Frugal or Resourceful?

I have always tried to save money where I can. I guess you could call it a habit instilled in me by my mother and I guess you could even say I enjoy "the thrill of the hunt" when I find a bargain.

Saving money though is becoming more of a necessity not only for me, but for others as well I think, as prices continue to go up right in front of us.

I have read a lot of books and websites on being frugal. People have practiced frugality for years. Our ancestors were the kings and queens of frugality. But as I think of that word frugal, and the more I see the word, the less I really like it. To me it seems to sometimes come with a negative connotation. Not always, but sometimes. Other words like penny pincher, miser, tightwad aren't great words either.

I would like the trend to be that those of us who work hard at saving money would be called "resourceful" or some more positive and more appropriate term. After all, resourceful is what we are, when we are making do and there is little to make do with. Resourceful is what we are when we are improvising, creating, planning and being the kind of survivor and go getter that it takes to make it in a tough economy or other financially tough times regardless of what caused them.

Last week I made a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and it seemed like some prices had taken another jump. Judging by what I saw, I am going to have to start getting considerably more resourceful with my grocery shopping!

Food Safety News Reports Tuna Recall

From Food Safety News - March 7, 2013

Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea Tuna Recalled for Loose Seams on Can Lids.

 

PLEASE NOTE THE ARTICLE SAYS IT IS TOO EARLY TO TELL IF THE ISSUE WILL CAUSE ILLNESS, but they have been pulling the cans from store shelves anyway.

 

Still, I wanted to post this so that anyone can be aware and read the full article and use this link for the can codes to check your cans.

 Loose Seams on Tuna Can Lids Prompts Recall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Consumer Information Catalog from Pueblo Co.

Some of you may remember the Consumer Information Catalog from Pueblo, Colorado that the government used to advertise on TV. I had ordered that little catalog several times back in the day and found some of the publications I had ordered from it to be pretty useful.

I found myself wondering recently if the Gov, still put that catalog out and so I googled it and found that yes, not only can I still order it, even better, I can download most of the publications to my computer in pdf format or view the information online.

Information categories at Publications.USA.Gov include Cars, Consumer Protection, Education (Pre K thru College), Federal Programs, Housing, Family, Health, Money, Small Business, Travel and more. This is an especially great resource for young families and is well worth visiting the site and even bookmarking. You never know when you might want go back to it for some of the info.

Here is the link: Publications.USA.Gov

New Tires That Are Really Old

There is a tire date on the tires it should be four numbers after "DOT" Example: 2207. First two numbers is week and last two numbers is year manufactured. Sometimes this number is on the inside where you cant see.

Buy Local Buy American

Buy local, buy American. That is one of my resolutions for the year.

I think if each of us in all our states and countries did that, then our respective economies would improve.

For those interested I have found a link with some American made products listed by category.

http://www.americansworking.com/