Extreme Frugality - The other people think I'm crazy thread! - Page 3

[beansmama]

Wow. I was totally thinking I didn't do anything considered "extremely frugal"...but I guess some people are so frivolous that even what seems like minor things to me are big deals and totally gross to others?

Bizarre!

I use my towel for a week or more...and I shower daily...and I'm not ashamed of this! Should I be? I'm drying off my CLEAN body for cryin' out loud!

I definitely use my same cup over and over and over...I encourage my family to do this as well.

I don't always wash my clothes after one use. I typically do...but if something is still clean and not all stretched out from the baby grabbing at me - I'll hang it back up (especially my jeans!).

I'll use to same bowl/plate over again w/o washing it if it was used for something dry (toast?)

I use the cash-only envelope system. Well..actually I use a coupon file and carry it around with me - people probably think I'm crazy when they see that.

I hang dry all my laundry now, including my towels. Yeah, they're a little crunchy.

Cloth diapers. Totally not extreme on this forum...but everyone who finds out I'm using them thinks I'm totally NUTS.

I've been known to take things from the top or side of the trash - if I want 'em. Not a diver, but definitely a window shopper

In the shower I fill up the tub while I'm washing my hair, then shut off the water, shave my legs with the "reserved" water from my hair washing, THEN turn the shower back on and rinse off while the tub is draining (vs. just letting the water run).

We use small space heaters and very infrequently.

I only clean with vinegar and/or baking soda.

I'll buy certain things past date and eat 'em up...like dry products (cereal, crackers, etc) because who cares? Are they really "bad" and garbage worthy now?

I dye my own hair, which apparently some people consider extreme?

I don't drive. More of a "Ima chicken" vs. "Ima frugalite" thing, though".

My grocery budget is $130 every two weeks...and I cook most stuff from scratch - extreme? Not to me.

I don't know...none of that really seems extreme, but neither does anything anyone else has mentioned thus fair either...so I guess that just means we're all in good company!

[~Boudicca~]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

This spring we bought a Big Dummy http://surlybikes.com/bikes/big_dummy_complete/ with the Xtracycle Family Van Kit http://www.xtracycle.com/cargo-utili...y-van-kit.html It has totally changed my life. I love it.

The grocery store is 5km/3.1miles round trip. It is not far at all and I can get there in 10 min. 15 with the kids on the back. Downtown shopping is 2 blocks away. The closest city is 15 km away. Which we have biked to before but we can buy almost everything we need in our town so we don't go there too often.

In the winter it can get really cold here. -15C/5F + windchill. I would probably skip the trip to the grocery store on that day though and wait for a warmer day.

Can I just tell you how jealous I am? I have been jonesin' for an Xtracycle for a couple years now. Good for you, that is so cool!

[LankyLizards]

I LOVE this thread. Fantastic ideas and also love not feeling like a freak. We also reuse towels, shower only every other day or so, reuse cups over and over and over, reuse plates and bowls. I was using cloth pads (Luna pads actually) but they got all wonky from throwing them in the washing machine and dryer and I need new ones. I loved them though. I use rags to clean with unless it's something incredibly grimy. I have used vinegar and baking soda cleaners and plan to start making my own laundry detergent soon (using a washing soda/Borax mixture).

[EmsMom]

I never really thought of myself as a freak for any of these things like reusing my bath towels or clean dishes (when I serve my kids toast in the morning if one is up first, they get the clean plate but the next one gets the toast crumbs! oh, the horror of it! Actually sharing a dish...) But, yeah, maybe to some people I would be. But honestly, around this area, reasonable frugality is relatively common. My h and i lived for 7 years without either of us working and now they we are seperated, I am already on a 5 to 10 year plan to make enough money and to live simply enough to live on only a part-time income. Mostly that plan involves learning a huge new skill set quickly, mastering it and becoming a consultant in the field. And living extremely frugally, of course! You know, I really think that it is absolutely BIZARRE how many people will work long days at a job they despise and complain about all of the time and then refuse to even take the most simple measures of frugality like cooking their own food... And they think that we are freaks???? I am always talking to my kids about how when you learn to live the simple life you have so much more freedom and peace. I think they do get it!

[eirual]

-Saving up used tea bags and collecting the loose tea in a saved sock.







....j/k, too extreme for me!

[enfpintj]

Originally Posted by EmsMom

But honestly, around this area, reasonable frugality is relatively common. My h and i lived for 7 years without either of us working and now they we are seperated, I am already on a 5 to 10 year plan to make enough money and to live simply enough to live on only a part-time income. Mostly that plan involves learning a huge new skill set quickly, mastering it and becoming a consultant in the field. And living extremely frugally, of course! You know, I really think that it is absolutely BIZARRE how many people will work long days at a job they despise and complain about all of the time and then refuse to even take the most simple measures of frugality like cooking their own food... And they think that we are freaks???? I am always talking to my kids about how when you learn to live the simple life you have so much more freedom and peace. I think they do get it!

where do you live? We'd love to live where frugality is the norm.

I'm glad there are other people who have the experience of not working too. We've been doing it 2 years and hope to do it forever.

sorry you are separating. I hope your new plan comes together easily.

If we ever have to earn money again in the future, it will hopefully only be part time through something we enjoy. Right now dh is doing a short term consulting job that fell in his lap, but he knows he'd rather be home than doing any work except maybe gardening and selling the excess.

Our only concern now is about what will happen with healthcare reform. We know it will affect us. We'll fall through the cracks b/c no one cares about people who choose to live simply on little money.

We are also trying to teach our kids to appreciate the freedom they are experiencing. I think they will grow up knowing there are other ways to do things. I think it's bizarre that people think they have to work 40+ hours in to old age, and they have no choice. Our society really has drummed creative, original, independent thinking out of many people's head. I think our founding fathers are rolling in their graves about the way we've turned out.

[celerydunk]

Originally Posted by EmsMom

My h and i lived for 7 years without either of us working and now they we are seperated, I am already on a 5 to 10 year plan to make enough money and to live simply enough to live on only a part-time income.

That is the exact goal I am working towards. I have worked full time jobs my entire adult life. One day a light bulb went off and I realized that all this stuff I was buying was not making me happy. What I really want is my time back to do what I want. Im currenly working on a plan so that I can work part time and have more time to do what I want.

[FloridaBorn]

Wow, so many of these points sound familiar.

No car payment here; my 1996 Toyota RAV4 has over 297,000 miles on it! Yes, I have had it well maintained. I spent $3,000 on car repairs last year and realized that divided over 12 months could have been a car payment, but I haven't had anything more than an oil change since I had all that work done.

Biggest energy/money saver I do on a daily basis is hand wash my dishes. Dish washers use a LOT of water, don't they? My 1953 Floridian bungalow has no dishwasher.

Big expense coming up for me is going to be a new fridge (preferably one made this century!) and I kind of dread it... new appliances are crazy-friggin-costly!

[Inci]

My life feels so normal to ME that I don't even realize how many of the things I do are examples of "extreme frugality"... but I guess they are!

I can relate to lots in this thread - I, too, do the following:
- re-use bath towels and only shower every 2-3 days
- re-use cleanish dishes
- wear the same jeans until they REALLY need to be washed
- use cloth napkins and tissues and cut up old clothes to be rags

I also:
- use a Diva cup and "cloth pads" that are actually just remnants of fleece that I cut up into rectangles and fold/layer as necessary.
- have never purchased furniture - it's all hand-me-downs from friends and family. My "coffee tables" are actually huge plastic storage bins with cloth over them. My beautiful queen bed with drawers underneath was given to me by a friend who was divorcing her husband and couldn't stand to sleep in the bed alone. Then they got back together a few months later, but I still kept the bed!!
- drink out of glass jars, and yes, the same one all day - maybe even for 2-3 days if it's just water!
- get about 85% of my wardrobe from thrift stores, yard sales, and eBay.
- almost ever buy books/movies/music new. I do surveys at harris poll online and usually earn enough points to get a $5 Amazon gift card every 2-4 months, and with that I buy a used CD, book, or DVD.
- volunteer 2 hrs a month at my local food co op to get an 8% discount on all purchases, and buy in bulk.
- pick up pennies from the ground
- cut my own hair (when it's long enough to put in a ponytail, I chop off the ponytail)

I live alone (no kids!) with a roommate, and we do NOT have the following: dishwasher, dryer, TV, stereo. Our electric bill averages $23 a month. We dry our clothes on a rack. We don't flush the toilet every time ("if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down"). We only plug the toaster, microwave, and coffee pot in when we want to use them, then unplug them right after. All of our lightbulbs are the energy-saving kind (the name is escaping me), and we have an LED nightlight for the bathroom so we don't have to turn the light on in the middle of the night. ETC, ETC! There's probably a lot more that I'm just not thinking of, because it's such a normal part of my life that I don't think of it as "a way of being frugal," you know?

[nascarbebe]

Go to college games for free. DH works at a university and I take the kids to games all the time (he's always at the games working). When I ask some of my friends if they're going to the game they look at me like I'm crazy and say they can't afford tickets for their family. In the 9 yrs DH has worked here I've never once paid for a ticket. How do I do it?

-Basketball games - get there early while the women (free admission) are still playing and stay for the men's game. Or get there after halftime during men's game when they stop watching the gates.

-Football games - get there after halftime. They no longer watch the gates.

- Be friends with rich people who have season tickets with great seats and tell them I'll take their ticket when they can't make it to a game.

-Free food at games - visit my rich friend in their suites. They ALWAYS have tons of food

[ParisApril]

Originally Posted by Kyamo

Ok, I bike a LOT to work, as long as there isn't snow on the ground. But could you explain more about how you handle rain on the bike? How do you keep your pants dry? If its a very light rain it isn't a huge deal, but the horizontal-ish thigh surfaces catch so much rain. I usually walk or take the bus if there is rain forecast because of this. One time I got caught in an unexpected downpour and when I got to work I was so drenched I had to go in the bathroom and strip completely and wring out all my bottom half clothes in the sink, including underpants. Everything in my backpack was all wet too. And my shoes went squish-squish-squish as I walked. It was NOT pleasant. Yes, I was wearing a rain jacket, but it doesn't cover my bottom half - I don't think I could rider properly in a long coat.

I wear rain pants and a rain coat lately because it's cold I'll wear my wool long johns underneath. We also have some dry bags that we use to keep stuff dry. DH has waterproof pannier bags similar to this one http://www.banjobrothers.com/products/01110.php

Originally Posted by ~Boudicca~

Can I just tell you how jealous I am? I have been jonesin' for an Xtracycle for a couple years now. Good for you, that is so cool!

Thanks We love it and use it all the time. Totally worth the investment.

Originally Posted by Inci

My life feels so normal to ME that I don't even realize how many of the things I do are examples of "extreme frugality"... but I guess they are!

Our dryer just died and we are thinking about not replacing it. I line dry 99% of the time anyway so...

- I make all our X mas gifts.
- We use cloth instead of paper for everything.
- We buy used 85% of the time.
- I mend our clothing.

Someone wants to come look at the truck! No vehicle will certainly make for some interesting conversations at Xmas!

[Teenytoona]

Woohoo! I have a new label instead of lazy! I reuse dishes sometimes because I'm frugal! heh!

[mysticpi]

ere are some of the things I do that I haven't seen mentioned on this thread:

I only have a bathtub (no shower) so when I take a bath (every 2-3 days) I reuse the water to do the laundry. Sometimes I have a bath with my partner or hop in the water after she is done. That would be really high on the ick factor for some people, eh?

I like making things from scratch, it's fun for me and usually cheaper too:

I make yogurt and bread.

I make tempeh and vinegar too (both surprisingly easy).

Also soap and deodorant (I LOVE my homemamde deodorant and it's super easy too)

I've made beer from a kit for the first time! (Just bottled it yesterday!) It's $20 for a kit that makes 60 bottles of beer. Beats $12 for 6 bottles! I want to try a wine kit too

I also like to barter as much as possible. We trade for raw goats milk from friends, for some produce and for farm fresh eggs, sometimes we've traded for skilled labour, (such as getting our new kitchen sink installed) and I've treaded for yoga classess too!.

Also we raise our own meat (poultry and this year we raised 2 pigs too!). Even though it is not cheap we are able to eat high quality meat that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. Sometimes we sell some of our meat to pay for our out of pocket expenses in raising the animals.

[beansmama]

Originally Posted by mysticpi

ere are some of the things I do that I haven't seen mentioned on this thread:

I only have a bathtub (no shower) so when I take a bath (every 2-3 days) I reuse the water to do the laundry. Sometimes I have a bath with my partner or hop in the water after she is done. That would be really high on the ick factor for some people, eh?

I like making things from scratch, it's fun for me and usually cheaper too:

I make yogurt and bread.

I make tempeh and vinegar too (both surprisingly easy).

Also soap and deodorant (I LOVE my homemamde deodorant and it's super easy too)

I've made beer from a kit for the first time! (Just bottled it yesterday!) It's $20 for a kit that makes 60 bottles of beer. Beats $12 for 6 bottles! I want to try a wine kit too

I also like to barter as much as possible. We trade for raw goats milk from friends, for some produce and for farm fresh eggs, sometimes we've traded for skilled labour, (such as getting our new kitchen sink installed) and I've treaded for yoga classess too!.

Also we raise our own meat (poultry and this year we raised 2 pigs too!). Even though it is not cheap we are able to eat high quality meat that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. Sometimes we sell some of our meat to pay for our out of pocket expenses in raising the animals.

HOW do you make your own TEMPEH???? Please please please PLEASE (please?) share! lol

I just decided to start making my own tofu...which I have done in the past, but it's been *years*. I get 20 packs of soymilk (the 4 cup aseptic containers) a MONTH - waaaaaay too much for us - so I decided might as well start making tofu with it

Tempeh is one of our favorite meat substitutes thought and I'd love to try my hand at making it. We do have a tempeh seconds store locally, and it's pretty cheap...but it's only open tues/thurs and I don't have a way there usually!

Thanks

[KayleeZoo]

Also soap and deodorant (I LOVE my homemamde deodorant and it's super easy too)

Ooooh, would you please share how you make your own deoderant???

[nichole]

Wow I'm tempted to try the ponytail method of cutting my own hair. I'm kinda chicken though. Anyone else try it. There are lots of articles and youtube videos for cutting your own hair. I'm kinda just letting it grow. If I blowdry it or put it in a pony tail it looks fine so why fix what aint broken.

[mysticpi]

To Make Tempeh you need to buy a tempeh starter (it's a powder). We've bought ours from GEM cultures, it's not very expensive and it comes with instructions.

The way we make it is this:
- soak soybeans overnight (we do 2 or 4 cups)
- cook them until partially soft (maybe one hour?)
- Drain, dry a bit with a kitchen towel and let cool to body temperature
- mix with the starter (1 teaspoon for 2 cups of beans, 2 for 4 cups) and put in a 9x13 inch glass pan
- incubate it at 85 to 90 degrees farenheit for 24 to 30 or so hours or until the wite fuzz starts to become grayish- it is a strange sight!

the tricky part is how to incubate it for that long at that temperature. What we do is put some warm water in a large plastic container and use a fishtank heater and a little thermometer to keep the right temperature. The glass pan floats! This tip comes from Sandor Katz!

After the tempeh is ready cut it up into meal size portions, wrap and store in the fridge or freezer

One tip is to set it all up in the morning the day before a day when you'll be home so you can monitor it so you don't end up with black tempeh~ it was still yummy though

[mysticpi]

Originally Posted by KayleeZoo

Ooooh, would you please share how you make your own deoderant???

of course!

I mix equal parts (maybe 2 tablespoons?):
- baking soda
-arrowroot (could use tapioca or cornstarch)
- melted coconut oil OR a combination of oils that will end up being solid, for instance some olive oil and some cocoa butter/shae butter. If you are into making it really really cheap you could even substitute petroleum jelly
~you can add some essential oils if you want, I don't

put in a little container and let cool so that it hardens. It will last a LONG time

To use: scoop a teeny little bit on your finger tip and rub into your armpit

~ Some people find that baking soda irritates their skin, if that happens you can try reducing the proportion of baking soda

This deodorant is not an antiperspirant so it might take a little to get used to if you've been using commercial deodorants

[Amys1st]

I didnt know I was extreme, but I guess other people would think we are crazy. No scratch that, I know a few people think we are crazy.

I think our lifestyle is frugal, but it is also born of the simple living ideals. Do we wear ratty clothing? No, but we do buy higher quality stuff which sometimes means pay a little bit more or a lot more but then it lasts years, over some cases over a decade. For example, DH has a t shirt that is so worn and loved but its part of his "working on the house" clothing for painting etc. We just finished a larger remodeling job and I finally put my foot down and said, This HAS to be thrown out. So instead, he used it to wipe up something that then made it needing to be thrown out.

We have a bigger house, but not huge that you get lost. We have an extra bedroom and bath that is perfect for guests. Its not fancy, a given to us double bed, given to us sheets, room painted w oops paint from home depot ($4 for the gallon) and looks good. The bathroom next year is on the list of our remodel jobs. No one has complained, if they did we would point them in the direction of a hotel and wont invite back.

We do enjoy eating out as a couple, but its only about 5-6 times a year. We enjoy cooking at home and we cook from scratch 99% of the time. We love to entertain and our parties everyone has a blast. A friend pointed out to me, that usually after my parties, she has a dozen new facebook friends that week from meeting them at my house! We cook simply, people bring wine or they have one of our martinis and enjoy. We are usually not out a lot of cash from our parties.

For us, some of our frugal habits are need, but more now a need for happiness. If we were working to slave away at the "you can have it all" dream that some americans seem to think is the way (incl friends and family) we would not be happy.

Also, we do many of the items already listed, but we also will spend money where its needed. We drive an older model 4 door car that is paid for, but we will not buy a new car just because everyone else does. But we know we will be buying a new car in a few years so we will spend what we need to for the car that is going to last 6-10 years in our family.

We will pay more for energy efficient appliances and they will not eat at our energy bills. Plus its better energy wise to have new appliances.

We go "shopping" because we need to buy something. Not for the sport of just going to the mall.

I go grocery shopping every 10 days or so. Plan around the sales and what we have on hand.

We menu plan our meals, makes grocery shopping easier as well.

Towels, yes we use them multiple times and usually I change them when I dont remember when I put out fresh towels, so its no doubt time! LOL or if we have a bug/illness, I will change out the towels daily. Why create more laundry, there is plenty as it is.

[Caneel]

Some of mine that friends and family find odd:

• No paper towels in the house, we use bar rags.
• I make almost all cleaning products at home - glass cleaner, scrubs, etc. as well as body lotion.
• Used to cut DH's hair but now he and DS go to the barber.
• Definately reuse the bath towels, actually DH and I don't see a distinction between the towels and we will use any dry towel hanging on the rack.
• We lived without furniture for years. We had a couch but nothing in many rooms of the house.

Avoiding shopping is another biggy my friends don't get, at all. They will go to the mall or shopping centers as entertainment. I have no interest in doing that.

Some of this stuff makes my giggle:

seriously who wouldn't eat a sub off the wrapper? Until now, it would have never occurred to me to transfer a sub to a paper plate or any plate for that matter.

Same with the drinking glasses, we use the same glass all day and all night.

Originally Posted by beansmama

I hang dry all my laundry now, including my towels. Yeah, they're a little crunchy.

I actually like that crunchy clean towel feeling. I miss not having a clothes line.

Originally Posted by Amys1st

I didnt know I was extreme, but I guess other people would think we are crazy. No scratch that, I know a few people think we are crazy.

I think our lifestyle is frugal, but it is also born of the simple living ideals. Do we wear ratty clothing? No, but we do buy higher quality stuff which sometimes means pay a little bit more or a lot more but then it lasts years, over some cases over a decade.

This was a big change for me when I met DH. He bought good quality clothing as he needed it. He is still wearing some plain blue button down dress shirts that he had when I met him 17 years ago!

I came from the more-of-cheap is better-than-one of good family and it pained me greatly to buy anything of quality. Over the years I have changed and now, for example, I have just a few pairs of shoes instead of 15+ but the ones I have are great, comfortable and will last for years.

DH does, however, think any house temperature under 70 degrees is absolutely insane. I grew up in a sub-60 degree house and we are constantly in battle over the house temp.