If you live near a Mollie Stone's grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have a natural vitamin and natural beauty care 20% discount card. You can get 20% off those items once a month. Just ask for the free card at the register.

Check out my recommendations for cheap iced drinks at www.yummysf.com

My husband is really into photography and he is great at it. He takes pictures every single day! For many of us, our photos remain on the digital camera or on the computer but are never printed. One day, he decided to print some photos of our trip to the Philippines, ones with his relatives.

Costco is definitely the cheapest place for prints and enlargements that we've found. He ordered them online and then picked them up in the store within an hour. He printed some 8x12 ($1.49 each) and 12x18 ($2.99 each) which are odd sizes, although common dimensions are available. But we found frames to fit them at Aaron Brothers, buy one get another for 1 cent. 8x12 frames were 2 for $10. Basically, if you take the matte out of some of the frames, they will fit these rare sizes. Creative thinking, I love it!

Once the photos were framed with simple black frames, they were amazing! Photos look different when they are in frames. You pay more attention to them. We hung some of the photos on the wall, and it is a special feeling to see not only my husband's artwork surrounding us, but also to see his relatives, who live on the other side of the world.

Photos make special, one of a kind gifts. My husband even created a hardcover, photo book for his friend's wedding in Kona, Hawaii. That was the best wedding gift for her.

You can now do more than put photos on mugs. You can put them on mousepads, make wallet prints, handbags, calendars, throws, ornaments, and even canvas prints.

Groceries are one of our biggest expenses each month. Here are ways we have cut down some of the costs.

Bottled water - We no longer buy bottled water since we use a Brita filter at home. If we do need bottled water, we get them free at my husband's work gym.

Convenience foods - We buy less premade, frozen foods and cook our meals from scratch.

Coffee - I haven't gone to Starbucks in a long time. I make my coffee lattes and chai lattes at home. For coffee lattes, I use instant espresso powder, hot water, and hot milk. For chai, I buy chai concentrate and add hot milk. I got this machine (with a giftcard) to make coffee drinks at work.

Some Target stores have a grocery section. They have frozen foods and packaged goods like cookies, crackers, coffee, bread, cereal, etc. I like to go to Target to get organic milk, Amy's frozen pizza, ice cream, and Archer Farms tiramisu (delicious!). Archer Farms is the Target house brand. The prices are cheaper than the chain grocery stores. But my Target doesn't sell fresh produce.

I recently quit my job. Living frugally has a new meaning for me now.

I love reading everyone's blogs here. And I love reading about new tips about saving money.

I cook a lot more and don't eat out as much. Here are some of my discoveries.

Cheap places to buy groceries:
1.Costco - My husband and I now buy our raw chicken here. Foster Farms has these prepackaged chicken packs - 3 chicken pieces in a pack and 6 packs per package. You can use just what you need and the rest are still sealed fresh to be fridged or frozen. We get chicken thighs because they are cheaper than chicken breasts and tastier. Plus the ones with the skin are half of the price of skinless! $9 for skin vs. $18 for skinless.
2.Chinese Supermarkets - It's just like the major chains minus the frozen dinners and processed foods, which will save you money in the long run because you will be forced to cook from scratch. You can get fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood, meats, etc. Prices are a lot cheaper, eg. green onions are only 33 cents vs. 99 cents at Safeway/Vons. And they speak English so there's no excuse not to go if you live near one. Chinese supermarkets are cheaper than Korean and Japanese supermarkets.