There has been a great deal lately about living a thrifty and frugal life like Grandma. Lots of people no longer have or never did have a grandmother or grandfather that grew up during the depression or during the war when rationing occurred.
Because of this we rely on other's stories, and those who are lucky enough to continue the frugal ways of their Grandma.
Living an old fashioned frugal life gives you back control. Control of your cash and control of your environmental impact.
You are no longer chasing the latest, best or biggest whatever in the neighbourhood.
These tips and hints will probably be repeats of things I have mentioned in previous posts, but hopefully there are a few new ones that you can use in your day to day life. While I use all of these, it has taken me many years to incorporate them into my daily/weekly life, and I am still trying to make them all habits.
1. Cook from scratch.
2. Bake your own bread. You know exactly what is in each loaf. In our case we go through less as the loaves are larger and seem more filling.
3. Use cloth instead of paper towels. I just use paper for very messy clean ups.
4. Save eating out for celebratory occasions. Ordering in can be less expensive, and date nights are perfect for watching a movie with popcorn.
5. Meal plan around what you already have. I do a monthly menu plan and even though things get moved around I know what we will be eating. My shopping trips consist of purchasing dairy, veggies, fruit and sale items (meat) that will be used to plan menus in the coming months. It did take me awhile to get to this point.
6. Reuse plastic bags whenever possible.
7. Have a meatless meal or soup and sandwich meal once a week. Making your own soup is a great way to save.
8. Cut back on the portion size of meat. We all eat rather larger portions then we should. A portion is no bigger than your palm.
9. Make your own snacks and sweets.
10. Wear an apron to protect your clothing from stains.
11. When using your oven fill it.
12. Use butter wrappers to grease your baking tins. My Mom did this all the time.
13. Use residual heat whenever possible to cook things like pasta and hard boiled eggs. Bring the water to a boil, add the pasta or eggs, cover and remove from heat.
14. Substitute for ingredients you don't have.
15. Use all your leftovers. Freeze them if you need to. I freeze spoonful's of leftover veggies in a container and when there is enough use them in soup.
16. Reuse your plastic containers and glass jars.
17. Mend your own clothes.
18. Make your own clothes using recycled fabric of purchasing on sale fabric from stores or yard sales.
19. Recycle old clothing, sheets, and pillowcases into quilts.
20. Learn how to knit or crochet so you can make mitts, hats, and scarves.
21. Line dry clothing.
22. Buy secondhand whenever you can.
23. Turn down your heat by 1 degree. It might not seem much but can save you a great deal.
24. Wear extra layers if you feel cold. I wrap up in a knitted shawl or snuggle into a quilt I made.
25. Grow your own food if possible. Many types of veggies can be grown in containers.
26. Learn how to preserve the food you have grown.
27. Use scrap paper and the blank parts of envelops for your shopping lists.
28. Reuse gift bags and wrapping paper. Make some reusable gift bags.
29. Exercise for free using books and DVD's from the library. Or if you have YouTube there are lots of exercise channels.
30. If you have a baby use cloth diapers instead of disposables. My babies couldn't wear disposables as their poor little bottoms would get bright red. My mom made me lots of diapers.
31. Combine errands to save on gas.
32. Make sure lights are off in rooms not in use.
33. DIY whenever possible.
So there are a few of the ways I live a frugal life. I hope there are a few new hints in the list that you can use.
Everybody have a wonderful evening.
God bless.
I enjoy reading about old frugal ways, because I grew up with so many of them. Oh the memories of those butter wrappers. We've always used those. Even our margarine came in wrappers instead of plastic containers. I've always thought paper towel to be a waste. Since the pandemic started, I've stopped using the napkins they place in carry out bags (germaphobe here). Instead I've saved them to wipe up spills from the floor. You've kept me going with eating down the freezer. My grocery budget was much lower this month, due to that.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a tv streaming service, you can use youtube on your tv. That's what I use for exercise. I'm considering doing a container garden this year, since I don't know how much planting space I'll have at my new house. I just need to have my own fresh veggies, because I've been growing my own for years.
Hope you & Harvey have a wonderful weekend!
Some good tips there, thank you. I do a lot of them already, I find for me the biggest money savers are cooking from scratch, menu planning around what we already have in, and writing (and sticking to!) a shopping list when we go shopping.
ReplyDeleteVery sensible tips Jackie. I think we live a similar life!
ReplyDeleteSome wonderful hints and tips there Jackie.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list, Jackie. Cooking from Scratch is a great way to save money and one we use here regularly.
ReplyDeleteCooking from scratch is far healthier too. Resident Chef most often makes enough for several meals which we eat as leftovers and freeze some for later use.
ReplyDeleteGreat list - and I am happy to say that we do most of them too.
We've been working to keep our heat lowered, and bundling up more. Despite all of that, our utility bills have been out of control. I'm now looking to find a toaster oven (we have a gas oven/stove), as a variety of the things the boys make can be made that way, vs heating up the entire oven. That should help save costs as well.
ReplyDeleteI've done a lot more cooking from scratch since I retired and though I tire of coming up with the ideas of what we eat, it certainly has been better for us. Last night's dinner was leftover black bean chili that I had frozen a few weeks ago and served with rice and shredded cheese.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about ensuring my oven is full when I bake but that makes a lot of sense. I also need to buy/make myself a couple of aprons - I'm a sloppy cook and eater.
Great list and I definitely learned a few things!
A wonderful post and thanks for sharing. I was mentally checking which of these I do as I read. I'm happy I practice many of them. I also compost all food scraps, burn paper and all kinds of cardboard to start my fires these days, reuse anything glass and plastic that I possibly can. I think we will see the day when more of this will be regulated.
ReplyDeleteI do lot of those - it's just what I have pretty much always done. It's nice that it is seen as frugal because it's also pretty enjoyable too. xx
ReplyDelete