I’d like to welcome those of you who are stopping by from Mama Cheaps today. Devon reprinted my article “Recycling Centers: How I Get So Many Coupons For Free” as a guest post; so if this is your first visit here, you might want to check out my Coupon Articles section for more information.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Mama Cheaps – Devon is a sweetie and wrote a great guest post for Super Coupon Girl last year called Storebrand Formula – How Does it Stack Up? So go say hi!

Decorating Your House for Pennies-Part One: The Basic Principles

Free and Low-Cost Ways to Transform your Humble Home into a Holiday Paradise

Some people think that living the frugal life means a barren home, tasteless decorating and a minimalist attitude towards home décor. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, being frugal opens up one’s eyes to the world of possibilities that exists in using just about anything as a form of accent for one’s dwelling. As a military family, we’ve lived in just about every type of housing imaginable, from a 1700 sq foot double-story home to a teeny tiny apartment, and never once failed to furnish some sort of décor for our humble housing. Following are some helpful tips that we have both researched and learned over the course of our lovely living experiences:

Some Basic Principles for Inexpensive Decorating:

o Be creative: You’ll find this is a theme in most of our articles, including this one. Frugality is about thinking outside the box and discovering that almost anything can be redesigned to serve another purpose after its intended life has been worn out.

o Designing is in the Details: This is all about YOU. Your home should make a statement about you: who you are, where you’ve been, what your passions are. Don’t feel boxed into how you think your home “should look” according to the latest Good Housekeeping. Be yourself, and make your home YOUR home.

o Try to pick a neutral color scheme. I’m a little weird when it comes to this, but I try to follow my own advice every once in a while. I pick one or two key colors for each room of my house and build from there. My kitchen is red and black, my living room is red, my bedroom is brown, etc. If you have a main color in your head for each room, its easier to shop and look at things with a discerning eye to know whether or not they’ll look good in your home. For example, I know that a red vase might look good in my brown room as a complementary color, but a blue throw isn’t going to harmonize quite as well in the bedroom.

o It’s okay to Shop…if you know when to do it. Some of the best accent pieces in my home have been purchased from stores like Ross or Marshalls a few days after the holiday has passed. Five years ago I scored a beautiful three tiered harvest-adorned candle holder at Ross for under five bucks, and I still use it each year.

o Yard Sales and Thrift Stores are my best friends: You can score amazing finds at these two shopping locales. Some of the best items to look for include random pieces of dishware (pretty bowls or teacups for displays), throw pillows in decent condition (the key here is mostly that they are clean smelling… we’ll talk about why later), tablecloths or bed linens (relatively clean so they can be made into curtains, if desired) and pretty glass bottles or vases.

o Don’t underestimate the Dollar Store: This is my favorite place to pickup fake flowers. Since I have little kids, its not exactly practical to be running to the store every three days for fresh flowers, and that can get rather costly as well. I prefer to buy the nicer-looking fake flowers from the local dollar store, since they’ll last forever. Different seasons bring different varieties and hues, but they pretty much have a great selection year round. I like to stick with solid hues: a white bouquet, a red bouquet, an orange bouquet; this way I can mix and match according to the holiday or occasion.

o Buy Décor that can be displayed for multiple holidays: The abovementioned candle holder is adorned with fall colored leaves and tiny pumpkins; it gets put out in September with the harvest decorations and lasts through Halloween and Thanksgiving. By buying items that are color themed, ie, brown and orange for the fall, red and white for Christmas through Valentines Day and possibly even 4^th of July, you’ll get the most use out of your decorations.

o Take good care of your decorations. I try to carefully pack away my decorations in newspaper after each holiday and keep them away from moisture and bugs (*Military Mama Tip: Be careful to make sure and label the boxes fragile so multiple moves won’t take their toll on your treasures) so that they’ll last as long as possible.

o Take advantage of the best resource you have—sunlight: Sunlight is my number one accent in all the rooms of my house (wherever it is that we are calling home at that particular moment). Open the shades and let it cast it’s beautiful glow on your belongings. Sunlight makes everything appear more open and spacious, plus it’s good for your skin, kills germs, and can help you sleep better at night. And bonus: If you have good enough sunlight, you won’t have to use the lights in your home hardly at all during the day, saving on your electricity bill. So open those drapes and let it shine!

Nadia is a young Army wife and stay at home mom to two adorable little kids. She enjoys bargain shopping and finding the hottest and cheapest deals for her readers, and blogging about her frugal living adventures as a military mama at A-B-C Frugality. When she’s not blogging or chasing a naked toddler, you can find her working hard to finish up her Bachelor’s degree in Education or reading the latest Twilight book.

Today’s post was written by The Wanna Have Fun Hen at FiveHens.com!

About Five Hens:

There are five hens who all have a slightly different outlook on life. We have a lot in common with each other and a lot of differences as well. We wanted to cluck a bit about the things that happen in our lives in the hopes that you might find our insights (and rantings) useful…or at least funny.

Everyone seems to be on a budget these days. We could all use new ideas on how to save money. Recently I found out, if a product stops working before it should, you might be able to get it replaced (I do not save receipts).

Last week, my son’s LeapFrog Leapster game cartridge stopped working. I called their toll-free number and they agreed to send me a new one, if I mailed them the old one. I just saved $24.00.

About 4 months ago, my Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner stopped working. I found their toll-free number on their website and called them. They asked for the model number and agreed to send me a coupon for a free one. I just saved $2.

Every little bit of money helps when you are on a budget. How do you save money these days? Do you know of other companies with similar policies? Leave a comment and share them with us.

By the way, here are the customer service numbers if you happen to need them:

Leapfrog: 1-800-701-5327

Scrubbing Bubbles (SC Johnson): 1-877-506-7352

And, if you want a coupon to save $7 on the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner Starter Kit, here’s the link to it.

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Today’s guest post comes to us courtesy Devon of Mama Cheaps!

When I was a Mama-to-Be, I just assumed that I would breastfeed. I didn’t really give it a second thought. When that turned out not to be the best option for us, I was faced with an important decision to make. What kind of formula should I feed Lily Bean? Of course I wanted only the best, while at the same time, I wanted to save any money I could. I had received some samples while pregnant of Similac Advance and Enfamil Lipil. They are very similar formulas from two different companies.

I signed up for the Enfamil Family Beginnings
and Similac StrongMoms programs. Both send samples and valuable coupons for formula. They were a big help, but as the coupons starting to come fewer and farther in between, I started to look for something more economical. I started to investigate the various store brands out there.

In the end, Biker Bob and I decided to go with Costco’s store brand, Kirkland Formula with Iron. I’m happy to say, after several months on this formula, Lily Bean has done great, no problems at all! We had compared ingredients with the Costco brand to Similac and Enfamil and found them to be nearly identical. In fact, Costco’s formula even has a handy comparison chart on their label:
As you can see, it’s pretty much the same.

Here’s the big difference: THE PRICE. The Costco brand is less than HALF the price of the Similac and Enfamil. Here’s how it breaks down (these are the prices that I got today at Costco and my local Giant Grocery Store):

Costco: Formula comes in a 2 pack. Two BIG (25.7 oz) cans (51.4 oz total) for $19.95.

Enfamil: ONE 25.7 oz can is $23.69.

Similac: ONE 23.2 oz container is $21.19.

And there you have it, Costco is the clear winner.

Of course, your pediatrician will tell you what’s the best choice for your baby, and breastfeeding is still the best option. But if your doctor gives you the go-ahead, and formula feeding is your choice, there are great deals out there!

Today’s guest post comes to us from Kristie of This Side of Eternity!

About Kristie:

My name is Kristie and I am a homeschooling mom who is Saving Dollars and Sense by bringing you all the best deals, coupons, freebies, giveaways, and ideas that I can find on This Side of Eternity, and looking to serve the King in all I do.

One of the main areas of our budget that I have been able to scale back on considerably is our grocery budget. I should probably tell you up front that I would not expect anyone to stick to the budget we have set in place for our family at this time which is $200 a month. My husband has been out of work on and off for about a year now, so it has been necessary for us to change our shopping habits.

While I would have only bought organic all natural peanut butter or meats a year ago, I have had to adjust my thinking on these things since my husband has been out of work. My suggestion is to cut costs wherever it is possible.

There is always room for improvement.

Here are some of the easiest ways to cut your grocery bill quickly.

1. Stock up when something is on sale. There are things that we use regularly like ketchup. When I can find ketchup on sale and free with a coupon, I’ll pick up several. This saves me from spending unnecessarily on something when we run out while there is no sale.

2. Always buy marked downs. I rarely buy meat or bread unless it is on markdown. You can ask your grocer when they regularly do mark downs for the best selection. My Meijer seems to do this on Friday mornings. I plan my menus around what I find on mark down instead of planning my menu first and looking for meats after to save.

3. Learn to use coupons. I cannot tell you how important it is to use coupons. I purchase 2 papers each Sunday just for the coupons inside. I save way more that the cost of 2 papers, so it is totally worth it for me. There are also several places online to get coupons as well.

4. Make a list. But, more importantly, stick to the list! I use to make a list, but once I got to the store I would see other things that I wanted and add them to the cart thinking its only a dollar. But, can I just say that those dollars add up quickly and you’ll leave the register wondering how you spent so much more money that you had planned on spending.

5. Leave a little room. If I know that I have $50 for my weekly grocery budget, am not going to spend every single cent while planning out my list. The reason for this is that there are always great mark downs that when matched with the right coupon will be practically free. If you don’t leave yourself a couple dollars you won’t be able to take advantage of these situations which will save you money down the road.

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Today we have another guest post from Layla of Coupon Journey!

About Layla:

I’m a 30 year old mother to one kitty, married and living in NC. I was layed off last year and had to resort to using coupons to survive. Fast forward 1 year, and I can’t believe I still have a roof over my head and am thankful that I stumbled into the world of couponing. My blog, Coupon Journey, chronicles my journeys to find the best deals around. I also host reviews and giveaways and am celebrating my 6 month birthday of blogging this month, by hosting many giveaways through October 31st.

This post originally appeared on Coupon Journey on August 10th, 2009.

Today we have another guest post from Layla of Coupon Journey!

About Layla:

I’m a 30 year old mother to one kitty, married and living in NC. I was layed off last year and had to resort to using coupons to survive. Fast forward 1 year, and I can’t believe I still have a roof over my head and am thankful that I stumbled into the world of couponing. My blog, Coupon Journey, chronicles my journeys to find the best deals around. I also host reviews and giveaways and am celebrating my 6 month birthday of blogging this month, by hosting many giveaways through October 31st.

When you think of being frugal, “Taking a trip to the Caribbean” isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. But there are ways to save money on everything, and if you’re currently planning a Caribbean vacation, check out these tips from Melissa of BestTravelDeals.net – and if you do find a bargain basement fare, take me with you!!

Tips for Finding the Best Bargains on Caribbean Vacation Packages

The Caribbean is an idyllic paradise that offers travelers the opportunity to soak up some sun, spend time on stunning beaches, enjoy water sports, and much more. Purchasing Caribbean vacation packages is typically the best and most affordable way to enjoy the region. It is not uncommon to find that a vacation package which includes airfare and hotel is cheaper than airfare alone. As such, the Caribbean is friendlier to package travelers than independent travelers, unlike other major vacation destinations.

A simple online search will yield a vast number of Caribbean vacation packages. However, to ensure that you get the best prices and the most value out of your trip, keep the following tips in mind.

Travel during the Off Season

May to mid-December is the best time to travel to the Caribbean. You can get discounts of up to 40 percent on standard hotel rates if you travel during the off season. Rock bottom prices can be had between June and August whereas May and September through December are considered the shoulder seasons.

Travel to Destinations Served by Multiple Airlines

When you travel to Caribbean destinations served by multiple airlines, you can get the best bargains. Some highly frequented destinations in the region that are served by multiple carriers include Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Nassau in the Bahamas.

Stay at All-Inclusive Resorts

By staying at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, you can avoid sticker shock. There are all-inclusive resorts ranging from modest to luxurious in the Caribbean. Activities like water sports and local tours are sometimes included in packages offered by all-inclusive resorts.

Choose Packages for Islands That Are Known for Their Bargains

Islands that have the reputation of being budget-friendly and delivering the most bang for your buck include the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Eat Like the Locals

Instead of eating in all of the overpriced tourist joints, go to independent local restaurants near tourist areas. You can also try different types of local specialties at roadside food stands.

Use Public Transportation

Taxis are expensive in the Caribbean. Use public buses in order to save when you go from place to place during your vacation.

Check Online for Travel Deals

Sign up for email alerts on travel deals sites as well as resort and hotel email newsletters to keep up with the latest online bargains being offered. Some hotel chains claim to offer the best rates on their own websites.

Today’s guest poster is Layla of Coupon Journey! She shares a makeup deal currently running at E.L.F. – keep in mind that shipping starts around $6.00, but if you like this makeup, it might be a fun deal for you. And don’t forget that you can also get 4% cashback by shopping through Ebates!

About Layla:

I’m a 30 year old mother to one kitty, married and living in NC. I was layed off last year and had to resort to using coupons to survive. Fast forward 1 year, and I can’t believe I still have a roof over my head and am thankful that I stumbled into the world of couponing. My blog, Coupon Journey, chronicles my journeys to find the best deals around. I also host reviews and giveaways and am celebrating my 6 month birthday of blogging this month, by hosting many giveaways through October 31st.

Make any purchase from e.l.f. (yes, even a $1.00 lip gloss purchase) and you will also receive a FREE 27 piece mini makeup kit! Just make sure to enter code: LOYAL at checkout!

Hurry, this promo expires 11/13/09.

Free kit includes:

• 9 eye shadow shades
• 1 cream eye shadow shade
• 1 blush
• 1 bronzer
• 10 lip gloss shades
• 1 brow powder
• 1 eye liner pencil
• 1 dual ended eye shadow applicator and brush
• 1 face brush
• 1 lip brush

Purchase a $1.00 product to stuff in a stocking, and receive a FREE gift for yourself!

Enjoy!

This post originally appeared on Coupon Journey on October 15th, 2009.