Tips on Frugal Living

[neubmj]

I ditched our phone for a Majic Jack. it required high speed internet, but it works great. At 19.99 a year VS around 50/month no brainer.

[kimshaw1106]

I am going crazy. Hubby wants to reduce the cable bill alot. Well they have a plan that our cable box is free instead of us paying 7.00. Then the sports channel pack we have would be 2.00 off. Returning the other box which we are doing will save another 7.00. I told him I would like to get rid of the phone seems we have cell phones and the house phone is only for faxing and an occasional phone call. The plan with just cable and internet is more than the others. There is one that will put the phone to local and have the cable and net. But that ends up the same as the package cause you have to pay for modem and box.. argh...I told him lets get rid of cable and phone. So that would bring the bill to maybe 50. if that with tax included. Then I told him lets get netflix which you can get cheap plans and still have alot less of a bill than cable. He goes that is still createing a bill. I said but it would be alot less..ARGH...SOME MEN you just cant make understand.

[mommaof3]

Just a simple thing- but it stretches out our soap supplies. I love the foaming soap dispensers- to refill just fill at least halfway with water, even up to 3/4 with water and the rest soap. It's amazing they charge so much for those little dispensers and all it is is watered down soap. So, put them to good use and never have to buy foaming soap again! This also works well for shower gel, too, and smells so good. I am doing that with the excess supply of shower gel that I have, as I really use bar soap in the shower. So I haven't bought gel soap now in, over 2 years, and we never run out!

[Kelly126]

For wintertime dress sensibley indoor wear old t-shirt under sweat shirt and dress in layers especially if you live in SO CAL which get chilly here sometime

ALso on the bedroom have flannel sheets for wintertime and cotton sheets in summer

Keep the drapes close that direct to the sun during summer keep the house really cool

[Kelly126]

Me too I usually buy soap sanitzer aka CVS Walgreens brand my dad love his CVS foaming soap cleaner in his bathroom

[Suzanne]

When I first became a SAHM I read and reread "The Complete Tightwad Gazette." Some of the articles may be outdated, but most of them are timeless. I read the library copy for a while, then I finally bought my own copy (yes, it's that good!).

[PortlandCouponFinder]

I know that's what they all say...

The best thing my wife and I have done to save a ton of money per month is pay off of all of our credit cards. We were paying several hundred dollars a month in interest alone which was preventing us from setting aside any money on payday. We were basically living paycheck to paycheck.

We really didn't have any money saved up so paying off the credit cards took a bit of creative financing. Our average APR on our credit card was around 17%.

I had a Roth IRA from a previous employer that was earning less than 10% (this was right before the recession). With the -17% I was losing to the credit cards it made sense to take an early withdrawal from the Roth IRA to pay off the credit cards.

Even with the early withdrawal tax hit we are still better off not giving the credit card companies the hundreds of dollars a month in interest.

One thing to mention is that paying off credit cards and cutting them up isn't enough. You have to change your financial habits so that you don't go down this credit card mess of a rabbit hole again. I'm happy to say that it's been over a year since we payed off our credit cards (and closed most of the accounts except one for emergencies) and we have lived within our means without relying on credit for anything.

This might be a drastic step and I'd suggest discussing any financial decisions with a certified planner but this worked for us.

[gwenapark]

Something we did to cut back on some vacation costs.

We have 2 kids with a 7 year gap in age. So, we find it hard to do something all of us can enjoy. Until we bought a camper.

We find several spots that we can have quick weekend get aways to refuel the bio-cells (if you know what I mean). They typically have lots of space for the 9 yr old to ride her bike, swim, fish and meet new friends.

The 2 year old just loves the parks and walks we go on.

As for Dad & I, we love to grill and just get away from the normal house stuff.

We use the groceries we save on during my shopping trips. All the electricity at home is off for the weekend (Saving). and it is usually only $25 per night to stay at most places. So in all with gas we only spend about $75-100 for a nice weekend getaway for the family.

You can find an inexpensive camper on ebay, craigslist, or other sites. We bought a used pop-up camper with a kingsize bed, fullsize, dining table that makes into a bed, couch that makes into a bed, with an awning, front storage, fridge, stove, sink & water heater for $5000 cash out the door. We opted for the pop-up camper because we can store it in the garage and not pay a storage fee.

The kids love it and we get away about 8-10 times a year, as opposed to the couple times a year without it!

Hope that helps. Happy Camping to all of you.

(One more thing, we have a couple of close friends that bought them too, so we have big group camping trips too!!! We have an annual "Camp-a-palooza" that we organize too! Let me know if any of you are in SE Texas and would like to join!)

[elabrahamson]

There are so many great ideas on here!

[almadee]

I also try to keep things unplugged that i don't use all the time. I have pretty big windows throughout my home and when i wake in the morning, especially in the summer months, the light shines through beautifully. I'm not one to keep alot of lights on anyway. I also use the water that runs while waiting for it to get hot in the kitchen for my garden in the summer.