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A little bit of this, a little bit of that

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Time for a post full of multiple unrelated things!

The comments on the Ask The Readers post.   Whoa.

You guys.

You all had so, so, so much helpful advice for Susan and any other people struggling to get dinner on the table.   Thank you!

In case you missed it, the post is here, and you should definitely read the comments.

Even if you are already successfully cooking dinner, you might glean an idea or two from the suggestions there.

By the way, several readers recommended the book Desperation Dinners.   I’m not sure if it’s still in print, but there are oodles of used copies available on Amazon, some as cheap as $0.25.

And it looks like the same authors wrote another cookbook, which is also available used on Amazon.

Mrs. Frugalwoods disagrees with Buy It For Life

jewelry drawer

I found this post by her to be a super interesting read.   Check it out!

(Edited to add: I’m not disagreeing with her points; I’m just sharing her article because I thought her perspective was interesting. I actually agreed with a fair amount of what she said, and it was good food for thought.)

8/10 Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

So says this article from CBS.

coins

From the same article: only 1/3 of Americans live on a budget.

Which is interesting, because while there ARE other factors that are out of our control (inflation, rising costs, stagnating wages), living on a budget or not is still a choice that most of us can freely make.

TopCashBack free diapers offer (plus a free $5 signup bonus)

TopCashBack is my fave online shopping cashback site, and right now is a super good time to sign up with them because you get a free $5 account credit just for signing up.

(And this is not always the case.   So, join and get your $5!)

As an additional bonus, right now you can buy a $6.97 pack of Luvs diapers from Walmart, thru TopCashBack, and you’ll get $6.97 back, PLUS your free $5 credit for signing up.

Click here to get your Luvs freebie, while supplies last.

(As you know, I do not love shopping at Walmart. It’s not a moral decision; it’s a preference. But if I had kids in diapers, I’d make an exception and get the free diapers. 😉 )

More details on this offer below, per TopCashBack:

Note: Transactions must contain at least $6.97 worth of purchases to ensure the $6.97 cash back is credited to TopCashback accounts. Transactions may initially track lower, but within the 14 days after purchase it will be uplifted and turn payable at the amount of $6.97. Transactions may take up to 7 days to appear in your TopCashback account. The deal is open until 11:59pm PT on 10/07/2017 or until supplies run out; whichever happens first; applicable for purchases made directly after clicking through TopCashback. Only one TopCashback account is permitted per member.

My eBay costumes aren’t selling.

I listed four costumes on NextDoor and on eBay (ones my girls are done with, still in super good shape!) for half the price of new, but no one has bought them yet.   Did I list them too late?? Should I have listed them on craigslist? Should I just give up and freecycle them?

Tell me what I’m doing wrong.

I did mean to list them in September, but forgot. Whoops.

Aaaaand that wraps things up for today.

P.S. Ummm, if any of your girls want to be Snow White (8-10), Alice in Wonderland (8-10), Dorothy (8-10), or Mrs. Incredible/Violet (women’s S), email me.   Bonus points if you’re local! The Dorothy outfit comes with Toto and a basket, and it would be awesome to not have to try to ship that.

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Isabelle

Sunday 8th of October 2017

* I tend to buy quality items. I don't expect them to last forever, but they generally last longer and function better

* Halloween costumes: bought 2 costumes for the kids, 5$ (for both) at Goodwill. Would not pay 15$ for a used costume.

* Pay check to pay check: it's rough when your salary is small but expenses are high. I'm in a privileged situation where both my husband and I have good jobs, so we have savings and an emergency fund. I would be really anxious without. So, yes, good wages, but we still are careful with our money, we budget, we put extra on mortgage instead of fancy stuff for example. It is a question of wages, but also a question of expenses. I have friends who make more than I do, yet they never have money because they spend like crazy on "silly" stuff, so...

Laurie Villotta

Saturday 7th of October 2017

BIFL My Tempurpedic bed. Cost me $5000, but I will have it for life. I bough it for medical reasons as I have fibromyalgia. The comfort and relief it brings me is amazing. Can not put a price tag on that.

Lisa M.

Friday 6th of October 2017

A note about the costumes... I have been challenged over the years when it comes to selling costumes. They have not sold quickly even at $5 but do eventually sell. I agree with the other readers that pricing costumes at 50% is too high, perhaps 25% might offer you more success.

Kristen

Friday 6th of October 2017

That's so weird! You'd think people would snap them up like hotcakes at this time of year.

The Mrs. Incredible costume did sell at full price (yay!), but I lowered the prices of the other three costumes, and we'll see what happens.

Deidre

Friday 6th of October 2017

I have had long periods where I managed to live frugally compared to many. But I never actually understood how to "make a budget". I felt I should, feeling guilt at times but every time I tried to project my expenditure I would end up with calculations beyond my income so I would put it in the bin and avoid it for another 2 or 3 yrs. Then one year I thought life can not be that expensive for me because I was able to save well. This may be so obvious to most of you but I decided to just save every receipt and categorize and add up everything I spent in one 12month period and see what I was actually spending and then look at the areas to target for strategies to save. One of my friends lovingly called me a twit and said 'that's what budgeting is' but I honestly had no idea, I thought budgeting was planning to spend what you think you should allow for different categories. The laws and conditions in Australia will vary but if you need some tips we have a great government website here called moneysmart.gov.au do you have something similar?

Rebecca

Thursday 5th of October 2017

Please keep in mind many families barely scrape by month to minth and thats WITH a budget stretched so tight you could bounce a quarter off it. We do every frugal thing wr can and then some. I have two disabled family members living in our home. Between my husb and i we do three jobs. Walk in someone elses shoes before u assume anyone who lives month to month just cant budget their money.

Kristen

Thursday 5th of October 2017

Oh dear, I would never assume that about you. You ARE doing everything you can to live frugally, and that is completely different than not managing your finances.

I'm really sorry that things are tough for your family, and I hope that somehow, you can find some relief in the future and a little budgetary breathing room.

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