There is an image of the 1950s housewife, complete with her red and white ruffle apron, presenting her husband a nice roast fresh from the oven after he has returned from work and had time to read the paper.

Obviously, we are now far from those days; in many families both parents work and the six o’clock hour is a busy one filled with tired, hungry kids and parents stressfully finding a way to put dinner on the table quickly.  Even if one parent stays home, life can be busy with extracurricular activities and other events.  While there are pre-made foods you can buy to feed your family, it is healthier and cheaper to make your meals from scratch.  By utilizing intentional leftovers, you can present a healthy dinner quickly, making both your budget and your family happy.

Intentionally using leftovers only requires a bit of advanced planning.  Often, you can do the prep work on the weekend, making weeknight meals even quicker

Rotisserie Chicken

Buy a rotisserie chicken on Sunday afternoon and remove all of the meat from the bone.  That night, place all of the bones and extras in a slow cooker with 10 cups of water, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 6 cloves of garlic, a quartered onion, and a squirt of lemon juice.  Let it cook over night and strain in the morning.  Put the broth in ice cube trays to freeze for quick, homemade chicken stock.

For one meal, simply mix some chicken with salsa, heat and serve on tacos with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.  This meal can be on the table in less than 15 minutes, and it is cheap.

Later in the week, make a simple tortilla soup.  Saute a diced onion, diced red pepper and garlic in olive oil and then add the chicken, some of the chicken broth, frozen corn, black beans, a can of diced tomatoes and spices such as cumin, red pepper.  Simmer for 15 minutes and serve.

Pork

One morning, place a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker along with diced sweet potatoes and a diced onion.  Add a can of diced tomatoes mixed with some brown sugar.  Pour over the tenderloin.  When you come home, you have a complete meal waiting for you.  Save some of the pork for later in the week.

A few nights later, simply mix the shredded leftover pork with bbq sauce and heat on the stove.  Serve the pulled pork on buns with the side of your choice.

These examples are just a few of the infinite possibilities.  Eating healthy, homemade food doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive.  Take a little time on the weekend to do some prep work, always plan your first meal with an idea of how you want to re-purpose your leftovers for another meal, and take advantage of your slow cooker.  You may not be cooking for hours as a 1950s housewife might have, but you will still be able to feed your family nutritious meals in about as much time as it takes to go through the drive thru.

Summer is almost over but we’re about to embark on a last minute trip to the New Jersey shore town of Wildwood Crest.  Fortunately, it looks like the hotel where we’ll be staying made it through Hurricane Irene in one piece!

Family vacations can get expensive very quickly so I figured I’d share a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck.

Eat in.  From past experience, I know that most of the restaurants in the area are pretty expensive.  So we are staying in a room with a stove and oven so we can eat in at least a few nights.  It’s easy enough to whip up some pasta and sauce and enjoy a cheap meal before heading to the boardwalk for games and rides.  Plus, the hotel has a big grill near the pool so we can fire up some burgers and dogs one night too!

 Go easy on the rides.  My kids loooove going on rides, but if you’re not careful you can spend your whole vacation budget on the Himalaya and the Tilt-A-Whirl.  And in Wildwood, you have to fork over tickets for each individual ride (unlike Hershey Park where you buy admission for the day and can go on as many rides as you want).  Since tickets tend to go quickly you need to pace yourself and find other ways to distract the kids.

Find free or inexpensive diversions.  The beach in Wildwood Crest is free so that’s a good chunk of the day taken care of right there.  But there are other ways to kill some time without breaking your wallet.  If we bring the kid’s bikes we can let the go for a ride while we stroll up and down the bike path.  There’s also a nearby park with swings, slides, and monkey bars to keep the kids occupied.  Another option is to take a short drive into neighboring Cape May and walk around the shops and cafes.

What other simple tips do you have for saving money on a family vacation?

Talk of going green usually involves spending a lot of it, too. But reaping the economical benefits of eco-friendly living doesn’t have to come at the price of an audacious upfront investment. There are simple, cheap, and relatively easy ways to cut home energy spending especially during these dog days of summer. Some are even things you can do as soon as you’re finished reading this article.

1. Convert to CFLs

Compact fluorescent lamps use 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent lamps, last six times longer, and can save users $40.00 on energy costs over the course of their life. Count up all the light fixtures in your house and do the math to figure out how much you can save. CFLs are a more expensive purchase up front, but they’re guaranteed to save money in the long run.

2. Stock the Fridge

The refrigerator and freezer use up about one-sixth of a home’s energy costs. By keeping a fridge full it increases the amount of matter that can be chilled, which in turn re-cools an opened fridge faster than if it were empty. If your budget or your bellies don’t agree with a packed refrigerator, gallons of water from the faucet will do the trick too.

3. Unplug Chargers

Phone chargers, laptop chargers, and other power providers continue to draw energy from outlets so long as they remain plugged in. Start the habit of having yourself and other members of the household unplug chargers whenever they are not in use as well as making sure not to overcharge electronic devices.

4. Resist Turning Off the A/C: Opt to Only Adjust

When a family is gone for several days, it’s the usual protocol to turn the air conditioner off. But it’s, in fact, more economically efficient to leave it running at a higher temperature. If you prefer your home at about 78 degrees during the summer, bump it up to 82 when traveling, but leave it on. Otherwise, you’ll be forcing your A/C to use up enormous amounts of energy cooling the house back down to 78 from 90-95.

5. Paint the Roof White

If you’re going to be in the market for a new roof soon, give your old one an extension by painting it white. While the overwhelming majority of roofs are dark colored, white ones are far better at reflecting the sun’s rays and therefore reducing the amount of heat that radiates throughout the building. It’s not exactly just a matter of buying buckets of paint from the hardware store, but it’s a project that can be done in a weekend that can reduce energy costs by hundreds of dollars every summer.

Don’t drop your retirement fund on solar panels just yet. Give cheaper eco-friendly options a chance first. There are plenty to choose from and none require much more than a little legwork and a ladder. Going green and saving green doesn’t get much easier than this.

This is guest post by Kiley Theiring.  Kiley is a film student at Chapman University who also loves to write. She currently writes many freelance articles about saving money and living frugally in every aspect of life.

Even in such a harsh economic climate, it’s tempting to spoil your kids rotten. Giving your little ones everything they want may put a smile on their faces now, but later in life they won’t be prepared to give up their spending-happy lifestyle. It’s important to teach your kids how to be frugal, even at a very young age. They may not grasp it at first, but understanding will come with repetition and constant learning. Think about it – your kids won’t really need to use complex math until they are older, but you wouldn’t wait to teach them everything right when they need it. So why not do the same with finances?

It’s never too early to start teaching your kids. Even a child as young as two or three can benefit from a lesson in frugality. At that age, kids are much more likely to listen to you and absorb what you say, especially if you do not waver from what you teach them. If your children are constantly nagging you to buy them things, simply sit them down and explain why you can’t buy them things in terms that they can understand.

Patience is key. Ignoring your children’s nagging and constantly having to say no can be difficult, but if you are going to teach your kids about finances you must not fail to practice what you preach. If you constantly tell your kids no then crack under pressure, all your lessons will be wasted. All they will learn is that they can get what they want as long as they are persistent.

Teach your kids to use their own money wisely. If you give your kids an allowance or pay them for doing chores around the house, teach them to spend wisely. If there is a toy that is burning a hole in your child’s pocket, encourage them not to go out and spend it right away. Show them how they can find the same thing cheaper somewhere else or have them put half of it in a savings account of their own.

Show your kids how to use coupons. Since clipping coupons is quickly becoming an activity of the past, introduce them to online coupons when they are old enough to use the computer. Even if you aren’t too comfortable navigating the internet, your children are “digital natives,” so they will be more likely to use coupons to help themselves save if they can do it online instead of cutting them out of magazines and newspapers.

Don’t let your kids get in the habit of throwing things away that can be used again. Show your kids how to recycle and reuse. If your kids pick up these habits now, they will keep them for the rest of their lives. Practices like this can help them save money and can even help save the environment. No matter how you teach your kids to save, start now so they will be well on their way to financial success!

Good personal finance is about saving at every possible stage and funnelling that money towards investments. With this in mind you need to search for all the little ways that you can save money in your day to day life – for people intent on this, now is a great time as new technologies are constantly making our lives easier and more efficient. Conference calls are one such tool, and you can use them to shave a fair bit off your monthly spending.

The main benefit of teleconferences is that they will cut down the amount you need to travel in your day to day life – these calls handily replace all types of meetings so rather than jumping on a train to meet a client, or drive to work you can sit in the comfort of your own home and communicate with people that way. Back in the days of cheap gas it was possible to drive everywhere and not have a care for the expense, yet this has changed and it is now incredibly pricey just getting from one place to another – conference calls can help you avoid this and leave your car in the driveway.

Luckily, conference calls have evolved to an extent where you don’t have to sacrifice the quality of your meetings to save money. Done over traditional phone lines, the call clarity is now perfect so you can hear everyone well; it is also sometimes possible to incorporate web-cams and screen shares to add a visual aspect. This means that teleconferences are almost as good as meetings, and that you can take them up without any worries.

Adopting conference calls can save you a fair bit of money, especially if you are able to cut out some transport costs. It may not completely change your financial picture, but that’s not the point: if you save little bits in enough places you will be in a great position, and that’s what saving is all about.

Many sites offer their own private label prescription eyeglasses frames that are more budget-friendly than designer labels. Weeding through the bad to find the good is relatively easy – look for a satisfaction guarantee or a good refund policy. Price is also a factor – good, high quality lenses are not cheap – many sites will offer free standard lenses but if you need an upgrade, the lenses should cost more than $20. The same goes with frames – paying a little more can often mean a better investment.

Buying glasses shouldn’t cost you a fortune but it is an additional cost. Spending wisely, not necessarily cheaply, will not only improve your vision but it can result high quality glasses that last until your next eye exam.

If you’re like most people, you heating bill is one of if not the most important household expense you have.  So I’m sure you will agree that it only makes sense to try and trim your heating bill as much as possible.  And the good news is that even small changes to your habits can have a large impact.

Here are some tips for lowering your winter heating costs:

Lower Your Thermostat – Keep your thermostat turned down as low as you can while still being comfortable.  Every degree you lower the thermostat will cut your bill by about 3%, so throw on a warm sweater and turn down the heat and you could see some significant savings right off the bat.

Seal Up Doors and Windows – Pick up some caulk and weather-stripping materials at your local hardware store and get ready for some do it yourself insulating.  Make sure you seal any holes and cracks around doors and windows to prevent cold air from leaking in.  if your windows are particularly old and drafty you can pick up clear plastic insulation to seal the entire window for the winter.  Just use the special adhesive tape around the window frame, attach the plastic, and use an ordinary hair dryer to “shrink-wrap” your window.

Keep Your Furnace Filter Clean – Clean or replace your filter regularly so your furnace doesn’t have to work as hard.

Let the Sun In – During the day when the sun is shining brightly, open up shades and drapes to let the sun in and take advantage of some natural heat.  As the sun goes down, close the shades and drapes to help keep the warm air inside.

Keep Vents and Radiators Free – Placing furniture and drapes near heating vents or radiators is never a good idea because it blocks the heat from coming in.  Sure, the space behind your sofa will be nice a toasty (a cat would love that!) but the rest of your house will remain chilly.

Have a Home Energy Audit Completed – Most energy providers will provide you with a free or low-cost home energy audit if you ask for one.  Basically, one of their workers will come to your home and look for places that energy is being wasted.  Then they’ll draw up a quick report with suggestions on how you can improve your home’s energy efficiency.  Then it is up to you to decide which of their recommendations you want to follow.

In today’s economy, it can seem like being good to the environment is a luxury. Not many people can afford to outfit their houses with solar panels or geothermal heating, drive a hybrid car, or even shop in the organic produce department. But being good to the earth can also help you to keep more money in your checking account. There are many low-cost or money saving options out there that will make you feel good about your carbon footprint and your bank balance.

Home energy use is one of the easiest places to start your saving. We all know that it’s important to lower our consumption, but what may be surprising is how easy it can be. The Department of Energy’s website www.energysavers.gov outlines ways to minimize your energy use. Homeowners will often get more energy savings bang for their buck with the simpler, cheaper solutions. According to the Department of Energy, a caulk gun, some weather stripping, and an afternoon plugging drafts in the house can lead to as much as a 30% savings. If you have the time and money to add insulation to your attic, that will make another huge difference. But even if all you can do is lower the thermostat a couple of degrees and throw on the sweater Great-Aunt Gertrude knitted for you last Christmas, you will see a difference in your energy bill.

It may seem like the only way to drive environmentally is to buy a new, more fuel-efficient car. But keeping your current car on the road as long as possible is also a green-friendly choice. Carpooling, driving the speed limit, keeping your car in good working condition and making sure your tires are properly inflated are all obvious ways to help your fuel economy. In addition, planning out your trips before you make them and saving all of your errands for one day of the week will not only help your savings goals, it can also help save a great deal of frustration. Finally, keep your car in the garage every once in a while. Running errands on foot or bicycle can be a fun way to stay in touch with your neighbors while taking care of yourself, your planet, and your bottom line.

The list of produce that is most important to buy organic can be frustrating to those on a budget. The so-called “Dirty Dozen” features the produce that I personally buy most often. However, there are ways to improve the footprint your food consumption makes, without having to spend big bucks. For example, meal planning can take a huge bite out of the money-drain that is wasted food. Going to the grocery store with a plan and list in hand will cut down on impulse buys and make sure that every food item coming home will be eaten. Also, going “grocery shopping” in your own kitchen can turn up unexpected goodies. Every kitchen has frozen and canned items that have sat unused for untold months. Planning one meal a week around these freebies will save you money and possibly lead to a new favorite recipe.

Going green is ultimately a lifestyle choice, just like being frugal. No matter why you are interested in saving-for financial or environmental reasons-making little changes can lead to a big payoff.

This is a guest post by Philip Taylor of PT Money: Personal Finance. Visit his blog to learn to make more, save more, and spend more wisely. See Philip’s latest review of the best small business credit cards.

This post comes from Coupon Sherpa, a source of reliable online, printable and grocery coupons. You can download the free Coupon Sherpa iPhone app with in-store mobile coupons, or check out more great tips from the Ask Coupon Sherpa blog

Ever wonder why electronics companies sell computer printers for $8.99? The ultra-sleek variety with scanners, copiers, and fancy touch screens? Take a look at the cost of replacement ink cartridges and it’s as obvious as soy sauce on a white shirt! If you were to buy a gallon of black printer ink at Bulk Goods Club you’d have to sell off a generous lot of furniture to afford it. When you’re paying over $2,500 for plain, black printer ink per gallon, who’s grabbing the winning side of this marketing tug of war?

This is news to no one who’s fallen for the inescapable scam. We all know about the ridiculous price of printer ink and the manufacturers’ borderline monopolistic tactics to prevent third party vendors from offering cheaper alternatives. What many of us don’t know is what we can do about it to save money on our end.

1. Find out the price of replacement cartridges before buying the printer.

Even if the price is too good to be true? Yes. Because it probably is! Consider the Dell 3-in-1 printer for home offices, which costs $59.99. Replacement cartridges will set you back $15.99 for black and $19.99 for color (generic not available). The HP Photosmart 3-in-1 on the other hand will cost $69.99 up front with and option to buy remanufactured cartridges for $11.99 (black) and $14.99 (color), saving significant amounts over the lifetime of your machine. Identify the type of printer you need (inkjet, photo printer, laser, etc.) then find out which brands have a generic or remanufactured option for ink. Don’t forget that the factory included cartridges, which come with your shiny new printer, contain less than a third the ink that new cartridges contain.

2.  Recycle cartridges for a discount on new ones.

Both Staples and Office Depot offer buy-back rewards for recycled ink containers. I’d be tempted to send a thank you letter, except that they still make 1000% percent off re-inking and reselling the “donated” cartridges. Staples coupons for “donating” your cartridge amount to $2 back toward the purchase of a new replacement (generic or name brand) whereas Office Depot coupons for the return equal $3 back. It’s not a shabby offer. If you purchase a generic cartridge you could save up to 30% on replacements.

3. Change your printer settings to “draft” or “black and white only”.

If you’ve tried to do this before and can’t seem to find where the settings are, and the exact wording of the ink saving mode, you’re not alone. I’m convinced this isn’t an accident in design. Comb through your printer manual to find machine-specific directions to print in monochrome color, grayscale, or draft to avoid using the color cartridge. When you print in color, the multi-chrome cartridge mixes various ink colors to create an exact color rather than black, which uses only one. By printing in both black and white with a draft setting for jobs that don’t need a professional look, you’ll save a ton of money over a couple years.

4. Print two pages per sheet.

For drafts of projects or pages with large graphics, two or even four pages per sheet will allow you a cheaper way to edit without printing on a full scale. The setting for “multiple pages per sheet” should be near where you select grayscale, but each printer has a different location for it. Grab your glasses before you attempt to read the small print!

5. Buy generic cartridges.

Be forewarned that not every printer offers a generic cartridge, especially if it’s not a widely sold model. You just might be stuck paying $35 for a black refill. But if you have the option to buy an off-brand cartridge they print with the same quality ink and cost up to 40% less. Most office supply stores sell generic counterparts for select units. You can also look for ink & toner coupon codes to help off set the cost of purchasing generic cartridges.

6. Copy and paste a selection you need to print.

“Print selection” will become your new favorite button if you’re tired of inking pages of useless fluff from websites. More than likely, you don’t want to print an ad on becoming a millionaire with acai berries. You just need a hardcopy map that gets you to Uncle Joe’s house. Select the section you want to print, set to “grayscale”, then “print selection” (which should be on the main printer menu).

7. Reduce the font size.

This falls in line with printing multiple pages per sheet. Editing a project in a different size font helps you catch mistakes, too. Print in a smaller size, still in grayscale, before finalizing your work with a high-quality color finish.

8. Re-ink your own cartridges.

Of your many stick-it-to-the-printer-man cash savers, this is the sketchiest option. Buying your own ink sounds like a fabulous idea. It may even recall fuzzy memories of 1st grade watercolor painting. But re-inking is akin to tinting your own wall paint–plus it requires latex gloves and copious paper towels. If you’re up to the challenge, be my guest! Just don’t get upset when a tiny drop of red finds it’s way to your taupe carpet. Review the steps to self-inking before diving in.

Don’t let the soaring costs of ink cartridges restrict your printing needs! With these few minor changes you’ll have an inkling into just how much can be saved over the life of your printer.

Today I’m proud to offer you a guest post from Matt Davis of www.bettermeself.com.  Matt has some great tips for enjoying yourself at the county fair without spending a fortune.

As summer time is in full effect, nothing screams good times louder than a local fair. Up in NH, we get this one time a year, right at the beginning of August, and it’s a time when the community really comes together. Bands play, Artists share their craft and everyone pulls out their Junkers for the Demolition Derby, which is always the hit of the fair.

Yet, with all the excitement, the greasy food, the awesome atmosphere, people are SCARED to go to the fair (and not just because of that suspicious looking Carney.)

People are SCARED to blow all their money on the fairground, because these guys are literally paid to beg for your money, day in and day out.

So, in the spirit of saving money, I’ve devised a list of rules to help save everyone some money during fair season.

Food
This is without a doubt my biggest expense when it comes to the fair. The food. I LOVE IT, and look forward to it every year, but it absolutely kills my wallet. The French fries, fried doughs, lemonades, YUM! It’s clogging my arteries just thinking about it.

This year, I’m going to do myself a service and eat BEFORE the fair, lessening the amount I can eat, and thus lessening the amount I can spend on food. I’m also going to bring a water bottle FULL of lemonade. Why would I buy lemonade for $4 a cup when I have a bottle full already in my hand? And finally, I’m going to look for the deals. According to a friend of mine, fairgrounds commonly make more food than necessary, so at the end of the night, it needs somewhere to go. Who better to sell it to than the stragglers? With a little negotiation, I’m sure it will be very possible to score some half-priced goodies. If they don’t sell to me, they’re just throwing it away anyways.

Events
Along with the demolition derby, there are several other events going on at a time that typically cost money. The price is usually $5-$10, not a lot on its own, but if you watch three different events, it adds up. I’m going to choose one event, and watch only that. This will keep me happy, and will save me nearly $20.

Games
As satisfying as it is to win your honey a prize, it can really kill the wallet, so if you must play one, pick 1 game, and only play it once. Don’t play until you win. Don’t let the Carney say “just try one more time, you’re so close”. Play once, if you win, great, if you don’t, better luck next year.

With that, some games offer a guaranteed prize, while others are rigged beyond belief. Watch the people running the games, often times they will show you “how easy” it really is to win. If they do it differently than you’re allowed to, or can’t win at their own game, don’t play it, as it’s probably rigged.

Attractions
At my fair, on certain days they sell a wrist-band for $15 dollars that lets you ride all the regular rides, all day, an unlimited amount of times. This is by far the best deal, as some of the rides cost nearly a dollar per ride, so you can quickly recoup your costs by buying the bracelet.

Special Attractions
My county fair typically has rides which cost a few dollars extra just to ride. AVOID THESE. They’re generally not worth the extra money, and you will save tons by avoiding these.

Hide your money
Never show your money. Not only will you be more susceptible to theft, but the carneys will try to attract you with special deals, and bigger prizes, to get you hooked. Keep your money in different pockets. That makes it easier to walk away by saying you’re out of money.

Souvenirs
AVOID THEM! They’re gimmicky, and over-priced. I mean, what exactly are you going to do with the blow-up baseball bat in a weeks time? Don’t waste your money on these, they’ll be broken before you know it. Instead, take pictures and make a scrapbook. All of the memories will stay there, and you won’t have to spend a dime.

Follow these money saving tips and you’ll be able to have a great time without breaking the bank!