Frugalty "hacks" that worked for you?

[EasterJoy]

You might think that.

Unfortunately, my friend’s husband’s idea of “doing Dave Ramsey” is that he gets to decide what they are doing with their money. They don’t do a budget, either, which is not very Dave Ramsey. Friend’s husband’s idea of doing Dave Ramsey is that they spend on the stuff he wants and not on the stuff friend wants. And yes, their income is more than sufficient to cover necessities and a lot of extras.

Paradoxically, this makes my friend not want to work that part-time job. She needs a carrot, and there’s no carrot for her.

And yes, this is all very dysfunctional.

FYI, for anybody who isn’t familiar with Dave Ramsey, he teaches doing a monthly budget, bringing your spouse to the table to make a budget, and making sure that both spouses get a say. It’s very difficult/impossible to get a spouse to commit to financial sacrifice when it feels one-sided. He also says that cinching the budget too tight can be counter-productive, as it can lead to a revolt by the non-miser spouse.

Dave Ramsey also says that when dealing with a spender spouse, it’s a mistake to concentrate on “how” (namely, we sell your car or we don’t ever go out anymore). He says that when dealing with a spender spouse (what Dave Ramsey calls the “free spirit”), the focus needs to be on “why”. In my friend’s case, that might be “not having to homeschool,” in DL’s case it might be “getting to move out and have some peace and quiet” or in my case that might be “getting a sofa the family could fit onto and that isn’t 16 years old.” When there’s a passionately desired goal, it’s possible for a spender/free spirit to sacrifice deeply, but the passionately desired goal is absolutely essential for this personality type. The spender/free spirit doesn’t enjoy debt repayment or saving for the sheer joy of debt repayment or saving, but in order to achieve other goals–so they need to feel that their sacrifice is bringing them closer to their dreams.

Yeah, that isn’t very “all for one and one for all.”

I think that pre-marital inventories that alert spouses to their differences in how they see money are very useful. There is a “wrong” in terms of immature views about money that are unrealistic or even illegal, but there are also many attitudes that are mutually trying without anyone being wrong–I mean that both spouses each have views that some couples work with just fine.

One of my “rules to consider” is that if you aren’t willing to live in what you think is an ugly house because your spouse likes it, not even when you’re all “in love” and excited about getting married, you probably aren’t ready to get married, at least not to that person. If you don’t want to sacrifice for things you don’t “see” once in awhile, marriage is a hard row to hoe.

 

[Allegra]

Many times the smaller sizes are cheaper per unit than the bigger sizes, and if you are only going to use part of a larger size it is more expensive to waste the remainder anyway. As a family we never use mayonnaise except for making tuna salad. So even a small jar has the potential of going bad at our house. My solution is to just not buy tuna or mayonnaise unless the mayonnaise is reduced. The same goes for canned soup. My kids don’t like soup at all so I just don’t buy it. I know that it is often recommended to buy and make a wide variety of foods, but if your food budget is tiny, it is a better idea to stick to things you know your family will actually consume. It saves no money if it is not going to be eaten. It is sometimes a better idea to go a litttle more expensive if it will be eaten instead of cheaper and wasted.

Watch portion sizes too. Often people eat way too many carbs and meat and not nearly enough vegetables and fruit. Vegetables are a great way to stretch the food budget. Making a stir fry with half the amount of meat normally used is often more enjoyable than the full steak or pork chop. Quesadillas are an amazing way to stretch meat, beans and even vegetables out. Three nights ago I made 72 quesadillas with corn tortillas ($1.99 for 100 pack), half a block of queso fresco ($5.00 for a full block), and one summer squash ($0.25). We ate our full at dinner and ate the remainder for lunch the next day. Start out every dinner with a salad. If the salad is eaten as a first course not only does it sound fancy, it also is filling so the main course stretches farther. Also use fresh or even canned fruit for dessert, and save room for it a few nights a week. We often have fresh berries with either condensed milk or honey and lemon as dessert, but other nights it will be something as simple as orange slices or canned fruit cocktail. Our food budget is ridiculously low but we eat extremely well three times a day plus snacks. I’m convinced most Americans are eating too much meat and bread, both of which are quite expensive.

Where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas for $2? Come to think of it, where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas?

 

[Xantippe]

I suspect also that what one person considers important to their “quality of life” is not what another person might consider so. ** The husband might consider that the wife ought to make certain sacrifices without realizing how they affect her.
**
For a minor example - I am perfectly happy eating vegetarian, or near-vegetarian. Lentils and chickpeas are yummy! But I have friends who, when presented with a meal that doesn’t feature meat as the main attraction, feel like the meal is incomplete.

For me, I suspect the problem is I’ve been scrimping and saving for 5+ years now, and I don’t feel like I have a whole lot to show for it. Most of that scrimping has been just to keep my head above water, and that hasn’t always been terrible successful. It’s a lot more tiring to try to be frugal when you feel like it’s letting you just barely survive the next emergency.

The other thing I’m learning here is to make darn sure to have these conversations before an engagement is on the table.

Indeed.

I know there are a lot of important conversations you’ll forget to have, but the more you do in advance the better.

 

[Xantippe]

Our children only eat about 20% of what we put in front of them, so now we only feed them on Wednesdays and Sundays.

No. Not really.

Funny!

If they don’t wreck the food too badly, you can eat it.

 

[pianistclare]

Where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas for $2? Come to think of it, where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas?

In Albuquerue. At the tortilla factory on Tuesdays.
My parents bought them every single Tuesday.
We’d eat a couple dozen in the car on the way home with cheese.

 

[Xantippe]

Yeah, that isn’t very “all for one and one for all.”

I think that pre-marital inventories that alert spouses to their differences in how they see money are very useful. There is a “wrong” in terms of immature views about money that are unrealistic or even illegal, but there are also many attitudes that are mutually trying without anyone being wrong–I mean that both spouses each have views that some couples work with just fine.

**One of my “rules to consider” is that if you aren’t willing to live in what you think is an ugly house because your spouse likes it, not even when you’re all “in love” and excited about getting married, you probably aren’t ready to get married, at least not to that person. **If you don’t want to sacrifice for things you don’t “see” once in awhile, marriage is a hard row to hoe.

I would have to quibble with that, because I think there are stage-of-life issues. I know that when I was an early or even mid-20-something (when I was more footloose and fancy free) and a newlywed/new mom, I thought it was terribly materialistic to care about such things, but now that I’m older, I care a lot. I also live in a house with a lot of ugly bits (pink formica! acres of dirty dusty rose carpet! lots of peeling and bubbling grubby looking pinkish paint!).

It initially came as rather a shock to me that we weren’t going to be able to do anything about it for some time. Apparently, there’s this thing called “school” and this other thing called “college” to pay for. Waiting to de-uglify the house is not my favorite thing (especially since I waited 15 years before we were able to buy this house to begin with), but I’m actually not a bad sport if a) there is a light at the end of the tunnel (it’s not all endless sacrifice) and b) we occasionally do a small project (like a bedroom got painted this summer and looks 100X better with fresh white paint as opposed to the grubby pink).

Long term, it can’t be all sacrifice and nothing but, and give give give and never anything back.

There’s an enormous difference between a) we can’t do XYZ now, but we can do it in 3 years and b) we’re never going to do XYZ, no matter how hard or how long you work to make it possible.

As Proverbs 13:12 says, “12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

 

[Xantippe]

In Albuquerue. At the tortilla factory on Tuesdays.
My parents bought them every single Tuesday.
We’d eat a couple dozen in the car on the way home with cheese.

Wow!

 

[oldgraymare2]

I guess I might be repeating what some of you may have already said, but I do like some of you already do when it comes to preparing meals.

I make soups and chili where I can use more veggies and less meat in them, and where they provide more than one meal for my husband and me.

I also like to cook with legumes, too.

I like using a large soup pot for this, or my slow cooker too because with my slow cooker, I can buy less expensive cuts of meat and slow cook them down into more tenderness.

I also will shop sales and shop at the discount stores and dollar stores for items, too.

I like to buy what I can at the dollar store, especially when it comes to office supplies, like notepads and pencils and pens and mailing envelopes, for example.

I will also buy inexpensive housewares at the dollar store too, when I need measuring cups and spoons, for example, or bake ware. I have a really nice brownie pan that I got at the Dollar Tree. That is my favorite dollar store that we have in our area.

I also like to shop the stores at back-to-school time when you can get those types of items at really good prices, too.

 

[bitterhope]

Where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas for $2? Come to think of it, where did you get a 100 pack of tortillas?

They sold them at the Mexican store where we lived until a few days ago. Not sure what I’m going to find here yet. I noticed the milk is more expensive here already but really didn’t shop for much yet. I also haven’t been anywhere except the Walmart right of post yet. Hoping to check the commissary tomorrow

 

[oldgraymare2]

They sold them at the Mexican store where we lived until a few days ago. Not sure what I’m going to find here yet. I noticed the milk is more expensive here already but really didn’t shop for much yet. I also haven’t been anywhere except the Walmart right of post yet. Hoping to check the commissary tomorrow

Hi bitterhope,

Sometimes I’ll just buy a box of dry powdered milk if I think that I’m not going to use regular milk all that much.

It ends up being more economical that way for us sometimes in the end.

It serves a dual purpose for me too, when I use my bread maker and can make bread with it where it’s required in some bread recipes, and then I can also use it for drinking, in cereal, and in cooking, too.

 

[bitterhope]

Hi bitterhope,

Sometimes I’ll just buy a box of dry powdered milk if I think that I’m not going to use regular milk all that much.

It ends up being more economical that way for us sometimes in the end.

It serves a dual purpose for me too, when I use my bread maker and can make bread with it where it’s required in some bread recipes, and then I can also use it for drinking, in cereal, and in cooking, too.

You are right. I have done that as well. I tend to mix half a gallon of regular whole milk with a half a gallon of rehydrated powdered milk though for drinking. It helps with the flavor and consistency.

Honestly, I prided myself for years and years on being able to afford “real” milk for my kids. I never had milk except at school because my parents only bought the powdered milk for us growing up. When money was tight, it was watered down powdered milk. We felt rich because a lot of the other kids never got milk at all. So when I moved in with my husband and saw we could have whole milk everyday I was in heaven! I love creamy whole milk. Got me so sick too. I’m lactose intolerant. Most of my kids can drink it though and I loved giving them the good stuff. Once we had several kids, I got over that to a certain degree. I still find that I get a really warm feeling on days they have milk available though. For cooking I almost exclusively use the powdered milk now and when money’s tight or milk expensive I go to half powdered, half whole milk again. My husband prefers powdered milk in his coffee so that works great for him.

My mother in law taught me how to make queso fresco when we were in Mexico so about twice a month we make our own at home. It cuts down on how much we buy. It takes one gallon of milk to make one block of cheese, so it’s about half the price to make than to buy. Last time we were visiting, my sister in law showed me that the powdered milk can be used to make it as well but the consistency isn’t as nice. The good thing is that way the milk is pasteurized instead of raw and she knew that I needed to be careful with the baby being a premie. She’s not on solids yet but if I got listeria it could effect her through my milk. At home we did try the half whole half powdered and it ended up working very well.

Powdered milk is also wonderful in smoothies, mixed with peanut butter and honey on sandwiches, and mixed in with steamed vegetables.

 

[oldgraymare2]

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re lactose intolerant too, bitterhope.

I know how miserable that can be to try and deal with.

I have been thinking that I may just go back to using the dry milk regularly. That way, you can just mix up as much as you need.

I don’t drink as much regular milk as my husband does, and for awhile he was drinking quite a bit of it and using it in cereal and I would use it in cooking, so it was reasonable for us to get a gallon for us.

Now, he’s not eating as much cereal with milk, so I’ve been getting the half gallons for myself for use in cooking and for use with cereal for me. I don’t drink it so much for lactose reasons, either.

I think that when it comes down to it, the dry milk will be more cost-effective way to go for us.

 

[jeannetherese]

I make soups and chili where I can use more veggies and less meat in them, and where they provide more than one meal for my husband and me.

I like using a large soup pot for this, or my slow cooker too because with my slow cooker, I can buy less expensive cuts of meat and slow cook them down into more tenderness.

Braising or barely simmering meats will also help with tenderness as will adding a bit of wine, or vinegar, or a can of tomatoes, to a soup, chile, or stew.
A bit of vinegar or lemon can also pop flavor levels- I use lemon in pork stew, vinegar in my chile, tomatoes in pot roast, and red wine in burgundy beef stew.

It’s tough to beat eggs for protein portions costwise, and a breakfast for dinner can be a quick meal after a long day at work. Hardboiled egg added to salad with a bit of cheese will make a hearty dinner salad.

 

[Allegra]

I could never drink powdered milk. I think I’d just as soon go without.

 

[Bonnie]

A bit of vinegar or lemon can also pop flavor levels- I use lemon in pork stew, vinegar in my chile, tomatoes in pot roast, and red wine in burgundy beef stew.

I add a bay leaf & about half a cup of coffee to beef in the slow cooker.

 

[pensmama87]

I could never drink powdered milk. I think I’d just as soon go without.

It’s nice for making your own hot cocoa mix! I think one exceptionally lean Christmas that’s what I did for gifts for relatives.

 

[Xantippe]

Braising or barely simmering meats will also help with tenderness as will adding a bit of wine, or vinegar, or a can of tomatoes, to a soup, chile, or stew.
A bit of vinegar or lemon can also pop flavor levels- I use lemon in pork stew, vinegar in my chile, tomatoes in pot roast, and red wine in burgundy beef stew.

It’s tough to beat eggs for protein portions costwise, and a breakfast for dinner can be a quick meal after a long day at work. Hardboiled egg added to salad with a bit of cheese will make a hearty dinner salad.

I can attest to that.

A missionary priest to Russia once cooked Russian or Ukrainian borshch for some college students I was working with, and his version of borshch (beet stew) included lemons or lemon juice (I forget which).

It produced an extremely vibrant flavor.

 

[oldgraymare2]

It’s nice for making your own hot cocoa mix! I think one exceptionally lean Christmas that’s what I did for gifts for relatives.

Yes, it is good in hot cocoa.

 

[oldgraymare2]

I could never drink powdered milk. I think I’d just as soon go without.

It does taste a little bit different at first.

To me, it’s like drinking liquid skim milk if you buy the non-fat kind. I’ve been drinking that for most of my life, anyway.

 

[DarkLight]

Slow, moist heat makes cheaper cuts of meat work better. Tougher cuts are usually cheaper than more tender ones.

You can find a lot of substitution tips online, if you don’t have a particular ingredient on hand - especially for less common spices. You can also find advice on how to rescue a dish that didn’t work.

If you have a car warranty, be careful with home maintenance. If something major goes wrong you’ll likely have to prove that you’ve been performing maintenance on the recommended schedule, and you may be denied if you can’t prove it.