Frugalty "hacks" that worked for you?

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Pinterest.

I no longer buy cookbooks. I don’t buy magazines. So much of what is in there is on Pinterest, and I can save it there, all organized. I hardly save any more tearouts of recipes, design ideas, how to articles. Everything is right there.

Here is something else. I have boards of things I like. And in many cases, that’s enough. I don’t need to go out and buy everything I like, I can collect it on a board and look through it. Most days, it is enough to just look at things and think “oh, isn’t that beautiful!.” But I don’t need to have it. I have even been inspired to purge things I already own.

There are thousands of home design, repair, gardening, you name it blogs out there you might never hear of, but you will on Pinterest. You can learn, be inspired and make friends.

For free! How frugal is that?
 
I kept only one commercial cookbook (except for my vintage cookbooks) because it has lots of basic information in it. If my brain goes dead & I can’t remember an oven temperature or how long to cook something, it’s fast & easy to look it up in the book.

I keep recipes on my computer & print out the ones I use regularly - I keep them in a 3-ring binder. I hate writing in books, but this way I don’t have a problem with putting notes on the recipes. Eventually I update the computer recipes. And when a recipe has too many notes or food splotches on it, I just print a new copy.

Being a senior citizen and a veteran I take advantage of all the perks I can! Our county gives low-income seniors coupons for the farmer’s market & for low-cost meals at certain restaurants.

I also use cloth napkins. Raggedy towels are used for cleaning up messes instead of using paper towels.

I’ve seen a lettuce tip about putting a paper towel in your lettuce container to absorb moisture. Even better is a microfiber cloth, or even a washcloth. Washable & reusable. It really does make the lettuce last longer.

Once a week or so I slow cook a roast or chicken. The 2 of us can get 3-4 meals out of it.

I have a tiny fridge, but a large deep freeze. It’s paid for itself many times over. Freezers connected to the fridge go thru a freeze-thaw defrost cycle, so food lasts only a few months. A deep freeze set at zero keeps food for a year or more. I can buy lots of meat, butter, & frozen veggies when they’re on sale. I portion out the ground beef into 1/4 pound patties, wrap, & put in a large freezer bag with the date. I do the same with chicken & roasts - it’s easy to take out just what I need instead of thawing more than I need. Last week chicken quarters were on sale for 98 cents/lb. I bought what I could afford & cut apart the legs & thighs, wrapped each separately, & put them in freezer bags.

Libraries have more than books - we get most of the videos we watch from there. If you see a recently published book that you’d like to read, ask your library if they’ll buy it. Our library has bought a lot of my suggested books - & I’m always the first person on the list. 🙂

I rarely buy new clothes. I don’t need many, so the thrift shops are the first places I look when I need something. Same for towels, sheets, blankets, etc - they don’t match, but that’s fine.
 
Seconding (or thirding) the library. There are also great apps if you have a tablet that work with your local library…Overdrive, Libby, and Hoopla come to mind. You can check out movies or e-books right on your tablet. It’s great.

I’m also trying out a capsule wardrobe concept…neutral skirts, short-sleeved tops with long-sleeved cardigans that can get me through three seasons, leggings for fall and mild winter days, and brightly colored thrifted scarves. I figure that combining colors and pieces in different ways can help me get a lot of mileage out of relatively few pieces of clothing.

I learned how to knit and if I get yarn at JoAnn’s with a coupon, I can make hats for my kids pretty cheap.

Thrift stores are awesome for kids’ games (just make sure all the pieces are there) and books. If you’re willing to paint, there are good, sturdy pieces of furniture that just need a new coat of paint to look great in a kid’s room.
 
I’m Canadian and in winter my skin gets so dry it is an annoyance. I use to have to buy $50 jars of cream for my face to not suffer and I would go through at least 6 per winter. Then add on the boy moisturizer and it breaks my heart to think of what I use to spend

Now I buy a $20 jar of coconut oil that last almost 2 years. I put it on at night since it does make clothes sticky. It works well enough that the next morning I can use the cheapest body lotion after my shower. I still put the coconut oil on my face in the morning and believe it or not, by the time I get to work, my face has absorded it all. But… I can’t wear make (except on the eyes) since it wouldn’t stick to my face 😛

My mom taught me to buy flat sheet cloth diapers and cut them into the perfect size dust cloth. I cut some into 8 inch by 8 inch squares. I bought a small bargain brand bottle of fabric softener. I soak 4 cloths in it and let them drip dry. I put then in the dryer instaed of a sheet of bounce. I have been using the same cloths for almost 8 months 1 time per week (I hang a lot of my clothes to dry) and I still don’t get static in the dryer. And I still have 80% of the fabric softener left in the bottle ! My concern is it will take me 4 years to use up the bottle and it will go bad before them.

Sure it is nickel and diming sometimes but… still it is a saving

Angie
 
Anglewannabe said:
Now I buy a $20 jar of coconut oil that last almost 2 years.
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Knew I forgot something! I use coconut oil, too, & it can be the cheapest because flavor doesn’t matter. I’ve been using the same jar for well over a year now & it hasn’t gone rancid on me. I use it for both skin & hair.

For skin, I use very little - it doesn’t take much & using less it soaks in faster. For my hair, I rub it in an hour or 2 before I wash it & brush it in with an old brush I use just for the oil. Then I pin it up until I’m ready to shower. I use cheap shampoo - I think the last bunch I bought cost about $1 each. After my hair is washed I don’t need any conditioner at all.

For a facial, I use olive oil (again - cheap - the bottle I’m using now was a new brand I bought to try out but didn’t like the taste) & white sugar. Sprinkle some sugar in the palm of your hand, then pour in a little oil. Mix by rubbing your hands together, then put in on your face. I also use it on my elbows as they tend to be dry. Rub your face gently & you can, if you want, let it all soak in for a bit. Or just rinse it off right away. Use warm water, no soap. It doesn’t end up being greasy at all & gives you a nice glow. You could do the same with coconut oil, but around here it’s solid most the year.
 
Bonnie said:
. You could do the same with coconut oil, but around here it’s solid most the year.
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😃

I also use coconut oil and baking soda for a deoderant. In summer it is so liquid I have to buy regular deoderant

Angie
 
Lookingforjoy said:
Seconding (or thirding) the library…
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The Jane Bryant Quinn book talks about things like mortgages, insurance, saving for college and retirement, taxes, investments, and other big-ticket items in personal finance. If you have not had a good personal finance course (and maybe even if you have), read that book.
 
For those who didn’t know, Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons **don’t ** expire, no matter what it says on the coupon. I recently came across an some I had stuck in an envelope in my desk that were almost ten years out of date. The took them without blinking an eye. And if you have some $5 off $15 and some 20% off, the clerk who rings you up will calculate the best way to utilize each. Oh, and they can also be used at Buy, Buy, Baby, but only the unexpired ones.

This tip isn’t exactly frugal because candy is a luxury, but I read one mother’s tip to buy bags of Christmas-colored M&M’s when they go on sale after Christmas. Use the red and white ones as Valentine treats for your children and the green for St. Patrick’s Day. (This only works if you DON’T eat them yourself and DO remember that they’re hidden away by 2/14.)

I saved $50 last night on a car rental. I booked a few months ago through Costco but have checked the rates every day or so. When I saw a price drop yesterday, I rebooked at the lower rate. It’s $100 more today.
 
For us younger folk, there’s a lot of perfectly good free entertainment online.

Project Gutenberg has most any older literature that you would like to read - some of it’s quite good. I’m personally quite fond of Lovecraft. There are well-written webcomics out there as well. If anyone in the house likes games, there a lot of free “retro” games online, and even a fair few more modern ones that are being produced open source. Really, if you look into the open source community, there’s a whole lot of stuff online. Heck, at this point our D&D games are using open-source material and free online programs.
 
Sometimes a kindle can be an economical investment. I love reading and I love real books. I refused to get a kindle for a while. But I was in hospital to get my wisdom teeth out and the nurse saw that I was reading Book 4 of the Wheel of Time series. She said that she had read them too. They are THICK books and there are something like 14 of them. She advised me that they were 1/3 of the price on the kindle, so by the time that I had read them all I would have made back the money I spent on the kindle compared to if I bought them all at the bookshop. The problem with the library is that the one in my town wasn’t great and only had a few of those books. In hindsight I could have probably requested the library to borrow the book from another library in the county - that was a free service they provided. So that would be another option. But if you like Classics, they are all available fro free on the Amazon website.

Another thing that might help is educating yourself about sustainability and waste. There was a lot of media attention around this recently in Australia because of a TV program that drew attention to waste, such as food waste, fast fashion, disposable coffee cups and single use plastics. It’s crazy the difference I have noticed in people’s behaviours to reduce their consumption of single use plastics.

Some ways this can help save money:
  1. Being aware of the damage that cotton farming does will make you question buying clothes. Perhaps you might be able to make your own? Repair something instead of chucking it? Upcycle? Buy 2nd hand? Or not buy the item at all if it isn’t necessary.
  2. Thinking about single use plastics can help you save money because you are more likely to think about buying bigger bottles of shampoo, etc (bulk buying items like that often works out cheaper). I started to question the items that I use that come in plastic bottles. I decided to forgo certain items (e.g. conditioner, primer and leg shaving foam) to see if I really needed them. I did return to using some items but I discovered that my makeup didn’t require primer so that was a big money saver. You can also make your own toiletries (e.g. deoderant) but I have yet to try that.
  3. Using reusable items rather than one use items. For example I switched to reusable make up wipes and using a menstrual cup. These are expensive initial investments but over time will be good for the wallet and reduce waste. I also use a keep cup when I get take away coffee (which I only do twice a week on Mon and Fri as a treat rather than every day). Some coffee shops in Aus have started offering discounts if you bring a keep cup.
ETA: Another tip. see if you can get an extra couple of weeks out of your hair before cutting it. Will save money over the year. Also, check online for reviews of less well known salons. They will probably be cheaper than the popular ones if you find a good one.
 
We buy a lot of our clothes, home goods, books and CD’s from the thrift store. A couple of the local ones have coupons and one is an outlet center so you can buy clothes and stuff by weight instead of by item (much, much cheaper).

We buy whatever we can in bulk. I know some frugality “experts” have warned against that, but the stuff we buy in bulk is stuff we go through quickly. For example, I’ll buy ketchup, mustard and salsa by the gallon. I buy big bags of chicken and larger cuts of meat then take them home and freeze them. I’ll also cook in bulk and use the leftover meat for sandwiches. $1-3/pound for fresh meat is a lot better than $5-10/pound for lunch meat, and it doesn’t have the preservatives.

I program our thermostat and can access it online so whenever we leave the house I’m turning it up or down so the AC/furnace doesn’t run while we’re gone. I’m particularly obsessive about this during the winter when it’s so much easier to put on another layer instead of turning the thermostat up 3-4 degrees.

I stockpile school supplies at the beginning of the year. My wife used to hate when I did this but once we had several kids in school she realized what a blessing it was to still have a bunch of paper or notebooks we’d gotten for 7-25 cents apiece instead of having to pay $1-2 apiece later in the school year.

We re-use gift bags and boxes, and most of the ones we have were bought at the thrift store. The current batch of Christmas gift boxes for the kids’ clothes will be four or five years old this Christmas.

We always check the reduced for quick sale sections at the grocery store. I’ve found products that normally run $4-5 for less than $1 each, that were discontinued because the label was changing. I also recently picked up a ton of damaged canned good for 20 cents per can (normally $1.49). There was nothing wrong with them other than the fact that they were dented.

I use dried beans whenever possible.

I read an article on efficient driving a few years ago and still use the tricks and habits from that when I’m on the road. I don’t speed up or brake excessively (wastes gas and does extra wear and tear on your brake pads). If I’m going to be stopped for ten seconds or more, I turn the car off (not while in traffic, but in drive-thru’s, etc.). I plan out my trips whenever possible to minimize stops. While your mileage may vary, my wife doesn’t employ the same habits I do and I use about one third the amount of gas she does (no exaggeration).

I use Ebates and Ibotta on every purchase I can possibly use them on. Over the past year I’ve gotten over $100 back. There’s a handful of other rewards-type apps that I use which don’t pay out as frequently but have gotten me another $40 or so over the past couple years.

I’m sure there’s other stuff I’m not thinking of, but those are some off the top of my head.
 
Careful about those dented cans!
It’s perfectly fine to use a can right after you’ve dropped it on the floor, even if it’s a little dented. But you definitely want to avoid buying cans that are already dented or damaged. It’s tempting to buy dented cans that are marked down, but the bargain isn’t worth it. Those cans could contain a dangerous bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. The organism is extremely rare, but its toxin can be deadly. So don’t take any chances.
 
Anglewannabe said:
My mom taught me to buy flat sheet cloth diapers and cut them into the perfect size dust cloth. I cut some into 8 inch by 8 inch squares. I bought a small bargain brand bottle of fabric softener. I soak 4 cloths in it and let them drip dry. I put then in the dryer instaed of a sheet of bounce. I have been using the same cloths for almost 8 months 1 time per week (I hang a lot of my clothes to dry) and I still don’t get static in the dryer. And I still have 80% of the fabric softener left in the bottle !
Angie
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This is so good…there are no Bounce or those types of sheets for the dryer where I live. In fact,the use of a dryer isn t common. So now I know what to do after the last box is gone!
When the weather is suitable,I hang clothes on the line ,but sometines it will take too long to dry. Or I hang them and just give the last touch in the dryer.
It pretty much depends on the weather and the amount of laundry.
Great thread!
 
pianistclare said:
Careful about those dented cans!
It’s perfectly fine to use a can right after you’ve dropped it on the floor, even if it’s a little dented. But you definitely want to avoid buying cans that are already dented or damaged. It’s tempting to buy dented cans that are marked down, but the bargain isn’t worth it. Those cans could contain a dangerous bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. The organism is extremely rare, but its toxin can be deadly. So don’t take any chances.
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Yes, I remember my home ec book hammering this home.
 
I use google voice as my primary cell plan. Free calls and texts although texting a bit easier. To make a call I have to use google hangouts. Anyway, it works over wifi, so if you are connected to wifi it works fine. I bundle it with a $10 every three months cell phone plan, which I rarely use.
 
This next statement will probably classify me as an outdated curmudgeon, but let me take that risk. I think people should teach their kids to be able to do math in their head. I mean when you are in the grocery store and you have $20 to spend, it is important to know that if you spend $6 on a pie, you now have only $14 to spend on other things. Or if a 20 ounce box of cereal is $3 and a 10 ounce box is $2, that on a per ounce basis the $3 box is a better deal. There was a time almost 30 years ago when I had a $10 per week food budget (poor graduate student), stretching that budget help me develop skills I still use today, even though today I could probably buy stuff randomly at the grocery store and still be ok. I have a friend who goes to Sam’s club and just buys what she wants without looking at prices. Then she complains about being broke.

Also, some employers allow you to do direct deposit to more than one bank. I have a spendthrift friend who diverted a couple hundred each paycheck to a credit union. He then proceeded to forget about it until he realized he had $18k in the bank. Of course, if you raid it frequently that might not be a good long term strategy.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
This next statement will probably classify me as an outdated curmudgeon, but let me take that risk. I think people should teach their kids to be able to do math in their head. I mean when you are in the grocery store and you have $20 to spend, it is important to know that if you spend $6 on a pie, you now have only $14 to spend on other things. Or if a 20 ounce box of cereal is $3 and a 10 ounce box is $2, that on a per ounce basis the $3 box is a better deal. There was a time almost 30 years ago when I had a $10 per week food budget (poor graduate student), stretching that budget help me develop skills I still use today, even though today I could probably buy stuff randomly at the grocery store and still be ok. I have a friend who goes to Sam’s club and just buys what she wants without looking at prices. Then she complains about being broke.

Also, some employers allow you to do direct deposit to more than one bank. I have a spendthrift friend who diverted a couple hundred each paycheck to a credit union. He then proceeded to forget about it until he realized he had $18k in the bank. Of course, if you raid it frequently that might not be a good long term strategy.
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That’s one reason I use cash. You can’t just swipe a card and assume it’s fine -you have to have the money in hand.
 
For laundry, I switched to using white vinegar as fabric softener (if you cloth diaper, you have to be careful about what you put in your washer because it can leave residues behind), and wool dryer balls. I’ve had them for six years and there is a dramatic difference in drying time, and they’re still like new.

I also repaired my washer myself a few years ago and was shocked at how easy it was. YouTube is a big help for basic home repairs, though I’m not brave (stupid?) enough to try doing my own electrical work.
 
I save Taco Bell sauce. They always give me too much. We also save paper napkins and extra plasticware, but not for frugality’s sake. We keep them in our car and picnic basket for future use.

My family likes to make homemade pizza, but it’s expensive to buy all the containers of toppings. I go through the salad bar at the grocery store and buy my pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, onions, etc. When I’m done, my container is about two dollars, which is less than I would have spend just buying a single package of pepperoni. I also get my family to eat more veggies that way.

We also have a lot of picnics, which saves us eating out when we’re going some place we’ll be gone the whole day. We used to buy premade sandwiches from the grocery store, which were 5 to 7 dollars a piece. My husband didn’t like the lettuce while my daughter didn’t like the weird sauce while my son didn’t even like he bread. I figured out that if I just bought a summer sausage and a block of cheese and cut them up, its easier to transport, makes more room for watermelon in our basket, and the family likes it just as much. A lot less food is wasted and the family likes it much better.

Instead of a pool membership, our family has a membership to the West St. Louis County Aquatic Center For the Underprivileged. (AKA the river.) Or we play in the sprinklers.

Also, lots of kids get free tickets to Six Flags from their school for saying that they read six hours or something like that. Many of them also have season passes so they don’t really need the tickets. You can get on facebook swap pages the week they’re given out and lots of parents are giving their kids away for free. You can also get Cardinal tickets the same way.

Also, we buy most to all of our kids shoes at the Vincent de Paul store for $2 a pair. Most little kids outgrow their shoes before they wear them out, especially dress shoes. Sometimes they have a bag sale and I can get a huge bag a clothes and shoes for $5!
 
graciew said:
This is so good…there are no Bounce or those types of sheets for the dryer where I live. In fact,the use of a dryer isn t common. So now I know what to do after the last box is gone!
When the weather is suitable,I hang clothes on the line ,but sometines it will take too long to dry. Or I hang them and just give the last touch in the dryer.
It pretty much depends on the weather and the amount of laundry.
Great thread!
Click to expand...
I have never used fabric softener. My mother told me it was a scam and I never questioned it. No one has ever commented on the “hardness” of my attire. I can’t tell the difference.
 
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