The Saturday Question: What Frugal Habits Have You Recently Adopted?

11 Responses for "The Saturday Question: What Frugal Habits Have You Recently Adopted?"

1. Gina June 20th, 2009 at 9:11 am 1

   I’ve definitely scaled back on the fancy coffee drinks! I usually make my own coffee now, but I used to squander millions on lattes. Being gluten-free, I don’t often go out for pastry treats anyway, so the fact that I make those at home isn’t surprising. My biggest change lately is just to have fewer food items in my refrigerator at any one time. I found that I was wasting a lot when I stocked up too much. It was hard to remember what I had. Now I just try to buy what I need for that day’s meal. If I don’t end up making it that day I still just have one meal’s worth of food hanging around, and I can do it the next day.

2. Jill June 20th, 2009 at 9:30 am 2

   One of my most frugal changes in the last few months has been to plan out my meals for 2 weeks at a time and make one big shopping trip to get my groceries. When I don’t do that, I end up running to the grocery store more often and grabbing extra things that we don’t need or that cost more. It has saved us a bunch of money so far!

3. J.N. Urbanski June 21st, 2009 at 9:01 am 3

   I’ve been taking tea bags everywhere with me. I was given a to-go mug with a lid made entirely of corn from one of my clients. Hot water is usually free in stores and take-out restaurants.
   This is saved me a huge amount of money and paper/plastic take-out cups. I live in NYC so we’re mindful of containers.

4. J.N. Urbanski June 21st, 2009 at 9:27 am 4

   I should iterate that the whole mug is made of corn, not just the lid!

5. Abby June 21st, 2009 at 11:05 am 5

   We’re eating less meat – partially for health reasons, partially for budget reasons. But it has definitely saved us money, too.

6. Betsy June 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am 6

   We are trying to cut down our grocery bill in general. The majority of our bill is probably fresh organic produce, but we are trying to buy more on sale and ration a bit more. Also, trying to switch to all homemade bread and make all our own beans in the pressure cooker (instead of buying canned). I would love to have a garden, but that’s not happening yet. . .

7. Erin June 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm 7

   About 10 months ago my husband had to relocate us while I was working abroad (the neighbor’s side of the townhouse flooded and was not discovered for several months, which because extensive mold damage to the entire structure). My husband pick a great apartment/ loft a couple of towns over with a european fridge (just a little larger than a college fridge and no freezer) at first I was upset but I have since realized, this is an easy way to eat healthy, spend less and conserve more energy. Because the size of the fridge is so small, I like Gina can only keep 1 or 2 days worth of food in the fridge and not a whole lot of other extras. I always know what is in the fridge, what the dinner options are and will generally buy fresh over frozen and because it last longer (I have no freezer) and I buy in season. But for me, having to moving to a new town meeting people became easy because I had to hit the neighborhood G-store every day or so, I have gotten to know alot of my neighbors. I really miss COSTCO or SAMS CLUB but…… I like what I have too.

8. kj June 22nd, 2009 at 3:28 pm 8

   I began to buy household cleaning products in bulk. I use http://www.greencupboards.com because they are a third party resource that certifies only truly green brands. I am saving a ton of money buying cleaning products in bulk, but I am also reducing my carbon footprint by having products shipped to me very infrequently, rather than always going to the store to buy them.

9. rebecca June 22nd, 2009 at 7:40 pm 9

   Thanks for all the ideas, everybody! It’s interesting to see the meal-planning suggestions. Like Gina and Erin, I find I save much more money when I don’t buy too much food in advance. However, I see that Jill is saving money by planning ahead and buying two weeks’ worth of food at a time. Joy and I had a little duel on this very topic: Here’s where I wrote about NOT buying in bulk, and here’s Joy’s rebuttal.

10. Helen June 23rd, 2009 at 10:59 am 10

    I know it’s not Saturday but today is the first chance I’ve had to sit down. We are growing our own over here in the UK. So far I’ve got corn, beans, squash, zucchini, hundreds of tomatos, peppers, chilis, lettuce and cavolo nero cabbage growing nicely. There are also a stack of fruit bushes I’ve put in over the years for no effort, maximum reward. We are enjoying the gooseberries tonight in a crumble – yum! It is saving us a stack of cash and it’s fun with the little one. You should have seen his face when he put a whole gooseberry in his mouth today – hairy and sour…. “mummy you’ve poisoned me!” We are fortunate to have quite a big garden so our veg patch can be quite big. Anyway that’s my tip – grow your own! Come on over to recycledbaby.co.uk and have a look at my attempts to be green!

11. Natalie of Go Green Baby June 27th, 2009 at 9:41 am 11

    We are forever being frugal – cloth diapers, meal planning, low heat/air conditioning.

    I find it difficult buying 2 weeks in advance as I buy all my products fresh! But even planning 1 week in advance helps us save on costs and keeps us on a path where we are not overspending.