Advice on being thrifty, please

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kage_ar:
A word about VoIP - very important for parents - if VoIP is your only phone, make certian your VoIP provider allows 911 calls. You do not want to find out that you don’t have 911 when you REALLY need it!
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Our VoIP services are raw origination/termination and our server handles the actual phone calls and such. I haven’t taken the time to figure out what number to map 911 to yet. It would help if it was actually published somewhere.
 
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wabrams:
Plus, when the power goes out, so does the phone.
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So? The phone is probably one of our least-used services. If the power goes out for long, it would be our last concern.
 
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Luke-Jr:
So? The phone is probably one of our least-used services. If the power goes out for long, it would be our last concern.
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From an “old” mom, having emergency assistance a quick phone call away can save a life. If you child is ever seriously injured or ill, in those horrible seconds - looking for a phone book or giving directions can mean life and death. A very young child can learn to dial 911 - and there are many times that saves a life as well. These events do not wait for the power to be on or off… $20 per month for this kind of insruance seems to be a good idea - more important to a parent than quick download of video on high speed… But, that is only my opinion. I have worked in telecom for 15 years, and I have seen people die from non-functioning 911 service.

911 is sent via special trunks in the phone companie’s Central Office to the PSAP - it is not just a phone number one can map too…

Most phone utilities have special rates for low income families, it would be worth checking into!
 
Here’s the link to freecycling. Pretty much it’s poeple who give away stuff they no longer with the expectation that you do the same: freecycle.org/
 
Save on the big ticket items!

Cars are outrageously expensive, so make them last with routine maintainance. If you keep a car for ten years or longer, it’s probably cheaper to buy a new one rather than paying auto repair bills on someone else’s lemon. Older cars cost less for insurance, so right now our 10+ year old mini van (that we bought new for cash) has really cheap insurance and costs us very little. Avoid the gas guzzlers–environmental concerns aside, they cost a fortune in gas.

Our biggest expense is our house. Real Estate can be a wise investment, so putting money there isn’t completely wasted, but some of the “extras” do nothing to improve the value. Pay attention to the costs and details of the loan. Don’t refinance so often that after thirty years you still have a thirty year loan for more than the original price of your home.

Lots of people mentioned ways to save on clothes. I think the biggest savings is by not buying too many. More clothes require more closet space and more dresser space, and if you have a large family that space is at a premium. Also, fewer clothes can help break the consumerism cycle that perpetuates itself, because the more you have, the more you want. Buy clothes that you like and clothes you enjoy seeing your children in, then wear them often. Cheap, ugly clothes that are never worn don’t save money; I may not buy many clothes, but we are well dressed.

I second the recommendation of the book Tightwad Gazette. I think there’s a Tightwad Gazette II also. Those books helped me develop some good habits so now I don’t even have to think much about being thrifty. But maybe I should start thinking about it some more, now that your thread reminded me of some of the things I used to do.
 
Kay Cee:
If you’re expecting a baby, consider that garage sales and thrift stores are absolutely the best place to buy baby clothes and items. Most kids’ clothes are sold or given away, not because they’re no good anymore, but because the kid has outgrown them.

I hardly paid anything for my daughters’ clothes, and they had so many I had to jam them into the closet and the drawers.

Also consider cloth diapers. They really are less expensive and don’t add more trash to our environment. You can buy diaper covers with velcro closures that make diapering easy.

I also recomment a clothesline. A few years ago, the price of natural gas here just soared. I strung up a clothesline, and my bill dropped by $70 a month. That’s $840 a year.
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We live in an apartment and sometimes it’s too windy to put things out on our deck so a clothesline isn’t an option for us. Since we do our laundry at the laundromat (no laundry machines in our apartment building), cloth diapers are impractical. We plan on shopping at the thrift store when Baby outgrows his or her donated clothes (from Mom and a charity in town).
 
When you choose a car, research the cost of insuring it, too. If you have the savings to be able to do it, keep the deductible high. Not only do you save money… there are many insurance companies who will drop you or raise rates if you make a claim, so making claims you could have covered yourself makes no sense… and can keep costing you for a long time.

Know what your protein costs you, and don’t eat more than you need (as most of us do). Legumes, served with rice, are a very cheap source, and eggs are cheap, too. Also, keep in mind that butterfat is expensive… the higher the milkfat in your milk and other dairy products, the more expensive. Fiber, on the other hand, is itself very good for you, fills you up, and comes in foods that are very good for you… and tends to be cheap. Frozen fruits and vegetables can be much cheaper than fresh, and in the “off season” are often higher quality. Drinks, even nutritious drinks, do not give a feeling of fullness, so limit those expensive purchased drinks in favor of plain water. Avoid saving money by buying high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrition foods that are going to ruin your health… that is a very expensive mistake! Some foods are cheaper (or nearly as cheap) when purchased already made than made from scratch, so do the math and choose if you can’t make everything yourself.

There are no stores that have everything you need and the best price on everything. Stores stay in business either by luring you in with a low price and watching you walk out with something slightly different that has a big mark-up, or by only offering those things that they can sell profitably at the most competitive prices, or a combination. If you are short on time, at least shop around for those things you buy often and anything remotely big ticket.
 
Buy food in bulk is the biggest thing I can suggest. If you have a health food store handy, see if they carry bulk grains, beans, rice, and SPICES. My local store has all that and spices are sooooo much cheaper in bulk than they are in little jars from the store.

Don’t eat out often; and don’t buy that processed junk food in a box or in the freezer (a frozen pizza’s a great treat, but not very often). I also get a lot of my clothes at the Goodwill. There are amazing finds there and no one could ever tell that’s where they’re from.
 
Only shop once a week. First plan meals, check to see what you have, write down what you need including staples, cleaning supplies, laundry items and anything else you use. Buy in one trip. This way saves money because every trip to the supermarket I found I spent more. I save between $50.00 to $75.00 just by doing this. Believe me it works STICK TO YOUR LIST:D
 
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kaymart:
Only shop once a week.
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LOL! Proof that people are different. I find the opposite works for me, If I have to shop for a whole week, I tend to overshop. But if I go to the store with the mindset “I’m only shopping for today’s immediate needs”, there are far fewer impulse purchases.
 
My family is looking at a decrease in income in the coming year. We are looking for ways to cut expenses, too. One thing we started a couple months ago was not using our credit cards as much. They are nice to have, but I was using mine way too often for “good deals” I’d see at the store. Now, I’m using cash and finding that I’m not spending nearly as much. It’s really helped. We buy our vehicles through government auctions. Every state sells their used gov’t cars and trucks this way, as does the federal gov’t. Look on google for these auctions. This has saved us quite a bit of money through the years.
 
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Princess_Abby:
You are amazingly organized. Wow.
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Thank you! I don’t have a choice. It was difficult to get to this point, but maintaing is not hard at all.

“Lots of people mentioned ways to save on clothes. I think the biggest savings is by not buying too many. More clothes require more closet space and more dresser space, and if you have a large family that space is at a premium. Also, fewer clothes can help break the consumerism cycle that perpetuates itself, because the more you have, the more you want. Buy clothes that you like and clothes you enjoy seeing your children in, then wear them often. Cheap, ugly clothes that are never worn don’t save money; I may not buy many clothes, but we are well dressed.”

i agree with gardenswithkids. One thing that helps me a lot is that my boys are the same size eventough they are two years apart. So, they pretty mush share pants.

I can’t find it now but someone mentioned eating less meat. And Vegpotter brought up the bulk bins at the health food store. I agree. Beans and rice are cheap and can be made a million ways.Veg potter also brought up a good one about eating out less. I have a friend who just got married. She and her husband have started eating out a lot since they got married. Just out of convinence. I went over and helped her figure out a way to get meals ready quickly without much effort when one of them gets home from work. They did it for a month with out eating out at all. They were suprised at how often they ate out without realizing it. And don’t get me started on prepackaged processed foods. Like I said, we have food allergies and these items can be a nightmere. It was amazing how much we saved once we cut these out.

And Credit cards! My husband had his share of problems with them before we got married. He went into the military after high school. He had offers out the wazzoo and he took them and used them. Five years later when I met him he was still paying them off. Once they were paid he cut them up completly. We have one card that I belive was used once for an emergency and paid off the next month. We still have it just in case, but we have not had to use it.
 
eBay has some great deals on clothes, toys, furniture, etc., but the shipping expenses can really drive up the cost. You can get around that problem by using “Sort by location” and “View seller’s other items” to find a seller who lives nearby and has several items you want to buy. (Make sure to e-mail the seller, to make sure she accepts local pick-up.)

When you go to pick up your purchases, ask the seller if she has any other unwanted things that she wasn’t planning to list on eBay. One woman offered me a couple of big bags of baby clothes, for pennies an item. They weren’t fancy or “designer” enough to be worth auctioning, but they were still very cute and practical. 🙂 Whatever we didn’t need ourselves, we donated to a crisis pregnancy center.
 
I think that any cellphone with a battery in it can be used to call 911, without paying anything. So you could just keep one on hand in case there is an emergency while the power is out.
 
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coralewisjr:
KGalvin, we have no income so there’s no point in investing in Grocerygame.com. DH and I are job-hunting and hopefully, we’ll both get a job and I can quit before I birth Baby and then be a stay-at-home mama. Please pray for DH, as he’s fighting the cold that I’m getting over and he’s under a lot of pressure to get a job.
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Bill and I didn’t have jobs when we had our first baby, either. God gave my husband a temp job in my 7th month that led to a full time job he still holds 14 years later. He (God) also gave me an opportunity to stay home all these years. I’m saying this for encouragement. We survived those first hard years because God was our focal point, not material things…even ones of necessity. Although, I got real good at casseroles with little meat and cheese in it…or so my hubby said! Sweet man knew my $40 a week had to go mostly to the baby, and by the time he was working full time we were able to spend a whole whopping $70! We felt like royalty! It sounds like you are in the same boat we were in…not much money, but a great love for God and eachother. May God bless you by providing you with your necessities and quelching your desires for your wants (that was the hardest for me!) You sound like a neat person. I hope you will let us know when your baby is born and whether you have a little girl or boy.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that we also managed apartments at that time, because our rent was considerably less – although it was very taxing and time consuming. But the savings paid for our groceries, gas, and car insurance.

Kim
 
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coralewisjr:
We live in an apartment and sometimes it’s too windy to put things out on our deck so a clothesline isn’t an option for us.
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One thing that is handy in an apt. for some hand washables is a drying rack. It is collapsable and easily stored. They make some that go over tubs now too to lay flat items on.
 
Dump your internet connection–that should save you up to $20 or more a month and you won’t have to worry about all the internet junk (like the junk you get on cable) that comes into your home.

Personally, I like cable. I can see movies that I don’t have to pay for, except for the cost of cable which I pay for anyway and it’s a lot cheaper than burning gas at $2.40/gallon and $10 per person at a movie theatre.
 
“I can’t find it now but someone mentioned eating less meat. And Vegpotter brought up the bulk bins at the health food store. I agree. Beans and rice are cheap and can be made a million ways.”

DH and I don’t eat much meat as it is because I don’t know how cook it much yet. So far, all we’ve bought (besides meat in frozen meals) is hot dogs and ground beef. I don’t like rice but DH does so I’ll figure out how to make beans and rice in a non-spicy way.

“Veg potter also brought up a good one about eating out less. I have a friend who just got married. She and her husband have started eating out a lot since they got married. Just out of convinence. I went over and helped her figure out a way to get meals ready quickly without much effort when one of them gets home from work. They did it for a month with out eating out at all. They were suprised at how often they ate out without realizing it. And don’t get me started on prepackaged processed foods. Like I said, we have food allergies and these items can be a nightmere. It was amazing how much we saved once we cut these out.”

Since DH withdrew from college and was unable to continue working as a student worker, we’ve eaten out much less. Now we only do that when DH is going to apply at the restaurant, or when I crave Taco John’s enough that he gives in (which has only happened once).

“And Credit cards! My husband had his share of problems with them before we got married. He went into the military after high school. He had offers out the wazzoo and he took them and used them. Five years later when I met him he was still paying them off. Once they were paid he cut them up completly. We have one card that I belive was used once for an emergency and paid off the next month. We still have it just in case, but we have not had to use it.”

Thank you, God! We don’t even have credit cards.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
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maryceleste:
eBay has some great deals on clothes, toys, furniture, etc., but the shipping expenses can really drive up the cost. You can get around that problem by using “Sort by location” and “View seller’s other items” to find a seller who lives nearby and has several items you want to buy. (Make sure to e-mail the seller, to make sure she accepts local pick-up.)

When you go to pick up your purchases, ask the seller if she has any other unwanted things that she wasn’t planning to list on eBay. One woman offered me a couple of big bags of baby clothes, for pennies an item. They weren’t fancy or “designer” enough to be worth auctioning, but they were still very cute and practical. 🙂 Whatever we didn’t need ourselves, we donated to a crisis pregnancy center.
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I applaud you for donating to a crisis pregnancy center! DH and I were given a big donation from the charity that the local Catholic college is developing so we have tons of baby clothes, baby lotion, and more now…and it came in a dresser so now DH and I have a dresser and Baby has a dresser. 🙂 We have too many clothes that we don’t wear so we’re going to drop those off at the really cheap Catholic thrift store in town, where I found maternity jeans for fifty cents. 👍

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
KGalvan:
Bill and I didn’t have jobs when we had our first baby, either. God gave my husband a temp job in my 7th month that led to a full time job he still holds 14 years later. He (God) also gave me an opportunity to stay home all these years. I’m saying this for encouragement. We survived those first hard years because God was our focal point, not material things…even ones of necessity. Although, I got real good at casseroles with little meat and cheese in it…or so my hubby said! Sweet man knew my $40 a week had to go mostly to the baby, and by the time he was working full time we were able to spend a whole whopping $70! We felt like royalty! It sounds like you are in the same boat we were in…not much money, but a great love for God and eachother. May God bless you by providing you with your necessities and quelching your desires for your wants (that was the hardest for me!) You sound like a neat person. I hope you will let us know when your baby is born and whether you have a little girl or boy.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that we also managed apartments at that time, because our rent was considerably less – although it was very taxing and time consuming. But the savings paid for our groceries, gas, and car insurance.

Kim
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Kim, thank you so much for the encouragement!! (I always like it when people call me a neat person, too…just kidding) God is teaching us to be thrifty and to love Him more than stuff. Baby is due on September 25th…I’ll probably be so happy that I’ll start a thread about it. 🙂 The US government helps us with groceries through WIC (women, infants and children) so we just have to stick to the list, which is really hard.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
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