Are No-Iron Shirts Worth the Money? Here’s the Low-Down.

April 11, 2012

When my husband took clothes-shopping into his own hands last weekend, I was forced to ask myself:  how much is a get-out-of-ironing card worth? Forty-five dollars? Because that’s how much more he paid for a Brooks Brothers non-iron shirt than I normally pay for a regular dress shirt. Let me explain how this happened.  We [...]

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9 Items That Made It into My Makeup Kit (Plus a Secret that Cosmetic Companies Don’t Want You to Know)

February 15, 2012

My makeup may not be spare like it was in my thirties, but it’s definitely budget. Mostly. Let me explain how each of these items got here, in the order I apply them. 1.  Tinted Moisturizer More of a tint than a moisturizer, I apply this right after my face lotion so it spreads on [...]

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How to Rent Special Occasion Kids’ Clothes

October 31, 2011

I recently wrote about how you can rent upscale baby clothes Netflix-style, so I thought it would be interesting to feature a new website for renting special occasion kids clothes. Here is the story of Wooky Baby by founder, Melissa Gayhart. It all started with a pink Oxford Ralph Lauren dress with lace trim. I [...]

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How to Make a Pillowcase Dress (a Very Non-Technical Tutorial for Casual Sewers)

October 24, 2011

This is a guest post by Ruth Soukup of Living Well Spending Less. Ruth just published a great adaptation of this easy-sew dress as a bumblebee costume. Hi everyone! My name is Ruth and I write all about my adventure of finding style and luxury on a budget over at my blog, Living Well Spending Less. I [...]

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Reader Story: A Lawyer Uses a Diaper Bag as a Briefcase

October 12, 2011

I love this tip sent in by reader Ann. We’re so used to the idea of baby gear being temporary, that the tale of this re-purposed diaper bag is so refreshing. Here is her story: “When my daughter, Paige, was born eight years ago, she was our third child so I knew I was going [...]

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Reader Tip: How to Save Money on Halloween Costumes

October 10, 2011

Samantha Sand wrote in a while back to tell me about National Costume Swap Day. At Samantha’s great blog Let’s Get Digital, where she tests and recommends digital tools that save time and money, she highlights a great statistic: According to the group Green Halloween, if half the kids in the U.S. swapped costumes rather [...]

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How to Find Men’s Shirts for 1/10 the Price

July 14, 2011

I’m no a fashion plate, but I do appreciate good quality and a touch of style. At Parentables I wrote about how I apply frugal principles to my husband’s clothing too. Land’s End. Ralph Lauren. Geoffrey Beene. Old Navy. Pierre Cardin. These are the kinds of button-down shirts I have found for my husband, Enrico, [...]

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How to Clear Out Your Closet

May 26, 2011

A lot of you agreed last week on why it feels great to clean out your closet. This week, let’s talk about the how. Letting go of clothing can be an emotionally complicated issue. But I gave away seven trash bags of clothing and shoes to charity last week, and I don’t regret one thread! [...]

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5 Reasons to Clear Out Your Closet

May 17, 2011

Most of you probably know by now that we bought a house in Washington, D.C. We don’t close until the end of June, so I’m saving public celebrations for when I have the keys in hand, but I think it’s safe to say we are super-duper-expialidocious happy. (And by the way: even though I wondered when [...]

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10 Tips for Shopping Thrift Stores

April 30, 2011

Spring is the best time to go thrift store shopping because spring cleaning mania helps super-stock the stores. In fact, one of the advantages of buying used is that you can combine your trip with a charity drop-off and declutter while you get what you need. I don’t get all my clothes at thrift stores [...]

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5 Surprising Reasons to Love Thrift Stores

April 30, 2011

Do I have a personal style?  Can I afford to dress like a Frenchwoman? These are questions tumbling around in my head after reading Susan Wagner’s recent posts in Parentables’ Real Style. I agree that it’s tough to invest in classy clothes when, as Susan aptly describes, your children treat you like a “combination jungle gym/walking napkin.” So [...]

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Top 10 Ways to Find Kids’ Clothes for Free (or Almost)

March 5, 2011

The average U.S. family spends $1,881 on clothing per year. With kids growing like sunflowers in August, many families are spending a lot more. Read more on Parentables… Read more on Parentables…

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Wallet-friendly Yet Powerful Relief for Winter Dry Skin

November 30, 2010

When the heating goes on, I know it’s time to break out my heavy-duty moisturizer. For a few years now, I’ve suffered from excessively dry and itchy skin on my legs. In addition, I’m always washing my hands here in the trenches with the kids, so the skin on my fingers also gets cracked and [...]

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A Veteran Cloth-Diaperer Reveals Her Secrets

October 5, 2010

We had a baby in late July and I’m taking some time off to welcome him to the world. I am grateful to friends and fellow bloggers who are helping out with guest posts.  This article is by MakingTime of What There’s Time For. In the past three and a half years, I have used cloth [...]

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Back (pack) to School

August 2, 2010

We are expecting a baby around July 29 and I’ll be taking some time off to welcome him to the world.  This article first appeared on my family blog, Glitter & Grime, which I phased out when I launched Frugal Mama. August is the Sunday of summer:  when the eighth month rolls around, you know [...]

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How to Organize a Clothing Swap

January 25, 2010

Today I’m writing at Buttoned Up where I talk about how to throw a clothing exchange party. Read the rest of the article. The Buttoned Up post is a short-and-sweet version of an article I wrote a few months ago about attending a professional kids clothing swap, how it worked, and the pros and cons [...]

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