Guest Post from my SIL Julie, Not Frugal, Just Smart

Julie at Read BeTeen the Lines.

Let's face it, times are hard. I try to raised my kids to know the value of a dollar and to be grateful for all gifts, whether spiritual or physical. However I feel that my children should not have to feel the burden of financial mistakes I made in the past. They can want for things, but they shouldn't be deprived of things they need and a surprise gift is okay from time to time. Here are some tips I use to be smart when it comes to gifting and daily money spending.

First, I follow a great site called www.pinchingyourpennies.com . It is free to use and I love it. It covers on-line deals, in-store deals, and grocery deals. It gives weekly guides, codes, and coupons for everything. It has so many forums that you could surf for hours.

Secondly, I shop off season. I wait to buy things until it is clearanced. I love doing this at Kohl's, Old Navy, Gap, and Target. I always look at clearance racks first, and I usually have a coupon with me. My daughter is given a limit and told it needs to last through a certain period of time. If I shop for her, no matter how good the deal, and she doesn't wear it then it was a waste.

Coupons! It's free money so I use them. Sure it may take me an hour to go through them, but when I save hundreds a month, who cares! I only receive one Sunday paper a week. The rest of my coupons come from the internet. Pinchingyourpennies has all the links for the coupons. I also sign up on the websites for the brands I use the most.(Betty Crocker, Kraft, Hershey's etc..) They always have coupons posted.I have an email address that I use just for signing up at those sites.

I also make sure to be a member of certain restaurant sites. I register that one email address and receive coupons for free food all the time. You usually receive a monthly deal and on your birthday you get a free meal. Some sites I'm part of are Red Robbin, Bucca Di Peppos, NYPD Pizza, and Pappa John's.

Signing up for clubs is great. I signed up for Casino clubs (MGM Grand) the first time we went to Las Vegas. I am not a gambler but I do love to visit famous chef's restaurant and see a good show. My husband and I received 3 free nights at the Monte Carlo including slot money and food discounts. We shopped around and scored great tickets to Phantom of the Opera for 75% off the price. We finished the night off at Wolfgang Pucks Itallian restruant with a 25% off our bill coupon. Check out smartervegas.com for even more deals.

A personal sacrifice I made is Starbucks. I only buy a Starbucks drink on payday mornings. I also then buy a drink for my other 3 coworkers. They all look forward to those 2 Fridays a month. In turn, when they have extra, they bring in treats. I feel good about sharing, the drink becomes a treat, and I save $$$ by drinking water on the other days.

Change adds up fast. I throw all the change I find into a large jar. I then wait until coinstar (the machine you put change into and get bills or gift cards out) is running a promotion. Usually in November they let you trade your change for a giftcard (Starbucks,Lowes, etc..)

and they give you a printout for an additional $10 dollar gift card. During this time I try to stock up on giftcard gifts for the year and I keep the $10 ones for the family to enjoy.

Well, these are some of my tips. Thanks Katie for letting me blog on your site and remember that some of the best gifts are the ones you make or just the kind words you say.