Most kids today are spoiled. That’s just the truth. The average 12 year old will tell you they want money, video games, video game systems, and expensive name brand clothes.

And there are some kids who get loads of good presents, whip them all open in a few seconds, and then groan, “Is that all?” While any decent person knows a better response would be “Thank you.”

If you are worried about your kid being spoiled or want to prevent your kid from being spoiled, call up and arrange to take them to a homeless shelter or women and children’s shelter.

Many of these women and children arrive at shelters with nothing but the clothes on their back. These kids have literally nothing and at Christmas only get what the genorosity of strangers provides for them with programs such as Toys for Tots.

Tell your child that in order to get new toys, they need to pick out some of their old toys to give to kids less fortunate.

Then take them to the shelter (don’t just show up, call and arrange for this first) and have your kid donate their old toys to the homeless kids. When they see how little these kids have with often entire families sharing one small room, they will be more appreciative and thankful when they open their own presents on Christmas. (Or whatever you celebrate)

Ok, there is a big craze going on about water cars, fueling your car with water, running your car on water, or however you want to say it. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you will.

The first time I saw these headlines, I thought it was a scam. It sounded so ridiculous. So I decided to research it and find out for sure if it’s real or a scam.

And my conclusion is, it’s legit, it’s real, but it’s misunderstood. You don’t run your car on water. Your car still runs on gas…but with using the hydrogen in water, you use a LOT LESS water and you save A TON of money.

With the way my car burns gas, I would save over $50 a week assuming I doubled my MPG. I estimated I would save close to $300 a month.

So you are probably wondering how this works. Well, water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. Hence, the H2O. And hydrogen is a powerful fuel. There is a way to turn H2O into a gas called HHO-hydrogen-hydrogen-oxygen.

With HHO, you can double your MPG. You will still buy gas, you will just buy a lot less and save a lot of money.

The thing is, you will have to buy a manual showing you how to make a kit and put it under your hood and either you will have to do this yourself or show the instructions to someone else and have them do it for you.

You don’t have to be a mechanic. The manual is written so everyday people can read the instructions and do this.

There are several different guides out there, but the BEST one is of course, the most expensive one at $97. You will also need some supplies like a glass canning jar and some stuff you can easily purchase at any hardware store. In total with the manual and supplies it will probably cost around $150 up to $200.

Now I would make up that in less than a month and I would save probably around $3,000 a year on gas. So a $200 investment is nothing. My car gets terrible gas mileage and it makes me angry! (Mazdas get GREAT gas mileage by the way, but my Mazda died and I ended up with an awful gas guzzler. My Mazda had me spoiled)

So anyone who wants to be frugal and double their gas mileage might want to try this out. If you are like me and scared of tinkering with cars, then just buy the manual and show it to your cousin, uncle, father, friend, hubby, or mechanic. They should be able to get your car converted in an hour.

There is more science behind it that you can read about if you wish. It goes into more detail about HHO, Brown’s gas, hydroxy, the inefficient way your car’s engine is designed.

Your car actually WASTES 80% of the gas you put in it and converting water into HHO actually stops your car’s engine from doing that.

So, if you want to look at the actual sale’s page for Water4Gas and see if you want to invest $97 into saving a ton on gas here is the link: WATER4GAS

You can also look at: www.squidoo.com/savealotongaswithwater

Now the weather is warming up, yard sale season has begun.

Yard sales are a great way to get rid of extra stuff in your house you don’t need or want anymore and to bring in some extra cash.

The best way to have a yard sale is to team up with a few more families and hold your yard sale together. Bigger yard sales bring in more people. A 5 family yard sale will get more people than a 1 family yard sale. Talk to your friends and family and ask them if and when they are interested in having a yard sale. Then pick the person who lives in the most convenient location traffic wise and hold the yard sale in their yard.

Then you need to place an ad in your local newspaper. Divide the ad by how many families are involved then split the cost of the ad.

Now you can clear out closets, drawers, attics, and basements selling stuff you no longer want. Consider donating the left over items to charity or a needy family.

    There are always things we can do to cut back and save some money but sometimes we really need to bring in some cash to help pay bills and buy stuff.

So I will let you know about a brand new original e-book called “8 Methods.” If you want to get started right now making money online and with no investment, this e-book tells you exactly how.

In face it gives you 8 different methods (plus more) to make money online with little or no investment. Some methods require no investment at all while some require a small investment such as a domain name. It’s simple, straight forward, and to the point.

Anyone who has a middle school education can use these methods. Since there are 8 methods, there will be someone for everyone. No technical skills are needed. If you can read and write and put in the effort, you can do it.

After reading the e-book you can get started immediately making money.

Method 1 tells you how to bring in emergency cash in less than 24 hours so if you are in a bind and perhaps have a bill you really need paid or need help buying something you need, then use this tried, tested, and true method.

All of these methods are completely clean and honest.

To go to the super simple sales page and get this super simple e-book for $19.99, go to http://www.8methods.com

You will definitely make back the $19.99 plus a lot more if you just put in the work.

Even though where I am, it will be freezing cold tomorrow, stores have stocked up on the first arrivals of Spring and Summer clothing, even though Spring and Summer seem far away.

The store I went to was having a clearance sale on much of their winter clothes. I got some cute pink Nascar baby outfits for my baby girl for a whopping $2 a piece.

Just like the best time to buy holiday items is AFTER the holiday, now it’s February and March will be here soon, now is the best time to take advantage of clearance sales and buy winter clothes. There’s still some harsh winter cold left for this winter, so the clothes I bought will get worn this season. But even if it was warm weather already I’d still buy the winter outfits and save them for next winter. So when winter gets here, instead of buying new clothes at full prices I’ll already have several new outfits bought at rock bottom prices.

What if I told you that you could get your girl something for Valentine’s Day that she will love and cherish and it doesn’t cost  single cent. That’s right, absolutely free.

What I’m talking about is a love letter. Straight from the heart. A handwritten love letter written by you for her that spills your heart out.

Most girls will cherish something so personal and keep it forever and would rather have something so romantic like a love letter than any material gift you buy at the store.

Then, there’s the girls who expect some gold and diamonds and won’t be happy unless big bucks are spent on them. Well, I can’t give you any advice there.

Now if you’re thinking about writing a love letter to your man, well, I don’t think like a man so I don’t know if they like this type of stuff or not.

For a guaranteed free Valentine’s Day, just boycott the holiday. I’m one of those who believe that Valentine’s Day is just a corporate holiday so that businesses can rake in the money. You can be romantic any day of the year, not just February 14th. And it feels kind of forced, like you’re expected to act all romantic that day.

I’m not doing a thing on Valentines Day besides working, so I don’t have to worry about spending a cent that day. For me, Valentine’s Day is as significant as Groundhogs Day.

But for those who want to celebrate the day of forced romance on a budget, I can just suggest writing a heartfelt love letter, ordering in your favorite food, and spending a quiet evening at home enjoying each other’s company with a massage.

In January I bought a Christmas dress for my baby girl. When I went to the store I certainly wasn’t planning on buying a Christmas dress. Christmas is 11 months away. But I saved by taking advantage of a clearance sale for leftover Christmas items the store is trying to get rid of.

You can save big by buying items leftover after any holiday. Stores want to get rid of their holiday items to make room for the next holiday so they slash the prices off of their leftover inventory 50-75%.

Their was a rack of cute Christmas dresses for little girls marked way down at only $6. These are really cute dresses and it’s certainly not everday you can find such a cute dress for only $6.

If I waited until around Christmas time when the Christmas stuff came out to by my baby girl a dress, I imagine it would cost around $20-$25. But now I already have her dress ready for when Christmas comes around and when I see the price tags on the dresses come Christmas time I will be smiling thinking of how much I saved.

I just get a thrill on huge savings!  I find it fun to see how much I can save.

Now Valentines day is coming up and the stores have all of their Valentines stuff out. I will wait until February 15th to see what I can find for 50-75% off.

Now is the best time to buy Christmas stuff like wrapping paper and candy, if you haven’t had your fill of sweets already.

Now Christmas is over the stores want to get rid of their Christmas inventory so they are slashing prices, 50-75% off the before Christmas price.

At Wal-Mart prices for Christmas items will be 50% off and anything left over the weekend will be 75% off.

This is the best time to grab that wrapping paper at deep discounts and store them in a closet for next Christmas. As fast as time flies, next Christmas will be here before you believe it.

If you love sweets, now is the time to grab that Christmas candy. Of course you can’t store it until next Christmas because it won’t be any good then, but if you like to eat sweets, get Christmas candy for rock bottom prices for your desserts.

When you go to stores, look at the Christmas items they are offering for 50-75% off and if there is anything you will use next Christmas, grab it up and save.

If you love to read and love to save money, I will share the best place I have found to buy used books in good condition for cheap. It’s amazon.com

Yes, the library is cheaper-free to be exact, unless you have overdue books fees. But the library doesn’t always have the books you are interested in. In fact, they may not even have such a good selection at all. Libraries only are allowed to get so many new books a year, after all.

To buy used books for cheap on amazon, just go to amazon.com and search for the author, subject, or title you are interested in.

Then the results will come up and for a particular book, it will show you the new price, directly from amazon.com and it will show the lowest price from individual book sellers selling through the amazon.com website.

Then click on the link that will say something like 29 new and used books from .99 and it will take you to a page with all the used listings for that book.

You will see the price, the seller’s location, and the condition of the book. The book can be from fair condition to brand new. You can also see the seller’s id and feedback from previous buyers.

I have gotten several used books in good condition from amazon.com. The sellers sell from the amazon.com website and amazon takes a small percentage when a book sells. I bought several books for just a few bucks. Several times the shipping costs more than the books themselves. But even with the shipping charges, it is still cheaper than buying it brand new.

“Is it worth it?”

A lot of times, you just have to ask yourself that and decide if spending money on something is worth it. For example, does it bring happiness, will it create good memories, etc.

There is a difference in being cheap and frugal. A lot of people misunderstand and think cheap and frugal are the same when they are entirely different concepts. Living in a mansion, but not flushing the toilet to save on water is cheap or giving your best friend a really cheap and tacky gift for their birthday when they got you a nice gift is cheap. Frugal just means using money wisely and not wasting it. A frugal person doesn’t mean a cheap person.

In arcades my kids do not play those racing games. They cost 4 quarters, a dollar, just to play one time. I CAN afford for them to play one of those driving games, but IT’S NOT WORTH IT!

To me, spending a whole dollar just for a kid to turn a steering wheel for two minutes is absolutely ridiculous and a complete wasting money. I hate to waste money on ridiculous things whether it’s a nickel or a hundred dollars.

Now inviting friends to a restaurant and paying for their food IS WORTH IT. Yes, I could save a ton of money by eating ramen noodles at home, but it’s not very fun. Going out to a restaurant, eating good food, not having to cook or clean, being with friends I love, and spending time with them is worth the cost of the bill to me. We will have a good time, we will talk, we will enjoy each other’s company and it will bring good memories. It will make me happy and them happy to enjoy each other’s company over some good food.

So if the bill is $45 for example, it’s definitely worth it. Now if I stayed home and ate Ramen noodles, I would have saved $44.50, but it would have not been fun or made me happy. It would not be a warm memory and I wouldn’t enjoy the company of my loved ones. So, it’s absolutely worth it.

And I still won’t pay a dollar for two minutes turning a steering wheel in an arcade, because that’s just a ridiculous waste of a dollar to me.

To be a successfully frugal person, you have to decide, “Is it worth it?” when you make decisions about spending money. Ask yourself certain questions like how enjoyable will it be, etc and decide if it is worth the cost. If it’s worth it to you and you can afford it, go for it. You’re not cheap, you’re frugal.