EATING OUT WHILE SAVING MONEY IN 2012

If you are like me and like to eat out there are ways to do it on the thrifty side.

1. Use coupons when possible. We like to go to Subway or Quiznos and can often find a coupon in the Sunday coupon savers. We carry these in the car in a envelope with other coupons. When the hungers come we can grab the coupon and go.

2. Avoid the beverage will save you some dollars for sure. I do like my soda with my meal but some times the cost is just unfair and I refuse to buy soda or just boycott that restaurant all together. There is a little cafe in Two Harbors Minnesota and we stopped there on Sunday after church. Order the soda with out looking at the price. Will not go back there again because on the menu it even said NO REFILLS. Just bad business in my opinion.

3. Check out the appetizers section. Now this can be costly but again can me a meal for me. I like Famous Daves small size not your normal nachos. To much for me to eat and I end up bringing some home for hubby to snack on next day.

4. Find something on the menu that will reheat up and still taste good. Buy that eat half of it and have left overs for lunch or next night's dinner.

5. Look for daily specials at some of our local restaurants. Famous Daves has hamburgers every Monday for $5.99 in our area. Another place as Spaghetti dinner cheaper on Sunday nights. Just check around and see what is the great deals in your area.

6. One of my favorite ideas is to go to lunch rather than dinner. Prices are normally less.

7. Some times the food is so generous that hubby and I will share or I will order something small and have a little of what he is eating.


8. Get daily deals Sites like Groupon and Restaurant.com sell restaurant gift certificates for less than face value you may be able to score a $25 coupon, but pay only $10.

Here are 8 ideas for you to maybe save some money eating out but still have the fun of dining out.

Thanks for stopping by.. hope to see you again real soon.. Lets keep saving together.. Grace

Decorating On The Frugal Side Hunting For Treasures

Good morning everyone hope that your end of year is going good, safe and full of time with family and friends.

I always love to read about decorating my small little apartment. 5 Ideas to Decorate a Small Apartment on a Dime by Emily Co. My apartment is small but not as small as some but small.
What I do have is a fantastic view of Lake Superior from the living room, our office and our bedroom.
Unbelieveable, every morning I pull up the shade and am amazed at the beauty that is before me.
I love to go to auctions, estate sales and garage sales not only to find items to resell but items to put into my home.

For $4.00 at a moving sale we added these two nautical pillows to our bed. Since we love the nautical feeling they were a perfect buy.

Hope that you all have a wonderful day.. Grace

Year End Financial Readings Budget

With the end of the year nearing it is time for many of us to look at how our financial house is. Did we pay down debt or take on more debt. How is our savings account. Doing good with money being added each month or nearly empty if not empty.
I am spending a little time looking around the internet to gather articles I find of interest. I will share those with you.
First one is the 50 30 20 budget sounds great and how wonderful it would be to put 20 percent into savings each month. 50 percent is for needs and 30 percent for wants. Paying for our health insurance throws our budget off.

One of the best financial sites is David Ramsey for financial help. Click on the link to read about his baby steps to get out of debt.

This is just two sites that I am high lighting. You can go to msm money and spend some time looking around for other articles on our money.

Thanks for stopping by.. lets keep saving together.. Grace

LETS INCREASE OUR INCOME BY A $1000 A MONTH THAT IS A GRAND A MONTH

If you read my blog you already know hubby and I are semi retired. The semi part is we are always looking for ways to make money on the side to suppliment our income. After all social security and pension plans do not go as far as you would hope. Lesson learned we did not save enough while young so I hope all of you save more and spend less on your journey to retirement.

This morning while reading some of my favorite blogs I saw that Mom's Plans had written a post on making an extra $1,000 a month. After reading further I see that she along with two other bloggers are starting a new site on making a GRAND a month. I look forward to postings to see what others are up to.

Hubby and earn extra money every month buying and selling items on eBay, Amazon and in our booths at the Antique stores. Of course there is the costs to do business this way. Cost of goods , fees at the Internet sites and rental fees at the antique stores. The real test is when hubby does end of the year books so we can file our taxes on this income.

And of course I make a little money with my blogs. Little is the key word but I only do this as a hobby and not full time as others.

My goal is to increase our income by $1,000 a month after all the fees and costs this next year. Time will tell as the months go buy. I hope to share some of this information with you in the months to come.

Antique store #2 is doing better than Antique store #1, but in store #2 I have items out on some shelfs and floor space plus a locked case. Antique store #1 is a locked case only. I do believe this is a important key to success.

We have reopened our eBay store this month. This allows us to put items on eBay for 30 days at only 20 cents a month rather than the 50 cents it was costing us. We no longer get 50 free auctions a month but in the end if we list more it will pay for itself in the difference of fees. The store also allows us extra pictures at no extra costs.

I am hoping all the extra work these last months that our income will continue to increase. I hope that you will continue to vistit my site and watch for postings on our journey buying and selling. My sons say we are pickers and in truth we are.

Thanks for stopping by and lets keep saving together.. Grace