If you consider yourself to be frugal.....

[Kate CA]

I stock up on most items when I find them on sale or for a good price. We have two smaller chest freezers and a large storage space in our basement, so I'm able to do that. I try to never "run out" of things we use, so I'm not forced to go buy it and pay more for it because I did run out. I buy flour, wheat, oats, rice, wild rice, honey and coconut oil in bulk amounts, so it's less expensive. I do bake my own bread when it's not in the 90s (no AC in the house), but that's debatable at this point that I've saved money yet (bought the Bosch and a Nutrimill).

 

To me it is not about the money saved but the nutrition of the bread products we are producing and there is no high fructose corn syrup in our bread! My 11yodd is now our official bread baker and she does an excellent job from grinding the grain to making the whole thing from scratch. There is just no comparison on the quality and the nutrition. We are gearing up to make our own baking mix with whole grains for pancakes, biscuits, etc. I may have spent $300 ten years ago on the grain mill but it has paid off in so many ways over that time. I grind popcorn to make fresh cornmeal for cornbread, etc. It is just an excellent purchase. :)

[KellyBelly]

I haven't been as frugal lately as I usually am (pregnancy and newborn wiped me out...)

 

DH is even more frugal than me. Here are a few things we do:

 

~ DH packs his own lunch EVERY day. When he was working out of town 3 days per week, he'd 'pocket' his per diem $. We saved $500 per month that way!

 

~ I cook from scratch a lot, and make big pots of things like Chicken Noodle Soup, Chili, big casseroles etc...

 

~ DH gets all the freebies from Walgreens. We haven't purchased things like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste etc... in years.

 

~ I cut Dh's hair + all the boys' hair too.

 

~ I NEVER go to the mall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

~ We mostly drink water (we used to drink a ton of juice...)

 

~ I hit yard sales and buy a lot of the kids clothes there (and stuff for me and dh too.) I get so much stuff there like sports equipment, costumes, books galore...

 

~ We almost never go out to eat, but the few times we do we always order water.

 

~ I cut my dryer sheets in half. One box lasted me 6 months!!! (I wrote the date that I opened it on the box so I could see how long it would last.)

 

~ We never go to the movies - we get movies free from the library. Our library gets all the new releases, so we can see anything our hearts desire.

 

~ We really use the library. DH gets lots of audio books (for when he travels) and we get tons of books for the kids. We use inter-library loan and even request certain books be ordered if the library doesn't have it! They recently ordered two books for us and they were received within 3 weeks.

 

We do many of the other things people mentioned.

 

BTW, we have friends who would never shop at a yard sale, and sometimes I feel like they look down on us for our efforts at frugality. The things we buy at yard sales still look new, and no one would know they were used, so it's not like we look like slobs!

 

When my 4th baby was born, someone gave us a $50 gift card to Gymboree. Well, that's a place I just don't go, so I didn't know what to do with the gift card! That friend (who would die before shopping yard sales) bought it from me for $35.00!!! Perfect! $35 goes a LONG way at a yard sale! :)

[KristineIN]

I do a lot of the same that people already suggested.

 

I do use up every last drop our of a container/jar.

I do wash baggies, only if they are freezer baggies & did not contain raw meat.

I pack dh's lunch for him everyday.

We buy quality when we do buy new stuff, I shop garage sales (some if I happen to see them or they are in the neighborhood), thrift stores, dh is a painter and in August we paint apartments for the local college and get all kinds of free stuff. (unopened food, furniture, lots of misc. stuff)

We don't really go on vacations except to see family. We rarely eat out (not like the so called "average" American. We order pizza about once a month & I do Pizza Hut book it with the kids, some months we don't eat out at all and some we are very busy and eat out more.

I shop sales, will do a small garden this year, I use coupons. Cook a lot from scratch. Yesterday I made a batch of refried beans from a recipe that I found off of allrecipes.com The boys love it and will eat it all week. I started frying our own tortillas for chips because it's cheaper and we like them better (this is a treat, we don't have them often)

 

I swap curriculum, use free stuff from the internet or buy used first then new.

 

Kristine

[MommyX8]

I'm frugal (and pretty green), but I spend when and where I need to.

 

We use:

 

cloth diapers

cloth wipes for baby

family cloth (TP)

cloth kitchen wipes (to replace napkins and paper towels)

cloth sandwich wraps and cloth bags

cloth wipes for runny noses or dirty faces

mama cloth (you get the idea)

 

I don't buy disposable items. No plates, cups, etc. I hate throwing money away.

 

I don't use freezer bags, typically. I bought a FoodSaver and I have been storing food in mason jars, and using the jar attachment.

 

I buy in bulk, such as grains, flour, sugar, and the such. I typically try to buy organic, so I need to buy in bulk to get the price down.

 

We drink raw milk now. So, I am hoping that I won't have to buy heavy cream, light cream, butter and buttermilk.

 

I make my own yogurt. I don't allow high fructose corn syrup in the house.

 

I bake bread as well.

 

I have chickens so come this summer, I will have a bunch in the freezer and probably 7 fresh eggs a day.

 

I joined a CSA so we will be getting 1/2 bushel per week of fresh fruits/veggies for like 17 weeks.

 

I buy our beef from the farm down the street. We usually get 1/2 cow every year.

 

We all use Klean Kanteens and Sigg bottles. I don't buy bottled water. We filter our own water. I try to avoid plastics that leach and have BPA.

 

I only buy brands of clothing that will retain a resale value.

 

I make my own hand soap.

 

We heat with wood.

 

And, I've stopped buying the "What's hot" new curricula and settled on contentment with what I have.

[Nestof3]

I make my own yogurt. I don't allow high fructose corn syrup in the house.

 

 

That's great! I found something that works for me -- someone who doesn't actually want to make my own yogurt.

 

I stopped buying the flavored, sugared kind and started only buying plain yogurt -- no other ingredients. I flavor mine in different ways:

 

a little organic sugar (just enough to balance the flavor)

 

a little all-fruit jelly stirred into it (peach is great)

 

a few frozen wild blueberries (I buy a huge bag of frozen wild blueberries from Walmart -- they are high in antioxidants)

 

any fresh berries

[RebeccaC]

We do a lot of what has already been posted. However all of our cars are at least 20 years old and dh keeps one car as a parts only car. Last summer we had a 20 year old Volvo wagon which was given to us free a few years ago and a 20 year old Volvo sedan that was a parts only car. If something broke down on the wagon dh took the part from the part car which just sat. After the part car is exhausted we sell the driving car unless we can get another part car.

 

Right now we have a 18 year old Peugeot wagon which again we got for free with only 70,000 miles on it, engine is good for 300,000 and dh is looking a Peugeot parts car.

 

We have no car payment of any kind!

 

Dh is converting his diesel truck to run on used veggie oil which he will get free from a local restaurant.

[battlemaiden]

Who else hears Jack Johnson singing "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" in their head? :001_smile:

 

This thread has been fantastic.

 

The variety of practices has been interesting, but I can't help but feel the attitude behind the actions is the common theme.

 

I also love the blend of frugality, enviromentalism, and health consciousness.

 

I agree with Parisarah that I would much rather buy a few pieces of good, quality (generally more expensive) clothing than drive all over town loading up on used. I don't mind being seen at the many social activities I'm required to attend in the same variations of well chosen, well made clothing. I buy the oldest boy and girl in our family the good stuff so it will reuse well.

 

I walk to the grocery and drug store in our current location- unfortunately that luxury will change when we get housing, but then I will adjust my errand running. The danger here is that to get to these stores I have to walk right past a Starbucks- my frugality is certainly challenged here.

 

I'm not sure I'm even qualified to answer this post. I've been more frugal in the past, but I very long way to go, especially in comparison to some of you thrifty ladies.

 

But thanks for the contributions everybody.

 

Jo

[candleinaustin]

We freecycle, craigslist and garage sale/thrift for lots of household things. But, we also do some damage at Best Buy on electronics/games. We're also fans of applicances that are energy efficient like front loading washers and convection oven.

 

We also use handtowels in the kitchen as opposed to paper towels. And we use micro fiber towels for most cleaning jobs instead of paper towels.

 

We wse vinegar and water for most surface cleaning and window shining and we use Bon Ami for most abrasive jobs. BUT - We use pricey all natural laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent, ie: 7th Generation, but I find it's highly concentrated, so we use less. We also use pricey shampoos and soaps, ie: Aveda But, hey, we're saving all that money on cleaners - right?

[candleinaustin]

So if you consider yourself to be frugal or penny pinching (in a good way), what are some of the things that you do? I do all of those and more. What are your ideas?

 

Forgot a couple:

 

It takes 5 gallons of water for our shower to get hot water. We collect that with a 5 gallon bucket and use it in a variety of ways: water the plants, switch out the aquarium water, etc.

 

We use a carpet cleaner instead of hiring anyone to come out.

 

We take our shoes off before we come in the home to prevent dirt from coming into the house - saving time, money and energy cleaning it up.

 

I've begun to use cloth pads and the diva cup instead of disposable feminine products. Found my favorite pads at Sckoon. :-)

 

I label the kids cups with masking tape so I don't have to wash many cups throughout the day.

 

Well, I'm sure there's more and I'll post them when I come across them. I've really enjoyed this post.

[Mom to Aly]

Well, I have to admit, I had a few things I was careful about before, when I was married--I love shopping, and getting things on sale was wonderful to me. I've always been a great shopper, and always been budget conscious, but it wasn't a necessity, like now. I also would bring snacks, because I wanted healthier alternatives for my dd.

 

Now, things are quite different. Now:

 

I do not use ziplock bags, only freezer and rubbermaid containers, that I can wash. I will not pay for ziplock that I cannot keep. (although I never washed ziplock before, and really don't think I would now) I don't use aluminum foil, either. We have a large house, for just the two of us, and money is more of a concern than room.

 

I cook EVERYTHING from scratch. Mostly for health, but for money, too. I have to buy generic most of the time now, which I never would have done before, and have found most of it is fine (but not cereal!).

 

I have cut out most drinks except water--too expensive and unnecessary.

 

I have cut out one of my fave things, chewing gum (it costs sooo much now!).

 

I buy basically nothing for myself, personally, clothes, jewelry, etc., rather get for my daughter--had to buy a bit of clothes for myself because I was losing weight recently, and have already lost enough that it is too big, so am trying not to do that again. Only buy Goodwill for us.

 

Make gifts for others and dd, when possible.

 

Cut dd's hair until recent disaster haircut. Got free certificate for haircut from soc. services, though.

 

Keep house very cold in winter, warm in summer, and close off most rooms, as we don't use most.

 

I eat anything that is getting bad, even fruit (and I only like fruit that is not quite ripe, so this is REALLY hard for me!).

 

No vacations at all. We only go to the theater that has movies for $2 after they have gone through all other theaters, and there only once or twice a year. We never eat out or fast food only someone treats us, and even then, try not to--don't like to be dependent on others for things like that. Books & dvd's are borrowed from library, or traded at used bookstore--no money spent on books--so hard to give up! Curricula is purchased used, and bit by bit throughout the year, in order of necessity.

 

Basically, if something breaks, we don't fix it or replace it, we do without. Budget for things like curricula, clothes for dd, Christmas, etc, throughout the year to get a little each month, but still hard.

 

At the end of each month, we often end up eating beans for a few days--luckily, we love beans :). I don't do credit or borrowing, as I couldn't pay it back. I do cut coupons, only after I've made my grocery list, and we eat our way through our pantry, fridge and freezer each month, more out of necessity than anything else. Where I live, our homeowner's assoc. does not allow a veg. garden, or I would have an extensive one! That would save us a ton!

[Nicole M]

Does anyone turn off appliances when not in use to save energy? Things like computers, VHS players, DVD units, etc. use electricity while they are powered on even when not being used. This is something I've always meant to do, but never got around to doing......

 

Oh! Oh! Let me share my sneaky, sneaky trick this summer! While my menfolk were out of town, I unplugged the boob tube & VCR which we watch no more than once a month anyway. It took them about a month before they even noticed. (I guess that would make sense, huh?) I have heard, though it may be an urban legend, that the energy that at TV draws when not in use is significant, over time.

 

I felt pretty smug about that. I've been rallying to get rid of it altogether, because it takes up valuable space that I'd rather have books in, but I'm outnumbered. I thought the fact that no one noticed would be a good argument for ditching, but so far, no go.

[Carrie12345]

I don't just *use* cloth diapers- I sew my own! I'm also working on making a bigger stash of cloth napkins for the kitchen.

 

We clean just about everything with cloth and save paper towels for the really nasty things like pet accidents.

 

We live in an area with a ton of water parks, but we don't use them. Our (very low dues) development has 2 pools and 5 lakes. We don't need to pay extra to get wet.

 

I made my own curtains when we first bought this house. Since then, I have replaced them with panels from Target. It was less expensive than purchasing the fabric I wanted.

 

Our property was never landscaped. We looked into estimates, and they were all over $10,000 for pretty basic stuff. This year, I dug up our front yard by hand, roped dh into spreading top soil, and planted some grass seed. We need to fill in a few patches, and it's not the giant back yard we had wanted, but it saved us about $9,700!

 

I'm not always on top of grocery coupons, but I make it count when I am. I think my best trip brought a savings of 35%. And that's without paying to be involved in any kind of program.

 

At the end of this school year, I predict that we will still have a huge overstock of paper, pencils, crayons, glue,etc. because I *only buy at back-to-school time and comparison shop Target, WalMart, Staples, Office Max and Office Depot and take full advantage of all of their cheepies and freebies.

[HRAAB]

So if you consider yourself to be frugal or penny pinching (in a good way), what are some of the things that you do? Do you rinse the bottom of the ketchup bottle to get the last few drops out? Do you rinse out freezer bags? Do you scrape the peanut butter jar til it looks like it's been washed? Do you cut the green spots off a potato? Do you save window envelopes that come in junk mail and use them for in-house, or person-to-person things?

 

I do all of those and more. What are your ideas?

 

Yes, plus squeeze every last bit of toothpaste out of the tube. Give the kids papers printed on one side for drawing. I didn't read any of the answers, so these are probably all repeats.

 

We have 1.5 acres and a huge garden and a good sized orchard. I can/freeze everything I get my hands on. The apples on the ground that the wind blew off - applesauce. I don't buy what I call 'fad' food - the gimmicky stuff. Make my own granola and trail mix. Dried fruit for snacks. I only buy pop for picnics and such. Milk only at meals. Canned fruit juice and water otherwise. We rarely eat out. Dh and I do go out for breakfast on Sat. mornings, but we always share a meal. We raise chickens for eggs and meat.

 

Most of our clothes come from good will stores. My little ones are still wearing hand me downs from the older sisters. I try to take good care of our clothes so they last.

 

We don't have all the latest gadgets. We do have satellite TV during football season only - for dh. His one obsession. My kids have never had a playstation or whatever. They seem fine so far.

 

We do our own repair work as much as possible. Dd's car just broke down and we're scouring salvage yards for a transmission. My dh is vigilant about car maintenance. I've always combined trips as much as possible to cut down on fuel.

 

When we do have to replace something, we go with quality. When I first started homeschooling, I bought a Canon copier - 13 yrs. ago. It finally died. The man at the store couldn't believe it lasted that long, and told that there was no way I could expect that from any of the new multi-function printers. Why don't we make things to last anymore?

 

My mil raised 14 children and did a great job of it. If I ever need any advice on frugality, she's my source. I'm personally appalled at the waste in our country. It's not an absolute necessity that we're so frugal. My dh is working again and doing okay. But it just feels wrong to spend it just because we could. Plus, he could lose his job at anytime - contract work- so we're always planning ahead. I actually enjoy being frugal. It's a challenge and one that makes me feel good.

 

I will confess my one downfall: books. The only way for me to avoid the temptation is to stay out of any store that sells books and never go to Amazon.

 

Janet

[dragons in the flower bed]

"Well, I have a motorcycle instead of a second car. That's frugal."

"Well, you know, I have a bike instead of a motorcycle. That's frugal."

"Oh, no, you are both so wasteful! I walk everywhere! That's frugal."

 

 

I don't drive a car

cause they run on gas

but if I did

it'd run on biomass.

I ride a bike or

sometimes a skateboard

so F off all you drivers and your yuppie hoards

sitting all day in the traffic queues

I'm a better anarchist than you!

 

I don't eat meat

I just live on moldy chives

or the donuts that I found in

last week's dumpster dive

Look you people in that restaurant

I think you are so sad

When you could be eating bagels

like the ones that I just had

I think that it's a shame,

all the bourgeois things you do

I'm a better anarchist than you!

 

I don't wear leather

I like my clothes in black

and I made a really cool hammock

from a moldy coffee sack

I like to hop on freight trains

I think that is so cool

it's so much funner doing this

than being stuck in school

I can't believe you're wearing those

brand new shiny shoes

I'm a better anarchist than you!

 

more/source

 

Brett will always need a car because of his line of work, while he continues doing auctions and after he goes back to touring with his poetry. The van is paid off, and it was bought used. Under no circumstances would we buy a new one, or go into debt to buy a used one. But if it were just up to me, I would have a bike instead of any car.

 

I do use paper stuff that gets thrown out, but I think living in an old home in the city rather than a new home in the 'burbs gets me frugalista and environmentalist points.

[Spy Car]

I would have said YES!

 

But after reading some of these posts I'm starting to feel like a spend-thrift :D

 

Bill

[dragons in the flower bed]

I would have said YES!

 

But after reading some of these posts I'm starting to feel like a spend-thrift :D

 

Bill

 

Me too, Bill.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I use natural cleaners instead of commercial ones. For instance, I wash my floor with a solution of vinegar or lemon juice, maybe with a small amount of ammonia. I also use a lot of baking soda for cleaning.

 

How does this help? Don't you just then have to buy vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice?

[WTMindy]

I do all those things too (except the envelope one)! We rarely pay full price for any grocery items. We plan our meals based on what is on sale and stock up when prices are good. We only buy fruit that is cheap rather than what we would like. We don't buy convenience food unless it is on a super good sale! We don't drive places if we don't have to and combine our errands so that we conserve trips. (We did this even before gas prices went up.) When we go out to eat we eat off the cheap menu and don't buy pop. We don't have air conditioner. I shop for the kids' clothes at garage sales.

[WTMindy]

I would have said YES!

 

But after reading some of these posts I'm starting to feel like a spend-thrift :D

 

Bill

 

LOL! The funny thing is that we live this way, and we really don't HAVE to. We make enough money that we certainly could live a little larger. However, it is just what we do and we like to use our money for some good vacations.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I scanned the posts, and we do many of the things people mentioned.

 

Most important: we pay ourselves first by contributing the max to 401K and IRAs, and we contribute a decent amount to the kids' 529 accounts.

The last raise dh got actually created a decrease in take-home pay because we upped the percent on the 401K.

 

rinse out bags, use old cereal bags for wax paper.

pay off credit cards monthly.

dh rides motorcycle often to work.

flush only every OTHER time, on average.

use dishwasher or washing machine only when full.

keep thermostat on 68 in winter and 78 in summer.

buy sale clothing, and usually rarely- grandparents buy clothes for the kids, mostly.

consolidate trips.

track our spending like a fiend.

use cloth napkins and bar towels for most cleaning and spills. still use paper towels, though, for truly nasty stuff.

shop Aldi and other discount grocers. shop Costco, but bring a list and stick to it (mostly).

use a Diva cup.

don't color my hair.

use vinegar and baking soda cleansers for household needs.

until recently, made my own laundry detergent- still buy the cheapest stuff available at costco, which is comparable.

we fix everything we possibly can around the house ourselves.

dh painted the house with his father this month. this alone is saving us 7K (we had an estimate last year).

we only buy books that we will use over and over again new. use a book swap store and the library for the rest.

order water when we eat out, which is usually about 2-3x/mo.

we have pizza and wing night every friday, and I make it from scratch.

use flourescent bulbs wherever we can in the house.

use museum memberships as family entertainment.

make vacations educational when possible.

 

next thing I want to start doing:

bake my own bread consistently

[LizzyBee]

What are some of the ways that you live frugally?

 

 

I haven't read the other responses, but here are some things we do:

 

We live in a small house (1350 sf for 5 people).

We keep our cars until they're 10-12 years old (unless someone runs a red light and totals one of our cars sooner than that. :glare: )

We use the new fangled light bulbs.

We only buy steaks and other expensive cuts of meat when they're on sale (and then still rarely).

We mostly only buy fruit that is in season so it's cheaper.

I trim my dd's bangs so she doesn't need a haircut as often. (The older two don't have bangs any more, but I used to trim theirs too.)

I take leftovers to work for dinner.

I wash out ziploc freezer bags unless they had meat in them.

I cut brown spots out of fruit rather than tossing the fruit.

Dh hunts and butchers what he kills.

We set the AC at about 77 and the heat at about 70.

We keep lights off when they're not being used.

We typically don't run the dishwasher and washing machine until we have a full load.

[tibbyl]

Yes, but do you cut open a lotion bottle or a tube of toothpaste and scrape out the contents?

I don't do that every single time, but sometimes I do! ;)

 

 

Yes, I cut open lotion and toothpaste to make use of last little bit.