Being Thrifty

29 Oct
- this & that
Author: admin
13 Comments

Stretching Your Dollars?
I consider myself a thrifty person. I shop sales, stock up on food storage when I can, and buy my boys clothing at the end of the season to name a few. My husband lost his job a few weeks ago, and while we will be ok for a bit, I find myself trying to live on less than we ever have before. I’m looking for other tips to help save money, maybe things that I haven’t thought of. Although I hope he finds a job soon, I’ve realized just how much we can live without the past couple weeks. I’d certainly love more ideas on how to make our dollars stretch as far as they can.

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About the Author

Tiff is the creator of Babes and Kids. She has two little boys, Chandler (5) and Rowan (3). She works part time as a clerk in an ER, and is currently studying Ultrasound in school, so there is never a dull moment. She loves writing and connecting with other moms, spending her days with little boys, being a wife, running, swimming, and shopping.

Comments

Sat | 19.12.09

cheryl h said:

I too am thrifty..at least I think I am. My tips on saving money will probably be the same as others here but I will give my two cents worth anyhow.

First off as soon as the grocery flyers come out I check my list and see who is having the most sales of what I need to purchase. Yes I usually end up going to a few stores but wont waste the time, effort and gas money for just an item or two. I clip coupons and use them before expiry date.

We have a butcher thats app 1/2 from us who always has lean ground beef, chicken, steak, pork chops and some deli meats on special. Last time I went, I paid $1.49 for lean ground beef which is real good considering its now going for minimum $2.99 lb and then I bought 26 pounds and had them bag them in 2 lb increments. I also bought chicken, butterfly pork chops, steak and sausage in bulk to save money.

I check out clearance items in department stores and I have come across some real good deals.

I freeze any leftovers for another meal.

This is just a few of what I do or I will end up writing a novel here LOL

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Sun | 15.11.09

Betty N said:

Most of the furniture in our house is second hand and we have great furniture at really cheap prices. Thrift shops have clothing at amazing prices as do garage sales. For health reasons, we went to chicken as our staple meat. We buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale….we grind half of it. It goes far in such dishes as chicken and rice, small chicken burgers (we like them far better than regular hamburgers and they have applesauce and wheat bread crumbs in them), meatloaf, meatballs, etc. For the rest of the chicken breasts, I pound it out thin and it looks like huge portions…I found a really healthy recipe on the net for Honey Crunch chicken which is cheap and really good.

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Thu | 05.11.09

Amy said:

All the grocery shopping I do hinges on store circulars combined with coupons. I also refill a tupperware with store brand cereal which tastes exactly the same as big name brand but fools those more picky eaters who “don’t like generic”. It’s sneaky but it works
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Frosty the Snowman Giveaway And More! =-.

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Thu | 05.11.09

denise said:

We have also discovered how to get by on less in this economy. I have saved us about $2000/year just in using coupons, mostly on double coupon day at the grocery store. I go two times less to the hair dresser per year and cut my kids hair.

denise_22315 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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Sun | 01.11.09

Christine Marshall said:

I cut my husbands hair, which saves quite a bit!
I plan meals that use the some of the same ingredients so you can buy less groceries, and we buy a lot of stuff in bulk at winco (all baking stuff, spices-only buy what you need for a meal and its just a couple of cents, beans, noodles, rice, etc)
Walk when you can… depends on how far away from stuff you are!
Consolidate trips when you do drive, so you’re not going out every day.
Good luck finding Marshall a job!! We’ll keep you in our prayers.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Priscila said:

What a great post!!!!!!

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Priscila

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Thu | 29.10.09

Faythe said:

I agree with the rest…
I do couponing, watch the papers ads for deals & compare, make a list & mark what items you have a coupon for, than stock up if possible.
I made my own hot cocoa mix too… a good warmer upper in winter… dress in layers… socks , maybe slippers & even knit caps in the house!
you lose most of your heat through your head! and I know if my feet are cold, I am never warming up!
I use a throw blanket for watching TV, if you sit close together & snuggle it is even warmer
get the kids involved by cutting coupons & such… they do like to help!
someone could be light patrol guard for the day & turn off lights in un-used rooms…
use timers on other electronics so they shut off when not needed…
And read the little shopper advertiser papers, they may list some clothing drives & giveaways at different churches & organizations, I noticed more of them lately. And Freecycle.org… if you live near a couple communities join all… and make sure it is worth the drive to pick it up.

great tips everyone!
.-= Faythe´s last blog ..The Ladies Room … {overheard, laughs and snickers} =-.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Tricia @nightowlmama said:

I just don’t go shopping. If you think about it you don’t need anything except food and the essentials. Make meals that have left overs and freeze them. Purchase in bulk if it saves.

And buy 2nd hand if possible. Don’t spend it if you don’t have it.
.-= Tricia @nightowlmama´s last blog ..A Halloween Moment I wish I had on Video =-.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Brittany said:

When my husband wasn’t working earlier this year we did a few things:

Made our own milk (buy the box Carnation and add water) depending on pricing from regular milk to that.

Bought bulk Gatorade ($10) and it makes 5 gallons. Great substitute for juice, sodas etc.

Made our own sweet tea or plain tea (I have a recipe if you like)

Malt O Meal for breakfast (you can add sugar or brown sugar so the kids will like it – it may or may not be cheaper than cereals / oatmeal)

Cut down our cable bill. We could up it again when we had the money but we didn’t need 150 channels.

Hardly used our dryer. Hung everything up around the house or in garage.

Bought meat in bulk then separated at home and froze it. Along with that made menus (it’s easy to plan cheap meals that way)

Hope those help!
.-= Brittany´s last blog ..Memoirs of the South =-.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Trisha said:

You’ve gotten some really good advice. Let’s see if I can think of anything else. Do laundry and wash dishes during non peak hours, so like at nighttime. Also, even though I know it’s getting cold, we don’t turn our heater on very often. Instead I bought a couple of those small space heaters (like $12 at walmart) and plug those in whatever room we’re in. It’s cheaper to run that than it is to pay for heating for the whole house. We used to keep it even colder in here before we had Kaylee and just wore sweatshirts and used lots of blankets.

For meals I realized that I usually only make one main dish, instead of a main dish, some veggies or fruit, etc. Then we ended up eating more of the main dish which is more expensive. Growing up we had veggies with every meal, and usually a salad or something else too to help fill us up.
.-= Trisha´s last blog ..Twilight Ladybug From Cloud B Review =-.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Patti Bright said:

My husband lost his job last November & its been a tough year but we get by. I only buy sale items & I stock up when they are the lowest. I plan menus around what we have. Freecycle.org is great. Join your local group. You can pick up a lot of good items you might need especially clothes.
plb8156@aol.com

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Thu | 29.10.09

Staci A said:

I coupon-both online and from newspapers, ask around to see if there’s any local discount stores you may have missed-we have a discount grocery store and a diaper one, but you’d never know about them if it weren’t for word of mouth. Also check thrift stores and consignment stores for clothes.

Make cheap dinners-use what you have, go meatless a night or two, use more fillers-like breads, rice, and pasta.

Good luck! I’ll be checking back to see what ideas others come up with!
.-= Staci A´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: The Twins =-.

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Thu | 29.10.09

Jammie said:

Have you considered making your own laundry detergent? I started making my own probably almost a year ago. Saves lots of money. I do still get fabric softener, but never laundry detergent, if I had to guess what it cost me to wash our clothes for the year it was under 20 dollars. For a years worth of wash can’t beat that when you are trying to save money. Also coupons, I have not yet got the hang of the coupons. But when I was using them I was seeing a difference. Good Luck
.-= Jammie´s last blog ..Free Sample of Ex-T-Cee from Pure Romance =-.

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