Frugal Fanny's Everyday Money Saving Tips
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Poll: If it's yellow, let it mellow?
We all want to save money, of course. And saving the environment surely isn't a bad thing either, but would you go as far as flushing your toilets less frequently to save water?I remember the first time I was invited to spend the night in a European's home. I was studying abroad and some friends of …
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Fax For Free via the Internet
In my last attempt to be able to vote on November 4th (my absentee ballot came too late for me to send it off in time) I tried to fax a copy of my ballot to my city clerks office. Unfortunately, I don't have a fax machine. More unfortunately, I live in a rather third-world African city that just so …
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New Beginnings
It's been nearly a year since my last post. Life simply got in the way and I had to leave Fanny's Place behind in pursuit of other projects. I'm still in Africa, though now in another country, and in my efforts to keep up with the U.S. news these past few months I couldn't help but notice that for m …
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4 Fastest Ways to Save Money in January: Eat Simply
I always think of January as the great month of purge. Armed with our New Year's resolutions, we march into battle, trying to fight off the consequences of our excessive holiday consumption. Our wallets feel thin even as we struggle to squeeze them into the pockets of our tighter-than-ever jeans. Ev …
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Is It Okay to Re-gift?
The holiday season is officially over. I hope you got, and were able to give, everything you wanted.For me, the holidays were anything but typical. Accustomed to extreme cold and snow, I felt a little out of place surrounded by palms trees in African heat, but it was still the holidays. The essentia …
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10 Tips on How to Select a Good Wine within Your Budget
New Year's Eve festivities are all about sparkle, glamour and class - right down to the bubbling champagne we drink to mark the occasion. But there's nothing classy about spending your whole January budget on champagne and cocktails. And no matter how you look at it, beer just isn't glamorous. So w …
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Resolute in 2008
The New Year is approaching fast and amidst the party plans, as always, lurks the nagging notion that we ought to start thinking about those annual resolutions. Secretly, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with New Year's celebrations. I love to reflect on the past year's successes and imagine …
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I'm back!
It's been about a month and a half since my last post. I have no excuses, only reasons. I guess I can say I was busy learning to be frugal with my time, and blogging just didn't fit into the schedule. Truth be told, I was frantically finishing my Masters thesis so that I can get my degree next month …
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How to Be Both Cheap & Trendy for the Holidays
Everyone wants to look their best and in our attempts to do so, most of us spend a whole lot more than we realise. With the holiday season just around the corner we'll be thrown together with people we only see once or twice a year, or only once or twice a year outside of the office, so we really wa …
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The Hidden Costs of Buying in Bulk
I'm starting a new, weekly series of posts called "Cheaper isn't always better" and it starts with this one. The goal is to point out money saving myths that can actually end up costing you more. The first myth I intend to bust is the one about buying in bulk.In college, a few friends and I split th …
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Shampoo Every-Other-Day for Healthier Hair and Healthier Wallets
The first time I heard that washing your hair every-other-day was actually healthier for it and could reduce grease build-up I didn't believe it. For as long as I could remember I had been shampooing my hair twice during my daily morning shower to get it really clean. I would switch from one cleansi …
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Thanksgiving on a Budget
Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner can be a stressful and expensive activity, but with a little foresight and planning it can also be one of the most rewarding and budget-friendly holidays of the year. Yesterday, I wrote about the most efficient way to invite guests to your Thanksgiving dinner and how yo …
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The Food: Thanksgiving on a Budget
Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner can be a stressful and expensive activity, but with a little foresight and planning it can also be one of the most rewarding and budget-friendly holidays of the year. Yesterday, I wrote about the most efficient way to invite guests to your Thanksgiving dinner and how yo …
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Make your Own Movie Projector
How great would it be to watch movies on the big screen (aka. your living room wall) without spending $500-$1000+ on a projector first? If you're like me, the idea of having a home movie projector is a luxury hardly worth contemplating... until you hear this:Thanks to the geeks at Inventgeek.com eve …
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Say Goodbye to Grease Stains on Clothes
Have you ever had to retire a nice shirt because of a grease stain? Well don't buy another! Dig it out of the "painting day" pile and try this.Dish soap is formulated to cut grease and works on clothing too. Saturate the stain with liquid dish soap and let it soak in. Once it has soaked through the …
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Learn a New Language for Free
If you've ever wanted to learn a new language, but didn't want to spend the money on lessons or a teach-yourself program, listen up.This summer, I moved to a little French-speaking country in West Africa. It's a long story and some day I'll probably get around to posting it, but right now the part t …
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Remember What You Learned from Your Allowance (and Why Kids Still Need Allowance Today)
Can you remember what it was like to be a kid and really, really want something? To feel like all your future happiness hinged on your ability to get your hands on that one item, be it a pony, a bicycle or a comic book? To look forward to the next gift-giving holiday with hope and worry? To empty yo …
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Free Movies!
Even cheapskates want to have a little fun on their Friday nights, so why not host a movie night party this weekend? It doesn't have to be expensive.How to do it: Skip Blockbuster's rental fees and go straight to your public library. Yes, your public library. Believe it or not, libraries have been b …
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Ladies, Heal Your Pumps!
High heels may not have been made for walking, but our feet were and many of us find our prettiest shoes don't live up to the journey. Soon the plastic caps on the bottom of our heels have disappeared and we're walking on the nail. Does that mean that we stop wearing stilettos? No way! We just buy a …
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Save on Soap
Save money by spending less on dish-soap. The less soap you use, the less often you have to buy a new bottle.How to do it: Instead of squeezing soap directly onto a sponge, spray your dishes with a soap-water solution from a spray bottle. Put a small amount of soap into a plastic spray bottle, then …
Frugal Fanny's Everyday Money Saving Ti..
