Reply to What is the most frugal (or cheap) thing you do to save money?

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[quote=Anonymous]My DH comes from a very frugal family, so we've done the following to save money.

1) A few years back we got a 6% cash back card.  That's 6% on everything.  We paid our mortgage and taxes through it (you can for an additional fee, but since we were clearing 4% or so back) we earned enough to buy a second hand SUV (all cash from this card).
2) DH drives our very old (now 20 years old) Japanese sedan to work.  It's a very short commute (garage to garage parking).
3)  DH does all our lawn work (very small yard).
4)  He also fixes our appliances.  One of our air conditioners (we have dual zone) was on the fritz and he was able to replace a $20 compressor part.  The air conditioning repairman offered us a new one for $4k (included deep discounts) given that the unit is 15 years old.  This helped us greatly b/c of our high child care costs so need to keep this cash.  He's fixed the washing machine, replaced the motherboard on our oven, and fixed something in our fridge.  Also, replaced the compressor part for our other newer air conditioner (for less than $20).
5)  We book our beach rental (if we go) toward the end of the season or stay where there's a walk up to avoid paying more than the $1000-$5000 my co-workers pay for the one week.
6) We used to set our thermostat very low in the winters and used space heaters, but I nixed that after we had kids, plus our nanny is in the house w/ the youngest during the week.
7) We used to use pay as you go data plans, but the service sucked.  I sucked it up and got verizon.  DH gets to use his iPhone through work and has unlimited data (although he never uses his phone except to look up directions occasionally).
8)  We switch cable providers when the rates were set to go up by more than $80 to $120 dollars by not switching.
9)  We go to the library weekly (DC1 is an avid reader) to check out books and kid DVDs.

How we are not frugal.
1) We have a nanny who works for us 40 hours a week (we staggered our schedules to avoid having to pay excessive OT), and kids go to PT preschool.
2)  We go out or order take out quite a bit (this is me.  Working FT and juggling everything, I am often too exhausted to deal).
3)  I still eat out for lunch.  DH chooses to bring left overs (much pickier than I am about food).[/quote]

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