Category Archives: Frugal Living

5 Ways to Save Money on Diapers

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Having a baby can be expensive.  There are tons of articles showing the cost of raising a child with STAGGERING sums.  But I’m here today to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way!   With some extra effort and careful planning, there are plenty of ways to save money.  Diapers, in particular, are one of the largest daily expenses outside of daycare.  We are two months into having a baby and now have some experience in the diaper purchasing game.  So today, I’ll show you 5 easy ways that my wife and I save money on diapers.

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How Patience, Persistence, and Luck Helped Me Save Over $400 on Parking

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I have found myself in a situation where I am paying for parking for work daily.   It has been years since I paid for parking.  My old employer covered our parking downtown and my other recent employer was in the suburbs.  In both situations, parking was an expense I didn’t have to worry about.   Situations and life changes quickly though.  With this new expense on the horizon, I set out to minimize it.  After all, as a Dividend Diplomat, we always try to make every dollar count.  Finding parking took a few weeks and was frustrating, but after a while, I found a heck of a deal.  The title of the article summarizes what happened.  But here is the story about how I was able to save over $400 a year on parking.

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Is Burger King’s $5 Coffee Subscription Worth It?

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Growing up, my favorite fast food restaurant was Burger King.  Despite the fact that there was a Wendy’s at the end of my street, I always preferred visiting “The King” and enjoying a flame-broiled burger.   While I’ve cut back on fast food over the years from my youth levels, I’ll still visit fast food places several times a month.  But as a McDonalds shareholder and the fact I have selected them as my restaurant category in the Bumped App, my incentive is to visit the Golden Arches.  But Burger King made one heck of an announcement over the weekend. Burger King will now offer a $5 per month coffee subscription!  As a coffee fanatic, I loved reading the headline and article.   This announcement had me thinking…is it worth it?  So I analyzed the subscription plan from the perspective of four different coffee drinkers to see:  The Coffee Snob, the Daily Coffee Buyer, the Keurig Lover, and the Home Brewer.

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Three Frugal Habits to Save on Energy All Year

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We all know this is the time of the year, especially for us Northerners, Easterners and Mid-Westerners, when the weather can be all over the place, similar to the stock market.  We literally had record-setting freezing temperatures, where if you were outside for minutes, frostbite would occur.  Only to have 60+ degree weather and be able to be outside with shorts and a t-shirt.  The topic of energy preservation, frugality and saving money really hit home from this, as well has assisting a few families on how they can save, each and every month.  Therefore, it’s time to list out THREE EASY habits to introduce, if not already, that will reduce energy and money, each and every month!

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A New Insurance Agency Chosen – I saved $290

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The deed has been done.  I have finally made a decision to switch the insurance carrier for both Home & Auto.  It had to be done and I have said goodbye to my insurance carrier of, I believe, 7 years.  This has been the year of change, to say the least.  However, who am I kidding?  This was one of the easiest decisions of my life and saving $290 to switch, made that decision even easier. Continue reading →

Time to Negotiate Auto & House Insurance

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Time to make another fight for my money, something that we should always do, with every purchase decision in our life.  I have recently had a few items drop off from my driving record (minor items, I promise!), pushing me to look at bills that are costly, on an annual basis.  Outside of the mortgage/house payment, what else is very expense?  Yes, auto and house insurance, something that I was spending approximately $1,425.00 combined for the year.  It is time to drill this expense down!

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