Going for Not Broke

One of my friends is very adept at finding free or inexpensive activities for her son to do during the summer months. She checks local museums, libraries and newspapers to root out events he'd be interested in. Taking a cue from her, I found a free storytime at the public library for my daughter's age group. It lasts 45 minutes. I don't know how well she'll behave for it, but I think it's worth a try. I want her to enjoy stories and books.

One of my husband's longtime friends has a son in Boy Scouts, and as a fundraiser, his troop is selling cards that feature discounts for local businesses. I expected the cards to work at more sites than they do, but they're only $5 each, so I can't complain too much. One discount, which can be used only once, is good for 20 percent off of Walgreens brand items. While other discounts on the card are good for multiple uses, this one is by far my favorite. Why? Because baby formula is expensive, and 20 percent off a couple of cans sounds wonderful.

I had two opportunities to add freelance work recently. One is a definite no for now, and I've yet to hear anything more about the other, which makes me think that might not work out right now either. On top of that, my husband and I recently learned that our home heating and air conditioning unit is on its last leg. That is not a cheap fix. The extra freelance work would've definitely helped for that. We're crossing our fingers that the unit makes it at least through the summer. We can always use space heaters during the winter if necessary, although that won't help our electric bill much.

Yesterday, I heard about a site called thredUP . Through this site, you can buy used clothes for your growing child from other parents, and sell the ones your child has outgrown. As quickly as our little girl goes through clothes at this stage, I think this sounds like a great idea. I'm constantly pulling clothes my daughter has outgrown out of her closet, and I feel like she's forever running out of clothes that fit her. I plan to look into it a little more, and I just might give it a try.

Earlier in the month, I talked a little about my penny jar   and my plans to take its contents to the bank. Well, I did so on Monday. I now have an extra $12.70 in my bank account to apply toward my debt. Back when I was a kid, my mom and dad tossed their unspent pennies into a piggy bank shaped like a monkey. Three times during my childhood, they emptied the monkey, put the coins into rolls and took them to the bank. Each time, they had about $40. The first time, they bought my sister and me a swing set. (Can you believe swing sets used to cost about $40?) I don’t remember what they used the money for the other times, probably because it wasn’t something for me. Because I had seen my parents do so, the first time I went to cash in my penny stash back in 2006, I spent money on coin rolls, divided the pennies into stacks of 10, then put five stacks into each roll -- a very time-consuming process. I then took the rolls in a shoebox to the branch closest to my house. Once

My husband and I are on different wavelengths when it comes to our work lunches. He can eat a sandwich, chips and yogurt nearly daily. Oh, he might have cherry yogurt one day and strawberry the next, and he might take a ham sandwich for a week then switch to tuna salad, but that’s pretty standard. Occasionally, he’ll shake things up and take a frozen dinner. I like more variety from day to day, so I take frozen dinners regularly. I’m also dieting. Or trying to anyway, so I’d like to have a little more control over what I eat. I’ve been toying with the idea of switching from prepackaged frozen dinners, like Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine, to making much bigger batches of whatever I cook at home for dinner and freezing the leftovers in individual-size servings. A typical Smart Ones dinner where I live ranges from $1.98 to $3.50, depending on where I shop, what foods I buy and whether any sales are in effect. I’m sure whether making my own frozen dinners would save money de

One of my sources of extra income has dried up, so I've shifted my efforts to less lucrative endeavors: writing/editing and beadwork. I could boost my overall side income, I believe, if I chose to put all of my freelance energy into just one. For instance, by focusing more on writing and editing, I could seek out and pick up more clients. Similarly, I should be able to earn more if I put the writing/editing on hold and spent all of my "freelance" time making beadwork and seeking out avenues for selling. The trouble is, though, I enjoy doing both, so deciding which to let fall by the wayside isn't easy. I really should, though, because reach my goal of being debt-free by my daughter's fifth birthday is going to be tough on what we currently make. It's doable, but things such as broken washers come along and erode progress all the time.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post , I finally bought a lightweight, flat-panel TV. I forgot to add that I bought it at Best Buy . The TV wasn't available at Walmart, Sam's Club or Target, otherwise I probably would've purchased it one of those places, because in my experience, they're usually cheaper. This is probably the first time ever that I've found Best Buy to have the best price when I comparison shopped. Other places I checked included NewEgg.com, Tiger Direct and Amazon. I know there was more than that, but those are the only ones that come to mind. Amazon had it for the same price, but we could buy it at our local store if we went through Best Buy. Tiger Direct had one, but it was refurbished. I feel more comfortable buying a new TV. We haven't put the TV up yet, though. We're wanting to get a different TV stand, so it's sitting in limbo, aka, our garage. Speaking of expenses: We're also having big-time trouble with our washer an

To quickly recap: I mentioned in a previous post that due to the possible danger to my soon-to-be toddler daughter, I wanted to get rid of my TV setup. I had seen quite a few articles in the news lately about analog sets toppling over on small children, so I wanted a lighter TV. The setup we had is shown in the photo at the left. In my hunt for a new TV, I didn't want to get just the cheapest I could find. I wanted to shop smart, but I have to say, all of the info out there about today's TVs made my brain hurt. I am neither a gamer nor someone who uses their TV as a huge computer monitor. I'm just a TV watcher. I need a decent picture and sound. That's it. That said, I decided to focus on just a handful of things: I wanted a 32-inch LED. LED, according to what I've read, works best in a variety of lighting, which is what we have in our living room throughout the day. I wanted 1080p. I didn't start out with this requirement. I don't really care that

I am very thankful for my mom friends. My little girl is about to outgrow her first car seat, and thanks to my friends who have kids of their own, I don't have to buy the next size up or even the one above that. I also have been given a stroller, play pen and high chair. When the time comes that our little girl has outgrown them all, I plan to pay it forward and give them to someone else who could use them.

I saw a commercial today for Kmart  that says that the store will double coupons up to a $1. I would LOVE to be able to get my coupons doubled, at any local store. Too bad we no longer have a Kmart in my area. We had one for years. In fact, my very first job was at a Kmart back in 1989. Back then, it was bustling with people, but around the time our local store shuttered for good -- probably around 2009 -- I would get the feeling I had the whole store to myself. Even though I can't benefit from the savings myself, I figured I'd pass the tip along to others.

As I've mentioned, I haven't quite gotten the hang of extreme couponing, and I think the reason is that I don't buy anything just because I have a coupon for it. Each week when I check the Walgreens circular to see if there are any deals within that appeal to me, I have never before seen one of its RegisterRewards items that my family could use. Last week, I did, though. I bought two boxes of Nutrigrain cereal bars for an at-work food drive, and the purchase netted me a $2 RR coupon. I'm anxious to use it. It's so nice have one!

I'm still looking for a lighter TV , but I hope to buy one within the next couple of weeks. I don't like that so many that I see come with only a yearlong warranty. I don't trust that. Odds are -- based on the reviews of the ones I've seen -- the TV will outlast the warranty, but I just dislike the idea of shelling out $300 or $400 for something that the manufacturer has only a year's worth of confidence in. Based on what I've found in researching TVs, though, I'm probably not going to get a better warranty than that, so I'll likely just have to suck it up.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my penny jar , which I haven't emptied in a few years. I had guessed it contained about $7. I was happy to find, then, that it actually contained $12.70. Still no where near enough to get me out of debt, but every little bit helps. That's $12.70 I won't be paying interest on.

I've been away from the computer for a few days because I had a rather busy weekend and now seem to be battling a cold. Regular Monday through Friday posts will return tomorrow.

Yesterday, I filled up my gas tank and was pleasantly surprised that gas was $3.40 a gallon. It had been creeping ever higher for the last few months, making me dread that trip to the pump. But then I thought, "Since when does $3.40 a gallon make me happy?" It wasn't that long ago that gas was under $3, or even under $2. If I could walk to work and walk to the day care to drop off my daughter, I would.

Back in 2008, I attempted to color my graying hair myself, but it was a fiasco. I had the dye everywhere, and very little of it was actually in my hair. So I rinsed it out before it had a chance to set, then had a friend who is a beautician to do it for me. I paid her $25 each time afterward I had my hair done. Well, my friend is moving and I can no longer afford $25 a pop, so I bought a home coloring kit again and gave it another go. This time, it went a lot smoother. I think it helped seeing what my friend had done to keep my hair from going everywhere and getting dye on everything. I have a few stray grays, but the bulk is covered, which suits me just fine. Cost to do it myself -- $7. Not bad.

I just discovered that Kmart, like Walmart and Target, also offers free samples. Good to know. To request some, follow this link .

While not the savings extreme coupon can deliver, I did have a good trip to Target on Sunday. I bought several items with $1 off coupons, and I bought a shirt, on sale for $8, but thanks one of these  coupon s, I got it for $5. My total bill came to $33 and some change, but my coupons brought it down to $25. Not bad at all.

Because of an extra-hectic schedule this week, the next new entry for this blog won't post until Monday, May 7. Thanks for reading.