Its only me and my boyfriend, 2 chickens, 2 dogs and a cat and we are VERY FRUGAL.
Every Saturday in the summer we hit the yard sales, and we never miss a 50% off sale at the Goodwills, Thrift stores, etc. I get the bulk of my video games (my other hobby) from there, 1.50 T-shirts, $4 jeans, $5 gym shoes/workboots all the stuff needed for kick around clothes......why clean the kennel/coop and garden in expensive clothes?
If you need good workclothes invest in a pair of work specific brands (we have a pair of Dickies pants that you simply cannot tear up and they stand up to multiple washings) and most of our clothes are washed and hung outside to dry during the summer.
50% of our home furnishings is second-hand, with the exception of our bedroom suite (I learned my lesson about financing furniture after that one). All our lights are energy saving, and all the appliances are set for energy saving.
Both my dogs houses and my cats 4ft. deluxe cat house are second hand with a savings of over 200 dollars compared to what
Petco or others want for new large dog houses. I set $50 aside for the coop and so far I have only spent a total of 12 dollars on it because we were fortunate to find 90% of the building materials, and it is one fine coop if I must say so myself
We know every clearance aisle in every store from Target, to
Walmart, to Kroger. We cook enough for our 2 meals for 2 days and if we have meat like chicken or beef we trim the fat and boil the bones for a nice broth for our pets. Some of thoes fancy pet broths are 5 dollars a bottle!!!