A few weeks ago I was lamenting about the high prices on everything lately. Recession or not, it’s getting harder to afford the increased cost of living. I asked Being Frugal readers for help, and the readers came through in a big way!
This post is a compilation of comments and emails I received when I asked my readers how they deal with high prices and what things they do to make their money stretch further.
I’ve separated the tips into categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. I’ve credited each reader once throughout the article, though many submitted ideas in multiple categories.
Please consider visiting the websites of those who contributed to this project! They gave great advice here, and I’m sure they each have a lot more to offer on their individual blogs!
Now…what you’ve been waiting for. How to save money on just about everything.
Save Money Grocery Shopping
Including tips from Diana, Emily, FrugalWannabe, LJ, Allison, JenMarie, and several more.
- Shop for produce at a local farm stand.
- Never buy coffee, soda, or other drinks or snacks out.
- Always grocery shop with a list.
- Take advantage of sales on items that you would normally buy.
- Only shop once a month.
- Keep a price book and track prices by unit cost.
- Stockpile staples when prices are low.
- Buy generic items.
- Use the Grocery Game.
- Plan meals according to what is on sale that week.
- Take advantage of rainchecks if the store doesn’t have a sale item that you need.
- Take advantage of rebates at Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid…but only if you’ll use the item and will follow through on the rebate.
- Buy enough of a sale item to last 12 weeks. That’s about how long sales take to cycle.
- Shop at discount marts: Grocery Outlet, The Dollar Store, etc.
- Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Many stores offer a small discount per bag.
- Take advantage of stores that double coupons.
- Watch out for deals on things that your friends need, and have them do the same for you.
Save Money on Cooking and Eating
Including tips from Bellen, Lisa, David, Paidtwice, Boomeyers, Jackie Star, Georgia Hawkins, Lisa K, fathersez, MoneyBlogga, Sarah, and several more.
- Eat less meat.
- Become a vegetarian.
- Eat leftovers.
- Cook large amounts and freeze extra for busy nights.
- Scrape out food jars to use the last little bit.
- Cook from scratch.
- Never eat out.
- Eat from your stocked pantry.
- Bring lunch from home (it’s worth it to invest in proper containers).
- Eat less. The average American eats too much.
- Don’t use the vending machines at work.
- Always have a meal plan. Always.
- Use the Once a Month Cooking system.
- Keep soup starter jars in the freezer. A little leftover this, a little leftover that. Nothing is wasted.
- Get creative with leftovers. Concoct new recipes, so nothing is wasted.
- Base most of your meals on rice or beans to cut down on meat consumption.
- Look for events that entertain and feed you at the same time. Church socials, shopping at Sam’s (think about those free samples)…
- Don’t drink soda. Drink water!
- Make your own jello cups (or applesauce cups, or pudding cups) for lunches and snacks.
- If your kids complain about generic cereal, put the generic in a name-brand box. They’ll never know the difference!
- Rear your own chickens.
- Join a freezer club. Get together with like-minded people to exchange meals for your freezers. It’s cheaper to prepare a lot of one meal and split it up, than to prepare a bunch of different meals.
- Make your own baby food.
- Always take a snack and bottle of water wherever you go. You won’t be tempted to stop for expensive fast food or drinks.
- Grow your own produce. No room? Try a square foot garden! Or use pots on the patio.
- Freeze, can, or dehydrate your produce.
- Cook with the crockpot to avoid using the oven, which warms up the house.
- Use a convection oven to accomplish the same purpose.
Save Money on Cars and Gas
Including tips from Alicia, Heather, Bibi, Working Rachel, Christian PF, Rob Madrid, Mark, and several more.
- Run errands once a week and use the most efficient route.
- Walk as much as you can.
- Stay home as often as possible.
- Keep tires filled to their proper pressure.
- Don’t suddenly stop or accelerate.
- Carpool.
- Bum a ride with friends and chip in for gas.
- Ride your bike.
- Use a diesel car if you have one.
- Coast when you see a red light ahead, instead of hitting the brakes.
- Use public transportation.
- Try to get by with one car if you have two.
- If you have one car that you only drive a couple of times a week, consider getting rid of it and using cabs.
- Drive your car until it’s old. This works really well when you buy a car that will run for 200,000 miles.
- Keep up on your car’s maintenance.
- Turn your car off at lights.
- Coast when you can.
- Limit city driving.
- Turn off the engine and coast to a stop. (Only do this if you know your car and know what you’re doing. It could be unsafe, depending on the car)
- On a long trip, keep a steady foot.
- Make it a challenge to see how far you can go on a tank of gas.
- Use a discount card to buy gas. (Many grocery stores offer them, as well as Costco).
- Fill up early in the morning when the air is cool, and the gas is dense. You’ll get more gas and less air.
- Fill up when your tank is half empty.
- Shop around for insurance. The rates can vary a lot!
- Use gasbuddy.com to find the lowest price on gas.
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Wow! This list is long. I think if I do a quarter of this stuff I’ll survive a recession.
I would not cancel my landline phone. When we had a 6.8 Earthquake back in 2001, the cell phones did not work for hours, but the landlines did. So I would cancel my cellphone and get an answering machine.
My wife and I agree with the having a list when grocery shopping. We also go through our cart and periodically add up what is in it to make sure we’re not overspending. It is very easy to add things you don’t need. ~Phil
That’s a very exhaustive list. I like the “no spend weekend” challenge. It’s great to make cutting back something to strive for and see as an accomplishment instead of deprivation. Great work!
I use Ole Roy dinner rolld dog food for treats for the dogs. A huge bag is like $10, and it lasts for months and months
I am grateful for these tips. I have been doing many of them for over 15 years. I did not realize how they had really impacted my family’s life until my sister-in-law called us up lamenting the general state of her husband’s retirement (through one of the bailed-out car manufacturers). They lost over $30,000 in retirement just during 2008. That’s more then we see in a year. Just when we were ready to feel sorry for her huge loss, she asked us how we had managed all these years on the little we get (we are a family of six with three members who have varing degrees of disabilities-I am the caregiver). The solution to us was simple. We became frugalites back before it was common to be. Yes, we too, are dealing with debt of our own making. However, we have learned over the years what is important for us and what we are able to live without.
I have read all the comments. I am disappointed in the selfish mentality of some of the commenters. We each have our own sense of what will work for us. We should keep in mind that no one is holding a gun to our heads to ‘make’ us do this. This is a very nicely compiled list of suggestions. That is all it is. Suggestions. We each take what we can use from the list and leave the rest.
By the way, I, too, do not flush the toilet all the time. I live with a septic system and a disabled adult child who constantly flushes the toilet even when it isn’t necessary. We turn off the water to the toilets during the day and turn them back on when it is necessary to flush them. Every other day I will dump a soup can of white vinegar in the toilet bowl. It helps to cut down on the smell and keeps the bowl from staining. We don’t seem to have trouble with our septic system as a result of using the vinegar.
I didn’t see anyone mention Angel Food Ministries…..they are operating in almost every state…..
Great list! If everyone live according to half the tips, the state of the natural environment would be much better, and less people would suffer from chagrin.
Living in the Netherlands, I would add “sell your car, buy a bicycle instead”. This saves taxes, petrol, insurance and helps to improve or maintain your physical condition. It also saves me lots of time, living in a congested city.
After reading this list, I am wishing that farm stands were cheaper here 50 miles outside of NYC. I went to the farmer’s market this summer and am still gauffing at the $6.00 cost for a dozen eggs and $40 per pound of organic steak! BUT, Angel Food Ministries has saved me THOUSANDS of dollars per month b/c I have 4 very hungry teenagers. I spend $200 and save $1500 a month! Whoo hoo!
I don’t think you understand my full meaning Tammy. I do not mean WASTING and THROWING AWAY things that are still useful! I don’t mean not donating to charities! Nor do I mean ENCOURAGING MASS CONSUMPTION!!! What I mean is, during a time of recession, HIDDING your money in your shoes does not help the economy in anyway; in fact, it is HARMFUL because it further PROLONGS RECESSION! Moreover, posts like this SPREADS UNNECESSARY FEAR amongst the popular, which is ONLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE!
“Turn off the engine and coast to a stop.”…YEA, REALLY…THIS IS SO INTELLIGENT! It is hazardous! “Flush the toilet only after you use it 2-3 times.” That is absolutely unsanitary! GET A WATER-SAVING TOILET INSTEAD???!!?!
Absolutely, some of the advices here are good, if not common sense, such as use a kitchen towel instead of paper towel, eat out only once a month, or eat leftover! But others are just simply RIDICULOUS and spreads endless panic!
inhuman? hahah. are you referencing some of the more tongue in cheek ideas?
Perhaps if we citizens had stayed resourceful and less wasteful, we would not be in such a pretty pickle. inhuman to not flush for 3 voids? I’ve often wondered why we would flush our refuse into the water system anyway. Water has a finite ability to wash away our degradations.
inhuman to salvage usable items from some wasteful persons refuse? please. your sensibilities have become like blinders.
It’s so savage to light a candle or close a curtain?
If we are humane, we judge less, have compassion and comprehension. We let go of the blinders and perhaps take on some of the responsibility.
Life is what it is and that may vary greatly for individuals. I’ve been poor. Even with the loss of my measly retirement, in the form of 401k managed stock options, this is the best year I’ve ever had financially. I work in healthcare, I’m not eating out of dumpsters yet, but if some dumb kid is going to toss out a $40 sweater…I’m on it. If someone sets a set of tv trays on the curb and I’ve been wanting some…I’ll load ’em up. why should they go to a landfill when someone can use them?
As for those of you tossing out stuff that others can use…bless your neighbors and donate. There are people really hurting in this world for a few measly possessions, there are people hungry. consider what you are doing…do not waste. Donate. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Sure, we have a recession, but doing THIS????? It’s simply ridiculous! This is not living, this is …. just surviving…inhumanly so. No Thank you!
We live in a rural area of Southeast Kansas, and use propane to heat. One winter my propane tank was empty and in order to keep warm I went into the sunniest room in the house, opened the curtains to allow the warm sunshine in and lit a candle. With the room door closed, to hold in the heat, the room was plenty warm. We had to borrow and use a portable electric heater at night, but we were able to weather the cold until the propane company came to fill us up. NOw-a-days there is a fee if you let the tank run dry, we purchased a larger storage tank a few years back, so fortunately this has never happened to us again. Still, a candle and some sunshine CAN heat a room. Of course not everyone can use the idea, it would (obviously) depend on the room. NEVER leave a burning candle unattended (sleeping is not being in attendance) and always use common sense with an open flame.
Another thing I do is open the curtains/drapes on the sunny side of the house during the daytime and close them on the shaded side(in the summer I reverse that). This works very well on sunny, non-windy days. This allows me to use natural light as well. I do not like plastic on my windows, but have had times in the past where this was effective, particularly on the north facing windows.
We also hang a heavy quilt or drape over the inside of the unused entry to our home (we have a front and back door and never use the front entry). I only tack this down at the top, at the bottom we use baffles (draft-sealers or “snakes”) to hold the covering tight, this way we are not completely sealing off the route (in case of emergency). We check the caulk around all the windows at the start of cooler weather and seal up drafts.
I had a friend I helped move several times at semester end back when he was a dorm student. Students toss out a riduculous amount at the end of a semester when they have to clear out of the dorms. I have several “like new” items salvaged from such, towels, desk chairs and area rugs being a few of the items discovered. Apparently foreign students or those flying to a new destination can’t take many things along, and (hate to say it but…) our young adults are often exceptionally wasteful. If you’re opposed, don’t engage in this form of salvage, but to those of you who aren’t …check that out. Old clothing and protective gloves recommended for obvious reasons.
WOW this is a huge list of tips for saving money. Making that dollar stretch as far as possible is what learning to survive tough times is all about.
“If every person used common sense in the way they live day in and day out, our economy wouldn’t be in the mess it is currently in. Credit became “King” and the “Kingdom” is now crumbling around us.”
That is such a true statement.
I don’t mean to sound preachy-BUT
This is the second time I have visited your site and I was delighted to see the article on you in the Mail Tribune.
I am both inspired by some of the suggestions (many of them I have implemented for years) AND appalled by some of the comments. Being frugal should be daily common sense living.
In some ways, I feel that the ecomonic crisis our country is in can be a good thing. It should and could provide a much needed “reality check” to bring all of us back to good old “common sense” living. Dare I say, “to a degree those of us who have been living on credit and far beyond our means for years, are getting what we deserve and unfortunately are taking the rest of the country down with us.
For those of us who have always lived within our means, many of us will survive the economic crisis in tact, but we will feel the sting and we too will be impacted right along with everyone else until we get through.”
While it is great to find new ways to cut the cost of living, anything taken to extremes can also potentially become a “bad, unhealthy or dangerous thing” like some of the car driving suggestions.
We need to support each other financially with our shopping and spending habits. The responsible use of our money, to purchase goods and services along with giving of our time and our individual talents is good for everyone, and is what keeps us in jobs and keeps money flowing to benefit everyone in the community we live in.
If every person used common sense in the way they live day in and day out, our economy wouldn’t be in the mess it is currently in. Credit became “King” and the “Kingdom” is now crumbling around us.
As a society, we have lived far too long with a “gotta have it now at whatever it may cost” mindset without regard to what the “total cost” is emotionally, physically, financially, environementally, and communally and we are all paying dearly for it now with home foreclosures, bancruptsy, businesses going under resulting in further job losses which results in more of the same.
It is my hope that as a Nation we will have learned something from all of that has come to pass in 2008 and learn to live within our means with more thought given to how we spend, use, and dispose of our resources.
When we put frugality into daily practice it eventualy becomes the “norm” and it becomes a “win” for everyone.
Wow, I just read some of the sarcastic posts… geeze people, have you nothing better to do? Take what you like and leave the rest, without your negative input.
I agree with Scott, I see this post as something akin to brainstorming, anything goes, just shoot those ideas out.
I also think it would have taken a lot of work to collate all the tips. Well done there.
Great List!!! Can I add?? Stop using paper products like paper plates, cups, plasticware too. Just wash the dishes. Also, if you have cloth napkins, use them… you wash towels and other linens anyway, right?
about 90% of the tips are good. it’s obvious that someone was trying to fill up their webpage with a bunch of bad ideas…lol
1) candles to warm up your home?…dumbass!
2) go vegetarian?…it’s cheaper to be meat eater….my $1 taco bell bean burrito costs $6 in cooking materials if i buy it at the grocery store
3)flush the toilet after 2-3 times?…hells no!, i’ll be spending more in cleaning supplies cleaning a shit stained toilet
4)wtf is rearing a chicken!?!
Hello Lynnae – Today is the first time I visited your website (12/23, 8:30 PM). Wow, you commented about this evening ! That comment about the “adult” thing, convinced me you truly enjoyed our outing-I’m glad.
While I was scanning your various comments and topics in your blog, I saw what you were referring to at our house, re. the snowflakes.
There was another coincidence, but I can’t recall that at the moment.
I commend you on several excellent traits, in doing what you’re doing.
One is your bravery, in putting yourself ‘out there’ for criticism, etc.
I like that you printed the bad as well as the good (don’t know if I could say that I would be open enough to do that !).
Also, you have more than knowledge – and that’s excellent ‘good sense’ (notice I didn’t say common sense, because I don’t believe it’s common).
That comment from Dana, in April, had a lot of mis-information in it.
Makes me wonder how many people out there put out false ‘facts’, and how many people believe that stuff. She seemed to know just enough to make it look credible. Her comments about carbs leading to Type 2 (diabetes) might be true – if a person had a ‘vegetarian’ diet in which they ate mainly junk food such as chips, soda, and pastries, etc.!
Despite the occasiional negative or crazy comments, it looks like you have many ‘fans’, friends, admirers, and supporters out there.
CONGRATULATIONS ! I’ll try to check in on your blog regularly now.
Go to thrift stores and yard sales,its a great way to save.
Some of the auto tips are examples of what economic externalities. They attempt to maximize personal benefits at the expense of those around you, and would cease to be beneficial if they were put into widespread useage. Case in point-“don’t suddenly stop or accelerate” makes no sense. Although you may save some gas by not rapidly accelerating, if everyone pulls away from lights slowly, fewer cars will make it through any given light. More cars will thus spend more time idling at lights, which in turn means that more people will use more gas waiting at lights.
Turning off the thermostat and lighting enough candles to sufficiently raise the temperature [presumably with closed windows to keep the heat in] sounds like a good way to asphyxiate.
As many posters have already said, GET A (BETTER) JOB. It feels far more rewarding to work hard at a decent job than to scrimp and pinch to this degree.
Modern studies on the world economy have also shown that, in contrast to the past, households that spend appropriately and don’t cut out all “luxuries” (toilet-flushing??) now end up earning more, saving more, and having a better quality of life overall than old-fashioned penny-pinchers.
“make bugs and rodents for pets (they eat less)”
funniest thing I’ve heard today!!
It’s pretty difficult to draw the line between wasting away your life not spending money and trying to be free. And living in Las Vegas where people spend money like nothing doesnt help sometimes. We try to have simple fun that doesn’t require much money and (try to) ride bikes when we can. Our old roomate had this HUGE vintage Tv that I swore ate up a lot of energy, but no one believed me. Now that the TV is gone, the bill isnt as expensive. Upgrade to a mid sized newer TV. Or better yet, dont watch tv at all.
I work at the library and havent gone to the movies since January. Nor bought a cd or dvd. We have all the latest dvds and most new music (that I like). Current magazines. Books galore (same stuff that Barnes and noble has). Its really a resource that people should take more advantage of.
Make your own all purpose cleaner cleaner:
1/2 cup of ammonia to a gallon of water.