50 Frugal Living Ideas

So, some of these, you’ve probably heard, and some not. Why not take the ones you’ve not heard, and try to implement at least three of them in your life? I love being frugal, I’m constantly searching for a cheaper and more efficient way of doing things. If you’ve got debt, then this would be a good list to read to try to save some pennies here and there to put towards it!

1. Line dry your clothing. Have to wash clothing on a rainy day? Use an indoor line. They make indoor umbrellas for about $40, that are portable, and on stands.
2. Don’t just turn off your electrics, unplug them. The coffee pot, the computer (this is why we have laptops), the TV. You won’t get rich doing this, but you will save some coins.
3. Get rid of your cable/satellite. Think you can’t live without it? Think, again. We’ve never had cable TV unless it was free for us, and we do just fine. Hulu, Netflix and other sites allow you to watch your favorite shows for free or for a minimal fee, much cheaper than cable, and you can watch them when you want to, not on their schedule.
4. Quit buying books and DVD’s. This one was hard for us, I love my books. But I haven’t bought a book I didn’t have to have in over three years. Rent your movies through either Redbox or Netflix, and use your local library.
5. Try to get rid of either your landline or your cell phone if you have both.
6. Don’t run your AC. Most days we can do this. With a small baby, we do run our AC at night only for about four hours if it gets to be 95 or higher that day. The difference in our bill is astounding.
7. Set your heat at 68 and put on a sweater.
8. Use LED lights instead of incandescent. This is a greener option too.
9. Catch rainwater from your downspout and water your lawn and garden with it.
10. if you get your cans from the city, start a small compost pile for either your flowers or garden and you can probably get by with just one can.
11. Sell one of your cars and buy a bike. I get around on a bike with four kids, and we have one car for the six of us. It can be done.
12. Walk your children to school if you live within a mile, if not, make sure you carpool.
13. Eat less meat. You can fill your plate with veggies, beans, legumes, rice, and fruits and you’ll get full and be healthier too.
14. Eat oatmeal instead of Cheerios. Oats are cheaper than cold cereal, it fills you up better and is healthier.
15. Stop buying packaged foods. You’re paying for advertising and packaging mostly.
16. Start buying things in bulk on a site like Amazon. You can have it delivered for free to your house and not have to make last minute store runs.
17. Stop wasting leftovers. Make a couple of nights a week “leftover night” in which you eat up the leftovers from the previous nights dinners.
18. Stop buying paper products. This means napkins, papertowels, etc. If you can hack it, you cStaan even go without paper toilet paper and start using cloth. Just like cloth diapering.
19. Make your own cleaners and detergent. There are tons of recipes out there for just about any cleaner than you can think of. And in a pinch, washing soda and water work to clean just about anything you can think of.
20. Stop using fabric softener. Use vinegar if you have to have something. It ruins your washer, ruins your clothing and doesn’t even smell that great.
21. Start using a Diva Cup.
22. Have regular swap meets with your friends for kids clothing.
23. Shop Goodwill and the like regularly for items. You can turn a mens shirt into whole kids outfits, sometimes for a dollar or less.
24. If your pants, etc. get a hole, patch it, don’t toss them. Can’t patch anymore? Cut them up for cloth rags to clean with.
25. Darn your socks. I know, I know. So old school right? If you catch a hole early, it takes about 10 minutes to darn a sock and it’s easy to learn. And no one will notice, because the place you get holes, are covered by your shoes.
26. Need an outfit for a special occasion? Ask someone around you to borrow it before you go out and buy.
27. Use a good pre-treater and do it as soon as you notice stains. It’s cheaper and better for the environment to use a chemical cleaning agent on a stain than it is to buy a new item of clothing.
28. Stop taking vacations. If you do vacation, do it in the off season
29. Have you date nights at home. There’s nothing better than curling up on the couch in PJ’s anyway!
30. Don’t hit the theater, instead, wait for the movies to hit DVD and then rent them. I mean, you’re already using Netflix because you got rid of your cable right??
31. Stop going to the coffee shop everyday. If you have to have that coffee fix, scour the internet for recipes to make  your own at home.
32. Stop eating out. In the time it take to get in your car, hit a drive thru, get food, go home and eat, you could have had a decent at home meal prepared. You’re waistline will thank you too.
33. Pack lunches for work/school. You can pack a healthy good tasting lunch for less than a buck. You can’t buy one for that price.
34. Use cloth diaper and wipes. They’re better on baby’s bottom too.
35. If your child has a “good weather month” birthday, use the local park as a place to host the party. The kids can play and run, and you can bask knowing it was free. Bad weather month? Look into your local YMCA to see if they offer cheap prices.
36. Stop paying for gym memberships. It costs you a pair of running shoes to lace them up and run/walk outside. Or, your local library and Netflix should have some DVD’s if you prefer indoor working out.
37. Start doing your own taxes. unless you own your own business, or make a zillion bucks, Turbo Tax is all you need.
38. Stop impulse buying. This is harder than it sounds, and I do realize that. But my thing is to walk away from it. If I need it badly enough, I’ll walk back in 10 minutes to go get it. Most times? Out of sight, out of mind, and I don’t buy it.
39. Make a rule where any purchase over XX bucks (besides things of need, like a new water heater, etc) you have to wait so many hours before you buy it. Many times, you’ll realize you don’t need it after all.
40. Use cash only for in house grocery shopping. This helps you avoid temptations of items you don’t need.
41. Open your curtains/blinds and make it a policy to not turn on lights until the sun goes down.
42. Raise a garden and can the yields
43. Use your local Farmer’s Market. The veggies are fresher, local and often times organic by nature.
44. Move into a smaller home. You’d be surprised how little space you really need.
45. Time your showers. Hot water is one of the most energy wasting things in our home. Better yet, only shower every other day, unless you’ve gotten dirty or have sweat.
46. Wash all your clothing on cold asides from socks and undies. Your towels and sheets will come clean, I promise you.
47. Go natural with your skin. People lived for eons (ok maybe not THAT long) without makeup and all sort of creams. You can go without too. Your skin will actually look better by just washing with water and the occasional cleanser.
48. Buy your next car used, let someone else take the “off the lot depreciation” value.
49. Get rid of your paper delivery and read all your news online.
50. And last but not least, the adage from the Great Depression says it best. “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”.

Day 11: Bento Days

Well, son was still sick on Thurs and then other sons get sick….ah the life of a Mom! However, it didn’t stop me from making a healthy lunch on Friday, though Thursday my daughter did eat “hot lunch” because of my three sick babies at home. I couldn’t put any of them down long enough to make her something! However, I was reminded why I pack lunches. Here was the menu for that day:

• Spaghetti /Meat sauce
• Garlic Bread
• Green beans
• Pears
• Sherbet
• Milk and or water

At first glance it doesn’t look that bad right? However, the meat sauce is made with higher fat beef, the garlic bread is laden with fatty margarine, the green beans are boiled down to almost a gel, the pears are packed in heavy syrup….the list goes on. The sherbet might have been OK if it wasn’t chock full of fat, and milk is what I pack, so that I’m OK with. However, this is actually one of the better meals our school serves. The rest of the month they’re having things like hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fried steak, shredded pork, fried chicken on a bun, mini corn dogs, chicken sticks, fish sticks….last I knew, neither chickens or fish came in sticks.

So, that being said, lets get to the menu for Friday!

Today's Menu:

• Homemade whole wheat bagels
• Neufchatel cheese 
• mango flavored homemade yogurt
• cucumbers and tomatoes

Cost per lunch:  54¢

Kid Rating:

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
5 min	0 min	5 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
1	297	7	41	20

Good Morning! Bagels

You know what I hate about store bought bagels? How flipping huge they are. It’s like trying to eat a half of a loaf of bread in one sitting. I always end up tearing them in half. Also, I like soft, chewy bagels, and wanted them in whole wheat, which we all know is hard to find commercially. Couple that with wanting to only eat things I can pronounce, I set out to find a bagel recipe. Let me tell you, I’ve found it. Now, I know, it probably seems like bagels are hard. But they’re not. They’re as easy as making bread and then sticking your finger in it to make a hole in the middle. The result is a chewy, yummy tasting, whole wheat bagel you can actually eat all of!  

So let’s do it! 

Cost of 12 bagels: $1.39 (11.5¢ per bagel)

 

 

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Ready In
35 min	16 minutes	51 mintues

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
12	179	5	30	6

 

What you’ll need:

• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I used Stevia, you can also use something like Sugar in the Raw.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose whole white wheat flour

 

 

  

What you’ll do:

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, sugar, salt and beaten egg yolk; mix well.
2. Stir in flour until a shaggy dough forms.  Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
3. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4. Punch dough down. Shape into 12 balls.
5. Push thumb through centers to form a 1-in. hole. Place on a floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Drop bagels, one at a time, into boiling water.
7. When bagels float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
8. Bake at 400º  for16 minutes for chewy and 20 minutes for a bit more hard bagels.  
9. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Homemade Clif Bars (Chocolate Brownie Flavor)

We eat the heck out of some Clif Bars in this house. I love them, hubby loves them, even the kids love them. So a box of six can go rather quick in this house. And when that box is six bucks, well, that can add up. So I set out to make my own. And I think I’ve found a pretty good recipe!
Cost per bar : 47¢

Prep Time	Freeze Time	Ready In
5 min	40 min	45 min

Servings	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein
9	242	9	48	5

What you’ll need:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cups of flax seed, ground
• 1/2 cup of honey 
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup of peanut butter

What 'you’ll do:
Mix all ingredients together. Pat into a 9x9 or 8x8 inch square pan. Freeze for 40 min. Cut into 12 bars, and enjoy at room temperature!