I am cheap...

*This post contains mere drivel*

I am cheap. I suppose at some point in my life, I may have tried to hide what some people may consider a character flaw, but the truth is- I've come to understand that cheap CAN be good. It's not a dislike of expensive things, trust me.. I really like expensive things! But I understand the need to be frugal, the joy of saving money and the benefit of knowing that I do not have $5000 in credit card debt or any credit card debt for that matter. And it's not that I don't ever splurge, I do. Probably more than you'd think. I just have methods for doing it that make the splurging less noticeable, because I am saving money doing it.

The Change Bowl
In one summer, I bought a 14ft trampoline, and a 14ft swimming pool for the kids with change. Well, it started out as change- I'd buy something, and save all the change *pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters* and toss them in a bowl. No one was allowed to touch the bowl, except to add more change to it. You don't usually think change can amount to much, but in a surprisingly small amount of time (we're talking a few months), I was able to grab a few dozen bags, fill them with the change, and head to the bank to cash them in for dollars. Then I headed to Walmart- beaming with pride over my "great idea" and picked up the trampoline and pool.

Member Reward Cards
I am a huge fan of member rewards cards. At any point in time, I can open my purse and find "cash" to spend at Rite-Aid. It's not real cash so to speak, but I can walk into Rite-Aid, grab a few things and walk out paying nothing at all thanks to rewards Up+ earnings from previous purchases.  The fact that I can save money when buying things I need on sale, combine a few coupons in to save more money and then get "cash back" in the form of Up+ rewards makes me feel a lot better when I decide to break out the cash back to pick up some make-up. It's like getting my "mom needs to feel pretty" supplies free. And, honestly nothing is better than feeling pretty for free.

Samples
Samples just may be the perfect product: you can get them free, and they are travel size! Some people get samples to see if they will like a product, I get samples of products I already know I like- to save a little on having to buy more of it. Plus, they are perfect to toss in an overnight bag for a kids sleepover, or a weekend trip. Or... in the case that my stash of full sized product is running out and I am waiting for it to go on sale again- I can bide myself a little time by breaking out the samples I have stocked up on.

Coupons
I can remember dreading Sundays when I was little. My mom would pull out her coupon book and go to town on the ads from the Sunday paper. I knew a huge, long, miles worth of walking,  shopping trip was next. And I never really understood the point of it- I am sure to this day my family could have paid "full price" and never really noticed the difference. But these days, with three kids of my own - who I am sure eat more than twice their weight in food a day by the amount of food we seem to go through- I completely understand the wonderfulness of paying $1 or two less on half a million boxes of cereal that will disappear within moments of being brought into the house.

Movies
A few months ago, I did what I'd been wanting to do for a long time, but had put off because "everyone has cable". I cut the cable... completely got ride of it. The first few days, I really missed certain things- like FoxNews and USA. But I didn't miss the $80 or so that I was giving away every month in order to watch two or three channels for a few hours every couple of weeks. And, I found that with a laptop in hand I could still watch my favorite things, I just had to look online. The kids complained at first too. But they've adjusted to knowing that when they are in their rooms on one of the game systems, they can't pop into the living room to watch 4 minutes of ICarly before going back to the game (and leaving the TV on). (I haven't verified this with actual comparison, but I am almost positive we might be saving on our electric bill too- since we don't have 3 TVs on all day with no one watching them) Justin.tv has become a frequent favorite website, as have Hulu.com and a few other television/movie sites. Overall- I'm happy to be cable-bill-less. I can't really imagine going back to that extra bill.

Contest and contest and other free stuff
If you were my Facebook friend, you'd be able to see that I enjoy contests. A lot. Recently, I've won a stress ball, a $50 Itunes gift card, a pair of $100 earrings, designer jeans, a Tshirt from Downy, Perfume by Guess, a bra, Clairol hair coloring, Tide products, MS Office Professional 2010... and that's all just off the top of my head. Some people shop for themselves.. I'd just rather not spend the money. So, I look for other ways to get that "Oh I got myself something nice" feeling. It might take a little more time than walking to the mall and picking something up- but it has it's own special level of fun to it. And- other than taking a little time, it's FREE.

That's not even the tip of the cheapness I swoop around in, it's just a hint that I'm about willing to do anything to save money while still pampering myself and family, and hopefully a little proof that I actually enjoy this lifestyle. No worries though, I am sure I will share more drivel, in between the deals, in the future.

What about you? What's your level of cheapness, what's your method of saving money while still avoiding the feeling that you're about at the "I wear this burlap dress because it was on sale" point?