How Is Your Frugal Journey Coming Along?

Sometimes it is necessary to step back and think of the ways your frugal journey is working and more importantly, not working! There is always room for improvement. My biggest frugal goal this year is to get my husband to agree to turn off the cable! We don't need it! While he agrees that TV is almost 100% garbage, he isn't ready to let go of cable entirely (yet).

So, in the meantime, I am looking for other ways I can improve on my frugal journey. I believe making my own cheese will help! Cheese is expensive, and I can make it cheaper. I plan to show many more cheesemaking posts this year, so stay tuned! 

Last week I went Internet surfing to find other ideas on how to be more frugal. Here is a list of what t I found.

• The Money Drain has a good post about saving money. This post references a lot other sites the author found around the Internet.
• The Reader's Digest has a post about 6 New Year's Resolutions for Saving Money. While some of the ideas are basic, I never considered a few of them before, so I am posting it to help you think of new ideas as well.
• The Reader's Digest also has a post about ways to save at the grocery store by not falling for the marketing tricks the stores use to entice you! It is called 50 Supermarket Tricks You Still Fall For and it is quite good! Let me add here that one of the best ways I know to save at the grocery store is to not buy processed foods! Make your own instead! There are lots of recipes on this blog (as well as the Internet in general) about making homemade substitutes for things that come in a box.
• WFMY, a TV channel in Greensboro, NC has a 52 week challenge to get you to save $1,400 by the end of the year. They even offer easy tips on how to do it. I really like this one! This can easily cut $1400 out of your yearly spending and you won't notice most of it!
• One more from The Reader's Digest. This post is The Best Time to Buy: 43 Cheap Finds Throughout the Year. Here in the US, everything goes on sale at some point during the year and you can capitalize on the savings if you time your purchases right!
• MSN Money has an article on 9 Easy Ways to Save $100 a Month. While some of these ideas I have mentioned before, such as bring your lunch to work instead of buying lunch out, this author suggests that you only need to bring your lunch a few days a week to start. What a great idea! Start small with one day a week. Then you can work your way up to a few more days each week. I also like a few of the other ideas mentioned. Comments to the post have additional ideas on how to save money!
• Market Watch has a post on How to Be Smarter About Money in 2014. This article talks about your overall attitude towards money. Tips such as automate savings so you pay yourself first, involve the entire family, and others help set up a successful framework so you can use the other ideas listed here to create the details in your plan.

The ideas listed in these posts are more for the intermediate traveler on a frugal journey. If you are new to this journey, you can start with other posts I have written here. Scroll through the posts and you will find many simple ideas you can introduce into your own household. While all the ideas may not be relevant for you, be sure to scroll through the entire list. I am sure you will find something you can implement this year to help you save money!