Thrifty Thursdays

I am going to try a new, and hopefully permanent, feature on my blog. Every Thursday I will write a post entitled "Thrifty Thursday". In these posts, I will give tips and suggestions for ways to save money and be thrifty. Some weeks, the tips will be simple, common-sense ideas that most of you probably already do. Other weeks, the tips will be a little more extreme and may require some effort. These ideas will be cheap meals and other great deals (Thanks for the tagline, Kei!)

So, before I start, I have a few words about my goals for this feature.

When we first got married, I was often embarrassed to talk about ways I had found to save money and be thrifty because my pride got in the way. I didn't want people to know that I had to be thrifty to make ends meet as a newlywed and full time student. Now, it is the complete opposite. My pride gets in the way and I want to brag about how I am thrifty because I get so excited when I find a new way to make our money go further! :) With that in mind, I do not want to give the impression that I have a "thriftier than thou" attitude. I am certainly not the queen of all thriftiness. I have much to learn. I buy on impulse a lot, I give in to temptations a lot and I enjoy convenience products a lot. My hope through this feature is not only that I will be able to give my readers a weekly set of tips, but that I will become more frugal and thrifty through the process because I will be searching for new and creative ideas all the time. Really, I have a feeling this blog will help me more than any of you.

Each week I will try to give a cost comparison and time comparison where appropriate. I will also give an eco comparison if eco-friendliness relates to the idea. Not all weeks will lend themselves to these comparisons, but some of the ideas I have in mind will because they are comparisons between DIY (do-it-yourself) products and store bought products.

Lastly, I have to mention that there are a few unique components of my life that may make it easier (or maybe just different) for me to do these things:

1. I do not have kids yet. I think many of the people who read this blog already have children and so that being the case, it is possible that I might have more time and accessibility for some of these ideas. This also means that I do not have as many mouths to feed, people to cloth and things to clean. I just have one hungry husband and myself.

2. I do not have a full-time job, per say. Although I am a full time graduate student, the majority of my work is done at home. I only have class for a few hours per week. Therefore, I am at home enough to do things that may take a bit more time.

The reason I point out these factors is that I do not want to imply that the ideas that work for me and my family will work for everyone. Something that I suggest may seem completely unrealistic to you based on your schedule and interests and that is fine. On the flip side, something you do to save money may be completely out of the question for me. Each family is different so you have to find what works for you.

I am not going to post an idea this week - I just wanted to see if I could get you hooked. Check back next week for my first Thrifty Thursday suggestion.