Happy New Year!!

As we begin a New Year and a new decade I was thinking about what would be a good place to start my blog for the New Year. As we are hopefully coming out of a recession and everyone pretty much is having to make adjustments to their lifestyle and especially if anyone spent too much on Christmas or lost a job or had a their income reduced....I thought a good start to the new year would be to have a few posts about "Resourcefulness and Saving Money."

So, if you are reading this blog and know me, you are probably wondering how and why I would write such a post being these are not my strong points. :) Well, you would be right about that - I will not be writing these post but will be bringing in a special guest for this series on "resourcefulness and saving money" That guest would be my hubby - John who is one of the most resourceful and "frugal" (there are other words for that) :) person I know. So I am bringing in the expert!! This should be fun!

So today we will be begin with John's money philosophy:
"My basic philosophy on money is not just about saving it but pragmatic and and resourceful use of money in everyday life habits"

Today John will give one small tip -

Seasonal Shopping and Clearance pricing- after a holiday (such as Christmas) or a season (such as winter or summer) stores begin to reduce their prices on items - today's tip is to begin to buy at the end of a season or after a holiday for the next year. This will mean having a little extra cash put away to do this but the savings can be big.

Example - the day after Christmas - Target puts all their Christmas Items on sale for 50% off. We go and get things we feel will not last until the 75% off starts - which is not alot of things. - we then wait and watch for the 75% and buy all our Christmas wrap, bags, candy for the next few months, cookies for upcoming events, tissue, any new Christmas decorations we want for the next year. Target puts their after holiday items to 75% off usually 6 days after the event - so if Christmas is on Sat - 75% off will be on Friday. Next year we do not have to buy anything for Christmas except whatever gifts we may buy. You can even keep an eye out for gifts at 75% off at various stores if you know what someone might want. The key is to have some extra cash ready for these sales and to be looking for them.

Next Post: Using "Tools" (the things you already have or may need to obtain) to complete a specific task.