This is the second in a five part series entitled ‘Your Frugal House: Five Ways to Save Money in the…’. We will be looking at five different areas of the house and at five different ways to save money in each area. With all sorts of prices on the rise, and the need to make your money stretch even further than before, frugality is more important then ever. Stay tuned for the other installments, or better yet, subscribed!

1. Love your linens

Linens are one area where you can find reasonable quality at a reasonable price. Here’s a frugal way to save money on your linens without sacrificing quality: spend a moderate amount of money on 2 pillowcases and a matching comforter cover and then buy two bottom sheets in coordinating colors; if you like lots of pillows buy more plain pillowcases as well. I like having two bottom sheets that go with the comforter cover, in case one gets dirty before wash day. You’ll spend less money than if everything matches, and it’s almost certain that you’ll be the only one looking at your bottom sheets anyway.

2. Change your decor

Many of the frugal decorating ideas that we’ll talk about later in the week for the living room also apply to the bedroom, but here’s one that is only for the chambre à coucher. An easy and frugal way to update your bed’s look is to change your headboard. In fact, the most frugal bed option is to buy a good quality mattress and boxspring, add feet to elevate the bed off the floor and then create your own headboard.

Here are some frugal and easy ways to do so. You could paint the section of the wall behind the bed to create visual interest and then add shelves for your books or alarm clock. Or you could create the look of a built in closet by using Ikea Billy bookcases on either side of the bed plus shelves anchored on the wall. Another homey frugal idea is to hang a quilt on the wall behind the bed. My favorite, by far, is to create a padded headboard using a curtain rod and pillows. For more fabulous frugal headboard ideas, check out this link. Doors anyone?

3. Stretch it out

Try pushing back the day you change the sheets by one day every wash cycle until it’s a day too much. If you normally change the sheets once a week, that’s 52 times a year. Changing them every two weeks halves that to 26 times a year (which is still a lot of laundry in my book!). If going 14 days without clean sheets is a bit too much, try changing them somewhere in the middle; a ten day cycle means that you wash the sheets 37 times a year. When you factor in the costs of doing a load of laundry (electricity, soap, water, time) it all adds up. Not to mention, it’s that much less laundry to fold and put away.

4. Make your room a haven

Think about how nice it feels to be able to have a place for you, a place to relax, to think, to read, to do nothing. Think about how nice it is to go to a place that is clean and comfortable, calm and a haven for you to escape to. If you have a place where all is right with the world, will your insatisfaction drive you to find fulfillment at Target?

5. How many bedrooms do you need?

It’s a modern invention of our Western world that each member of the family (apart from the parents) sleeps in their own bed, in their own room. Throughout history people have slept together, especially in the non orgy sort of sense. So why is it that so many people upon expecting their first baby automatically think that the baby needs a room of its own? And then the sibling arrives and another room is needed and that means a house in the suburbs and a mortgage and longer commute and two cars and, and, and. OK, not always.

Why not have all the kids sleep in the bedroom and have another room designated as a playroom? One of my uncles has four children and even now, as teenagers the three boys share a room. They have another room for their computers and other toys, but there is one room just for sleeping. My kids sleep in the same room and I foresee this solution working for several years to come. Doing so allows us to stay in a smaller house and pay less rent than we would elsewhere, giving us more flexibility in our budget.

What are your frugal tips for the bedroom? Share them with us in the comments! And make sure to stay-tuned for tomorrow’s installment, or better yet, subscribed!

Previous Installments

1. Your Frugal House: Five Ways to Save Money in the Kitchen

This is the first in a five part series entitled ‘Your Frugal House: Five Ways to Save Money in the…’. We will be looking at five different areas of the house and at five different ways to save money in each area. With all sorts of prices on the rise, and the need to make your money stretch even further than before, frugality is more important then ever. Stay tuned throughout the week for the other installments, or better yet, subscribed!

1. Grow your own vegetables

This may seem easier said than done: you might not think that you have the time to garden, or the space, or the necessary color of thumb (in French, your whole hand is green, not just your thumb). But really, growing your own food is a great way to have high quality food for less. If the above reasons for not gardening really aren’t excuses, then try thinking outside the (square foot gardening) box. Maybe you could join a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm or barter with a friend for some of their pickings. For example, I have room for a compost pile, but no time to garden. I trade some of the compost for some of my kids’ nanny’s vegetables; if you ask me I’m getting the better end of the bargain!

Here are some bloggers who garden:

• Frugal Dad and How to Build a Square Foot Garden (and an update)
  
• Get Rich Slowly has an ongoing project where he calculates the cost and rewards of his garden
• Being Frugal is going to attempt to move her square foot garden
• Paid Twice has tomato plants
• Frugal Babe is going to start a hydroponic garden

2. Menu plan

Simple Mom plans a weekly menu, then a second weekly menu. Next she repeats each menu; each meal is served twice in the month- two weeks apart. Finally, she shops from her menu. I do the opposite, I go grocery shopping first, and then menu plan from my staples. Both systems can work to save you money, the important thing is to find a system that works for you and use it.

If there is a particular meal that your family really enjoys, don’t be afraid to make it often. If you get tired of it, try variations on a theme: chicken noodle soup, chicken rice soup, vegetable stew, you get the picture.

3. Take advantage of good deals and stockpile

The first way to be able to take advantage of a good deal is to know if it’s a good deal. Of course you can keep a price book, with different prices at different stores, but that can quickly become cumbersome and difficult to remember, both the prices and to take the book with you when shopping. Paid Twice has solved the price book dilemma with the ‘buy it now’ prices, a price at or below which you should stock up.

Another important component to saving money in the kitchen is to stockpile food. Not only is this useful in the natural disaster sense of an emergency, it’s also useful in the budget sort of emergency, or the ‘my child just told me he’s responsible for snacks at school tomorrow and it’s too late to go to the grocery store’ emergency.

4. Buy Generic

Generic does not have to mean poor quality. In fact, many times the store brand is the same product as the name brand. The only difference is in the price. I buy very few name brands anymore; the few I do buy are for things like shampoo or the occasional treat of really good coffee. Not sure what generic food or products you’ll actually be able to tolerate? Try The Simple Dollar’s method of separating the wheat from the chaff.

5. Learn to cook

Really, there’s no excuse for not knowing how to cook. Not enjoying it is a different matter, but with the plethora of good food and cooking sites out there, everyone should be able to execute at least a few basic recipes. Processed foods or take-out from fast food restaurants are not frugal ways to eat, not to mention that they aren’t particularly good for you! If you’re looking for a place to start, some easy recipes to master are things like pasta with veggies, roast chicken, salads, or a simple casserole.

Have another frugal way to save money in the kitchen to add? Let us know in your comments! And remember to stay tuned (or subscribed) for the rest of the week for the other four installments in the series.

Here’s what I was talking about six months ago on Almost Frugal.

The Cost of Blogging I wrote this post when I was still blogging at Blogger, using the blogname Small Cents. Since then I’ve moved to a self-hosted WordPress site and changed blog names. I’m very happy I did, but I’m also happy I started with Blogger; doing so allowed me to learn about blog writing without having to worry about blog mechanics.

Invisible Progress I’ve really gotten out of the habit of checking my accounts and updating my budget daily. I need to get back into the habit of doing so.

Being a Stay at Home Mom in France I feel really lucky to be able to stay at home with my children when they are little… and happy to be going back to school in a few weeks too!

I Went Shopping Today A post in which I describe my system of organizing my kids’ clothes, including those for next year and the year after that.

I participated in 4 carnivals this week.

• I was in the Carnival of Family Life at All Rileyed Up with my post Your Own Seaside Resort.
• I was in the Carnival of Personal Finance at No Debt Plan with my post on my biggest financial fear.
• I was in the Carnival of Money Stories at Broke Grad Student with my post on how to schedule time and obligations.
• I was in the Festival of Frugality at Bored Finance with my post on frugal entertainment in France.

My favorites from the Frugal Blog Network

Antishay has been off this week.

Frugal Babe talks about how she chose a candidate in the primary of her local election. When the positions the candidates hold are just about equal, how do you choose?

Not Made of Money asks what your stupidest financial move was. I know what mine was, check out the post’s comments to find out what!

Tight-Fisted Miser has a great post about class warfare, stemming from a column at the Simple Dollar. I too am tired of financial advice that tells me to economize by stopping my weekly manicure or daily latte. It’s easier to get out of debt if you are earning more money, by stopping unnecessary spending, than it is if you don’t earn a lot of money. But that doesn’t mean it is easy, and the core financial advice remains the same: spend less than you earn. Now only if I could follow that advice…

Tight Fisted Miser is also holding a charity drive, the proceeds from which will benefit Cancer Action. For a tight-fisted miser to be giving away money… well, you know it’s a good cause!

Some great posts from my blogroll

Ann at One Bag Nation offers a Reality Check: Other People DO Live Like This.

Feminist Finance asks How Major is Major: Thoughts on Fundraising.

Small Notebook (one of my new favorite blogs) offers us grace in our budgets.

Philip Brewer at Wisebread asks if you can afford to live in the exurbs. We live about ten minutes from the center of town and there is no way I would move any further away then where we are currently. I can get to school on public transportation and although my husband can’t get to his job that way, he only works 8 minutes from home. When I think about transportation costs and time spent away from my family, I would rather live somewhere smaller and closer than larger and farther.

And I guest posted as well at Mrs Micah on Monday with a post on obtaining credit in France as an expat.

Have a great weekend! Monday starts an exciting five part series that you don’t want to miss, so make sure to subscribe!

I’m taking the day off!

Today is a national holiday in France, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. It’s a public, yet religious holiday. I find this amusing, as the French like to think of themselves as a completely secular society. They point out all the ways in which religion is a part of public American life, but ignore the examples of such in their own culture.

Stay tuned this weekend for the normal link love roundup and six months ago posts. And even more excitingly, next Monday I’m starting a five part series which you won’t want to miss- why not subscribe now?

Here are some frugal and fun things for babies and young children to do with food. Go ahead, play with your food!

Ice-cube Watercolor Paint

Make ice cubes with food coloring in a variety of colors. Let your child ‘paint’ with them on a piece of paper or an old, light colored dishtowel. Just don’t let your husband serve iced drinks to the neighbors!

photo by jesarqit

If you don’t have food coloring, you can always use powdered artificially colored drink mix, although that might not be quite the sort of thing you want your baby ingesting (there’s plenty of time for her to sneak it behind your back.)

Mr Potato/Banana/Apple Head

You need toothpicks, small pieces of fruit in a variety of colors and shapes such as yellow pineapple triangles, orange half slices, red plum squares as well as some smaller dried fruits like raisins or dried mango. Stick the smaller pieces onto the big piece of fruit, like a Mr Potato head, but if you want your creation to be edible, don’t use a potato!

Gingerbread or Graham Cracker Decoration

Kids can decorate graham crackers or gingerbread cookies with a variety of frostings and candy. The most fun, is, of course, in the eating of the materials!

Mashed Potato Play Dough

Babies love to squish their food between their fingers, so why not indulge them? Cook and then mash some potatoes, but don’t add any butter, milk etc. You can make it thicker using rice cereal, and color it with food coloring. As a side note, for babies that no longer like to eat food with a spoon, thickening it with rice cereal and rolling it into little balls allows them the independence they crave and the nutrition they need.

Rice and Beans Rainsticks

Use a Pringles’ can (I know that you’re going to have to go out and buy one, but it’s just for this project. I understand) or a coffee container. Place a handful of dried beans or rice in it. Then seal the lid using glue or a really strong tape like duct tape. You can experiment with different sized containers and beans: film canisters will make a different noise than a coffee can for example.

How do you describe yourself? Can you do it in five adjectives? Here are mine: frugal, generous, intelligent, impatient, stubborn.

Why is describing yourself important and what does this exercise have to do with being frugal? I’m glad you asked!

Describing yourself accurately requires knowing yourself and knowing yourself is one of the first and most important steps towards meeting your goals. But to really be successful in meeting your goals you have to be honest, brutally honest. Try the exercise again, and this time add qualifiers.

Here’s my list again: somewhat frugal some of the time, generous with time and with others, intelligent about words and culture, impatient with not making progress, stubborn when I think I’m right.

That’s a really different list, isn’t it?

Here’s how being so honest helps me to meet my goals. My goals are to live a frugal life, to have a large emergency fund and savings account, to be able to comfortably (not excessively) earn enough to meet my family’s needs.

I know I’m not frugal enough; I spend more than I think we should on things like eating out. That won’t help us achieve our goals. I am generous with my time and with others, but I think that sometimes I am not generous enough with myself and I cut myself short. I believe that I am intelligent when it comes to verbal ability, but not so much when it comes to math or science. Therefore I don’t trust myself to handle money, especially large amounts, because I think that I don’t know about that sort of thing. I am impatient with not making as much progress as I think I should be making, which leads me to believe that I’m not making any progress at all; then I throw my hands up in despair. I am stubborn when I think I’m right. This keeps me from accepting advice or changing course.

On the other hand, I am frugal. Being frugal some of the time is better than none! Volunteering can be frugal, and giving of your time or energy can help in other ways, like networking. I can make intelligent decisions about our situation and adjust our plans accordingly. Is impatience a virtue? Well it helps me to learn about new things, that’s for sure. And finally being stubborn can help me to convince others (namely my husband) that my plan of action is the best, and we should do what I want to do.

Because I am honest with myself about myself, I know what obstacles I have to overcome on the path to meeting my goals of living a frugal life and providing for my family. This doesn’t make it easier, it just gives me a head start.

And you? Be honest, brutally honest! Take it all off! What adjectives would you use to describe yourself and how do these traits help you or hurt you in meeting your goals?

Time sure flies, doesn’t it, even when your fun involves a lot of laundry, dishes, vacuuming and changing of dirty diapers. There are barely four weeks left before my kids go back to school and my school starts the week after that. I thought I would list what I’ve accomplished this summer from my ‘Honey-Do’ list… and what I haven’t!

What I Planned On Doing and Actually Did

• Migrated my blog to a self-hosted WordPress platform
• Installed a new theme (Thesis rocks!)
• Redesigned the header
• Signed my kids up for swimming lessons (took them too!)
• Applied for and received funding for my masters program
• Reorganized the living room (more storage baby!)
• Patched a whole bunch of holes in the walls

What I Didn’t Plan On Doing But Did Anyway

• Paint one wall of the living room
• Spend quite so much time on the internet
• Watch seasons 3-7 of West Wing… again

What I Wanted to Accomplish But Haven’t Gotten Around To Yet

• Mend a whole pile of clothes: sewing buttons, patching holes, hemming pants
• Reorganize the kids’ room
• Install a baby gate at the top of the stairs
• Hang a new set of shelves next to the baby’s bed
• Sort the kids’ clothes: put bigger sizes on shelves, clothes to sell etc
• Post the latest batch of things to sell on eBay
• Sell the last of the newborn size cloth diapers I have
• Paint the now patched holes in the walls

What I Didn’t Plan and Didn’t Do

• Lose 20 pounds
• Become fiscally responsible
• Vacuum daily
• Sleep through the night (ha!)

And you? What have you been up to this summer?

I have a guest post at Mrs Micah. A while ago she talked about an immigrant’s experience of obtaining a credit history in the United States. I wrote How an American Created a French Credit History as a response.