I hate going to Wal-mart because it’s always chaos, but if I get up early and beat the crowds, it’s not so bad and I save enough money to make it worth the trip.

• $80 Wal-Mart
• $12 PetCo

I’ve never brushed our dog’s teeth before, and his breath smelled so bad this morning that we had to make an emergency stop at PetCo to pick up a pet toothbrush and toothpaste. He didn’t resist the brushing too much, and I think that is thanks to beef flavored toothpaste.

Our apartment has been decorated for Valentine’s Day for about a week now. There are candy dishes filled with Hershey Kisses all around, heart decals on the windows, and a wreath made of roses on the front door. I thought I’d make a special effort to make this year extra festive since it is our first married Valentine’s Day. My husband even commented on my efforts.

Extra festive decor also makes up to the lack of money for extravagant gifts, although Overstock’s new Game O Love maybe able to fulfill those Valentine’s wishes, too! Overstock.com’s “Game O Love” lets win your sweetie a Valentine’s Day present from the thousands and thousands of items available on Overstock.com.

Whether your honey likes sexy lingerie, a new alarm clock, or jewelry, you can win it all! I know that my husband would really love to buy me a new diamond ring for Valentine’s Day , and the Game O Love is the only way he’d be able to get me one.

The game officially starts tomorrow, January 25th, but make sure to visit the game page and enter your email for a reminder, so that you don’t miss out on a chance to make February 14th a special day!

It’s easy not to spend money when you know you don’t have any! We’ve been pressed for cash before, but the realization that we are a single income couple for the time being is quite scary. I had second thoughts about going to the grocery to get milk!

• $20 grocery

Part of being a good semi-professional blogger is being able to effectively surf the net and see what other bloggers are talking about. Sometimes it is hard to get through all of your bookmarks, and can be a little redundant visiting the same sites over and over again. Check out Site Safari! and you won’t have to be so dependant on your bookmarks.

With a click of your mouse, you can make Site Safari your homepage, and after a few minutes of setting your prefernces, you’ll see a new website every time you open your browser. You can even tell Site Safari to visit specific websites, rotate through news sources, and add sites that have the Site Safari badge to your page rotation.

It’s free, hassle-free, and can help you learn a little more!

I think that saying that a frugal woman freezes to death is a bit of an understatement. Turning your thermostat down a few degrees and sleeping with an extra blanket to save money or do your part to conserve energy is one thing, turning off your heat is something completely different.

The newspaper stated that the toilet water was frozen solid and that the inside of the windows were iced over. Even if she fell asleep when it was chilly in the house, wouldn’t the bitter cold wake her before it killed her?

Let’s say I offer to give you a penny today and promise to double that amount every day for a month. Would you take me up on the offer, or think that I’m just trying to unload my extra change/ How much money would I be giving you on the 31st day?

If you think I’m just trying to get rid of loose change, you just passed up $10.7 million. Don’t believe me? Take a look…

Day 1 $0.01
Day 2 $0.02
Day 3 $0.04
Day 4 $0.08
Day 5 $0.16
Day 6 $0.32
Day 7 $0.64
Day 8 $1.28
Day 9 $2.56
Day 10 $5.12
Day 11 $10.24
Day 12 $20.48
Day 13 $40.96
Day 14 $81.92
Day 15 $163.84
Day 16 $327.68
Day 17 $655.36
Day 18 $1,310.72
Day 19 $2,621.44
Day 20 $5,242.88
Day 21 $10,485.76
Day 22 $20,971.52
Day 23 $41,943.04
Day 24 $83,886.08
Day 25 $167,772.16
Day 26 $335,544.32
Day 27 $671,088.64
Day 28 $1,342,177.28
Day 29 $2,684,354.56
Day 30 $5,368,709.12
Day 31 $10,737,418.24

A quick trip to Target always turns in to a double digit total, and I didn’t even buy any Nike golf gear.

• $39 Target

My list included large mailing envelopes, a black ink cartridge, and laptop mouse, and a bag of Hershey Kisses (the Valentine’s Day candy bowl can’t sit empty). All job hunting essentials!