Whidbey's Frugalista

Sharing “How-to’s”, “Where-to-Go’s”, fresh ideas and everyday adventures of raising a family more affordably.

  • Comments

Websites For Bargains, Books, Homework Help:

November 10th, 2009 at Tue, 10th, 2009 at 10:29 pm by Amy Hannold

When you want to know where everybody else is scoring a good deal, look here:

BargainMama.com:

http://www.bargainmama.com/

Deals, Money Saving Tips, and More about Being Cheap but Chic

A bargain mama’s blog about how she saves money and finds bargains.  Twitter updates, blog, and more.

Bargainsit.com:

http://www.bargainist.com/

Updated daily, this treasure trove of money saving information includes freebies, coupons and a free daily email.  Sales are listed by store, category, and by the “Latest, hand-picked deals, sales and coupons.”

 When you want to find a book, CD, or DVD –

and you have some you’d like to swap for them:

 Paperbackswap.com

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

Register here and list the books you’re willing to send to someone else.  You can purchase book credits, or earn them for mailing books to other members. 

 Bonus: Cash for Your Books!  Check Out Cash4Books.net:

http://www.cash4books.net

Type in the ISBN of the books you have.  If they are worth cash from Cash4books.net, box ‘em up, print a free shipping label – and then, you’ll get cash!

Help for the Homework:

Factmonster.com:

http://www.factmonster.com/

Colorful, Fun and Fact-packed website on every homework topic.  Get quick, useful information on the subject your student is studying.  Links to online almanac, dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia.  Games, quizzes, and features on kid-popular current favorites. 

This Week’s Holiday Preparation Tasks:

Talk with your family, friends and extended families about this year’s “gifting plans”.  If there are names to be drawn, spending limits to determine, etc. – get those decided now.  Share information such as likes/dislikes, favorite colors, home décor theme, etc. (Note all this down in your notebook!)  Then, begin to form a gift-giving list.  Inventory your home gift closet (or start one!).  Set an upcoming date to gather to work on those homemade gifts too!

 Holiday Fun Task:  Start the conversation with friends about their holiday traditions.  Create an email letter, Facebook post, or simply get together to share these ideas.  As a family, pick one or two “new-to-you” traditions to try this year.  Transfer the list of supplies to your upcoming shopping list.

Amy is the Coordinator for the North Whidbey Coupon Club and "Coupons For Our Community". She is the Frugal Living Editor for 247Moms.com, an encouraging online community for moms. For the past three years, she has enjoyed speaking to groups throughout the Puget Sound area on "Family, Time and Money" topics.

More articles by  >
ABOUT COMMUNITY BLOGS: Community blogs are written by volunteers. They are members of our community but not employees of this site or newspaper. They have applied or were invited to blog here but their words are their own and are not edited by the editor or staff of this site, and have agreed to abide by our Terms of Use. The authors are solely responsible for their content. If you have concerns about something you read on a community blog, please contact the author directly or email us.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in the PNWLocalNews.com community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.

So keep your comments:

  • Civil
  • Smart
  • On-topic
  • Free of profanity

We ask that all participants own their words by logging in with their Facebook account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and “drive-by” commenters. We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using screen names, pseudonyms or false identities. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.