Frugal Facts: Best Blogs for Saving Money, Volume 1

We're all looking for common-sense ways to hold onto our money. Here are some of the best blogs that average folks and money wizards have online to help during these days of frugal living.

Money Saving Secrets Blog
As most great ideas come, this one was born out of need. Jennifer Billy of Johnsburg, IL, has been married for 4 years, with a 3 year old she didn't want to put in daycare. When her daughter was a mere 6 weeks old, Jennifer's husband had a stroke. She had to be caregiver to two loved ones and make financial ends meet. She got resourceful, and she shares her finds with you.

Over time, Jennifer found that the trick was in getting creative and not getting stressed out over her family's financial situation. Jennifer is what we'd call in my old neighborhood "good people." She had a major setback, she pulled herself out of it, and she decided to help others along the way.

She writes in her blog: "I believe this was a lesson for me on priorities and what is truly important in life. One thing that I have learned from all of this is that the more money I can save, the less money I needed to make."

Each week she puts up a set of links for coupons for the likes of CVS, Walgreens and Starbucks. She also includes links for products from major manufacturers such as L'Oreal and Pillsbury.

Money Saving Mom
In addition to printable coupons and recipes, this blog includes a section of freebies, always a good thing. Free offers have included books and address labels.

The interesting twist with this site is that it offers a "giveaway" site. The owner of Money Saving Mom, allows others to place a link on her site if they are giving away free items, and there's a long list of links. You're sure to find something on there you can use. To ensure the quality of the giveaway, the following warning applies: "Your giveaway must be family-friendly and no-strings-attached. In addition, to make it easy to navigate, your link must go directly to your giveaway post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your giveaway post will be deleted."

Bargain Babe presents daily tips for savvy shoppers. The writer takes on reader gripes, offers advice, as well as a daily dose of good shopping deals, chock full of links.

The Save Money Blog
This site appears to be inactive as nothing new has appeared since 2008; however, good principles are good principles.

It includes lots of articles on good, solid advice on saving money from energy efficiency, auto/gas savings, etc.

Frugal Underground
The Frugal Underground started in June of 2005 when the writer started compiling financial items available on the Web. The writer combined them with his own knowledge, and various articles he'd kept around his office. The writer is a self-proclaimed bargain hunter, so he's always looking for good deals which he shares in his blog.

The above are just the beginning of many great money-saving sites available on the Web, most written by average people who have learned to make ends meet without sacrificing quality of life. They have families, go to school and enjoy life. They've just learned to do it for much less than most of us pay just because we don't know where to get the discounts. Luckily, they're generous in sharing their information.

I'll be adding additional discount sites and wonderful blogs for saving money in my Frugal Facts column. Print out (and use) just a few of the online coupons and you'll find you've paid for your time in looking up the information. Once you bookmark the sites, it's just a matter of going back before your shopping trips and printing out coupons (free money!) stores and manufacturers want to give you.