Just curious who else is living super frugal

[yakibert]

Hey Thread Starter! You got me going again with this frugal stuff. Don't give up.

Just a little story. About 10 years ago, I had it all and I lost it all. Lost my house, lost the place I love. Had to take my family and go back living with my mom (who is abusive). Lost a lot of pride.

It look a year, then things were slightly better, but I got to move out and rent a place of our own. Then things got a lot better and I got to start to save. Got rid of all our debt. 10 years later bought a house ..this time learning from all the mistakes I made last time. Fingers crossed that I'll never had to go through that again.

The thing is - I found out that sometimes you get some good times, sometimes you get the bad ...and the only choice you have is to ride through them. The good times end but the bad times end too! Just keep riding the horse! Doing the best you can.

Don't let your pride get in the way. Get help from where ever you can - even if it has to be Uncle Sam - just remember, they ain't giving you anything that you haven't given them - if our men and women can die for our country, Uncle Sam can help us out if some food when we need it.

One thing for sure - you'll make it through - and you'll have a new set of stories to tell someday!

I guess it is a matter of perspective. I work really hard juggling and stretching so no one else in the family has to feel the pinch. Usually I do enjoy it and almost find it a game. The job thing has me freaking out i guess. I have this fear that I might fail the family. Momentary freak out I guess. I just have to keep pushing.

Please don't get me wrong. I don't think we are poor. By government standards we are but I have never ever felt that way. We have managed to be pretty self sufficient so far. I know others struggle more than I do and I do hang out with some that are struggling. That might be part of the freak out because if we struggle then I can't help them out either. so it feels like maybe I will fail them too. ya know. My nerves just got to me a bit. I am reading some Rob Roy again tonight. Mortgage free always makes me feel better.

 

[HeatherLynn]

What foods have you all added to your diet or taken out of your diet in order to save money? As always I am trying to improve how we eat and what I spend on it. The addition of a good butcher has helped, raising chickens for eggs and meat has helped. I have a ways to go before I will have my own milk but the calf and the goats are out in the field munching and growing as I type.

So in order to improve health and save money we have taken out almost all convenience and fast foods. These are now in the rare treat category. We are used to it now so it feels like its time to make some new changes. I decided to cut out ALL breakfast cereal. I mixed up some pancake batter in a jar last night so its ready in the morning. So this morning everyone had the option of pancakes or omelets. Oatmeal is super unpopular here unless I make bars or cookies. I used to make a huge oatmeal breakfast cookie. It has fruit, fine chopped nuts and flax in it. They were pretty yummy. So today I am looking for alternative breakfasts for the family. I also want to cut pasta out. I hate whole wheat pasta, its nasty, so the only option is to cut it. Maybe if we only had it as a now and then but for now we need to get into the habit. The pasta won't save me grocery money but hopefully health spending will go down as we get healthier.

So anyone else trying to get healthy and save money?

 

[Mskayladog]

I deleted to whinny lolI

 

[In His Service]

I haven't cut out pasta, I need it to stretch my food dollar. I, hopefully, have made what I serve with the pasta healthier. I use more veggies and homemade broth, little or no meat other than a bit of chicken in the broth, and 1/4 to 1/2 pound of ground beef or 1/2 to 1 pound of ground turkey, for six of us. I also use brown rice as a budget stretcher. We cut out white rice altogether a few years ago. At first, some of my kids did not like it as much, but now, it is totally accepted. I cook lots of brown rice with chicken broth, stir-fry lots of veggies, and a much smaller amount of chicken or other meat than we would normally eat separately.

 

[BusyBlonde]

Once you have eggs, pasta is really cheap! I buy the white whole wheat flour. Put 2 c. flour & 3 eggs in your food processor, a dash of salt, and you've got pasta dough in 30 seconds. It tastes much better than any boxed pasta. I do have an Atlas pasta maker, but have also rolled out and hand-cut the dough before. I agree with In His Service, add a lot of veggies and it can be pretty healthy.

 

[HeatherLynn]

i have been tinkering alot with how I cook. Trying to find that good balance between quality and price. I buy clothes thrift but I never by cheap stuff. I am picky. I would like to think I am the same way with food.

Brown rice is one the family has not taken to yet. I am still at half and half with them on this one. The whole wheat pasta though no one ate. My husband was one of the biggest protesters. I think it would be easier to cut it out unless I am making something special. So for the 2 times year I make lasagna we can have pasta. The goal is to keep our groceries at the same cost but really up quality. I love cooking so thankfully I do enjoy learning new recipes.

We do eat meat, almost every day. My husband and mom will tell you dinner isn't worth having without it but I try to mix it up a bit. We have beef at least two times a week. I would like to replace one time a week with deer. We have fish and chicken at least once a week. Ground turkey is used pretty liberally too. Pork is pretty rare here but we will have it now and then. Especially if I can find a nice lean roast. For now I have one meatless day a week. We feed 8 on 400 a month so I think budget wise we are good but I don't want to blow it as I improve our diet.

 

[yakibert]

When times were lean we started a meat conservation program. In other words, I cooked with less meat. For example, instead of a whole pound of ground beef in the spaghetti sauce, I used a half pound. Nobody noticed.

+ Kabobs ...great way to use less meat.

+ Trim steaks ..then keep the trimmings for stews or to grind up. (can essentially do the same thing with other meats, chicken, pork, etc.)

+ Use half a pound of stew meat in chili ...cut to small pieces and run through food processor ..add to chili. Best texture ever!

+ Get whole chickens!! Learn to cut yourself. Pick meat off leftovers for things like "Chicken and Rice" or just boil them up for broth for a chicken soup.

+ Soups!! Great way to use less meat. (and use odd or imperfect leftover veggies!)

+ Stir-fries ...great way to use less meat ...and get those vegetables used up!

+ Omelets for dinner ..or other breakfast for dinner ideas ...eggs are much cheaper than meat!

+ Which reminds me ..instead of using up a whole package of bacon to have bacon and eggs, cook a 1/3rd of the bacon, break it up and add it to scrambled eggs along with onions, green peppers and tomatoes for a scrambled omelet (same with ham).

+ Get that block of ham. More expensive but can be used for many things ...cube it yourself, then use ..the last one I bought I used it 4 times ...http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2434, ham with lentils and spinach (use curry seasoning!), diced ham for omelets, kale and ham again.

+ Hamburger gravy (use half pound) (works great with breakfast sausage, ground turkey, ground pork, venison, etc) and have SOS (gravy on toast) and serve with green beans.

+ Casseroles ...great way to use less meat without looking like you did ... http://allrecipes.com/recipes/main-dish/casserole/

+ Get those cheaper cuts of meats ...cook them longer - in the oven, bbq, or crockpot ..use marinades or sauces. Cook at a lower temp. Man they can be mouth-watering! (and trim them down ...save for other recipes!)

+ When you can get away with it, treat meats as a spice, not the main ingredient. (hard to do with Steak and Potatoes but easier to do with Black Bean and Rice with Hamburger)

+ Buy whole turkeys ...I can't tell you how many meals I can get out of a turkey (sandwiches, turkey noodles, tetrazzini, stroganoff, turkey chili, broth, soups) ..freeze leftover meats! ideas: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/turkey/

+ Make your own sausages and brats ...AND make it much healthier than store bought! I usually make a few batches every late fall.

+ Shop for meat that has been marked down ..consume immediately or cook it and freeze for later use.

+ Fish and Hunt ..if you can, crab and dig for clams. You can make a fishing/hunting license pay for itself many times over!

OK, that's all I can think of right now ...these things sure helped me make our meat purchases go further.

 

[mickey328]

We are, fortunately, debt free...no car payments or mortgage, so it's just our monthly living expenses. That's a good thing because we were both out of work for a long time and while we finally both got jobs, the pay is pretty miserly. One thing that really helps is that I'm able to work from home, so no driving (gas) or lunches out or "office" clothes. That's HUGE to me.

We dropped our cable but kept the internet and found we didn't really miss TV much at all. We can watch a lot of the older stuff online and we did get Netflix, so we do have some access. When the urge for a move strikes us we wait till the movie comes to the cheap theater..$4 each, and NEVER buy treats there. I check all the grocery store ads online and stock up things are on sale and they often have coupons...but I check...sometimes the name brand even with a coupon costs more than the generic or store brand. When beef is on sale for a good price, I get quite a lot and then grind my own burger...works out to less than the cost in the store and I can control the fat content. It also keeps longer than store bought.

Our income is low enough that we qualify for the local food bank and we do take advantage of it. One downside is that much of the food comes in really large packages, so I divvy it up and freeze it in meal size portions, since it's just the two of us.

I can and dehydrate a LOT of stuff from the "bank". Once they had half gallon sized bags of beautifully chopped onion, so I dehydrated them and won't need dehydrated onions for another 6 months to year. Last week, they had huge bags of chopped broccoli (1 per household) and loose mushrooms (as many as you want). The broccoli dehydrated nicely and now occupies a full quart jar...that'll make at least 6 to 8 servings each for us. The mushrooms were a bit past their prime, but I picked out about a gallon of them as well and they're in a jar now...will be great for cooking and soups. The nice thing about dehydrating is that it takes way less space and frees up the freezer for things that have to be frozen.

About 90% of our clothing all comes from thrift stores, and lots of other things as well. I check the local Craig's list several times daily...particularly the "free" section. We got a huge amount of rabbit poo for nothing but the effort of shoveling and transporting it. This time of year, I'm also seeing lots of postings for fruit...folks have the trees but don't want the fruit, so for the effort of going and picking...tada! What we don't use immediately, we can feed the chickens.

Loving this thread and will keep checking for more great ideas!

Mickey

 

[HeatherLynn]

We had such a good thing happen today. We got our insurance renewal and they upped our rate BIG time. No accidents, no tickets. The only thing that happened is our credit score and insurance scores went up and we got an insurance upgrade. YAY right. Yea not so much. 10 years with one insurance and they decide to stick it to me. Not going to happen in this lifetime. So I was so ticked off that I got online right away and went insurance hunting. Its going to save us 800 a year to switch. Already got everything all set up. Very pleased and its with good insurance too. WOOT My husband says its great but he is not talking in a funny voice ( can you guess the insurance lol)

We are 2 months away from semi debt free lol. No more cards, cars, or anything but still the school loan. uggg That is going to take us 9 more months. I would say we buy 90 % from thrift. Primarily because I don't buy used shoes. ugggg We get almost all our clothes from thrift. Not just goodwill either. I spent $24 at a bag sale at our local Hosparus and walked out with 4 bags stuff with clothes. ( rolled boy scout style) I had at least 60 articles of clothing. It was insane. I was school clothes shopping for all 4 of mine and 2 of my nephews. I took on clothing them too this year and its really pushing my money stretching skills. I managed to get their 10 year old the coolest looking jacket AND its lined wool so it will be super warm. I was thrilled.

I am back on my positive path, its not always easy to stay there. I think right now its easier to get down about finances because we are trying to help out family and its making things so tight I can barely breathe. We will make it though. Just have to remember that all these changes and all the struggles to get our finances it great health are worth it. It only seems easier to do it the way everyone else we know is. It just looks that way from the outside. I know that but its easy to forget and get down or panicky.

 

[earlybird10842]

Great job living frugally! We shop used too. The grocery bill is the hardest to control, though. We shop once every two weeks, but we always run out of milk within the first ten days.