I'm a big fan of the personal finance site The Dollar Stretcher. I always have been. I have read the site for years....long before I ever thought of writing my own blog. It is chock full of great information about saving money, investing and earning money, especially if you are going through some rough economic times yourself. The ideas on The Dollar Stretcher helped see me through some personal financial problems of my own, and I have tried to return the favor by helping others through my own blog here at Savvy Frugality.

With that being said, I am pretty excited to announce that Savvy Frugality will be partnering with The Dollar Stretcher! I will be writing a blog for The Dollar Stretcher site called Main Street Meltdown. I intend to focus on general money-saving tips and especially on money-saving moves anyone can make during our current shaky economy.

This doesn't mean that Savvy Frugality is going away. I will continue to post content at Savvy Frugality, and there will be additional material at Main Street Meltdown that you won't find at Savvy Frugality. Essentially, Savvy Frugality is extending its reach to new readers at The Dollar Stretcher, and we hope you will check out The Dollar Stretcher if you are not already familiar with the site. Also, be sure to check out the other great personal finance blogs available at The Dollar Stretcher site as well.

Like most people, I'm always looking for ways to bring additional income into my household. Taking steps to save money is great, but that will only get you part of the way toward living a fiscally fit life. There has to be money coming into the house, too. I take advantage of ways to earn extra money on the job, and I usually receive an annual cost-of-living pay increase, too. However, there are other ways of making extra money without moonlighting. How? Through passive income.

By its definition, passive income is income you receive automatically, regardless of what you do. It's money that constantly flows to you. This doesn't mean that you don't have to work for it. There is usually a lot of work at the outset, but after you have everything in place, the money rolls in. How much is dependent upon what your source of passive income is and how badly people want to pay you for it.

Passive income is not a "get rich" scheme. Sure, some people make a lot of money through passive income; others don't. So, how do you earn passive income. There are a few different sources which can help generate passive income for you:

1. Blogging. A lot of people have been jumping on the blogging bandwagon to try to earn passive income. The income usually comes from advertising placed on the blog site. Others get paid to blog, but that isn't really passive income. Savvy Frugality generates a bit of passive income. If I stopped writing it tomorrow, the blog would continue to generate advertising revenue without my having to do anything else to it. That's passive income.

In the past, I have written articles for sites such as Associated Content. Although I'm not a regular contributor, my articles continue to generate income, and I receive (small) payments directly to my PayPal account once per quarter.

2. Rental payments. If you rent something to somebody else, whether it's real estate or some other kind of property, you are generating passive income. Sure, there is upkeep of the property, insurance, etc., but the property works for you.

3. Royalties. If you have written a book, recorded a CD or created software that people will download from a site, that is a form of passive income. A lot of work goes into creating the product, but after it is created it will generate passive income, provided people are willing to pay for it. Some popular musicians from the 50s and 60s earn more money in royalties now than they ever did when they topped the music charts. How? They continue to receive royalties from work they did decades ago, and their product sells more copies now than when they were "in".

4. Dividends and interest. If you have a nice sum of money socked away in a CD or high-yield bank account, you are earning passive income in the form of interest. Stock investments which pay dividends also generate passive income.

5. Other creative works. I have uploaded a few designs for T-shirts and mugs on CafePress.com, and this generates some income every time someone purchases my designs. The Revver Video Sharing Network pays uploaders for their videos when they are used. Are you a shutterbug? Create some stock photos and get paid every time someone downloads them from one of several stock photo sites on the Web.

6. Business partnership. A silent partner in a business in one which helps fund the startup of the business for a percentage of the business' profits. They don't actively work or manage the business, but they are a partner, so they earn money from the business.

You are only limited by your imagination when it comes to generating passive income. The point is to create something that will continue to generate revenue for you with limited to no other involvement from you after it is created. Even if it's only a few dollars a month, if it's truly passive it won't matter, because you aren't really working for the money anymore. It is generating money on its own.

I am earning passive income each month. It is not enough to warrant my leaving my "day job", but it supplements my regular income. Some people are able to retire early as a result of the amount of money they make from their passive income. I'm not there yet, but I'm always thinking of additional ways of making my money or my talent earn additional income on "auto-pilot".

I once read an article that stated Halloween is second only to Christmas in the amount of money that people spend on a holiday. That's pretty amazing, but it makes sense when you account for the cost of candy, costumes, parties and decorations.

I admit, I have gone all out in year's past to create a Happy Halloween for my kids. One year, I purchased Styrofoam and created a front yard full of tombstones, complete with creepy red lighting. However, this year I'm taking a more frugal approach to the holiday, and with expenses being what they are in this economy, you might be considering the same thing. Here are a few measures I have taken this year to create a fun, yet frugal Halloween:

1. Cheaper candy. Sorry Trick-or-Treaters, but this year the candy is coming straight from the Dollar Tree. A few bags of $1 candy should be plenty for the kids that come knocking on my door this year. No premium candy bars this year.

2. Decorations. This year, we hung a few hand-made ghosts from the tree in our front yard. No special lighting. Besides, the leaves are starting to turn color, and the natural fall colors look great.

3. Costumes. My son bought his costume early this year, from a discount store. He's dressing as a ninja, and I think his costume cost $15. I am making my own costume. I'm dressing as Vince the Shamwow Guy. I got the polo shirt from the thrift store, I'm drawing the ShamWow logo on the shirt, and I got a spare headset from work.

4. Parties. Lots of churches in our area have "Harvest Festivals" as alternatives to Halloween. The community center in our town also has a trick-or-treating alternative for the kids, free of charge.

5. Movies. At my house, we watch scary movies each Halloween. That used to mean renting them, but this year we are watching whatever is on cable, no extra charge.

What about you? Are you cutting back on the holidays this year? What frugal things will you do this Halloween. Please share!

By now, you probably are familiar with the unofficial Savvy Frugality motto: if it's free, it's for me! With that in mind, I'm passing along some links for more free stuff! I'm still receiving free magazines I signed up for nearly a year ago: Popular Science and Business Week. I have also recently received free toothpaste. Here are some recent bargains I found:

Free Pancake Mix
Free Sample of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee
Free Taco at Taco Bell (Oct. 28, 2-6 pm only)
Free Samples on Health and Beauty items at Walmart.com
Free Betty Crocker Instant Mashed Pototoes
Free Bertolli Pasta Sauce
Free Vaseline Intensive Rescue Lotion
Free Subscription to Automobile Magazine

Remember, these free samples are truly free. If a free sample offer ever requires your credit card info, it isn't free! Many free sample offers require your email address. Yes, you will probably get spammed. Don't use your mail email address for these offers. I have opened a free email account at hotmail.com specifically for this purpose. The only thing I use the address for is free sample offers and a "catch-all" for company-sponsored spam.

I have to admit, I have cut back on my expenses more than usual lately. Not because my stocks have been getting hammered (which they are) or because I'm afraid the economy is imploding. No, I need to save money for a trip to my mom's house for Thanksgiving. One of the first places I look at when cutting back expenses is entertainment.

It's not because I don't think entertainment is important, because I do. All work and no play is no fun at all. It's just that there are plenty of options out there that are cheap or free, and entertaining at the same time. It's an easy place to cut back. Here are ten ways I have cut back on entertainment expenses and kept myself amused at the same time.

1. House Party! Why go clubbing when you can have the party at your house? Those cocktails will be much cheaper, and you don't have to tip anybody, either. Better yet, make it a BYOB affair and provide the mixers.

2. Watch Party. I'm an Ultimate Fighting Championship fan, but I'm not a fan of pay-per-view. Spike TV has regular fights that are free for the watching, and I have friends over and make a night of it. It beats paying $40 to watch the same type of fight. Alternatively: have your friends pitch in $5 each to help you cover the cost of the pay-per-view event. It's still a heck of a lot cheaper than paying for the event yourself.

3. Adventures in Eating. Why go out to a restaurant when you can experiment with new foods in your own home? My wife and I regularly try new recipes that we find online or see on the Food Network. Half the fun is cooking it ourselves.

4. Listen for free. I've recently been turned on to Jango.com, where you can listen to streaming music for free. I'm a classic rock fan, and there is a great selection at Jango.

5. Scope out Craig's List. Craig's List isn't just for trying to sell your cast-offs. It also has an events section which advertises free or cheap events going on in your own city. Alternatively, check out your local newspaper's web site and chances are it has an events calendar, too.

6. Red Box. If you are going to rent a movie, it doesn't get cheaper than Red Box. It's a dollar a night for movie rentals, and I never keep my rental longer than one night. Alternatively, check out movies for free at Hulu.com or your local public library.

7. Get a (cheap) hobby. Everyone should have a hobby, but sometimes those hobbies can get expensive. Believe it or not, my hobby is blogging. I enjoy writing. The fact that anybody reads it is a bonus, and it doesn't cost me anything. There are plenty of hobbies that can be done free or cheap.

8. Take a class. Local community colleges, learning annexes, community centers, etc. offer free or cheap courses in things such as desktop publishing, cooking, painting, etc. Alternatively, take some free courses online.

9. Volunteer. If you don't know what to do with yourself, do something for someone else. The holidays are coming up soon and volunteer organizations are always looking for extra people to help deliver meals to the homebound, deliver gifts to the needy, and help raise funds. Not only will you be helping someone else, but you'll feel better about yourself, too.

10. Board games. I know, your kids are glued to the TV playing their Wii or the latest XBox game, but I still have a lot of fun playing board games. My kids love playing Monopoly and Stratego, and we have spent hours playing these games. How long has it been since you've played a board game? They're still fun, even if they are a little "old school". I'll bet you have a couple in your closet at home. I have found some great deals on board games at thrift stores and garage sales. They have more than paid for themselves in the fun my family has had playing them...although my family won't play Trivial Pursuit with me anymore because I always win.