Frugal Tips and Hints - Pay with Cash

Why does paying with cash make a difference, and cause you to spend less?
No matter what method you use - envelopes, jars or other ways to stash your cash - it just seems to help us spend less if we have actual, physical money in our hands as opposed to credit or debit cards.

Maybe you can't use cash for every single transaction right away - so make it a goal to do what we've been doing recently - take out a certain amount of cash each week for just your weekly groceries. When the money runs out, you have to make do with the groceries you have left at home! You'll be amazed by what a difference it makes to your overall budget if you use cash more, and other (admittedly convenient) ways to pay - such as using credit cards - way less.

What do you think? Does paying with cash help you to spend less overall? Post a comment and let other frugalites know!

Frugal recipes: Gluten free bread pudding

Since going gluten free a few years ago, I've found that our grocery costs have gone up. The problem with gluten free foods are that they tend to be 2-3 times more expensive than traditional foods! There are some ways to get around this - try to use naturally gluten free foods more, instead of always heading to the gluten free section of the supermarket.

For now, I realize that I have some Udi's gluten free bread (the BEST gluten free bread around, in my humble opinion) that is sitting getting stale in my refrigerator. So, instead of wasting those slices of bread, I'm going to cube them up, and then make a custardy type mixture of milk, a couple of eggs, a squeeze or two of honey, a splash of vanilla and some frozen blueberries I have and tossing the whole mix together.

I'm going to bake it in a buttered baking dish - and see how it turns out! I love experimenting with food and creating my own recipes on the run. :) I'll post about how my frugal gluten free blueberry bread pudding turned out. Now...if only I had some ice cream to top it with...

Definition of Frugal

What is the real definition of the word 'frugal'? While it might mean many things to those of us who identify ourselves as frugalites, the proper dictionary definition is as follows: "Sparing or economical with regard to money."

I like that. Economical or frugal always sounds a bit nicer, a bit friendlier than that other often used word - cheap. When you say you're frugal, people might roll their eyes a little, but if you say you're cheap, well, you're opening a whole new argument...

So, how do you frugalites feel? Are you proud to call yourselves frugal? Do you agree with the above definition of frugality? Have you always lived a frugal life, or is a new lifestyle for you?