Just curious who else is living super frugal

[Totalcolour]

After eating our own home raised meat for the past several months, we actually broke down on the weekend and bought a steak each! It was heaven. And we had our homemade wine with it too

 

[elijahboy]

i started making my kids take navy showers..

turn the water on
get wet
turn the water off
wash
turn the water on
rinse
turn the watewr off
get out

 

[kraftyladies]

its not the same one but the one you saw online was the one I was looking for. This one does woodfloors also. I LOVE IT even more than i did yesterday. It picks up dirt like no vacuum I have ever owned. Seriously. I even had a rainbow vac. Yep this one is better. Still no regrets.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hoover-Whole-House-Bagless-Upright-UH71209/19478275

This is it. Man I love this thing.

Mine died and I really need a new one. Glad I read this, I just might have to get one!!! Thanks!!!

 

[HeatherLynn]

Yea I would get one. Still not even a single regret. Well maybe one. I should have bought a spare washable filter. ALL the filters are washable. Ok i love that too but not being able to vacuum for 24 hours in my house would be bad. I think I will budget in spare filters for when I wash them. Man I love that vacuum. Sad to say but that might be my best mothers day present ever. It cut at least an hour off my chores. Old vacuum took FOREVER and still wasn't clean enough. We don't live in filth or anything but my husband said the air smelled cleaner. I would like to think because there was less dust floating around after my massive vacuuming fest. I might be a bit OCD on the cleaning thing. Just a little.

 

[krcote]

You vacuum more than once in a 24 hour period?!

Yea I would get one. Still not even a single regret. Well maybe one. I should have bought a spare washable filter. ALL the filters are washable. Ok i love that too but not being able to vacuum for 24 hours in my house would be bad. I think I will budget in spare filters for when I wash them. Man I love that vacuum. Sad to say but that might be my best mothers day present ever. It cut at least an hour off my chores. Old vacuum took FOREVER and still wasn't clean enough. We don't live in filth or anything but my husband said the air smelled cleaner. I would like to think because there was less dust floating around after my massive vacuuming fest. I might be a bit OCD on the cleaning thing. Just a little.

 

[dela1991]

I don't think you failed at frugal. Frugal doesn't mean just money - won't this cut the time spent on this chore down considerably and allow you to spend time on another endeavor??? Growing up we were taught to buy the best quality we could afford. Frequently that entailed waiting a long while to make a purchase or going without or making do. But in the long run, it was worth it - product longevity generally paid for the item many times over.

I agree. Your time is worth money. If you save time, you save money. I too wait to buy something till I can get the best quality I can afford. I am still vacuuming with my 18 year old Electrolux. The old ones are great and last forever. It has been repaired a few times but I don't mind.

 

[Loblolly]

I am a big frugal person. About 3 years ago I changed the way I thought about what I was spending our money on. My two kids home school and I look at it like this- it is my job to make the money my husband makes go as far as possible. My family are clean eaters- no processed food- so it is a challenge to get the best I can, on a very tight budget. (350- 400$ a month in groceries- for 2 adults and 2 teenagers) I do it though. I am an avid baker, so I make bread often. We hunt, so our meat is mostly deer- which I do have processed- I found the time vs cost wasn't worth it.

My kids have beautiful wardrobes- named brand clothes (Abercrombie, American eagle, etc)...all from Goodwill or thrift stores. The kids do not mind at all, they have just accepted that our life has changed and this is the way it is. They actually think it is fun to get the best deal possible! (my daughter went to a local homecoming dance this past fall- wearing a 250$ designer dress that I paid $5 for--the tags were still on it!)

I have made my own laundry detergent for years, we use a clothes line. We gave up paper towels and I bought a bunch (20) of white wash cloths- they cost me less than $10. We use one, and throw it in the basket to be washed and bleached. I have only used 7 rolls of paper towels in the house since last September. We also use cloth napkins.

Our chicken coop and yard was made from all recycled and re-purposed wood- we only bought the hardware cloth.

Frugality rocks! I couldn't be happier, and I sometimes have to stop myself from judging others that spend like water. :-/

 

[GhislaineDel]

My husband and I are doing something that increases our costs but is a frugal move none the less. We are refinancing the property we bought less then three years ago to have a lower interest rate while at the same time going with a 20 year mortgage instead of a 30 so we'll pay it off over 7 years earlier (assuming we don't pay it off faster). Also, since our property consists of three lots we're going to have the new mortgage only on the center lot that holds the house. We've always both been saver types so we were able to make a significant down payment when we originally purchased our home which makes this possible. It gives me peace of mine to know that we'll own most of the land outright should tragedy strike. It'll cost us less then a hundred dollars more per month but it really seems like the frugal thing to do.

We are still ramping up but we have a garden and ducks. As soon as we build a coop for them we'll be adding chickens.
Our acreage is mostly woods which can be sustainably harvested to heat the house in the winter.
I take advantage of the dehydrator I got for Christmas a few years ago.
I practice many of the frugal ideas in this thread like shopping used/clearance for just about everything.

I'm not sure we qualify as super frugal since I do spend money on quality local dairy and meat products, though some things I wait for loss-leader sales. I'm grateful that my husband makes enough that I can both stay home with our one (so far) child and afford to support local farms who offer quality products which I feel will benefit our health in the long run.

Great thread!

 

[primalchick]

I'm loving reading all these great ideas! Loblolly what is your recipe for laundry detergent? I usually wash my floors with a vinegar/baking soda mix in the water.

We are clean eaters too (well, primal/paleo...no processed foods and no grains either. I'm celiac anyways so it was easy to drop the grains!), organic veggies can be pricey but I'm going to grow my own this year (our growing season hasn't started yet, it still freezes at night. Mid-late May is when we put in our gardens up here). We are hoping to move mid-summer though so I'm finding used containers to use as my gardens so we can take them with us!

Instead of fixing up an old place we are looking at buying some bare land now. We found 42 acres near us for a good price, with really pretty views and we love it. We have a large down payment saved, and even with putting that down we'd be able to afford to get all the servinces put in wish cash too which is nice. We are looking at going off grid and using solar energy. Our province has a large rebate for people who do this and with that it would end up costing us less than getting power run in! Plus no monthly power bill. We have a few friends who have done it and love it.

 

[SportTees]

These ideas on this post a great!! Iam growing 2 very large gardens this year that should cover my family as far as veggies go and the chickens take care of the eggs. The only thing I have a problem with is where do you find cheap bulk meat if you dont have the room to grow your own? Also is there any good way to preserve Squash?