No Spending Days and Thursday Thoughts

Ok, so it’s only the 4th, but we haven’t spent any money at all so far this month (other than fixed expenses, like health insurance, the mortgage, and the HOA dues). I’m feeling pretty good about that. Four no-spending days in a row. My inspiration comes from Frugal Trenches, who is also counting her vegan days now, in addition to no-spending days. Head over to her site to be inspired yourself.

Here are a few other tidbits that I found around the web this morning:

No Impact Man has a great post about sharing resources. It’s not the owning of a thing that actually brings happiness. It’s the doing, and the sharing, and the learning and growing. When you look at it this way, it’s obvious that we should be living in the smallest houses we can comfortably fit in, and spending our free time outside, with other members of our community.

Green Baby Guide has a post with lots of good ideas for birthday parties for kids. I especially like the idea of muffins instead of cupcakes. Muffins are usually my baked good of choice when I have to take something to a party. I use lots of ingredients like whole wheat flour, oats, pumpkin, flax seed, raisins, blueberries, etc (and very little sugar) and they always get lots of thumbs up. I’m also a big fan of the idea of sidewalk chalk for a party with little kids. And it’s a lot less expensive than renting a pony or a bouncy castle!

I found a site that compiles tons of online coupons and special offers in one place. FindSavings is a great resource if you do much online shopping. JC Whitney is on the list – my parents ordered car parts from them all the time when I was a kid. JC Whitney kept our family’s 1974 cars running well into the 21st century. There’s also a coupon for 10 cent 4 x 6 prints from Kodak Gallery (one of the few photo places that I haven’t tried yet. Perfect timing, since I have about 100 pictures that I’m ready to order!). And I saw a coupon for clearance items at VistaPrint. My husband and I have been using VistaPrint for business cards, fliers, and corporate greeting cards for years. I highly recommend them if you have a small business and need to project a professional image without spending a fortune.

Consumer Credit Counseling Services – a nonprofit credit counseling agency – has launched Household CFO to help people better handle their finances in a difficult economy. The website is full of free information about a host of financial topics, including identity theft, home foreclosure, breaking the debt cycle, creating emergency savings, and preparing for retirement. This is an especially relevant site in the pf blogosphere, and I know they would appreciate it if other bloggers would spread the word about the site.

Happy Thursday!

Related posts:

1. My Thursday Round-Up and Random Thoughts
2. Thanksgiving and Paid Vacation Days
3. Thrifty Green Thursday
4. Credit Card Spending Goals