Now that the American Thanksgiving is over, it is prime shopping time for the holiday season. It is easy to overspend on the holidays because it is easy to forget all the things that go into the holiday season. So start right now. Make a up a holiday budget that includes all aspects of the holiday, from gifts to food to travel to any other miscellaneous expenses you might incur.

I like to look at a calendar and play each day in my head quickly, thinking about what I might be doing that is out of the ordinary. From holiday parties to group gift exchanges to secret santa games, I try to remember all the details that I usually forget.

And then I budget for them. So that at the end of the holiday season, I’m not crying at my mailbox as the credit card bills roll in.

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice, who is budgeting a new timing belt for her car so that it is travel-worthy by mid-December.

Well, it is at Eco Joe’s - Green Thinking for the Average Joe!  Or Jane, as you may be.  :)  Joe included only 18 entries in this edition, selecting his cream of the crop from the hundreds of entries, which included:

• Here be some timely Thanksgiving leftover tips from A Simple Walk.
• Stolen Moments has some easy tips for sticking to her grocery budget.
• When you’re traveling for this Thanksgiving weekend, Savvy Frugality says why not think of the good ol’ train system?

Thanks for hosting!  Next week the festival travels to Living Almost Large so get those frugal entries in!

Many people, me (in the past) included, simply fill up the cap on their liquid laundry detergent when doing a load of laundry.  But that isn’t always the amount of detergent suggested to use by the manufacturer. If you read the back of the detergent bottle, it may have instructions involving lines on the inside of the cap.  Many caps have several lines depending on the size of your laundry load.

You may be using up to twice as much detergent as you need to for each load - and when buying detergent for the best price per load, that isn’t the frugal way to go.  So check the inside of your cap and the back of your bottle, and start using the right amount of detergent today! I can’t believe how much longer my bottles last since I started doing this. 

Of course, you can always start making your own detergent… I haven’t gotten that far yet.

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Financial Wellness Project plays host to Festival of Frugality #152 with the affected by recession edition.  Here are their picks from the wealth of Festival entries:

• Wenchypoo presents Why We Skip the Holidays All Together posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.
• Randall presents “It’s Hip to Be Spare” - How Frugality Has Become the New Fashion posted at Credit Withdrawal - Helping You Kick the Credit Habit.
• Heather Levin presents How To Set Up A Community Lending Library posted at The Greenest Dollar.
• pfincome presents Turn Frugal Behaviors into a Game posted at Passive Family Income.
• Fitz Villafuerte presents How Regifting Can Help You Save Money posted at Ready To Be Rich.

Thanks for hosting and good luck with recovering from your job loss!  Make sure to visit the full festival and read all of the great submissions for yourself!  Next week the festival travels to Eco Joe’s so get those entries in!

Buying in bulk, whether it be from a large chain discount store, or to take advantage of a great sale, can be a very frugal thing.  If you pay less for what you would buy anyway, it is an instant return on your money.  But sometimes bulk buying can get a little out of hand.  Be aware of these three things when taking the plunge into buying in bulk.

• Buy only what you can store safely and efficiently.  Storing 50 boxes of your favorite cereal in your garage isn’t frugal if the garage is prone to mice.  Buying 20 lbs of meat on sale that you can’t freeze isn’t frugal either unless you have a big enough family to eat that in a short period of time.  Make sure that you are aware of your storage limitations and work with them instead of hoping for the best.
• Be aware of expiration dates.  Sometimes, items are marked down because they expire soon.  This can work for you, but when buying in bulk, it works against you.  Make sure to check expiration dates and buy accordingly.  If you eat 2 boxes of cereal in a typical month, don’t buy 10 that expire in 6 weeks.  Buy three. 
• Have a plan for what you purchase.  Bulk buys are great, until they end up in the back of the freezer for a year and get thrown out the next time you clean it out.  Organize your space so that it makes sense and nothing gets forgotten.

Hopefully these tips can help make bulk buying a frugal part of your shopping experience!

This tip provided by paidtwice, who has 17 boxes of cereal in her converted linen closet and 9 lbs of coffee, among other things.

Festival of Frugality #151, the Veterans Day edition, is up at On A Quest To Be Debt Free! Visit the festival to check out all the entries, including these highlights I chose:

• Early Retirement Extreme:  How To Live Out of a Suitcase
• Trees Full Of Money:  How To Stop Cold Drafts In Your Home
• Living Almost Large:  Is Backpacking Frugal?

Next week the festival travels to Financial Wellness Project so get your entries in!

Donating items we no longer use so that others can enjoy them is a frugal thing to do.   But make sure when you donate something, that if possible you get documentation about your donation.  That way, you may be able to reduce your taxes by claiming donations when you itemize your deductions.  The tax software I use to do my taxes every year even values items for me so I know what the fair market value to claim is.

Now, some of us don’t itemize deductions (last year is the first year we had enough deductions to do so) so then documenting donations doesn’t really help reduce our tax burden.  But for those of us who do, there is no reason to have your act of donating items go completely unrewarded.

And donating things we don’t use or need reduces our clutter and simplifies our life, so it really is a win-win!

This frugal tip provided by paidtwice of I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

In the US it is election day, and Briana puts together the voting edition of the Festival of Frugality.  I voted this morning, did you?  My kids and I waited almost 2 hours in line and my older one (he’s 4) helped me push the final “confirm vote” button.  Her election winners (editor’s picks) for this festival are:

• Polly Poorhouse presents Frugal Fu: The November “No Eating Out” Challenge posted at Economic Crunch. 
• J. Money presents Never let the marketers win - Send in those rebate forms! posted at Budgets are Sexy.. 
• Jim presents How Much Is That in Minimum Wage Hours? on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. 
• Silicon Valley Blogger presents Improve Your Shopping Habits: How To Recover From An Impulse Buy posted at The Digerati Life.
• Student Scrooge presents Oops — Almost Forgot About That Gift Card posted at Student Scrooge.

Thanks for putting together a great festival!  Next week the festival travels to Quest To Be Debt Free so make sure to enter early!