Posted on 02/11/2010 10:06:15 AM PST by hennie pennie
Frugality. That's been the buzzword of the Great Recession.
Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence. Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more and increasing savings to 4.8 percent of disposable income in December, up from near zero before the recession.
In the past year, blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.
Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: Frugality fatigue. But I'd argue that if frugality is done right, there should be no such thing.
Being frugal doesn't mean being stingy, miserly or downright cheap. The true spirit of frugality is to be mindful of how you use your limited resources. To be prudent with your money. To buy the best of what you need but no more. To avoid waste.
That's why the new frugality aligns so well with the growing.....
(Excerpt) Read more at m.startribune.com ...
There are hundreds of dozens of blogs & forums about frugality, but I'm not interested here in the "philosophy" of frugality in general, or any links to the "same ol', same ol'" -- but rather in your own firsthand personal responses to cutting spending and watching your pennies.
Thank you.
Conservatives should not have to be frugal, liberals should be “sharing their wealth” since that’s what they claim to believe in.
I buckled down and learned how to replace brakes (both pads and rotors) on my truck just yesterday after work. This is no big deal to those who have done it before but I just saved labor costs and now have a new skill, abeit very limited.
I mix white wine with tonic water. It makes like a spritzer, makes the wine last longer, and I don’t get so tipsy.
I inherited the frugal gene from my father and his father in spades. I’d say one of the big things I have done is getting married a couple of weeks ago and renting a different home with my wife from where we were living separately. Total rent per month saved = $450. In order to have enough shelf space for all our books, I decided to stop by the local auction house the other night. Found an old desk with two shelves for books above. Paid $15 for it. Still need a washing machine, a splitting maul, some splittng wedges, and a chainsaw, though. The chainsaw and splitting tools is for my new camp firewood business that this home located outside of city limits will allow me to start.
bmflr
wash and set your own hair - and learn the simple method of cutting your families hair - and do your own nails.
that can save HUNDREDS of dollars a year. (I’ve done this for decades. If I had put the money saved, in a ‘can’, all these years, I’d be sitting pretty.)
Don’t play the ‘buy a new car every 3 years’ game.
My trusty Buick will be 20 years old next year - and then will qualify to register as antique. She still looks good and the motor purrs. The insurance is just over $400 a year - including road service - and registration under $100.
Don’t trade up to a new and bigger house just because you can. Keep yourself in a smaller house with smaller insurance/taxes. And forget ‘cathedral’ ceilings. That’s a lot of square footage to heat - and heat rises, making the warmest place in the house the ‘empty’ space. the ideal house is a story and a half, with the slanted ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms cutting down on heated square feet and enough heat rising up from downstairs to heat the bedrooms enough for sleeping - mega heating money saved.
I could go on - but I won’t ;o)
I think you should...
I hear you. I cut my own hair. I don't cut hubby's hair, but I do trim his beard for him. Also, my MIL is in an assisted living facility. We pick her laundry up every week and do it with ours, instead of having the facility do it. Saves her a couple hundred bucks a month in laundry fees. No big deal to us to do two extra loads on laundry day.
< grump> Every tip on frugal living is pretty much something I’m already doing, except for some things I can’t afford to do (like installing a wood-burning stove, which I’d love to do but don’t have the money for).
I make out like a bandit at the local Goodwill. I buy brand-new, tags-on Ralph Lauren clothes there and people think I spend a fortune on all the lovely silk, wool, and linen designer clothes I wear. I try never to spend more than $4 on an article of clothing, plus the cost of getting them cleaned before I take them home, even though they’ve never been worn. I have also bought some couture designer samples that may have been worn once in a fashion show—these constitute my ballgowns. The only downside of this is that everyone at my office thinks I’m rich! I’m thinking about buying some of this stuff at Goodwill and at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and reselling them on Ebay.
Apart from that, I go out into the woods and find firewood, which I drag home, cut, and split for the fireplace. All my lights are on dimmers. I grow my own vegetables, make my own bread, and trim my horse’s feet myself when possible.
“All my lights are on dimmers.”
You better buy your bulbs soon before Uncle Sugars’ mandate takes hold.
My husband bought a Pellet Stove from Lowe’s. It was a floor model and he got $400.00 bucks off. Just an idea to look for the floor models on some things. Anyway this stove is so good that for the last few weeks I thought I was having hot flashes! We walk around in T shirts now.
I just started making my own laundry soap. It’s easy and very cheap. I used to pay over $10 for Tide Free, now I make 10 gallons at a time for pennies.
So what’s the recipe? :)
Share your recipe ??
Yes, please share! :)
This is mine: 1 bar Fels-Naptha, grated, 2 cups washing soda, 2 cups Borax. Pulse together in a food processor. 1 tbsp. small loads, 2 tbsp. large loads.
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