Frugality

• The spam email strategy for savings (24 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Honey Smith. On Saturday, Jake woke up restless. Despite the fact that it was 112 degrees outside (argh) he really wanted to leave the house. While I would have been fi...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What lifestyle changes have you made to improve your finances? (82 comments)

  Newish GRS reader Jennifer is beginning her financial journey, and she shared her strategy so far. So here I am, mid-30s, buried in an obscene amount of credit card debt, and very little to show f...Read more »

• The 5 most popular coupon sites (and one with a mission) (31 comments)

  This post is from staff writer April Dykman. I tried for years to be a coupon clipper. Every now and then, I'd decide I was going to save as much money as possible on my groceries, or at least on st...Read more »

• Save money by cutting food waste (44 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Lisa Aberle. I barely brushed the surface of combating food waste in a recent article, but the comments added so much to the article that I thought I could stop at j...Read more »

• Reader Stories: Bicycle commuting and frugality (50 comments)

  This is a guest post from Catherine. She is 27 and was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn. where she resides with her cat, Monty. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology and is trying to figure ...Read more »

• Money highlights while traveling (27 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Kristin Wong. Last week, I got back from an amazing 10-day trip. Brian and I saw Stonehenge, sailed the Irish Sea, and I threw up three times. It isn't a true vacati...Read more »

• My plans for a fun and frugal summer (48 comments)

  This post is by staff writer Honey Smith. Maybe it's the years of conditioning we receive as children to think of summer as an endless stretch of time to be filled with fun and relaxation. Maybe it's...Read more »

• Decrease your budget’s bite by saving money on meat (68 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Lisa Aberle. J.D. has already covered ways to save money on food. But this time, I wanted to focus on animal protein. According to a survey by the Bureau of Labo...Read more »

• Reader Stories: How I became a home entrepreneur to get out of debt (36 comments)

  This reader story is from Kelly Crawford. Kelly is a “mompreneur” and contributing author for five blogs, including her own, Generation Cedar. Some reader stories contain general advice; others a...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What will you trade this month? (27 comments)

  Our monthly challenges to the GRS community are meant to push you to flex those frugality muscles and think creatively about money. For those who are just starting their financial journeys, learning a...Read more »

• Defining a healthy dose of lifestyle inflation (100 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Holly Johnson. On April 1st, I got an unpleasant surprise, and it wasn't an April Fools joke or gag. I found out that one of our renters didn't have enough money to p...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Do you save more or less than your parents? (111 comments)

  This post is from Ollie Geiger, a personal finance writer who contributes to MoneyRates.com. Whenever we visit my grandmother-in-law’s house, we always leave with paper towels. Lots of them. ...Read more »

• New recipes on the cheap: The Pinterest strategy (78 comments)

  This post is by staff writer Honey Smith. When I became a vegetarian 10+ years ago, I bought two cookbooks: a 20-minutes-or-less cookbook and a five-ingredients-or-less cookbook. I was trying to kee...Read more »

• My student loan story: How I paid it off in a year (100 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Kristin Wong. Today I pulled out a file in my cabinet that's been gathering dust since 2007: STUDENT LOAN. In 2007, I paid that sucker off, and I haven't looked back...Read more »

• Extreme weather and recreational costs (45 comments)

  This post is by staff writer Honey Smith. Although I live in Arizona (where it's sunny and 65 right now), this has been a nasty winter for much of the country. The storm known as Nemo led to powe...Read more »

• Minimalist parenting: The frugal choice (77 comments)

  This post is by staff writer Sarah Gilbert. The woman on the radio sounded panicked. She lived in Los Angeles, and because of her neighborhood (weird homeless guy on the corner; busy streets a...Read more »

• The sneaky sales strategies of your local grocery store (96 comments)

  It's Thursday, and I've been to the grocery store five times this week. This isn't normal for me. Usually, I take the time to plan and list what I need and get everything in one frugal, fell swoop. ...Read more »

• A spring-cleaning discovery (79 comments)

  It's amazing the number of things we can throw out and not miss. I do not wish to backpack through Third World countries living on a dollar a day, I hate the tiny house fad, and I am staunchly ag...Read more »

• Reader Story: Costs and savings of having a stay-at-home parent (77 comments)

  This post comes from Lynn Svenson, who blogs at The Photographer's Wife. Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failure. T...Read more »

• Food fight: Waging a war against food waste (93 comments)

  Back in December, I decided to eat more fruits and vegetables. No matter what, I was going to eat more of them. And that's saying something, especially since I've created a few excuses to avoid eati...Read more »

• Professional shoe repair: Save money, time, and your feet (73 comments)

  While on my way back from getting some hot tea in the break room at work, I noticed that one of my shoes was making a strange noise. Upon getting back to my office, I saw why: the heel cap had falle...Read more »

• My New Year’s resolution: lowering the bar for happiness (67 comments)

  A blog to which I contribute recently won a contest, and upon finding out, my boyfriend suggested that we celebrate. "Oh, no, it's not a huge deal," I told him. "It was just a small contest." He...Read more »

• Battle of the toy bulge (101 comments)

  By now, most families have taken down their trees and house lights. And if you're like me and live in the Midwest, you might be counting down the days until the first signs of spring. A new year of ...Read more »

• Romanticizing poverty and learning financial independence (103 comments)

  In high school, I babysat a kid whose parents were pretty well off. And by "well off," I mean they were crazy rich. One day I decided to take the kid out for ice cream -- my treat. When we got to...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Why will you teach your children frugality? (45 comments)

  This is a guest post from Suba. She believes in living life instead of existing and she shares her thoughts at Wealth Informatics, a personal finance blog focused on living a high quality of life by i...Read more »

• Getting rich slowly on my own terms (47 comments)

  Over the last six months, I have had several articles published at Get Rich Slowly. However, I have never had the pleasure of formally introducing myself. My name is Holly Johnson, and I am a 32 yea...Read more »

• The power of proclaiming your frugality (92 comments)

  Last week, I was paying for purchases at a store I frequent in my neighborhood. Routinely, the sales clerk asked me if I'd like to sign up for a store credit card. It wasn't the first time she'd ask...Read more »

• Resisting the holiday spending trap (73 comments)

  Every year, I fail to really account for the cost of Christmas. "A few hundred dollars," I think, for gifts, and then by the first few days of December I've bought several pounds of butter, and lots...Read more »

• New life for old DVD movies: The answers to scratches and breaks (16 comments)

  This is a guest post from freelance writer Jessica Ward. DVD games and movies For several years, we've fought the occasional skip, fingerprint or ding in our DVD movies, and have typically bee...Read more »

• Preventing freezer burnout (87 comments)

  My husband and I get along well with few disagreements. That's why it was a surprise to both of us when something came between us a couple of weeks ago and, of all things, it was our freezer. And th...Read more »

• Once-a-month cooking made easy (76 comments)

  Stephanie Cornais found a cooking method that saved time and money, but it left her exhausted. Stephanie, who blogs about parenthood and healthy living at Mama and Baby Love, would cook a month's w...Read more »

• Be thankful for the present amid planning the future (18 comments)

  In 2008, I decided to travel to Europe. I'd never been, and I was just about to make a big change in my career, so the opportunity might not present itself for a while. Thanksgiving fell near the...Read more »

• Beyond money: How my community saves me, part two (32 comments)

  After I turned in my last article, I thought of so many other instances of how my community pays big dividends: We got a 50-pound bag of free flour when a warehouse had a fire which slightly damag...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What is your favorite ‘no-money fun’? (89 comments)

  This is a guest post from personal finance writer Gwendolyn Pearce. While I’ve never seen J. Lo. wearily balancing her checkbook in the “Celebrities are just like us” section of the tabloids,...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How do you keep holiday tipping in check? (243 comments)

  This post comes from J. Whiton. I’m preparing a holiday gift budget for family and close friends and realize I should factor in year-end gifts and bonuses to myriad people who provide services t...Read more »

• Bid for savings at an auction (48 comments)

  This is a guest post from Matt Ainslie. He is a reference librarian and auction  animal. His interests include blacksmithing, learning new obscure facts and saving money. He lives with his wife and c...Read more »

• Mutual mooching: How my community saves me money, part one (40 comments)

  One of the greatest assets in my life is a priceless community made up of my friends, family, and other community members. My community is greater than the sum of its parts. Saving me money is just ...Read more »

• We all have our Joneses (87 comments)

  When I wrote last week's post, I admit to feeling a bit pleased with myself when someone made a comment about wanting their furniture to all match (and thus free pile-ism was hard for them) now that t...Read more »

• Learning how to work a student discount (18 comments)

  This guest post from Steve Robinson is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Steve writes for Homesales.com.au, an Australian real estate portal that caters to student shared ho...Read more »

• Free Box Economics (88 comments)

  On my way home from selling some magazines at Powell's, I happened upon a whole street's worth of free piles. First one, then another, then another. The second one was the jackpot, though. I saw the c...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What odd things have you done to save money? (254 comments)

  This is a guest post from David Bakke. David is always looking for ways to save money and live frugally. He shares his tips and strategies on Money Crashers Personal Finance. During my journey to e...Read more »

• Why I hate consumer contracts (61 comments)

  A problematic prepay I was going over my old files the other day and found a bill for "Sunrocket," a long-defunct Internet phone company that charged me $244 for a year's worth of service and proce...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Do Your Morals Cost You More? (163 comments)

  This is a guest post from personal finance writer Gwendolyn Pearce. I'm considering building a chicken coop. I'm thinking about this choice because paying over $5 for a dozen eggs seems ridicul...Read more »

• The Value of an $8 Little Black Dress (123 comments)

  This is a guest post from Lucy Lazarony, a freelance writer based in Florida. You know that wardrobe staple that every woman is supposed to have? The little black dress? Well, I've finally got mine...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How Do You Maximize Store Loyalty Cards? (58 comments)

  Today's "Ask the Readers" comes to Get Rich Slowly from Luke Landes, founder of Consumerism Commentary. Retailers are eager to turn their customers into raving fans, and business owners, whether pr...Read more »

• Frugality and Financial Independence (98 comments)

  This is the first article from new staff writer Lisa Aberle, who has replaced Tim Sullivan. When I first started reading Get Rich Slowly in 2007 or 2008, financial independence was only a dream. At...Read more »

• 25 Ways to Give (Without Breaking the Bank) (113 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. In the past nine mon...Read more »

• Earning More vs. Spending Less, Round 2: It Takes Money to Make Money (121 comments)

  This is the second installment of a series. The first article can be found here. Last week I spent a thousand bucks on a phone.  I paid full price for it, in cash, no contract.  It's not the pho...Read more »

• Earning More vs. Spending Less, Round 1: Housing (210 comments)

  Spending less than you earn can be accomplished by earning more, spending less, or both. Yet most people in the personal finance world tend to support one strategy over the other with greater fervor. ...Read more »

• Frugality: Welcome Challenge or Only a Chore? (95 comments)

  This article is from new staff writer Kristin Wong. As a kid, it was my job to pull the weeds in our embarrassingly overgrown backyard. No, my parents didn't believe in doing or paying for yard wor...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Best Alternatives to Cable Television? (178 comments)

  I've written two major articles here at Get Rich Slowly about how to cut costs on cable television. In March 2007, I wrote about cheap alternatives to cable television, and in February 2009, I followe...Read more »

• Rethinking Luxuries: How Luxurious Are They? (76 comments)

  This article is from new staff writer Kristin Wong. Recently, my boyfriend and I took a somewhat last minute trip to Seattle. The goal was simply to get away from the grind for a few days and explo...Read more »

• Seize the Summer (47 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Tim Sullivan. Sometimes, my summers feel like any other season. Other times though, I do the season right. A couple weekends back, I sat out on a dock with my family,...Read more »

• Which is Cheaper: In the Kitchen (87 comments)

  Until the end of this week, we're sharing "audition" pieces from folks interested in being new staff writers at Get Rich Slowly. Your job is to let us know what you think of each of these writers. Pay...Read more »

• Cutting Costs on Transportation (Even When Biking and Walking Aren’t Options) (83 comments)

  Until the end of this week, we're sharing "audition" pieces from folks interested in being new staff writers at Get Rich Slowly. Your job is to let us know what you think of each of these writers. Pay...Read more »

• The Reckoning (or, What Mint Revealed) (298 comments)

  For the next week (or two), we'll be sharing "audition" pieces from folks interested in being new staff writers at Get Rich Slowly. Your job is to let us know what you think of each of these writers. ...Read more »

• Can’t Afford to Socialize? Compromise! (63 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. A friend invites you...Read more »

• (Yes, You Can) Learn to Cook (188 comments)

  For the next week (or two), we'll be sharing "audition" pieces from folks interested in being new staff writers at Get Rich Slowly. This article is from popular GRS commenter, El Nerdo. Your job is to...Read more »

• One Lesson From a Financial Whiz Kid (102 comments)

  When Zac Bissonnette writes about how savvy he was about money in high school, I know his unusually precocious wisdom is not a put-on. I knew him back then. And, with his new book, How to Be Richer, S...Read more »

• Thinking Outside the Lunchbox: Brown-Bagging Without Boredom (101 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. A few years ago I ch...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Use Superfrugality Month to Curb Lifestyle Inflation (52 comments)

  This guest post from Marisa Bell-Metereau is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial su...Read more »

• Reader Story: Saying Good-Bye to a 16-Year-Old Car (91 comments)

  This guest post from Joel Berry is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or f...Read more »

• 27 Frugal Uses for a Dead Phone Book (67 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Frugal Cool blog for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. While consulting a pr...Read more »

• Reader Story: Home Haircuts Can Save Time and Money (125 comments)

  This guest post from Shannon D is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or fa...Read more »

• Five Easiest Ways to Save Money (94 comments)

  This post is by staff writer Sarah Gilbert. This is America Saves Week, and I am writing to you sitting next to a jar. This jar is stuffed full (okay, imagine it gently filled — it's a small jar)...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Save Money While Traveling (111 comments)

  This guest post from Matt Kepnes is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or ...Read more »

• The Calculus of Convenience (232 comments)

  For several years now, I've lived in a sort of financial sweet spot. After paying off my debt, I realized that Kris and I had everything we really wanted or needed, so we never had to buy much for the...Read more »

• Reader Story: A Frugal, Happy Life (94 comments)

  This guest post from Clara is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success or failur...Read more »

• Stealth Savings: Sneaky Ways to Fatten Your Account (110 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. Have trouble savi...Read more »

• Frugality Advice from Millionaires (59 comments)

  This is a guest post from Jaime Tardy of Eventual Millionaire. After paying off $70,000 and quitting a six-figure job, Jaime became a business coach. She also interviews millionaires every week for ...Read more »

• 20 Ways to Spend $20 (77 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. Since she just fou...Read more »

• Expectations and Your Money (56 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sarah Gilbert. I started wrapping my gifts in old newspaper years ago. I know. It sounds so cheap it's almost bah, humbug! Please don't roll your eyes and stop readin...Read more »

• That’s a Wrap: Some Alternatives to Traditional Gift-Wrapping (140 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. Looking for a gre...Read more »

• Reader Story: The 30-Day No-Restuarant Challenge (136 comments)

  This guest post from Michelle is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. This seems like a natural follow-up to Friday's reader question about when to start a family. Some stories con...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: October 2011 Update (22 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for October 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results f...Read more »

• Cashing in on Craigslist: How I’ve Saved Thousands of Dollars Buying Used (76 comments)

  In August, I wrote about Ryan Finlay, who makes a living through Craigslist arbitrage. Many readers wanted to hear more about how Ryan uses Craigslist to make and save money. In this guest post, Ryan ...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: September 2011 Update (32 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for September 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: August 2011 Update (34 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for August 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results fo...Read more »

• Why I Love the Megabus: A Closer Look at a Seldom-Used (but Cheap!) Way to Travel (127 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• Why Austerity Hurts: The Government’s Budget is Not Like Yours (276 comments)

  This post is from new staff writer Sarah Gilbert. GRS readers liked Gilbert's recent post on economics and current events, so today she's offering more of the same. Unlike "entitlements," the word ...Read more »

• Reader Story: Geographic Arbitrage in Real Life (37 comments)

  This guest post from Alice is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — o...Read more »

• How to Get Cheap Drugs (92 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: July 2011 Update (29 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for July 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results for ...Read more »

• Frugal Back-to-School Shopping (115 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• More Thoughts on Frugal Beauty (116 comments)

  This post is from staff writer April Dykman. Last week Sierra wrote about how to look good on a budget with some great tips for the frugal and the do-it-yourselfer. It was popular, too — as o...Read more »

• Frugal Beauty: How to Look Good on a Budget (291 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and raising children at Childwild.com. Pinching pennies doesn't mean you can't make yourself pretty. ...Read more »

• How to Spend Money (Even If You Think You Shouldn’t) (68 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: June 2011 Update (40 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for June 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results for ...Read more »

• Best Sources for Summer Produce (50 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and raising children at Childwild.com. The summer harvest season has finally begun here in Boston. Ne...Read more »

• 10 Ways to Build a Gift Closet That’s Both Deep and Cheap (109 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• My First Garden: What I’ve Learned So Far (45 comments)

  This is a guest post from Jenny Sandman, who writes at Broke Foodie. This summer is my first attempt at full-scale gardening. This is the first year I’ve lived in a house with a yard; previous ga...Read more »

• Reader Story: The Costs and Savings of Bicycle Commuting (186 comments)

  This guest post from Duran Valdez is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success &m...Read more »

• Discounted Gift Cards: The New Coupon (46 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: May 2011 Update (41 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for May 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results for 2...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How Can I Handle “Required” Office Spending? (214 comments)

  "Money is more about mind than it is about math." — That's one of the fifteen tenets of the Get Rich Slowly philosophy. By this I mean that psychology and emotion and relationships play a bigger...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Built My Own House — Without a Mortgage (145 comments)

  This guest post from Ian is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. It's the extended version of the story he shared in his prize-winning entry to this year's GRS video contest. Some ...Read more »

• Celebrating Frugal Role Models (94 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and raising children at Childwild.com. Saving money and controlling your spending can be hard. Really...Read more »

• Breakfast on the Fly — and on the Cheap (144 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money. She also writes about frugality, intentional living, and life in general at her own blog, Survi...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: April 2011 Update (39 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for April 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results for...Read more »

• When Does Minimalism Go Too Far? (123 comments)

  This is a guest post from Katy Wolk-Stanley of The Non-Consumer Advocate, a blog about frugality, food waste, environmentalism, simple living and finding thrift-store bargains. She describes herself a...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Learned About Frugality from De-Cluttering (121 comments)

  This guest post from Claire Brown is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success &m...Read more »

• Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without (178 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and raising children at Childwild.com. My shower is broken. The water comes out just fine, and it doe...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: March 2011 Update (30 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for March 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results for...Read more »

• Emergency Preparedness on a Shoestring (130 comments)

  This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes a personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriving. Images of d...Read more »

• Recipe: Spicy Pickled Carrots (37 comments)

  This guest post from my wife is yet another installment in her ongoing quest to grow and preserve food for our household. I've had the canning bug pretty bad for the last week or two. But although ...Read more »

• Becoming a Groupon Groupie (86 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and raising children at Childwild.com. I have a pretty idyllic Friday evening planned: I'm going to y...Read more »

• Living Below Your Means Is Like Saving for Retirement Twice (80 comments)

  This is a guest post from Robert Brokamp of The Motley Fool. Robert is a Certified Financial Planner and the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. He also has a newly reinvigor...Read more »

• How to Spend Your Money (256 comments)

  Yesterday, as I was otherwise occupied (I spent five hours writing a post about programmable thermostats, a post nobody will even like!), the conversation on Donna Freedman's article got a little cran...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: February 2011 Update (53 comments)

  Welcome to the GRS Garden Project. Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for February 2011. (Here are the results for 2008 and the results ...Read more »

• Getting Creative with Budget Travel (23 comments)

  This is a guest post from Rebecca Rosenfelt, founder of Inhabit Vacations, a curated travel site. She also blogs about creative approaches to real estate at Real Savvy Real Estate. Previously at GRS, ...Read more »

• Frugality and the Long-Distance Relationship (36 comments)

  This is a guest post from Kelly M., who writes about long-distance relationships at Long-Distance Life. Long-distance relationships can be exciting, challenging, fulfilling, and all sorts of other ...Read more »

• Compound Returns in the Garden: How Long-Term Planning Pays Off When Growing Your Own Food (52 comments)

  A lot of folks have been asking if my wife and I will be doing the Get Rich Slowly garden project this year. That's the plan! After a one-year hiatus, Kris and I intend to track our spending and our p...Read more »

• Five DIY Valentine’s Day Ideas for Frugal Sweethearts (42 comments)

  This post is from staff writer April Dykman. Valentine's Day is a commercialized holiday, but I say, "So what!" Sure, you don't need a holiday to show appreciation for your significant other, bu...Read more »

• In Praise of Thrift: An Old Idea for a New Economy (42 comments)

  This is a guest post by Lori Blatzheim, a writer living in Chanhassen, Minnesota. For more information about National Thrift Week, visit NewThrift.org. If there was a coat of arms for my family, i...Read more »

• Fight Rising Prices by Building Your Own Food Bank (101 comments)

  This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Living With Less personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriv...Read more »

• Follow-Up: Thrifting for Holiday Gifts (16 comments)

  As I mentioned earlier this week, I get a lot of requests for follow-ups to reader stories and questions. People want to hear how things turned out. Because I want to know how things turned out, too, ...Read more »

• Beyond Tupperware: Frugal Food Storage (99 comments)

  This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Living With Less personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriv...Read more »

• Reader Story: A Fresh Start on the Path to Prosperity (112 comments)

  This guest post from Louisa Rogers is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success �...Read more »

• My $132,683 Comcast Bill (100 comments)

  This is a guest post from Carl Hendley of The Motley Fool. He's substituting for Robert Brokamp, the adviser for The Motley Fool’s Rule Your Retirement service. Brokamp generally contributes one new...Read more »

• Getting Paid to Tell Lies: Mystery Shopping as a Frugal Hack (51 comments)

  This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Living With Less personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality and intentional living at Surviving And Thriv...Read more »

• A Non-Consumer Christmas: Simple Gifts for Kids and Grown-Ups (48 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. Not sure what to buy for your loved ones this year...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Is It Okay to Buy a Christmas Gift from a Thrift Store? (169 comments)

  The holiday season can test a frugal person's patience: There are so many temptations to spend. Sure, we all want to enjoy the festive nature this time of year, but where do you draw the line? And how...Read more »

• How to Feed Your Soul for Cheap: 12 Ways to Enjoy High Culture for Less (36 comments)

  This post is from new GRS staff writer Donna Freedman. Donna writes the Living With Less personal finance column for MSN Money, and writes about frugality, intentional living and lifeitsownself at Sur...Read more »

• How to Lower Your Heating Bills This Winter (86 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. The chilly season is upon us. If you live in North...Read more »

• Reader Story: Inexpensive Gift Ideas for Christmas (and Beyond!) (40 comments)

  This guest post from Shelley Turner is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success ...Read more »

• Reader Story: Pedaling Toward Financial Freedom (82 comments)

  This guest post from Tammy Strobel is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success &...Read more »

• Budget-Friendly Decorating Tips (26 comments)

  In April, Rebecca shared a guest post about how she generates extra income by letting strangers pay her rent. She has homes in Portland, Oregon and New York City. When she's in one city, she rents out...Read more »

• Swapping Convenience for Low Costs (68 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. The other day I was walking down the street when a...Read more »

• The Joys of Home Canning (53 comments)

  This guest post from my wife is yet another installment in her ongoing quest to grow and preserve food for our household. Making jam makes me happy. Okay, that’s only partly true. I’m also happ...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Save Tons of Money by Grocery Shopping Once Every Three Months (99 comments)

  This guest post from Jenny Sandman is part of the "reader stories" feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success &...Read more »

• Take Only Photographs: Frugal Souvenirs (82 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. Travel is a gift. We get to see new places and...Read more »

• Surprising Secrets of the Cheapskates Next Door (98 comments)

  This is a guest post from Jeff Yeager, author of the newly-published The Cheapskate Next Door. Yeager calls himself the Ultimate Cheapskate — and his wife agrees. Yeager is also a contributor at...Read more »

• How to Use a Food Dehydrator to Preserve Your Harvest (36 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. It's been a long time since she chimed in around here. Have no fears: She's the frugal heart of our homestead, and she's always looking for ways to grow and preserve...Read more »

• Reader Story: Rich Dad, Stingy Dad (199 comments)

  This guest post from Anna is part of the "reader stories" feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general "how I did X" advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial...Read more »

• How to Save Money While Traveling (75 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. When I was packing for my trip to Argentina, a fri...Read more »

• The Savvy Blogging Summit (58 comments)

  I've been a bit quiet around here lately, but for good reason. Over the weekend, I attended the Savvy Blogging Summit in Breckenridge, Colorado. This gathering of roughly 65 women (and three men) is a...Read more »

• What Should You Buy Used? What Should You Buy New? (142 comments)

  Though the Get Rich Slowly community has expanded in the past couple of years, there are still a few folks who have been around since the beginning. It's always a pleasure when one of them drops me a ...Read more »

• Save Money by Baking Your Own Bread (64 comments)

  Ah, at last: The sun has arrived in Oregon. It's not hot, but it's warm, and we'll take it. The coming of summer means I can stop whining about the rain, and it also means that Kris and I have star...Read more »

• Living on (a Lot) Less (58 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. I spent last weekend at a lake house in Maine with...Read more »

• Dress Yourself For Free: How to Host A Clothing Swap (72 comments)

  This post is from staff writer Sierra Black. Sierra writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. I spend almost nothing on clothes. According to Mi...Read more »

• Save Money by Carrying a Water Bottle (63 comments)

  I've intended to begin featuring entries from the recent GRS video contest, but things keep getting in the way. Let's change that! Starting today, I'll use Saturdays to highlight some of my favorites,...Read more »

• Frugal Babe, Rich Life (55 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. "A rich life without a lot of money." — That's the tagline of a blog I've read almost as long as I've been reading Get Rich Slowly, and long befor...Read more »

• Reader Story: Traveling Cross-Country Dirt Cheap (63 comments)

  This guest post from Michelle Russo is part of the "reader stories" feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some reader stories contain general "how I did X" advice, and others are examples of how a GRS read...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: April 2010 Update (39 comments)

  Kris and I aren't repeating our annual garden project this year. We're too swamped to take the time to track our expenses and harvests. In fact, our garden will probably be a bit smaller than usual th...Read more »

• Finding Frugal Fun with Board Games (110 comments)

  This is a guest post from Katie Boes, a self-avowed nerd. As kids, many of us loved playing board games. I was a child of the eighties and, as such, grew up playing Candy Land, Sorry!, and Monopoly...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: January 2010 Update (28 comments)

  It's been a l-o-n-g time since Kris and I gave an update on our garden project. I've been too wrapped up in writing a book to pay attention to anything else. Now that I've pulled my head out of the sa...Read more »

• Reader Story: How I Got Married on the Cheap — And Loved It! (122 comments)

  This guest post from Lars is part of a new feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Every Sunday will include a reader story (in the new "reader stories" category). Some will be general "how I did X" stories,...Read more »

• The Art of the Potluck (35 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. Today's my deadline for turning in the manuscript for Your Money: The Missing Manual (which has an official cover now!). I still have to finish the retirement chapte...Read more »

• Energy-Efficiency Tax Credits Could Be Your Personal Government-Bailout Package (38 comments)

  David Kaplan wrote with the following: "A lot of personal finance blogs cover the same material. I'd like to see some quality content on the value added by investing in energy efficiencies. My prime ...Read more »

• The Basic Law of Frugality (90 comments)

  April's post this morning about renting designer purses and other luxury items raised a few eyebrows. Because the focus here at Get Rich Slowly is on frugality, it's not often that we delve into the w...Read more »

• Five Festive Christmas Cookies to Share with Family and Friends (33 comments)

  What's Christmas without cookies? A plate of warm Christmas cookies can help you bond with the neighbors, and taking a tray to the office is a sure way to win points with your co-workers. Christma...Read more »

• How I Cut my Comcast Cable Bill by 33% (Without Losing Any Service) (231 comments)

  Last week, I wrote that you can negotiate anything. This guest post by G.E. Miller gives a real-life example of using negotiation to save money. For more from G.E., check out his personal finance blog...Read more »

• Is Frugality a Necessary Evil? (118 comments)

  In the comments on a recent post about peer pressure, I mentioned a quote that I'd edited from the original draft. (I write a lot of stuff that doesn't make it into final articles. It's as if there sh...Read more »

• Creative Cleaning with Everyday Products (69 comments)

  This article is by GRS staff writer Adam Baker. Baker recently shared an in-depth video example of how you can save $521 when booking airfare online. Recently my 19-month old daughter managed to ge...Read more »

• The Best Pot Roast Ever: A Frugal Recipe for November (48 comments)

  "It's been a long time since you shared a recipe at Get Rich Slowly," I told Kris last week. "What about that pot roast recipe?" she asked. "You love that." "Yes. Yes, I do," I said. This guest post f...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: October 2009 Update (20 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for October 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) As those of you who follow me on Twitter alread...Read more »

• The Art of Improvising: Alternatives to Buying New (53 comments)

  This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. When you have a need or a problem, there's usually a solution that can be bought. Buying a solution is often the easiest and fastest way to solve a ...Read more »

• The Pitfalls of Buying in Bulk (75 comments)

  This is a guest post from Sierra Black, a long-time GRS reader and the author of ChildWild, a blog where she writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale. Previously at...Read more »

• Small Amounts Matter (60 comments)

  This article is the fifth of a fourteen-part series that explores the core tenets of Get Rich Slowly. Getting started with smart personal finance isn't always easy. It's one thing to read about the...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: September 2009 Update (28 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for September 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) After a long productive summer, our September...Read more »

• Slash Your Grocery Bill With Store-Brand Products (136 comments)

  The October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports contains an article extolling the virtues of generic store-brand products. While shoppers used to sacrifice quality when choosing generic, that's no longer t...Read more »

• The Personal Finance Hour, Episode 20: Spending Smart with Greg Karp (7 comments)

  On this week's installment of The Personal Finance Hour, Jim and I spent the hour talking with nationally-syndicated financial columnist Greg Karp. Greg is the author of The 1-2-3 Money Plan, which I ...Read more »

• Sweating the Big Stuff (73 comments)

  This is a guest post from Sierra Black, a long-time GRS reader. She writes about frugality, sustainable living, and getting her kids to eat kale at Childwild.com. When my husband and I first got ma...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: August 2009 Update (41 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for August 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) After late July's blistering heat, August has be...Read more »

• How to Shop at an Estate Sale (38 comments)

  At 10am yesterday morning, Kris and I climbed into the Mini Cooper and to head for the county fair. We'd only been driving for a few minutes when Kris pointed at a sign. "Look! An estate sale," she sa...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Alternate Modes of Transportation (118 comments)

  I've always been a car guy. It's not that I'm mechanically inclined or that I get into the latest makes and models — neither of these is anywhere close to the truth — but that a car has al...Read more »

• A Few Notes About Clotheslines (104 comments)

  Howdy, folks! Staff writer tryouts still have a few days left, but I jotted a quick post this morning and thought I'd squeeze it in this afternoon just to break things up. I wrote a MAMMOTH post about...Read more »

• Beyond Frugality: What I Learned from Failure (63 comments)

  This is a guest post from Jason Barr, who writes about personal development at Start Being Your Best. Jason is a potential Staff Writer for Get Rich Slowly. He's 32 years old, has been married for sev...Read more »

• Where to Find Free Activities and Events in Your Area (65 comments)

  This is a guest post from Lynn, a long-time reader of personal-finance blogs. Lynn is a potential Staff Writer for Get Rich Slowly. She is the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of her family, and is worki...Read more »

• A Visit to the Island of Misfit Foods (84 comments)

  This is a guest post from Karawynn, who writes about personal finance at Pocketmint. Karawynn is a potential Staff Writer for Get Rich Slowly. Karawynn has been blogging since before "blogging" was a ...Read more »

• How to Use Couchsurfing to See the World (107 comments)

  This is a guest post from Baker, who writes about personal finance at Man vs. Debt. Baker is a potential Staff Writer for Get Rich Slowly. Along with his wife and 15-month-old daughter, Baker has rec...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: July 2009 Update (34 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for July 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) Welcome to Oregon, where for the past week it's be...Read more »

• Saving Money on Everyday Stuff (19 comments)

  I haven't made the time to piece together a "links roundup" lately, which is too bad. I've collected a lot of articles worth mentioning, even if they don't merit full posts of their own. I try to ...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: Daniel Suelo, The Man Without Money (82 comments)

  Previously in my semi-regular Extreme Personal Finance series, I've highlighted: A couple who paid off their $220,000 mortgage in three years People who live on $12,000 a year Don Schrader, the...Read more »

• Two Frugal Summer Recipes: Thai Tuna Salad and Asian Pickles (12 comments)

  On Monday, I wrote about our frugal weekend. One of the little things I mentioned doing was mixing up a large batch of Thai tuna salad to use for sandwiches during the week. Yum! Several readers as...Read more »

• Our Frugal Weekend (77 comments)

  I haven't written much about frugality here lately. Because of that, you might think it's become less of a priority for me. That's simply not the case, although sometimes it feels that way — eve...Read more »

• More Month Than Money: Tightening Your Food Budget While Feeding Your Family Well (42 comments)

  The July/August issue of Countryside (one of my favorite magazines) contains an article from Tracy Rimmer about how she saves money on food. In the article, Rimmer mentions her website, New Century Ho...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: June 2009 Update (27 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for June 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) It's the beginning of summer, and that means our g...Read more »

• A Day at the Community Garage Sale (32 comments)

  Kris and I had a l-o-n-g day today. We rose early and drove to one of Portland's nicest neighborhoods for the 24th annual Eastmoreland Garage Sale. Officially, there were 141 families hawking their St...Read more »

• Reader Story: The Secret Millionaire and the Mathmobile (43 comments)

  I keep telling myself I'll share reader e-mail more often. You folks send me great stuff. For example, here's Ruth's story about her own millionaire next door. I loved reading about J.D.'s "secret ...Read more »

• Eating Organic on a Frugal Budget (46 comments)

  Is it possible to eat local organic food on a food-stamp budget? That's the question Salon's Siobhan Phillips set out to answer recently. For one month, Phillips and her husband gave themselves a budg...Read more »

• The Personal Finance Hour, Episode 11: Frugal Weekend Fun (0 comment)

  Today's a momentous day. For the first time in the history of The Personal Finance Hour, both Jim and I should be on Skype with headsets that work. That is, of course, unless I do something stupid aga...Read more »

• 3 Easy and Delicious Ways to Preserve Your Berry Harvest (20 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife, who has her own fan club around here. "You should have a section at GRS called Kris' corner," one reader wrote recently. That's unlikely to happen, but she's happy t...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: May 2009 Update (50 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for May 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) What a difference a year makes! Our fruits, berries...Read more »

• An Experiment in Cheap Living (from 1872) (38 comments)

  An Experiment in Cheap Living Earlier this week, I shared some of the highlights from three years of GRS articles about saving money on food. Brett from The Art of Manliness, who knows that I colle...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What Makes You Feel Rich While Being Frugal? (161 comments)

  Earlier this week, Aaron asked whether repaying debt should be an obsession. I replied that for some people, "gazelle intensity" makes more sense. (Trent from The Simple Dollar is one of these folk...Read more »

• How to Save Money on Food: Great Tips from Three Years of Get Rich Slowly (34 comments)

  While driving to our monthly book group discussion on Saturday, Kris and I had a conversation with our friend Courtney. Courtney's family is beginning to feel a financial squeeze. Her husband's employ...Read more »

• Learning to Do It Yourself (39 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. I am not handy. Given a garden tool or a kitchen gadget, I can usually find success. But I have neither the talent or inclination for wiring, plumbing, or car...Read more »

• How to Live Well on Less in Retirement (65 comments)

  Though I'm not close to retirement myself, one GRS reader recently sent me a link to an article from the monthly newsletter from AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons). In the April 2009 i...Read more »

• The New Age of Thrift (68 comments)

  Over the past few months, the mainstream media has been filled with stories about the New Frugals and the return to thrift. People who once lived beyond their means, financing their lifestyle with deb...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: April 2009 Update (36 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for April 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) April was a slow month for our garden. We didn't ...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How to Save Money on Books? (127 comments)

  Most of the questions I receive from readers are about their specific financial situations. But occasionally somebody writes with something a little different. Yesterday, for example, Joshua wrote to ...Read more »

• The Secrets of Financial Freedom: An Interview with the Millionaire Next Door (141 comments)

  Today is the last day of Financial Literacy Month. To tie everything together, I thought it would be fun to share an interview my real millionaire next door, a man we'll call John. He used the basic t...Read more »

• Saving Money and the Environment: Where Green and Frugal Meet (62 comments)

  This is a guest post for Earth Day from Beth H., who writes about saving time, money, and the environment at Smart Family Tips. Going "green" has a bit of a bad rap. As soon as marketers realized i...Read more »

• A Very Small Adventure: Riding the Bus (119 comments)

  I had a big day today, though I'm sure many of you will laugh: I rode the bus for the first time. Actually, I've been on buses many times before. I rode a school bus as a child, and I've used publi...Read more »

• 84-Year-Old Social Worker Saves $1.4 Million (78 comments)

  Over the weekend, Kevin and Nathaniel both sent me an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that tells the story of Jane M. Buri, an 84-year-old social worker who quietly amassed a $1.4 million for...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: March 2009 Update (34 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for March 2009, which was written by Kris. (Here are the results for 2008.) In Oregon, the month o...Read more »

• Start a SwapLuck to Share the Things You Make and Do (25 comments)

  When I wrote about homesteading magazines in February, several people praised Countryside as the best of the bunch. Intrigued, I subscribed. I've received my first issue and I have to say: I'm impress...Read more »

• A Frugal Dinner with Friends (67 comments)

  Kris and I had dinner last night with our new acquaintances friends, Chris and Jolie. Dinner was fun. This was in part because our hosts made a point of preparing a frugal meal. "If you bring wine," C...Read more »

• How to Save $100 (or More) at the Grocery Store This Month (75 comments)

  This is a guest post from Erin, who writes about frugal food at $5 Dinners. When gas prices were soaring in the summer of 2008, my family was scrambling to find ways to save money. We could not re...Read more »

• Oversaving Does Not Lead to Happiness (50 comments)

  I love frugality. Frugality helped me to dig out of debt, begin to build wealth, and find more meaning in the things I already own. But at some point I crossed the line from frugal to cheap. I've spen...Read more »

• Reader Comment: A Lifetime of Doing the Right Thing (60 comments)

  It's been a while since I highlighted an individual reader comment, but I wanted to draw attention to some advice that Kenny left for Sara in Friday's "ask the readers". You'll recall that 24-year-old...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: What Do You Do When Frugality Gets You Nowhere? (166 comments)

  In general, the frugal person who saves and invests will slowly build wealth, and will find herself far ahead of her peers. But sometimes the progress is slow — or even non-existent. When this h...Read more »

• Some Thoughts on the Return to Traditional Skills (105 comments)

  I give several media interviews each month. As the economy changes, so do the questions. Recently, as you can imagine, reporters have been asking me what people can do to save money. This question...Read more »

• 50 Tips for DIY Savings Around the House (19 comments)

  While researching for our upcoming home repairs, I stumbled upon an article over at This Old House. Josh Garskof has put together a list of 50 nifty tricks for big do-it-yourself savings. What sort of...Read more »

• Starting Seeds Indoors: Jump-Start Your Garden Today (52 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife, who has received several requests to describe her method for starting seeds indoors. In some parts of the U.S., vegetable and flower seeds can be successfully pla...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: February 2009 Update (53 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for February 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) We spent a lot of time in our garden this mont...Read more »

• Magazines (and Websites) About Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency (105 comments)

  When I was a boy, my father used to buy Mother Earth News from the grocery store. The magazine was filled with stories about self-sufficient country living, the sort of thing my dad aspired to. I'd re...Read more »

• Outside Looking In: How Others View Our Spending (80 comments)

  Last week, I went running with my friend Mac. As we ran, we talked. Mac asked me how it felt to be out of debt, to actually be saving money. Like many of my friends, he's watched my financial turnarou...Read more »

• Books with True-Life Stories about Frugality (43 comments)

  In the olden days — before I wrote this blog full time — I was a regular at the wonderful AskMetafilter, a collaborative site for answering reader questions. I don't have as much time to h...Read more »

• Confessions of a Butcher: Eating Steak on a Hamburger Budget (39 comments)

  Every week, I receive a couple of books in the mail from authors and publishers. (This week there were six!) They're hoping that I'll find time to review their work at Get Rich Slowly. I do my best, b...Read more »

• Recession Romance: Make a Delicious Valentine’s Day Dinner at Home (59 comments)

  With Valentine's Day approaching, I polled my Twitter followers for their favorite frugal and romantic date ideas. Some of the great responses included: From @Finc_Confluence: "A photo scavenger ...Read more »

• Quick Tips for Eating Organic (62 comments)

  Last week, I spoke with Lou Bendrick, who writes the Checkout Line column at Grist, a site devoted to environmental news and commentary. Bendrick answers reader questions about making "green" food-cho...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: January 2009 Update (40 comments)

  Every month, my wife and I track how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for January 2009. (Here are the results for 2008.) Even with the other stuff going on in our lives...Read more »

• Your Thrift Habits: Money Tips from 1948 (21 comments)

  For this final day of Thrift Week 2009, Get Rich Slowly revisits a short thrift film that I first featured in May 2007. Over the past few years, I've shared a number of old cartoons and educational...Read more »

• Which America? The Possibilities of American Thrift (36 comments)

  As National Thrift Week winds down, I'm pleased to offer (by permission) a short essay from author David Blankenhorn. This is taken from the end of his 2008 book, Thrift: A Cyclopedia, published by Te...Read more »

• Repair, Restore, Rejoice: Making the Most of Home Appliances (67 comments)

  This is a guest post from Betsy Teutsch, who blogs about sustainable living and socially-responsible investing at Money Changes Things. As any homeowner can attest, appliance longevity is diminishi...Read more »

• Why I Drive a 13-Year-Old Car (259 comments)

  This is a guest post from Joel Berry. I recently had a talk with a friend about why I haven't purchased a new car. He can't understand why I still drive a 1995 Geo Prizm. I can afford to buy a new ...Read more »

• The Razor’s Edge: Lessons in True Wealth (159 comments)

  Our friends have a profound effect on our personal finance habits. Some friends can lead us to spending and to debt. Others offer insight into the virtues of thrift. For me, my friend Sparky has been ...Read more »

• Happy 303rd Birthday, Benjamin Franklin! (26 comments)

  Today is the first day of National Thrift Week. It's also the 303rd anniversary of the birth of America's first — and best — personal-finance writer. Benjamin Franklin was born on this day...Read more »

• National Thrift Week: January 17th to 24th (26 comments)

  I recently finished reading Thrift: A Cyclopedia by David Blankenhorn. I hadn't intended to review the book on this site, or even to discuss it much. It's simply not the sort of book that the average ...Read more »

• 7 Tips for Starting Your Own Vegetable Garden (69 comments)

  Early January. Though it's the dead of winter, many of us are dreaming about our summer vegetable gardens. The seed catalogs have begun to appear in the mailbox. Kris and I received eight of them toda...Read more »

• Book Review: 365 Ways to Live Cheap! (28 comments)

  Today I am reviewing new books written by two colleagues: Trent from The Simple Dollar and Leo from Zen Habits. As you read these reviews, please remember that I am friends with both authors. Mary ...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: Winners and Losers for 2008 (37 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. Our gardening for the year came to a close around Halloween. Although we'll harvest herbs all winter — I've started an indoor herb garden with clearance-sal...Read more »

• In Defense of Buying Books (108 comments)

  J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Ann Zerkle, a Get Rich Slowly lurker, and the founder of Heroes of Capitalism. I know J.D. has posted many times about how going to the library save...Read more »

• Learning to Live Modestly (36 comments)

  J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, a Canadian financial writer and host of the television series 'Til Debt Do Us Part. Frugality is all the rage. And a good thing too. ...Read more »

• December 24, 1958: A Six-Dollar Christmas (21 comments)

  I'm on vacation. This is a guest post from my aunt. It's sort of a real-life "Gift of the Magi". My aunt and uncle (who is called "Pop" in this story) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this pa...Read more »

• Alternatives to Buying New (20 comments)

  J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from The Thrifty Homeowner. There are a couple of things in life that I think I do well: saving money and decreasing my household’s waste. Obtaining a g...Read more »

• Embracing the Thrift-Store Ethic: 18 Top Tips for Buying Used Clothes (129 comments)

  If the national media is any indication, more people are embracing the notion of buying used clothing from thrift stores and consignment shops. Last week, USA Today ran a story describing how secondha...Read more »

• The Good Consumer (36 comments)

  In my favorite section of David Mitchell's brilliant Cloud Atlas, Sonmi-451 is a clone who works in a fast-food restaurant in near-future Korea, a society ruled by corporcracy (a government of corpora...Read more »

• How to Afford Anything (But Not Everything) (61 comments)

  You can have anything you want — but you can't have everything you want. That's the lesson I learned from a recent conversation with my cousin. And that's the lesson photographer Ken Rockwell im...Read more »

• Finding Good Wines at Great Prices: Expert Advice for Frugal Wine Lovers (70 comments)

  I love wine but I'm not a wine snob. I don't speak the lingo, and I don't want to. All I know is that some wines taste better than others, and that some wines cost more than others. For me, the best b...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: November Update (30 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for November. This month's garden update is small. As winter approaches, there's less for u...Read more »

• Things It’s Cheaper to Do Yourself (97 comments)

  I'm driving down to my mother's house this morning to work on her roof. Over the years, the shingles have been overrun with moss, so my cousin and I are going to spend a couple of hours scraping the s...Read more »

• Could You Eat Healthfully on One Dollar a Day? (93 comments)

  "How much does it really cost to eat a healthy diet?" asks Tara Parker-Pope in a recent New York Times article. Among other findings, she notes: Nearly a billion people, or about 15% of the world...Read more »

• Can You Save $1,000 in 30 Days? (54 comments)

  Ramit at I Will Teach You to Be Rich has announced his Save $1,000 in 30 Days Challenge. During the month of November, he's urging people to get off the couch and actually take steps to reduce their s...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: October Update (39 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for October. October can be something of a relief for gardeners. The bulk of the harvest is...Read more »

• How Low Can You Go? Cutting Back to Minimum (192 comments)

  I was sick again yesterday morning. To console myself, I made a cup of cocoa. As I was preparing to add the required three tablespoons of chocolate powder, it occurred to me that maybe I could get by ...Read more »

• Consumer Reports Introduces Tightwad Tod (10 comments)

  Consumer Reports is the best money magazine in the U.S., but most of its web-based content is behind a paywall (even for magazine subscribers!). Fortunately, the site offers seven blogs that allow you...Read more »

• Old Clothes for the New Year (41 comments)

  This is a guest post from The Frugal Duchess, Sharon Harvey Rosenberg. Rosenberg writes a column for the Miami Herald about saving money. Her new book is The Frugal Duchess: How to Live Well and Save ...Read more »

• “Our New Bookstore is the Library” (83 comments)

  On our vacation last week, Kris and I stayed at a nice bed & breakfast on San Juan Island. One morning, we spoke with Debbie, our hostess, and the conversation turned to books. I mentioned that I like...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: Favorite Frugal Christmas Ideas? (124 comments)

  I made a trip to Costco yesterday to buy index cards. (Believe it or not, index cards are the building blocks of this blog.) The store didn't have any, but it did have four long aisles stocked with Ch...Read more »

• Once-a-Month Shopping: Save More by Shopping Less (145 comments)

  How often do you go to the supermarket? Could you get by making only one trip per month? What if it saved you money? My wife and I are both reading America's Cheapest Family by Steve and Annette Ec...Read more »

• A Practical Wedding (39 comments)

  Speaking of weddings, Kate F. wrote the other day to share a tip: I am just starting the wedding planning process and have been really disheartened by the wedding industry and the realization that ...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: September Update (62 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for September. September generally brings the largest harvests for our garden. That was tru...Read more »

• Making and Doing: The Value of Productive Hobbies (62 comments)

  I spent a couple hours this morning performing what ought to have been a simple home-maintenance task. The light fixture on our front porch had gone faulty, and I needed to replace it. I've done enoug...Read more »

• Burn After Reading: The $22 Movie (157 comments)

  I'm going to sound like a crotchety old man for a minute here — but it's my blog and I can write what I want. Movies are too damn expensive. One of the luxuries of working from home is that w...Read more »

• The Power of Attentive Spending (26 comments)

  This is a guest post from Kevin, who writes about getting and staying out of debt with a plan at No-Debt Plan. Saving money and the frugal mentality are all about awareness. If you're in the dark a...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Home Canning (58 comments)

  "What do you do with all that produce?" one reader asked recently about our garden. "Do you really eat it all, or does it go to waste?" We eat it, but not at once. Though we enjoy a lot of the food...Read more »

• Fighting Food-Budget Killers (78 comments)

  At MSN Money, Liz Pulliam Weston has an article about fighting what she calls food-budget killers, those items at the grocery store that can put an extra strain on your pocketbook. Weston's story g...Read more »

• Quick and Easy Car Maintenance: Change Your Oil and Inflate Your Tires (34 comments)

  "The value of proper car maintenance is priceless," writes Liza Barth at the Consumer Reports auto blog. "Regular maintenance of your vehicle can save you money on vehicle repairs and keep it running ...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: August Update (31 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for August. The berry harvest continued this month at Rosings Park, our happy half acre sou...Read more »

• U-Pick: The Next Best Thing to Growing Your Own (25 comments)

  Though Kris and I are growing our own green beans this summer, we don't have nearly enough for her grand plans. "I need more beans," she told me last week. "I want to do some canning." I hate green be...Read more »

• Energy Conservation in Alaska: What Worked? What Did Not? (30 comments)

  Last April, Dan wrote to ask GRS readers for help with a sudden energy crisis. Because of a natural disaster, electricity costs in Juneau, Alaska jumped from $0.11 per kilowatt-hour to $0.53 per kilow...Read more »

• Missing the Target: Lousy Store Policies Can Thwart Frugal Intentions (81 comments)

  This is a guest post from The Tim at the Seattle Bubble blog, a site about the housing bubble. He also writes The Naked Loon, a Seattle-centric satirical publication. One way our family keeps the e...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: July Update (29 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for July. It was a berry, berry good month at Rosings Park (as we call our happy half acre)...Read more »

• Use a No-Spend Month to Become Mindful of Money (45 comments)

  Yesterday, Amy Jo pointed me to a site called SmallNotebook.org where Rachel is nearing the end of a self-imposed No-Spend Month. Though the name is something of a misnomer — this exercise is mo...Read more »

• Urban Fruit Gleaning: Harvesting Fresh Fruit in the Middle of the City (26 comments)

  Though Kris and I live just a few miles from downtown Portland, we're fortunate to have three-fifths of an acre of land. This allows us to set aside some large spaces to grow fruits, berries, herbs, f...Read more »

• Five Tactics for Pursuing Voluntary Simplicity (26 comments)

  One of my favorite personal finance bloggers is Philip Brewer at Wise Bread. He writes long, thoughtful articles about the philosophy of money, not just on tips and tricks to save at the grocery store...Read more »

• Easy and Cheap Home-Made Bread (62 comments)

  I baked a loaf of bread yesterday. It was delicious. It was easy. It was cheap. Last winter, I undertook a quest to find the best whole wheat bread in a grocery store. I like sandwiches and I like...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Air-Dry Your Clothes (Even Indoors!) (110 comments)

  Tiffany wrote with a quick energy-saving tip: I hang up my wet clothes inside during the day to let them dry. When I get home from work, I put them in the dryer for about five minutes to get rid of...Read more »

• Saving at the Supermarket: 15 Great Grocery Shopping Tips (69 comments)

  Kris and I went grocery shopping this weekend. We stopped at Bob's Red Mill — a local health-food store — to use some "buy one, get one free" coupons. "You can get anything you want," Kris...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: June Update (36 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for June. It was a miserable June for gardeners in northwest Oregon. The first two weeks we...Read more »

• Cheap Vacation: Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown (56 comments)

  Last weekend, long-time GRS reader Vintek came to Portland. Kris and I joined him and his wife for a Saturday morning culinary tour. On our four-hour trek, we visited a bakery, a cooking store, and a ...Read more »

• The Art of Frugal Living (43 comments)

  Christine just sent me a National Public Radio story about the frugal artists of New York City. Columbia University recently released a study of 213 visual artists over the age of 61. Their average in...Read more »

• A Small Bite: The Sensible Way to Splurge (41 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. I need dessert. After a fine meal — home-cooked or dining out — I simply don't feel satisfied without a bit of something sweet. The slowing metab...Read more »

• Frugality is Important (9 comments)

  Here, via reader Karen L., are some words of wisdoms via a Chinese fortune cookie: Do you have a fun personal finance story or photo you'd like to share? Send it to ...Read more »

• The New Thrift and Seduction By Debt (40 comments)

  In today's New York Times, columnist David Brooks writes about seduction by debt. The United States was founded on a moral structure that emphasized hard work and thrift, he says, and this helped the ...Read more »

• How to Make Your Own Small-Batch Strawberry Jam (9 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. Making your own jam doesn't have to be a big production. While it's sometimes most efficient to do things in bulk with all the right gear, the small-scale opt...Read more »

• Buying Cheap Spices: Unit Pricing in Action (67 comments)

  In yesterday's discussion of how unit pricing can save you money, John made a passing comment that merits closer attention. He wrote: I use unit price all the time when shopping and it's super conv...Read more »

• Unit Pricing: Get More Food for Less Money (65 comments)

  This is a guest post from Charlie Park at PearBudget. Recently, Get Rich Slowly readers got upset at the idea of spending $6 on a gallon of milk. Reading that, I had to chuckle a little bit: Shortl...Read more »

• Bargain Summer Vacation Destinations (40 comments)

  My recent series of interviews with author Tim Ferriss has given me the travel bug. I find myself plotting grand vacations (or mini-retirements). But I don't have the money to spend on a trip to Londo...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: May Update (56 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for May. Today I picked the first two strawberries from our garden. They weren't particular...Read more »

• How to Save Hundreds by Playing the Drugstore Game (100 comments)

  This is a guest post from Cathy, who writes about family finances, cooking, and parenting at Chief Family Officer. I love the philosophy of getting rich slowly by doing the fundamentals: spend less...Read more »

• Use Raspberry Leaves to Make Your Own Herbal Tea (17 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. I drink a lot of herbal tea, but until recently I hadn't considered making my own. When we moved into our house, one of the first things we did was prepare an ...Read more »

• Strawberry Fruit Dip: A Quick and Easy Recipe for May (13 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. Oregonians have a thing for strawberries. After all, who doesn't? But Oregon strawberries spoil us, and unfortunately, our season for local strawberry nirvana do...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: Crissy Thompson, the Coupon Queen (56 comments)

  Changed the title and URL, everyone. Sorry. I hadn't planned to post anything this afternoon, but about a million people (maybe a million-and-a-half) sent me a story about Crissy Thompson from Gain...Read more »

• Get Quality Stuff For Cheap from Local College Students (35 comments)

  Almost a year ago, a reader named Emily wrote with a great tip about finding good deals from local college students. I lost her e-mail until recently, but that's okay. Her advice is perfect for this t...Read more »

• A Real Millionaire Next Door (134 comments)

  Kris and I love our neighborhood. People are friendly and helpful, yet mostly mind their own business. It's a perfect combination. One of our favorite neighbors is the old guy next door. Let's call hi...Read more »

• The Rise of Suburban Farming (40 comments)

  When our friends Mike and Rhonda moved into their new house a couple years ago, their yard was just like every other in the neighborhood: green grass. Chances are, that's what the yards are like in yo...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: April Update (27 comments)

  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food in our g...Read more »

• Save Money on Food with the Sixty Minute Plan (26 comments)

  Kris at Cheap Healthy Good recently wrote how 60 minutes a week can save hundreds of dollars on food. This kind of stuff never occurred to me in my early ‘20s, and The Boyfriend and I are much be...Read more »

• Oven-Roasted Asparagus: A Quick and Frugal Recipe for April (38 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife, who has her own little fan club around here. Maybe she should start a food blog! Asparagus used to be one of those foods that I loved to eat restaurants, but rare...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Turn Your Junk Mail into Garden Mulch (35 comments)

  In yesterday's discussion about how to stop junk mail, icup mentioned using junk mail for mulch. Intrigued, I asked for more information. Here's what he had to say. I'm more interested in saving mo...Read more »

• Grocery Store Mysteries: Cheap Milk (66 comments)

  We ran out of milk this evening, so I made an emergency trip to the grocery store to buy more. Generally we purchase a half gallon of one-percent, which lasts us about a week. When I went to grab t...Read more »

• Secrets of the Extremely Thrifty (29 comments)

  Yesterday Adam at Lifehacker unearthed a Bankrate article in which extreme savers share their secrets. While the tips profiled in this story aren't as radical as some I've shared, they're much more ap...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: The DIY Footrest (41 comments)

  I've been working at home for a month now. I like it. The first week was a little scary, but the past few weeks have been immensely productive. I've caught up on e-mail. I've conducted and given some ...Read more »

• How to Get Rid of Ants (Without Calling an Exterminator) (210 comments)

  I hate ants. At our old house, Kris and I were constantly at war with the little devils. Every time we suffered another invasion, every time they managed to find the pantry, every time they discove...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: March Update (25 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food in our garden. In my mind, March is filled with gardening activities. Not so much, as it turns out. I think April ...Read more »

• Gourmet Cooking with 99-Cent Food? (41 comments)

  Earlier this week, the always-interesting kottke.org pointed to a couple of pieces on 99-cent fine dining. First, from the March 21st episode of National Public Radio's Day to Day, comes a story about...Read more »

• “Golden Boy is Slowly Dying” (79 comments)

  In yesterday's discussion about how to live frugally without looking like a loser, a few people chided me for wearing frayed clothing. MissPinkKate wrote, "Wearing a frayed sweatshirt isn’t a sign y...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How Do You Live Frugally Without Seeming Like a Loser? (164 comments)

  In Wednesday's discussion about how to live on less and love it, Steve left an interesting comment: One topic I never see covered is “extreme finances” or even simple frugality in relationshi...Read more »

• How to Live on Less and Love It (64 comments)

  Charlotte forwarded a great article from Mother Earth News. (When did they go online? It seems so antithetical to their nature!) In "Live on Less and Love It!", Craig Idlebrook describes 75 ways that ...Read more »

• Cinnamon Spice Muffins: An Easy, Frugal Recipe for March (31 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife, whose January recipe for baked potato soup garnered rave reviews. March in our part of Oregon means rain, rain, rain. I'd like to be out working in the yard, but...Read more »

• The Lazy Man’s Guide to Groceries on a Budget (63 comments)

  This is a guest post from Karl Katzke. Eating well is one of the small pleasures that I decided not to forego when I dug myself out of credit card debt. I'm a busy bachelor with an active social li...Read more »

• Lessons from Literature: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (60 comments)

  This is the first of an irregular series. I love to read, especially the classics. From time-to-time I'll share nuggets of personal finance advice I find buried in the pages of the past. This month...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: February Update (22 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I will be tracking how much time and money we spend growing food in our garden. (Important note: Kris tells me she is not going to track her time, which may throw a monkey wre...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Home-Based Physical Fitness (89 comments)

  Lately, I've been making rumblings about getting in shape again. I want to get fit slowly. The trick is figuring out how to do it. It took a lot of reading and a lot of trial and error to take control...Read more »

• Dumb Money: The Movie Theater (106 comments)

  This is a Guest Post from Kevin at No Debt Plan, a blog about living debt-free. This is part of Kevin's Dumb Money series. I was recently thinking about my first real job — doorman at the mo...Read more »

• Minimalist Meals: Fantastic Food in Ten Minutes or Less (38 comments)

  One of the best ways to save money on food is to eat more meals at home. Better yet, eat more meals that you prepare instead of foraging from boxes and cans. With today's busy lifestyles, this can be ...Read more »

• How to Prepare for a Baby (Without Going Broke) (90 comments)

  This is a guest post from Lynnae of beingfrugal.net, a blog about frugal living and getting out of debt. Preparing for a baby doesn't have to cost a lot of money.  Magazines and TV ads will tell ...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: America on $10 a Day (76 comments)

  I love stories of extreme personal finance. In the past I've written about a guy who was homeless by choice, how to pay off your mortgage in three years, and about the most fuel-efficient driver in th...Read more »

• My Frugal Valentine: Cheap Ways to Say “I Love You” (33 comments)

  I don't like Valentine's Day — it fosters the notion that romance is something for special occasions. Worse, it's yet another commercial holiday filled with cards, chocolates, flowers, and gifts...Read more »

• The GRS Garden Project: January Update (35 comments)

  During 2008, my wife and I will be tracking how much time and money we spend growing food in our garden. (Important note: Kris tells me she is not going to track her time, which may throw a monkey wre...Read more »

• Some Thoughts on Making the Transition from Debt to Savings (28 comments)

  One of the most rewarding aspects of writing Get Rich Slowly is sharing success stories and strategies with the readers. In the forums, there's an entire section devoted to financial success stories. ...Read more »

• How to Cope with Frugality Burnout (27 comments)

  Sara Noel at the Frugal Village blog recently shared some excellent advice about avoiding frugality burnout. "If you’ve been focused on frugality for a while," she writes, "at some point you’ll pr...Read more »

• Hearty Baked Potato Soup: A Quick and Frugal Recipe for January (60 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife. You can find many versions of cream-of-potato soup on the internet, ranging from those made with instant mashed potatoes flakes and dried onions, to gourmet creat...Read more »

• The Year-Long GRS Project: How Much Does a Garden Really Save? (107 comments)

  Kris and I are huge fans of gardening. We grow our own flowers, herbs, fruit, berries, and vegetables. We're not able to supply all of our needs, but we do what we can. For the past two years, I've ar...Read more »

• A Life Well-Lived is Not About the Bling (80 comments)

  I love real-life stories of people who get rich slowly. Paul Navone, a 78-year-old resident of Millville, New Jersey, is one of those. On December 21st, Navone donated $1 million to Cumberland County ...Read more »

• Penny Pinchers: Mart and the $10 Boots (13 comments)

  I love family reunions. My cousins are bold and brassy. They're loud, and quick with a funny story. They're also cheap. At a New Year's Day reunion last week, we swapped tales of extreme penny-pinchin...Read more »

• The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Book Contest (253 comments)

  Let's have a little fun. On Sunday, I reviewed Jeff Yeager's new book, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to True Riches. Yeager has graciously offered to give away three copies to Get Rich Slowly rea...Read more »

• Frugality Doesn’t Have to Mean Sacrificing Quality (88 comments)

  This is a guest post from Amanda, a Colorado tech writer and an activist for children with congenital heart disease. I grew up poor: single-wide trailer-house, shared-a-room-with-two-sisters, garag...Read more »

• The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Guide to True Riches (24 comments)

  Jeff Yeager calls himself the Ultimate Cheapskate. He's serious about saving money. He's the sort of guy who soft-boils his morning eggs by putting them in the dishwasher while it runs. In a package h...Read more »

• Sweating the Small Stuff (62 comments)

  Two readers sent me a New York Times story from M.P. Dunleavey that addresses a problem many of us face, especially this time of year. We do our best to set budgets, to track our spending, and to make...Read more »

• The USDA Food Stamp Nutrition Connection (21 comments)

  The United States government has a host of useful web sites. Even the IRS site is informational. I've written about various government resources in the past, such as: The U.S. Department of Labor...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Keeping Warm in Winter (95 comments)

  Cold cold cold — I am cold. Remember George Bailey's "drafty old barn" in It's a Wonderful Life? Our place is like that. This 100-year-old farmhouse is cold all winter long. There are drafts...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How Do You Keep Frugality Fun and Interesting? (55 comments)

  Thrift is an essential skill for overcoming debt and building wealth. Even a billionaire like Warren Buffet preaches the virtues of pinching pennies. But can a frugal life be fun? What do you do when ...Read more »

• Cheap Healthy Good (16 comments)

  One of the most popular topics at Get Rich Slowly is how to eat well for less. It's not enough to only consider cost without also considering nutritional value — you could eat fast food every da...Read more »

• Taco Soup: A Cheap and Delicious Use for Ground Beef (31 comments)

  Last December, I described how Kris and I join three other couples to buy a side of beef every year. After crunching the numbers, I concluded that buying beef in bulk can be an excellent deal, but not...Read more »

• Get More Bang for Your Buck by Using Coupons and Sales Wisely (17 comments)

  This is a guest post from Amanda, a Colorado tech writer and an activist for children with congenital heart disease. My conversion to frugality began about a year ago, but it’s only been recently...Read more »

• How Much Do Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Really Cost? (132 comments)

  Valerie writes: "Someone in our family recently suggested that compact fluourescents weren't worth it due to their high initial cost compared to incandescent light bulbs. We've switched all our light...Read more »

• Frugality is NOT a Dirty Word (69 comments)

  From a few of our recent discussions, I get the sense that some people are uncomfortable with the notion of frugality. These are some actual comments: "Frugality should not be about a total excis...Read more »

• How to Eat at a Swanky Restaurant Without Blowing Your Monthly Food Budget (81 comments)

  Kris and I joined some friends last weekend for a 40th birthday celebration at Bluehour, a swanky Portland restaurant. While the other couples spent $150 to $250 for their meals, we escaped paying on...Read more »

• Use it or Lose It: Getting Value from the Things You Own (27 comments)

  This is a guest post from Amanda, a Colorado tech writer and an activist for children with congenital heart disease. Two key tactics in our strategy for frugality have included moving to buy only ...Read more »

• Money-Saving Ideas for Working Parents (18 comments)

  Over at The Dollar Stretcher, Pamela wrote looking for money-saving ideas that won't burden an overfull schedule: I need some tips from women who work outside the home and drive to a workplace ever...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: One Month as a Freegan (34 comments)

  Would you scavenge your food from somebody else's garbage? A group of people who call themselves freegans do this (and more) every day. This video describes their methods: The current issue of ...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Home-Made Grape Juice (26 comments)

  Kris and I don't grow a lot of our own food, but we grow enough to make a difference. In the fall of 2004, the year we moved into this house, we planted a row of grapes. Using only a shovel, I tor...Read more »

• Baby Boom: The Shockwaves of a Lifestyle Change (32 comments)

  This is a guest post from Amanda, a Colorado tech writer and an activist for children with congenital heart disease. I’ve been following Get Rich Slowly and Wise Bread lately, and I find myself f...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Do-it-Yourself Home Maintenance (26 comments)

  I hate plumbing. Whenever a faucet begins to leak or a drain clogs, my stomach sinks. I know it means hours of frustrating work. It's not that plumbing is difficult — it's just that I'm not well...Read more »

• How to Feed Yourself for $15 a Week (199 comments)

  Our discussion about how to eat for cheap generated a lot of great tips. Daiko shared a detailed explanation of how he once got by spending just $15/week on food. This is a great real-life example of ...Read more »

• Words of Wisdom from the Frugal Zealot (11 comments)

  Today at Zen Habits, Leo reviewed "the cheapskate's Bible," Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I love this book — it's one of my favorite inspirations for money-saving ideas. Leo also...Read more »

• The Frugal Collector: 10 Ways to Curb the Habit (29 comments)

  I spent my Labor Day weekend scouring my bookshelves, sorting thousands of books and comics. I tried not to think about how much I'd paid for things, instead dividing them into two piles: Books a...Read more »

• From the Frugal Kitchen: How to Make Bread-and-Butter Pickle Slices (27 comments)

  Here's another frugal recipe from my wife. This easy and delicious recipe for bread & butter pickles is perfect for a beginner. Regardless of your skill level, you'll produce canned pickles that yo...Read more »

• 100 Things You Can Make Yourself (9 comments)

  When was the last time you made something? Deborah Ng at Simply Thrifty took it upon herself to make something rather cool: a hyperlinked list of 100 things you can make yourself. Deborah writes: I...Read more »

• Every Penny Counts: Saving for Big Goals (29 comments)

  Get Rich Slowly readers submitted a couple dozen articles while I was on vacation, but one story was mentioned more than any other. Several people sent me a New York Times piece by Christine Haughney ...Read more »

• 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap (193 comments)

  This is a guest post by Mehdi, author of StrongLifts.com. If you enjoy this post, check out his site. Eating healthy is important. . Eating healthy: Lowers disease risks Increases produc...Read more »

• Save on Groceries with ‘Strike-Point Shopping’ (30 comments)

  DM wrote to share his favorite grocery tip. As the primary cook and grocery-getter in our household, I've discovered that there are certain pantry and household items that we use more than others...Read more »

• Thrifty Tips from the Yardsale Queen (20 comments)

  This is a guest-post from Chris Heiska, The Yardsale Queen. Some people believe the myth that there's only junk at yardsales and thrift stores. That is absolutely not true. Buying at yardsales do...Read more »

• How to Start a Family Without Breaking the Bank (87 comments)

  This guest post is from Nickel, author of Raising4Boys.com and FiveCentNickel.   I recently received an e-mail from a reader asking about the "real" cost of raising kids. In short, she's he...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Small Victories (23 comments)

  Sometimes I get giddy when I save just a little bit of money. The cyan ink in our printer ran dry yesterday. When I went to the store today I had the option of buying name-brand ink for $8 a cartr...Read more »

• Pick Your Own: A Brief Guide to the Berry Patch (20 comments)

  Picking berries is one of my favorite parts of summer. Kris and I grow much of our own fruit, and we're snacking from June to September. Our garden includes strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, bl...Read more »

• How to Save a Dollar (44 comments)

  Here's a guest-post from my cousin, Mrs. Darling. She previously shared information on how to raise a family on one income (here's part two). The third part to that series will appear here in August. ...Read more »

• How To Escape the Gift Trap (60 comments)

  This is a guest-post from my wife. Amanda recently sent J.D. an e-mail looking for advice about gift-giving: My husband and I have made huge lifestyle changes since our son was born with conge...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: Living on $12,000 a Year (67 comments)

  How much do you need to earn to be happy? Could you get by on $12,000 a year? The folks at W4 Resistance advocate withholding all or part of your Federal income tax in order to resist the war in I...Read more »

• Simple Homemade Chicken Stock Using a Supermarket Rotisserie Chicken (26 comments)

  This is a guest-post from my wife. In our house, rotisserie chickens from the grocery store are a time- and effort-saver. A whole fryer chicken usually sells for less than $1/pound. A typical roti...Read more »

• The Frugal Traveler: American Road Trip (29 comments)

  Kris and I are deep in preparation for our upcoming trip to England and Ireland. We've spent the past two months researching frugal travel options, including digital cameras, walking shoes, and &mdash...Read more »

• A Beginner’s Guide to Once-a-Month Cooking (41 comments)

  Many people complain that they don't have time to eat healthfully or frugally. It's easy to lapse into convenience food, which is both expensive and a poor nutritional choice. This tip at Bankrate sug...Read more »

• Christmas in June: Save Money with Homemade Gifts (17 comments)

  This is a guest-post from my wife. Each December, I put together gifts for friends, co-workers, neighbors and family. My list is long, and I don't want to break the bank. Homemade gifts go the ext...Read more »

• Reader Story: Necessity is the Mother of Frugality (34 comments)

  Daniel wrote with the following story: I work across town, which means I have to fill up my tank at least once a week. With the rising cost of gas, this comes to about $50 a week. What can I do...Read more »

• Student Cook: Eat Healthily on a Student Budget (9 comments)

  When I first left home, my diet was awful. I mostly ate pizza and ramen, with a lot of hamburgers added to the mix. I didn't prepare much food myself because I didn't know how. Besides, I didn't think...Read more »

• Crossing the Line from Frugal to Cheap (51 comments)

  Sometimes it's hard to tell when I'm being frugal and when I'm just being cheap. One side effect of losing weight — a positive one, mind you — is that I don't fit into some of my favori...Read more »

• Festival of Frugality #75 (20 comments)

  Welcome to the 75th edition of the Festival of Frugality. Here you'll find a mass of money-saving tips from 44 different bloggers. I've organized the entries into broad subject areas, and noted my fav...Read more »

• Why Frugality is an Important Part of Personal Finance (41 comments)

  I began reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette last week. "This is pretty good," I told Kris. "It's like a frugality weblog from before there were weblogs." The Tightwad Gazette was a newsletter pu...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: One Man’s Trash (27 comments)

  On my drive home from work yesterday, I passed a stack of wood along the side of River Road. On top of the pile was a hand-lettered sign that read: FREE LUMBER — HELP YOURSELF. I drove past, not...Read more »

• Your Thrift Habits: Budgeting Lessons from 1948 (13 comments)

  Recently I stumbled on some old instructional films at A/V Geeks, including this little honey: "Your Thrift Habits". Produced in 1948 by Coronet Instructional Films, it's filled with great advice, and...Read more »

• The Thrifty Food Plan Challenge: Eating Well for Less (54 comments)

  Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski recently spent a much-publicized week eating on a food-stamp budget. His motive, he said, was to gain a new appreciation for the working poor. Rebecca Blood notes that "...Read more »

• Easy Ways to Spend Less on Your Computer (52 comments)

  Here's a guest entry from reader Cliff Barbier, who gives us the low-down on the world of cheap computing. Computers permeate our lives. We bank on computers, we buy with computers, and we communi...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Planting Time (11 comments)

  "Wow," I said to Kris at dinner last night. "This pasta sauce is great." She smiled: "I made it. From tomatoes we grew last summer." I give Kris a hard time for all the attention she pays her t...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: A Cheap Defense Against Weeds (35 comments)

  Spring is here, and that means lawn chores. "Grass is a weed," my wife and I tell each other. But with 3/5 of an acre, much of it lawn, we have a lot of grass to care for. Aside from mowing, one o...Read more »

• The ThriftShopper.Com (7 comments)

  Thrift stores are an excellent source for inexpensive books, furniture, and clothing. I visit the local Goodwill about once a month to browse my favorite sections for bargains. (I'm wearing a $3 sweat...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: The Garden in Spring (18 comments)

  On Sundays, I've been sharing how to earn money from hobbies. Some hobbies can also save you money, which is just as good. Like many advocates of frugality and simple living, Kris and I take pleasure ...Read more »

• Frugal Easter Egg Decorating Tips (19 comments)

  Tina sent in a timely article from The Dollar Stretcher, one of the oldest and best money-saving sites on the web. (It's been around since 1996, and looks like its design hasn't changed since!) Jenny ...Read more »

• Small Amounts Matter (14 comments)

  Sometimes I'll be talking about frugality with somebody who says, "Why bother? Pinching pennies all the time makes me feel lousy. Besides, you can't really save that much money. You really save money ...Read more »

• Un-Frugal: The Curse of Forgotten Leftovers (15 comments)

  This is a guest post from my wife, who thinks the following story is simply hysterical. J.D. and I are fairly good at eating our leftovers. I often intentionally create leftovers for my sack lunch...Read more »

• Save Money on Laundry Day (19 comments)

  At Curbly, the DIY Maven has posted advice on how to save money on laundry day. When the Spray 'n' Wash runs out, make your own. If you use dryer sheets, only use half at a time. If you're shop...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Fashion on a Budget (37 comments)

  When I was in high school, I was enthralled by the world of fashion. This was the era of Miami Vice, of Tubbs and Crockett and their pastel suits. Of Footloose-inspired skinny ties (and knit ties, too...Read more »

• How to Save for the Trip of a Lifetime (17 comments)

  Ian publishes an online travel magazine (a.k.a. "a blog") called Brave New Traveler, which is dedicated to providing information for world adventurers. He pointed me to a recent guest-post from Lucia ...Read more »

• The Budget Wino: Advice for Frugal Oenophiles (13 comments)

  Buying wine at the grocery store can be a crapshoot. The local Safeway has hundreds to choose from, yet I know from experience that not all these wines are good. In fact, a few I hope never to drink a...Read more »

• Extreme Personal Finance: Homeless By Choice (10 comments)

  Several readers wrote to share this story of extreme personal finance from the pages of the Los Angeles Times: 26-year-old Andy Bussell has been living in his truck, homeless by choice, for the past y...Read more »

• Save Money with a Magazine Exchange (18 comments)

  One magazine subscription isn't expensive, but when you take more than a few, the costs can add up quickly. I've been addicted to magazines in the past, and I know how easy it is to oversubscribe. Whe...Read more »

• Voluntary Frugality vs. Frugality of Need (10 comments)

  Sloganeering posted a response to my recent story about allowing yourself to splurge. The author makes an excellent observation: There are two ways to wind up living a frugal life-style: because yo...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Bundle Up to Stay Warm (43 comments)

  A few years ago we bought a century-old house. It's poorly insulated. There are many windows. There are cracks under the doors. As you might expect, it's cold. To conserve energy, we use a programmabl...Read more »

• How to Eat Vegetarian on the Cheap (41 comments)

  I recently posted two articles for frugal carnivores: a guide to cheap cuts of beef and another on on how to buy a side of beef. GRS-reader Sally has produced an introduction to eating vegetarian for...Read more »

• Rich or Poor? Sometimes It’s All in Your Head (15 comments)

  I recently shared the story of a woman who wondered, "I make $6.50 an hour — am I poor?" The author had lost a good-paying job, moved to rural Montana, and was struggling to get by. Several read...Read more »

• Gardening 101: Plan Today for Summer Success (42 comments)

  Raising your own berries, fruits, and vegetables is a fun and rewarding way to save money. Our grocery bills drop dramatically during harvest season, and the food cannot be beat. (I love our salsa rec...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Cheap Neighborhood Entertainment (10 comments)

  When we still lived in a small town, my wife and I would sometimes walk the half-mile to the high school to catch the latest drama production, or to hear an orchestra concert. These performances were ...Read more »

• The Cost-Per-Day Expense Chart (25 comments)

  Elizabeth has a lifehack that allows her to manage both money and space. She writes: "This helped me curb my lifestyle choices when I was in high school and first on my own." Here is her guest entry. ...Read more »

• Making the Most of Cheap Cuts of Beef (16 comments)

  You don't need to buy a side of beef to get cheap, great-tasting meat. Excellent inexpensive steaks and roasts are available at every supermarket. Here's a brief guide to common cuts. The information ...Read more »

• 10 Ways to Save Money on Books (76 comments)

  I used to spend thousands of dollars a year on books, most of which I never read. Recently I've begun to trim my book spending. I spent nearly $3000 on books in 2003, but that number dropped to $700 l...Read more »

• I Make $6.50 an Hour — Am I Poor? (40 comments)

  Karen Datko at MSN Money writes that she had "a comfortable life with decent pay and health insurance". Now she finds herself in survival mode. She wonders: "I make $6.50 an hour. Am I poor?" I los...Read more »

• The Regift: Friend or Foe? (7 comments)

  Christmas is over. You received some thoughtful presents, but also got some duds. That collection of cooking spices from your Aunt Madge? You hate to cook! Here's some sage advice from Marie, a self-c...Read more »

• DIY Microwave Popcorn (37 comments)

  Back in the Olden Dayes, we made popcorn on the stove. If we were good, then Sunday night before The Wonderful World of Disney, mom would heat some oil in a skillet and pop the corn. It was delicious....Read more »

• Cheap Ways to Stay Warm this Winter (52 comments)

  Winter weather has arrived in Oregon — it's rainy and cold. This time of year, Kris and I search for ways to keep warm. A lot of guides to saving money on heating contain impractical advice: "co...Read more »

• How to Buy a Side of Beef (103 comments)

  Kris and I grow our own berries. We harvest walnuts from a tree in the yard, and glean hazelnuts from a friend's orchard. We keep fruit trees and a vegetable garden. For city folk, we try to grow as m...Read more »

• Five Fantastic Frugal Tips for Christmas (12 comments)

  In my recent Christmas article, I asked you to submit your favorite ideas for saving money during the holidays. Your suggestions were great. Among the best were these (which I've edited slightly): ...Read more »

• Frugal Cuisine: Eating Well for Less (11 comments)

  One of my goals is too eat gourmet food on a budget. To that end, I'm happy to have discovered Frugal Cuisine, which chronicles the author's attempt to eat well while spending $2 or $3 a day on fo...Read more »

• Curbly: A Community-Based DIY Site (8 comments)

  Jeff V. writes: I just came across this budget-minded DIY site and I thought you and your readers would be interested in it. Curbly bills itself as a "web community for people who love where the...Read more »

• Ask the Readers: How to Get Started in Life? (18 comments)

  Over the past week, I've received a barrage of messages from people seeking specific personal finance advice. While I'm willing to offer help where I can, many times the questions lay outside my area ...Read more »

• Cheap Clothing Jackpot (9 comments)

  Last month I wrote about saving money by shopping for second-hand clothes. Today, in a nearby business park, our neighborhood used-clothing shop had a warehouse sale. Everything was a buck (except coa...Read more »

• Keep Track of Food with a Leftovers List (17 comments)

  I never remember what we have in the fridge. We'll make a pot roast for Sunday dinner, and store several servings of leftovers. But once they're in Tupperware and tucked out of sight, they're as good ...Read more »

• Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job (13 comments)

  Wesley writes: I wanted to share a book that really hit home with me in my collegiate days. It's called Possum Living. Now granted, these folks take living cheap to extremes, but they make good...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Shopping for Second-Hand Clothes (24 comments)

  On a street corner near our house is a store called The Dig, which advertises "most clothes $3 - $4 - $5". Many of these are items of the latest fashions, which have been rejected for whatever reason....Read more »

• One Small Step (7 comments)

  Kris and I walked to the grocery store this morning. This saved us money in at least three ways: Walking two miles helped me get some exercise as I move toward better fitness. Walking limited wh...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: The Library Book Sale (23 comments)

  Hi. My name is J.D., and I'm a biblioholic. I gather and hoard books. I have shelves full of them. I have boxes full of them. One of the high points of my life was the day I saw the marquee in fro...Read more »

• Save Money with a Frugal Buyers Club (3 comments)

  Here's an intriguing idea from Bankrate.com's monthly frugal $ense contest. Douglas Jost Saint Louis suggests: Form a group of frugal buyers in your local area, preferably from people you are willi...Read more »

• Money and Values: When Frugality Goes Too Far (44 comments)

  Title changed to more accurately reflect post content. Thanks for pointing this out, guys! Frugal folks are often condemned as cheap, but these things are not the same. But sometimes there is a dan...Read more »

• The American Frugal Housewife (4 comments)

  What can a housewife writing in 1832 teach us about frugality and thrift? Plenty, it turns out. In my recent interview on the Money Blogger Podcast, I mentioned a two-hundred-year-old book called ...Read more »

• 20 Free Ways to Save Energy (15 comments)

  Consumer Reports has a new publication entitled Complete Guide to Reducing Energy Costs. To promote the book, they've made twenty tips available for free online: Wash clothes in cold water. Most ...Read more »

• Just Say No (to Patronizing Ads) (22 comments)

  Here's the headline from a circular that came in the mail today. "You need to post this at Get Rich Slowly," Kris told me. She's right. It would take me fifteen minutes to reach the nearest App...Read more »

• DIY: Buying It vs. Making It Yourself (14 comments)

  An AskMetafilter user wonders: What things are worth the time and cost of doing or making myself? For example, tomatoes from the store are miles below the ones I grow in my garden. Fresh-baked brea...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Neighborhood Exchange (2 comments)

  Sometimes you can save money just by sharing among your neighbors. Our neighbor Tom brought over a wheelbarrow of stuff for us last night. For me, he had a box of old photography books and magazine...Read more »

• An Introduction to Homesteading (73 comments)

  I am a huge fan of simple living and of the do-it-yourself ethic. It's no surprise then that I am fascinated by homesteading, the lifestyle of "agrarian self-sufficiency". This article was written for...Read more »

• How to Buy a Part at the Junkyard (11 comments)

  I grew up next to a wrecking yard. But can you believe it? I've never bought anything from one. GRS-reader matildaben wrote to share a question she posted at AskMetafilter: Should I get a car part...Read more »

• Festival of Frugality #39 (7 comments)

  Frugality — the practice of economy, the art of thrift — is a key personal finance skill. In order to accumulate wealth, you must spend less than you earn. By instilling frugal tendencies,...Read more »

• On Meeting and Resisting Temptation (12 comments)

  A friend called this morning. "There's a garage sale near me where a guy is selling old comic books. They're from the seventies. You might want to come take a look." I did want to take a look, thou...Read more »

• Cheap Hobbies: Getting Started with Naked-Eye Astronomy (6 comments)

  We lived in the country when I was a boy, far from the city lights. My father would take me outside at night and point to the stars. "That's Orion," he'd say, and he would help me trace The Hunter's o...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Canning Season (13 comments)

  Kris and I grow a vegetable garden every year, but some summers are more productive than others. This summer has been the most productive that I can recall. We were swimming in berries from the end...Read more »

• Ten Frugal Cooking Tips That Sizzle (11 comments)

  My wife and I love to eat. We also love to save money. Sometimes it's difficult to reconcile these competing desires. I've written before about learning to eat more meals at home and how to find healt...Read more »

• How Bartering Can Save You Money (6 comments)

  When I was a boy, we had a parrot. Sammy was a yellow-headed Amazon and quite a character. He had a wide vocabulary and an uncanny intelligence. He was a rascal. During one particularly bleak perio...Read more »

• Frugal Recipes: The Best Salsa Ever (15 comments)

  We returned from San Francisco to find a bounty of fresh produce in our garden. What can a fellow do with so many tomatoes? Make fresh salsa, of course. My wife has perfected a recipe she adapt...Read more »

• Raising a Family on One Income (Part Two) (23 comments)

  This is a guest post from my cousin, Mrs. Darling. It originally appeared on her site in a slightly different form. The examples I give for living successfully on one income are real ways in which ...Read more »

• Raising a Family on One Income (Part One) (91 comments)

  This is a guest post from my cousin, Mrs. Darling. It originally appeared on her site in a slightly different form. I'm going to tell you just a bit about how to live on one income, but before doin...Read more »

• Programmable Thermostats: A Three-Month Review (17 comments)

  How much can a programmable thermostat save you? A lot, says Adam Gurno. His is the first guest-post while I'm on vacation Due to the rising cost of, well, everything, my wife and I decided to make...Read more »

• Cheap Eats Every Day (4 comments)

  Cheap Eats is a weblog devoted to inexpensive food. The site features recipes, reviews, tips and more. Cheap Eats recipes include cost, instructions, and numerical ratings, as well as witty evaluat...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Building a Cheap Personal Finance Library (14 comments)

  My wife and I went thrift-store shopping last weekend. She was looking for shoes. I was looking for personal finance books. I found several: The Millionaire Next Door ($3.99) The Only Investment...Read more »

• More Fun Than Dinner and a Movie (2 comments)

  ...Read more »

• My Cheap Uncle Norman (2 comments)

  My cousin Nick remembers: My dad was so cheap that he once drilled a hole in a nickel so that he wouldn't have to pay eight cents for a washer. My first memory of gas prices is driving home fr...Read more »

• Penny Pincher of the Year Award (3 comments)

  Nick at Punny Money (who is also doing the Blogathon right now) points to Michelle Singletary's annual Penny Pincher of the Year award. Honorable Mention goes to a man who, when on business trips, ...Read more »

• Pop Buys Pop (a GRS re-run) (0 comment)

  I need to take a break. Here's one of my favorite tales of penny pinching, which I shared a couple months ago. It was written by my aunt. My husband likes quantity and sales. For example, we j...Read more »

• Reader Tip: Save Money on Iced Coffee Drinks (5 comments)

  Betsy from My Whim is Law wrote in with a $5 pledge and a tip on how to save money on expensive coffee drinks: This isn't particularly funny, but it is a reader suggestion! Most of the time,...Read more »

• How to Earn a 177% Rate of Return on BOOZE (14 comments)

  I went thrift-store shopping with Kris yesterday. I scored a pile of personal finance books, including a copy of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. This is one of my favorite...Read more »

• Plan a Weekend of Bargain-Hunting with GarageMaps (2 comments)

  Garage sales are a fun way to exercise your frugal impulses. Instead of heading to the mall on a weekend, take some time to cruise the sales in your city, looking for deals. To make it easier to plan ...Read more »

• Sometimes Free is Expensive: A Cautionary Tale (5 comments)

  A couple of weeks ago I extolled the virtues of free stuff. In the comments, AB warned: There’s no such thing as "free" stuff. You still have to pay to store it, not to mention fixing stuff that...Read more »

• Beating the Summer Heat for Free (4 comments)

  ...Read more »

• Cheap Ways to Chill Out (8 comments)

  It's hot hot hot, with record temperatures expected in the Portland-area this weekend. (And, from what I can tell, around much of the rest of the United States — even Alaska!) We live in a h...Read more »

• Cheap Geek Tips (4 comments)

  The Bargain Queen offers a list of ten cheap geek tips, her advice for saving money on technology. For example: Buy the best quality you can afford. If you've done your homework, you'll know the be...Read more »

• A Cheaper Cup of Coffee (20 comments)

  David Bach likes to refer to the latte factor — that daily indulgence you can't resist. For many people, it's a cup of premium coffee from Starbucks (or a local coffee stand). These people love ...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Free is a Very Good Price (21 comments)

  One step you can take to becoming more frugal is to overcome our cultural resistance to picking stuff up from the side of the road. I'm not suggesting that you dumpster dive, but start paying attentio...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: At the Movies (12 comments)

  It's the peak of the summer movie season. What's a frugal person to do? Ticket prices are outrageous, and food prices are worse. $3.50 for a package of Twizzlers? Give me a break! In the comments t...Read more »

• Save Money by Switching to Compact Fluorescents (6 comments)

  How much can you save by switching lightbulbs? The Technocrat recently did the math and decided to replace all of his incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. The up-front cost was huge, but h...Read more »

• Garage Sale Bargains (3 comments)

  After browsing dozens of garage sales over the weekend, it's apparent there are some items that you shouldn't buy new. You can find all of the following at garage sales for cheap: Exercise equipm...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Community Garage Sale (9 comments)

  My wife and I attended a huge garage sale yesterday. Each year, Portland's posh Eastmoreland neighborhood holds a community garage sale. About 150 households participated this year. We spent a beautif...Read more »

• Don’t Confuse Frugality With Depriving Yourself (7 comments)

  Jonni McCoy's Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two Income Economy lists eleven miserly guidelines designed to help families reduce expenses. The first of these is: Don't confuse frugality with ...Read more »

• Frugal Recipes for Miserly Moms (1 comment)

  The Miserly Moms web site offers 87 frugal recipes submitted by the site's readers. They're all down-home meals made with cheap ingredients. Here's a typical recipe: Grandma's Pot Roast 3-5#...Read more »

• Is It Possible to Be a Frugal Collector? (14 comments)

  I collect comic books. I always have. As an affluent adult, I've gone from collecting the comic books themselves to collecting large volumes that compile six, ten, fifteen issues at a time. But these ...Read more »

• Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two-Income Economy (10 comments)

  Don't judge a book by its cover. Most especially, don't judge a personal finance book by its cover. Books promising quick riches and sure-fire investment schemes are generally filled with impractical ...Read more »

• The Cheapest Way to Buy Booze (6 comments)

  SmartMoney proclaims it has discovered the cheapest way to buy booze. Stocking up on enough alcohol for a party can cost a small fortune. Your best bet — visit your local warehouse clubs, whic...Read more »

• 26 Cheap Camping Tips (18 comments)

  Backpacking and camping are awesome frugal activities. It costs nothing to take a hike. It costs a bit more to camp overnight, but even that can be done inexpensively. While browsing the web for campi...Read more »

• Live Simple – Tactics to Improve Your Life (0 comment)

  Are you facing the need or desire to simplify your life? You might be newly laid off, retired, or a student, homemaker, or entrepreneur who has to make do with less. This ebook can help you restruct...Read more »

• Penny Pinchers: I Want My Four Dollars (13 comments)

  A new Barnes and Noble bookseller recently opened near us. To promote the store, they mailed out ten-percent-off coupons. I dragged Kris with me last Saturday, and spent half an hour learning the layo...Read more »

• Ten Things You Shouldn’t Buy New (14 comments)

  Liz Pulliam Weston at Money Central lists ten things you shouldn't buy new. Some things are best purchased new — lingerie pops to mind — but lots of other stuff depreciates quickly whil...Read more »

• My Frugal Life (1 comment)

  Dawn at Frugal for Life has posted a collection of links to stories of frugality. ThriftyFun recently ran (and is still running) a series called My Frugal Life. It is a nice assortment of different...Read more »

• Workshops and Craft Rooms (0 comment)

  Phil at the Make Blog is hosting an informal best workshop contest. There's a Flickr pool for submitting workshop photos. Natalie, Make's "crafts maker", also found a set of craft room photos. Thes...Read more »

• The Hillbilly Housewife (5 comments)

  In response to recent posts on eating cheaply (Healthy Food on an Unhealthy Budget and Learning to Eat More Meals at Home), several readers have pointed to a site called Hillbilly Housewife. The f...Read more »

• Penny Pinchers: Pop Buys Pop (2 comments)

  Here's a tale of Extreme Frugality from my aunt. This is a true story. It's long, but very funny, and a great example of a real-life penny pincher. (more...)...Read more »

• Healthy Food on an Unhealthy Budget (109 comments)

  An AskMetafilter user wonders: What's your favorite healthy food that can be bought on a college student budget? I've decided that I'm really going to crack down on my poor eating habits. As a coll...Read more »

• The Frugal Photographer (6 comments)

  Expensive hobbies and a frugal lifestyle can be tough to balance. Few hobbies are more expensive than photography. So what's a frugal photographer to do? The three best cheap things you can do to impr...Read more »

• Penny Pinchers: More Frugal Than You (0 comment)

  "That's a nice shirt," José said to me today. José is my shop foreman. "You like it?" I asked. "I got it cheap!" "I've got one just like it," he said. "Same color. Same brand. Same...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Using the Public Library (19 comments)

  Most of us have financial blindspots. One of mine is books. I love books. I have a large library that grows larger all the time. When I first embarked upon my quest for frugality, I began tracking ...Read more »

• Save Money With Magazines (5 comments)

  How much do you spend each month on newspapers and magazines? How many of these do you actually read? Would you miss any if you cancelled the subscriptions? There's something comforting about curli...Read more »

• Essential Gear for a Bike Commute (5 comments)

  Many people who live frugal lifestyles swear by alternative transportation. They ride mass transit. They commute by bicycle. They walk. Many don't even own a car. Summer is approaching. Maybe you h...Read more »

• Quick and Easy Yellow-Jacket Trap (1 comment)

  Just in time for summer, here's a quick and easy way to deal with the hoards of yellow jackets that are just waiting for you to grill those steaks on a warm evening. This trap can be built from stuff ...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Shaking That New Car Itch (19 comments)

  I want a new car. An Audi. Or a BMW. I've got that New Car Itch. I've never been a fan of my Ford Focus. I like the leather seats, it's true, and I know it's relatively safe, but the car just doesn...Read more »

• Lifestyle Trade-offs: Being Frugal While Having Fun (3 comments)

  Frugality and self-sacrifice go hand-in-hand. Western culture places a premium on instant gratification, but if you can give up the habits and expenses that sabotage your ability to save for the futur...Read more »

• Quick and Easy Self-Watering Garden Planters (1 comment)

  The Make Blog has a quick-and-easy tip for all of you frugal home gardeners: how to make self-watering planters from old milk jugs. Awesome in its simplicity and utility. Now, if you'll exc...Read more »

• Learning to Eat More Meals at Home (31 comments)

  Cooking at home is an excellent way to save money. But if you're accustomed to dining out for most meals, it can be a difficult transition. Fortunately, there's plenty of help available on the web. ...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: The Lunch Special (4 comments)

  While practicing frugal habits, it's easy to become absorbed in a life of self-denial: "I will not buy this shirt. I will wait for this film to come to DVD. I will not eat at the steak house tonight."...Read more »

• The Science Fiction of Coupons? (6 comments)

  Nick over at Punny Money decries what he terms the science fiction of coupons: I acknowledge that coupons exist (much like groundhogs, oak trees, and faeries exist), but I don’t believe that usin...Read more »

• How to Buy Nothing (7 comments)

  Here is a little guide about buying nothing. Practice reverse snobbery. Express contempt for those who buy things mindlessly. Go window shopping, but do not buy. Try on a bunch of sweaters. Make ...Read more »

• Frugality in Practice: Back Porch Furniture (1 comment)

  This is the first in a series of practical examples of how people put frugal notions to use in real-life. I often claim that the back porch is "my favorite room in the house". It's true. This i...Read more »

• I Want a Freeware Utility to… (0 comment)

  Here's a site that lists 450+ useful free utilities for Microsoft Windows that do specific jobs well, allowing you to save time and money. The site lists: 19 anti-malware utilities 24 audio util...Read more »

• How to Find Garage Sale Gold (6 comments)

  Here are two lists of tips for buying at garage sales. First, PR Leap offers Five Myths of Garage Sales (and how they are keeping you from finding garage sale gold). The five myths are: Stuff at ...Read more »

• Nickel and Dime Yourself (1 comment)

  Frugal For Life has a good post encouraging people to stay focused on what's important in the quest for financial independence. We complain because companies nickel and dime us to death, but don't ...Read more »

• Frugal Fitness Solutions (0 comment)

  Chris Zdeb of The Edmonton Journal has drafted a list of Forty Frugal Fitness Solutions. People don't think there's an alternative to having to spend money to get fit "because I don't think ou...Read more »