If your household was a manufacturing plant, you’d be “sourcing” to the nth degree. This means finding the best vendor for your supplies, but most especially for your keystone supplies. In my businesses, I need toner and paper—but most especially, legal paper, which varies wildly from $5 a ream to $12 a ream for the [...]

I keep my AAA card with my debit card and always present both at once. Half of the time I get a blank befuddled stare (no m’aam, this is not ID) and half of the time I get a discount. That second half is good enough for me. Trips to the zoo, prescription refills, or [...]

You can’t beat rice. Fast-cooking, versatile, and almost universally-liked. We make rice in big batches because the leftovers are just as good. Here’s a few uses for this wonderful food. 1. A base for stir-fry2. In soups in place of noodles3. As a “mash” for breakfast with milk and cinnamon4. Rice pudding with a custard [...]

Before tossing something broken, try to fix it. There’s a great book called “How to fix almost anything” that I had for a long time. We mend worn clothes (except socks). We use epoxy, super-glue, and paper clips to mend all sorts of things. Before replacing any malfunctioning plumbing item, we take it apart and [...]

A few years ago my husband and I purchased our first house–the little condominium that we still live in. When we purchased it in March of 2004, it felt like a palace. Now it’s feeling more like a dollhouse, but we still love it. We purchased this place when real estate values were quite depressed, [...]

I don’t know about you, but medical bills have been hitting our house like no body’s business! I honestly can’t believe the rate they’re flocking in right now despite our relatively good health, and decent health insurance. An ear infection here, a broken tooth there, and routine prescriptions are a truly massive part of our [...]

You’ve likely noticed that I run ads here on Pennywise Family. It’s how I keep my blog free (ofsetting server, time, etc.) My committment to you is taht I only run ads for companies that *I* use adn taht I think are a good value. I’ve recently found Inksmile.com and added their ads. In my [...]

I wish I could recall how I learned about this movie, but I heard it was a must-see indie film. Since my interest is in finance, and my family is following the “Total Money Makeover” plan to get out of debt and live life without it, I decided to take a look. This independent documentary [...]

I got this great cost-savings tip today from my writer-friend Julie–who lives just 90 miles from me, but I actually met her in Ethiopia. (Go figure?) Julie is a busy work-at-home mom with five delightful kiddos (mostly pre-teens the brave soul!). Here’s her tip: Here’s a budget conscious tid-bit we have done to save bucks…you [...]

First off, my profound apologies for falling behind on my 31 days of financial literacy. I have some posts in the works to finish out the month, but I’ve been battling an illness this week, so once I’m fully back on my feet, I’ll finish those and post them. Also, I’m contemplating a redesign for [...]