Any ultra frugal homemakers out there willing to share tips?

[mykdsmomy]

I have recently signed up for freebies/surveys/coupon sites/etc. My goal is to be one of those people who can go to the grocery store and walk out with two carts of food for a dollar :001_huh:

 

I realize that's a bit extreme but I have heard of people getting their groceries and household products for virtually free.

 

Anyone care to share tips on frugality/simplifying? How do you do it? What sites do you frequent? Are you on a budget? Do you even use coupons?

 

:bigear::bigear::bigear:

[mykdsmomy]

Time saving tips are welcome too :D

[Dobela]

The people that I know who shop like that approach it like a job. They spend hours collecting coupons, browsing blogs and savings groups, watching ads and so on. It can be done but it will take lots of time, effort, and organization on your part. It also takes weeks to build up to that point. You first have to be willing to make that commitment.

[OnTheBrink]

Don't set yourself up for disappointment! Many of those "two carts of groceries for $1" things are filled with boxed, prepackaged, unhealthy foods. Or 5 years worth of shampoo. :glare:

 

You might want to find if there's some sort of food co-op in your area, or if you can go in with other families to split a cow. Overall, I find real food to be cheaper overall, but that counts in the variables that real food sticks to your belly longer (because it's real nutrition). If you have the time, you can make your own pastas, breads, tortillas, etc.

 

I do use coupons, but I'm very picky about them. Any coupon that makes you buy something you'd not normally buy is a coupon that's wasting your money, unless it's a special treat or something. And, you have to be disciplined. If the sites you've signed up for bombard you with all the most fabulous deals in the world on things you don't need, but will buy because they're cheap, you're wasting money.

 

For them most part, I shop at Aldi (not sure if there's one in your area), then I also belong to a food co-op. What I can't find at those places, I can usually find at Walmart of Meijer, and as a last resort, the local grocery store (which tends to be more $$ than the previously mentioned places).

 

Buy a Sunday paper for the fliers and coupons. See what stores have the best deals that week and plan meals around those items. If canned goods are on sale, stock up. If you can find a coupon that goes with a sale item, all the better! Look for stores that you may not normally shop at and see what their loss-leaders are. Those are the items usually on the front page of their ad that are ridiculously cheap. The stores are wanting to lure you in, thinking you'll do all your shopping there since you're there for the cheap things. Be strong! Just get the loss-leaders if you need them and that's it! Store hopping does take more time, so you need to make sure the savings isn't absorbed in the extra time and gasoline.

[Mallorie]

I agree that it's not what you can get cheap, it's what you can get away with NOT buying in the first place. I've tried all those coupon routines, and it's much like a PP said, it's all junk.

 

I make a lot of my own products. I started making my own laundry soap. I use Michelle Duggar's recipe, and that alone saves a TON of money! I am making our own body soap, using coconut oil for lotion-for family's skin issue as well as $. Thanks to a thread on here, I even made my own "personal products". ;)

 

We shop thrift for clothing, and I stick with pieces of clothing that can mix and match well. We budget everything, and I don't buy many convenience foods. We don't eat out a lot.

 

One thing I repeatedly recommend to people I know is to read the Tightwad Gazette. Even if you don't do a lot of the ideas illustrated in the book, it changes your mindset toward setting financial goals. Another thing, track your spending for a month, see where it goes.

 

As far as time saving, I am one of those moms that has to do it all myself, and do it my way. Once I started delegating to the dh and kids, my stress went down. Lower standards..which sounds lol, but really. Not everything has to be perfect, and I don't have to do it all. Prioritize what's important to do in your life. Get rid of the rest. :)

Edited December 29, 2010 by Mallorie

[Pretty in Pink]

The one thing that I have done that has had the biggest impact on my grocery bill is to shop for one month's worth of meals at a time. On a weekly basis we only have to stop for milk, produce, and the occasional loaf of bread. This one change alone has trimmed my grocery bill 25-40%!

[SeekingSimplicity]

I'm super frugal, but I don't attempt anything like that. I live too far from town, and stores are so spread out it would cost me more in gas than I would save on food. It's cheaper for me to go to WM and buy it all in one whack.

[DawnM]

Tonight on TV is a new show called "Extreme Couponing" I am planning to watch it!

 

I do know people who extreme coupon, but even those who are on HotCouponWorld.com say they do have a $200 or more budget per month as they can't get *everything* with a coupon.

 

I would also recommend this site/free e-book as a real help for saving money on food particularly:

 

http://www.budget101.com/budget101-free-ebook/free-ebook-groceries-200-month-2547.html

 

I notice if I buy only ingredients (brown rice, produce co-op, milk, eggs, etc..) and make all my food from scratch, I can eat very inexpensively without couponing. For me, inexpensively would be $400/mo for 5 of us including toiletries.

 

Dawn

[Ottakee]

I am doing Savings Angel and it is a lot more work than just shopping at Aldi's or Walmart.

 

My other ideas are to buy a 1/4 or 1/2 a cow if you can to save on meat prices. We eat from our cow and then skinless boneless chicken breasts and that makes up 90% or more of our meat choices. I can do a lot of things with those.

 

You can also make the meat go farther by using it in things versus just serving each persona piece of meat. For example, I can use 1# of burger in a casserole, soup, stew, tacos, etc. and feed the 5 of us. If we eat hamburgers, then I need almost 2 pounds. I also cut the meat in a recipe by 1/2 or so and use only 1/2 pound of ground beef in a casserole instead of a full pound. You could use some steak in a stir fry and use a lot less per person than if you all had steak.

 

Learn to use your crock pot and let it be your friend. You can turn just about any left overs into a soup, stew, casserole by adding a bit to them and seasoning them. Spices are your friend:001_smile: I took the ham bone from our Christmas ham and put that in the crock pot with 1/2 bag of dried beans (mixed kind for soup), some bouillion and a can of diced tomoatoes and for about $1 or a bit more I had soup that fed 5 of us for 2 meals. We just added biscuits for the supper meal.

 

Learn lots of ways to cook with the staples so you don't need to go and buy fancy ingredients to make supper. I plan my meals around what is in my pantry/freezer rather than planning that we will have certain meals during the week as then I often would have to go and BUY ingredients to make those meals.

 

Get a good list of pantry/freezer staples and cross out those you don't use/don't like and then stock up on those when they go on sale. I got canned veggies for 19 cents a can on a super special and bought 48 cans of corn---enough to last me a year or so at the rate I use canned corn. I also found canned pie filling for a super low price on Walgreens clearance shelf (still good in date stuff, just they aren't carrying it anymore) so I bought a bunch of cans of that.

 

We eat the produce that is on sale each week. If grapes are on a good sale, we eat those, if apples, we eat those, etc. I don't just grab a bunch of grapes and a bag of apples each week.

 

We do eat snack foods but again, I buy them only on sale (which to me is at LEAST 50% off--and often 75% off) and they get what is on sale.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I have recently signed up for freebies/surveys/coupon sites/etc. My goal is to be one of those people who can go to the grocery store and walk out with two carts of food for a dollar :001_huh:

 

I realize that's a bit extreme but I have heard of people getting their groceries and household products for virtually free.

 

Anyone care to share tips on frugality/simplifying? How do you do it? What sites do you frequent? Are you on a budget? Do you even use coupons?

 

:bigear::bigear::bigear:

[Aggie]

Frugal here, too. :)

 

But I don't compromise my family's health for cheap processed food. Coupons are rare here. I also don't like cooking, so our meals are simple. Love the crock pot! I usually make extra for supper so we can have leftovers for lunch. We only use the oven on cold days. On hot days, I'll put the crock pot outside.

 

YOYO for breakfast, which is usually eggs or oatmeal. No cereal and no bread in the house.

 

We eat lots of legumes, eggs, fruits and veggies. Personally, I'm not a fan of rice, but I do keep some whole grain brown for the dc and dh. I don't mind buying meat, but I always get it from the sale bin.

 

We try not to use paper products. I haven't completely weaned dh from his love of paper towels.

 

The only drinks I buy are tea and coffee. No cokes or juices. (Milk now since we're not milking the goats.:glare:)

 

We make our own soap, dishwasher and clothes detergent, too. Baking soda and vinegar for cleaning and shampoo.

 

Thermostat is low in the winter (put a sweater on!), high in the summer. We have space heaters to warm individual rooms in the winter and fans in the summer.

 

We don't eat out much and buy clothes on sale. I don't have much luck shopping thrift stores.

 

Kids help with laundry. Most goes on the line. I rarely run the dryer. :)

 

If you can start a small garden, it might help.

[kwickimom]

Tonight on TV is a new show called "Extreme Couponing" I am planning to watch it!

 

I do know people who extreme coupon, but even those who are on HotCouponWorld.com say they do have a $200 or more budget per month as they can't get *everything* with a coupon.

 

I would also recommend this site/free e-book as a real help for saving money on food particularly:

 

http://www.budget101.com/budget101-free-ebook/free-ebook-groceries-200-month-2547.html

 

I notice if I buy only ingredients (brown rice, produce co-op, milk, eggs, etc..) and make all my food from scratch, I can eat very inexpensively without couponing. For me, inexpensively would be $400/mo for 5 of us including toiletries.

 

Dawn

 

Hotcouponworld rocks...you can learn all you need on there. I was really into it last year (pre HS'ing) and the best deal I can remember is gettting PAID to buy Purex. I have well over a years supply and I made money off the deal.

 

I CVS...you can always get paid to shop there and I do Kroger.

 

My advice...READ READ READ. hotcouponworld (HCW) looks overwhelming, CVS'ing seems impossible....but if you can read it all and take notes you will get the hang of it!

 

It is true that there is a lot of processed stuff, but I also got amazing deals on meat, bread, organics, salad dressings, condiments....you name it. You may not save massive amounts every week, but you can get healthy stuff, and the key is to buy enough to get you through to the next sale or deal, thus never paying full price for things.

 

Dont feel like you every HAVE to buy something because it is cheap and give yourself a good 6-12 weeks to see a change. Most sale cycles run every 12 weeks and so some people get really discouraged becasue they dont save a ton right away. You may have to pay a little more in the beginning weeks to stock up on stuff, but then you will slowkly start saving. Stick with it and it works!

[Swirl]

My goal is to be one of those people who can go to the grocery store and walk out with two carts of food for a dollar :001_huh:

 

I realize that's a bit extreme but I have heard of people getting their groceries and household products for virtually free.

 

I've done this, BUT it took massive amounts of TIME, TIME, & more TIME. I did very well and spent very little, had a huge stockpile too. It was more like a job. I bought 4 Sunday newspapers each week, and bought certain coupons on ebay and other sites. Printed tons of coupons on the internet. Read Slickdeals & Fatwallet forums religiously. Walgreens and CVS were like second homes. Got fat on all the cereal, and gave up after about 8 months- but I have a life supply of toothpaste. :D

Edited December 29, 2010 by Swirl

[Soror]

I love the Tightwad Gazette! Some of those tips are out there by mainstream standards but hey it works!

 

- we shop a co-op as well-Azure- I can a lot of times get Org foods for cheaper than grocery store prices ordering in bulk from there

- we order meat in mega bulk straight from the farm- I buy chickens on processing day, help to process myself and put a deposit- all those things mean I save- I could buy chicken at the store cheaper- but grocery store chicken is disgust *IMO*- I only use those whole chickens-which is a good rule no matter where you get them from. You can then use the carcass to make stock which has all kinds of good for you stuff in it and makes soup so much richer

- personal and home care products- I try to follow these rules-

Can I do without?- I do not use paper towels, paper napkins, disposable wipes or diapers- all reusable

My cleaning products are vinegar, baking soda, barkeeper's friend and some Dr. Bronners(I got at the discount store for $1 a bottle). That and elbow grease!

 

Can I use less? Whatever you use try using half and half again and see if it still works the same. I bought 6 bottles of shampoo on sale at Walgreens 3 yrs and still have 3 left. Shampoo is one of those things you can usually find free on sale but dh likes a certain brand that is never free. I have no-poo'd at times as well but it seems to not be working lately.

 

Make your own. I make my own laundry detergent. That saves a bundle. It works out to less than $1 a month. I make homemade mayo and many other food things.

 

Discount stores- dent n' ding type places- I have found all kinds of deals at these places. Like the aforementioned Dr. Bronners for $1 bottle, Tom's of Main toothpaste for 89c and Tom's deo for the same- I bought it about 3 yrs ago as well and still have any toothpaste to last for probably another 2 yrs. When I find something super cheap and it lasts I stock up. You can make your own toothpaste though and deo as well but I have these and am using them. However, I find that my homemade deo works better than Tom's.

[Jules]

Check out http://www.littlehouseliving.com

 

there are lots of frugal recipes, ideas, coupons, etc...on that site

[FloridaLisa]

I agree that it's not what you can get cheap, it's what you can get away with NOT buying in the first

 

I agree. Also, some of the principles that help me:

 

1) Always question how much food value an item has. I don't buy fruit roll-ups, individual puddings, individual yogurts. Think whole foods, in season, at the best price you can find. So apples and oranges (in season), no pudding (that would do nothing for my boys) and homemade yogurt in bulk.

 

2) Price book: Essential for frugal shoppers (see Tightwad Gazette). Make a list of items you use regularly. Shop a couple of grocery stores, Walmart, a warehouse and note the regular price. [We found Costco has the best everyday prices for us.] Next, note loss leader sales that beat those prices and stock up when goods are on sale at that price.

 

3) Use it up, wear it out, make it last.

 

4) Garage sales and thrift stores to cut clothes budget.

 

5) Tightwad Gazette. Really the standard for living frugally. So much information in the three books and it would take you hours to find and read a fraction of it online.

 

I couponed pretty heavily a couple of years ago,when it was just coming into fashion. I did pretty well, but it take SO MUCH TIME. To learn, to cut and organize, to research online, to shop all the different stores that have the different deals. I still use coupons a bit, but I still spend the same amount doing my price book, cooking at home, cooking whole foods (in season, on sale).

 

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Ginevra]

I agree with Tightwad Gazette. Also I like Dollarstetcher on-line.

 

I'm not as relentlessly frugal anymore as I once was, although sometimes I cycle back for a while and become Kamakazee frugal for a few months again, but mostly I live frugal, but not die-hard level anymore.

 

I think a price book is a huge, tremendous help. I do not do most grocery coupons. I agree with the PP who said the idea is to think about what you can NOT buy. Do I need this? Is this the only thingy or the very best thingy by far that will allow me to do X? Do I already have something that will suffice to do X?

 

I also believe in tracking spending. I write down everything and I break down receipts from places like Walmart into the categories where things go. It helps me none at all to see that I spent $98 at Walmart; what helps is to know $16 was pet food, $40 was a gift, $38 was clothing, etc.

[mykdsmomy]

Everyone has such great suggestions! Thank you!!!

 

I think what I'm hearing overall is that coupons can be useful but they are not the end all in savings.

 

Honestly I do NOT have the time to search/clip/research to find the best deal on every single thing I buy. I'd like to find a simple system that saves us money and time.

 

I stink at planning meals. I hate to cook so I tend to buy just breakfast/lunch items and dh makes very frugal dinners. (he shops for those items)

 

I have a copy of the Tightwad Gazette somewhere so I'm going to go dig it up and re read it ;) It's very dense but super helpful. I also need to build up some recipes to choose from. I hear many of you are cooking from scratch and that is my goal as well. I know the processed foods are junk and I try to avoid them but I also need to find that balance between time and money (of which I have neither...lol).

[Pretty in Pink]

So you need to come up with good pool of dinner meals and recipes to choose from, then set up your menu.

 

Breakfast is easy and cheap. Here we rotate oatmeal, grits, and english muffins (each with a piece of fruit and a glass of milk). We do each one twice per week. On Sunday I make cinnamon toast.

 

Lunch is nearly always leftovers. Just plan for leftovers when you cook supper. Easy peasy. Keep a few jars each of PB and J in the cupboard for days when you don't have leftovers.

[FriedClams]

I just want to encourage you (and anyone else embarking on the frugal journey!) that it can be done!! You can do it!!!

 

I get so tired of hearing the smug "don't clip coupons - it's only for junk no one should ever eat!" Well, I respectfully disagree. Sometimes necessity trumps preference. Sometimes eating somethingis more important that eating a whole foods, organic, cooked from scratch from recently purchased locally grown co-op ordered produce. Sometimes free (and occasionally processed) keeps you in your home or enables you to stay home with your kids and be able to homeschool. Sometimes extreme is what's needed. So please - don't get discouraged!! You can do it and there are lots of other families doing the same thing! And yes, you can do it without eat pizza rolls and lucky charms every day!

 

For me, I CVS and clip for sales at Kroger (they double coupons). At CVS I SAVE SO MUCH MONEY it's insane. I have a huge stockpile of personal supplies - which we use and regularly donate. Last year there was a bad apartment fire in our area and we dropped of boxes of new, current, top-of-the line products at the Red Cross. Most of it was free. At Kroger I buy mostly whole foods and then use coupons on the great deals - like the 15 bottles of organic salad dressing that expired next year for $0.19 a piece. If I don't use the coupons I clip - no big thing - it only takes a few minutes a week to clip them.

 

Time wise I spend about an hour a week on my CVS stuff and all my coupons. I do it Sunday morning before the family is up so I can think clearly and not miss any of the deals. I get 1 paper delivered and buy 2 others. I stack all my coupons and clip once. Then I file. Then I shop. SUPER simple - takes me now about 20 minutes in the store.

 

Just some random thoughts:

1. It takes about $40 to really get rolling at CVS.

2. You WILL make mistakes. It's OK. It'll take a month of consistent use to get the swing of things.

3. Pick one store to start with. Each drug store has it's own way of doing things - so don't confuse yourself. Start slow with one.

4. If you HS group has a website - ask for a mentor. I would be HAPPY to help people locally if anyone asked. It really does help a lot to have a friend show you the ropes.

5. ALWAYS get rain checks for the things that are out of stock at CVS.

 

 

Other frugal things that help me:

1. Write down everything you spend.

2. See how long you can go without spending anything.

3. The best way to save is to not buy anything. 100% saving!

4. Barter. It's great. YOU do have something other people want.

5. CASH envelopes. Work great.

 

That's all I can think of right now. Again - I applaud you. Don't let anyone be a naysayer!! It really, really is worth the time to clip, get organized and work for frugality!!

 

Sites I like:

SouthernSavers dot com

Moneysavingmom dot com

[Denise in Florida]

Have you looked into Angel Food Ministry? The sell boxes of food at reduced rates through bulk purchasing. Look at their website for examples of the food boxes. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/menus/menu_2010-10_en.asp

 

I was concerned that there would be a lot of waste (food we would not eat) but so far we have liked most of the items. They have boxes that are 'allergen free' and a fruit and veggie box.

 

I am sure that many folks will say the food is too packaged and not healthy. But I use it as 'part' of my menu plan not everything. I include eggs from our chickens, fresh produce from the produce stand and lots of whole grains such as rice and quinoa. My diet isn't perfect but it probably wouldn't be anyway. :001_smile: I have eliminated almost all fast food and most of the meals out (saves $ and helps us eat better) but I am not perfect.