i’m looking for some links regarding stretching your budget, cheap ways to travel, do activities, etc. if any of you guys could help me find links that capture both the financial/economic side of this, as well as the more human, family aspect. it would be greatly apperciated. thanks
These used to be free forums but due to expenses you now have to subscribe to post. It’s still free to look though, and the forums such as “Money Saving Tips” “Household Finances” and the new “Trash to Treasure” might be helpful. http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/
Also of possible interest:
http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/
http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com/Default.asp
For more finance/investing related matters I like the Motley Fool at www.fool.com
Not so much frugal but for living cheaply and in tune with the earth…you can’t beat…
This question belongs in the IMHO forum.
Try this Google group:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.consumers.frugal-living
voguevixen,
I’m not sure I’d trust the frugality advice of someone who pays to join a message board. 
I know, huh? Maybe they’re millionaires now from all their penny pinching though, haha. Or they have a tightwad business and can use it as a tax write-off. 
There are archives from when it was free that are pretty good. There were some really, um, DIFFERENT ideas. (One guy used to re-use his floss – BLECH!)
These folks are the epitome of frugality and have a huge archive to search.
Howard Clark is a notorious penny pincher. Listen to his radio show if you get it in your area. He knows amazing stuff. Or just check out his web site.
This is a more IMHO than GQ, so I’ll move this thread.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
A friend gave me the book The Tightwad Gazette. I’d assume they have a website.
I find a lot of the suggestions in the book totally ridiculous, but one person’s “worth every penny” is another person’s “total waste of money,” so I guess it’s worth a look through all of these resources to see if there are any ideas that are suitable for your particular circumstances.
Do you mean Clark Howard?
On Usenet, there’s misc.consumers.frugal-living
You can read and post (with a Google account) through Google Groups if you don’t normally use news reader software
I highly recommend ** Tightwad Gazette ** which offers manied varied different options of frugality for whatever level you are looking to make changes in your life. (there is a compedium of the TG, look into this one. Four books in one.)
Some of it is ultra ultra frugal, miserly living that too me, wastes the experience of life. Some of it is akin to Depressionary Times mentality, which if you grew up like that, is pack ratting and really wasting loads of time driving 10 miles to save ten cents. But, other ideas integrated into your life ( air drying laundry, for me as an example, saves us about $700 a year in propane bills, if not more.) (The propane company, every year, says that I have to be one of the few people who do not blow through their Fall pre-buy deal by december. We pre buy $1200, and still have $400-$700 credit on it in June. Now that the kids are older, we’ll use the fireplace more, too.) I save countless bucks since discovering the menstrual cup through this book. No more tampons. Yay! sorry, I am rambling.
When the first book was given to me over ten years ago, I was in my conspicous consumption throw money into the toilet phase of life. Two incomes. No kids. Wheeeeeee. I barely gave the book a glance. I kept it in the bathroom and would look at it once in awhile…then I started digging it quite a bit. I loaned my copy out not so long ago and I’d really like it back as it was a good source of inspiration. what may not work right now, in two years, hey, I’m ready to try it again.
I just picked up a book ( haven’t read it yet) called, **Voluntary Simplicity ** . Can’t offer an opinion on it, but it looks to be good.
**Buget Travel ** and it’s sister ** Budget Living ** are both excellent magazines catering to the deals and decorating ideas in life. Their motto’s, respectively are, " Vacations for real people" and " Spend smart. Live Rich." (budgetlivingmedia.com and www.budgettravel.msnbc.com)
One of my favorite magazines right now is called **Ready Made Magazine ** It caters to the 20 somethings who want to recycle or make things out of the flea market finds. It is, like the other magazines mentioned, a four or five time a year magazine.
(readymademagazine.com)
Oh, and utilize your library for all your literary needs. Since I’ve made this discovery ( I’m dense, what can I say) and use their book borrowing system from across the state, I no longer buy books via the catalogs that have enticed me for a long time. I borrow them and if they are exceptional, then I buy them. (Usually used.)
QUOTE]*Originally posted by Green Bean *
**A friend gave me the book The Tightwad Gazette. I’d assume they have a website.
**
[/QUOTE]
They don’t, actually. They saved enough by “tightwadding” that even with (I think) six school-age kids they were able to retire!
The Complete Tightwad Gazette is a complete edition of all three books plus the last year or so of newsletters that were never published. You can get it for (near) dirt cheap at Amazon and it’s a great read. Even if some of the ideas are too “extreme” for you it really gets you thinking about some of your preconcieved notions. I reread my copy about every six months or so and find ideas that didn’t appeal to me earlier, but now might work, or give me an idea for another thrifty idea. I especially love the section on trash picking, which I myself have never been brave enough to try. Another really neat addition is a sampling of “success” stories and letters from people who’ve dug themselves out of terrifying debt and miserable financial situations and now have a second chance at life. Very inspiring!
And Shirley, while I’m with you on the Keeper (yay!) and Readymade magazine, I will fight you to the death on Budget Living which is a thinly disguised parade of overpriced consumer goods and an all-around sack-of-crap!
OK, Budget Living does not live up to its standard that I was hoping for, but it is still cheaper than **Architectural Digest ** **Martha Stewarts ** and any other Home designs of the Presentious.
Glad to see another **Readymade ** fan. Do you have the issue with grass couch on the cover. It is the only one I missed (besides their very first one) and dammit, I want to know how to make a grass couch and it is sold out.
The problem i’ve run into with frugality info is alot of it is minor savings. i.e., how to save $10 a year doing something esoteric & out of the way, etc. I have alot of frugal personal tactics though if you want some of them.
try this place for advice, they have alot.
http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm
your best bet is to make as thorough a budget as you can, then figure out how you can cut. Shirley Ujest found she could save $700 by air drying laundry. A very indepth budget would inform you how much you spend on something like that and frugality websites would tell you what you can do about it. In my experience, generic & general tactics don’t work for frugality. you need an indepth budget and to pick and choose tactics based on what lifestyle you are comfortable with and how much you spend in that area.
another good tactic to save money on magazines is to buy them on ebay. Magazines sell subscriptions to wholesalers for pennies and you can get a multiyear subscription for a few dollars.
example. I think i’ve got a time, newsweek, weekly news & world report, kiplinger finance, money, discovery and popular science subscription for about $20 total a year.
I’ve taken up cheapskating as a lifelong hobby. One of my favorite travel websites…
http://www.cheapovegas.com/index.php
Vegas is the ultimate bargain destination, cheap rooms and free beer.