I thought of a few ways to send my loved one books, letters, etc. without breaking the bank.

+ I return my used printer ink cartridges to the local office supply store and get a free ream of paper. I send 5 pages per day, that's 150 a month, so a ream lasts me about 3 or so months.

+ I belong to the rewards program at the local office supply store. Pick one and shop their consistently for your letter writing needs. This way I get special offers by mail to save money and also earn points for a rebate at the end of the quarter.

+ Join online points programs. They send you emails to click for a couple of points. It doesn't take much time or effort. When I have enough points, usually about 1250, then I exchange them for bookstore gift cards. Then, I can send books without spending out of pocket.

+My employer also has a rewards program. They give out Applebucks, which are redeemable for gift cards. I try to win all the prizes.



:) Jen

Here are some of the things I do. I am probably the most frugal person I know LOL!

(1) Pack lunch every day (actually bring a can of Ravioli to heat up in microwave). Crazy to pay $6 for lunch (plus gas) to go out every day in the heat with so many tourists and eat nasty fast food.

(2) See above. My husband makes dinner from scratch 95% of the time.

(3) Go to www.mycoupons.com (http://www.mycoupons.com) and pay handling fee for coupons you will use. Ideally match those coupons up to sale papers and base your menus around the sales. There are other sites to do this too - just pm me if you want some of the links. On these same boards, too, folks will sell their unwanted gift cards (like to Barnes & Noble) for say 80% of face value. Every little bit helps when you send books to your guy.

(4) Speaking of menus, we plan those two weeks at the time. We shop twice a month based on these menus (see above).

(5) I bet you guys are doing this already, but plan your errands around your work schedule so that you can do them on the way to work or on the way home from work.

(6) Shop garage sales. 80% is crap, but 20% is really good stuff that you will use - many times will have tags still on it. Of course, plan your route carefully.

(7) Sell stuff you don't want/need anymore on Ebay or Half.com

(8) If you smoke, try to cut back. Cigarettes are very expensive. My in-laws are always so broke and are clueless as to why. They spend more in cigarettes than we spend in groceries!

(9) Pay close attention to Office Max's sale papers that come out on Sundays. Sometimes they have the supplies you need to write your loved one where you can buy two and get the third free. Specific example for us: plastic inserts that you put your notebook paper in to preserve it (if others do this) so that you can re-read the letters he sends you and enjoy them over and over. Darn things are expensive, but less painful to purchase two large packs and get the third one free. Also, at the beginning of the school year when notebook paper was $.16 each, we filled the buggy!

(10) Take care of what you have. Make do or do without. On replace things that NEED replacing.

(11) Be vigilant in maintenance to your vehicle - especially with oil changes. My truck is a 1994 that I have owned eight years with 242,000 miles on it. Still has life left. It's never even been "sick" come to think of it. Every extra month I own it, is another month I don't have to make a car payment. Starting to look a little bit like a hooptie though.

If I think of more specific things we do, I will edit this and add them. :)