Guest Post - Frugal Savings

~Today we have a Guest Post ~ a lot of great information on savings!  If you would like more information on these wonderful savings please contact Jenny at JennyMDaniels@live.com~

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Focus on Needs, Not Wants 

In this day and age, it is important to focus on your needs rather than your wants for financial reasons. The expensive trips and trendsetting gadgets become less of a priority when money saving traditions becomes a family habit. Below are simple changes your family can make that will lead to great savings.

Schedule Your Meals

Random trips to your local fast food restaurant can add up to an expensive tab. Preparation with family meals will keep you away from quick stops at McDonald's because you know there is food waiting at home.
Take the time to plan your meals for the family, that way everyone is knowledgeable about what is for dinner as well as what time it will be served. Try to plan a few days or a week at a time so you can make one trip to the super market per week. This process will also save you time; you will not have to think about what you will be making because your meal recipes are predetermined. Save on your health care with a few tips and advice the Health Care Department.

Shop with Intent

Coupons can save more money than you can imagine over time. A smart strategy when it comes to shopping always begins with looking for available coupons. If you are currently looking to add any home improvements take a look on the web for a Floor Variety Coupon which will help you save some bucks with floor upgrades.

If you are in the market for new clothes then pay attention to any online discounts or deals that will help in your favor.  Ralph Lauren Promo is currently going on and you may be able to save some money if you pay attention to offered deals.

Shop for Reusable Products

Items that depreciate tend to be cheaper, but they often require buyers to repeatedly purchase more of that item. If you shop with the idea of reusable goods in mind then your purchased products will last long beyond their monetary value.

Saving money in the long run is the ultimate goal. For example, instead of buying a roll of paper towels which can cost you around $2 per unit, try buying a pack of cheap sponges that you can wash and reuse. Try to focus on products that not only have more than one use but are multipurpose as well. Consider other money saving tips for a family budget.

Buy Used Items

Previously owned items are a treasure depending on the product and they save a great margin of money compared to buying from retail stores.

Buy used books, movies, video games, furniture, anything that is of good quality and a marked down price because it simply has had more than one owner. 

Find Lower Pricing Companies
 
Try to search for companies who offer similar services but for a lower price. Brand names seem to attract a crowd but as a homeowner or a family member it is important to save money where you can. Search for ulterior service providers for your cable and cell phone network. Choosing companies who are exactly brand name companies but still have a good service behind them is a great deal.  

Saving money on a family budget doesn’t require strenuous work but more so small steps taken towards financially conscious decisions. If may be uncomfortable at first but once your family gets used to it the financial rewards will pay off your efforts handsomely.

May Book Reviews

What’s it like when the man you married is already married to God? asks Pastors’ Wives, an often surprising yet always emotionally true first novel set in a world most of us know only from the outside.
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen’s debut novel Pastors’ Wives follows three women whose lives converge and intertwine at a Southern evangelical megachurch. Ruthie follows her Wall Street husband from New York to Magnolia, a fictional suburb of Atlanta, when he hears a calling to serve at a megachurch called Greenleaf. Reeling from the death of her mother, Ruthie suffers a crisis of faith—in God, in her marriage, and in herself. Candace is Greenleaf’s “First Lady,” a force of nature who’ll stop at nothing to protect her church and her superstar husband. Ginger, married to Candace’s son, struggles to play dutiful wife and mother while burying her calamitous past. All their roads collide in one chaotic event that exposes their true selves. Inspired by Cullen’s reporting as a staff writer for Time magazine, Pastors’ Wives is a dramatic portrayal of the private lives of pastors’ wives, caught between the demands of faith, marriage, duty, and love.

My Review ~ Rate 4 out of 5

This book was so real, funny and sad all in one!  I know alot of Pastors' Wives and this book could sum up a little bit of what they go through in certain expects!  You think that the first lady of the church is all together but she also has problems that cant be shown on the outside, problems in marriage, self and everyday life!  Very good book, I would recommend this book to anyone that love a great read!  I also loved how she portrayed both sides! Well written!



 

What does a girl do when life doesn’t go according to her plan? At 36, Kendall Haynes has seen some of her dreams come true. She’s a family physician helping kids with severe allergies and asthma achieve more fulfilling lives—a childhood struggle she knows all too well. But the feeling of being “the kid never picked” looms large when romance continues to evade her and yet another one of her closest friends gets engaged. Are Kendall’s dreams of having it all—a career, a husband, children—nothing more than childish wishing upon a star? Should she hold out for her elusive Plan A? Dust off Plan B? Or is it time to settle? God says he knows the plans he has for her—why can’t Kendall figure them out and be content with her life?
Griffin Walker prefers flying solo—both as an Air Force pilot and in his personal life. But a wrong choice and health problems pulled him out of the cockpit. His attempts to get out of “flying a desk” are complicated by his parents’ death—making Griffin the reluctant guardian of his sixteen-year-old brother, Ian. How did his life get so off course? Can God get his life back on track … or has there been a divine plan all along?
Catch a Falling Star reminds readers that romance isn’t just for twenty-somethings and that sometimes letting go of your “wish I may, wish I might” dreams is the only way to embrace everything God has waiting for you.

My Review - Rate 4 out of 5 

This book was awesome, one that I didnt want to put down.  I love Beth Vogt books she just knows how to get you so into the book and the characters.  This book was so true I could see myself in certain aspects.  God has a plan for each and every one of us, and this book sums that up for them!

Received this book from Litfuse Publicity Group for my honest opinion 

April Book Reviews

Ben and Joseph lose their mothers, but find a family looking just for them. Antonio is rescued from what seems like a hopeless situation. Caitlyn dares to trust that truth will set her free. Jorani is delivered from slavery into the arms of grace.
Follow these real-life stories as they take you on a journey to foreign places and extreme struggles. Travel through their challenges and see the hand of the great Storyweaver – our Defender God shielding and defending the defenseless in the amazing ways only he can.These are the tales of the ones left wounded and weak-ones made whole and strong . . .

My Review ~ Rate 5 out of 5

This book is a wonderful blessing for the entire family, I read some stories to my kids, and they were like WOW mama some children don't have families. poverty etc.  We loved the real life drawings, it made the book so real and true! God is the center of this book of life stories.  I always pass my books on, but this one I had to keep on my book shelf!

Received this book from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest opinion




Brock and Bodie Thoene’s most powerful and climactic writing project to date, When Jesus Wept, captures the power and the passion of the men and women who lived through the most important days in the history of the world.
Lazarus occupies a surprising position in the Gospel accounts. Widely known as the man Jesus raised from the dead, his story is actually much broader and richer than that. Living as he did at Bethany, near Jerusalem, Lazarus was uniquely placed to witness the swirl of events around Jesus. When Jesus Wept, the first novel in The Jerusalem Chronicles series by bestselling authors Bodie and Brock Thoene, unfolds the turbulent times in Judea during Jesus’ ministry, centering on the friendship between Jesus and Lazarus. With rich insights from vineyard owners and vine dressers, the Thoenes explore the metaphor of Jesus as the True Vine, harvesting the ancient secrets found in the Old Testament.
Weaving the life of Lazarus, who owned a vineyard, into the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ will help you understand it is the hand of Love Divine that holds the knife, that cuts and breaks with such tender and loving touch, and that we who have born some fruit, after the pruning, can bear much more.

My Review ~ Rate 5 out of 5

I remember the story of WHY JESUS WEPT? when I was a little girl and each time I heard it, I understood it more and more!  If you dont know the story you need to get this book and read it from cover to cover it makes you go back in time and just make you wonder how Lazarus felt being woke up from his peace and brought back to life, and also I searched and searched and came to reason that Jesus only wept over Lazarus, POWERFUL!
Received this book from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest opinion