Just curious who else is living super frugal

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I think you may be able to get around it by making a donation rather a purchase... I may be wrong... But I agree look up dem laws...

deb

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Thanks y'all. Hubby would be suspicious of squirrel...until he found his cat lol. Im alwats threatening to cook his cat. The cat and I have a hate/hate relationship lol.

Ive never paid for wild game, but will look up the laws in case. I know the food pantries around here always ask for donated deer meat but they arent selling it, just giving it away. Wonder if you can barter it?

And DANG thats a big rabbit lol. We do have 6 rabbits that were supposed to be certain kids' pets that Ive ended up taking care of. 4 lionheads and 2 who knows. I threaten to cook those as well, but really they arent big enough lol.

My meaties are doing good. Out of 29 Ive lost 1 so far. It appeared to have just gotten trampled. No pasty butt or anything. They are loving the fermented feed. Look like velociraptors everytime we refill the troughs lol.

 

[lazy gardener]

Funnyfarmmom: I second previous suggestion to use fermented feed. It will give you a huge cost savings, while improving the health of your flock. Do you shop good will for clothing? Home made laundry detergent and cleaning products are also a huge savings. Switch to using rags, cloth napkins and cleaning cloths instead of using disposeable paper products. Are you using a rain barrel to water plants? Cut down on need for fertilizer by making compost, manure or weed tea to fertilize your plants. If the rest of the population in this country lived as frugally as you already are, we'd turn this country on it's ear! Consumerism would be in the toilet, and our government wouldn't have a clue what to do about that! Are you wanting to increase your flock size? A very reliable incubator can be made for about $20 - 25.

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Funnyfarmmom:  I second previous suggestion to use fermented feed.  It will give you a huge cost savings, while improving the health of your flock.  Do you shop good will for clothing?  Home made laundry detergent and cleaning products are also a huge savings.  Switch to using rags, cloth napkins and cleaning cloths instead of using disposeable paper products.  Are you using a rain barrel to water plants?  Cut down on need for fertilizer by making compost, manure or weed tea to fertilize your plants.  If the rest of the population in this country lived as frugally as you already are, we'd turn this country on it's ear!  Consumerism would be in the toilet, and our government wouldn't have a clue what to do about that!  Are you wanting to increase your flock size?  A very reliable incubator can be made for about $20 - 25.

Thank you! I do shop Goodwill. Theres also a place called the quarter store near me. Its ran by a church but all clothing, books, pretty much anything you can carry is a quarter. Only bigger items like furniture are more. Theres also a kids' used store in the next town over. Its not quite as cheap as goodwil but they only accept nearly new stuff and it is still cheaper than buying new. But that place is my last resort if I havent found what I need at other places.

I still have to look up cleaning product recipes. I do laundry soap and fabric softener already, and I never buy paper towels. We use our bath towels and tshirts until they have holes in them then they get cut up for cleaning rags lol.

Im still fermenting my feed for the meaties. I even bought them a separate bag of feed this week from my layers so I can better keep track of how much they are going through. Orscheln had a bucket sale this week, anything you could fit in a bucket, no minimum plus you got the bucket free. So I wound up getting a couple big buckets for fermenting in just by buying the stuff I already needed this week lol.

My flock size, I got a few breeds that are normally good about going broody. I really want to hatch chicks naturally. Hoping next spring I'll have some girls wanting to sit for me. If not, I'll be looking up that incubator lol.

My grandma (who raised me) used to tell me all the time "just because you can, doesnt mean you should". She meant just because you can run to the store for any little thing doesnt mean you should. Just because you can throw that broken whatever away or hire something done, doesnt mean you should. If more people adopted that attitude, we'd probably be a lot better off!

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
And a huge AMEN to that! That should be a sticky on every section of this forum....particularly the one dealing with chicken health. And, I agree, with life in general....just because one CAN afford to buy, buy, buy doesn't mean they shouldn't be judicious with spending and acquiring. That's one reason there's such a huge problem with hoarding nowadays, people are being smothered by all their possessions.

 

[funnyfarmmom]

And a huge AMEN to that!    That should be a sticky on every section of this forum....particularly the one dealing with chicken health.  And, I agree, with life in general....just because one CAN afford to buy, buy, buy doesn't mean they shouldn't be judicious with spending and acquiring.  That's one reason there's such a huge problem with hoarding nowadays, people are being smothered by all their possessions. 

My MIL is a hoarder. Its so bad that I cant go into their house. Every year FIL tells her she has to get rid of stuff. She puts a little in a yardsale with friends, then drags home twice as much as she took from the same yardsale. If you ask her why she has all that junk, she'll say "because I can".

Its another canning day here . Green beans, tomato juice, tomato sauce, and pancake syrup. Both canners barely fit on top of my stove lol.

 

[microchick]

I have been living frugal most of my adult life. I turned 62 yesterday and although I no longer need to live frugal, I still do. It's simply a way of life with me at this point and I enjoy the challenge of use it up, wear it out...etc. I think my husband gets a kick out of me still cutting corners but in all truthfulness I have learned a lot from the Amish around us. They are happy with so little. We recently caved and had Direct TV hooked up. That was a major concession for us but there is absolutely no reception around us for either TV or internet and both are our major sorces of entertainment and research.

BTW. My chicken coop was with the exception of hardware and nails, 100% repurposed lumber. Two level coop and bachelor pen. Total cost? 20 dolllars.

 

[Beekissed]

Now THAT'S impressive!

 

[malndobe]

I save a lot on chicken feed during the summer by planting a few extra zucchini plants, and feeding my chickens all the extras. I pick the ones I want for dinner, bread, etc and leave the rest on the plant an extra few days, so they end up HUGE, then just cut them into slices and toss them into the pen. The chickens go nuts for them and the way the plants produce, I cut my feed bill by an easy 1/3rd or more when the plants are really producing. I also take the extra bounty that people bring into work from their plants, after everyone else has had a shot at it

 

[Arielle]

Ive read about 20 pages of this thread

. I will eventually get it all read! I wondered if anybody would mind taking a look at what Im doing and plan to do and offer any advice on areas we could do better. This may get long, sorry!

First of all, hubby and I have 7 children between us. All 7 live with us, neither of us receive any child support from the other parents. We raise our kids as if we had them together, theres not a lot of involvement from the other parents either, so it works for us. The kids range from 6 to 17 years old. About a month ago oldest DD's boyfriend called hubby. In the middle of the night. He and his stepdad had gotten into a fight that turned physical, boy got beaten up pretty badly, mom and stepdad kicked him out. He has been living here since. He is 17 nearly 18 and still in high school. That makes 10 people living in our house.Glad you took in the young man-- he can help with chores and learn to become independent and be part of a caring family at the same time.

We just bought our house in March, so there's no possibility of refinancing to lower our payments right now.

Hubby is the only one working. Three of the kids have problems (one Down's Syndrome, two on the autism spectrum) so I have to be available at any given time to run to the schools for them.Concider working at school on the same schedule as the kids. I have a friend that does this so she can keep an eye on her son with needs. I too have worked at school as the hours are just right.

So, our house was 3 bedroom, but it had a pantry off the dining room that was as large as the bedrooms. We turned this into my and hubbys room as it has an entry door leading to the garage and thats where hubby spends most of his time anyway. But that severely cut down on my storage space.Think outside the box. Use closet space in another room; under beds; an extra dresser; What can be safely stacked in boxes. Safety always comes first.

I already cook most things from scratch. I dont make my own bread because Hubby has a love affair with a certain brand of bread, but everything else I do. I currently spend about $150 a week at a discount grocery store. My garden is starting to produce now so Im hoping that goes down some.If ou need bread, is there a discount place like a thrift store nearby. You can freeze bread-- or feed it out to the birds ( along with high protein supplement). A local company donates all its bread that is leftover everyday. Panara sandwhich shops might be in your area, or a similar shop

I have 8 pullets, only 2 laying so far. I also have 12 chicks, straight run so no telling how many girls I will end up with. We go through eggs like crazy here.

Ok to to not free range. I have my kids cut the lawn by hand using a scissor to feed the rabbit and the chickens. I also weed the garden and feed that to the birds. ALso remember to feed them all the leftovers you will not be using.

Hubby gripes about all the money going out, but he doesnt try to find ways to save. For instance, I got our electric bill yesterday. $327. He complained that the light company's rates were too high but then said "just pay it and go on." Our house doesn't have central air, we have two window units that I have set on energy saver mode. We do have a huge woodstove for this winter thannkfully.LOL up to you to get creative as he is not likely to help in that vein. Can you reduce the number of light bulbs burning or change to lower wattages?? I have an 8 bulb chandeleir and only 2-3 bulbs are screwed tight to come on; can be 8 bulbed if I need hta much light. Use items that reflect light. Here in New ENgland there was a reason why the interior walls are painted white, and the ceiling too. Flat pain reflects less light than the semi goss types. Have the kids track the electrical use by reading the meter-- it is actuallyvery easy!! I use the microwave as much as possible as it uses less energy than the big oven. I use the big oven for roasting a turkey.I dont use AC, have in the past and I"m thinking of putting in the window units for august. . . but only thinking about it as the boys are not complaining that it is too hot ( they have a fan on at night). We have an energy efficient house but dang, still use too much electricity.
Oh you can recharge your laptop and devices at work or at McDonalds.

Not a lot of consumer debt. Cars are paid for. We have one personal loan that we took out 2 years ago. We borrowed 6,000 have paid on it for 2 years, and we still owe 8,800. Not happy with that at all. No credit cards.No CC makes us be frugal, lol

So Im looking for ideas to lower what bills I do have. Utilities and groceries. (Water bill is over $100 a month). We dont have cable, house phone or internet. We have 3 prepaid cell phones in the house that we pay a flat $45 a month for unlimited talk, text and data. Also, ideas for lowering feed bills if any. I currently buy my feed at a farm store in 40 pound bags. We have a farm bureau co-op near us, but I dont know if they sell feed or just seed for the farmers around us. Ive never been in there.

Generally speaking unless you have a good cheeap source of food for the chickens meat birds are a second choice to buying chicken fromm the grocery. Eggs on the other hand is great!! My son just started mealworms. Fairly cheap after the initial expence of buying good meal worms. Try restaurants for the scrap to feed the chickens. DO some research, and do not use this for your own use. YOu can find a grocery store that might give out their old produce though these has been changing. ALso look for a community garden.