Just curious who else is living super frugal

[galanie]

He he, there you go!  Or a 15% your total at the supermarket coupon.

OOOOH, I know what I'd like!!!  A "We'll come to your house and do the dishes for a week" coupon!  e

OMG where does the line start????

 

[mickey328]

I find the same thing, Scott. A brand name something with a coupon is still more costly than the generic usually. There are a few, very few, things that I spring for the "real" thing just because of the quality but of course....there's never a coupon for those! Plus a lot of the great savings you see on Extreme Couponers or such occur in places where stores will double coupon values. That never happens here in my neck of the woods. Once in a while I'll find a coupon on Swagbucks that's actually for something I do use, so I'll use that to save a few cents as well as get the points which I can use to get gift cards and such at other places. It's a balancing act.

 

[mickey328]

We must have "sister feet" Galanie I learned that quite a long time ago as well...mine are also very wide with a high instep so I'm rather limited as to what I can get to fit comfortably. I've definitely found it much more economical to buy a $100 pair of shoes I can wear for 2 years than 10 pairs at $10 each that I can't wear much because they hurt. Now that I'm working from home and don't have to have "office attire", I mostly wear Crocs, flip flops, slippers or sneakers. Most of those I can find second hand and that makes a savings. I'm wearing a pair of Nikes now that I got at a thrift store for $5, and I've been wearing them for 3 years already with no sign of them falling apart yet.

Nok, thanks for sharing about your life on the kibbutz; I found it really interesting. A lot of us are aghast at the things people throw out; we're such a "consumer" society and have this notion that we should replace rather than repair things. I was fortunate enough to have been raised by my grandparents who grew up during the great Depression and I learned from them that just because the handle on the toaster is broken, you don't throw it away...you cobble together something that will function. I'm really trying to get back to more of that mentality as I get older (and poorer, LOL)

I do know that overseas, people tend to shop more often and get smaller quantities. Much of our "bulk" buying here is because it is cheaper for us in the long run. We can buy, for example, a small package of meat for $4 per pound, but if we buy a larger package of the same thing we might get it for $3 per pound. I always check the "per ounce" prices at the store...most of the time larger packages are cheaper per ounce than the smaller ones, but not always. Of course if you're looking at getting something like 50 pounds of something that you'll only use 5 pounds of, then it's more cost effective to get the smaller one!

 

[Dotshines]

We have been living frugal for quite a long time. But when I lost my job that is when we really stepped it up. I love shopping at thrift stores, you never know what you will find. I plan to have a much bigger garden this year. Last year we had a flood which wiped out out garden. I also plan to raise meal worms and grow other foods to suppliment my chicken and rabbits diets. I haven't really done much with coupons, when I shop I try to buy what is on sale and also the bogo deals.

 

[newfoundland]

The trouble with buying in bulk, I find, is that there is too much money tied up in groceries. It may be cheaper to buy a box of 20 tomato ketchup, but how long would it take to eat it? Also, unless you are very firm about portion size, you may use it up faster because there is plenty available. One of the reasons that people in Europe for example tend to shop frequently, even daily, is that they eat more fresh food that has a very short shelf life. In France the bread is baked twice a day and French people will go out twice to get the newly baked baguettes. If you go into any European supermarket you will be surprised at how limited the range of frozen food is. Equally there is less canned and packaged goods. Lots of shopping is still done in street markets and the people just stroll out and buy what takes their fancy and what looks good.

 

[galanie]

We must have "sister feet" Galanie  I learned that quite a long time ago as well...mine are also very wide with a high instep so I'm rather limited as to what I can get to fit comfortably.  I've definitely found it much more economical to buy a $100 pair of shoes I can wear for 2 years than 10 pairs at $10 each that I can't wear much because they hurt.  Now that I'm working from home and don't have to have "office attire", I mostly wear Crocs, flip flops, slippers or sneakers.  Most of those I can find second hand and that makes a savings.  I'm wearing a pair of Nikes now that I got at a thrift store for $5, and I've been wearing them for 3 years already with no sign of them falling apart yet.

Nok, thanks for sharing about your life on the kibbutz; I found it really interesting.  A lot of us are aghast at the things people throw out; we're such a "consumer" society and have this notion that we should replace rather than repair things.  I was fortunate enough to have been raised by my grandparents who grew up during the great Depression and I learned from them that just because the handle on the toaster is broken, you don't throw it away...you cobble together something that will function.  I'm really trying to get back to more of that mentality as I get older (and poorer, LOL)  

I do know that overseas, people tend to shop more often and get smaller quantities.  Much of our "bulk" buying here is because it is cheaper for us in the long run.  We can buy, for example, a small package of meat for $4 per pound, but if we buy a larger package of the same thing we might get it for $3 per pound.  I always check the "per ounce" prices at the store...most of the time larger packages are cheaper per ounce than the smaller ones, but not always.  Of course if you're looking at getting something like 50 pounds of something that you'll only use 5 pounds of, then it's more cost effective to get the smaller one!

We probably do have sister feet except mine have not flat, but rather low arches, in addition to having a scar on one arch from surgery. And so even if I try on a pair the right width, the arch in a pair of good running shoes is often much too high for me. I no longer need any office wear either thank goodness. So my favorite shoes are a pair of falling apart slip on "sneakers" that I've had for years. I do have a pair of crocs too but I just don't find them all that comfortable. I had to get a pair that are otherwise too big for me to get the right width. They'll do though when my other pair finally fall off my feet

I too was raised by parents that grew up during the great Depression and were WWII vets as well. Both served in the Navy. You just wouldn't believe what is still around here that was saved over the years. People say that if you don't use it in a year, you don't' need it. PAH! Maybe you don't need it, but when that's just the thing, it's awfully nice to still have it somewhere. But I speak from the standpoint of someone who makes do and cobbles things together. I suppose if you just want new all the time, that would never do.

 

[DennisK]

In 05, I lost almost everything, except this land which is located a little more than 30 miles from town. I moved out here with a state of mind that didn’t respond to even when the only car I had, broke down. I didn’t care enough to replace it. What I did was catch a ride into town once a month to rent a car which I used for 2 to three days. I would buy supplies enough to last a month. For the rest of the month I would just stay home and make do with what I had. I did that for more than a year. That was the greatest lesson in frugality I could have ever had. Even today, I find that the time I spend in town shopping the most stressful, and the time I am at home, the most relaxing – the most fulfilling. Jennifer is now in my life, and we try to keep our trips into town down to twice a month. Oddly, it is her that resists my reflex to drive into town for some surprised need. Every potential purchase is simply put on a list and we live with it before making the purchase. It is surprising how little is thrown away, and in the ways we find to solve problems without throwing money at them. Back in the day, my greatest mistake in frugality was to throw money at the problems I would encounter. Of course, back in the day, I had a 12 hour a day job, and demands on my time that I don’t have now. Environment has a great influence on frugality and waste.

 

[galanie]

Though I live in the city, I largely have the same attitude towards running out and buying things. I leave my property as little as I possibly can. And make do without whatever it is just because I don't want to go out and get it. I find that whatever that crushing great need was yesterday isn't as important today. It goes on a list. If it's still important to have, I get it. Otherwise I forget it.

 

[DennisK]

Though I live in the city, I largely have the same attitude towards running out and buying things. I leave my property as little as I possibly can. And make do without whatever it is just because I don't want to go out and get it. I find that whatever that crushing great need was yesterday isn't as important today. It goes on a list. If it's still important to have, I get it. Otherwise I forget it.

I suppose we are both lucky to live in a place where we like to be. You show that frugality is not a physical environment, but a mental one.

 

[mickey328]

I agree..."frugal" isn't not spending money, it's spending it wisely. It often takes us some serious consideration to see the difference between a want and an actual need. We've been trimming down for several years...the initial push was a reduction of available cash, but now I find that just cuz I can afford something isn't a good enough reason to buy it. I find we often see things that pique our interest and we think it'd be neat to have one of those...but then we start the wheels turning...how could we modify or adapt it to our needs for less money. Could we recycle material we have on hand for it? Do we really need all these bells and whistles, or could we find an older used model that would do what we need it to do? Once you get into that mind set, it's amazing how much money you can save...not only by purchasing cheaper equivalents but often by not buying it at all.

LOL, I was looking through the Lehman's Catalog the other day. They have a really snazzy looking cherry pitter. It evidently does them much faster and more cleanly than with the old fashioned one where you take each cherry and pop the pit out of it. Okay, so we're getting a cherry tree, and I'm hoping to be able to harvest enough some jam and a few pies and cobblers. That pitter is tempting, but I'll pass...for the sake of a gallon or so of cherries each year, it seems a pretty unwise investment to me. My 98 cent pitter I've had for 15 years is sufficient, thank you very much, LOL

We actually just got back from the grocery store. Other than some milk or other fresh produce, we hadn't really done a major shop in about a month. I was thinking I'd like to continue this trend...we seem to have less of a tendency to buy a lot of stuff we "want" rather than "need" when we go more often. We might try the "don't spend a cent for a week" thing too. I'm thinking this could be done without too much difficulty...and could even be a fun challenge.