My Daughters' Frugal Ballerina Themed Birthday Party

Last week I made my daughters a very belated ballerina themed birthday party. It was such a hit and cost me very little to make, but everyone enjoyed themselves. I wanted to share what we did, so that you could also do a similar party in the future.

Yes, I'm Happy With My Controversial Decision to Get a "Free TV"

Sometimes spending more money can still be a good deal.

Two days ago I posted something here that I knew might be controversial. I wrote about how I got a 49 inch TV for free, as part a deal where I paid 34 dollars a month for 3 phone lines, and the catch was that I am paying that price for 3 years.
OK, so here's the thing.
I knew I'd get flack.
I knew people would disagree with me.
The biggest comment I got was that the TV wasn't free if it meant I was stuck with one phone company.

But you know what?
I wasn't born yesterday.
I am not naive.
I knew full well what I was doing, and I will stand behind it, because that is what works for me.

Six Must-Haves for Any Medicine Cabinet

First aid is important as a parent, here's some tips from Nancy Evans on some basic first aid things to have in your medicine cabinet.

Children can be a handful. They are loud, energetic, and playful. They brighten our lives and we love them for that. Unfortunately, our favorite people can get sick or hurt from all the energy. While children can be expensive, their health is not something to skimp out on. Here are five must-haves for any medicine cabinet.

"I Can't Afford to Get Divorced"; A Case Study

Many of my readers live in a bare bones budget. Some may not be making it through the month financially, and some just barely are making it through. If any of you are or were contemplating divorce, it would be a very logical conclusion that if you aren't making it or are barely making it financially as a married couple, divorce would mean financial ruin for you, and therefore you can't get divorced because you cant afford it. Even if divorce is very necessary for you.

But the question is, is it always like that? Does divorce always mean financial ruin for you? 

My friend, Deb, shared this post with me, about her situation, and how divorce actually eased her financial stress somewhat instead of increasing it. Hopefully her story will give you some insight and hope, that it is possible to get divorced and have your financial situation improve. If anyone else whose situation improved financially post divorce wants to share a guest post with my readers as well, I would gladly take such contributions.

“I can’t afford to get divorced.”

Sound familiar? That was me for several years. Now I realize that financially, separating my finances from my (now ex-) husband’s was the best thing I could have done for myself.

Trying to sell a home with kiddos? 7 tips keeping everyone happy

I've never been in the position to sell my home; we just bought for the first time 3 years ago, and have no plans on moving, but I've heard what difficulty it can be to sell. Here's some tips from a reader on how to handle this stressful time with children.

If you’re thinking about selling your home, summer is the perfect time — especially if you have little ones.

Summer affords a little more flexibility in schedules because the kids are likely on break, and shooting for a summer closing day means you’ll be settled into your next home before the new school year kicks off.

Not only is the timing right, but also 71 percent of top real estate agents across the nation, according to HomeLight data, agree that putting your home on the market at the beginning of summer is the right plan.

However, selling is a process, and it becomes more challenging if there are more (little) people involved. But rest assured, we’ve got you covered.

HomeLight put together some of the top tips from real estate professionals and fellow parents — those who’ve been there, done that, and gone back for more — to help smart, thrifty parents work through all the ins and outs of home selling while also keeping everyone happily involved.

How I Got a Free 49 Inch Smart TV!

I hadn't planned on writing this post, but I was told by a friend that I absolutely must make it into a blog post, so here it is.

Here is how I got a 49 inch smart TV completely for free.

Until last year, I completely wasn't involved in my cell phone plan. Michael took care of it, found the deals, paid for it, and I really wasn't connected to it at all. Until we started the divorce process, and I transferred my account and number from a joint account to a separate account within the same company, lets call it company H. 

Every month I was paying 34 dollars for my cell phone which included unlimited calls, unlimited texting, and unlimited data, and I was pretty content with that.

Last year one day I needed to get my son Lee a phone plan ASAP, and the store where I got it had a plan with another company, company G. I paid 25 for his plan and it was a bit more limited than mine, but was enough for my son's needs. Maybe I could have gotten better deals, but I wasn't that pressed to look around for more. I was content.

Save Money by Lowering Transportation Expenses

Transportation can be quite pricey, especially if you live in an area like I do with high costs of cars and gasoline. Here's some ideas from a reader on how to cut back on your transportation costs.

Image by Peter H from Pixabay

Want to add more to your savings? Start by saving on your transport costs.

Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Easy, Vegan, Paleo, and Delicious

I first heard of tomato and watermelon salad from my friend, Rosie, and I have to say, I thought the idea sounded really weird. Fruit in a salad? And then I remembered so many other recipes I love that combine fruit with vegetables in a tasty salad, and decided to try it out. Since then this has been a staple in my house.

The nice thing about this salad, in addition to being super easy to make and suitable for so many different diets, from gluten free to paleo to vegan and people with allergies is that its also a good way to use up watermelons that aren't the tastiest. Once you combine it with the rest of the ingredients, it transforms from meh to awesome!

This salad is pretty uniform in color, which makes it a fun surprise since you don't really know what you're eating. One bite may be more tart from the tomatoes and the other a sugary watermelon surprise. Give it a shot, you might fall in love as I did.

Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Easy, Vegan, Paleo, and Delicious

4 Online Shopping Mistakes that Cost You Money

I love online shopping and find that I end up saving quite a lot this way. Here's some tips from a reader as to how to save money when online shopping, or rather, mistakes to be aware of that can cost you more.

The rise of online shopping has completely changed the way we shop. With a few clicks, we can have pretty much anything delivered straight to our front door without having to lift a finger - more often than not, for a fraction of the price in a shop. Although online shopping is pretty amazing and comes with a whole list of advantages, there are some drawbacks to the way we shop online, and some mistakes that you may fall victim to that can actually cost you money. So how can we avoid this? Take a look at these four online shopping mistakes that may be costing you money.

Making Homemade Ballet Shoe Cake with No Special Equipment

I'm really proud of myself for this cake that I made. My kids had an unbirthday party (meaning I never managed to make them a birthday party this year but still wanted to give them a party) and I decided with my girls that theirs would be ballet themed. As soon as this was decided, I already had an idea in my head as to how I'd be making their cake, and I think these ballet shoes cake came out absolutely adorable.

As you can tell, I'm definitely not a perfectionist when it comes to things like cake making, or in general, but I wanted to share with you how I made this cake so that you can make it too (and make it even more perfect if you want). It didn't take any special equipment or any special ingredients and was all made from scratch. Oh, and it was with all natural food coloring, homemade fondant, and gluten free.