Just curious who else is living super frugal

[HeatherLynn]

How is living frugally treating everyone. Its going pretty good here. Month by month i become more efficient with feeding the family. Lots of little tweeks. I made my own vanilla extract thansk to someone on here. I will tell you everyone looked at me odd when I started it. Now when they taste stuff I made with it they want to go make their own. The vanilla flavor really pops. Next I am making one with a dark rum for my cakes and such. I just think its going to taste great. I love to cook and I love being frugal. Its working for me.

Someone I bought some baby goats from is sending me some Kefir grains btw, so soon I will be making my own. Very excited about that. We are almost totally debt free in November. All that is left is my school loan. That will only take 4 months to pay off. At this point if my husband loses his job we could easily live on unemployment while he job searches. He heard a bit more news and its looking like job loss will come eventually. They will probably offer him something in Dallas but we can't go. My parents need me here so we are staying put. I think we will be pretty ready for it.

 

[albert w]

How is living frugally treating everyone. Its going pretty good here. Month by month i become more efficient with feeding the family. Lots of little tweeks. I made my own vanilla extract thansk to someone on here. I will tell you everyone looked at me odd when I started it. Now when they taste stuff I made with it they want to go make their own. The vanilla flavor really pops. Next I am making one with a dark rum for my cakes and such. I just think its going to taste great. I love to cook and I love being frugal. Its working for me.

Someone I bought some baby goats from is sending me some Kefir grains btw, so soon I will be making my own. Very excited about that. We are almost totally debt free in November. All that is left is my school loan. That will only take 4 months to pay off. At this point if my husband loses his job we could easily live on unemployment while he job searches. He heard a bit more news and its looking like job loss will come eventually. They will probably offer him something in Dallas but we can't go. My parents need me here so we are staying put. I think we will be pretty ready for it.

That's good news! Living frugally is going good here also. The garden provided plenty of string beans. Carrots, onions, garlic and potatoes are all looking good but it's been a dry year and the tomatoes are showing the effects. We've been budgeting for the state fair in August but our big splurge this month was to buy some beads and frizbees to give out in our local parade.

 

[cate0404]

I've finally done it, I have the read the whole thread and even though some of it didn't make sense to me so I had to google it to understand (as I live in Australia some things didn't translate in my brain

), there are some AWESOME ideas here! I try to live frugally but our prices are sooooooo different to you guys that I had to keep switching it around in my brain.

I am a single Mum (33) to four kids (D 13, S 11, S 7 and S 5), I work full time and study three nights a week, we have 3 ducks, 3 dogs, 2 cats, a bearded dragon, 2 hermit crabs and 12 five day old chicks that we hatched ourselves but we are only keeping 4. We live in suburbia but I have a pretty big backyard for Canberra Standards so we will be putting in raised Garden beds as soon as we can and having vegetables, fruit and fruit trees.

I make all of our 'junk' food and we only have cooked meals, going to McDonalds can set me back $60 so just not worth it. My weekly shop costs about $250 but that is down from $500 so I'm pretty happy with that. My car is on lease because of my job so I don't technically pay for petrol, rego, insurance or maintanence so that is a huge help. I pay $200 a fortnight on both telephone and electricity, rent is $210 a week, apart from that I don't have any major bills.

I will be making my own washing powder and trying a lot of the other tips in here, but my first port of call will be to go to the self sufficient site to check that out, and then to put in practice what I have read here (and hopefully there).

It's really nice to 'meet' you all and thanks for 'listening!

 

[Stumpy]

Hello, Down Under, there! I haven't read this entire thread, but I thought I'd mention a site where I used to spend a lot of time -- Frugal Village. I think you'd enjoy it.

 

[Totalcolour]

I've finally done it, I have the read the whole thread and even though some of it didn't make sense to me so I had to google it to understand (as I live in Australia some things didn't translate in my brain  )

It's really nice to 'meet' you all and thanks for 'listening! 

Hi there, while I live in WA State USA, I'm from England, with relatives on my Dad's side in Oz. (Victoria - not really sure of Australian geography )

Hope you do well with the frugal thing - I've been doing it for 20 years, and now it's paying off. We have a home and cars debt free, several rental properties (ready for retirement income), a boat and our mini-farm. And every little thing we did without was worth it!

So,

 

[Raiquee]

Heather I am so sorry about the house things. Ask around for some quotes too tho, you'd think they'd be a bit more negotiable due to the economy right now.

Hubby wants us to maybe stay here, as we just found out we are expecting again, and he thinks we can't afford to upgrade our home. Well, we need the extra space now, and it would drastically shorten my 160 mile daily commute. He thinks we are going to get stiffed on our home. I really don't want to give up the house we have a offer on, we both have worked so hard to get where we are. I think if I stay focused and maybe got gazelle intense and paid everything off but student loan and mortgage, by the time baby number 3 comes, he'd be less scared. I think that I'll be my goal. He's the most worried for childcare, and I am too. Maybe we can find a live in nanny tho? The new house has a full apartment which would be nice for a live in nanny. Just gotta play it day by day.

I've been doing real well with my couponing, and I hit up a meat sale, and got some good deals to stock my freezer. We are gonna need a bigger freezer now!

 

[HeatherLynn]

I am actually thankful the house thing happened for us. We took another look at everything we are doing and decided to actually stop saving on the house for now. Just a short break, in the meantime we will be paying everything including student loans off and replacing our family vehicle in cash. Less than a year from now we could live off 700 a month for the 6 of us and still have saved up a years worth of bill money. Insane I know. Too many things have happened and we were trying so hard not to change our plans but it just was not going to work. I fought it but once I gave in to another look this really makes sense for us.
My dad is not healing up the way he should so it really looks like we might have to stay here and we are just not sure that we would have time to build now and take care of everything for my mom and dad. On paper it looks impossible. So for now getting in the best financial shape of our entire lives seems like a great great plan. In a year we can see where we stand committment wise and make better choices for us then. For now we are getting ourselves comfy for a longer stay with my parents. At this point we are "it" for help and there is too much to do.

 

[HeatherLynn]

We haven't had any money savings tips really as of late. I thought I would pop a couple out there.

I love cooking and I love making very nice meals for my family but I am still cheap. These are a couple ways I have found to make things stretch.

#1)
New recipe: Tuna Cakes These are super easy and super yummy and replace my expensive favorite crab cakes. I also will make these with salmon but tuna is a bit cheaper.

1 large can tuna drained. 3 good sized potatoes boiled, pealed and mashed. Roughly 2 cups of bread diced up fine. salt, pepper, fish seasoning ( I think its called old bay?) and of course 2 large eggs. Mix this well and then fry up in olive oil. YUM

I also plan on using this same mixture but adding peppers, onions, and parsley and stuffing tomatoes with it and baking. My dad loves stuffed tomatoes and this would be a yummy healthy way to get a bit of extra protein in.

#2)
use and buy seasonal for late. I got a great deal on zuccinni the other day. I bought way way way more than I could use but thats ok. We used as much as we can. The remained is made into zuccinni bread and frozen for later. Same with fruit. Peaches are .49 a lb. I am so canning my own peach pie filling this year. Also any cheap garden produce can be canned or frozen. We are buying cheap where we can and putting it away with what we got from our garden. You cannot beat fruits and veggies you canned yourself. Delicious.

#3) ground turkey ground turkey ground turkey. Yes it tastes a bit different. Cover it in bbq sauce and they won't complain. I cook tons of it up and spice it heavy. Turkey taco meat, Turkey bbq meat, turkey sloppy joes. Then I freeze and warm up when I need something fast.
With the bbq meat I use biscuits and make little cups in my muffin tins and fill those with the bbq and then sprinkle some cheese. These are super popular are days we are doing wood or hay because they are portable.

#4) Make your own fast food. It costs me $10 to make 40 homemade eggrolls. Thats a pretty good price. On a busy weekend where we need to eat on the run these are great. Super easy to make too. I cook up the filling. ( 1 lbs of hamburger, 1 package cole slaw, 1 package brocolli slaw) I season it up and let it cool. As I stuff and roll these my husband fries them up for me. We can do 40 in maybe 15 minutes. On super busy weekends I might make more. I also make southwestern eggrolls too.

We need to run to ballet and scouts. I grab a baggie of these to pass out and a box of juice drinks and we are set. The kids get a veggie filled meal and its cheap. I do the same with the bbq biscuits i mentioned and the tuna cakes. Its easy to just grab em and go. Everyone eats on the way to the next activity and I don't have to stop at McDonalds.

#5) Don't go out, cook together and stay in. We have been looking up new and different recipes and cooking together. Next we want to try greek food. Its fun, its just as yummy as what we would get going out and its TONS cheaper. The kids think this is a blast. They make tropical milkshakes, smoothies, or fruity tea to go with special meals. Sometimes they decorate the table or I get volunteers to make dessert. Instead of "treating" the family to a night out, we cook together. Its just as much a break for me as going out would be. I don't have to try to get 6 people in the car before they get dirty again. I have tons of helpers and lots of laughing to make cooking fun and not a chore.

#6) Soup night. yep we went back to my grandparents standbye to stretching. Soup. At least meal per week in our house is potato soup. As fall approaches we might have a soup night 3 or 4 nights a week. Sometimes I make a loaf of bread or some rolls to go with it. Sometimes there might be some ham or sliced roast beef to add to the mix. Soup is cheap. Italian wedding soup is another favorite and is super cheap. Great way to use up some hamburger meat. I don't use stew meat when i make stew either. Its just more hamburger or if I am really feeling cheap hamburger/turkey mix.


Ok well these are all i can think of at the moment. Its a bit late. I am forever looking for ways to save on food and feed the family better. There is no point saving money on food when your health pays for it. I hope some of these tips helped you and that maybe you can use some.

 

[Totalcolour]

We recently got a new dog (our old girl died) but the new one had a skin problem. They told us it was an allergy. I was concerned about having a dog with a problem that required special food. so I went to an almost raw diet (kibbles in the morning, alternate days, the rest is raw.. She gets the scraps I used to throw away from cull day. She gets the heads, feet, gizzards, necks, hearts, lungs etc of all out chickens and ducks, goats and pigs. She also gets the rabbit skeletons after I debone them.

Her skin is completely clear, her coat is really glossy and she is lean and fit. Plus, we don't waste all that nasty stuff WE don't eat. I know some people might be put off by it, but it's really done wonders for her. Vet says he hasn't seen a healthier girl (and it's cheap!). I do sometimes buy chicken thighs at Costco, bone IN (they are cheaper than dog food) and give her one of those for her evening meal. She also has duck eggs (we have too many and we always have some left over after sales).

DON'T BUY EXPENSIVE DOG/CAT FOOD AGAIN!​

 

[yakibert]

I'm not as frugal as I would like ..but I'm almost debt free ...I'm free of everything except for the mortgage. I do need to learn to spend less. Spend more wisely. Not be such a consumer. But on the plus side, I'm growing more of my own food and that will expand as the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, currant and apple trees grow. The vegetable garden is doing well - it's hard to keep up. I've got my electric bills down ...have a way to go but it's better. Self-sufficiency or as close to it is my goal. Even if my wife keeps fighting it!