What are some frugal (or cheap) things you do to save money?

[Anonymous]

Pack my lunches and bring coffee to work, have never done door dash, etc. no house cleaner (though do want one soon), hiking for exercise, weights in the basement (no gym membership), reuse a lot of things, Buy Nothing has saved me a lot of money (and I give away a lot too). I’m not personally into makeup and nails, so that helps our budget.

[Anonymous]

I can’t brag because I’m not perfectly frugal in every way, but here are some things I do:

- public schools through high school
- no club sports (after one season where we learned that lesson)
- no outside tutoring (we do pay for music lessons for 1 kid; older kid does free clubs at school)
- thrifting for clothes (not exclusively, but mostly of late; my kids have great style and enjoy it)
-many home furnishings handed down or ikea
Do our own house cleaning, yard work
One car, hybrid electric plug in, expensive but paid off
- I (mom) don’t spend much on my own wardrobe, shoes, purses, jewelry, and my husband spends almost nothing.
I color my own hair, and would cut it too but my husband doesn’t like it when I do (I think I do a better job than salon)
- we bought our house 20 years ago and have a very low interest rate BUT we are considering moving to an expensive area for our kids schools. It would make us house poor! Aaah! I’m so conflicted.

[Anonymous]

I downsized from a gardening crew of 5-7 guys weekly 9 months a year, to just 1 guy for a shorter season, multiple times a week. That’s saved more than everyone else’s tips cumulatively on this entire thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:-Have kids make birthday/greeting cards from their art supplies.
-Have kid join the church choir -free music lessons
-Home car wash
-Have your kid work at a food service job - free meals or baked goods
-work at a private school- tuition break

Omg absolutely no
Church choir

And private is financially stupid

[Anonymous]

After having a small financial crisis a year ago, we now:

Never buy coffee out
Cook at home as often as possible - always make my own spaghetti sauce because it's quick and easy
Grow my own basil and cilantro so don't buy expensive herbs
Buy bread when it's on sale and put in freezer
If I eat take out, I go fetch my own food (No Door Dash/UberEats)
No extra subscriptions like Netflix and Hulu
I call Verizon every couple of months and ask them to reduce my bill for cell phone/cable (you'd be surprised at how often this works!)
I unplug tv's, toasters and other electrical appliances when I'm not using them - they still use a bit of electricity even when not on
Religiously turn off all lights in the evenings (during the day, our solar panels provide more electricity than we use)
Never tip at those stupid tipping machines - If the owner wants to pay the employees more, they are welcome to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I downsized from a gardening crew of 5-7 guys weekly 9 months a year, to just 1 guy for a shorter season, multiple times a week. That’s saved more than everyone else’s tips cumulatively on this entire thread.

I saved more than you. I skipped the private jet!

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid my cousin and I had a contest about whose mom was cheaper. My mom used to buy us clothes for Christmas that were intentionally too small, so she could return them for store credit and get the same things on sale. Sometimes they wouldn’t have item you were excited to have gotten but mostly it worked out.

But I lost the contest because my cousins’ mom had the hot water on a timer. You had to be up and done showering before 8 when it turned off, and the dishes piled up all day to be washed at 8 when it turned back on. We decided that was cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Opening my fridge just now I realized another thing I do. I save small bits of leftovers. A handful of toasted potates m, some leftover salad, a few bites of meat…I am happy to throw those together for my lunch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reuse plastic bags, aluminum foil, etc.

Keep boxes and ribbons from gifts; reuse as needed. (And not above regifting either.)

Sell/ consign items when possible.

Still driving car from 2007.

Very basic cable package. No Netflix, etc. Rarely pay for any form of entertainment. Books from library.

HHI $450,000. NW $11M

I think you can afford to live a little now.

Except living like that is not only good for the bank acct it's also good for the planet.

My family has hhi of 200k.
We spend in some ways we shouldn't. (But not going into debt to do it). Some ways we save are:
Using library instead of buying books
Only have one car for 4 licensed drivers (age 19, 20 and two parents) so we all often walk, ride bikes or take train to work or other
Thrift
I'd really like to stop my coffee shop habit this year and use the $ I save for a vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reuse plastic bags, aluminum foil, etc.

Keep boxes and ribbons from gifts; reuse as needed. (And not above regifting either.)

Sell/ consign items when possible.

Still driving car from 2007.

Very basic cable package. No Netflix, etc. Rarely pay for any form of entertainment. Books from library.


HHI $450,000. NW $11M

I think you can afford to live a little now.

Agree; this is sad.

+1

You can afford to live a bit now.

A 2024 car that you drive for the next 10 years, for example.

Pick one or two streaming services.
Pick something you want and spend on it. You don't need to be that frugal anymore.
What's the point of saving/earning so much if you don't actually enjoy it?

Who says we're not living well? Right now I'm at our beautiful vacation home (part of the net worth.) Big trip to Europe this summer. Kids in private schools. Starting to think about large philanthropic projects.

But I could not care less about cars. As long as mine gets me from Point A to Point B, that's all that matters. And a streaming service? Please! Who has time to watch things like that?

How do you think we got to the point where we accumulated this much in the first place? Waste is waste and there is no excuse for it, ever if you have money.

Oh and I agree about the Uber Eats/ Door Dash. NEVER spend money on that - if you want something to eat, get off your lazy can and go get it yourself!

We have 2 luxury homes (both recently gutted and renovated), just took a 21 day trip to Europe and planning 3-4 trips for next 9 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think all this stuff is basically small potatoes and not a good return on time/effort. It would be better to spend that time/effort making more money or to change the big things in your budget, like housing.

Stuff like reusing paper towels is for if you’re a senior on a fixed budget and there’s nothing you can ever do to change the big picture, but you have a lot of time to pile up Pennie’s.

But every little bit helps.
Making coffee at home vs Starbucks can save you $400+/month. I know people who drop $10-15/day per family member ---so $50+/day. That's $1500+/month at Starbucks type places. Cooking at home a few more days per week can save $400+/month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reuse plastic bags, aluminum foil, etc.

Keep boxes and ribbons from gifts; reuse as needed. (And not above regifting either.)

Sell/ consign items when possible.

Still driving car from 2007.

Very basic cable package. No Netflix, etc. Rarely pay for any form of entertainment. Books from library.


HHI $450,000. NW $11M

I think you can afford to live a little now.

Agree; this is sad.

+1

You can afford to live a bit now.

A 2024 car that you drive for the next 10 years, for example.

Pick one or two streaming services.
Pick something you want and spend on it. You don't need to be that frugal anymore.
What's the point of saving/earning so much if you don't actually enjoy it?

Who says we're not living well? Right now I'm at our beautiful vacation home (part of the net worth.) Big trip to Europe this summer. Kids in private schools. Starting to think about large philanthropic projects.

But I could not care less about cars. As long as mine gets me from Point A to Point B, that's all that matters. And a streaming service? Please! Who has time to watch things like that?

How do you think we got to the point where we accumulated this much in the first place? Waste is waste and there is no excuse for it, ever if you have money.

Oh and I agree about the Uber Eats/ Door Dash. NEVER spend money on that - if you want something to eat, get off your lazy can and go get it yourself!

I don’t care about cars either but a 17 year old car is usually unreliable. So it’s unlikely to get you from A to B without a lot of hassle and additional expense. That’s why most people don’t drive them. It’s not because they’re not frugal. And most people use Uber eats to save time. They don’t order it and then “sit on their can.”

+1

Sold my 12 yo car when it started having "electrical issues" that were going to get costly. Great car, ran great up until then but we quickly sold it (for ~20% of what we paid for it) and got a new vehicle that will provide 8-10 years of reliability at minimal costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have flock of sheep that mow my lawn.

Shear the wool, spin it into thread, weave my own cloth, make my own clothes.

Occasionally slaughter older sheep for meat & leather. Make shoes from the leather.

Cuddle with lambs (cheaper than having a spouse).

Ha ha! You are awesome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:-Have kids make birthday/greeting cards from their art supplies.
-Have kid join the church choir -free music lessons
-Home car wash
-Have your kid work at a food service job - free meals or baked goods
-work at a private school- tuition break

Omg absolutely no
Church choir

And private is financially stupid

What? So many famous singers learned music this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opening my fridge just now I realized another thing I do. I save small bits of leftovers. A handful of toasted potates m, some leftover salad, a few bites of meat…I am happy to throw those together for my lunch

Are those salvaged from plates? Yuck.
Cook less.
Or at least don't be one of those moms like mine with loads of little plastic containers molded in the fridge.
I am hyper for no leftovers after growing up with that fridge.