You guys are going to love this! I just spent some time at the Snaphappi website, where I found the perfect Christmas gift for my sister, brother, parents and a host of other relatives and friends. You see, Snaphappi is a service which creates handcrafted photobooks, and they make a perfect gift!

What I love about photobooks is that they can simply be a compilation of beautiful photos that you’ve taken and especially enjoy, or you can actually have them arranged to tell the story of a specific event.

What I want to do for my photobook, is use pictures from “way back when” my parents were kids themselves, all the way to today - complete with their children’s weddings, and birth of their grandchildren.

Now, not everybody has the time or even artistic skill to create a beautiful photobook, I know I sure don’t. That’s what’s so great about Snaphappi - all the user needs to do is upload their favorite photos and SnapHappi will take care of the rest. It’s really very easy!

The SnapHappi website is easy to navigate, and you’ll find a host of book-styles and covers to choose from — so you can be sure that your creative vision will be fulfilled. There’s truly an option for any budget, and I found the prices to be quite reasonable.

Also, what’s great is that SnapHappi allows its users to fully review the product’s appearance before paying, so that everyone will be completely satisfied with their photobook.

After spending some time at their website, I can tell you the the process is quite simple, but you’ll want to get to ordering your photobook soon, as you need to have your order in by December fifth to ensure that it will arrive before Christmas. Photobooks truly are a unique and creative gift, so make sure to consider one for a very special holiday gift that won’t break the bank.

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Here’s some ideas on where you might be able to cut back:

Say goodbye to those magazine subscriptions - Magazines can often be a monthly reoccurring cost that we just don’t need, especially when money is tight. Take to reading magazines at the library, and cancel the subscription. Depending on how many magazines you have delivered, this could be a big money saver.

Rediscover the library - Stop buying books, magazines and even movies. Instead, opt to become a regularly visitor of your local library - a place where you can find hours upon hours of entertainment for frea.

Try not to eat out, and make special meals at home - Almost anything you’d order at a restaurant can be made cheaper (and healthier) at home. So if you’re craving a meal that you’d ordinarily have when you go out, grab a recipe book at serve it at home. This can be especially good for romantic meals with that special someone.

TIP: When you do go out, split an entree. Restaurants typically serve way more than one person should eat, so by splitting an entree, you’ll walk out full and with money to spare.

See what your city offers for free - Many cities offer free or by donation days at local museums and tourist venues. Find out when these are held and enjoy your city!

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With that in mind, I want to direct you all to a website (free-credit-reports.com) which offers extensive information concerning credit. The website is a knowledge base of all aspects of the credit world, and will leave you feeling more informed and better prepared to make a variety of financial choices.

First off, I would recommend taking advantage of their free credit report services, and find out precisely where you are credit wise.

Now, what I found particularly neat about this website is that they collect and organize credit card offers for all levels of credit eligibility. Whether you have an outstanding credit score, or one that’s down-right ugly, you’ll be able to easily see which options are available to you.

Also, be sure to check out the articles and reviews offered. There is so much you can learn from this resource, and improving your credit can largely improve the overall financial position you are in, and in turn, the quality of your life.

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My sister and I both live in apartments within the city, and while our living spaces share many things in common, our balconies are as different as night and day. While they are both south facing and receive ample sunshine, hers is filled with tomatoes, peppers, beautiful flowers and even some herbs! Mine, on the contrary, has two lonely chairs, and um, that’s about it!

Needless to say, I’ve been meaning to follow her frugal lead by planning a balcony garden to supplement the food supply around here. I did a little internet searching and found out their are just tons of veggies and plants that can thrive in a container garden. Now, now I know it’s not exactly planting time here before winter, but I am going to be looking for ideas and getting things planned out for spring. If you live in an apartment, and would like to save a little on produce, you might considering doing the same!

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My favorite frugal past-time for fall is walking. Walking, of course, is a great year-round way to keep in shape, get fresh air, and spend time without spending money. However, walking in fall and then winter is especially beautiful. First, with the brightly colored leaves falling, and then, creative and often time humorous Halloween decorations. It’s the perfect time to reflect on how beautiful nature truly is.

Winter follows this nicely. Sure, it can be brisk and even down-right cold, but few things are as lovely as falling snow, and covered rooftops — just be sure to bundle up and not slip, of course. Then nearing Christmas the festive lights and coming together of communities to celebrate a joyous time. The other great aspect of winter walks, is how much we appreciate the warmth of a heated house and a hot cup of cocoa upon returning home.

So, don’t let the cooler weather keep you in, go out and enjoy a stroll in beautiful mother nature.

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Living a frugal lifestyle doesn’t mean one can’t have nice things, it simply means finding them at a bargain price, and not buying what we cannot afford. Like many women, I enjoy jewelry, and making myself feel pretty when going out for a night on the town, or even just a family gathering. However, I won’t spend a fortune doing so, that would, for my purposes, just be silly!

That’s why when I wanted to treat myself to a new Tissot watch, I was happy to find TheWatchery.com. If you haven’t heard of TheWatchery before (and you should have, I’ve mentioned them here before!), they’re a company that offers a huge variety of brand name, luxury watches at great discounts. In fact, when browsing Tissot watches, I easily found discounts of over 40 percent! Where else can you get deals like that?

My favorite of their offerings was at an especially good price, and added up to an over 80 dollar discount. You can view it at the top of the post, and not to gush, but isn’t it just so elegant? I have small wrists so I like a thinner watch, which won’t dwarf my hands and arm too much, so the one in the photo is perfect for me. If you’re looking to treat yourself to a new watch, or are perhaps interested in a Christmas gifts for family and friends, I’d recommend visiting TheWatchery soon.

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No, I’m not plugging myself! Well, maybe a little, but my intentions are good - honest! Long before I started this little money-saving tips blog, I read a variety of different websites which offered quality advice. For two reasons, really. One, clearly the advice is beneficial and always lets me know of ideas that I hadn’t yet thought of. Learning to menu plan and shop more frugally has saved me hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars over the last few years - and I learned this all from frugal blogs and forums.

My second reason for recommending frugal blogs is one I believe to be equally important, and that is inspiration! When we see or read about the sometimes great lengths others have or will go to in order to cut costs, it motivates us to further our own frugal endeavours. Sometimes, when I’ve had thoughts of splurging at times when I really shouldn’t, frugal blogs have given me a kind of kick in the butt to keep on going.

Luckily, there are a lot of great resources within the blogosphere. You may know big name money-saving blogs like Wise Bread, and The Simple Dollar, which are of course excellent, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find some real gems, such as Breaking Even, or “Cents”able Momma. The finance and investment category in Entrecard is my personal favorite way of finding new frugal blogs to enjoy.

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Well, we made it until today, November the third, without needing to flick on our electric heat. That’s pretty good, right? Sure, we could have gone even longer (sweatpants, two pairs of socks and a couple of sweaters sure do go a long way), but it was getting to be just a little too far past the point of comfort, so on came the heat today!

This was especially necessary considering that I’m working from home this week, and find my productivity drops considerably when one hand is over a hot cup of tea and the other is wrapped in a blanket! Unfortunately, the heater has that “I haven’t been used in eight months” smell, but that should dissipate within an hour or so, I imagine.

In case you’re wondering, today, the day of our breaking point, it is eight degrees celsius which is… 46.4 degrees fahrenheit for you Yanks. Now, that’s the temperature (from the weather channel, at least.) Inside, it’s likely warmer without the heat, and we are a little bit protected as we live in an apartment building with heat in the common areas (hallways, ect).

Holding off as long as we did, and keeping the heat on at a moderate temperature now, should help with our overall energy costs this year, and I can feel better about my family’s carbon footprint.

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I have recently noticed that my eyesight isn’t as sharp as it used to be and decided to research for some affordable eye care solutions. I have come across the website for a company called ZenniOptical. ZenniOptical sells prescription eyeglasses from prices starting as low as $8. This does sound very affordable especially when considering I prefer glasses to dealing with contact lenses.

Zenni offers a large selection of frames with either single or bifocal lenses.The reason the price starts at only $8 is because Zenni sells directly to the consumer, without a middleman involved.

Beyond affordable prices, Zenni Optical also focuses on offering stylish quality glasses. The company was even mentioned in the book ‘Living Rich by Spending Smart by By Gregory Karp’.

Even if it isn’t for your primary set of eyeglasses, you can purchase an affordable and reliable Zenni pair as a backup.This is definitely an intriguing offer and should help anyone who needs glasses and seeks to live a more frugal life.

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It seems like this retailmenot company is creating pages for top websites so they can state on their home page they offer coupons for more than 20,000 stores. It sounds funny but they added the alert: “Sorry for the inconvenience but this merchant has specifically requested to have all user contributed coupons removed from the RetailMeNot system.” Isn’t removing the page completely a better idea?

They even list non-English Wikipedia sites, such as the Turkish version: http://www.retailmenot.com/view/tr.wikipedia.org

It’s time for that website to filter these pages out.

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