Deal With It, Simply!

This afternoon I stopped home for lunch and turned on tv and watched a clip for Diva Exchange parties.

What’s the best way to save money on clothing? Swap with friends! The Diva Exchange is a way for everyone to dress like a diva — for less.

You can clean out your closet, gab with your girlfriends and give back at the same time. It’s called the Diva Exchange.

“Diva Exchange is where women come and bring clothes out of their closet or shoes and accessories that they are not wearing and we swap them,” says creator Marian Bell.

Here’s how to host your own:

• Invite all of your friends (and even their friends) to your house for cocktails and bites.
• Charge a small admission fee ($5 or so) that will be donated to the charity of your choice.
• Ask your guests to clean out their closets and bring any clothes that don’t fit or they’re tired of wearing.
• Invite friends with home businesses to set up shop at a table at you party.
• Have fun and swap clothes all night long!
• At the end of the party, donate any leftover clothes to a local charity or shelter.

Very frugal thinking! Have a great day, Candy

This is from the Ohio Dept of Insurance site:

How can I reduce my insurance premiums?

There are number of things you can do to reduce your insurance premium, such as:

1. Shop around!

2. Consider raising deductible.

3. Drive safely.

4. Make improvements to your home.

5. Add smoke detectors, alarm system, etc.

6. Live a healthy lifestyle.

7. Bundle policies. (for instance, you may receive discounts if you purchase your homeowners and auto insurance from the same company)

Insurance savings…. We decided to shop around for auto insurance. We have had the same company for 23 years and he has always been helpful but we thought maybe we could do better.. We have not had tickets or accidents. We had 2 daughters 21 and 18 on our insurance and with our oldest married we decided to shop around.

• Call your current insurance company and see if they can discount your rates at all.

• Ask if there are any discounts you may be qualified for like good student, multiple policies ( if you also have your home owners with them), If you pay monthly you also may find a discount.

• My husband called 3-4 different agencies he suggests having a pen and paper handy for all the information they give you. Then you can compare each one.

• When you find the best quote you can call your current agent and see if he can meet or beat the quote….ours could not so we switched and our saving over $1200.00 a year on car insurance and $500.00 a year on our home owners.

How do you save on Insurance?  Have a blessed day, Candy

Where to begin to keep more money in your household. I like to keep the heat at 64°-68° Here are a few of the things we do.

1. In the morning open your curtains and let the sunshine in….in the evening close them and keep the heat in.
2. When windows are locked they also keep your heat in.
3. Rugs on bear floors- bare floors are cold floors and rugs will warm the room
4. Run our humidifier on low. Moist air feels warmer than dry air.
5. When I was a kid my dad would say “what do you think I am heating the outdoors, Shut that door!”  Make sure to shut the doors when you enter or exit your home.
6. Draft dodgers for doors or windows click  here for directions. I have a rug in front of each door in our home at night before you go to bed you can put the rug lapping over door and floor to help with drafts.
7. Leaving the hot water of a bath of dishes keeps the heat in the room. Drain when the water cools
8. Pop the oven a little when done cooking to let the heat out until it cools. Same with the dishwasher.
9. Wear socks and a sweater
10. We keep a throw blanket on the back of each chair and if you are cold you cover up.
11. Close closet doors and keep rooms closed you are not using

How do you keep warm? I would love to hear, Candy

I don’t know if this happens to you, but I know it hurts to spend when I am using cash. I seem to be more aware of what I spend using cash instead of my debit. When I use cash I ask myself some questions before the purchase….

• Do I need the item?
• Can I find it cheaper?

Many times I will tell myself …no and I hang on to that money a little longer. We have been also been trying to use cash for groceries. I use my calculator start with the amount I have and subtract each item. We are more likely to get what we need and we haven’t went over yet.

I love Dave Ramsey, but I was having problems with the envelope system. I have found a new system and we are just getting started with it and I will update you… a jar system I found a site that has a budget work sheet and it calculated   exactly what amount for the week to stick in the jars it also was a great visual of what percent % I am spending in each area of my life. Gail Vaz-Oxlade site Debt free forever here is her budget worksheet. Let me know what you think!

Have a great week, Candy

We have been without cable for about 2 weeks and I think the kids are getting used to it. Jacob said the first week  “it is like a prison here without cable” I didn’t have the heart to tell him they have cable in prison! We didn’t have the VHS channels ABC or CBS even though our antenna was a VHS/UHF antenna. Randy and I just couldn’t figure it out until Friday. We decided to go to Radio Shack and ask for a FM filter that could be jamming the VHS signal an idea a man at our local CBS station gave us and you know what…..

This little thing clips over the antenna wire outside on the wire. It cost a little over $5 and now have VHS.

Snap on Ferrite Data-line Filter

Another way to save! Yes, there is Life after cable.

Have a great week, Candy