Will People Think You’re Poor if You Act Frugal?

Do you proudly let the people in your life know that you clip coupons, save pennies and otherwise act frugally in your life? Or do you hide this information from others because you’re worried that they’re going to think that you’re poor and that must be why you’re doing these things?

Frugal blog Family Friendly Frugality is running an interesting series called Misconceptions About Frugal Living. The first issue that they addressed in the series was the misconception that all frugal people are poor people. Many frugal followers were shocked to see that this was even a concern. That makes sense since living frugally is a hot trend right now that a lot of people are absolutely proud to be a part of. Nevertheless, it seems that some people are concerned that others will mistakenly believe that they are broke if they live frugally.

Some things to consider if you’re worried about appearing poor by living frugally:

• It’s probably true that you’re suffering a little bit financially right now. Who isn’t? Your concern may have less

Coupon Tip: Read Coupon Policies for Better Savings

It is always a good idea to be familiar with the coupon policies of the stores that you shop at most often. It allows you to properly use the coupons in that store, helping you to have good coupon etiquette (not to mention an easier time with coupon use in that store!) But did you know that familiarity with coupon policies can also provide you with helpful information about how to save more money with coupons in that store?

The Chicago Tribune just had a recent article about this topic that proves the tip perfectly. They noted that if you read the coupon policy for the store Jewel, you’ll see the following point:

“Illinois/Iowa: Liquor Coupons that state they are redeemable on a purchase of liquor and a non-alcoholic item are redeemed without the customer having to purchase the liquor item.”

The article goes on to explain that this actually means that if you see a coupon for a free item with a purchase of beer, you don’t actually have to buy the beer but you can still get the item for free!

5 Signs Your Coupon Use Is Out of Control

There has been a lot of talk among frugal people lately about the thin line between saving money and being extreme with your frugality. The conversation has been spurred in large part by the launch of TLC’s show Extreme Couponing, a  show that reveals the coupon clipping habits of some people who definitely take frugality to a whole new level.

In general, clipping coupons and saving money are a good thing. However, it can get out of control. Here are five signs that suggest that you might want to scale back your coupon use:

1. You dumpster dive for coupons. There are extremely frugal people who actually go into other people’s trash to get the coupons that those folks are throwing away. Most people love to save money but would say that this action is a little bit out of control. Besides, there are so many great deals online with coupon code sites that it seems silly to get dirty in the dumpster to save a little bit of money!

2. You hate dealing with your coupons. If you don’t enjoy the process of finding and using coupons then you should think twice about how much time you’re putting into it. You don’t want to decrease your own quality of life just to save a little bit of money.

3. You have more stuff in your home than you know what to do with. People who get obsessed with coupon

5 Tips for Frugal Spring Gardening

Celebrate spring by planting a garden in your home! A home garden is a great way to save money on groceries. It also bring freshness, life and creativity into your home. But if you’re not careful, a home garden can get expensive. The following five tips will help you keep it frugal when planting a spring garden this year.

1. Plant items that cost a lot in the store. If you spend a lot of money on fresh herbs at the store then plant an herb garden. If you love pricey treats like white asparagus then that should be the focus of your garden. This allows you to reduce your grocery bills a lot once your garden starts to grow.

2. Design your garden with xeriscaping in mind. This means that you set up the garden to take advantage of the natural flow of rainwater so that you don’t waste money watering your garden this year. The ultimate goal is to design a garden that needs zero watering although that can be tough in some areas. Reduce water use in the garden as much as possible to keep costs down.

3. Make your own fertilizer. It can be pricey at the store but you can easily make it yourself using eggshells and

Top 10 Coupon Queens and Their Top Tips

A coupon queen is a woman, usually a mother, who takes the art of couponing to an extreme level. She doesn’t just use a coupon every time that she shops. She works part-time or full-time on saving as much money as possible with unique, creative, smart coupon tips. Most women don’t want to take the time required to go to the extremes that coupon queens do to save money. However, we can certainly all pick up a good tip or two from the coupon queens in our nation.

Here are ten of the country’s top coupon queens and some of the tips that they offer:

1. Jill Cataldo. This super coupon queen is perhaps the most well-known of all coupon queens due to the fact that she is the founder of Super-Couponing. She is a money-saving author who provides workshops and lectures to people who are interested in learning her great coupon tips. Of course, because of this, she has many tips to offer. Some of those tips include:

• Learn the sales cycles of your local grocery store so you can buy items when they are at their lowest point in the cycle.
• Pair coupons with sales to get the lowest price.
• Always stack your coupons!
• Learn the secrets of stockpiling.

2. Kathy Spencer. This amazing woman feeds a family of six with five pets on an average cost of just $4 per week

15 Tips on Restaurant Coupon Etiquette

Restaurant coupons can be a good way to save money in some cases. You have to be careful with them, though. If you don’t usually eat out and wouldn’t dine out without the coupon then you may be wasting money just by going out to eat. If you enjoy eating out, though, then you can reduce the cost by seeking out restaurant coupons. When you do, you may notice that the waiters aren’t always thrilled as you pull out that coupon. This is because a lot of customers don’t really know the proper etiquette for using a coupon at a restaurant and waiters who have to deal with this can make assumptions about you because of it. You can help change these assumptions by following proper restaurant coupon etiquette.

Here are 15 tips for proper use of coupons at restaurants:

1. Bring the coupon with you. A huge pet peeve for waiters is the person who says that they saw a coupon but they don’t print it out and bring it with them. A restaurant coupon is like any other coupon – you need to have it with you to get the deal! Don’t ask waiters to let it slide since they can get in trouble for doing so.
2. Make sure the coupon you bring is valid. For example, don’t try to get away with using a coupon that has expired. Don’t photocopy a coupon or print out multiples of an online coupon. In other words, traditional coupon etiquette also applies at restaurants.
3. Don’t ask the restaurant to match a competitor’s coupon. People sometimes make this mistake because it is something that you can do with grocery store coupons and coupons for some other local stores. It’s not something that restaurants usually do.

Proposed Tax Raises Prices on Coupon Users

The governor of Connecticut has proposed a new method of taxing items for sale that would have the effect of increasing prices on individuals who use coupons. Coupon users are understandably upset about this since the whole point of using coupons is to save money.

Basically if the change takes place what would happen is that you would be taxed on the pre-coupon price of an item rather than the discounted price. For example, let’s say that you have a 10% off coupon for an item that costs $100. Today you would pay sales tax only on the discounted price of $90. If the proposal goes through, you would pay sales tax on the full $100. The result is that you end up paying more in total even though you’re using the same coupon.

This can mean a big difference in cost in various situations including:

• In situations where you have a really good coupon that significantly decreases the price of the item

Tween Teaches College Class on Coupon Clipping

The average coupon user may be an adult woman but that doesn’t mean that couponing is limited to such a group. Just ask Emma McDaniel, a twelve-year-old girl who is so savvy about coupon use that she’s teaching a class to college students in how to save money!

McDaniel teaches her class at Converse College. This is a small women’s college in South Carolina that is dedicated to empowering women to be leaders in their communities and their jobs. These are exactly the types of women who are likely to use coupons to assist their families in saving money over the years so it makes perfect sense for them to be learning good coupon clipping skills now.

McDaniel teaches these students the basics of coupon clipping. She believes that organization is the key to successful coupon use so she teaches her college students how to organize coupons. She prefers a method that requires no cutting before filing because it saves time, something that busy college students and coupon-clipping moms surely appreciate!

Some of McDaniel’s other favorite coupon tips are to stack coupons for increased savings and to make sure to get coupons

Gamblers Use Coupons to Save Money

Gambling is not a good way to live a frugal life. Although there is always the chance that you’ll win the big jackpot, the reality is that you’re going to lose your money more often than not. But this doesn’t mean that all people who gamble are people who waste money. In fact, a lot of American gamblers do all that they can to reduce the costs of their gambling. They even use coupons to get savings at the casino!

There are three very common types of coupons offered by casinos:

1. Free play coupons. The most common type of casino coupon is the free play coupon. Gamblers sign up to be part of a casino player’s club. When they’ve placed a certain number of bets, they receive a coupon to play the slots a certain number of times for free. This encourages gamblers to spend more in order to get more free turns.

2. On-site food and service coupons. Members may receive coupons in the mail to get free or cheap drinks, meals,

Print, Don’t Copy, Multiple Coupons

Coupon stacking is a great way to increase your savings when using in-store coupons. It means that you get more than one copy of the same coupon. Alternatively it can mean that you get very similar coupons from different sources. Either way you are able to use the coupons together to maximize your coupon savings. It is important, however, that you make sure that all of your coupons are original coupons and that none of them have been copied because copied coupons are considered coupon fraud and are illegal to use.

Printing multiple coupons

One great way to stack your coupons is to find online sites that offer printable coupons. These printable coupon sites frequently have the same coupons that you’re already getting from your newspaper inserts and in-store coupons. Sites typically allow you to print out coupons 1-2 times each. Although some sites do require you to sign in and only let you print out 1-2 coupons per account, many of them allow you to print out 1-2 coupons from each IP access that you access the account with. This means that you can

Coupon Use Limited by Liquor Laws

Liquor laws regulate if and how coupons can be used on the sale of alcohol. You may be thinking that you don’t buy alcohol with coupons so this doesn’t affect you. However if you ever use restaurant coupons to purchase meals that include alcohol then you will want to know more about this issue.

Many states prohibit the discounts from coupons to be applied to any sale of alcohol. This means that if you have a coupon for ten percent off of the total cost of your restaurant bill then the restaurant is not allowed to calculate the alcohol in the cost until they have taken the discount off of the rest of the meal. You aren’t allowed to get the discount on any wine, beer or cocktails that you might get with your meal.

Most coupons do say this right on them. After all, coupons have been around for a long time and their manufacturers have gotten savvy about the law. Where things might

10 Most Expensive Coupons You’ve Ever Seen

A coupon is supposed to save you money, right? But that old adage that you have to spend money to save money is reigning supreme in the world of couponing today. People are flocking in droves to group coupon sites like Groupon in order to purchase deals. And people are also utilizing the services of coupon brokers, people that they pay to find the best coupons for them. If this ends up saving you money in the long run then it’s worth it. However, many people spend money on these things and don’t actually use the coupons so they end up being a huge waste of money. That waste can add up when you’re spending $20 here and $50 for online coupons that you don’t use. Imagine the waste if you failed to use one of these ten most expensive coupons that have been offered:

1. $10,000 Penthouse Suite Coupon. If you visited group buying site LivingSocial at the beginning of this year then you might have seen the coupon that they were offering for the whopping price of $10000. It was a 50% discount on the price of a stay at the penthouse suite in San Francisco hotel The Fairmont. Sure, you technically save $10000 off of the price of the deal. But are you really getting a deal when you’re paying $10000 for a hotel stay? Now, you frugal folks out there may be thinking, “well who would actually buy that coupon?” Bloomberg reports that the site sold 115 of these coupon deals!

2. $2000 coupon for Lasik surgery. This was a deal that Groupon offered. Sure, if you had already been planning to get Lasik surgery at the place that was offering this deal then it would be worth it to buy the coupon and get the discount. But if you’d only briefly thought about

6 Key Ways to Battle Coupon Hostility

People who are choosing to live frugal lifestyles are facing a number of challenges today. We recently wrote about the fact that frugal folks are starting to suffer from frugal fatigue (and provided tips for conquering that problem). And now it has come to our attention that those of you who choose to use coupons to save money are increasingly facing coupon hostility from friends, neighbors and associates. This is all just a backlash to the strong support that frugal living has had in the past few years and it will all balance out soon enough but in the meantime we want to make sure that you have the tools that you need to battle the problems that are cropping up for frugal folks all across the nation. That is why we have put together six solid tips for battling coupon hostility if it turns up in your life.

What is coupon hostility?

Coupon hostility refers to angry statements and actions that others make towards you when you reveal the fact that you use coupons to save money (or share great couponing tips). This may happen in your “real life” or it may happen in the form of blog comments, forum posts and social media responses.

Fitness Guru Schiemer Says Don’t Waste Money on Bowflex

Fitness guru Michael Schiemer is known not just for the information he provides to others about how to get fit but also for his tips on frugal fitness. In a recent interview with Medfield Patch he said that his number one frugal fitness tip is to avoid buying the Bowflex and other bodybuilding machines like it.

Many people think that getting a full home gym is worth the investment. Indeed, if you were going to use the machinery every day instead of hitting the

Coupon Glossary: The Language of Coupons

Do you think that you know your coupons? This comprehensive coupon glossary provides definitions for the language that people speak when it comes to saving money with coupons.

Blinkies. Many stores have little black or red boxes that spit out coupons for you to use in the store. These boxes are referred to as blinkies. Similar to CNP.

BOGO. This says for “buy one, get one”. It is most commonly used when discussing a “buy one, get one free” coupon deal. However, BOGO can apply to other similar discounts instead, such as when you “buy one, get one half off”. Also called B1G1.

BOGOF. This is a BOGO coupon (see definition above) that specifically refers to the deal where you buy one and get one free.

Competitor coupons. Many stores will accept store coupons (see definition below) from stores that they are in