Frugal living: What do you do to save a buck?

I thought this would be a good topic to get everyones ideas.

Personally, I've stopped buying ladies jeans and purchase mens instead. They look the same, are often stitched better, are easier to get a good fit and tghey come in nearly all the same cuts, not to mention they are half (sometimes even 75%+) off the women's price!

This is interesting.

We live the way we live and I don't know if I'm aware that we're saving a buck, it's just the way we do things. This would take some thought.

We are gadget deficient. No bread maker. No mix master. No food processor. No electric can opener. No George Foreman grill, dehydrator, deep fryer. Nada. I have one serious Zwillings kitchen knife and it serves most of my kitchen needs. After trying and rejecting several garlic pressing devices, went out in the driveway, found a flat rock, now I peel garlic and SMASH it with the rock. Scrape splattered garlic into food. Rinse rock. Voila. Cheap and very durable.

I repair all our vehicles. Uno's hubby does too. I think he does that to avoid her though, not to save a buck. Smart man.

Wood only for heat. hmmmm...more thought required...

uno wrote:After trying and rejecting several garlic pressing devices, went out in the driveway, found a flat rock, now I peel garlic and SMASH it with the rock. Scrape splattered garlic into food. Rinse rock. Voila. Cheap and very durable.

I love it! Very mortar and pestle-ish, which I have been looking for in used stores (rather than buy a new one). However, you may have changed my mind!

Off the top of my head: I use coupons whenever I can, buy bulk/wholesale, stock up on items like TP whenever on sale, eat out very rarely, and DIY for pretty much everything we possibly can.

You said saving a buck. The landfill here charges a $1 per black bag, but blue or clear are free. We recycle a lot because most kitchen leftover may be eaten by something here or they go in the compost pile.

We're getting rid of some of small electric appliances. The coffee grinder made a lot of noise and finally the plastic parts broke. We had an old antique hand grinder stored away which we mounted on the wall although it too is a bit noisy. We had an electric waffle maker, but everytime we used it we spent a long time trying to pick the mix out of every little crack. Anybody know where we can find a North American cast stove top waffle iron that sits over the burner and has handles to flip the waffle?

We grow our own food here and we share the property with our son, DIL and children. Saves child care. Our heat is wood from our own woodlot.

OMG this thread is MINE! After I graduated there were no jobs teaching. Kinda like now. I lived below the poverty level for about 15 years. In the city. Basement suites were my forte. I could sweet talk a landlord into letting me keep a dog at their property like a lawyer arguing a case in front of the Supreme Court! I used my skills to augement my income. I created and sold gourmet dog cookies. I made kitty food bowls. I sewed up a storm. No part time job was below me. I sorted and folded used coveralls all summer. And used clothing stores were my lifeline. Great clothes for substitute teaching and showing the dogs were being sold for just a few dollars. I was in bargain heaven! I still buy used. Someone else can find out if the clothing they buy will fall apart in the first wash. I still buy their rejects and have all the quirky clothes and create all the weird outfits my nonconforming heart desires!

I OWN this thread. Poverty is an incredible motovator!

Sue

Quite a few family member work in the trades or have trade skills. We do our own carpentry, mechanics, electrical wiring, plumbing, gas fitting and more. We also do canning of things that grow in the garden.

Heat with a wood boiler , raise my own chickens , turkeys .Will be building a green house soon to grow more veggies , flowers etc .Carpenter by trade so I can do almost anything there , own my own band saw mill so I'm working towards some rec land to build a cabin on with it .I have brothers that have different trades , one who is my mechanic as well as my tech guy as well.Am looking at alternative sourses for Hydro here and if I should have a cabin I would want it self suffeciant as well .I am also knowledgeable in the old ways of slaughtering , and am trying to learn as much as I can about how they used to do what ever it was that they did to survive.

I challenge for the crown of Queen Frug

Example, My main computer's mainframe died a couple of weeks ago. Rather than buy a new one, I am using an old Windows XP, one I got from a transfer station that someone left to be recyled and I took it home, cracked its password and am using it to post to this lovely thread.

My garage is made from skids from my DH's work and the scraps of wood left over from shipping flats. I did all the carpentry myself and eventhough it isn't correctly squared as I didn't know about stuff like that when I built the garage, it is functional and is still standing.
As for the old garage, I dismantled it myself, salvaged the good and hauled all the rest to the dump myself using a small 4x2 pickup that is nearing 30 years old cause it still runs.

I reuse paper towels.
I can reuse Swifter type floor sheets for dusting up to a dozen times just by rewashing them and drying them over a heat vent.
I salavage anything if it isn't nailed down and most of the items end up in repairs to my home.

I can go on ..... MWHA MWHA HA HA HA

toybarons wrote:I challenge for the crown of Queen Frug

Example, My main computer's mainframe died a couple of weeks ago. Rather than buy a new one, I am using an old Windows XP, one I got from a transfer station that someone left to be recyled and I took it home, cracked its password and am using it to post to this lovely thread.

My garage is made from skids from my DH's work and the scraps of wood left over from shipping flats. I did all the carpentry myself and eventhough it isn't correctly squared as I didn't know about stuff like that when I built the garage, it is functional and is still standing.
As for the old garage, I dismantled it myself, salvaged the good and hauled all the rest to the dump myself using a small 4x2 pickup that is nearing 30 years old cause it still runs.

I reuse paper towels.
I can reuse Swifter type floor sheets for dusting up to a dozen times just by rewashing them and drying them over a heat vent.
I salavage anything if it isn't nailed down and most of the items end up in repairs to my home.

I can go on ..... MWHA MWHA HA HA HA

Don't forget your old bed chicken tractor!

sue

I am so proud of it too. *LOL*

Instead of going out, seeing movies or going for dinner or other entertain ment, I spend my evenings obsessively following the forum threads, waiting for someone to post new replys or topics.

Oh, wait.... maybe it is because I do that I can no longer find the time to go out.....

Arctic, you may enjoy going out more if you weren't up at 3:30 in the morning!!

As for frugal, I rely on my sister to find the great deals. She knows every trick to make $$ go further. I live for a good barter. I almost never sell my wares, but trade and barter a lot. It is always fun to give something away and get a surprise package in return.

Schipperkesue wrote:

Don't forget your old bed chicken tractor!

sue

whoa -- pictures

I do small home renos and repairs myself. I hate the plumbing the most. Not because I can't do it but because the jobs are spaced far enough apart that I have to relearn what I did the last 3 times.

Wish I could do the mechanic stuff. Unfortunately my skills do not lie in that area.

All I can say is , if you want to save a buck then don't spend a buck.

Dan Smith wrote:All I can say is , if you want to save a buck then don't spend a buck.

You've got that right Dan. I have 3 stores between work and home and they are all gas stations. I definitely don't purchase as much as when I worked in the city!

Sue

Not sure exactly what we do that would be Frugal. We have our life style and just live it.

I do all my own canning, raise much of our own meat or my husband hunts.

Not sure if raising your own meat is Frugal, as it is often pointed out to me that you can't raise your own meat as cheap as it is to go out and buy it from a store. (It secretly annoys me that people can't understand why I want to raise my own.)

But this year, I did cut and wrap 2 pigs on my own and helped to do our moose rather then bring it into the meat shop to have them do it.

We don't just run to town for items, so I have learned to make a lot of our own things.

I use my kids old gumboots to make hinges, and handles on things in the chicken house. Does that count? You get to be inventive to figure out how do make things if you don't want to buy them.

I do my own plumbing repairs, electrical switchout if needed, build my own shelves, build the majority of anything with wood needed for outdoors, building corrals out of steel ( not a money saver right now but in the long run as repsirs should be practically nill). I also bake my own bread, buns, sweets. Butcher our own meats raise our own chickens, garden. Come spring we plan to plant a couple small plots of wheat and oats and harvest this by hand so our feed bill goes down. We also plan to buy a couple milk cows which will save us approx $800 per month before expenses to look after the cow. I also sew some of our own clothing. With hubby being a weldr he burn his clothes up quickly so we have started placing leather on his carhartt coveralls fronts and removable pieces on his hoodies so i can wash them. This way the bibs last close to a year and ahalf instead pf 3 months. Think that about covers most of what we do to save a buck. Oh yea we buy bulk and stock up when on sale. I forgot to add i am a second hand queen. My kids know that alot of their clothes come from second hand stores and if they dont like it they can work to buy brand new. About the only one i dont buy second hand for is hubby and that is because i never seem to be able to find stuff for him. I also can alot of my own goods. I also change my own oil (all vehicles), tires, and general maintenance on our older vehicles.

Being inventive is definitely being frugal!!! For each hinge you did not have to buy you saved 4-5 bucks

I am frugal and always try to save a buck, according to everyone i get it from my mother.

Did you know if you are charged more at the till than what the tag is in several stores you get that item free if its under $10, if its more then you get $10 off. This is the policy at Superstore, Walmart, Giant Tiger (but at Giant Tiger don't say anything until after you have paid or they wont give it to you). I have gotten so many things for free because of this, just last week i got a case of 24 pepsi free

I use coupons, love them. Buy things that are on sale and am always willing to barter. I love DIY projects and if i can recycle something i do. I plant a garden every year and we have our own raised meat.

I love the dollar store

I shop at the mennonite store in Lanigan. Clothes housewares Furniture dishes fixtures just about everything. Its all donated but the best is it is an actual charity that helps people who need it. All volunteer workers so the earnings are not ate up in administration like a lot of the charitys. Who can beat a $4.00 pair of pants, perfect for work.

Freezer Feburary: Will not by anything that is frozen instead we will do all the shoppin from the freezer. That is what we look forward to this next month.

Always buy things on sale..stay away from retail as much as possible.
Thrift Shops first , mall second.
Raise all our own meat and vegetables. Buy fruit in season+ can and freeze for winter.
Heat with wood.
No new vechiles on this place. Drive to die.
Reuse, recycle dang near everything.
Anti label family: this includes the 2 teenagers.
Everyone must put away 5% of income into savings first.

Do I want it? or Do I need it?

silkiebantam wrote:

I use my kids old gumboots to make hinges, and handles on things in the chicken house. Does that count? You get to be inventive to figure out how do make things if you don't want to buy them.

you were the lady that built those cages into your chicken house and used the gumboots for hinges...i remember being very impressed by them, do you have any pics you still have you could post here?
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I thought this was cool, my hubby told me using leather for hinges was a common practise years ago...