Saw on the news today that frugal is the new trend. I am way ahead of the curve.

Dear friends,

Saw on the news today that frugal is the new trend.  That because of the recession people are thinking about how they spend their money.  I don't mean to sound smug or petty, but I have been living frugal for years and years.  I mean years and years.  We have packed our lunches forever, our idea of a night out is a walk through the woods and maybe seeing a deer or heron.  I have used the library forever and never owned a clothes dryer.  I have lines outside in my yard, in my cellar and a drying rack in the living room.  I can make a dinner of tuna noodle casserole, green beans and home made biscuits for under $2.00.  I truly don't mean to sound bitter but I laugh when my co-workers talk about cutting back and they don't even have a clue.  Their idea of cutting back is staying in a hotel without four stars.  Or just getting regular coffee at the coffee shop instead of latte.  I haven't bought a cup of coffee outside of my own home forever. 

Just venting, I guess.  Love to you all.

Janet

Janet!! 

 

I know what you mean.  I have very frugal tendancies and my friends and sisters used to sort of tease me about it - how I would look for sales, not buy an item until it reached a certain price, shop the dented bins at the grocery store, etc and now they are coming to me for advice on how to cut back in all areas of life.  Don't get me wrong I have a long way to go to be considered a "tightwad" -( in the best sense of the word, of course!!!) but I am working on being more disciplined with my money and more organized at home  - that helps tremendously!

 

Keep up the good work - you inspire us all!!!

 

Kathleen

Janetplanet and  have a lot in common. That is the way I was raised. Nothing was wasted. Meat was always rationed at our house, everybody got a portion and that was it. Not because we were poor but because that is the way most people lived then. A "Feast" on Sunday was a nice medium sized but thick  breaded pork chop, a nice slice of a good raost (beef, pork or veal) a vegetable, potatoes, rice or noodles and a pudding over fruit as dessert. Never had dessert during the week but for afternoon coffee break we ate the left over danish that did not sell the day before.

Only on an important holiday could one get a small second helping of meat but everybody  could always eat as many veggies*** and spuds as their heart desired. Anything on open face sandwiches was spread thin, wether it was jelly, sausage or cheese. It was a rare trat to go out for supper at a restaurant and have a smorgasboard open face sandwich loaded with 3-4 kinds of cold cuts, cheese and sliced hard boiled egg , a few tomato slices and a small sweet pickle.(*** we had a very large garden and canned a lot)

When I worked I packed my lunch and always packed my husband's lunch. For a while we used to go out once a month and have a nice dinner but that was back in 66 to 70. After that it was a rare occasin when we ate out unless we had to be gone over night. When we travelled I always cooked in the travel trailer, at noon in a rest area and at night in a court. We did eat out on rare occasions and then we did enjoy a good meal in anice restaurant..

Despite of my extremely low income I am not suffering and do not have to cut back on fresh fruit because I buy onl what  it is on sale at the right price. Right now it is  Breaburn apples at 98 cents lbs, grapes at $1.29 lbs and bananas at 59 cents. I have also been "hoarding" staples for years. I am ordering a few herb teas and along with them two lbs of dried spinach flakes beofre the price goes up (that is a LOT of spinach) to use in soups,casseroles and to make creamed spinach from. I canned  28 qrts of apple sauce from my only fruit tree: an apple tree that only bears fruit worrth mentioning every 3rd year and the apples are only good for sauce. Since they are not sprayed, I just quarter and core them, cook and can and before using run a jar through food processor to "mush up the peel and add a little sugar. The peels sure give it a good flavor and are healthy to boot.

I also think a tuna casserole with one or two chopped hard boiled eggs in it and either green peas or green beans or a small salad on the side (depending on the price of lettuce)  is a wonderful meal. Being alone it  makes 3-4 dinners for me. Dessert would be a fruit. I gave up coffee a few years ago, drink mostly water (we have had an RO filter for 25 yrs and  1 gal of filtered water for drinking and cooking costs me less than 20 cents. A few times a week I drink a  cup of herb tea (I buy in bulk).

I think a lot of people should just use common sense when it comes to being frugal and still be able to eat nutritious meals at the same time.Not  buying prepared food is a start.

 I've always tried to be frugal in what I buy.  A couple of my sisters seem to  have a problem with that.  Their comment is, you never buy anything.  Well, if I need it, I buy it.  Plain and simple.  I'm more likely to buy things when I shop alone. 

I don't live as frugally as you who have already posted, though, I like some conveniences, the dryer is okay because I don't want to hang clothes out side. I do hang up some of my clothes  just because I prefer they don't go through the dryer.

I, too, try to buy fruit, veggies, meat when they are on sale.  This week we have grapefruit I bought awhile ago and grapes $1.00 a pound.  But we've also had strawberries and blackberries, blueberries, that we've picked and frozen.

Things have come to a pretty sorry state when people will start being frugal because it's fashionable!

 

The upside of Frugal-as-Fashionable is that all of us who have been frugal all along are now "fashion forward"...lucky us. At least we won't have to learn how because we already know:) One of the good things about being older is that we already have everything we need or want so we don't shop for the next new thing. Another is that we have to be truly careful about what we eat so red meat is rarely on our menu; that's gotta be a big savings, along with convenience foods and junk food/snacks, because they are so loaded up with fat and sodium.

 

This past month WalMart opened a store in our town--another good thing because now we actually have a choice about how much we spend on groceries. Our local supermarket must have figured it out because their prices are already coming down and their specials are starting to look pretty special! Nothing like competition:)

competition can be a good thing but watch it with WalMart.  What they usually do is come in with great prices, choke the life out of the local stores, and then when they go under they raise their prices again with no competition in sight.  It is vicious.  I spend my dollars in local stores, local stores spread the wealth throughout our neighborhood.  The national stores suck your money out of your community and you never see it again.

Just my opinion

Janet

I wish I coukld hang my clothes on a line to dry, but we have so much wind and also dust in the summer. I do hang some clothes on a rach in the living room in the winter, ithelps keepmoisture in the air, it is so balmed ry here.

Yes, you are right, us older folkks have to watch the salt and a few other things but even at a younger age I never bought much convenience food. An ocaasional small pizza or a "TV dinner, a few times a year was about it.

I grewq up without convenience foods and I'd bite myself in the belly button before I would buy spghetti sauce, salad dressing, cake mixes, pre-cooked meat balls, pckaged, ready toeat mashed potatoes (now in our meat coolers at the store) and all the other stuff, incl pre seasoned meat at a premium price. Red meat is hamburge(ground at home  from roasts on sale ) and home canned Emu meat.Lean pork and chicken, turkey and some fish are the meats I eat 90% of the time. I don't even buy lunch meats or hot dogs (for reasons stated in a post in KC), because they are not only too salty but have a lot of nasty stuff in them like "meat by products" which are hearts, lungs, lips, udders, snouts and such lovely things. Thanks, but no thanks.  You better READ ALL LABELS of ALL meat products.

On that happy and cheery note I'll get out of here because it is past my bed time. Good thing tomorrow is Sunday and I plan on sleeping late.

See you girls around.

Hi, hope you don't mind my popping in.   I feel sorry for the people who have no idea what frugal really means.  The thought of actually preparing a meal from scratch is a mystery to so many.  I know a lady who thinks she is cooking from scratch when she opens a box of mac & cheese.  I was just in the grocery store this weekend and as I walked down the rows of frozen foods I thought of what my grandma would think about all these ready to heat & eat products.  Not only would she think we are all lazy, but she'd be concerned with all the added preservatives & such.  I am glad I was taught how to garden, cook & can when I was younger.     

I also wanted to comment on Grelo's comments about hot dogs & such.  One of my uncles use to work at Oscar Mayer, because of that, we don't eat real hot dogs.  He said if you knew what all went in to them, you wouldn't eat them.  

Becky 

im glad to see everyone responding to my post. i have to laugh at myself though, i havent been on here all weekend, so when i came on today i wanted to check up on here. well i also subscribe to allrecipes.com and thought that i started it on there. so i started freaking out that i lost my post when i remembered that it was on here.lol. i had already posted something on there that i lost a thread.lol i hate to admit it but yes i am blonde. lol!  

anyways..... i learned ALOT from my mother, her being quite a bit older than alot of mothers i knew she knew how to stretch a dollar and feed a crowd.my mom grew up in the 1940s on a farm and learned a ton about canning, stewing, gardening, and shopping. i feel fortunate that i was taught withthe same values that she was. a frozen pizza, box of hamburger helper, hot pockets, or even frozen pies were NEVER found in our house.EVER.  i never had hamburger helper untill i moved out and met my boyfriend. not only do i think its healthier or less expensive to make your own but also way more rewarding. knowing that i made that or i saved that much today at the store. another thing that we did growning up was buying our own meat from local farmers or meat markets.each year she would buy a half cow, a whole pig, of course venison, and if we were lucky she would buy half a lamb. i have yet gotten to know my area to the point where i know where to buy meat like this. but idefinately hope to. well im all out of ideas right now. ill check in later and try to remember its on here before i ake a fool of myself again.lol

I think another way people can be more frugal is to watch their portions and learn to be a little skimpy with condiments, how much of things are used, etc.  I think that concept is lost on some my age (born in the 70's) because the central theme of the 1980s was 'consume more' and 'materialism means affluence'.  Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to spend alot of time with elderly people who had been through the Depression, WWII, etc. and who knew how to save.  Alot of this rubbed off on me, except when it comes to food portion sizes.

I still need to work on portion sizes, I know I eat more than I should.  If you look at older photos taken at diners & older dishes, you can see that today's portion sizes are completely overwhelming.  I have started using older plates, juice glasses, dessert dishes, etc. and it has really made me realize how out of hand American has become with how much people think constitutes a serving.

I have always been frugal with my soap, toothpaste, cleaning products, etc. and it amazes me to see others who are not.  I agree that purchasing quantities in bulk can save money, however for those without a frugal mindset, they just end up using way too much and wasting it because they have a huge bottle.  This nation as a whole needs to follow what my Daddy taught me..."Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or do without"  Some of you may have heard this as well.  He taught me to second-guess and thoroughly think through every purchase I make, and I am so thankful for that.

I love this site and this thread!    

I am with you on this Janetplanet. I can't imagine living any other way. Living frugally has allowed us to do a lot of things we might not have been able to do otherwise. We always have packed our lunches. Sometimes it is a sandwich, sometimes leftovers.Growing up in a single parent family with 6 kids taught me a lot about what is truly necessary to live. Not to say that we don't waste money occasionally. We do sometimes splurge, but nothing extravagant by most people's standards.  It is getting more difficult to find bargains since there are so many people now struggling to take care of families with less money to do it. I am surrounded by people who complain that they can't pay their bills and buy food. Yet the same people spend money on things I would never waste my money buying, go out to lunch every day and seem to be forever running here and there to buy something they have to have. It is a special occasion when we eat out because we don't do it very often. Special treats are not special when you do  them all the time.

Amen........

I hang my cloths out in the summer (gosh I love that smell!), forage for "free" fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, chokecherries, blackberries, and sometimes plums. Occaisionally I'm given a bushel or two of apples, most every year a friend of mine makes sure I get some venison which I freeze some and can a bunch. Meat is low on the food chain in my house. If it's on sale for a super good price, I'll buy enough to freeze and can. I weigh out my meat and put it into 3-4 oz pkgs (which is a single serving) before I freeze it. Sure helps on things. The only thing I haven't been able to downsize into small, single size meals is soups and chilli. I just can't make a small pot LOL. That's ok tho because I can it in quart size jars and boy is it ever handy - and tasty!! No mushy noodles here. I can without rice or noodles and if I want them, add them when I open a jar. (the rice I pre-cook before adding)

I started walking into town to run my errands and pay bills. It's only a mile into town so it's a great walk and exercise - which I need LOL. I water plants with rain water I retrieve from the gutter run off. I bake from scratch - when making cookies, I'll mix up a full batch, bake about a dozen or two and freeze the rest - either in a container or put mounds of dough on a tray and freeze until set then toss in a freezer bag. This way I can make as much as I need on a moments notice.

When I shop I bring along a notebook which I've jotted down prices for the items I buy for each store I shop in. I update as I shop. This way I know which store has the best price and do my shopping there (there's 5 miles between our grocery and WM). I can buy some bulk things at the Mennonite shop in town too. When I need enough to make the trip to Sam's (a 65 mile trip) worth while I also check the other stores I shop at in that town on the internet to see what's on sale there. I've been able to save tons this way - of note, except for milk and fresh fruit and veggies, I shop once a month.

Wow- I can see that you all could probably teach me ALOT!

 I am frugal and have paid more attention to waste these past several years but I haven't gotten to where I can make a complete dinner for under 2.00! That is awesome!

Like I said, I have got a lot to learn!

This is my first post on this website but am very interested in becoming more frugal and cost conscious, however, most of the suggestions for doing that are things I am already doing: For example: I bring my own breakfast and lunch to work EVERY day, although I do purchase a cup of coffee in the deli downstairs but use my own cup. I make menus each week and only purchase items for the dinner menus (minus what I already have in the cupboard and freezer) and our breakfast and lunch (which my son and I take to work). I have begun to shop for paper products and non-food items at Target and only purchase food at the grocery store. I rarely buy convenience food. I used to purchase a lot of frozen meals but find I can make them much cheaper and usually do a roast in the crockpot on Sundays to have leftovers later in the week. I shop at the local Farmers' Market each Saturday morning and love that the products are pesticide-free. While a little more expensive, I am careful that I only buy what I will use each week. This has been hard because everything looks so good. It is a learning experience. We go out to eat so infrequently that it is really a treat and usually have friends go with us so it becomes a social occassion. Most often a doggie bag comes home because we don't eat as much as we used to and the portions are large. I have been riding the bus to work for the last 7 months. We recently purchased another car but I will continue to ride the bus because it costs much less than driving. I have been trying to pay off my credit card bill and only use cash or checks for purchases. One of the things I keep reading about how to do this faster is to not buy lunch or coffee out (and save $10 per day). Since I am already doing that, I would love to have some other ideas on how to cut back. If you have gotten this far, thank you in advance for your comments. Maggie123

Maggie123:

I have been trying to pay off my credit card bill and only use cash or checks for purchases. One of the things I keep reading about how to do this faster is to not buy lunch or coffee out (and save $10 per day). Since I am already doing that, I would love to have some other ideas on how to cut back.

 

 

Sounds like you are doing well Maggie.  If yu have credit card debts, make sure to pay the highest interest one first.  If you have more than one, it may be worth talking to your bank about a consolidation loan or another option is to open a new credit card account with a special offer  - low interst for the first few months.  Just make sure to close the other accounts or it is too easy to run the bill up again.  Good luck.