Make a gift through Kidworth this Christmas.
As a kid, I loved discovering a mound of presents choking the tree on Christmas morning. But I can’t help but wonder, now that I’m familiar with the website Kidworth, if some of those gifts could have been given as investments.
Did you know that the average child, according to Kidworth founder Rudy DeFelice, comes across $25,000-$30,000 in gifts by the time they are 18? And yet, how many 18-year-olds do you know that have more than a few bucks to their name?
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
wuestenigel/flickr
Now that Halloween is past us and we’ve eaten all the candy corn and miniature Snickers bars that we can hold, it is time to turn our attention to one of my favorite of holidays – Thanksgiving. Although Thanksgiving has become as commercialized as all the rest of our holidays, you can still create a special family event that brings years of memories without destroying the budget.
Here is a list of ten wonderful frugal and homemade Thanksgiving decorations.
Behold, the gyrobowl! Credit: BuyGyrobowl.com
I have lost the right to call myself the Bargain Babe.
To my horror, an item on my baby registry is being sold in a catalog I recently ridiculed for it’s high prices and absurd products – SkyMall!
How did this happen? At Babies R Us, my husband caught sight of the Gyrobowl, a small dish kept in balance by a gyroscope. In theory, the tot eating from it never spills her
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Daquella Manera/flickr
I am a firm believer in returning products. If I get it home and find out that it doesn’t fit, work, or do what the advertising promised, I return it. However, I hate the time, effort, and gas it takes to make a return.
Most stores have very good return policies. However, it often costs more to return the item than its purchase price. For instance,
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
MegaMind mask on cool dude
With Halloween only moments away, here are six last minute frugal activities, costumes, and decorating ideas.
- The MegaMind website. This site is full of activities that will keep you and your kids busy through Halloween week and beyond. Click above to enter the site, then click or skip intro (or watch it because it’s cute), and click on games, and activities. This will land you on a page where you can select an action figure to download. There are other activities as well – a board game, comic books, bookmarks, brainteasers, card games, and coloring sheets. There is enough cool stuff here to make an entire MegaMind party. A truly great site for a MegaMind fan who is young or old, as you can see from the picture to the right.
creativedc/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Reader’s Digest. Find more great tips on saving money from Reader’s Digest.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Halloween can be a fun family time. But, with all the costumes, decorations, parties,
and candy giving, the costs add up, even if you are having an old fashioned Halloween.
My advice for Halloween is the same for any annual holiday – think ahead. Look for costumes and accessories all year long. Anything that you have to buy in a hurry will cost more. That being said, here are the 10 best places to go looking for Halloween items NOW.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Robert Couse-Baker/Flickr
When I was a little girl, Halloween was a simple and cheap affair. We’d make costumes out of stuff we had at home, grab a pillow case, and walk up and down our block. Everyone who opened the door knew who we were, and we knew them. We returned home with warm homemade cookies, fruit, and my very favorite, a little envelope with 10 shiny pennies from the man who worked at the local bank. That, my friends, is what Halloween is supposed to be.
Unfortunately, Halloween has gone the way of all holidays: a commercialized spending spree. The average person will spend $72.31 on costumes, candy and decorations, adding up to a total holiday splurge of $6.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
fun3MD/flickr.
I just paid $24 dollars for 12 quart-sized cardboard containers of water. WHAT??? The Bargain Queens paid that? WHY?
I paid $24 dollars for those 12 containers because I was in San Diego a couple of weeks ago when the south western section of the country lost all power. I was lucky enough to be in a hotel that was prepared for emergencies. They had a back up diesel generator that kept lights on in the hallways and a flashlight for each room.
megrje / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
A couple of my friends are soon-to-be-mommies and one major expense for them is their changing wardrobe. I set out to find the most inexpensive way to getting maternity clothes. Below I compare the pros and cons of renting maternity clothes, buying them at discount stores, and getting hand me downs.
Renting maternity clothes
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
nSeika/flickr
No matter how you educate your children, it is pretty hard to miss the start of the new school year. While parents of students going to traditional schools are saving money on school supplies, parents of homeschoolers, like me, look for ways to save money on curriculum.
There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are homeschoolers. But in general it breaks down to either following traditional academic age/grade appropriate guidelines on what a student should know (so that you can pop your kid back into a traditional curriculum at any time and they wouldn’t be behind) or following a child-led curriculum, called unschooling in some circles.
If you are following a traditional curriculum,
Taking your kids to a baseball game doesn't have to be pricey! Credit: kkinjo/Flickr
There are 5 1/2 weeks before the World Series begins on Oct. 19 – plenty of time to go to a baseball game on the cheap with deals found by guest writer Andrew Kardon of JoeShopping.com.
It’s a summertime rite of passage: pack up the kids, trek to the ballpark and show your family why baseball is America’s Pastime. With ticket prices dropping along with game attendance, it’s easier than ever to have a great time at the ballpark and leave with money in your wallet. Use these 10 tips for great deals on tickets, souvenirs, concessions and more.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
Cuca de lllum/flickr
When I was little, the only color nail polish that a “nice” girl wore was clear. And we knew how to use that clear goo in many ways. Here are my top 10 favorite uses for clear nail polish:
- Stop nylons from running. Remember we wore hose ALL the time. Even in the snowy winters of New England during the mini-skirt fashion craze. You just COULDN’T bear to have a run in your stocking. A little dab of clear polish would stop the run. Of course, it would also stick to your leg, so you have to kind of pull the nylon away from your skin until it dried.
- Polish the inside of the yarn you have wrapped around your “steady boyfriend’s” class ring.The fuzzier the yarn the better. But if you put a coat of clear nail polish on the inside, it kept the yarn from unraveling. This entire procedure – wrapping yarn around your boyfriend’s ring- was repeated every night while you talked to your girlfriends on the phone. (more…)
thinkretail / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
A while back I wrote about saving money by using a retail credit card with perks. This time I saved $90.38 on back to school shopping! I headed to outlets just outside L.A. with my high-school-bound sister and bought several clothing items she can combine with her existing wardrobe in September.
Outlet stores are great for saving money on clothes. Below I’ll share tips for how we got the most out of our outlet shopping experience. But first, let me share what we bought and the cost breakdown. We shopped at the GAP because I had a $10 off reward sent to me. We bought items that are not so trendy and took advantage of big outlet discounts.
chrisinplymouth / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Women with health insurance will soon have one less expense. Health insurance plans are required to cover birth control starting on or after August 2012. For now, you’re stuck paying for it. So what is the cheapest birth control option?
The chart below compares the cost of 10 contraceptive methods. Keep in mind that these prices will vary based on location. The most effective options are listed first, with a dark line grouping additional options by efficacy as determined by Planned Parenthood. So options within two dark lines have roughly the same effectiveness.
Burrs & Berries / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Kids want to look good at school; parents surveyed by the National Retail Federation are committed to “spend where you need to, save where you can.” Here is how to meet both needs by saving money on back to school fashion. So what are this year’s fashion trends?
Tip: We post back to school deals at Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, and more every Thursday.
- Color-blocking- This trend is huge! You may have already seen someone giving it a try by wearing bold colors at the same time, above. If done right, it looks chic, but it can quickly go south. The trick is to stay within the color family. Try a bold pink dress with a bright red cardigan and black patent leather flats. The good thing about this trend is that (more…)
