Sweaters – Many department stores start clearing out their inventory in sweaters in February with discounts as deep as 60% and 75%. With prices like that, you can splurge on a new top or two and rest assured that you haven’t done any permanent damage to your budget.

Shoes – As spring shoes start arriving in the stores, displays are more focused on sandals and open-toe shoes. If you favor more traditional or practical shoes, February is a great time to get a new pair or two. Consider replacing your everyday shoes with a more updated pair and then getting another “fun” pair in a bright color. Boots are another great savings opportunity.

Outerwear –Since children can often only wear their coats for one year, getting a good price on these winter necessities is even more important. By estimating the size that your child will wear next winter, you can buy him a new coat now, get a great deal, and be prepared when the temperatures start to drop next winter. Don’t forget to include the adults in your family in your winter coat shopping, too. You may find that the expensive wool coat you’ve been lusting after has dropped to a much more attainable price. Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise?

Accessories – Winter accessories will be available at their lowest price of the year in February. Does your little one continually lose his gloves? Maybe you should stock up on several pairs of those little pairs of gloves. You won’t have to worry about him outgrowing them. As a bonus, you’ll have enough gloves to share with his little friends when they come over to play. Clearance pricing also means that you can splurge on that nice pair of leather driving gloves your husband has been hinting about.

February is the perfect time to get in a little shopping for you and the rest of the family. With clearance sales everywhere, you can be certain to find a bargain or two worth bragging about.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Best Bargains For February

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Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 cup of canned mushrooms
3 cups mashed potatoes
4 cups mixed vegetables (can use canned or fresh)
6 slices of American Cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet brown the ground beef and the onion until thoroughly cooked. Drain off any fat and place the mixture in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Spread the mixed vegetables evenly over the top of the ground beef. Layer the mushrooms on top of that. Top all this with the cheese slices and then spread the mashed potatoes on top to cover all the cheese slices. Bake in a 350 degree over for about 40 minutes. Let the casserole rest for another 10 minutes before serving.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Shepherd’s Pie – Cook At Home Day

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Make A Master Menu
First make a list of the menu items that your family prefers. Also include recipes that you make for special occasions or ones that you would like to try. From this master menu you’ll be able to compile a list of all of the ingredients that you should stock in your pantry. Don’t forget to include stapes like flour, milk, and bread.

Keep Up to Date With Grocery Store Sales
Make examining the grocery store advertisements that arrive at your house weekly a part of your regular tasks. Familiarizing yourself with the ads will allow you to recognize a bargain when it appears. As long as you’re looking through the paper, be sure to clip out coupons for the ingredients that are on your master ingredient list. When you are fortunate enough to find that one of your master list ingredients is on sale, buy that ingredient in a large enough quantity to last for awhile. Be sure to use those coupons you’ve been saving, too.

Learn to Preserve Perishables – Freezer or Otherwise
Learn how to preserve perishable foods so that you can purchase those at sales prices, too. Bread and meat can be frozen; the shelf lives of some fruit can be extended by storing them in paper bags. Grocery store employees can give very helpful hints for preserving the products from their departments. Just take special care that you don’t buy more of your perishable items than you can use before the foods spoil.

With the rising cost of food at restaurants and gas used to transport families to the restaurants, having family meals at home has become an extremely attractive facet of a trim budget. With a well-stocked pantry, you can be confident that you’ve made the most of your budget and you will never have to wonder what’s for dinner.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Pantry Stockpiling – How To Make Your Pantry Well Stocked

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Here are a few ideas:

A Basket of Your Valentine’s Favorite Cookies – Few people really enjoy all of the different chocolates found in the candy boxes available in department stores. Show your valentine that you care by spending the time to bake his favorite sweets for him to enjoy.

Specially Wrapped Candy Bar – If your sweetheart has his heart set on candy this Valentine’s Day, skip the traditional Valentine’s Day candies and head for the everyday candy bar that he favors. Using your home computer, you can quickly create labels to cover each candy bar that feature each of your names or even your pictures.

A Hand Knit Scarf – Since Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of our coldest season, a new scarf is the perfect way to show your sweetie that you care about his comfort. Choosing a soft yarn in your loved one’s favorite color is the perfect way to customize this gift.

A Handwritten Love Letter – Use beautiful paper to write a love letter and tell your Valentine how special they are to you. Spray the letter with a little of your favorite fragrance to remind them of you.

A Dresser Valet – Does your honey forget where he has laid his keys or wallet at the end of the day? A wooden box from your local crafts store finished with a simple dark, stain will help him keep track of his things and leave him a few more minutes to spend with you each morning.

Giving a heartfelt Valentine’s Day gift doesn’t have to mean spending an exorbitant amount of money. With a little thought and time, you can create something that your sweetheart will really treasure.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: Valentine’s Day Gifts On A Budget

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Price Adjustments
I hate when I purchase something and then find it on sale a week later. Fortunately, keeping track of my receipts can relieve some of that angst. Some stores will let you simply bring in your receipt and show them that you paid more for the time within the last thirty days or so. Other stores will require you to return the item you purchased and buy the same item, again, at the sale price. In either instance, you’ll be glad that you saved that tiny scrap of paper.

Gift Returns
Despite all of your planning and shopping, some gifts just don’t come out as well as you hoped they would. Perhaps the sweater you bought your sister is a size too large or maybe your niece already has that Barbie that you selected for her. Having your receipt makes it easy to exchange that gift for another item that will be more useful to the recipient.

Defective Items – Sometimes bad things happen to our purchases. The CD player you bought might have played perfectly on Christmas morning, but now it is skipping like crazy. When you have to return a defective item to the store you purchased it at, having your receipt will make the process go much more smoothly. If your item has an extended warranty, you will need that receipt to prove your item’s date of purchase.

We do have a regular cycle of purging receipts so they don’t build up to an unmanageable amount. Anything that has a warranty or was given as a gift is kept in a special file. Receipts that are for regular grocery store items, gas purchases, etc. are shredded once they’ve cleared the bank and we’ve verified their accuracy.

Content provided by Not Made Of Money: The Importance of Keeping Receipts

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