Frugal Babe

I’ve mentioned before that I need to have backups of our important financial documents, and keep them in a safe.  This week, a new Staples opened near our house, and they were running an opening special that would give $30 off a $70 purchase.  So I went over there on Monday to get a safe.  [...]

Last week, our midwife told us about a movie that was going to be shown on the weekend, called “The Business of Being Born.”  It was made by Ricki Lake following the births of her two children - one in hospital with all the standard hospital rules and regulations, and the second at home with [...]

We spent a crapload of money this past weekend.  I didn’t like having to put everything into Microsoft Money to track our expenses, but then again, it’s not like we were out buying shoes and purses. 
On Friday night, we went to a play with my brother and his girlfriend and her mother.  My brother’s gf [...]

Last month, we signed up for wind energy from our electricity company.  We just paid our first bill with the wind energy charge, and it was pretty easy on the check book.  We used 857 Kwh this month (as opposed to 1073 last year - yea!  keeping the temp. higher and drying clothes on racks [...]

We got our maple tree trimmed on Monday.  When my husband was getting quotes, he felt really comfortable with one of the guys he talked with.  He asked if it would be possible to get a discount for doing some of the work himself.  The trimmer said that he could give us up to $100 [...]

My husband is going to be in his cousin’s wedding next month.  He’s an usher, which is as much “in” a wedding as he wants to be,  since it means he doesn’t have to be in the spotlight or give a speech.  He’s grew up very close to his cousins - both of whom are [...]

We have a huge maple tree in our front yard.  It’s a great shade tree, and sitting on our front porch feels like being in the forest since the tree obscures most of the street from view.  But it’s getting a bit out of control.  My husband has climbed on the roof a couple times [...]

I was going to post my answers to NCN’s questions all in one post, but it got too long and I had to break it up.   I talked about what’s in my retirement account and my thoughts on saving for college yesterday, but Question #5 cought my eye the most - I am a foodie at heart. 
NCN asks [...]

Yesterday afternoon, we set out with the best of intentions to finish our xeriscaping project without spending more than $50 (making the total for the project about $200).  Alas, rocks aren’t cheap.  We tried to find free ones (no luck), so we resigned ourselves to paying for them.  We found a place that would sell [...]

Last fall, my husband and I, along with my parents and my siblings, spent a weekend getting my parents’ old house ready to sell.  They have moved every few years for the last 38 years - they love to fix up old houses, live in them for a while, and then move on.  We spent that whole [...]