Pinching Pennies

Times are tough.

and right now times are really really tough for people around here, there and everywhere. Budgets are squeezed tightly and living paycheck to paycheck now seems like a sweet memory. For many it's a game of Catch up with every month asking the question...

"What bills can we pay this month?"


So this week is dedicated to getting by...all the things we do to make it and stay afloat; and here is where you come in. I would like you to share with us your tips and tricks on how you save money.

Do you have some inside scoop on better couponing?

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Do you have a cool recipe for home made dish detergent? How do you save on Kids clothes?

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How do you save on Christmas gifts? Share anything! I will moderate the comments so that I can gather and publish your tips in another post with links to your own blogs


Now back when I was a teeny tiny girl ( Yeah OK, I heard someone snicker in the back ) my mom (from time to time) would have to fly back to her childhood home to be by my Grandma's bedside when Grandma fell ill.

Those trips became quite frequent as my grandma got older. My dad would become a mister mom and he quite frankly was great at it. He was an awesome cook though he didn't realize that we were not an army and we were instead three small kids. He would fill up our plates until we could eat no more.


Around that same time a brand new Pathmark Supermarket opened near us.


It was the first time I had ever seen a "No Frills Aisle"
                  
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Everything on the shelves had a plain white label. The prices were substantially lower than the fancier labeled products.

My Mom who was a slave to her favorite brands never ventured in that aisle to shop. She would merely use the aisle as short cut to other aisles. She was convinced that because they did not have the fancy labels they were not as good. So she bought less.


When Mom was away taking care of Grandma. My Dad assumed the daunting task of grocery shopping with no idea of where things were or what  brands mom usually brought home.


I got home from school, threw down my book bag and greeted my Dad who was unpacking and putting away groceries.

Before me was a sea of white labels. My dad smiled and said

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 "Joanne, look at all this I bought on sale! There is an aisle where everything is really cheap!" He acted as if he had won the lottery


He was so happy at his find that I didn't have the heart to tell him that Mom would never approve.

Days later when Mom came home she laughed at the new labels that found their way home to us. She found out that some things like peanut butter and jams were not bad at all and that some actually tasted exactly like their brand name counter parts.

Detergents were another story, but from then on we didn't just take the short-cut through the "No Frills" aisle. We actually stopped a bit and looked for the items that Dad had bought on his turn. She even started using coupons. Its funny to think that walking and buying those things embarrassed me a bit then...



Now, I proudly flash my coupons.