bless-my-budget.com

In other words timing is everything.

It has been a big tomato season this year, and when it is time to can everything else gets set aside.   When the harvest is ready it cannot wait.

Time management is really important in saving money.

In ours there are bags and bags of homemade tomato sauce. Some  bags of frozen peppers. Some other vegetables and a little of this and a little if that.

However there is no more meat, I mean there is in the house freezer but not in the deep freeze. I timed it just right because in the summer we stock up on vegetables and in the fall and winter we stock up on meat. we usually get a few deer from a neighbor and we buy several turkeys as they come on sale.

Is your freezer stocking planned?

NASHVILLE — The fifth annual Tennessee Sales Tax Holiday will begin 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6, and end Sunday, Aug. 8, at 11:59 p.m. Tennessee shoppers will have three full days of tax breaks on clothing, school and art supplies and computer purchases.
During the designated three-day weekend, consumers will not pay state or local sales tax on select clothing with a price of $100 or less per item, school and art supplies with a price of $100 or less per item and computers with a price of $1,500 or less — a savings of nearly 10 percent on exempt items.

Examples of exempt items include:

I wrote an article recently for a publication about frugal living and thought I would share a paragraph with you  ….

I have taught my children that time is more important than money. More money can always be made but lost time can never be replaced. Jesus has given us choices. How much money we have to spend is a choice. How we spend it is a choice. It really isn’t about how much we have but rather it is about spending it how we want to. I would rather make things from scratch which I enjoy anyway and teach my daughters spending time with them in the kitchen than to eat in the fanciest restaurant. Living frugally is not something I have to do it is something I choose to do. It is something I get to do. I consider where and how we live paradise.

Why do you strive to live frugal?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of FriendGiftr. All opinions are 100% mine.

Giving super thoughtful homemade gifts is wonderful some times. Then again sometimes a gift card is even better. especially if the recipient is far away. Some folks are practical and love getting gift cards. Some folks like to save up for items that cost more than they would ever want a friend to spend. Gift cards are great there too, as many friends can all put together. Then again there are some folks that you just cannot find a gift for no matter what you do. And even deciding where to purchase a gift card from is a challenge.   That is when FriendGiftr becomes your best friend. Through their site you can purchase gift cards from over 120 different merchants. And the best part is, if your recipient doesn’t like your choice they can exchange the card for a different merchant! does gift giving get any better than that?

They have gift cards for all of the best restaurants , and book stores and even movie theaters. Oh yeah and dell computers, hint hint.

And it gets even better, you can use the service from the website, Facebook, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. Hmmm, wish I had thought about that back when I missed my brothers birthday.

We homeschool year round but I still love this time of year! Why? The sales of course. School supplies for mere pennies makes me really happy. And then of course there is the no tax day. We buy the whole years worth of paper, pencils, erasers, rulers, notebooks, stick glue, pencil boxes, and crayons for just pennies per item. Oh and those pocket folders make great project folders. Especially if you homeschool.

Where to find these great deals? Try your local dollar stores, Walmart, Office Max and other Office stores. Probably Target too. Tell me what you get and where you got it, I will try to be posting the items and where they are on sale.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of SupaSwap Corporation. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have found the most interesting online shopping community. It is an auction site, sort of. It is a barter site, sort of. It is a parents site, not only. It is a children’s site, with supervision. It is a place to buy, sell or swap. It is all of the above, it is Supaswap !!!!!

And it is about time. I love eBay but wouldn’t in a million years let my children shop there. I have stumbled across some disgusting stuff purposely put in family friendly categories. some people are really messed up. So I really appreciate the family friendliness of this new site. Not all of it is in the US which is the only drawback but I think it will grow, and then it will be even better. So what are you looking for? A new video camera? Or a DVD TV series? Yep they have it. And they even have a parents guide to help you get started. Might be a good way to clean out the closets, make some extra cash, get some things you want and teach your children economics all at once! In fact since it is open to those outside the US it even qualifies as a cultural experience! Honestly though I still recommend parents be looking over the shoulder anytime your young people are online.

I like to stock up when I find things on sale. The other day I found knee high stockings for 50 cents a box of two pairs. They are regularly $2 a box. I bought 10 boxes. I don’t wear them but we use them as a filter over our water intake for our spring pump. I stock up on things like that regularly. I always check clearance corners.

Even though I buy extras at good prices it does no good at all if I don’t know what I have. That is where the inventory lesson comes in. I like to have an inventory list of what is in the pantry and deep freeze and extra storage closet. Because if I lose track of what I have, money gets wasted. Waste is like a really bad word to me .

We shop at Walmart for most things, we do go some other places but for the most part we get it at Walmart. I posted about berries on my facebook page yesterday and was amazed to find out that many people do not know that Walmart price matches. Here are their exact words from their corporate  site at http://walmartstores.com/7659.aspx 

Price matching

Our goal is always to be the low price leader in every community where we operate. Our customers trust us to have every day low prices … there’s no need for "special sales."

Our unbeatable promise:

Store managers make the final decision in always taking care of our customers, but we do have guidelines for matching our competition.

• We do honor "Preferred Shopping Card" advertised prices. Must be like items, be advertised and require a competitor’s shopping card, for the discount to apply.
• We do not honor advertisements that require a purchase in order to receive the advertised price or free product.
• We do not honor "Buy One / Get One Free" advertisements.
• We do not honor double or triple coupons or percent off advertisements.
• We do not honor other retailers’ "Misprinted" advertised prices.
• We do not honor Internet Pricing.
• We do not honor competitor advertisements from outside of the store’s or Club’s local trade territory.

So yes, like I was saying on facebook, take those Aldi’s ads that say strawberries and blueberries for 99 cents to Walmart if that works better for you and stock up!