Just to keep a tight budget and watch the money.

That also means that she has to find ways to have fun with her kids without spending too much money; preferably without spending any money at all.

One of her excellent ideas is to cook together.

Cook together. We spend time together preparing dinner in the evenings. This is one of the ways I try to spend time and simultaneously educate my children (they should be young men who can cook!). It’s always hectic when we first come home, so I find that giving everyone a task helps them to feel involved, and also makes them more likely to enjoy dinner. ;) My oldest can prepare food on the stove (with guidance), and my younger sons (7 and 5) can help stir, pour, and pat (they have a personal fascination with bread dough). Younger children can “play along” on the floor with a pot and spoon. It’s also a good idea to eat together. No, this doesn’t happen every night in my household - but I try to do it when we can.

Initially this might sound like a lot of pain. “I will get slowed down” or “it will be a constant struggle to have them prepare something sane.”

The good parts are of course that your children will grow up learning how to make their own food. This will make them better partners in relation, teach them healthy eating habits and learn them the value of money.

Also, everyone will have a specific task to perform precisely at your busiest time; this will really help with all those strange interruptions…

Researchers at Columbia University studied how this cooking pattern affects a child’s eating habits.

They found that those who cook their own food or participated in making the meal were more likely to ask for similar healthy food in their school cafeteria. They also found that children were difficult teachers started to ask for second servings.
Finally, they were also more willing than other children to try different foods.

Frugal Fun with Children [via Smart Spending]
See also: 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make and Rachael Ray Wants Kids in the Kitchen

Let’s name just two “basic” ones: a land line (regular telephone line) and the mobile phone. Right area are talking about an absolute minimum of $40-$80 and more a month. I remember, this is basic stuff; no voice mail, caller ID, etc. etc.

In order to save money on your technology bills you don’t need to go without any technology either. But you might want to prune and be selective with the ones that you have and keep.

Here’s some advice from Kevin Brand, EarthLink’s SVP of product marketing.

Assess your Needs.

Downgrade: Once you assess your needs, get rid of services that you aren’t fully using.

Avoid Bundles: Advertisers may create a “need” that might not really exist for you. If you’re a cost- conscious consumer, look closely at how much you’re paying for popular, but often pricey, bundle packages that include phone, cable and Internet. It may be easier to pay all-on-one bill, but it doesn’t allow you the flexibility to choose the best individual services that fit your lifestyle.

Study your Bill: Read the small print. Know what you are paying for and make sure you’re only paying for services that you actually use.

I left some of Kevin’s advice out; shopping around for freebies and “paying smart” by taking advantage of special deals and incentives in my opinion gets people to move their services around a lot, whereas a steady regular bill is much easier to maintain.

My own experience is that an Internet subscription gives the best dollar for dollar value. Especially in the USA there is a lot of free online television featuring complete episodes, even complete movies. You can rent movies over the Internet, watch them on deamnd, and even download them (legally!).
You have access to tons of reading material, tons of entertainment, games, e-books, “social” contact and so forth.

For a couple of bucks you can even have telephone online, including an incoming regular telephone number (Skype).

To me that means that, especially in times of need, you can easily let go of your telephone and Cable television subscription.

How to Save Money on Your Monthly Technology Bills

Typically an emergency fund is considered to be three to six months of the regular expenses. Always expenses we mean the stuff you have to pay: rent, electricity, some groceries, etc. etc.

For example, if your regular expenses add up to $2000 per month, and cutting away all the extras would put you at the bare minimum of $1500 per month, the unique $4500 a year emergency funds to survive three months without income.

However, says “Blunt Money”, it’s a much more realistic idea to keep more than the bare minimum in your emergency fund.

I keep thinking that more income was right around the corner, but it wasn’t. I knew intellectually that I should cut back to the bare minimum, but knowing something intellectually and actually doing it are two completely different things. [...]

It’s just not realistic to think that if you lose your job, you’re going to instantly cancel your cable & cell phone, stop eating out entirely, quit driving places so that you use less gas, tell your kid no they can’t have money for pizza or the field trip at school, deny yourself an ice cream cone when you’re sitting at home going stir crazy, etc.

Don’t let the suggested size of emergency funds discourage you from starting one. Having two dollars on the side (Tobiah breadwinners nothing to eat…) is better than nothing. When there is actually no money in the house anymore, $10 can be stretched into a week of food. And as long as you’re putting away money in that emergency fund and don’t need to touch it, it keeps growing and eventually will match one paycheck, then to, then three; no matter how long it takes.

“Frugal Dad” has six ways to raise emergency cash. Again, most of this goes beyond the kind of stuff we talk about on this website: selling stock, Roth IRA, etc. etc.

There is one valuable, useful tip for all of us though: make (some) money selling things.

Sell something, or a lot of things. If you are in a real crunch for cash, consider selling whatever you can get your hands on. Have a yard sale for low-value, high quantity items such as small toys, gently used clothing, etc. Advertise larger items such as furniture on Craigslist, and sell smaller items such as DVDs and books at eBay.

You may also consider pawning jewelry, particularly gold, because as the dollar continues to weaken gold prices should trend upward. This is not an excuse to run out and buy gold, but if you have gold pieces or gold jewelry on hand, and need emergency cash, it could be a valuable trade.

Whatever you do, whenever money arrives in your household, put a part of it away.

Why I keep more than the bare minimum in my emergency fund
Six Ways to Raise Emergency Cash

Sometimes it’s like they expect you to pay with mystery for bad choices you made years ago, deccenia ago. Start your education too soon? Well, then you and your family deserve to live in misery today, 20 years later… that kind of reasoning. Sure you recognize it.

The dataset, you and I know that we cannot count on others we can only count on ourselves. That means that we have to accept our responsibility. Might be misery, might be hard, but it is our responsibility.

And that’s hard because sometimes taking responsibility means not applying the very frugal tips you read about on sites like recession hacks. For example, below we talking about not buying things just because they are a good deal. But how many times do you read that we suggest you buy more of something at the low price then they do same thing later on at a high price?

Takes common sense, no more, no less. Sometimes when all you have 10 bucks for the rest of the week it simply makes no sense to buy 10 jars of mayonnaise on special…

Spending every last dime you earn in one week — and you’re paid every two weeks.

Buying things because they are a “good deal.” “Wow, look how much money I saved,” you might say. But you couldn’t afford the amount of money you did spend, because you’re broke.

Ignoring bills. Every day, bills would come in the mail and I would toss them on a heap and ignore them. I couldn’t afford to pay them, so what was the point? The point was, if I had contacted the bill collectors and worked out a payment plan, the mail would have stopped coming, or at least they wouldn’t have been as threatening. Plus, I was damaging my credit and racking up extra fees. Stupid.

The article has two more suggestions; one good but not always applicable, and one so-so. I left them out here.

The first suggestion is to simply spend less than you earn. At the very least this is the principle of getting by, of making things work. To alter suggestion that it will increase your money is simply not always true. Some of us are living at the point where we can’t live lower than our means: we are at the maximum of the minimum.

Then again, if at any point, at any time you see the option to save any stretch of money, to cut out any kind of expense even if it’s just for a week; do it! It will help!

The other suggestion was along the lines of if you don’t have an education get one, if your job doesn’t pay enough get another job…

This tends to be advised the tends to come from a certain type of person. It’s very practical, very applicable for a good bunch of people out there. But if you’re reading Recession Hacks you likely already have more than one job and don’t have time to take on the third one nor do you have time to get in education in between.

Do I discourage either of those? No way! Do whatever you can to get an education in whatever. Start your own business, however small. Appreciate every grade you can get, every dime you can make.

But when I’m collecting the best, most practical, most applicable tips and tricks for making the most out of your low economy life, I want to keep it realistic. That’s also why you don’t read any 401(k) tips here…

The biggest mistakes poor people make

No matter how many times we have heard good tips, like don’t put the groceries on an empty stomach I’m a statistic show that we burned much more money on every trip to the supermarket then we planned to.

Every trip… which is another thing: instead of planning our groceries in such a way that we go to wear three times a month, we go as we need. And every time we buy something extra…

There are nine back to basic groceries tips.

1. Write a list in advance of shopping. Stick to the list.
2. Don’t just replace something because you are out of it, stop to think about if you need it right now.
3. Don’t shop with scarcity in mind, one or two of an item will generally suffice.
4. Avoid the middle isles that tend to have more processed foods.
5. Consider making your own for items like salad dressing and pre-packaged items such as whip cream for that pumpkin pie next week.
6. Just because it is on sale… doesn’t mean it is a better deal. Check the unit price to know for sure. It is never a better deal if you don’t need it.
7. Limit trips to the store. While there is no need to stock up for more than a week, it is better to avoid temptation by shopping a week at a time if possible.
8. As always, make sure to eat before you shop.
9. If you really want to save money, shop with a calculator.

Find additional, general shopping tips are provided in the article.

Back to the Basics of Shopping Savvy

Health or diet questions aside, this can feel like a real lack of fun. Especially when you like those special milkshakes.

Fortunately another popular way to save money is to make those delicious recipes right at your own home. And yes, you guessed it right, that includes those special milkshakes.

Here’s one that tasted just like Wendy’s Frosty.

1-1/2 to 2 cups ice water
1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purposes

Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4’s full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve.

Of course you can play around with the ingredients. Try a sweetener instead of sugar, or example try another artificial taste instead of vanilla.

What I’d like a lot from this recipe is that it doesn’t use ice cream: that’s a big money saver!

Magic Milk Shakes [via Smart Spending]

One bloke will tell you how to get the most out of your 401K while you don’t even have four dollar, while the loader will post a complete deliberate process of how to process beets so you have cheap ones for the next five years…

What we need are money-saving tricks that anyone can use, frugal tips that anybody can apply.

Here are three tips to stretch her household budget right away.

The Apron

Instead of splashing around in the kitchen dirtying top after top, or getting clean T-shirts goopy from a host of household set up chores, I’m re-implementing an old classic. The good old fashioned apron. Good wardrobe staples are hard to come by. And taking care of them so they stand the test of time is another subject altogether.

Hybrid DIY Projects

What I’m talking about here is taking on easily achievable components of an overall project you are either unable or unwilling to handle completely on your own.

Nailing up the pre-cut drywall sections where your contractor has set up your interior studs and insulation, updating thrift store fashion with new buttons without having to sew up an entire item on your own, or paying to have a profession strip the paint off an antique and brushing on the Minwax yourself all come to mind.

Divide and Conquer

What I’m talking about here is breaking down a bulk amount of product into smaller packages or containers. Not only is this a powerful way to stretch large bottles of lotion and other bathroom products, as I mentioned in Savings in Every Room, but it’s also a killer strategy for making the most of bulk buying at any time.

I especially liked the “defied and conquer” strategy. I like those tiny packages of just about anything. But why in the world would I pay 10 times the price for 10 times less?!

Using the “defied and conquer” technique I often prepare a bunch of snack bags and, of course, my own instant oatmeal.

Three Money Saving Tricks Anyone Can Use

But whether you’re going to go the DIY route for fun, profit or because you have to, the result doesn’t have to be dismal.

Here’re 34 Christmas gifts that you can make and the people actually like to receive.

1. Almost everyone loves homemade truffles. If you’ve never made truffles before, try this recipe from Alton Brown.
2. unbaked, made-from-scratch cookie kits
3. Create a secret hollow book. 
4. create a recipe booklet containing a collection of your favorite holiday recipes.
5. a homemade hand warmer
6. themed gift baskets
7. memory drawings: “Draw a very simple black-and-white picture of a memory that you have of you and the person (e.g. me and my dad playing NES back in the day). This could be a very simple (think Shel Silverstein) drawing. Frame it and gift. “
8. home-made travel brochure; perfect for adventurous young minds
9. Give the gift of experience: sky diving, scuba lessons, hot-air balloon rides, cooking school, lunch with a hero, etc.
10. What could be cuter than a stuffed pig? This project from Martha Stewart allows those who are handy with needlework to assemble an adorable, docile pet from felted wool, a pipe cleaner, and some cotton or polyester fill. (Crafty Daisies has instructions for making a felt penguin, and Expert Village has a video series demonstrating how to make stuffed animals.)
11. Build a gingerbread house.
12. Brad suggested giving the gift of time or skill. Brad has given music lessons. He has colleagues who have given bike tune-ups and wine advice. 
13. home-made almond roca.
14. One Christmas when I was a poor college student, I leafed through children’s books at the library, looking for pages and pictures that reminded me of various friends. I photocopied these pages, colored them by hand, and then framed them with construction paper. I added a little note to each friend on the back of her piece. I spent maybe $10 total for all my gifts, though it took hours of my time. That was perfect: In college, I had plenty of time, but very little money, and making these things felt like an act of love. But giving somebody a CD I bought from Amazon? Not so much.
15. personalized calendars
16. create one of several dime-store games. 
17. learn how to make stuff, including these marble magnets.
18. personalized gifts of art. 
19. a gourmet salt assortment.
20. reate a spice sampler. 
21. “We are now writing a chapter of our family history each year.”
22. felt-backed tile trivets.
23. personalized mirrors with one word affirmations, like ‘fabulous’ and ‘gorgeous’. 
24. For several years, my wife and I gave each other love coupons. Sounds sappy, I know. But it was nice to be able to come home at the end of the day and redeem a coupon for a dinner out, or for a back rub, or for an evening watching a favorite movie.
25. a family trivia game with questions that make them talk to other family members.
26. stationery sets to give
27. make homemade granola
28. teacup candles
29. a memory jar.
30. create your first family cookbook.
31. Personal gift certificates
32. compile a mixed CD every year
33. joke boxes
34. Make your own cards

Full details at the link.

A Do-It-Yourself Christmas: 34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself

Here are 10 easy, global ways in which you can score some extra Christmas money (well, one of them, the one in full thing W-4, is more of a long-term kind of thing)

Surveys & Trial Offers. You can fill out surveys or trial offers on sites like FusionCash or CashDuck. When I was using Fusion Cash on a daily basis back in 2007, I made $134.50 in three weeks.

Sell on Craigslist.

Resell on eBay.

Do Some Odd Jobs.

Change W-4 at Work.

House or Pet Sit over Thanksgiving. Many people go out of town for Thanksgiving and they hate knowing that their house is just sitting there. Solicit your services to watch their house or pet. You can also water their plans and take in their mail.

Start Blog Writing Online. I

Perform a Research Study.

Make Crafts for Sale. Christmas time is the peak season for all things involved with crafts. If you are crafty, then start making Christmas ornaments, embroidered kitchen towels, wall hangings, door decorations, and anything else you can think of. You don’t even have to purchase a booth at a local fair or craft expo you can sell your items online at Etsy.com.

Free Money. You can earn an extra $50 when you sign up for a TradeKing account or a ShareBuilder account and make a trade by the end of the month. They give you $50 for trying out their service, although it won’t cover your whole gift budget it should be enough to pay for at least one present.

Like I said, most of these are doable. The eBay strategy is a bit risky.

Full details at the link.

Earn Extra Money For the Holidays - 10 Ways to Boost Your Gift Budget

Here’ XXX

Using multipurpose dish soap as a toilet bowl cleaner. I just came up with this the other day, and really wish I had thought of it before I had stocked all of the bathrooms with bowl cleaner. Not that I didn’t get decent prices, but it occurred to me that I really don’t need the angled nozzle since I have the brush for that. I’ll just add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract for extra sanitizing. Also, by switching from a separate product to dish soap only, I can save enough funds to buy an eco-friendly brand in bulk. Score.

Myscha’s multipurpose homemade spray cleaner. For less than the cost of one large bottle of spray cleaner, I picked up two empty spray bottles at the discount store, mixed some water in with some leftover witch hazel my husband had been using as a cheap aftershave substitute while we transitioned, and added a few drops of grapefruit seed extract and eco dish soap. While I’m still working at stocking all of my workstations with this stuff, I at least have an upstairs and downstairs supply. Normally, I’d use either vinegar or rubbing alcohol, but since I didn’t want to stock up on those right away, I improvised. It’s working fine.

Remember, they’re 25 more tips.

Savings for every room in the house