Dental care issues have become super frustrating in recent years as most companies shave off their dental plans to cut costs. On a positive note, saving on dental care costs is usually  far easier than saving on health care costs. Try the following.

Preventative care – obviously the best way to save is to need less dental care overall. Brush, floss, rinse, eat healthy – you know the drill I’m sure; but just in case read this preventative dental care guide. Along those lines encourage your kids to have healthy dental habits from birth.

Find a way to pay for regular check-ups no matter what – regular dental check-ups save you money by spotting problems before they become BIG money problems. It’ll cost less in the long run to save extra money now for an annual dental appointment.

Comparison shop – different dentists carry the same services for different prices. Sometimes you can save 100s, simply by choosing the right dentist. Always shop around before having dental work done.

Plan ahead for major work you know you need (i.e. start saving now!) and see if you can sign on for a payment plan – which many dentists offer.

NIDCR sometimes looks for volunteers with specific dental, oral, and craniofacial conditions to participate in research studies, also known as clinical trials. Usually if you participate you’ll get seriously reduced cost care or even free care. To find out if there are any NIDCR clinical trials that you might fit into, visit the NIDCR web site and click on “NIDCR Studies Seeking Patients.”

Dental schools and dental hygiene schools often offer high quality, reduced-cost dental treatment. Also Licensed dentists always supervise the students providing care. To locate dental schools visit the ADA.

There are many sliding scale to free dental programs available through local community health clinics.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) does include dental care for kids under the age of 19 but your family will need to meet income requirements.

[image via stock.xchng]

My husband has been wanting a Wii for a while now. He’s mentioned wanting one a few times, but recently he began talking about us getting one for Christmas.  I’m not trying to be a Scrooge, but I can think of better things to spend my money on right now. 
If you’ve been reading Thrifty Mommy for a while, you’ll know that in the last year we’ve dealt with a poor housing market, moving, have a mortgage payment and rent, adoption, and now purchasing a home.  It’s been a financially exhausting year and I’m just not ready to lay down $200+ …read more

Women still make less money than men even when in the same position, women who divorce or split from their partner often get shoddy child support and a battle to go along with it, and women usually get the short end of the stick when they have kids – i.e. they take time off, lose wages,and continually do more housekeeping and child care which takes away from work time.
In good news a recent study shows that a larger majority of women, not men, control the family budget – but only by a little bit and other research shows that while …read more

SEE UPDATE BELOW – These are sold out…
Honestly, I’ve just recently heard of Zhu Zhu pets when I was writing my toy scalper post. It’s not a toy my son has seen. However, what I hear is that these are pretty much the hottest toy of 2009, so I’m guessing some of you are looking for one for your kids.
If so, you’re in luck because according to reports, Kmart has these fun furry friends scurrying-in just in time for Christmas.
On December 18th these electronic pet hamsters will be available for purchase on Kmart.com and on December 20th they will be …read more

You may want to wear something that makes you feel cheery and bright, something that will show everyone that you’re celebrating.  The problem is, many Christmas  sweaters, vests, and accessories can be very expensive.  I’m not one to wear Christmas sweaters, so I’ve been giving some thought to how to dress for the season, while keeping it low budget.

Wear cheery colors – Although you probably won’t see me in a Christmas sweater, you’ll likely see me wearing a bright red sweater.  Many of us have something red or green in our closets.
Jazz it up a little – Add some festive …read more

Yesterday we looked at toy scalpers and why toy scalping is wrong. Not everyone agreed but that’s fine. Today we’re looking at the question of if you should you buy from toy scalpers?

As noted yesterday, my son actually wants a popular toy this year. However, it’s been bought up by scalpers which is currently the only way to get one, which brings up the whole should you buy from scalpers question.
Plenty of parents will buy from scalpers. Take the Zhu Zhu issue this holiday season. Parents are paying terribly marked up prices to get their hands on one of these …read more

One of the biggest ways that I save money is by shopping for things ahead of time while they’re at rock bottom prices.  I do this with my groceries, household items, and gifts for my children.  This method is commonly referred to as the buy ahead principle or stockpiling.

Here’s an example of how I have used the “buy ahead principle” for purchasing my daughter’s Christmas gifts.

bath robe – regularly $20, after Christmas sale in Feb for $5
two-wheel scooter – regularly $17, Black Friday sale for $5
Hanna Montana doll set – regularly $28-32?, after Christmas sale in Feb for $7-8
guitar purse …read more

Personally I think toy scalpers are totally lame. I haven’t had too many problems with them since my son tends to want less popular holiday gifts overall and as a parent concerned with toxins and toy safety I tend to stick to green gifts which most toy scalpers avoid.

However this year I did run into issues. My son asked for just one toy this year and the toy company who released it allowed 5 per customer, as did many stores, so scalpers bought them up, which frankly I didn’t expect so I didn’t buy one back in September or October …read more

Keeping your manuals for gadgets, toys, appliances, and other gear can save you money and in a perfect world we’d all be hyper good at keeping our warranties and other paper info about our products well organized. However, it’s way far from a perfect world and we all lose stuff and some of us just aren’t all that organized by nature.
So with that said, what to do when you lose a manual? If your appliance or other product breaks and you don’t have the manual you may not be able to figure out if an easy (and cheap) fix is …read more

Keeping groceries fresh for as long as humanly possible plus using food to the last drop, or crumb as the case may be, are two of the best ways to save money. Here are some tips that should help you get the most food use for your money.

Save your fresh herbs in the freezer. You can do this in bunches or cubes and either whole or chopped. They won’t have the same picked fresh flavor but they will last longer than they would in your fridge.Save empty butter wrappers folded (messy side inside) in the fridge – when you need …read more