How are you frugal?

[justbugged]

Thank you for the information Sandee. P.S. Love your Kitchen. I would love to have one like that. My kitchen looks really large but it very small. I am going to add it to my list on dreams.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

Powdered milk is SO much cheaper at BJ's than at the regular grocery store... and the Carnation brand too..

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The notebook idea was from a great book on frugal living called The Tightwad Gazette. It helps to keep track of trends & tendencies among stores, to know when something is a good deal or not. Of course it's not worthwhile to drive to a half dozen different stores all around town just to save a few cents on their lower-priced merchandise. But it helps me to know where the things I use the most cost the least, so I can plan accordingly when I go to town to shop.

 

[Troyerbuilding]

Quote:
Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey?

Lifesaver... check him out on the radio as well as books.

 

[turtlynne]

Has anyone suggested inexpensive wash cloths instead of toilet paper? - you might still want to use paper occasionally but just toss these in wash you are already doing - saves trees too...

 

[Blackbird]

I think some of you should come over to SufficientSelf. The link is at the very bottom of the page.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

We raise 90% of our food.. I have a orchard (apples, pears, peaches, cherry, fig, persimmons, blueberry, blackberry, dewberry, and a small vineyard mostly muscadines and Concords. We plant a huge garden and share it w/ my dh's family, and anyone who wants to come and pick. I have a small herb garden. We have black Angus, honeybees and now chickens (for eggs)..

.I use no chemicals/pesticides or herbicides. By canning and freezing my own foods, eating fresh --I keep us healthier--which saves us money.

I love thrift stores, second hand shops and look in there before making a purchase. I found three Chicago Cutlery brand knives for 1$ each (they were sell on ebay for 17-25$.. Prefect handles, I came home and sharped them. I find all kinds of items --baskets for gathering eggs for .50, spatterware colanders for 2$.. lg. SS bowls 3$ for 4 I use them while canning.

I make lists! For shopping, items I need, sizes/measurements, color swatches taped in them..

When I open an item (dog food, laundry det., shampoo--everything--I write on the bottle/box/bag what date I started using it...This way I know it takes 39days for me to use my laundry det... 21 days to use up a bag of dog food, my bottle of shampoo lasts a month. This prevents me from running out and having to make a special trip to the store for 'one item'---which ALWAYS ends up being 50...

****I try to stay organized!!! This one is my main frugal thing---- when I am not organized--I purchase too much of things that I don't need/can't find. Before I run to the store, I clean out my cabinets/frig and make my list.

I purchase those notebooks from a craft store that are 1$. I place them by the phone. When I get a call or call someone, I write down information/notes that I need to remember..Instead of me tearing the house apart trying to find a little pc of loose paper..I go to the note book and there's the order#, the phone#, the person I spoke with--etc.. When the deed is taken care of--I just tear the page out and throw it away.. it not only has saved me time and energy but $$$ because I know who I spoke with and what they said/offered and the time and day I spoke to them..

I also, keep one for Chirstmas ideas--IF I talk to one of my children/grands in Feb. or May and they say--I would love to have a *** I write it down and look for it during the yr...most of the time finding it on sale or at one of my favorite junk stores!! It helps me to remember that one gets her nails done at Jane's and the other @ Kelly's...or that my grandson is now pulling for a different college..They are always surprised that I remembered or even that I knew (they would have forgetten we talked about it) that they wanted, needed something.

I just can't stress enough, that being organized is a wonderful $$, time and energy saver!!!

 

[SandyK]

Writing a post about using coupons isn't really done in a paragraph or two. It also takes time and effort to keep things organized and sorted. Then there is the shopping. It is different from going to the store to shop for what you need that week. Mine is for stocking up on free and nearly free items to go into my stash. There is a top 10 list for us that do the couponing of items we never, ever need to buy.

1. Toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, mouthwash
2. Hair Care, shampoos and conditioners
3. Body Washes and soap
4. Razors
etc. you get the idea.

I first started off with buying multiple copies of the Sunday paper for the coupon books. You want to collect coupons for anything and everything even if you may never ever use the item. If you don't have enough money to buy the papers, get people to save theirs for you. Lots of good printable coupons on the internet also.

Next you will need a notebook with plastic baseball card inserts to store and separate all of the coupons into categories. Like, Paper and Plastic, Medicines, Body Wash, Hair, Toothpaste etc.

Then you study the Sunday sale ads that come out to see what coupon matches you can make with the sale items. My main drug stores are CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid, there are others. My grocery stores are Martins, Giant, Safeway, Weis. Target and Walmart also work very well with good deals.

I will give you an example of a run that took 5 minutes tonight:

Safeway

I bought 4 Windex today, 4 antibacterial with the peelies (coupons for $.55 on the bottles, doubling to $1.00). Buying at least 3 reduces the price to $1.99 ea. and buying the fourth gives you another free for the BOGO (Buy One, Get One). Final math:

4 x $1.99 =$7.96
less bogo=-$3.98
less coupons=-$4.00
final total=-$.02

get 2 $1 catalinas (these are the papers that they give you at the end of your sale with the receipt) and then turn in rebate, making it a $7.02 money maker!!

There is a rebate for Windex going on now that will make you $5.00. Did this deal twice for 8 bottles free plus $9.00 profit after rebate.

This weekend, we had a $30 coupon for the Bayer Diabetic Meters. I don't need these but will buy them when they go on sale at Walgreens or other places because lots of times they give you bucks back for buying an item. So lets say the meters were on sale for $14.99 and when you bought it they were giving $5 in bucks. Using my coupon got a free meter and a coupon worth $5 of merchandise at Walgreens. I now can donate the meter to the different local organizations that need them. Later use the $5 to purchase something else that goes on sale, and gives me more bucks back.

The idea behind my game is to buy items that I use when they go on sale where I can either get them for free or really cheap. That way I can stock up and not have to pay full price when I run out.

For the grocery items that will parish, I look for the good sales and match coupons that I have on hand in my book. Our stores all double except one. Then they have their own special coupons that you can stack with a manufacturer coupon (use both together).

Hope this helps a little. Most people won't go to the trouble, but for those of us who do, we save big!!!

Sandy

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Whats BOGO??

 

[SandyK]

Sorry, Buy One, Get One