Money Saving Ideas

[Dixiedoodle]

I have found that if I am not in NEED of something, I do not go to yard sales, auctions, dept. stores or the groc. store---I can save the gas money and not be tempted to purchase something that I really do not need..EVEN if it is a great buy!

I have started dropping all the change from any purchase in the bottom of my purse and I scoop up any change dh leaves on the counter. I place it in a vase. Last month, I had 33$, month before I had 27$... I used it for gas.. I wrapped it and took it in to the bank.. It seemed nice to have that little extra that is always laying around or weighing too much in my bag! And it wasn't missed at all..

I use the line for drying clothes, I turn out the lights, tv when not in use. I found several old alarm clocks in the 'stuff' my mom had before she died. Some are battery and some are wind up but that's ok... I unplugged all the electric clocks. We use rechargable batteries..

Great ideas--hope it will continue each month...Dixie

 

[me&thegals]

Another water-saving idea: When washing anything like produce or eggs, do it over a large bucket to catch the water, which can then be used for the chickens, houseplants or outdoor plants. I'm amazing how fast even a trickle of water can fill a pail.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Hehehe, we never used to line dry our clothing because we got seagulls in our neighborhood who would poop on it, and plus the line wasn't long enough... Well we bought this new place, a farm, and it came with a 300' line, and no seagulls!

 

[kees]

I got rid of my landline phone and have no tv or cable. My daughter has no electronic toys and most of her toys are books and educational with no batteries. Most of our clothing is from the Salvation Army or Goodwill or hand-me-downs from her cousins. When people are throwing out furniture to be picked up, I always slow down to see if there's anything that we can use. You'd be amazed to see how much good stuff there is that people just don't want anymore!

 

[Chick_a_dee]

WHAT WE DO

Is not much really.

We put our dishwasher on delayed run, so it we can fill it as much as possible, although we don't have a dishwasher at the new house!

We buy all our groceries for the month at one time, something like 20 loaves of bread go into our gigantic freezer each month. Plus, we don't shop at the grocery store, we shop at costco in order to cut down on bags, and stuff. Grocery store plastic bags are so useless.

We try NOT to drive for everything, but we're moving and we kind of have a lot of stuff to do out on the road, so when we do go out we try to make a list of things we need to do/get for the day, and try to make the trip in a big circle which brings us back home again. 2 or more purpose trips!


At the new place we will be... Raising chickens for eggs, and eventually depending on size of bird, dog food or our food, Growing vegetables for our family (though this has to wait for next year, because we didn't have to opportunity to change the crop field out back of our house from hay to veggies, so now we have a small field of hay growing, like 40 bales... but this is good too, cause we need all the hay we can get for the horses!), We'll be drying out clothes on the line, WE WILL NOT BE USING THE AIR CONDITIONING, a) cause we don't have it, b) because we bought a double brick construction house, the bricking is it's own insulation and cooling system, it's a good 10-15 degrees cooler in the house, than it is outside in the heat of the summer, and it acts to warm the house in the winter. We are converting all our out buildings to solar power by 2010, starting with the kennel, then the coop, then the barn. Our electric fencing is completely off the grid, and powered by a solar electric fencer. We have repurposed buildings rather than tearing them down, the previously unused drive-shed from the 1800's which is in need of some repair, is being turned into a large run-in shed for our horses since it ajoins a paddock. We're buying composting toilets for the house.


Yeahhhhh

 

[Whistling Badger]

Raising chickens, we hope!

Also starting a huge garden.

I haven't read the whole thread, so please forgive me if I'm treading old paths, but it seems to me that we are so rich here in the states that we have blurred the line between necessities and luxuries. Re-establishing that line is the key to saving money, IMO.

How to do that? Might I suggest doing some work in Haiti. Really put things in perspective for me...http://www.haitichurchofchrist.org/NewKid.html

"We brought nothing into this world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." Paul, 1st Letter to Timothy 6:7-8
Tom

 

[jnjross]

oh i wish i could be rid on my phone but the cell doesn't work out here and no tv siginal either. i live 30mile from any gas station or store of any sort. i thought i be smart and get the car a tune up and it uses MORE gas now

. i unpluged the dryer, unpluged everything with standby or a clock mode, no lights on until it DARK outside, eat leftover for lunch everyday, growing a garden (everyyear), had cfl's for about 8 years, potty trained dd

, eatting more beans less meat, a/c set on 85, hunt fish sometimes it cost more to do the hunting than the meat you bring home

, we do everything DIY, dh is buying motorcycle to ride it work,

FYI deep freezer do NOT save money!! it's been researched they use more in energy than they save you in buy in bulk, i plan to unplug mine as soon as a deer meats gone.

buyer beware on store brands most of the time it's smaller size or fewer count always check the per unit price to be sure you are really getting a deal ex= honeybunches of oats 1.97 for bonus size 20 oz, walmart brand 1.82 for 13 or 14oz last week!
don't buy ground beef 80/20 you will be throwing away 20% of it. what a waste. buy leaner cuts 90/10 or 95/5 and use wayyyy less

always take a calculator and do the math!!!

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Really? So do you have to pay for each and every pc you connect to your internet connection? I have 5 connected to my internet access and never hear squat about it. That's the whole reason behind routers, to share the connection. There's all kinds of unsecured wireless networks throughout town, finding them is no problem.

 

[Linda in San Diego]

My grandmother lived in the high desert above Palm Springs. Grandma lived a frugal life in Pinon Pines and we loved it. She wove a braided rug that covered a hugh room, temps in the 100's would find her weaving the wool rug on her lap. Not only that she was a dumpster diver supreem. There was no trash service in the area she lived, just a dump (read big hole in the ground). In the hills and mountains around her, celebrities like Red Skelton were building absolutly mag homes. Her "dump" had a "freecycle" option. Folks went to the dump and things they thought someone else might like, they just left on the "edge" of the hole.

As I grew up we had several of her recycled items like a lamp, new cords and spray paint and it was - well not like new, but free! LOL And just last night I used the colander/strainer that she rescued. I attempted to put it out to pasture recently, we have other strainers and this one has no legs remaining, but DH who knew my gma said no, it has character.

I hope, that as I age, I have character like my grands - Mable, Helen Lucille, Lester May and Grandma Zoe as well as my mom, Barbara Ann. From them I need to learn frugality, they lived it, I need to adopt it.

 

[nccountrygirl]

My FIL is the supreme Dumpster Diver of Ramseur NC, He has a Dollar General in front of the apartments he lives at. Every night when the store closes, like a rat after cheese he crawl in those dumpsters and comes out of there with all sorts of treasures. Every time we go see daddy he will load us down with stuff he got out of there. There's nothing wrong with the stuff. They will throw whole cases of Windex in there so daddy gets it and hauls it back home.