Festival of Frugality #372

Welcome to the 372th Edition of the Festival of Frugality!

Food-Related

Harry Campbell presents Is Restaurant Week Even a Good Deal? posted at Your Personal Finance Pro. “Have you heard of restaurant week? Most large metropolitan cities have some form of it, but the general idea is that you pay a discounted rate for a three course price fixed dinner at a top restaurant in your city. In San Diego, the options are for $20/$30/$40 dinners at over 150 restaurants. There are obviously quite a few options and three courses for $20-$40 may sound like a good deal but I’m here to tell you, it’s not.”

Colin Williams presents What Is The Real Cost Of Coffee, Snacks and Lunch To You? posted at humble savers. “This post comes with a FREE calculator to help show you just how much each cup of coffee and other small items really cost you over time – Scary stuff.”

Corey presents Stocking the Bomb Shelter: Is Buying in Bulk Actually Worth It? posted at Steadfast Finances. “Buying in bulk may look good on paper, but you need to consider all of the factors before making your decision.”

Jennifer presents Eating out? Find a BYO restaurant and save a fortune posted at Discount Coder Blog. “Finding restaurants that allow you to bring your own drink can be a fantastic way to save money on eating out. This fabulous article discusses the best way to find these hidden gems!”

Kristen presents How to Use Your Holiday Ingredients Now posted at My Dollar Plan. “If you’re anything like me, you probably bought a few extra ingredients throughout the holiday season. Before you toss them or waste them, here are some things you can do with common holiday ingredients.”

Automotive

Corey presents How Young Adults Can Save Money on Car Insurance posted at 20s Finances. “We all know that young adults struggle with saving money. It must be the curse of young adults to be attracted new cars, fancy gadgets, and trending clothes. Either that or just plain inexperience. In all seriousness, its a combination of all these things.”

Little House presents 5 Automotive New Year’s Resolutions – Learn Car Repair posted at Little House in the Valley. “Many people look at the New Year as an opportunity for a fresh start. Some set goals to lose weight, quit a bad habit or finally finish that home remodeling project. One often overlooked area for New Year’s resolutions is your car. Here are five auto-related resolutions you can make that are easy to achieve and may save you money.”

TTMK presents Revisiting Car Insurance Costs: 5 Ways to Save posted at Tie the Money Knot. “We all like to save money, right? How about revisiting our car insurance policy, to see if we can find a better deal? Or, simply save money by taking advantage of other discounts.”

Jeff Rose presents Reliable Transportation Does Not Equal a Brand New Car posted at Good Financial Cents. “You want to try to convince me that you need to buy a brand new car to have “reliable transportation” – I don’t think that’s necessarily a good idea. And if you were kid, I would put you in timeout. ”

Emily presents How Sharing a Car Has Helped Our Joint Finances posted at Evolving Personal Finance. “Becoming a one-car household has helped our communication around money and supports our decision to have totally joint money.”

Jay presents Tips to Get More for Your Gasoline Dollar posted at Daily Fuel Economy Tip. “Help in figuring out the best ways to use less gas.”

Budgets and Sticking to Them

Tushar presents How to Resist the Urge to Spend? posted at Finance TUBE. “Today we will be talking about how to resist the urge to spend? At the core of all personal finances advice is this one fundamental principal. You have to resist the urge of spend as much as you want.”

SFB presents The Importance of Having an Allocated Spending Plan posted at Simple Finance Blog. “What is an allocated spending plan, its benefits and how to set it up.”

John S presents Tips For Shopping Smarter posted at Frugal Rules. “In today’s marketplace there are many ways you can save money while shopping. By doing a little homework online before shopping or using your smartphone you can find some great deals.”

Emily presents Avoid Buyer’s Remorse: Use These Psychological Tricks to Spend Money Wisely posted at PT Money Personal Finance. “Did you know that there’s research to help you avoid having buyer’s remorse? This post highlights 3 habits you can develop to help yourself.”

Mike Collins presents How to Budget When You’re Broke posted at Wealthy Turtle. “If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, these tips will help you break the cycle and get your finances get back on track.”

Grayson presents Treating Your Savings Like A Monthly Bill posted at Modest Money. “One day I was adding another bill to the board and it hit me. I needed to start treating my savings account like another monthly bill.”

Living Expenses and Utilities

Eddie presents Lower Your Wireless Bill By Cutting Your Monthly Data Usage posted at Finance Fox. “I was able to conclude with today’s post on some tips and tricks to keep your monthly data usage in check and more importantly lower your wireless bill.”

Kyle presents How Much Is Too Much to Pay for Residence? posted at My University Money. “The problem is that residence fees in many parts of the country have risen at incredible rates over the past decade. This disregard for general inflation rates seems to be part of the world of education these days, but I digress.”

Charles presents FHA Requirements posted at Wallet Hub. “Federal Housing Administration loans enjoy a fine reputation as a way for families of modest financial means to buy a home. In the aftermath of the home mortgage crisis, the FHA has tightened up some of its rules, but for many homebuyers, FHA loans are still an attractive option.”

Debt

Miss T. presents Start Managing Debt posted at Prairie Eco Thrifter. “One of the things we found out was that debt, in itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s the volume of debt that becomes a problem. I mean, debts like mortgages, student loans and car loans are almost a necessity in this day and age; the trick is to keep your repayments below 30% of your income.”

Lynn presents How to Adjust Your Student Loan: Income Based Repayment (IBR) Plans posted at Wallet Blog. “Circumstance force you to seek other repayment options? Here’s one way to repay your student loan without losing your shirt.”

Justin presents Paying Off Debt: The New Year’s Resolution You Need to Keep posted at Young And Thrifty. “Making New Year’s resolutions is a time honored January tradition. The problem is that by February most of those resolutions have been broken and completely abandoned. But there’s one New Year’s resolution that you need to keep, that you cannot afford to give up on – and that’s paying off debt.”

Katie presents What Happens to Debt When You Die? posted at Katie. “What Happens to Debt When You Die?”

Other

Daisy presents How Craigslist Has Saved Us Hundreds of Dollars posted at Add Vodka. “When we bought our house, we knew that it needed a bit of work. Our house is nicely renovated, but it was built in the 1960s, and had a few issues that were under the scenes. ”

Jon the Saver presents How Fitness Affects Your Finances posted at Free Money Wisdom. “Personal fitness has a direct effect on your personal finance life. Letting yourself go can wreck havoc in your personal life so watch out.”

Marlene @ Financial Highway presents Personal Grooming Products You Could Probably Do Without posted at Financial Highway. “We all want to look our best, but with so many personal care items on the market, it can be hard to determine what we really need and what we could do without. Naturally, advertisers are out to sell their clients’ wares and they use every trick they know to make us believe we simply can’t live without the latest and greatest or the new and improved. As human beings, we are particularly drawn to what’s new.”

Will presents How to Use a Credit Card Balance Transfer to Your Benefit posted at Card Guys Blog. “In order to get the best results from your balance transfer, you have to plan ahead. Paying off debt requires that you plan carefully, and that you stick to that plan.”

Steve presents Explaining the Target Red Card Loyalty Program posted at Grocery Alerts. “I wanted to share some valuable information with our Grocery Alerts readers about the popular Target loyalty program, Red Card. The Target Red card offers a flat five per cent discount on almost all purchases made with the chains debit or credit card.”

Kurt Fischer presents iFixit Yourself posted at Money Counselor. “Is you first instinct to toss broken gadgets and appliances in the trash or recycling bin? Save money by doing repairs yourself with iFixit’s help.”

Melissa presents Alternatives to Attending PayScale’s Top Universities and Still Earning a Commanding Salary posted at Free From Broke . “Payscale publishes the top universities that will give you a great salary and job satisfaction. But most can’t afford these schools. See some alternatives.”