If you want phone, cable TV and Internet, you may find it is cheaper to subscribe to all three services using just one company. By “bundling” your services, companies often offer deep discounts, at least for the first year or so. Companies will do whatever they can to earn your business, and they would love to be your sole telecom provider, so compare the various providers in your area to find the best deal. Then, if you have currently signed up with more than one provider, consider switching all of your products to the company that can give you the best price.
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If you are a movie lover, an affordable way to watch as many movies as you want, is to use a company called Netflix. For just $7.99 a month, you can watch an unlimited number of movies, documentaries, and TV shows, and your first month is free.
My husband recently signed us up and now when we have some spare time we can sign in and watch a movie to relax. Netflix is great because it offers easy access to a movie with the click of a button and it’s both legal and a really inexpensive entertainment option.
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If you are a lobster fan, you will know how expensive it can be to order it at a restaurant. When my husband and I traveled to Prince Edward Island one summer we each ordered a lobster and our bill was almost $100! That was the most I ever paid at a restaurant.
But there is a more affordable way to enjoy fresh lobster. Every once in a while, I pick up a couple of live lobsters at Superstore or Sobeys. It is weird the first few times, bringing home living creatures in a bag, but I have gotten used it.
Once at home, my husband cooks them in boiling water. They don’t scream like they do in the movies. It is very uneventful, actually. By cooking them ourselves, we can have a lobster dinner for about $25. Most often I buy lobster at $10 per pound, although occasionally it does go on sale.
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One way my husband and I save a lot of money on food each week is by preparing and bringing our own lunches to work rather than paying for cafeteria food. What I usually do is make a big stir-fry, lasagna, pasta, or a big pot of soup or chili on the weekend and then I put portions into containers and freeze them so that they can be used for the week ahead.
In the past I just used leftovers from various meals I made throughout the week. I found, however, that by doing so I often ended up having to cook twice in one evening because I seldom prepared enough to cover both our lunches plus our supper. By preparing a lot of food on the weekend, if I don’t have enough leftovers I don’t have to cook a second time that evening. And if I do end up with some leftovers, all the better, I can still use them for our lunches the next day.
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When you want to treat yourself and your family but do not want to spend the money to eat out all the time, a great way to enjoy a meal without spending a lot of money is to make a special restaurant-like meal at home.
One that works great at our home is replicating an all -you -can eat buffet where you get to make your own stir-fry. We use our trusty Toastmaster griddle and I slice up all sorts of veggies such as onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. I then slice beef very thinly and sometimes I also slice up chicken breasts.
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A friend of mine recently gave me a great tip for passing along books on your shelf that you’ve already read. Rather than them sitting and collecting dust, a really fun way to give them away is to do a book exchange with friends and family. Have a get- together and have everyone bring a book they have already read that’s sitting on their bookshelf. Have them wrap it up like a present.
Next, have everyone draw a number and the person with number 1 gets to choose their gift and then they open it. Number 2 then can either select their own gift, or they can steal number 1’s gift, and so on. If your gift gets stolen, then you get to choose and open another gift. This goes on until all the books have been unwrapped. The benefit to being number 1 is that at the very end you get to choose what book you want most.
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Recently my husband and I went on another road trip. We drove about 5000 kilometers over the course of 8 days, spending time with friends and camping. We are usually really good about sticking within a tight vacation budget,, however, on this trip we were more careless with how we spent our money. And, as a result, our vacation ended up costing more than we anticipated.
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