The Annual Mothering Frugal Ideas Contest

[Cynthia Mosher]

Mothering's Annual Top Frugal Tips Contest

Do you have some great frugal tips to share? 

We have a contest for you!

Post your frugal, thrifty, money-saving tips (and a pic if you have one) and you will be entered into our Top Frugal Tips contest.

Three  winners will receive a Mothering Supporter Membership and a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate.

Please read the Contest Terms and Conditions before you participate. Post one tip per post. The winner will be determined by thumbs-ups for each posted idea (limit of one prize per entrant). So spread the word and thumbs-up your favorites!

 

 

Last date to post an entry is February 14th. US and Canadian residents only. 

[Kara Z]

Bountiful Baskets has been a real money saver! Not only do we not throw away produce anymore (read: $$$ down the trash), for less than $20 I can get a whole weeks worth of fruits and vegitables - enough to feed a family of four at least. Plus, having such a wonderful fresh food bounty encourages us to eat at home more and actually plan our meals ahead of time. Our grocery bill has been cut in half!

[Radiant Lotus]

I'm doing upcycled cloth diapers the frugal way.  I tore retired and donated flannel sheets into squares to use as flats and folded them "origami" style, so they're dense down the center and trim on the sides. They agitate open to clean thoroughly and dry quickly.  Here is one of his seasonal snowman diapers:

 

My covers are made from felted wool sweaters.  The arms sew into pants and the body becomes pull-up briefs. They work great and only need washing every week or two thanks to the antibacterial properties of lanolin.

 

I have spent under $30 since birth on my adorable full-time stash for my son who is 20 months old now.  I've even recouped that cost by selling some upcycled woolies.

 

 

 

Edited by Radiant Lotus - 2/1/12 at 7:02am

[lollie2357]

We try not to buy too much junk food because its expensive - but we still like an occasional treat!  Whenever I make yeast bread, I pinch of a bit of dough first and make "doughnuts." I used the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day dough recipe, and Beard on Breads "dough gob" method for frying the dough. Easy peasy.  My loaf of bread is a little smaller, but my doughnuts were free.  :)

[lollie2357]

We don't buy many pre-made school supplies for our homeschooled preschooler.  We can make and teach just about anything with scissors, pencils, glue, and various papers.  These flowers were made by cutting up wrapping paper, tissue paper, construction paper and file folders we had around the house.  

[gomamago]

Purging the clutter... We significantly simplified what we own by donating, selling or tossing what now adds up to more than 20 bags of "stuff" that we didn't need/use and we are far from hoarders. Example, the kids' books, we  now have about 25% of what we had and I see that number reaching a point of almost none in the near future. We sold those in great condition to a used bookstore for credit or used for birthday gifts and donated the rest. We rely heavily on the library for our reading materials. In the kitchen, we have 4 of each place setting, one for each of us. We have a few spare in storage for when guests come and the rest are gone. This has saved tons of time in cleaning and organizing and water bills. We've done the same with clothing and toys for the same reasons. It used to take my husband and I 4 hours each on Saturdays to clean our house. It was daunting and exhausting. Now, we literally spend an hour each for deeper cleaning which we never got to before without spending an entire day on the project. Not only does this save time and money, it has relieved a large stressor.

Edited by gomamago - 2/1/12 at 3:31am

[gomamago]

Sleep well...For us, sufficient sleep simply equals less waste. When I am overtired, and chronically so, dishes don't get done right away so we waste  more water dealing with dried messes, I forget to change the wash and have to rewash loads of laundry because they sat too long and I forget what is in my refrigerator because my brain is too tired to stay on top of things and food goes to waste at a much higher rate. We also eat out at a much higher rate when we are exhausted and pay in money and loss of nutrition. I also see a significant difference in incidence of sickness when we sleep well. So, our doctor bills are almost nonexistent. And last but not least, we also repurpose things more when our creative juices are flowing with sufficient sleep. These are so simple and intuitive yet, I think elude many people as they did us for too long.

Edited by gomamago - 2/1/12 at 3:32am

[Chalex]

Take advantage of your library!  Free sources of entertainment for the whole family at the library...books, music, movies, internet access.  Our library has museum passes, children's programs, art group gathering.... 

My favorite part is being able to request my items online--because you know how hard it is to browse for items with kids in tow!

[Chalex]

MEAL PLANNING!  We reduced our food waste dramatically by planning our menu each week.  Which, of course, saves us money. (stick to your grocery list!)

We can plan to have pasta one day and use up the rest of the sauce by having pizza a day or 2 later. 

Chicken one night can go into fajitas the next.

We know where and when we are going to eat those veggies and see at a glance where we need to add more. 

Take advantage of this website and the Meal Planning boards for inspiration! 

[Chalex]

Check out churches for frugal entertainment.  (even if you don't belong to that church)

I've attended great parenting seminars, my son attended a wonderful week long summer camp--better than the ones we've paid triple the price for, and I'll soon be checking out a marriage/date night seminar with entertainment.

[earthgirl]

I used to do a weekly grocery shopping trip. Recently, I have started skipping every fourth week. This has helped in a lot of ways. For one, I've been mindful of freezing more leftovers, knowing that we will need them on that fourth week. But it also forces me to really use what we have on hand, and the result of that is a lot more food made from scratch. (For example, if we've run out of bread, then it's getting made from scratch.) This system is helping us save about $120 a month (our regular weekly grocery bill) and it is also forcing us to eat healthier.

[Chalex]

LOL!  Enter free contests to win prizes you can use for gifts.  (or fun surprises for yourself :) )

There are lots of contest sites online, but sometimes you are luckier entering local contests (run by radio stations, grocery stores, sporting event venues, newspapers, etc.)

Start now for a stash for Christmas!  (usually contest run for a few months.  Don't forget to read the rules)

[Mommel]

By using this free tool that walks me step by step through the process of raising my consciousness about what I have and don't have and what I continue to consume: http://financialintegrity.org/images/0/04/FI_Program_Guide_20090421.pdf

And by not buying stuff I don't need. Really.

[Goddess3_2005]

Gardening! Its a great way to teach children about where their food comes from and you can save money on groceries too. We take old news papers to make seed starter cups and start our seeds early. We live in a climate where the soil is too poor to plant in, so to further save money we use old icing buckets we get from the grocery stores for free as our containers for our plants. Theres nothing better than fresh food from your garden!

[youngspiritmom]

We've been able to save a tremendous amount of money on groceries by using a simple strategy of combining coupons with items that are on sale.

While I'm by no means an extreme couponer, by using coupons for an item when the item is already significantly on sale, we have saved tons of money. There are many free sites that match sale items in your area with the coupon inserts from the Sunday paper, and this takes me only 15 minutes a week.

We also shop in bulk, and buy more whole foods rather than packaged and processed foods. We save HUNDREDS of dollars on groceries each month which means more than one thousand dollars a year.

Happy frugal living!

[Cynthia Mosher]

I love these ideas! We'll be bringing them all together in an article to place on the site (with full credit of course). 

Posting members - don't forget that you can post more than one frugal idea. Just place each idea in a separate post. Reading members - don't forget to vote for your favorites!

[naturekate]

Thank you Mamas for these wonderful ideas.  Keep 'em coming! 

[Chicky2]

For raised bed gardening, we use many items.  My favorite so far is old upright freezers that my dh takes the compressors out of and then puts drainage holes in the bottom.  Put them up on paver stones we got for free, and voila!  Instant mini greenhouses.  Can be covered easily w/plastic.

Edited by Chicky2 - 2/3/12 at 11:20am

[Chicky2]

For cheap and effective walkways in my garden area...old black plastic shelves used in Wmart's gardening center.  My FIL's son gets them for free and grinds them up to make floors for horse trailers.  I put them down in my garden so I don't have to get muddy if it's recently rained.  I have them on top of black vinyl sheets (again, we got for free) to prevent weeds.

Edited by Chicky2 - 2/3/12 at 11:18am

[Chicky2]

Another garden bed idea....old livestock water containers.  I will be harvesting greens at chest height--great for my back!  What to fill them with?  Goat barn rakings, that's what!  Free.

Edited by Chicky2 - 2/3/12 at 11:20am