Just curious who else is living super frugal

[Abirdbrain]

Well, my dear. Knowing you may be part of the problem, is a big step to the cure. The first answer is to STOP BUYING. Grocery shop fro a particular time frame, like 2 weeks, and stick to it. Wear out the clothes you have, wait till your shoes fall apart. Sounds boring dont it? It is the first step toward testing what you REALLY need, not want.

Look around you, if you can lose all that, because of your spendy habits, who else gets hurt. It takes work, and a sense of well being to know you are going right, or lose your partner, and home and be alone..... It IS your choice.. I am a survivor of that kind of deal, and it is definately NOT FUN to experience..

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I have found life to be much more enjoyable since I have become more frugal. I probably have a boring life to some people, but I love it! I have always enjoyed my home, but I find myself enjoying it even more than I used to.

My hubby's brother and sister-in-law are never home -- always working so they can spend and overspend themselves into oblivion. They spend no time with their kids (they are in daycare all week, which is fine, but then they dump them at hubby's crazy mother so they can do whatever they want all weekend long -- this goes on every weekend) and complain about their nice home because ya know you have to be home to enjoy it and care for it. And all for what? To chase after things! Their children are small, but are already having issues stemming from this. This is not what life is about!

 

[kara_leigh]

We're doing our best at being frugal. Two months ago we sold our house in the city and bought a house on 5 acres outright, so no mortgage or debt. We moved from a house with outrageous bills each month to one that has very little (i.e. property taxes each year on our last house were over $4500, here they are around $600). A couple years ago we started buying the majority of our clothes at Goodwill and other resale shops. Every so often we will buy new stuff, especially if we can't find it at the resale shops, but for the most part most of our clothes are used. Since we moved, we rarely eat out. Maybe once a month or so, when we are in town shopping we will grab some bbq. We cook about 95% from scratch, and hopefully next year I will have a garden and can incorporate our own food into a lot of it.

We have gone from stopping at the store every day and buying a lot of unnecessary items and food that doesn't end up getting eaten, to now we shop once a week (the distance helps with this, 45-60 min to the store) and all of the food gets eaten. We have a deep freeze now, which we didn't before, so we buy a lot of bulk, then vacuum seal what we can and freeze it. We have chickens, so soon we'll have our own eggs and meat. We also only really leave the house when we have to, to save gas, especially now that our main car blew a head and we are having to drive our inefficient gas guzzler. My husband works on our property, so he doesn't have to drive to work.

We keep paper plates on hand just in case, but only rarely use them, and only have glass cups to drink from. The paper towels are like the paper plates, only used in rare occasions, we mostly use cloth towels and washcloths. We don't waste money going to movies, we wait for them to come onto dvd (netflix is one of my luxuries) or tv. When it is warm outside I line dry towels and dishrags to save on energy (can't dry clothes here b/c the water leaves them scratchy and crunchy and since we have a well we can't use liquid fabric softener) and we keep the thermostat at at least 78. We open the windows if it is not to hot or humid outside.

I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of right now.

 

[Chickangel79]

We are doing our best to be frugal over here! We have turned the garden into allotment, have gotten a free 8x6 greenhouse and are learning to preserve/can, freeze lots of produce and use it wisely. We have 25 hens and they pay their own way for food with the sale of their eggs.
OH business had to close 2 years ago and we haven't recovered just yet. I work everyday cleaning but OH is struggling to find employment. WE have two children, 8 and 12, and appreciate every small thing. We own everything we possess.
I learned to process the Roos last year, which is such an achievement for me!! We shop smart and look for deals and barter where we can. I make trips when we need several things in the area too, I just worked out we pay the equivalent of $8.60 a gallon for our fuel over here !!!
We use car boot sales for clothes for our children, and make meals from scratch. We sold the other car, we use coupons but not as many as you! We negotiated the tv service from £30 down to £9 a month.
It's not perfect but its a work in progress

My mum and dad are proud of us, but my sister can't understand me, she is spoilt by her OH and will never know what having no money means until she is looking down the sofa for that last 10p for bread so the children can eat.

When we get back on our feet we will continue to live this way, its appreciated and much more fun making Christmas gifts instead of buying commercial things. The children eat healthier and learn in the process.

Well done to all of you x and hope those in hard times can find things getting better soon x x

 

[Lydia&Andrew]

We don't get so many coupons over here in the UK as in the US but I try to make the most of what we get too.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

Morning all!

Just wondering what you spend on groceries for the week? I spend about $60.00 a week. It is mainly dairy, bread (only on sale and I do make homemade, too), fresh fruits and veggies, stockpile nonperishables (flour, sugar, oats, spaghetti sauce, noodles, beans, etc), cereal if it's on sale, maybe a small amount of meat (we have meat in the freezer), and sometimes health and beauty products (toothpaste, toothbrushes, diapers, etc). Sometimes I spend way less than that (like when I need only milk and fruits/veggies -- runs about $30.00 then), too. I used to only spend about $50.00 on average, but since the price of dairy has gone up, so has my grocery bill.

I had just heard that the average grocery bill for a family of four (like us) is $185.00 a week

. Even if I had to buy more meat weekly, I'd still never be close to that amount!!!! And I generally don't use that many coupons -- only for cereal, bread, toothpaste, and diapers (don't need those too often -- DD only wears them at night). So just curious to what you all are spending, too.

 

[Raiquee]

I only go every two weeks, and I spend about a $100 each time I go. We do buy milk from the dollar store right up the street, throughout the week as we go through it fast. So I guess I spend about $50 a week. I think that amount will go down once the garden is booming

I don't buy a whole lot of pre-packaged foods, but milk is always expensive, as is cheese and meats. I always shop my meats on if they are on sale. I won't buy it if I have to pay full price. I buy in bulk and freeze off the extras.

We are a family of 4, but one DS is still on formula and the other doesn't eat a full portion yet. So we buy food for a family of 2.5

 

[HeatherLynn]

I will be honest I would be hard pressed to get my grocery bill lower than it is now.( $300) I may have to at some point and there would be some major adjustments if that happens. We are only a family of 6. I do buy a lot of basics. Almost everything we eat is home made at this point. We still eat cereal in the morning simply because the kids like it and its so dang cheap. ( gotta love aldi)

 

[Abirdbrain]

Ya, household of 2, giving about $50 a week. It Varies as we take advantage of spot sales and bargains, or dont buy when prices hiccup, and we dig in the freezer. Thats edibles not laundry or animals. The animals get more money that we do....

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

For a family of 7 we spend about $550 a month for food, diapers, baby food, toiletries, and household items. We do splurge on the Keurig K-cups every month and that is not in the grocery bill. I can’t bring myself back to drinking Folgers. Milk out here is about $2.89-$3 something depending on where you buy it and the kids are allowed to have milk at breakfast and dinner only....I was buying way too much milk because no one wanted to make Kool-Aid. Bread we get from the bakery for $1.19 a loaf. I make a lot of our meals from scratch, but do keep a few quick items around when i don't have time to cook.