Best Frugal Tips Contest Sponsored by Bummis - Page 5

[justchanti]

Some of the things our family does to stay thrifty:

We make a budget and stick to it.

Always pay our savings account first.

Make our own cleaning supplies.

Buy kids clothing used.

Make our own bread and condiments.

Shop in bulk.

grow our own veggies and can/freeze as much as we can.

Be happy and grateful for all that we have (ignore every message that tells us consuming more = more happiness)

[eschambureck]

Breastfeeding, cloth diapering, meal planning, taking public transportation instead of driving, buying baby clothes at the thrift store or garage sales and then regifting to other new mom friends!

[MamaRuck]

Breastfeed! It's frugal and fabulous for everyone involved! 

[PeacefulSeams]

There are several things that we do:

*cloth diapering!!!!

*I turn my sons shirts into pillows and blankets

*stay home

*no cable

*homemade meals

*buy in bulk if possible. saves on gas and things seem to be cheaper that way

*make your own cleaners

*hand me downs...I bought a stitch shirt for my niece who is now 10 and it has made it's way down to my 3 year old....that is 10 kids.

[oneluckylady]

The library saves me SO much money (provided I remember to return the books on time!) We makes trips weekly and get new reads for the whole family. I love having current magazines around and waisted a lot of money on them before I realized I could get them for free at the library!

[oneluckylady]

I buy vinegar and baking soda in bulk and use them for all my household cleaning. I'm continually amazed at what a good job they do and how many uses for each.

[jthibodeau]

Instead of buying the expensive natural cleaning products, make your own!  Laundry detergent, all purpose cleaner (my favorite is to soak citrus peels in vinegar for a couple weeks, then use 50/50 vinegar and water.  Sometimes I add a touch of dishsoap to add to the grease cutting power.), window cleaner (no need for ammonia either, just 1 cup of borax to 4 cups of water (keep off wood!)), dishwasher detergent, etc.  Can't get any cheaper!

[jthibodeau]

Use cloth diapers!  And not the expensive ones are necessary!  Our main go to diapers are flats and prefolds! 

[jthibodeau]

Buy food on sale, or grow it when possible and store it!  Whether canning or freezing, it's a great way to stock up on items that tend to cost more the rest of the year.  We even can meat when it's on sale so that we have simple easy meat to use.  And because I forget to take the meat out of the freezer until 4:30!

[jthibodeau]

Liked and shared!

[lovemylab]

Collect rain water and use to water plants.

[storygirlcindy]

My first frugal tip is to plan meals for two weeks and only grocery shop once every two weeks. Plan your grocery lists from your meal plans and it's MUCH easier to get everything you need at the store without being distracted by things that aren't necessary!

[storygirlcindy]

My second frugal tip (also to do with grocery shopping!) is to estimate the prices on your grocery lists as you write them out and use the estimates to keep yourself in budget before you even step in the store! When I started doing this, I would save all my grocery receipts and use them to give me a price estimate for our commonly-purchased items. Now I've been doing it long enough (at the same grocery store) that I can give a pretty good estimate of what my total will be each time I write up a list. This has REALLY helped us stay in our grocery budget, and is much easier and faster than other options like taking a calculator through the store!

[Nicki Hemingway]

That's easy clothe diapering.  We love that our babies (well toddlers now) don't get diaper rash and who could resist fluffy little bottoms.  We have spent about $500 to cloth diaper two babies with mostly WAHM diapers, while this is higher than the average start up cost, it it less costly than buying sposies for two active toddlers. 

Baby's 1st fluff

Somehow my daughter likes to pose with her diapers more than her brother.....must be a girl thing, lol.

[WinterPearl]

We buy a lots of things second hand/thrift store

Buy in bulk

Make homemade cleaners/laundry soap

Walk/carpool/ride bikes to most places

[sarahjive]

I use cloth diapers to be frugal - I spent an initial $400 on diapers when my first baby was born, 7 years ago, and they are on child #4 now...we have swapped along the way but no other real amount of money was spent on diapers since!

[Mel4ministry]

I shared the contest on Facebook. :)

[AndreaOlson]

My top frugal tip is to do Elimination Communication (aka infant potty training) from birth with your baby, and cut back on diapering costs (including purchasing disposable diapers, washing cloth diapers, and buying all the cloth diapering gear), time (time is money! And it's quicker to potty than change a diaper.), and environmental impact (this saves our whole community money by reducing landfill size!).

(Here's a video of my son and I doing EC together!)

What I spent: I basically purchased 3 Grovia cloth diaper shells @ $12 each, 20 used prefolds (from the cloth diaper service in town) @ $1.25 each, and a bEcoPotty ($12) and began EC.

No disposables and less cloth diaper cost = more frugal.

I had one total week of poopy diapers. The rest of the time it was just dealing with washing pee (which required less energy and time). Less laundering = more frugal.

Doing EC with my son, from birth, has saved me (the national average) $3,000 in diapers and only cost me $73 for the duration of my child's diaper-wearing months (which was only 9 months in the day, and 24 months at night!).

It is my #1 frugal tip to ANY expecting or new parent - check out Elimination Communication (aka infant potty training) and save money, TIME, and the environment!! You can do it part time, in any situation, and save some cash. Try it! :)

<3 Andrea

[staycelyne]

I like both on facebook and twitter and retweeted this tweet: https://twitter.com/MotheringMag/status/296654079273353218

[sarahjive]

liked and shared on FB