How are you frugal?

[SOchick]

Quote:
You're very welcome, I've been using it for 2 years now and I love it. I have a powder recipe too, I started out using that, but like the liquid better.

If I remember corectly, the powder recipe is:
2 cups finely grated soap, 1 cup Borax, 1 cup washing soda, use 1 or 2 tablespoons per load
You can use any bar soap for this, I started using scented castille soaps, but Fels Naptha cleans better.

Also, with any load of laundry, if you notice you whites getting dingy looking, you can add a few drops of liquid blueing to the water (before you add the clothes), and that will help them look brighter without using bleach (almost all commercial detergents have blueing in them).


I love everybody else's tips and ideas! Keep them coming!

 

[justbugged]

To Julie08
Yes it is OK to refreeze chicken stock. As long as you are careful with keeping it refrigerated and or from hot to cold in preferably 2 hours. That is according to food safety guide lines. I have let it go longer, but we do have healthy immune systems. Refreezing can reduce the quality of the product, but most of us would not notice the difference. I make my own chicken stock. When buy chicken I try to buy it with bones in it. I then de-bone what I want and freeze the bones. I also freeze the end of broccoli and asparagus ends. I use carrots and onion and boil the bones and veggies down. The bones have calcium in it so if the broth gets a little cloudy it's OK it's just the calcium in it. So I find homemade stock is so much better for us. I use it as soup base. I am trying to find fish heads and bones for fish stock. The same can be done with beef bones or any other type meat bones. I would use it as a base for whatever type of meat the stock came from aka venison stock venison stew or soup. Just make sure that the stock doesn't take too long to cool off. The bacterium starts growing after less than two hours. So cool it fast. I do a lot of what others do to save $$$s.
I know I spend too much on the pets. But now they are like my kids and the reason to get up every day. I am making my own bread every other day. I have been using the www.thefreshloaf.com web site for ideas. To say the least the food is rather very good at my house. I grow what I can on my sub-division lot. I got 13lbs of potatoes this year, in a stock tank. It’s not much. But it was fun. I have been harvesting English walnuts today. I must have a couple of lbs of walnuts. Not bad for a ornamental tree. I have planted a cherry tree, plum, and a new apple tree. I planted broccoli in the front yard and I use tomato plants as potted plants in the front of the yard and on the back deck. I bought three four packs and had too many plants, but I wanted variety. We had the best tomato season ever this year. I couldn't eat that many tomatoes. I frozen some, and fed a lot to the chickens. I feed all the cooking scrapes to the chickens. I buy furniture and even my latest car off of craigslist. I also have a pair of Yorkies that I breed once a year. Thank god I was able to sell a couple of puppies. It paid for the emergency vet bills so that we could save our little (favorite) boy. We work off cash only and would have had to put him down if we hadn't had the extra cash.
I feel that I am learning as the years go on. I still spend too much on groceries. I learned how cook at the age of 13, while cooking a family of nine. And now it's mostly me and my husband who is home only on weekends. He travels for work so he is gone from Monday to Friday. That helps save on food and other things around the house during the week. But I still have trouble cooking for two. I know we eat too much.
I have basic satellite TV, but I have splurges too. I love the DVR. That way I don't have to watch all the commercials.
We home-schooled the kids and went a number of years without TV. I find now that I live mostly lone in a small sub-division home that I use the TV for company. The most frugal thing that you can do is to raise your child to be a responsible self supporting human being. I made two of them and feel pride that I succeeded in my mission, and responsibility. Way to long forgive me.
I get my hair cut once a year maybe it grows really slow, but I pay a lot for the cut with the hope that I can get a year or more from the cut. I have always done my own hair color, but right now I am growing it out. So now no more hair color for me. I do get my nails done. That is a big luxury; I spend 20.00 bucks a month for them. I let them grow out a bit longer than I should, but I still find them better than my own weak nails. And it makes me feel pretty (priceless). I do cut my husband’s hair for him. And we both buy our shoes on E-bay. We have to have better than average shoes do to major foot problems. I also got fitted for the right size of bras at an upper end store. Now I know what size I am, and I am big enough that I have to buy special bras. I buy off of E-bay. I save at least 50% or more over store prices.
We do all of our own home repair, and yard work. I have always painted. My husband is very good at building and mechanical things. If something isn’t working right he can all most always fix whatever it is, that needs fixing. We raised meat chickens for the first time. My husband and son killed, and then skinned the chickens. They work as a team. They both have things that don’t bother them about the process, so each does their thing and I do the final cut up and bagging. We are going to do more birds next spring.
I am still P. O. ed over the power bill. The bill says I spend more than average. I live mostly alone, and I live in a family neighborhood. I use florescent bulbs, and turn things off. I keep wondering if the 75 gallon fish tank uses more energy than I want to spend. I love the fish in the tank almost as much as I live the dogs, cats, and chickens that live with me. Oh well a few things are worth it.

I keep trying to save more, but with really bad ADD, and some brain injury I do the best I can, and I hope for the best. And thank God for spell check.

 

[ducks4you]

I MUST be frugal with plastic wrap. Sunday I was nearing the end of a roll of Saran wrap--you know, the stuff that creates a great seal BUT breaks off where you constantly have to pick to find the end of the roll like you do with wrapping paper tape?!?!? I saw that there was a coupon. I couldn't read the, like size 4 Font, so I asked my daughter to read when the coupon expired, thinking it was, maybe 2006? Oh, no...the coupon expired in 1998.

 

[justbugged]

I think I have done that before with plastic wrap.

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

justbugged Hats off to you for all your efforts.

One question do you can any of your vegetables or stock?

We are also baffled by your electrical bill - they keep adjusting our baseline and we go over which costs more. We have called and asked how they calculate it and they can't tell you. Like you I'm here by myself for 3 months while husband works out of town and we average $62.00 a month for our all electric house.

I also admire your thoughts about how you raised your children.

We did meat chickens last year and want to do more this spring. Then make some sausage, ground chicken etc.

Sandee

 

[justbugged]

I didn't have enough Veggies to can this year. I did freeze a few tomatoes and some rhubarb. I live in sub-division house with a nice size yard. I am going to have to cut some of the trees back in order to get more sun light in my yard. We are going trying to grow more in this next year. I think that we will use stock tanks for raised vegetable beds.
I have canned in the past. I love canned peaches. I live about 125 miles from the Yakima Valley. So in the past I would make a trip over there and buy boxes of Peaches, Apricots, Pears, and Tomato's. I would then get home and canned the fruit. But now it's just the 2 of us. It is not cost effective to make the drive; any savings would be eaten up by the cost of travel.
I am also trying not put so many miles on my car these days. I only have to fill the car with fuel every 2 or 3 weeks. Sometimes I think people don't realize the cost of travel when trying to save money. If you drive across town to save a few pennies a gallon you can easily cost yourself more by traveling there than what savings truly are. I fueled one time at the grocery store gas station that is very close to my home, and somehow I didn't get my 7 cent a gallon discount. When I went to the clerk that savings was only about .50 cents. I am glad I got it, but I wouldn't drive to the next town to save that amount. Even if it costs a little more to buy here in the small town I live in, It still is cheaper most of the time rather than driving a twenty mile round trip to get to the next town.
The power company has an energy audit program, but because I live out in the far corner of the county I can't seem to get them to come here and have them audit my home. Our home was built in 1992 so it' not very old. And the insulation is very good. I know that the sky lights seem to be causing a lot of heat loss. We put Styrofoam blocks in the skylight during the really cold times. We had a new furnace and heat pump installed last year, and they 90% efficient. I had hoped to save more than we have. It's very frustrating. We turn the system off during the summer. We only used the air conditioning for a few days when got to 103* degrees in Seattle. When it gets that hot outside I feel the need to keep the fish tank reasonably cool, and the dogs and me too.

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

justbugged like you there are only 2 of us. I bought a canning book for small batches since sometimes I don't have a lot of one thing.

I have seen some very creative gardens that incorporate all kinds of veggies in with flowers and the garden are breathtaking. I would be careful stock tanks in the sun - they might get too hot and cook the roots of the plants. Look for books on French Intense gardening if you have a small lot. They tell you how to plant things really close together.

I'm frugal with our trips to town as well. If I have forgotten something either do without or use something else.

Pacific Gas and Electric has some on-line surveys that you can do on your home and they give suggestions on how to cut back. I don't think you have to have their service to take the survey. Google it and see.

Sandee

 

[SandyK]

Coupons are my answer. Just went to Target yesterday with a handful and spent $99, after coupons it came to $2.58 and they also gave me two $5. gift cards for the Glade items I bought. I have shelves in my basement for all my stash neatly organized so I can find things.

 

[justbugged]

Thanks for the idea. Puget Sound Energy has a very similar on-line survey. I have done the survey a number of times but still can't figure out why the bill is still 128.00 a month. And that does not include the natural gas that the furnace uses. The house is only 1460 square feet. It's not like I am try to heat and light the Taj Mahal.
I just love planting edible things in with the perennial plants. I will look up the the French Intense gardening books. I have been getting a lot of books from the library now that is is only a 15 mile round trip to the county library.
When I go to the grocery store I usually stay to the outside perimeters of the store. That is where all the fresh food is. I have always bought turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. The stores usually have them very cheap like loss leaders. So I buy three or four of them and use them thru out the year form family dinners where the kids and In-Laws come. I also watch for any other meat that is really reduced to use later in the year. I would like to eat more vegetarian. I keep thinking that I need to make a Vegetarian cookbook that doesn't use onions in very recipe. I really wish I liked onions better. I need to use the farmer market in the next really small town too. The little town is only about 4 miles down the road. I got some yogurt there and I have been making my own yogurt. I give it to the baby chicks and the dogs, besides using a lot of it for myself. I splurged on organic milk for making yogurt. The milk is not as old as the less expensive types of milk.
I also want to build a outdoor clay oven so I can bake the bread using a wood fire. We got the book Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer. So now I have to figure out where to put it, and get enough clay for the project.

 

[debilorrah]

I take advantage of two-fers. I don't use many coupons, because I find that the coupons are for name brand, and the off brand is usually just as good and cheaper even after the coupon. I wash everything in cold water - we use propane here. I have only had a minimum delivery of propane twice since May.

We also manage to sell enough eggs to feed all the birds, which makes my 40 lb $8 turkey for Thanksgiving a really good deal!!!