Tips - Yahoo Groups

Here's a great hobby tip from Melonie - Yahoo Groups!

One of the biggest savings for me is to go out to yahoo groups and find groups that have similar interests as myself. For instance, I am a member of a kids clothing group….and they buy/sell clothing within the group which saves me $$ from posting my items on eBay and also I can find EXACTLY what I want for a cheaper price from a fellow group member.

Another example, is that I have a embroidery machine. I found several groups that I was able to join. The benefit to me is that being a member of the group allowed me to read what other people were doing when they had a problem, ideas for projects, and a wealth of information for newbies like myself. Best part is it was all FREE!

So how do you find a yahoo group that matches your interest/hobby?

Click here to go to Yahoo Groups.
Type your hobby interest in the search box.
You will get the results of matching groups.
If you find one that looks interesting, just click on 'join this group'.
***You will need a Yahoo login (free of course)

I have belonged to several different Yahoo groups over the past 8 years. Great resource!

Thanks Melonie!

Flower Gardening

When we moved into our house 6 years ago, there were absolutely no flowers in the backyard - none at all!  Now I have a huge butterfly bush, azaleas, coneflowers, lilies of all varieties, columbine, hostas, hibiscus, hydrangeas, the list could go on and on.  Have I spent alot of money on my gardens?  Of course not!  You know me!  So how have I been able to grow such a huge variety of beautiful flowers?

Here's some ways to get your flowers gardens going without spending money:

Start talking to your friends. You probably know at least one person who is passionate about their flowers.  Spend some time looking at their gardens.  Odds are that they would love to share some seeds, bulbs or small starts.  (I've even been known to stop at a yard sale, talk to the person who lives there and walk away with a handful of seeds that they just gave me.  People who love their flowers love to share seeds!!! 

Start digging.  You don't have to plan your first garden.  Just start digging.  You can always change it next year.

Use the soil you have! When we first started flower gardening, people told me that I needed to buy mulch or potting soil.  Big problem with that!  That cost money and couldn't be a first priority.  So we just used the dirt we had when we started digging.  Was it the best soil?  Of course not.  But it was a great place to start.

Don't bother buying edging stone, black landscape cloth or weed kill.  A neighbor told us we could have as many rocks as we wanted from where he was doing some building. These made really unique flower garden edgers.  We just pulled weeds by hand.

Bottom line...... Flower gardening is a joy!  But it doesn't have to require lots of money! 

What about you? How do you save money in your flower gardens? I'd love to hear!

Audio Books

We love to listen to audio books when we travel!  We have listened to everything from Dr. Seuss and Little Golden Books to Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Bear Snores On, A to Z Mysteries and Louis Lamour.  Our kids enjoy watching the miles pass by while we all enjoy a good book together.

Audiobooks are great for people who love to read books but find themselves on the go more often than they find themselves in a chair on the beach. Unfortunately, audiobooks tend to be quite pricy. Good thing there are tons of options for frugal audio books!

Where do we find audiobooks?
The best place to find audiobooks is your local library.  The Boyle County Library has tons of audiobooks in the kids and adult section.  We always check out several before we make a road trip.  Most libraries let you check these audiobooks out for 14 days (some libraries have different check out days - so check first).

Cracker Barrel has a 'rental' programhere. (FREE of course)You purchase the audiobook in one Cracker Barrel location at full price (usually prices range from $10 up to $49 -  Rather steep initial out of pocket)  BUT you can return the audiobook at another Cracker Barrel location and get a refund of your full purchase price minus $3.49.  So basically you rent the audiobook for $3.49 for up to 1 week. (Thanks Mahala & Mom!)


Lit2Go - a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format; Read details


Books Should Be Free100s of free downloadable audiobooks; Click here for details.

Are there other ways to enjoy listening to a good book without spending alot of money? I'd love to hear!

Video Games

If you have video game lovers in your family, you know how expensive new games can be. But there are ways to play video games without breaking your budget.

#1 Tip: Be patient! When a new game is released, that is the most expensive time to buy. We never buy a game at the release date. If you can wait a few months to play the newest game, you will save alot of money. You will also have time to read the reviews from the people who did buy it and be able to see if it is a game worth playing.

Check out GameFly Gamefly works just like Netflix. You join for about $8.00 a month. Gamefly will send you one game at a time. You play as long as you want it. Then mail it back (postage paid by Gamefly). They will send you another game you can try out.

Sell an old game system or games When we wanted to get a Wii for the family, we sold our old Playstation system with controllers and a few games on Ebay. Then we used that money to go toward the Wii. A few years later, we sold our Wii and turned that money into an Xbox. Some people choose to keep a collection of game systems on their shelf. But if you are willing to sell the older system, you will be able to greatly reduce the price of the new system.

Sell your old games We have sold games on Amazon, Ebay, at used book and game stores (McKays), Game Stop etc. At game stores, you will get more value if you trade them for another game rather than sell for cash.

Trade with friends You may be able to find a friend who is willing to swap a game with you. Let's face it, video games get old after a while. But you may not want to sell the game in case you want to play it later. So loan it to a friend and borrow a game for a little while. Both people get to play a new game and it doesn't cost a thing for either. (Just make sure you work out the details of the loan.)

Buy used on Amazon Example: I just did a quick search. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is $41.88 new on Amazon, but only about $16.00 used. True, it's not the latest edition, but it is less than half of the cost. Remember you can use Swagbucks to get free money to spend on Amazon!

Are you a gamer? What are some other ways you save money on video games? I'd love to hear!