Birthday Cakes on the Cheap!

Wanna save on your child's Birthday Cake? The best way to save money on Birthday cakes or other special occasion cakes is to make them yourself! Become the mom of all trades and take a cake decorating class and you will find so much joy in making the cakes yourself. You can also get very extravagant with cupcakes and tiered cakes and not spend a fortune. A great website for novice cake decorators is http://www.cakecentral.com/ and http://www.wilton.com/

Another great tip is to get your cake or cupcakes from Sam's Club or Cotsco. Here in Michigan, cupcakes are only $11 for 24 cupcakes, and they are extremely nice. 1/2 Sheet Cakes are only $15 when you grab and go (they will write on the cake for free), or you can order a custom cake for only $19.99.

I must tell you that Cotsco has the best sheet cakes. Although I am a Sam's Club fan, I will hunt down someone who has a Cotsco card that I can use to purchase a cake from there when I don't feel like baking a cake. The membership is about $40, but it pays for itself if you shop there every month like I do.

Celebrate Valentine's Day on February 15th

To get the most out of Valentine's Day, celebrate it on February 15th. If you have been married or involved with the same person for a while, it seems like Valentine's Day becomes not so big of a deal anymore. It's not like it was when you were in high school.

In fact, many married couples forgot that yesterday was Valentine's Day when they woke up, and many don't even bother with cards or gifts. But you can still make your honey feel special by making your own special Valentine's Day on February 15th when all the Valentine's gifts are 50 - 75% off. You can get chocolates, stuffed animals, candles, intimate apparrel, and other great things for next to nothing when you shop after Valentine's Day. Then turn around and put what you saved in your "Spa Treatment" fund.

Now is also the time to rack up on Valentine's gifts for next year! The best stores to go to right now for great savings are: Target, Michael's, Kohl's, JCPenney, and Kmart. If you have time go scavening if those stores are in your area for great deals.

Become A Scavenger

Before I start giving you money saving tips and ways you can get more for less you have to learn how to be a scavenger.

You will be particularly looking for 75 - 90% off signs and tags. 50% off signs are good too, but you will get more for your money if you can get 75-90% off.

When you are out shopping you have to scavenge for good deals and keep your eyes open for "CLEARANCE" signs, red/pink tagged items are usually "clearance."

Whenever you go out to a store, ALWAYS look at the clearance items. You never know what you might find! The main thing is that you have to keep important dates, special events, and holidays in mind at all times because you will be buying items now to save for a later date.

For example:

My niece's birthday is May 13th. She will be 5 years old. My daughter will be turning 2 years old in April. Two weeks after Christmas I happened to go into CVS/pharmacy to pick up a perscription. Well, I had on my bargain radar and saw they had an aisle full of Christmas items that were 75% off! So immediately, I went through the items, thinking about upcoming birthdays and other occasions. I don't buy items just because, they have to be for a reason. So to make a long story short, I bought two really nice looking dolls that were originally $14.99 for $3.75 each!

Now I have birthday gifts for both my daughter and my niece and I didn't spend a fortune. If I waited last minute I probably would've paid full price for something else!

Keep on your bargain radar and be sure to scavenge for clearance items while you are out shopping or shopping online.

Welcome Penny Pinchers!

Welcome to The Penny Pinching Mom!

As a working middle-class mom, sometimes it is hard to save a buck. And even more harder if you are a stay-at-home mom who relies on your husband or significant other for financial support. It always seems like you never have enough money to do what you want to do for yourself does it?

Sometimes we, as mothers, tend to take care of everyone else and neglect ourselves. So buy the time we do that, we have spent our discretionary budget for the month and haven't spent a dime on ourselves! So what do we do? Well, I am here to teach you how to shop for yourself and others while getting the biggest bang for your buck!

If you love to shop, like me, you will have the greatest of time. All you need is $5, $10, $20....or even more if you can spare. But you will come home with so much stuff your husband will have thought you spent a fortune and put the family into financial ruin! Stay tuned as I deliver great tips for shopping wisely for yourself, your kids, and the whole family!

You will be able to get that spa treatment you've been wanting for years.