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I did recognize that. But just what did you mean by "trading health for frugality"?
I'm thinking she means she can buy frozen crappy pizza with a coupon much cheaper than she can whole healthy food to make herself.... but she'd rather spend more to get real food than processed crap food cheap.
I am very new to being frugal. We are planning on having kids in 2 years and I want to be a stay at home mom.....so I am revamping everything and am going to learn to be frugal so that I can do this. If I can't learn to be frugal, then I will have to work. I ordered "The Tightwad Gazette" off of amazon and there are a lot of great suggestions in there. For starters, I am starting with my grocery bill.
I am a very healthy eater and will not trade health for fugality because we would just pay for it later in medical bills!
1. I am now trying to make from scratch all foods that were pre-prepared from the grocery store. For example: I am making my own healthy granola bars now (made 26 bars for 1.50) instead of buying. Made own freezer jam from some peaches I got for free instead of buying jelly/jam each month. I'm not making my own bread now, but I want to get a bread machine off of craigslist and start since there is a local grain mill in town that I can get bulk oats and whole wheat for cheap. I tried to make my own cereal, but ended up costing the same as the cereals I usually buy but cost me a lot in time....so will buy cereal instead of making. Going to make my own apple sauce, etc. No more buying pancake mix...making own instead.
2. I am cross comparing prices on grocery stores before I shop so I can get the best deals on items I still have to buy like almonds, yogurt, cheese, frozen veggies, etc.
No, I don't use coupons... I find they only buy processed foods that would cost a lot less and be healthier if you made the food from scratch at home. We don't eat anything with highfructose corn syrup or items with ingredients I can't understand.
3. I am no longer buying paper towels. I am cutting up some old towels I was going to throw out in place of paper towels and will wash weekly.
4. I am no longer buying juice, we drink only water at meals except for breakfast when we drink milk. We eat our fair share of banannas, apples, and blueberries each week to get some fruit in our bodies.
5. I am now washing and reusing aluminum foil and ziploc bags...I thow away if they stored raw meat.
6. We only eat out on rare occasion.
7. I no longer buy chicken stock. When I make something that requires chicken, I stick the chicken in the crock pot with some water, cumin, bay leaf, garlic powder, and veggies. When it is done, I take the chicken out and use it for the recipe, and I take the left over broth and freeze it....super easy! You don't need a chicken bone for broth...I just use a couple of chicken breasts and it tastes better than store bought broth.
8. I am cutting my dryer sheets in 1/2 and using 1/2 the recommended washing detergent (I have read that 1/2 the recommended amount cleans just as good as the full amount). I am still using the full amount for heavily soiled items and towels.
9. For hand soap, I will refill all the pump soap bottles in the house with bulk liquid soap instead of throwing away those bottles when empty like I used to do.
10. I am going to use 1/2 the recommended meat in a recipe and use the other 1/2 for a different recipe the next day.
Do these sound good? Any suggestions?
These sound great!! Welcome to the frugal club.
Here's my suggestions --
You only need fabric softener on clothes that are static-y.... and never on towels -- screws up their absorbency -- so arrange your loads that way and you can stop using softener most of the time. I only use liquid softener (hate the sheets) and I've had the same small bottle for about a year.
And those veggies that are sort of past their prime (limp celery, fading carrots) are the PERFECT veggies for stock making, since they're going to have the bejeezuz cooked out of them anyway.
And most often I see recipes that call for marinating meat in ziplocks so you can toss them .... wasteful. I bought a nice sealing rubbermaid container that I can wash to marinate in....saves lots of bags!
Do you have one car or 2. Big savings if you can just drive and own one. Do you subscribe to cable or dish? Big savings there too if you do without. We have neither and subscribe to Netflix and love their never ending supply of movies from all decades as well as great documentaries.
Do you have one car or 2. Big savings if you can just drive and own one. Do you subscribe to cable or dish? Big savings there too if you do without. We have neither and subscribe to Netflix and love their never ending supply of movies from all decades as well as great documentaries.
These are good.
If you are wanting to eventually be able to live without one paycheck, you're going to have to dig deeper and look at what you are spending each month on everything. Look at cell phones, cable, car expenses, etc. Groceries/food bill is a good place to start, but overall, we've saved more money each month by getting rid of satellite, cutting cell phone planes, etc.
Congrats on planning ahead to be a stay at home mom!
Before you invest in a bread machine, try baking bread the old fashioned way. The short periods of activity combined with longer periods of inactivity would seem to be suited for a sahm. Bread freezes well, and you have time to perfect a 'sandwich loaf'.
Instead you could by a sewing machine. A working mom I know actually was able to mimic the label on a copy of some trendy shorts she made for her daughter. And you can use it to keep those towels from fraying.
Take another look at coupons. They may prove valuable for some things can't or don't buy in bulk or make yourself -- shampoo, makeup, toothpaste, deodorant, yogurt, cleaning products, once-a-year spices, etc. I actually buy name-brand, omega-3, free-range eggs at the store with a (doubled) coupon for about $2/dozen.
As others noted, consider plastic containers instead of washing platic bags and aluminum foil (sounds like a p-i-t-a to me).
Again, get rid of pay-TV if you have it. Digital broadcasts and netflix are the way to go; I even have dial-up internet access. Of course, going to the library for internet service would be cheaper...
If space/community/climate permit, grow spices/veggies and dry clothes outdoors. I dry spices and peppers I don't use fresh without the use of a drying machine.
Making your own stock is great. As another poster mentioned, save those vegetable trimmings for stock (I keep a bag in the freezer); onion skins add color.
Buy whole chickens and turkeys on sale. Use leftovers for other meals -- pot pies, enchiladas, pasta dishes, casseroles, whatever. Freeze some so you can it mix it up and don't end up with 'chicken week'.
Go vegetarian from time to time. Buy those beans dried not canned.
If you use any bar soap and really want to save money on pump hand soap, save the bars when they get too small to use and put them in a container with water -- and they melt into handsoap.
Budget for and track your expenses monthly if you're not already doing so. Once you see what you're spending where you can decide what needs to be cut.
One other thing to the OP -- when you refill those soap containers (I do the same thing) rinse them out completely and let them dry before you refill. I once worked in a bank that had undermounted sink soap dispensers and the soap turned and the bathroom smelled like someone died in it.
The janitors kept pouring soap into the containers without checking the old soap. I finally figured it out and nearly tossed my cookies when I saw the black rotted soap liquid in the containers.
Letting them dry will kill anything that can turn the soap.
Make your own household cleaners. Very basic ingredients: Baking soda, vinegar (I buy gallons of vinegar), hydrogen peroxide, bleach, ammonia. Google homemade cleaners for recipes.
My niece has a book of recipes for making baby food using a blender or processor, I forget. She also mentioned to me that by doing her laundry at night, the electric bill went down by $30. I'm experimenting with that now.
You only need fabric softener on clothes that are static-y.... and never on towels -- screws up their absorbency -- so arrange your loads that way and you can stop using softener most of the time. I only use liquid softener (hate the sheets) and I've had the same small bottle for about a year.
I've been alive for 40 years and have never used fabric softener in my life. We never used it growing up, either. I know it's not a huge savings, but you can live completely without it.
One other thing to the OP -- when you refill those soap containers (I do the same thing) rinse them out completely and let them dry before you refill. I once worked in a bank that had undermounted sink soap dispensers and the soap turned and the bathroom smelled like someone died in it.
The janitors kept pouring soap into the containers without checking the old soap. I finally figured it out and nearly tossed my cookies when I saw the black rotted soap liquid in the containers.
Letting them dry will kill anything that can turn the soap.
Ew! Thanks for the tip, as I usually buy the big bottle and refill mine too.
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