How are you frugal?

[toetoe]

I hang my washed cloths outside, winter spring summer and fall. In the colder seasons I leave them till 95% of the water is out then put them in my dryer.
I make my own Bounce sheets. I buy 1 bottle of any old cheap fabric softener, pour it in a 1 gallon Ice cream bucket. Boil the same amount of water that I have of softener. Pour that into the same bucket, stir. Take an old rag, towel or even any other cloth, make 6 inch squares. Put all in the ice cream bucket.
Each time you use your dryer, open the bucket, take one cloth and squeeze it out and throw it in the dryer.
1 bucket of family friendly softener lasts me 115 loads and costs me $1.99

To get blood out of fabric, ( I have a boy that gets lots of skinned knees) Pour Hydrogen Peroxide on the blood stain. It takes it right out.

Sold my 96 GMC Safari van and got a 72 VW beetle and 68 VW van. Bought both with what I got from the Safari, both VW's use the total of gas the Safari used. My insurance for both the VW's is what I was paying for the Safari.
So I got 2 vehicles for the price of 1 Safari. We only use the ^* van for hauling. So I have cut my gas cost in half.

Got together with my son's school to start a clothing swap. I put a flyer out in my son's school to tell other parents that we meet every season in the gym to swap clean reusable toys and cloths.
Everyone brings their out grown cloths and toys from their children and everyone swaps. Works real good.
Very seldom come back with any of the clothes I took, but do come home with a new full bag of clothes that will now fit my son for free.

Do all my own repair on my cars.

Make my own wine and beer and cider.

Cook more Asian foods, I find that goes further, less meat needed, better for you.

Cut off my T.V Cable, only watch videos that we can trade with friends or get for free.

 

[Scoop]

Quote:
I dont think its for the HE machines..
last year i was using regular laundry soap in my HE washer.. and i killed some important componant in it...

New washer and $900 later...
I'm afraid to use any other kind of soap other than the HE soap..
Although i'd like to make my own...

Hmmm... I've been using the homemade soap in my front loader. I've never bought that HE soap. My machine is about 10 years old.
I'm kind of curious now how much that soap suds up. I actually never looked! That is the thing - regular soap is too sudsy. These machines are supposed to push the water through the clothes. You can't push suds thru clothes I guess. I'm gonna go put in a load and look, you got me curious!!!

Be back later I hope!

Well, I used 2 tsps of the homemade soap and it was not sudsy so I assume it's fine to use in front loading machines.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Homade Laundry soap, Buying stuff on sale, cooking at home, had a huge garden this year, not using the a/c or heat til I absolutley have too, packing lunch for myself and DS's, getting all errands done while I am picking uo youngest, if I aint got it I wait til I HAVE to go to town to get it, etc..

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Quote:
Never heard of making your own drier sheets. Will have to try that.

When the current bar of soap gets low I soften it in some standing water and press it on to the new bar of soap - so never have to throw away those little skinny bars of soap.

Always shop the clearance racks first. I also make it a point to remember prices of things. I was buying this one rice mix at the regular grocery for $1.29 per package and found it at the Super WalMart for $.56. Same thing with toothpaste, one store over $5.00 WalMart $2.64. I keep my eyeballs peeled for bargains all the time and stock up.

 

[raroo]

Hmmm, lets see...

Well, we don't have any car payments, and never have to take them in to get repaired. My hubbie is an excellent mechanic and can do difficult repairs himself that would normally cost thousands to do if we took it in to a shop. He also does the oil changes, brakes, electrical, etc.

We just recently bought a wood stove. Last winter our heat bill added up to about $2000. We won't be doing that again!

I try to make my showers as short as possible. (Big sacrifice on my part, I love a long hot shower.)

We always wash in cold water and we don't use fabric softener, bleach, or bounce sheets.

We used energy saver bulbs and keep the lights off during the day and only one lamp on at night.

We don't have cable so the TV is never on (and the accompanying bill)

We rarely go clothes shopping unless hubbie needs new work clothes or boots. I get most of mine as Christmas gifts and I don't really care about clothes anyway. Live in the same old jeans and sweater and I am happy!

We grow our own veggies in the summer.

Of course, we raise our own chickens.

We try to be economical when it comes to groceries, but aren't willing to sacrifice the quality of the food to save money. We rarely buy junk extras that we don't need, like pop, candy, sweets, etc.

For our lunches, I make double the amount of whatever I'm making for dinner, and we have the leftovers. Because we're relying on leftover dinner for lunches, it encourages us to always make our own dinners rather than going out or cheating with a burger, and this has really helped us save too. Plus leftover dinner is yummy! However, this really only works if one has access to a microwave at work.

We don't really buy ourselves anything extra. We don't buy anything like CD's, ipods, new electronics, useless knickknacks; I don't buy jewelry, shoes, go to spas, waxes, facials, or hair appts, stuff like that.

Ummmm, I think that's it for the most part!

 

[herechickchick]

I am in the process of furnishing my house and I have had the best time buying old furniture and re doing it my self to make it look really expensive. Right now I am working on a china cabinet that I am making into an armoire (because real armiores are to big for my small house). I will have to take a pic when it is done. I am painting it to look like one I saw at Neiman Marcus for $4000! I got mine for $99 at the salvation army! I have re done chairs, a dining table and chairs and old bed frame. I have saved THOUSANDS by doing this and everything looks like it came out of a show room.

 

[ducks4you]

I NEVER throw away any animal feed bags UNTIL they've been recycled into garbage bags for my barn, outbuildings, or the basement can. Wire from wire-tied bales and any small pieces of metal won't break through them because they're all heavy-duty plastic, now.

I have only purchased 3 garbage cans for our place in the 10 years we've lived here, as well. Two of my kitchen garbage cans cracked their lids. One is now the can in the tool shed, the other is now the can in the machine shed, which didn't have one until last week.

herechickchick , I REALLY want to see your new armoire AND I want instructions on how you did it.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

Quote:
Hmmm... I've been using the homemade soap in my front loader. I've never bought that HE soap. My machine is about 10 years old.
I'm kind of curious now how much that soap suds up. I actually never looked! That is the thing - regular soap is too sudsy. These machines are supposed to push the water through the clothes. You can't push suds thru clothes I guess. I'm gonna go put in a load and look, you got me curious!!!

Be back later I hope!

Well, I used 2 tsps of the homemade soap and it was not sudsy so I assume it's fine to use in front loading machines.

I have not read all the responses to this question however I just wanted to mention that I have been using homemade laundry soap in my HE washer for more than a year with no problems, the homemade soap has very little suds and works great. Also I have been warned not to use vinegar as fabric softener in a painted steel tub washer since it will cause rust that will transfer to clothes but mine is stainless steel and have had no problems either. There are several versions of the recipes posted on the sister site sufficientself.com

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Never really thought about this before as being frugal since I have done it for years. I put my shampoo in a pump type bottle and only use one squirt. Seems like a large bottle lasts a year or so.

Also, we buy the commercial size box of plastic wrap and it will last for 3+ years. How do I know, I date the box when I open it just to see how long it takes to use it. And, I use tons of plastic wrap!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I water down the liquid soap so it will go farther.

I just put a bead of toothpaste across the width, not the length, of the toothbrush. It still seems to make enough foam to clean my teeth.

Before I learned to make my own laundry powder that just uses a bare tablespoon-full, I was careful to measure the amount of detergent recommended on the label of those giant tubs of detergent. They always give you a big scoop to use but when you read the instructions you'll find that you really only need to fill the scoop maybe 1/4 full to clean a load of laundry. Folks who neglect to read those instructions may be using 4X or more of the detergent necessary.