Many places are suffering from fewer customers because of the economy, if you want to use some of your entertainment dollars at a restaurant, check and see if the restaurant offers specials on a certain day. Some restaurants offer specials on weekdays to try to get people in. Often you can get a pre fixe, three course meal, of an appetizer, soup or salad and main course for considerably less than the regular prices in the restaurant. The prices may be more expensive than a chain restaurant or comparable depending on what you generally order and what you eat.

Last time our book club went out for dinner there was a pre fixe menu at a French restaurant for $25 which included three courses. If not ordering from the pre fixe menu, the least expensive entree alone would have cost $18. This is more expensive than going to a burger joint or getting pizza from a chain restaurant, but if you want to splurge frugally seek out menu specials at nicer restaurants where you can have a good time and also enjoy a meal for less than you thought.

Grocery stores are finally getting into the act of lowering prices!

It doesn’t always happen. But I have noticed that even though people complain that food is expensive in grocery stores. I have seen prices cheaper on the shelf than the advertised sales price. No gimmicks, no limits. Just less expensive than what is listed in the circular. When I went to a local chain grocery store, I checked the online sales flyer for the particular location I was going to and made my list. Then as I was fulfilling my grocery list, I saw that some prices were actually less expensive than the sale price.

Another factor in this could be that most grocery stores that I have been in lately have not been crowded even during peak times and are trying to entice you with truly lower prices.

Shopping the sales and comparing prices is great. Also, when I finished shopping and checked my receipt, I saved $15 on my purchases, plus I got a coupon for a free loaf of fresh French bread.

It may not happen often that I save more on my groceries without extra coupons for what I intended to buy, but I’ll take happy coincidences where I can.

There are only so many corners you can cut until you are left with a circle.

Stretching out the time between hair cuts or saving up for an essential health maintenance appointment isn’t going to help you in the long run. But it is being done. If you have longer hair, that isn’t as big of an issue as someone who forgoes necessary medication or halves their medication in order to stretch their money.

It’s raining job losses and it isn’t pretty if you are searching for a new job. Actually and unfortunately the jobless rates are a sham. There are people who have decided to go back to school for more education and those who have been out of work longer who are included in the numbers.

Job hunting is definitely more on the hunt side now.

Getting more education and training for a new job is great but like everything else it requires money. If you have less debt and fewer responsibilities already then you might not have to worry about the cost of retraining. There are great benefits to learning a new skill, but if you have a mortgage and other bills that you are struggling to pay and losing your job exacerbates that problem. How can you pay your bills as an adult changing careers? There is no clear answer and it is a big challenge when you can’t get financial aid as easily and also, if you don’t have an emergency fund to pay for your day to day needs.

Training people to work in the fields that are necessary is important, but how will these same citizens and their families survive while they are learning a new skill and are unemployed?

As I was going to the grocery store yesterday, I saw a billboard for Feedthepig.org. This one featured a large container that fries come in with rolled up bills in it. Of course this was across the street from a White Castle’s restaurant.

I don’t really spend a lot on fast food. When eating out, I would rather go to a nicer restaurant.

I have seen the ads for the Feed the Pig but I had never visited the site. The site gives some good advice but the pig with the slot in his head creeps me out. Also, if you are just looking around, and not clicking anything, the pig will periodically say “feed me.” Maybe I watch too much SciFi Channel but that has the makings of something freaky.

Benjamin, the pig’s name, wants you to conquer your under-saver. I am not an undersaver, but I know I can always save a little more. Something I have been trying to do lately is save the dollar bills from my wallet. The singles aren’t going toward any specific spending goal, it’s just that I have a zip around wallet and if I have too many singles in it, it makes it difficult to zip. So I take out excess change ($1.26 in coins is a good mix) and singles. Instead, I put the singles into a container and when I know I will need some, I grab a few.

Having singles all in one place also comes in handy, when I don’t want to break a big bill or want a little treat from a place in the neighborhood. This way I am not breaking my budget.

The coins I put into a bank for later use. Since the time I was caught without change and had to run into my dentist’s office to ask for change for a dollar, I have had a few quarters with me to feed the meter just in case I don’t find an unmetered spot.

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Have you ever clicked on a supposed “free” offer only to discover that you have to go through several pages of unwanted ads and offers just to attempt to get to the free items?

I find this annoying and I am sure that many others do as well.

I stumbled upon a site called IloveFreeThings.com and the items that are there are free, really and truly free. I Love Free Things provides short descriptions about the giveaway and if there is any qualifiers or additional information that you need. I even saw a warning about a “freebie” being suspicious because of the content and length of time that the website giving out freebies has been in existence.

Of course everything that is free may not be something you want or can use, but if you have ever wanted to try a new toothpaste, hygiene product or get a free pen then getting a sample without a lot of hassle would be right for you.