The Importance of Having A Piggy Bank

Almost every child is given a piggy bank for saving change and allowance money.  It helps kids get into the habit of saving money.  However, having a piggy bank is not a bad idea for adults either.  If you throw all of your coin change into a change pot, piggy bank, or coin jar automatically at the end of a day, you will soon accumulate enough money to come in handy.

I find that in just a couple of month, I will accumulate $20 to $40 in change.  That change can come in handy if there is an unforeseen emergency or if you fall a little short in a pay period due to an unexpected expense.  Sometimes a piggy bank can provide enough money to pick up a few groceries and make it to the end of a pay period.   On a more positive note, it can also provide a little extra money for something nice:  a gift or a meal at a restaurant.

Many grocery stores offer change counting machines like CoinStar.  These machines make it convenient to turn your change into dollars.  However, there is a 9 or 10 percent transaction fee.

Managing Credit Cards - Budgeting Your Credit

If you have credit card debt, it can be hard to scrounge up the money you need for an emergency fund.  Financial advisors want you to have enough cash in savings to cover three to six months of expenses.  I want that too.  We all want that kind of financial reserve.  But, in the real world, we all have bills to pay.

One thing that is helpful is to dedicate your credit cards to specified emergency expenses only.  For example, you could pledge to only use your Sears card for car repairs and tires.  Your Visa could be reserved for veterinary bills only.  Then, as you pay down your balances, more and more credit becomes available for emergency use only.

Once you've paid a card way down, you can shift money into savings for that fabled cash reserve.  But, by pledging that your card will only be used for a few purchases, you'll avoid running it up unnecessarily.

Treasure in Junk Mail

Not everything in your junk mail pile is junk.  You can get some good deals.  For example, you can get coupons.

My junk mail regular provides buy one, get one, milkshake deals at Steak and Shake.  You can also get coupons for automotive service and repair.  I usually can find a good discount on an oil change or twenty percent off of any car repair.  These are always good to have in case of a car problem.

I usually ignore the rest of my junk mail, but sometimes neighborhood coupon mailings have good deals at restaurants.  If you have a special occasion coming up, they can be worth saving.

Fuel Yourself: Buy Groceries and Gas First

When you are in a tight pay period, make sure that you buy the fuel you need.  You have to fuel yourself with decent food and you have to fuel your car with gasoline to make t back and forth to work.  Buy these things early in the pay period so that you have enough to get through the week.

Bread for Less Bread: $1 a Loaf

Need to make lunch for the week?  No bread in the pantry?  Hardly any bread in the wallet or purse?  Don't worry!  Dollar Tree has you covered.  They have loaves of bread for only $1.  Yup, you can get some bread for only a dollar!

I generally buy whole wheat Nature's Own Bread there.  It has no high fructose corn syrup.  However, the also usually have Nature's Own white wheat bread and honey wheat bread among other things.  You'll also find some other brands of bread.  They won't be as good as these artisan breads, but you'll be able to make a sandwich!

Photo by Peggy Greb, USDA ARS [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Now, you do have to use a little caution.  Usually, the best buy date on Dollar Tree bread is only a day or two after you buy it.  I usually get one loaf and use it immediately.  Otherwise, I will freeze a loaf in the freezer and thaw it out the night before I need it.

Another place to buy bread cheap is a bakery outlet store.  Most big cities have one. However, they are not always convenient. To be honest, it's been awhile since I've been in one.  The other place I get bread cheap is Publix.  They often have buy one, get one free sales on bread.  If I'm lucky, I can get bread for $2.00 a loaf at Publix.

Of course, if you have the time, you can always save money by baking your own bread at home.

Cheap Summer Snacks - Smores!

If you are looking for a fun and inexpensive treat this summer, try making S'mores at home.  The ingredients are dirt cheap and taste great.

Photo By Codeman125 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

At Dollar Tree, they have graham crackers for $1 per box.  Dollar Tree also has mini-marshmallows for $1 per bag.  Our local grocery store has bags of chocolate chips for $2 to $3 depending on the brand that you choose.

All you do to make them is crank up your toaster oven to 450 degrees or so.  Take small squares of graham cracker and stack marshmallows and  chocolate chips on them.  Then, put them in the oven for about 5 minutes.  Watch them and you'll see the chocolate chips melt and the marshmallows begin to brown slightly.  Remove them and flip one square onto another so that it looks like a sandwich.  Voila, you've made S'mores!

Make sure your S'mores are cool enough to eat and eat.

Saving Money Around Your Home: Saving Money Behind The Scenes

You can save a lot of money behind the scenes at your home. All you have to do is distinguish between public facing household expenditures and private facing household expenditures.

• Have you ever noticed how the landscaping around your apartment complex is nicest at the entrance and near the demo units? 
• Have you noticed how the buildings often have a brick facade in the front, but cheap vinyl siding around back? 

It's not surprising. Businesses want to put their best foot forward towards potential customers. However, they control costs by saving money behind the scenes in less visible areas. In your life, you can do the exact same thing.
When you examine your personal spending, you can also spend more money to put your best foot forward and less money on private facing behind the scenes expenses. When it comes to spending money on your home, it makes sense to buy nice comfortable furniture. You'll use it every day and guests will see it. However. no rational person will ever judge you by the brand of toilet cleaner you use. That is one reason that I like to buy basic cleaning supplies and cleaners at dollar stores like Dollar Tree. There is only one caveat: each product has to work.

No one can see and no one would care that we use a wide variety of Dollar Tree toilet cleaners, glass cleaners, multi-surface cleaners, and dish washing soaps. We also like Dollar store scrub brushes and sponges. If we use a national brand name product, we use it because it has proven itself to work better on an important function than any generic substitute. For example, when funds are tight, we will use Sunlight brand dish washing detergent from Dollar Tree. But, when funds are available, we prefer to use Cascade because the results are visibly better. Similarly, we've tried various store brand laundry detergents, but we usually return to Tide.

Behind the scenes in our home, we use Ajax dish washing soap from Dollar Tree on the few pots and pans that need to be hand washed. For kitchen counter and table surfaces, Dollar Tree offers Spic and Span Multi-Surface cleaner. In the bathrooms, we use Dollar Tree's Jonny Fresh toilet bowl cleaner and Home Store Bathroom Cleaner. The Home Store Bathroom Cleaner is a close substitute for Scrubbing Bubbles. We even use Dollar Tree toilet paper. When we are done, we use SoftSoap hand soap from Dollar Tree. If it is allergy season, we use Scott brand tissues from our Dollar Tree, too. Unless they read this article or snoop beneath the counters, people visiting our apartment won't know what brands of cleaners we use or where we got them. However, my wife and I can predict our budget for cleaning products because everything is $1.


Dollar Tree is great for controlling your cash flow with predictable pricing. However, if you have more storage space or a larger family, you may achieve better savings on a cost-per-unit basis by making bulk purchases from a warehouse store. The key is to minimize your spending on basic behind-the-scenes household supplies that aren't visible to the public. Even when you go out in public, no one will know that you used Barbasol shaving cream from Dollar Tree.