We are a completely frugal family. Here is how we live simply with three kids and donate to needy families on one income without feeling like we are poor:
- Grow our own produce and herbs. What we don't grow we buy from local farmers for far less than you pay at the store.
- Home canning. We make our own jams, pickles, soups, and preserve our own fruits, vegetables, and meats. Inexpensive to start when you purchase your canner, jars, and rings second-hand. Use the produce grown at home or from local farmers and it will save you anywhere from $.25-$1.00 per jar/can. Plus, you control what goes into your food so you avoid excess salt, dyes, artificial flavors, and artificial colors.
- Buy half a cow, half a pig, or whole chickens. The quality of the meat is higher, the cuts are made to order, and it ends up being close to $1 per pound cheaper in the long run. Plus, you can end up with ham hocks for soups, and with the chicken, you can use the bones and organ meats for healthy, flavorful stock.
- Cloth diaper. Either make your own or buy used. Make your own cloth wipes and wipe solution out of old clothing scraps and baby wash. Modern cloth diapering is just as easy as disposables and only adds 1-2 loads of laundry per week. Cloth diapering can save you up to $2,500 per child over two years.
- Bake your own breads from scratch. You can do it by hand or find used bread machines for very cheap. A loaf of bread costs $3.99 at the store, but only costs about $.75 to make at home without all the unhealthy additives.
- Bartering. Sounds odd but many people are looking to trade labor for items. Need yardwaste hauled? Look online to see if someone will haul it in exchange for your old stuff. I had a garage door rehung in exchange for 2 loaves of home-baked gluten-free bread each week for 2 months. The bread cost me a total of $15 and I saved over $300 on the rehanging.
- Couponing. You don't have to be extreme to use coupons effectively. Through couponing we save an average of 70% off our grocery bill. Since sales come in cycles, we stock up while the prices are good and essentially never run low on anything until right before it goes on sale again. Learn the cycles, use the coupons, and stock up...hoarding is not necessary.
- Plant fruit trees. Not only will you benefit from the free fruit, but your kids can set up a little table at the end of the driveway and sell fruit. It becomes a moneymaker.
- Start a small honey bee colony. We found that our garden produced more bountiful fruit after we started a little colony. The bees have never stung anyone, and we have a fresh supply of honey. Another bonus is having your kids sell excess honey. It is very easy to start a colony and it helps the environment as bees are disappearing quickly.
- Utilize free children's activities like the public library, playgroups, childcare co-ops, church activities, nature walks, etc. If you get your kids out of the house frequently, they do not feel as if they "need" more toys, electronics, and TV to be entertained.
- Many cities provide free or low cost rain barrels. Use them to catch water for watering the lawn/garden, washing cars, outdoor uses to save on the water bill.
And the obvious...cut back on cable packages, cut cell phone plans, use energy efficient bulbs and appliances, unplug things while not in use, turn the temperature down on your water heater, combine trips to save on gas...
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