Welcome to the Thursday Thirteen! Here are just thirteen ideas for ways you can be saving your family money!

1. Compare, compare, compare. Don’t ever believe that you have the best rate on anything. Even your junk mail can really pay off if you read it thoroughly. I received a letter from an auto insurance company that I actually called on and saved us fifty bucks a month by switching my insurance. You can compare rates easily and effectively using Lower My Bills. It is worth your time and you can compare everything from cell phone rates, to internet rates, insurance, credit card rates, & mortgage rates all in one place. Best of all- it is free!

2. Entertainment Books can be a great way to save your family money on everything from trips to dinner to putt-putt golf. This handy little book has a lot of great two for one meals for the family. Maybe you are like me and you don’t eat out a lot? Well, these coupons are still great for all of those celebration dinners (birthdays, wedding anniversary, Valentines Day, etc..). Pick a place out of that book and save yourself enough cash that you can swing going to a movie into your budget. It only takes one coupon for this little baby to pay for itself.

3. Here is a novel idea…stay home. Yup, that will save your family a whole bunch of money. If you are not running around using up gas and shopping your little heart out, you will save yourself some easy cash.

4. Take advantage of free things in your neck of the woods. Summertime is full of fun outdoor concerts, park activities, and outdoor festivals. There are so many fun things to do in the summer that are free or cheap. Fill your time with activities like these rather than a trip to the mall!

5. ‘Tis the season for garage sale shopping! I have already got my start on shopping this past weekend and scored some serious deals. Be sure to start jotting down things that you would like to find so when you arrive at the sales, you will know just what to look for. Oh, and pack lots of snacks for the road so you aren’t suckered into two dollar sodas that the garage sale hostess is trying to get you to buy on a hot summer day. A small cooler can keep snacks in your car and limit your spending on trivial things at the sale.

6. Use your library! Use the library for the obvious (books, duh!), but also use it for the lesser known things that you can get from it. Want to pick up a few movies? How about the library? Want to learn a new skill? How about the library? Need some new art for your walls, but don’t want to make the investment? How about the library? Want to try out toys for your children, but not sure if you want to spend the money? Did you check the library? Our library has all sorts of valuable resources that we can take advantage of and it is all free! Don’t forget to take advantage of all of those summer book reading programs- your kids can score some great freebies for reading this summer!

7. Score some free reading material. You can read more here on some great ways to get free magazines. And when you are done with your free magazines, trade with your girlfriend, and when you are done with those, trade again. The free reads just keep on rolling and you don’t have stacks of magazines collecting dust in the corners of your room.

8. I am actually going to write a full article on this, but I will give you a sneak peek- how about doing a little organizing around your house? If you are organized you avoid buying repeat items, use the things you have, and it will save you some time in the process.

9. Learn how to make stuff. If there is something that you enjoy, whether it be something you eat or something that you use, find out how you can make it yourself. Just do an internet search and Google what you are looking for. Things that you don’t think you can make can be found because someone else was out there trying to figure the same exact thing out.

10. So you want to know how to save some money? Well, how about saving some money. Just put it into an ING Account and earn 4.15% interest on your savings. Create this fund and name what you want it to go towards- Christmas, Dream Car, or Safety Net is just a few ideas for your account name.

11. Ebay the stuff that you aren’t using around your house. Ebay is simple and relatively pain-free. I have just started selling things on Ebay and I get a rush when I am taking stuff out of our home and getting money for the items we don’t use. In the same regard, if you are looking for something- check Ebay before going to a retail store. There are tons of brand spankin’ new items that you can find for a really low price. Just be careful to not get too caught up in the bidding or you could end up spending more than what you bargained for.

12. Visit sites that help to inspire you to save your money. Hillbilly Housewife, Dollar Stretcher, and MomAdvice (just to name a few!)

13. Last, but not least…recognize that free does not always mean free. For example, if your family offers to take you out to dinner and both of your kids are screaming their heads off and throwing fits during dinner and you are frantically trying to entertain them and miss out on even eating your food…yeah, well, that dinner was NOT free. You will just have to trust me on this one!

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Here are my picks for good reads this week…

Good Morning America is doing a series called, “$100 a Day in May.” They show how you can find free money each day in May. Lots of great tips, but my favorite was May 18th when they sent two designers out to the Dollar General to find decorations for a party ($75 limit). They had some cute ideas that would be nice for a summer party or a child’s birthday party. Check back each day to get more ideas for ways you can be maximizing your dollars.

A Food Year is a great blog where you can get a new dinner idea for each and every single day! Ken Sloan is on a quest to try a new dish each day, document his review, gives you the recipe, and provides a photograph of his masterpiece.

Getting Out of Debt has some great frugal gardening tips, that could help even the most experienced gardener. I do not garden. I make things die…a rapid death. I love those who garden though so that is why I am including that one!

Boston Gal’s Open Wallet shares a great freebie that is worth looking into (if you are a contact wearer). Bausch & Lomb has created a Wear & Care program. If you sign-up they will send you a kit which includes 12 contact lens cases, wear & care CD, care and cleaning mirror stickers, free trial certificate for Bausch & Lomb PureVision contact lenses, information about Bausch & Lomb eye vitamins, and coupons for Bausch & Lomb ReNu MultiPlus solution.

Don’t forget to take this week’s poll on your favorite summertime activities!

We would like to congratulate Tonya Ramsey on being chosen as our Monday WAHM for MomAdvice.com. We wish her much success in her business and with her family.

If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen.

Please remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.

Thank you to Tonya and her WAHM business, Life By Design, for taking the time to apply and be a part of my Monday feature!

Name: Tonya Ramsey

City/State: Beloit, WI

Name of Company: Life By Design

Website Name: www.lifebydesignsite.com

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

Life By Design is dedicated to helping working mothers learn how to balance their lives. Through coaching you will get the support you need to move forward by accomplishing your goals.

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

1. When starting out as a WAHM it may be frustrating because your time is unstructured. You might bounce back and forth between too much work time and not enough work time. Evaluate your day, decide what needs to be done both with work and with your regular family and home responsibilities. Then draw up a schedule, remember this is YOUR schedule you can be as flexible as you need to be as long as all your work and family to-do’s are met each day.

2. Sometimes being a WAHM means empty bottles and stray toys on your desk. By decreasing clutter you will be more productive when it is work time. Have a workspace that is separate and use only for work. At the end of the day remove all stray items that don’t belong. Stay organized by giving everything it’s own place and doing a daily clean up to make sure that items get returned to their place.

Thanks to everyone for taking our poll for the week. If you would like to review these results, you can view them here.

The results concluded that most of us have taught ourselves how to be frugal. We should all be so proud (*patting self on the back*) for learning how to save money.

I felt like I learned the most from a little book called, “The Tightwad Gazette.” If you haven’t gotten this book, I highly recommend it because it made such an impact on how I look at things in my home and how little I really need. Many of the ideas, to me, were very extreme and ones that I would not personally follow, but I am able to overlook that and look to the things that would truly benefit me & my family. Whenever I need a little frugal inspiration, I get my copy of this book out and start reading. Each time I come away with something new that I have learned (no matter how many times I have read it!)

I am also a self-taught frugal momma. I wanted to stay home with my son in the worst way and I was willing to do whatever it took to make that possible. I checked out books, read countless articles, visited websites, shared on forums and became a human sponge- absorbing everything & anything that I could get my hands on. We barely made ends meet for a long time and are just now experiencing a bit of breathing room in our finances. This “breathing room” is getting socked away for a rainy day so that we have this money if things should change unexpectedly.

Thank you all for taking the time to take our poll. Be sure to take our poll this week on your favorite summertime activities!

I am taking a day off from blogging today because it is our sixth wedding anniversary. My in-laws are watching the kiddos for us so that we can have an evening out together. It is not every day that you get an opportunity to have free babysitting AND a dinner out. I am just going to spend the day with the kids today, but feel a certain sense of obligation to let my “bosses” know where I am at. For all I know, I could be the only one reading this blog, but it never hurts to report to your superiors, right?

Just so you know, there has been quite a bit of activity on our forum recently so feel free to browse around there and share some of your own tips! We also have our one month of slow cooking article up so you can take a break from that hot kitchen and enjoy your days outside this summer.

Saturday is usually reserved for posting the latest sales so you can click here and here for the best bargains around this month.

I hope you guys have a great Saturday and I will be reporting for duty tomorrow!