Eliza tagged me with a frugality semi-meme. (No linkback to her cuz she’s totally friendslocked though.)
- If we have to pay, we don’t play. Parks are free, Chuck E. Cheeze is not. Lightning bugs are free, glowstix are not.
- I carry my homeschool registration card with us everywhere and *ask* if they give a price break on admission to homeschoolers. Most of the time we get a significant discount, if not outright free admission.
- I know this isn’t an option for most folks, but I do my own computer parts swapping and maintenance. Our older system isn’t all that energy efficient, but it doesn’t stay on all the time, and costs almost nothing to maintain. And I don’t get bent out of shape if the boys mess something up – I just wipe the drive and start over again.
- I stack trips to save on gasoline. Bank, gas station, grocery store #1, grocery store #2, HFS if necessary, then home to unload it all.
- Shop at more than one grocery store. Aldi’s for staple foods, WalMart for the things Aldi’s doesn’t have.
- Compromise with my teen on her “fashion needs”. We shop at Fashion Bug, but only the 50% clearance racks. I give her a budget for an item and if she wants to spend more than my budget, she earns the extra money. I categorically refuse to shop at the Mall.
- Outside of Daniel’s dietary issues, we don’t do a lot of prepared foods. I do make a batch of tuna salad and/or egg salad once a week so I can grab a quickie meal
- I check at the library before I buy the book. This absolutely annoys my bibliotaphic tendencies, but I cannot afford to spend money on a book I don’t love – and these days, more often than not I’m really glad I didn’t. (Case in point: The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. First few books were awesome. The Pillars of Creation was about 500 pages longer than necessary. After that, the plotlines are essentially recycled. Case #2: WHY does Anne Rice need to spend 4 pages describing a scene?)
- As our lightbulbs burn out, I’m replacing them with compact fluorescents.
- Check Goodwill, your local Freecycle group, and the thrift shops first. I found a 12-bin toy storage rack for $6, and bought baskets that fit at the Dollar Store. I got a printer for the kid’s computer on Freecycle.
- I’ve seen hundreds of websites with “green cleaning products”. I don’t waste my time – I use laundry soap for cleaning 90% of the surfaces in this house.
- We use cloth whenever applicable. Napkins, hankies, spill absorbers, menstrual products. I even have muslins dedicated to grease absorption (southern cooking, y’know).
- Don’t spend money you don’t have. I do have a credit card that I use in emergencies. Flat tire that can’t be repaired? Emergency. Trip to Starbucks for a $20 cup of coffee? Non-emergency.
- Used Textbooks. I categorically refuse to pay more than $20 for a book that I’ll only use for a semester. The screamingly new edition isn’t THAT much different from the previous.
That’s everything I can think of right now.
Ah ha, finally some one else responded
Yes, and it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. These are things I pretty much did without thinking up until my daughter reached teenhood and started pushing for more extravagant purchases.
As a mother to 5 growing kids including two young teens, I find that being thrifty is not as easy as it used to be. I can’t dress even the 7 year old anymore. Your ideas are excellent and although I don’t follow all of them, I am good at also finding loss leaders in the big name grocery stores. I can find things that are well below price to make on occasion and then buy as much as I am allowed. This doesn’t help if I then buy that one can of baby formula that is $8 more than at a discount store for store brand, but If I discipline myself it works terrific.
I do have to say that although I love used and free items and am a fan of craigslist as well as freecycle, I do draw the line on some things and I didn’t even know they made cloth menstrual products anymore. My immediate thought was there are some things worth paying for. But, I am impressed with your dedication and creativity.
Keep it up.
ps. My mom always saved the wrappers from the margarine or butter in the door of the fridge, and then used them to grease the pans when she baked. She also saved zip loc bags and washed them out.
About the cloth pads – I decided that it doesn’t really add to my laundry load, and cotton is a LOT more comfortable.
I tried saving the ziploc bags and washing them out, but decided to not use the bags at all. Corelle bowls are easy to find and even if the prints themselves don’t match, the color schemes usually work out.
Agreed. A lot of awesome ideas on there, but I did get stuck on the cloth menstral pads. Like MaritDW said, “Some things are worth paying for.” I will go without new clothes for five years if comes between that and tampons. Just my choice.
Okay, but what if there was an alternative to tampons? Would you try it?
(And the answer is yes, I do own it and use it fairly regularly)
Ah, good, Im not the only mamacloth user. Or, I will be, when my period comes back.
And they are SO much more comfortable. I just got a few new ones from a WAHM having a sale.
We also cloth diaper and use cloth wipes, which saves us quite a bit.