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Our Fourpence Worth
Tips for frugal living and making smart choices in your personal finances. Includes money saving tips for everyday and household expenses, home decor, pet care, fast & frugal recipes, and more.
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Covering Cardboard Cartons: The Simple Suitcase (Storage Box)
2008-05-13 02:27:06
Pictured here is a plaid suitcase made by covering a family size Bisquick carton, complete with Velcro closure and faux leather handle. This is another frugal but effective storage solution.
The directions for making this suitcase are thus:
Start with a cardboard food carton with one end shut and one end open.
Cut a piece of paper or [...] ...
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Shipping via USPS? Mail Your Packages Before May 12th
2008-05-09 14:32:27
Just a reminder for our American readers that new and increased USPS (United States Postal Service) postage rates take effect this coming Monday May 12th, 2008. If you are planning to ship any packages via USPS, now is the time to do so - today Friday May 9th or tomorrow Saturday May 10th - especially [...] ...
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20 Minutes Can Save $180 & Tips for Receiving Better Customer Service
2008-05-07 01:00:29
A few months ago, I received a letter from our ISP Charter Communications. The good news was that everyone in our area who subscribes to their High Speed Internet was getting upgraded to the 5 Meg service and we would be surfing [I forget how many] times faster than dial-up. The bad news was that [...] ...
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Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #3
2008-05-07 00:57:15
Here are just a few great articles from the past month by my peers in the PF Bloggers Network.
Pet Love
First of all, I can’t pass up an opportunity to congratulate a couple of members on new additions to their households:
Kevin at No Debt Plan introduces Maggie the [Incredibly Cute] Puppy and shares their reasons for [...] ...
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Sharing Accounts to Maximize Cash Back and Interest Earnings
2008-05-04 18:00:10
The other day I posted a comment about how my sister and I share an AMEX Cash Back credit card on Kevin’s post $327 in AMEX Cash Back Thus Far at No Debt Plan and he emailed me to ask out of curiosity why I share an account with my sister because it sounds so [...] ...
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Frugal but Thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift Suggestions
2008-05-02 09:49:53
This post is a collaboration between Madoline Hatter and Penelope Pince.
While gifts are a great way to show that you care, an important thing to keep in mind is that most mothers and grandmothers would probably prefer to spend quality time with their families on Mother’s Day rather than receive a fancy and expensive gift. [...] ...
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On the Naming of Pets and Improvement of Fortune
2008-05-01 01:07:27
I recently learned an interesting and amusing fact concerning the relationship between psychology and money. While discussing pet names, my cousin—who has the happy name Felicity—mentioned that a favorite dog name among the Taiwanese is “Money”. The reason for this is that they like to call “Money come! Money come!” every day.
I quickly saw the [...] ...
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Short Term vs. Long Term Savings with Bulk Buying
2008-04-28 15:43:31
It is generally accepted that buying in bulk is the best way to save money and the backbone of a frugal lifestyle. I do agree with this, but not for all things. With products and foods we regularly or quickly use and consume, I almost always buy in bulk without question. But there are cases [...] ...
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Discerning Luxury from Necessity
2008-04-25 09:59:12
I’ve seen several threads on forums where individuals in debt have posted a general plea for help in reducing their debt and most people simply respond by telling them to cut spending. But how to cut spending and decide what to cut and what not to cut? This is where you have to discern luxuries [...] ...
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Uses for Expired Cosmetics, Lotions and Other Beauty and Personal Products
2008-04-23 02:08:49
It is generally understood that cosmetics should not be used longer than 6 months because they get contaminated with bacteria and other substances. Instead of throwing away your cosmetics upon reaching a certain date, try some of the following.
Uses for Expired Cosmetics, Lotions and Other Beauty and Personal Products
Old facial moisturizers can be used on [...] ...
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Frugal Home Dec Tip: Electrical Outlet or Light Switch Frame
2008-04-19 14:59:00
Here is simple home decoration project to spruce up your walls or sides of cabinets that have an electrical outlet or light switch plate. This electrical outlet pictured to the right is in a conspicuous place in our house and I found the yellowish white plastic color rather offensive, so I came up with the [...] ...
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Our Favorite Sources for Affordable Fabrics
2008-04-16 09:09:37
One of our readers, Anne, asked us where we find affordable fabrics for our sewing projects described in Madoline’s post Save Money by Sewing Your Own Clothes, so here we will share our favorite sources. Our information on physical fabric stores dates back 1-2 years, as we have moved to a remote area and no [...] ...
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Affordable Storage Solution: Covering a Cardboard Box to Make a Treasure Chest
2008-04-13 09:03:00
I will show you how to make a nice storage chest from a regular cardboard box. The box shown here is an economy size carton of baby wipes, of which we buy a lot because they are great for cleaning dogs and upholstery. If you shop economy or family-size, you should have a good supply [...] ...
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7 Cost-Cutting and Safer Alternative Household Tips
2008-04-10 10:14:37
These are some ways we save money without sacrificing the management or enjoyment of our home:
Clean with Rubbing Alcohol
Our favorite cleaner is isopropyl, which looks pretty in clear spray bottles around the house. It is not perfumed, does not leave toxic residue like other cleaners, and costs only $1 to $2 for a large bottle. [...] ...
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Elegant French Memo Board from Thrift Shop Picture Frame
2008-04-07 09:03:40
This project provided an attractive way to post incoming sewing orders without causing our home to resemble a warehouse or factory. It took very little time and cost about $3.
I started with a fancy picture frame from the thrift shop and cut a piece of black velvet slightly larger than the board which backs [...] ...
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The Frugal Literate’s Guide to Affordable Reading
2008-04-05 17:23:06
Reading is one of the most frugal hobbies in existence, and is something, in my opinion, that everyone should do. Not only is it entertaining, but it can be beneficial and educational in many ways. In fact, reading is (along with watching period films based on classic literature) Madoline’s and my favorite hobby, and when [...] ...
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Interesting Reads from Fellow Personal Finance Bloggers #2
2008-04-05 17:06:08
PF Bloggers
Here are some great articles by some of my fellow PF Bloggers from this past month:
Seb at Pinching Copper gives us Five things you should buy used
Jonathan at Master Your Card offers a guide on How to Pick the Right Credit Card
JB at Get Rich or Die Trying had a very close call and [...] ...
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Homemade Coin Bank for Saving Wayward Coins
2008-04-03 15:27:24
Dissolution is a fact of life: that things naturally break down into smaller and smaller parts until they virtually do not exist. It is the same with money. A newborn $20 bill from the ATM is beautiful and full of potential. As it is used, the bill is broken into many smaller bills and the [...] ...
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Closing Your Credit Cards Can Hurt Your FICO Score
2008-04-02 03:23:48
In recent months, the subject of “too many credit cards” has frequently arisen on blogs and forums. I have even seen a post title saying that closing a credit card will immediately boost your credit score by 10 points. I don’t know if this is true; a quick search on Google didn’t turn up any [...] ...
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Fast & Frugal Recipe: Super Easy Pizza
2008-03-31 23:33:44
We often use this “recipe” (it is so simple it might not qualify as an actual recipe) when we’re busy and don’t have time to cook. And no, this is not one for making your own pizza crust. Prep time is less than 3 minutes and 20 minutes in the oven. There is hardly any [...] ...
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Patchwork Berets from Fabric Scraps
2008-03-28 00:48:57
Fabric scraps are the natural by-product of a sewing project. Bags and Bags of fabric scraps are the natural result of many sewing projects and the frugal impulse to keep every potential resource. While these collections of small and irregular pieces tend to be a nuisance, they are usually of beautiful or expensive materials that [...] ...
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Basics for the Young, Single and Frugal
2008-03-26 00:36:19
It is not easy to be young, single and frugal these days when designer clothing and accessories, iPods and BlackBerrys are king, and being cool and having fun is dependent on how much money you can spend. Frugal is not a word often associated with the first 2 traits - young and single - and [...] ...
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Announcement: Our Fourpence Worth Store
2008-03-23 17:05:38
We would like to announce the opening of Our Fourpence Worth Store, a subsection of our CafePress store Mozartini, which features original artwork by our in-house artist Madoline Hatter on all of our merchandise. Readers who enjoy or feel they have benefited from our articles can help support the continued running of this blog by [...] ...
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Fast & Frugal Recipe: Chilled Noodles With Peanut Sauce
2008-03-23 17:01:09
This is my most recent invention modeled after Chinese and/or Thai cuisine, chilled noodles (in this case Ramen) with cucumbers, corn and peanut sauce. This is a great meal for summertime and warm weather days when you don’t feel like eating hot food, and it can be served as an appetizer or entrée.
Ingredients
Noodles - can [...] ...
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Honestly Frugal: the Ethics of Saving Money
2008-03-22 00:50:01
A few days ago, I came across a thread on a forum where a member wrote about something dishonest she had done in order to save money. This individual was cleaning out her kitchen pantry and came across some jars of pasta sauce that she had gotten in a Buy One Get One Free sale [...] ...
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The No-Budget System
2008-03-19 17:30:19
Back in the day when Madoline and I were concerned (or maybe obsessed is a better word) with weight loss and weight control, we would set restrictions for ourselves - daily caloric limit, no fat, no sugar, no carbohydrates, no wheat, etc., depending on the type of diet we were on. We were never really [...] ...
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Thinking inside the box: Some Uses for Cardboard Cartons
2008-03-17 14:38:26
When you purchase food, you are paying not only for the part of the product you intend to eat but also for the packaging, the bags, wrappers, and boxes which usually go straight in the trash. While plastic wrap and bags have little use beyond stuffing them full of trash, cardboard food cartons have a [...] ...
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Fast & Frugal Recipe: Super Easy Taco Salad
2008-03-16 04:17:50
This is one of my favorite and easiest recipes for taco salad. It may not exactly be authentic Mexican cuisine, but it is fast at less than 3 minutes to prepare, inexpensive at $1.00 - $1.25 per serving, and in my opinion, very yummy.
The ingredients are as follows:
Tortilla chips
Chili
Salad*
Salsa
Ranch Dressing
* I like to use the [...] ...
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