This is a list of things in which my family did when starting off living Frugal

Lynnae over at being frugal asked her readers "What's the easiest frugal thing you do?" My response was just too long so I thought that I would post it here.

When I first started out 4 1/2 years ago now, I had never even seen the word "frugal" never mind knowing what the word meant. We had just moved to a new province (we live in Canada) and money was T-I-G-H-T to say the least. I did a search on the internet for low cost but nutricious meals for my family. A whole bunch of links came up and that is when I noticed the word "frugal". I remember thinking what on earth is that? I did a search on Frugal and boy oh boy was I hooked!

Durring the search on that very first day I also saw a saying, I can't remember where now but it said "Buying what I want now will often result in later Needing what I can't buy." The first thing that came to my mind was, what if my children need medicine? I quickly wrote that saying down on a piece of paper and carried it in my wallet for "Months", that saying is now of course in my subconcious :).


Since just moving I need to get my pantry stocked back up. I also wanted to add that we are in debt as of 4 to 5 weeks ago with unexpected expenses when buying our house,We will get out of debt however sooner than later this I know:).


The following are what I do and enjoy to live frugally:

(1) I Cut my families hair as well as my own, You can do a search on haircutting for more information and steps for doing this.

(2) Dh and I shop for our clothes at value village and have in the past gone to the salvation army. You would be surprised at what you can find that is just like new or in some cases still have the price tag on them. The girls like to shop at the "trendy" stores so we allow them x number of $ on what we think is reasonable and if say their shoes exceed the amount we are willing to give them, they have to make up the difference with money they have either saved or earned.

(3) I wash all of our clothes in cold water, when I am doing the sheets and towels etc I will still throw in some javax and they turn out great.

(4) We have always had basic cable. The phone service in which we had I did have long distance on it as we have no family where we live, I called to see if they had a better package as I was paying $29 just for long distance, they said that because I called they did have a deal which is not advertised, and I immediately got $11 dropped off my phone bill per month. savings? $133 a year. It pays to inquire, I then called my insurance company and raised our deductable to $500 from $250 deductable and saved an additional $4 a month. Another thing in which I was just told by an employee from our phone company is that alot of time a customer has to ask for certain deals, he said that they just can't call everyone. Maybe it wasn't the exact words in which he should have said but I am thankful that I had received this information.

(5) Shop the loss leaders, They are advertised on the front page of the flyers, These are usually the best deals but look at all of your food flyers to compare.

(6) Keep a stocked pantry with your loss leaders. If you eat a jar of say peanut butter per month (you might use it for making cookies etc) and you can save for example $1,00 a jar then buy 12, this will give you a years supply :).

(7) I will cook once but eat twice or sometimes 3 times. If we are having say a roast of pork,roast beef dinner, chicken etc, I immediately put aside approximately 1/2 to freeze for another meal. Even spaghetti sauce, make a double or triple batch and freeze what you are not eating that night for another night.

(8) We had paid cash for a (beater)car for $500, mind you dh only had to travel a 15 minute drive each way to work plus grocery shopping etc..but it lasted us for 1 year and a bit while we saved aside money for a better vehicle and we got I believe $50 for parts when we did get rid of it. This gave us time to save up money and pay cash for another vehicle when we upgraded. Not having car payments is truly a blessing! :)

(9) We buy all of our furniture 2nd hand.An exception would be appliances for us and we did buy new with cash our first bedroom set after being together for over 15 years( it was 1/2 price and it can be passed down for generations to come), Keep your eyes and ears opened for the good deals and think of the $ you will be saving.Our furniture was new to us, we just didn't pay the high prices in a furniture store :)

(10) We don't live above or within our means, we live below our means. :) We are not cheap, we are frugal :).