Just curious who else is living super frugal

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Just found this coupon group in the hobby section.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=555886

 

[BarefootMom]

For coupons-

you can buy and sell on ebay.

I have done both. You are not technically "selling" or "buying" coupons but you are selling/buying the time that it takes to cut and organize coupons. If I need to stock up on things I buy 20 or so of the same coupon. I did this for laundry detergent way back in March...still have a case left. Spent maybe $40 and we do laundry every day.

 

[Beekissed]

That's why coupons don't work for me.....I very seldom see them for anything I would buy and I won't buy things just because they are a bargain. When I can make my own laundry detergent for a couple of cents a load, think about how much $40 worth of the ingredients for my laundry detergent could buy? I can't even calculate how much detergent I could make for that money, but I'm sure it's wayyyyyyy more than a case.

I'm still using the $20 worth of ingredients we bought a couple of years ago and I'm not even half way through the supply...and we do a lot of laundry.

Does anyone else skip couponing for this reason?

 

[krcote]

Quote:
I buy very very few brand names, so I skip out of coupons as well. Where they do seem to be useful for us are for services.

 

[polloprincess2]

Coupons don't work for me for the same reason plus, many of the huge corporations that produce these products contribute to pollution in our enviroment.

I would like to know if any of you are into using gray water. With the droughts that have ravaged so many of our states, using gray water seems logical to me.

At least to water plants and any lawns or gardens?

 

[In His Service]

Quote:
I rarely use coupons for the same reason.

 

[Rosaleen]

After I cook up pasta, I drain the water into another pot and make hard boiled eggs, then I save that water again, let it cool, and either add it to the chickens ' water or water the plants...

 

[americanvalkyrie]

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Beekissed, do you have a high efficiency washer? I'm a hobbyist soapmaker. About the time I considered making my own laundry detergent, my washer broke down and we replaced it with a high-efficiency model. I know that standard storebought detergent would gum it up... do you know much about homemade detergents and the new washers?

I don't coupon either. My family can't eat processed food because of various health issues, so almost everything we buy are raw ingredients. We watch the grocery circulars and go in when produce or meats are on sale. And as far as everything else... I make or recycle whatever I can, including my own soap and yogurt. I don't want to pay for someone to do that for me, and give me a substandard product in trade for it, when I can spend a few hours and make something worthwhile.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

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We use it whenever we can. I either make my own soap or use the most basic commercial soap I can find, so I can recycle the water onto my plants. I'll have the kids wash dishes in big dishpans, then dump the water on the garden. Unless there is a lot of grease in the water, the leftover food matter goes right into composting in the beds. I also put a bucket under the faucet while warming up baths/showers, and that water is perfectly clean so it can go directly for the animals. Next year, I'm going to pump my laundry water into a basin... if I don't use bleach in the load, I can recycle the water onto the garden. A good, biodegradable detergent should only be bad for the bugs.

It's a lot of work, but this summer we went 3 straight months with no precipitation whatsoever. There is no municipal code here on frequency of watering food plants, but if I can easily spend over $100 a month on water in the summer, just keeping the garden alive.

 

[BarefootMom]

Quote:
I don't think you understood...this is NOVEMBER and I haven't bought detergent since MARCH. $40 for a case is high yes, but I am talking like 5 cases in total. I said I still have a case left.

I will be making my own detergent when I am through with this, when I bought this though I did not know of any homemade recipes for the HE washers. I now know that there are recipes for the HE washers.

So what do you shave with? I haven't bought razors in over a year- they are all free.

How about soap? hmmm? Haven't paid over a quarter a 3-pack in over a year.

How about toothpaste? It is free

Deodarant? Free

Toilet paper - really cheap

For baby items coupons are great. We would have been in so much debt if it wasn't for coupons with the babies.

oh and Cascade dishwashing tablets are FREE.