Honestly. Every time I see a magazine or newspaper heading that says something like this week's Parade magazine: "How America's thriftiest families save money" I read it, hoping to discover some brilliant way to stretch a buck. I'm almost always disappointed because I've heard them all -- I already do most of these things (that I can muster) -- and I need more good -- dare I say -- even better ideas. The specific article I read today was no exception: clip coupons, make food using dirt cheap ingredients (Barbeque chicken cheesy pasta, anyone?), make homemade birthday cakes (with my best impression of Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, "Is there another kind?"), wear hand-me-down clothing, sit on hand-me-down furniture or actually research how to grout tile and do it yourself. Or those moments of "which wins out: my ethics or my cheapness" -- like smuggling candy into the already dollar movie theatre, clipping some plants from the neighbors' yard to plant in your own, ordering one soda and passing it around...
So, I throw it to you, my industrious and frugal friends: tell me, what are your cheapest, and maybe not your proudest moments? I'll begin:
When I realized that the boys don't eat their crusts off their sandwiches, I would give them to Claire. At first, it was to ensure that she would not take after her brothers, but now it's sortof, "here, puppy" -- and I'm a little embarrassed, especially when we eat with guests, and the kids throw their crusts to their sister, who hungrily snatches them up.
I am not above such maneuvers, either -- two years ago, I stopped preparing my own breakfast and just began finishing off what the children left in their bowl or plate. This reminds me of the good old days of working at Los Hermanos in Provo, but y'know what? That's a whole other story that I'll spare you.
Five words: Flowbee Hair Suck Cut System -- My dad bought it for us as a college graduation gift (I think because I graduated in psychology and he thought I'd need work). The Flowbee worked great for Cort and the boys for five long years... until it broke and we were too cheap to fix it or buy a replacement. Yes, I'm back to cutting their hair with the Wahl. Hopefully my skills will improve by the time the boys are dating.
Now you: what are your best/worst frugal moments?
5 comments:
I am no expert - let me start with that - but I know this...
- PLAN AHEAD in ALL you do: we (try) to make a menu for two weeks ahead - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and then go to the gas station for milk when we need it - because Brigette cannot walk thru a grocery store w/o thinking oh-yeah we need this - even though we don't. Both Mark and I love to cook so we've got quite a lot of favorite recipes between us - and I have each dinner saved in WORD so I can just pull from that - cause I can never think of meals under pressure. We make our shopping list down to every ingredient so we're sure not to have to run to the store - DOING THIS ALONE has saved us huge - HUGE amounts of money - we also try to plan meals that will make use of everything we buy - half a green pepper for one meal and the other half for another meal... like I said we love life when we plan ahead but we also live in the real world and hate it when we haven't planned ahead...
- Coupons are good too as long as you always keep them in your purse or your youngest daughter Megan hasn't used them all to play store with!
- Buy your own grocery bags - most if not all stores will give you a bag credit - WHOLE FOODS (or WHOLE PAYCHECK as we call it) has the best bags and they're inexpensive so don't buy anything else there but stock up on bags...
- Always go to the store with cash - no cards - if that's all you have that's all you can spend.
- Grow your own produce
- ok longest comment ever - I've got more and will email you as they come to me - Brig
That first comment was so helpful. I was just going to make you feel better by sharing that I like the Subway $5 sandwich. Here's how bad it is though. . . I can make that sandwich feed at least 3 kids and myself for lunch. When I feel generous and rich (?) I might get two. That way Christian and I each get half and Annabelle gets leftovers. The third kid? Oh, our "puppy" eats the veggies from Christian sandwich. The little pup doesn't do meat too often.
More seriously, I agree with the other comment about making a detailed grocery list and sticking to it. It is a pain, but it works. I also try to go once a week only so that I am not tempted to buy items that we don't need. We do use a card for groceries and gas, but everything else (clothes, fun, dining out, gifts --anything deemed non-essential comes out of a fairly conservative allowance in an attempt to not overspend.
Corey, I just got finished laughing out loud and re-reading your post to John! You are hilarious. I felt "caught" because I give Ivy Asher's crusts all the time. I may have a few thoughts and ideas, but I'm too tired so I'll come back tomorrow!
I have been trying to think of something out of the ordinary for a couple of days. Nothing was coming to me until just now. Get ready for the ultimate cheap trick.
About a week ago Kaye called and asked for us to donate to the Bridgette wedding gift fund. This is where the cheapness comes into play. First, I wrote the check and then decided that I wasn't just going to mail just a check with my stamp. In order to get more mileage out of the stamp I had the boys write Grandma a letter. Now this is the is the embarrassing part. A few minutes ago Jakson said, "Mom you still haven't mail our letters to Grandma." My reply, "I know, I am waiting for a bill to come in with an envelope that I'm not going to use to come in so I can mail the letters with it." So, if you want to be really cheap save return envelopes and mail letters to Grandma in them. Is this being cheap or down right pathetic?
I had no idea about this envelope business, but it really is not my fault in any way. I can always white out the Lyondell off the corner of one from work.
My best cheap moment was whittling a piece of wood to fix my gas tank door to our college car so it would stay closed. We had to open the hatchback and pull out the stick to fill the tank and put it back in to close it. Very cool, I wouldn't change a thing and would do it again tomorrow if my door broke.
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