Save More Money How?

I have a confession to make. I'm getting tired and a little frustrated reading articles on frugality. Not the blogs I read every day, but articles in the newspaper and in magazines. I think if I read one more article on how to save $500 a year by giving up Starbucks, I will scream. Seriously!

I'm not going to save more money by giving up my daily $4 latte because I've never had a daily $4 latte! I'm not going to save more money by shopping at Marshalls instead of a department store because I'm already shopping at Salvation Army, Goodwill and the clearance racks at Wal-Mart. I'm not going to save money by growing a garden because my yard never gets more than 3 hours of sun in any one spot, and vegetables and herbs need generally 6-7 hours of full sun. I'm not going to save more money by turning down my thermostat while I'm at work during the day because I work at home, never turn it above 69 degrees and set it at 62 at night. And I'm not going to save more money by starting to clip coupons and switch from brand name items to generics, because I've been doing that for over 20 years!

What I want to read are articles on how to reduce costs associated with my life, a work-at-home, have-always-been-frugal-because-I-had-to-be, single mother of twin teenagers. Tell me alternative ways to get inexpensive clothing for a very petite, modest, 14-year-old girl. She likes plain jeans in a slender size, plain zip-up hoodies and sensible short-sleeved tops (no ruffles, no stupid sayings, no sparkles). Do you know how hard it is to buy plain, simple clothes for a 14-year-old? Harder than you think. Tell me how to find inexpensive veterinary care for 3 cats, one elderly and one with a rare skin condition that will eventually lead to other, more costly afflictions. Tell me how to find my son's prescription medication for his migraines for less than $75 a month. These are some of the things I want to know.

I realize that a lot of people are only just now starting to look for ways to cut their expenses, and that these news articles are directed to them. And thank goodness for bloggers who share and write about various ways to be frugal beyond the basics. But it would be nice to see something new in the mainstream media, something those of us who are experienced in frugal living haven't really thought of before, ideas that will make a difference for those of us with a low income who have implemented the obvious long ago. Okay, enough of my rant....We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. ;-)