Friday, 02 October 2009
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Getting Thrifty
How has the economic downturn affected you personally? What changes have you made in your life to save money, pinch pennies, stretch your dollars? What thrifty tips can you share (places to shop, coupons to use, places to eat, etc.)?
Back to the "Getting Thrifty" writing prompt on Featured Grownups (to read the other entries)
Well, Ever since getting married in 2000, I have always had to be careful with our spending. We have always been a family that has had to live paycheck to paycheck. We survive on what many would consider impossible and we do it without relying on the government for food stamps or welfare or any of that stuff. We are part of what many call the working poor.
There are many tips that I can share.....
1. I get our groceries at a "bent and dent" store. Much of the food that people buy at the big grocery stores can be gotten for half or a quarter of the price at a bent and dent store.
2. I get our clothes and shoes at yard sales or Goodwill (we have a great one here that has great clothes cheap).
3. Freecycle is WONDERFUL...at least ours in this area is.
4. Homemade gifts. There are so many things you can make to give as gifts. Like cookie mix in glass jars for just one example.
5. Reuse wrapping paper or if you have children let them make the wrapping paper
6. Make your own puzzles using old boxes. Have the children make a picture and then cut it into a puzzle.
7. Don't uses A/C. People survived just fine without it before it was invented and you can survive now (this is true for people who live in the country or small towns...it may not be true for people who live in the inner city in an area where it gets above 100 degrees)
8. Cook at home. Eating out is more expensive. Also the cheapest way to eat is to cook from scratch, the way most people did it way back in the "good old days."
9. Keep a recipe box full of good recipes.
10. Go to the library. There are lots of books to be read or movies to be watched all free borrowed from the library. Some libraries also have great programs for children and adults.
11. We love to go hiking. It is fun and free other then the gas that it takes to get there.
12. We don't get the newspaper or magazines. Almost everything we want can be found on-line for free.
13. I know many will not agree with me on this but avoid credit cards. We don't touch them. We don't have any. Too many people get themselves in huge debts via credit cards. Leave the credit cards alone. Only buy stuff that you have the money to get. If you don't have the money then don't buy it.
14. Don't smoke or drink. Both are unneeded expenses. (Plus smoking is bad for your health too)
15. Buy generic over-the-counter medicines. They are just like the brand name...many times they are even made in the same plant but just slapped with a different label.
So there are a few of my ideas.
Can you think of any ideas that I missed or should be added to my list?
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- From: Kristenmomof3@xanga
- Name: Kristen
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- About Me: I am a married mother of 3 beautiful children. I have a wonderful husband that God has blessed me with. I have been blessed beyond what I could ever have hoped for. He is a wonderful husband, father and follower of God. I am truly blessed.
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Comments (13)
My husband would never agree with #2, but I wouldn't mind for myself.
When it comes to children, my sisters don't buy toys... they let the in-laws and friends buy them. Also ask for clothing and no toys for birthday and holiday gifts.
Coupons are the best if you can find them.
i love your 11. hiking and walk around the neighbor without a car. it's good for your health. you don't need a gym membership unless you want to go use their weight lifting stuffs. I personally think America should be more walkable in anywhere. check out
http://www.walkscore.com/to see how many restaurants, stores, public buildings you can actually access without driving your car. you would be surprised. It is a good website to know how well organized and safe your neighborhood.
I wish Freecycle was better in our area. We live in a large city and unless you hover over your computer all day long, someone has already claimed something long before you ever see the email.
Good tips though. I don't think we have a "bent and dent" store. What are those??
And unfortunately we live in one of those areas that requires AC. Our electric bill got up to $250 one month for a 900 sq ft house.
But we had over 50 days of 100 degree heat this summer so I guess that's understandable.
Ditto on the homemade gifts...you don't even have to be very creative! Just save random scraps of things and Goodle DIY and you'll find hundreds of easy-to-follow instructions!!
recycle cans and what i do is spend dollar bills but, keep the change and once you have a certain amount saved up, put it in a cd account
We don't eat as much meat as a lot of people and if we do, it's stretched between a casserole or tacos with black beans or something like that. For example, there are four people in my family. I took the four chicken breasts that we could have just eaten one each and instead put them in the crockpot, shredded them, and now we'll turn them in to tacos tonight, pasta with chicken and cheese another night, a big family salad another night and possibly a casserole for the last night. All of those meals will be big enough for the four of us and we'll have a portion left for my husband to take to work for lunch, which is another thing. He brown bags his lunches so he's not spending money every day at work for food.
Our children drink water and milk, not juice. We don't have soda in the house so none of us drink that.
We cloth diaper so we don't have to buy disposables all the time and we got almost all of those off Craigslist so they aren't new but they work just fine and they were cheap!
We don't go in to WalMart because when we do, we're tempted to leave with dvds/toys/etc that we don't need but "it's just so cheap!" If we're looking for something specific, we check Target and keep an eye on it for weeks until it goes on clearance.
Price compare - I may end up going to three grocery stores to get all the groceries I need, but they are all within walking distance of one another and all of them have things at different prices.
We're lucky enough to live in a suburban area, so when we have a lot of errands to run we park in a central location and walk to all of them. It's easier than all the driving, especially with two small children to get in and out of a vehicle.
We don't buy fruit snacks or Little Debbie cakes or anything like that. They're expensive and unnecessary.
I Christmas and birthday shop year round, looking for clearance prices at Target and Amazon. Target does a HUGE clearance of toys right after Christmas and then again around June.
I don't have anything to add to this conversation except to say that sometimes I just want to kick myself thinking about all of the money we could've been saving before we readjusted to being a single income family. When both my husband and I worked full time, we thought that we needed both paychecks to survive. Two and a half years later, I'm a full time SAHM and we live off of his paycheck and do it just fine. This new life isn't without its sacrifices and we have to really be creative with our budget, but our quality of life hasn't changed. We eat out a lot less and I don't impulse shop at all; it's funny to think that I used to view those things as necessary to my lifestyle. Seriously, I want to KICK myself thinking about how we could've been living like we currently do and saving, literally, my entire paycheck from my working days.
Lesson learned.
Great ideas from you and the comments! We already do most of these and I have only one more I can think of off the top of my head. Most people think we are strange to do this, but.....
we have a water and sewer bill and it can get pretty high if we are not careful, so we use buckets and catch the water that would normally run down the drain while waiting for your shower to get hot. I use it in the washing machine and we have a dehumidifier in our basement and I empty it into the washing machine also. And we don't water our lawn, if it turns brown...so be it.
@sugartomyhoney@xanga - You know, I just thought I'd comment that the lawn is one place we don't scrimp.
Here in South Texas if you don't water your lawn at least once a week, it dies. And I mean, dead dead. We accidentally did that to our backyard and now it's bare...no grass, no weeds, nothing. So now I don't have a backyard to let my kids play in. Lesson learned - when you don't get rain for a year, you have to water! 
Since the economic downturn we have discovered so many different things that we can make from home, foodwise. I couldn't believe the kinds of things we could make from scratch from just what we have in the cupboard. Since then we've been experimenting with different recipes. The first few times we don't quite get it perfect. But you know what they say, ... practice makes perfect. We think about making something, and then go online to see if we can make it from home. You'd be surprised! And when we shop at the store we don't buy name brand anymore, the generic "brands" are so much cheaper. It's funny in such a bad economy that's when you learn how to save money as much as you can. Now lets see if we keep it up once everything turns around! Also instead of buying bottles or jugs of juice which can get pricey, we get powdered iced tea, lemonade, Gatorade, etc. It lasts so much longer for our kids. Instead of a few days, its about a month before we have to go back to the store for that.
I LOVE shopping at 2nd hand stores.. I have found brand name clothing at really awesome prices.
*note* I would be very careful when it comes to "bent and dent" stores. If the cans have been sitting there dented too long the dent can begin to rust inside the can (not visible until you open the can) and make your whole family really sick. Boxed products (like dry cereal or soups) are fine as long as the inside package is intact. But I would be very cautious purchasing dented cans.
I pretty much refuse to purchase name brand food.. IMO Store brands are generally better, and if you read the ingredients they generally have much less additives then big name brands. And skipping walmart when it comes to groceries is a good idea too, at least for us.
I buy meat when it's on sale, seperate it into individual portions in ziplock bags and write the date on the baggies with permanent marker.
For example: if I buy a family pack of chicken on sale for $5, I put 2 pieces in each ziplock bag and freeze like that so I don't have to defrost the entire pack to cook for the 2 of us.
If we went to a restaurant and both ordered chicken entrees, it would probably cost about $15. But to cook the chicken at home, u get more, its healthier and its like $1 if the meat is on sale.
Our library has free passes to a lot of the museums and cool places here in chgo. I pick those up and pack a lunch, so the only $ we spend is maybe $10 for a snack as opposed to $150 for tickets, lunch, snack and souveniers.
Great list! Another huge waste of money is cable television. An antenna is a one time expense and the picture quality now is awesome! Killing the cable will give you lots more free time and give your kids more imagination. If you can afford to save up, or use gift money, buy your meat in bulk and freeze it, it's MUCH cheaper and usually less full of junk used on large corporate farms. If you have some extra time look for CSAs that will let you work the fields for your share. We are blessed to have one like this near us and they are becoming more common.
先說年號問題，明朝皇帝在位時間再長， 酒店兼差年號也只有一個，惟獨他特殊，在位總共不過十五年，年號卻有兩個，前一個叫正統，後一個叫天順。倒不是因為他非要搞特權，兩個年號之間， 禮服店是由一大堆可氣的事串起來的。
先說正統朝，差不多是地球酒店打工人都知道的，這麼多的忠良幹才他不信任，偏寵信一個教書先生出身的太監王振， 一幹閹党把國家禍害得烏煙瘴氣。後來瓦剌犯邊，忠臣良將的苦勸不聽，偏聽死太監攛掇，非要御駕親徵， 合法酒店經紀帶著幾十萬人牛氣哄哄出了長城，按說既然親徵你就好好 打啊，他不，走到半道又後悔了，連敵人影 酒店工作都沒見著就撤兵，撤兵麼撤得快點啊，跑還沒跑成，讓人家圍在土木堡包了餃子，稀裏糊塗一場 酒店上班混戰，幾十萬大軍全死 光，連本人也當了俘虜。丟人到如此，實在可氣。
英宗被抓到蒙古高原上去啃生羊肉了， 酒店兼職爛賬總要有人收拾。皇帝讓人綁了，敵人打到家門口了，總不成學宋朝 來個衣冠南渡吧！還好喝酒 有他親弟弟給他收拾，弟弟朱祁鈺繼承帝位，改年號為景泰，可氣的正統朝總算結束了。景泰帝信用 酒店PT良臣于謙，成功組織北京保衛戰打垮敵 人，再運用外交壓力，逼得酒店喝酒 瓦剌把英宗放回來當太上皇，總算不用學宋徽宗那樣客死他鄉。折騰半天，祖宗江山差點丟了不說 禮服酒店，皇位也折騰沒了。這樣的鬧劇，怪不 得別人。
雖是傻事敗事一籮筐，但傻人總算有傻福，雖說皇位沒了， 台北酒店經紀命還是保住了，回來舒舒服服過太上皇的日子倒也 不交際應酬 錯，可他不消停，拉幫結派培植私人勢力，幾年後趁著弟弟病重搞了場“奪門之變”。奪粉味 回了皇位不說，上臺第一件事就是殺掉了功臣于謙。並把當初北京保衛戰 的功臣們來了個大清洗，掌握朝政大權的都是徐有貞、石亨、曹吉祥等一幫姦險小人。雖然過了沒幾年，這幾個人也被明英宗清算，下獄的下獄（石亨），充軍的充 軍（徐有貞） 寒假打工，被殺的被殺（曹吉祥），可明朝的政治氣象，還是一片烏煙瘴氣。
皇位奪回來了，自然就要改年號。於是，明英宗 兼差改年號為天順。從正統年到天順年，打敗仗，殺忠良，寵小人，亂國家，儘是他辦的敗事， 酒店小姐每每讀史到此，不知有多少人氣得 酒店公關直哆嗦。
可正統朝的事畢竟年頭遠了，真正給後 暑假打工世攢下麻煩的，是天順朝。
“天順”麼，按字面意思，自然有風調雨順的意思。 打工從這個意義上說，“天順”朝時代的明朝，運氣還真不 壞，別的且不說，單說綁過明英宗票的瓦剌，那在土木堡創下台北酒店經紀擊敗明朝幾十萬大軍，活捉明朝皇帝偉業的瓦剌首領也先，沒死在大對頭明朝手裏，倒在內戰中被一刀 砍死。到了天順朝時期，瓦剌又和鄰居韃靼打個不停，因此，雖然少了良將於謙，但終天順一朝的邊 酒店境形勢，還算是太平無事。