doesn’t seem like a good idea when I am already sweltering; so how about yesterday’s coffee that I stored in the fridge and make a frosty ice coffee concoction.  Talk about killing two birds; I am saving on coffee and staying a little cooler.  Also taking a cool shower and dressing in light loose fitting clothing to help my body stay comfortable.   I also let my…

View original post 701 more words

Freebies around the Web 30 day Challenge

 

Since I am homeless, jobless and penniless, I have to save every penny I do have, which means I need to be even more creative when it comes to saving money.  Just getting basic supplies can be ridiculously expensive, so I have been scouring the internet and found tons of sites that offer free stuff.  This gave me the idea of doing a freebie 30 day challenge; and of course I want to share my new found knowledge with you.

Here are some freebie sites I found,

http://www.mysavings.com/free-samples/

http://www.getitfree.us/freebies

http://www.freeflys.com

these are brand specific sites; Walmart and Target also have freebie pages.

http://www.lorealparisusa.com/

http://www.sephora.com/free-beauty-samples

 

There is always a birthday lurking around every corner, so I found this site:

www.heyitsfree.net/birthday-freebies  for a complete listing of every possible freebie you can think of for your special day.

 

I hope these sites help you in your quest for surviving on a budget and staying within your means to live a stress free budgeting lifestyle.  Feel free to add your ideas on my contact us page!

 

 

5 of my Favorite Tools for all of my DIY Projects

 

 

I love doing projects, especially when it comes to creating a unique space in my home on the cheap.  Although my skillset is mediocre at best, I do have some favorite cheats to cover up my lack of skills.

Many of my ideas on home interior usually involve stuff lying around my yard, garage, attic, etc; and things I don’t have always come from a thrift shop or the local dollar store.  But, what do you do with this stuff and how do you make it work?  Well, I am going to share my little secrets to make that project come to life!

• Staple gun; I love my staple gun! I can use it on any surface that is sturdy enough to hold the staples.  When I put shelf liner paper on my back splash in my kitchen; I used a staple gun to hold it up.  Reupholstering chairs, head boards, frames, any project that is wood like gets the staple gun treatment!

• Hot glue gun; remember that phase about 20 years ago when everyone was hot gluing everything onto anything they could get their hands on?  Well, I still to this day use mine.  My glue gun has been my tried and true friend for taking care of smaller projects, like hot gluing things to stuff.

• Safety Pins; yes, I use them when I recover couch or chair cushions, or even recovering pillows. I do not have a sewing machine so this is my way of ‘sewing’ things together.

• Battery operated screwdriver; this is a must for your bag of cheats. Any time I am putting together furniture that comes in a box of planks, and when I am hanging curtains or wall hangings.

• Tape; some projects just require a little creativity where my other tools don’t quite work. Not only that, if you are painting something, you can use tape to cover things you don’t want painted.  I also use tape to make sure my wall hangings stay straight.  I also use tape for those hard to reach places that need to be attached somewhere.

 

All of my secrets are out; now you know what I keep in my tool bag.  If you have cheat tools you use and would like to share, please comment below and happy DIY’ing!

5 Common Mistakes we make when we’re trying to Save Money

 

I pride myself with the fact that I am pretty good at saving money.  My budget is very tight, so I do have to get creative making sure bills get paid and we have dinner every night.  I have tried many different tactics, some worked, and some did not.

I have compiled a list for you 5 common mistakes I have made when trying to save money that have completely backfired.

• Using coupons when grocery shopping. Don’t get me wrong, I love coupon shopping; it’s like a scavenger hunt at the grocery store!  I get to scour the shelves looking for this specific name brand item with exact wording and size container.  If I have all day to shop, and an extra $200, coupon shopping is the way to go.  In reality though, unless you are using coupons for items that you actually use and is on your list, they actually blow your budget.

 

• Only making minimum payments on loans/credit cards etc. Although this looks great on your monthly expense budget, but actually you are spending more in the long run.  The interest rate accrues on a daily basis; the longer you take to pay off that loan the more interest you’re paying in the long run.  A good way to knock down that principle balance is to pay half every two weeks instead of once a month (an extra full payment gets paid yearly) or add more to the minimum amount to knock the balance down faster.

• Having a high deductible on my car insurance and skimping out on coverages. Unless you have $2500-$3000 laying around in your couch cushions this can really hurt the budget.  If you were actually in an accident, (and it wasn’t your fault) the person that hit you might have crappy insurance or no insurance at all; then you are stuck paying for damages, car rental, medical bills out of pocket.  The best way to go is getting the lowest deductible, and make sure you have rental, towing and personal medical coverage.  The difference is only a few dollars a month on your insurance bill, but will definitely save you if or when an accident happens.  This actually happened to my daughter.  Boy did it hurt the pocket book!

• Not having a savings account.  My budget is so tight I mean where and how am I going to squeeze more money out and just park it somewhere?  Well, there might be an emergency situation (see above) where we need to pay for something not in our normal spending.  Not only will it throw your budget completely out of whack, you might have to get a loan to take care of that emergency, then that loan payment makes the budget that much more unbearable.  If there is anything left over, even if it’s 5 bucks put it in a savings account.  Or better yet, if you can sell stuff on EBay or recycle cans, anything that can make an extra buck, put that money in a savings.

• Not having a budget at all. I can’t  just be willy- nilly paying bills and buying groceries without set limits.  Not only do I not know where my money is going but I might be blowing money on stuff or services I no longer need, like that jelly of the month club or cable and the TV went out months ago.  The best place to start is to write out all of your bills and payment amounts and average of what you spend on groceries and entertainment, childcare, gas, everything.  And work from there to start making your budget. Then maybe I can save to replace my TV.  I actually have a 3 part blog on getting yourself on a budget and raising your credit score.   You can check that out here.

Living paycheck to paycheck is not fun at all, and there are so many creative ways we can save money and build that little nest egg we all need to feel warm and fuzzy at night.  If there is any other ideas you can add to this list please comment and subscribe!

Making your Dream of Financial Freedom a Reality- Part 2

Diane's Thrifty Cupboard

Now that we have established a savings account with $1000.00 in a separate account, it is time to start working on the next step; knocking down loans and credit cards.  This is where we need to get some pen and paper; write down all unsecured loans and credit cards from smallest to largest.

We are going to work on loans first.  If you are like me, I will use the available balance on the credit cards because my budget is so tight.   Take the $167.00 that we have been putting into savings and since we are used to that money being allocated away from our budget; and start knocking out those loans.  Starting with the smallest loan first, as you pay one loan off work on the next one and work your way down.

Depending on how many loans and balances you have, this will take a while.  Be patient! …

View original post 198 more words

Making your Dream of Financial Freedom a Reality

Diane's Thrifty Cupboard

Now that the economy is slowly coming back to life, it’s time to clean out our financial closet.  If you were one of the lucky ones like me that lost jobs, home and good credit rating; I feel your pain. I spent my share wallowing in self-pity.   Now, it’s time to grab ourselves by the boot straps and rebuild.  I am going to do a series of steps over the next few posts to give you tips on how to achieve financial greatness.

Step One

A savings plan;  According to Dave Ramsey, the first baby steps to financial security is to have a savings account with at least $1000.00 for emergencies only.  This is not a savings to blow at the casino or for shopping at the outlet malls; it is for fixing your car that broke down or the deductible to pay for your sons’ hospital bill after…

View original post 303 more words