How are you frugal? - Page 2

[EmsMom]

Lots of the above and:

Shop yard sales regularly during the yard sale season for clothes, household items, furniture, appliances, etc. Have not yet needed to purchase any new clothes for my dc and they are 9 and 4! And my dd's new room is completely furnished with vintage yard sale furniture and a cheap bed from Ikea. Actually even some new presents for holidays and birthdays come from yard sales.

Am starting to make my own medicines with herbs that grow wild around me.

Use the library ALOT! Books, dvd's, audiobooks, computer games to be used at the library and now the library has free downloads of audio books.

Mostly I just started wanting financial, material, and spiritual peace lots more than I wanted any things.

[MiaPia]

This is a great thread!

We're not as frugal as I'd like (ie - we spend too much on heat because DH and DS #1 are always "cold", and we buy more convenience food than I like, such as individual applesauces for kids' lunches) but all in all we're a lot more frugal than many people I know.

Many of these have already been listed, but we:
*Use cloth diapers and cloth wipes
*Make our own cleaning solutions from vinegar, borax, and essential oils
*Use cloth napkins and cloth rags to clean (we haven't bought paper napkins or paper towels in forever)
*Use 1/2 - 1/3 the amount of laundry and dishwasher detergents called for
*Hang clothes to dry, weather permitting
*Rarely eat out
*Cook from scratch for dinners and breakfast (packing lunces for school is my "problem" area)
*No car payments - our vehicles are 12 and 6 years old
*Have a garden and can or freeze as much as we can
*Go to the library
*We don't use credit cards. Everything is paid for in cash (well, debit cards usually)

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

Awesome things...somehow I thought of most of them as a lifestyle, not being frugal...but you're right...they just happen to be frugal as well... Add those to my list too...

Funny you say!
I did them as a lifestyle and found I was saving money and energy and time thus being frugal too!

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Pepperdove

1. I am the turning out lights police. I turn out lights in other people's houses!
2. CD (from a service, but I am sloowly moving towards washing my own)
3. I stay out of Target altogether, unless I have MIL with me, since she likes to buy the kids stuff.
4. Groceries from TJ's and Garden Fresh ( a local chain with great prices and the most fantastic produce department!!!)
5. We don't drink soda or buy cookies (we do eat cookies, though. Too many delicious homemade cookies. mmm)
6. Go to the library instead of the bookstore
7. DH just started carpooling with a friend and his car hasn't left the garage in over a week!
8. DH returned a Xmas gift (foosball table) to bankroll a new nice pair of hiking boots. There was enough left over for Crocs for me, too!
9. We try not to eat out. It always breaks the bank when we slip up.
10. Make my own coffee insttead of driving thru Starbucks. I love Starbucks waaay too much. TJ's whole bean coffee is excellent, and the fair trade shade srown stuff is cheaper than the evil kind other places!
11. We don't go to movies, but that's more b/c we have 2 kids under 3 and when exactly would we go to a movie? Saves us 10+ per ticket, though.
12. Cook from scratch a lot. We are vegetarians, too, which is not a frugality measure, but works out that way when it comes time to check out at the grocery store.
13. I wash my hair roughly once a week, although I do use mainstream products. We are dirty hippies here.

Where is this chain located?? We have a TJs right near us.