A Thrifty Mom at athriftymom.com is a budget lifestyle blog and online resource for DIY recipes, craft tutorials, printable downloads and online deals, especially Amazon deals for busy families. Built by full-time blogger and mother of five Sarah, whose childhood experience were learning how to be resourceful, and contributor Tami. As a team they have taken a personal philosophy of using less money and getting more done and made it one of the most well-known faces in the thrifty moms section of the internet. This guide explains the contents of the website, the use of its deal sections, and the working of the “thrifty lifestyle” approach it represents.
Key Takeaways
- A Thrifty Mom (athriftymom.com) is a popular budget lifestyle blog which is owned by Sarah and Tami, and they post daily deals on Amazon, printables, crafts and DIY recipes for families.
- It’s called a must-visit for parents across the country who are looking for affordable recipes, craft projects, online coupons and Amazon deals.
- As the main founder, Sarah is a full-time blogger and mother of five who learned to be resourceful from a young age.
- The Amazon Archives have a variety of discounted clothing, kitchen items, seasonal gifts, and home decor items that are updated regularly.
- The diy.alibaba.com analysis shows that moms who do DIY projects and hunt for deals save 32% more than those who just hunt for deals.
- The thrifty lifestyle philosophy isn’t about deprivation – it’s about smart resourcefulness, taking advantage of deals to pay for home improvement projects that can replace pricey store-bought items.
- The three most popular Amazon deal tips from frugal moms are all related to Amazon Subscribe and Save, price history tracking, and newsletter sign-ups.
- Crafts on A Thrifty Mom focus on materials you already have or can find at an affordable price, and feature step-by-step instructions for home decor, children’s activities and seasonal themes.
Who is a Thrifty Mom? The Site and its Founders
Sarah is the blog’s creator
Sarah is a full-time blogger and busy mom of five, who shares her everyday adventures, practical tips, and amazing finds with generosity on her popular Instagram account, @athriftymom, according to Snoozye’s profile of the site. She had been raised in a family where resourcefulness was a must and not a desirable trait. Growing up in a family that loved homemade meals and problem solving, Sarah knew from a young age how to make every dollar last without compromising on quality or fun.
A Thrifty Mom’s credibility is built on that personal history. It’s not a corporate savings website that’s building an average deal content. Multiple reviewers say it reads like you’re being advised by a savvy friend who has already done the research and figured out what works and what doesn’t.
Tami is the Amazon Archives Contributor
The Amazon Archives section of the site contains deal roundups from Tami, who finds and reviews Amazon products from all categories, from seasonal to clothing to kitchen gadgets to home goods to gift ideas. The Amazon Archives are updated regularly, and new posts are scheduled close to the big sales, the seasonal sale and the daily Lightning Deals.
The Site’s Philosophy
As expressed in A Thrifty Mom and the thrifty mom community, the thrifty mom philosophy isn’t about deprivation or extreme couponing. It’s about purposeful resourcefulness: figuring out where the deals and things your family really need intersect and then leveraging the intersection to minimize spending and maximize quality of life.
Thebetterbagelhealth.com found the A Thrifty Mom content model to be more than just about cutting coupons or counting pennies. It’s a matter of making good decisions to live better on a budget. It’s like you’re cooking the leftovers as a gourmet meal, or turning an old T-shirt into a cute tote bag. The cheapskate option will save money, cut down on waste, and reveal new skills along the way.
What A Thrifty Mom Covers: The 4 Main Content Areas
1. DIY Recipes
A Thrifty Mom’s recipe content is targeted specifically on meals that are low cost, fast and affordable for family feeding in realistic household situations. Thebetterbagelhealth.com, says that recipes focus on active time of less than 15 minutes and use deal-sourced ingredients.
The recipe philosophy involves:
- Pantry-first cooking: Meals planned around the food items that are already available at home, instead of needing to make a fresh grocery trip for each meal, using food items that have been purchased in bulk at a discount.
- Batch cooking advice: Larger batches that make multiple meals at one time and save time and money per meal.
- Budget substitutions: Substitutes that are direct for the ingredients that will taste the same but cost less, e.g., canned tomatoes bought through Amazon Subscribe and Save at 40% off retail price, instead of fresh tomatoes at full retail price.
- Seasonal content: Recipes that are linked to seasonal produce that is at a lower cost during a particular time of the year, as opposed to using cheaper alternatives.
The recipe sections feature printable recipe cards, which work well from the screen to the kitchen and minimize the need to go back to the screen many times while cooking.
2. DIY Crafts
Craft ideas on A Thrifty Mom are all about making something with materials found in the house or that are inexpensive to buy, and are fully detailed step-by-step. As per the countdeals.com review of the site’s craft sections, these projects feature materials that can be easily found and feature step-by-step instructions that make it easy for anyone to create unique and personalized items without having to pay a fortune.
On A Thrifty Mom, common craft categories are:
- Seasonal home decor: Inexpensive or thrifted wreaths, table centerpieces and wall art.
- Kids activity crafts: Activities for all preschool through elementary children using common craft supplies.
- Personalized gifts: Homemade gifts instead of store-bought ones that will make your gift more meaningful and less expensive.
- Printable craft pieces: Templates, tags, labels and cut-out pieces to download to ease design in a multi-step craft project
In Snoozye’s assessment of the craft content, the ideas in A Thrifty Mom make spaces interesting and fun for children without the price tag of expensive equipment. There’s always a focus on materials that are available or can be easily obtained at a low cost.
3. Online Deals
The online deals section features hand-picked roundups of big savings from top retailers, that are updated frequently. The content covers:
- Flash sales and clearance sales at big box stores like Target, Walmart and Old Navy
- Seasonal deal timing: Deals that take advantage of Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day, Back to School, and post-holiday clearance dates when the best deals are offered.
- Guidance for accessing newsletters and membership deals from retailers that are likely to provide exclusive discount codes.
A Thrifty Mom knows how vital it is to get great deals online, says countdeals.com. They provide useful tips on how to go about getting deals online, such as subscribing to the newsletters of well-known stores, following retailers on social media for special offers, going to coupon sites, and comparing prices from multiple sources.
4. Amazon Deals
The Amazon Deals section is the most updated content section on Amazon, and it’s the best motivator to come back daily. The Amazon deals are updated often, so it is easy to secure lower prices before they are sold out, according to thebetterbagelhealth.com.
The Amazon Archive at athriftymom.com/category/online-deals-2/amazon/ covers:
- Clothing and accessories on sale and direct to Amazon listings.
- Discuss the features and timing of kitchen and home products with commentary.
- Seasonal gift guides for things such as the 60-pack of Valentine’s card sets, Christmas gift lists, etc.
- Amazon Lightning Deals and Deal of the Day alerts are sent to you.You receive alerts for Amazon Lightning Deals and Deal of the Day.
- Recommendations for subscribing to products that have the greatest amount of units saved over time for products in the pantry, cleaning products, and baby products.
Many readers come to the site via the Amazon coverage as the deals are offered through Amazon deal alerts that have a direct link to the site, which saves time in finding and assessing a good deal.
So how to find the best Amazon deals using the thrifty mom approach?
The thrifty mom community, including A Thrifty Mom in particular, has honed a series of Amazon deal strategies that are more than just clicking on the “deals” sections of the site.
Strategy 1: Amazon Subscribe and Save
Subscribe and Save is a program that lets customers sign up for a subscription to certain products and save, usually 5% per subscription and 15% for five or more products during the same subscription period. This is especially true for canned goods, cleaning supplies, paper products and baby supplies, diy.alibaba.com noted, since they’re used regularly, you can schedule their use predictably.
The main rule is that you should only sign up for a Subscribe and Save for items that you actually use on a regular basis and if you end up with too much stock, you cancel the subscription. The discount builds up over time, but won’t be impacted by Amazon’s normal pricing changes when it comes to delivery.
Strategy 2: Price History Tracking
Amazon prices are often and sometimes very volatile, and the “was” price shown is not necessarily the maximum price that the product has achieved. Price history tools, such as camelcamelcamel.com, provide a real-time view of the price history of any Amazon product and can help determine if the current “sale” price is actually below the historical average or just a rewording of the everyday price.
The A Thrifty Mom shopping tip is to always use price comparison tools and to keep an eye on price history so you know you’re getting the best deal. So that you can shop smarter, not harder.
Strategy 3: Amazon Storefront Curation
After curated Amazon storefronts such as the official A Thrifty Mom Amazon storefront at amazon.com/shop/thriftymomfinds1, offers a curated view of recommended products by category. The storefront description says that it’s about Amazon deals, deals for the budget, and daily deals for busy moms, all from home, gifts, and mom life essentials.
Storefront curation eliminates the distraction of Amazon’s vast catalog and instead displays a curated list that’s been vetted to fit a certain lifestyle and budget.
Strategy 4: Prime Day and Deal Event Timing
Amazon’s biggest sale of the year, Prime Day, which usually occurs in July, offers real discounts on a variety of items. The thrifty mom strategy for Prime Day is to create a wish list beforehand, and then assess deals quickly when they come up, rather than add items to the list while the sale is on.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer similar deals on electronics, toys and clothes. Seasonal decorations, holiday food and gift wrap will be 50-75% off during post-Christmas clearance in late December and early January.
Make Your Own Crafts in the Thrifty Mom Style
The thrifty mom way of crafts is similar to the deal-hunting way: cut costs by planning, reusing, and timing, instead of purchasing lower-quality materials.
Timing Craft Supplies by the Season
Craft supplies are sold right after each holiday and season. After Christmas, craft supplies are available at prices 50-75% off in late December and early January. November is the time for fall decor clearance. The week after February 14 is the cheapest week to buy Valentine’s craft materials. The biggest per-project savings occur when seasonal craft supplies are purchased at the post-season clearance and stored for the next year.
The use of re-purposing as a Craft Philosophy.
Toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, glass jars, fabric scraps, and cardboard are just a few of the materials that many thrifty mom craft projects are created from. The review of A Thrifty Mom’s craft philosophy by thebetterbagelhealth.com says that many projects involve using items that you already have in your home. It’s all about recycling what you can and making something new and beautiful.
This has two advantages: firstly, for many projects it will limit material costs to almost nothing, and secondly it will develop a creative problem solving approach that will be transferred to all aspects of household management.
Kids Craft Projects That Use Dollar Store Materials
The craft supplies, foam sheets, googly eyes, pom poms, pipe cleaners, paint brushes and seasonal decorations are all consistent and are available at a reduced price from craft stores. A month of kids craft activities on the same dollar store purchase of basic supplies will cut the cost of each project significantly when compared to buying a set of supplies for each project.
The same applies to the craft activities in the guide to easy fall crafts for preschoolers; the most successful activities are those that involve materials that are readily available at home or found in nature and result in meaningful developmental activities at virtually no cost.
Make a list of budget recipe ideas in the thrifty mom style
When it comes to recipes, the thrifty mom approach is that the kitchen is not just a place to follow instructions; it’s a place to make the best of your budget. The core strategies:
Protein Stretching
Most meals consist of protein, which is the most costly ounce by ounce. Protein stretching is a thrifty mom recipe that involves pairing a small amount of meat or fish with legumes, grains, or eggs to get the same amount of protein and nutrition for a lower price. Two meals’ worth of protein for the price of one meal when a pound of ground beef is extended with a can of black beans.
Freezer Batch Cooking
Doubling the amount of soups, casseroles, sauces and grain dishes and freezing half of them results in the same cost per meal, but reduces the time spent cooking in the future by having a stock of home-cooked meals ready to thaw. This directly goes against the convenience argument that leads to costly meal kit and takeout purchases.
Markdown Timing
Many grocery stores offer discounts on fresh meat, bread and produce at certain times of the day, usually mid-morning when the fresh products are nearing their sell-by date. Buying meat at those times and then freezing it when it is on sale saves a lot of money per pound.
Why the Thrifty Mom Approach Works: The Data
The analysis of 127 household budgets by diy.alibaba.com shows that moms who do their own projects and smart deal-hunters save 32% more than deal-hunters do. The reason is intentional overlap: If you can buy materials for crafts at Amazon for less than you would at the store, you can save even more by buying items you need for crafts at Amazon.
For example:
- The retail premium on the gift and the standard-price craft supply cost are saved by buying the craft supplies on Amazon Prime Day at 40% off and using them to create personalized gifts instead of retail gifts.
- Subscribing to basic food items at 15% discount and utilizing those items in batch-cooked freezer meals saves on the grocery markup and convenience premium of packaged meal alternatives.
This compound effect is what sets the thrifty mom philosophy apart from the traditional coupon clipping and deal hunting. It is a systems approach as opposed to a single tactic approach.
How to Follow A Thrifty Mom Across Platforms
A Thrifty Mom’s content is published in several channels, which have various frequencies and types of content.
| Platform | Content Type | How to Access |
| athriftymom.com | Full articles, recipes, craft tutorials, deal roundups | Direct site visit |
| Instagram @athriftymom | Daily deal finds, lifestyle content, behind-the-scenes | Instagram follow |
| Amazon Storefront | Curated product recommendations with links | amazon.com/shop/thriftymomfinds1 |
| Amazon Archives | Deal-specific posts with direct product links | athriftymom.com/category/online-deals-2/amazon/ |
| Email newsletter | Exclusive deals, new posts, seasonal content | Newsletter signup on site |
Many Lightning Deals and Amazon price drops are only a few hours in length, so the best way to get these time-sensitive deals is by using the email newsletter. The fastest visual alerts are received by following on Instagram. The entire site has the most comprehensive information in each category.
Conclusion
Because it addresses all four areas in which it is possible to meaningfully cut back on family spending – food (with budget recipes and pantry cooking), activities (with craft ideas using household items), everyday purchases (with curated online deal roundups), and big shopping events (with Amazon deal alerts timed to actual sales instead of “sale” pricing), A Thrifty Mom at athriftymom.com is one of the most consistently useful resources in the budget lifestyle corner of the internet.
This philosophy, strategic resourcefulness (not deprivation), is backed up by data that reveals that doing it yourself plus deal-hunting yields 32% more savings than deal-hunting alone. Where that overlap occurs is where the compound saving occurs – the use of deals for DIY projects in lieu of costly purchases.
When families are looking to save money without sacrificing the fun of their everyday lives, A Thrifty Mom’s collection of practical recipes, doable craft projects, and curated Amazon deal alerts offer just what they need in a resource that personal finance advice isn’t always.
Check out the full collection of budget crafts, seasonal activities and creative living on a realistic budget at Shani Levni.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is A Thrifty Mom?
Thrifty Mom is a budget lifestyle blog by Sarah and Tami at athriftymom.com with DIY recipes, craft tutorials, printable downloads, online deals and Amazon deals for families. Founded by full-time blogger and mother of five Sarah, who learned resourcefulness in her childhood home, it is a known resource to budget-conscious parents all over the country.
Where can I find A Thrifty Mom’s Amazon deals?
Thrifty Mom’s Amazon deals can be found at athriftymom.com/category/online-deals-2/amazon, amazon.com/shop/thriftymomfinds1, and on their Instagram page @athriftymom. The site’s e-newsletter provides deal alerts ahead of time, before prices reset.
What type of crafts does A Thrifty Mom have?
A Thrifty Mom includes easy budget craft projects with materials that are found around the home or inexpensive, and step-by-step instructions. The categories include seasonal home decor, kid’s activity crafts, personalized gift ideas, and printable craft templates. Projects focus on using re-used and re-purposed materials rather than buying new materials.
How does the “thrifty mom approach” to Amazon deals work?
The Amazon deal mommy trick is about the Subscribe and Save deals for products that you use often, price history checks to confirm you’re getting a good deal, curated storefront suggestions and timing the deals around Prime Day and Black Friday. The most consistent saving is from using deal purchases in combination with do-it-yourself projects to replace store-bought items.
Does A Thrifty Mom just apply to moms?
While the A Thrifty Mom brand is targeted mainly to parents and families, the content, budget recipes, deal-hunting tips, craft ideas and Amazon finds are for any household looking to save money without sacrificing quality of life. The site’s non-deprivation tactics for frugality are applicable to a wide audience.
What are A Thrifty Mom’s budget recipes?
Thrifty Mom’s recipe content is based on recipes that require little or no active cooking time and use ingredients that are in the pantry and/or purchased on sale. Protein stretching, batch cooking and timing ingredients according to season are used in recipes to lower per meal cost. Printable recipe cards are available with many recipes for use in the kitchen.
How frequently does A Thrifty Mom’s deal content change?
The Amazon Deals and online deals sections are updated regularly, sometimes daily during high sale days and multiple times a week during normal times. Time sensitive offers like Lightning Deals are best followed on the site’s email newsletter or Instagram account, and not in the main site archives.