The Site: SimplyFrugal.Ca
Simply Frugal is a full-service personal finance blog that offers happy homemaker coupons and tips with a focus on food budgeting. Proprietor Taya Knight created the site in 2009 to get out of debt and into thrift. We’re talking nitty-gritty thrift, like saving a buck on Old El Paso Taco Shells or getting a free bottle of Tylenol. It’s micro-finance to be sure, but a handful of micro-savings add up to macro-savings. While the bulk of posts are about little deals, Knight also muses longer form about the psychology of deals themselves and how to eat healthy on a budget.
One of the best and most useful series of posts are those that pertain to Knight’s No Spend Challenge. In 2010 she imposed on herself the challenge of buying nothing except groceries for a month. She discusses whether she felt deprived (didn’t!) as well as how to tailor a No Spend Challenge to work for you (ie – if you normally spend $500 on lunches at work, maybe just try decreasing it to $200 and see how you fare). It’s simple stuff, as the blog’s name implies, but it’s Knight’s overall attitude towards spending that is both commendable and seemingly achievable for maximum long-term frugality.
Site Saving Stats
Name: SimplyFrugal.ca
Author: Taya Knight
Site founded: 2009
Frequency of updates: Daily
Potential for money saving: Low as the savings are small, but high if you can apply Knight’s comprehensive theory on frugality to your own life.
Best practices: Follow Simply Frugal on Twitter for quick coupon hits. Much easier than checking the blog, and it’s nice to have a few freebie coupon tweets peppered throughout the your Twitter feed.
Facebook page: Robust. Not as frequently updated as the Twitter feed, but full of links to Simply Frugal posts, with good user feedback on the efficacy and usefulness of the deals.
Favorite Posts: The most fun posts are Knight’s DIY cooking tips and links to super cheap and easy recipes, like this one for cake in a mug. Who doesn’t like cake? In a mug?
