Frugal Fridays: Simply Centsible Living - Part 1
My Supermarket savings series was so much fun to do, I've decided to embark on another series...
Welcome to my Simply Centsible Living series which will chronicle our experiences living on a very limited budget the last few years and share very personally and practically how it is possible not only to survive on a small budget but how you can thrive and not feel deprived!
I know many of you have written to me and asked how we managed to make it through law school debt-free on a part-time income. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was the grace of God. Not only did He provide for our daily bread, but He also gave us ingenuity and creativity to make that bread stretch farther! This series will give some what I feel are the nuts and bolts of budgeting and frugal living based upon what we learned through our experiences and will hopefully be beneficial to many of you who also feel strapped financially. And, I'm also hoping it might also encourage those of you who think you can't live on one income to rethink whether there is a way you can make it happen.
I'd really like to hear from more of you on this. I know we are most certainly not the only ones who have gone through lean times. If you'd like to share your story to be included, please email me. I want to start off this series by sharing an email I received from Sarah recently:
I am a 26-year-old wife to Darrell and mother to four great kids. I work on Fridays for a Christian dentist for about 6 hours. Darrell works half days that day so our kids go to his cousin's home for three hours. As for our budget, the biggest thing we have done to save money is not buy a house. Our family of six lives in a three bedroom mobile home that we bought for $8000 when we were first married as we did not want to bring any debt into our marriage. By living in the mobile home, our lot rent is $150 monthly and our utilities are extremely low. Would I prefer a house? Absolutely. This is one way that we are sacrificing to allow me to stay at home. Also space here is very limited (about 980 sq. ft). This cuts down the amount of stuff we can have as there isn't any place to put it. My husband drives an old car so with low miles so he has no car payment. We do have a car payment for my minivan that is under $200 a month. My niece is an only child and a year older than two of my daughters, and we get her nearly new hand-me-downs. We request clothing for gifts for our kids as well. On the rare occasions I need to buy clothing for my kids, I head off to Bergner's department store. I have found them to have the best sales (this week is 85% off) and they send coupons in the mail and in the paper good for 15-20% off regular, sale, or clearance prices. I was able to purchase name brand polo type tops for my oldest daughter for $3 each and name brand jeans for $5. We shop at garage sales every Saturday and have found outstanding deals there as well. We shop for gifts for the holidays at these sales (my dad collects Star Trek memorabelia, we found a collector plate with stand for $4 that is valued at $60 at a moving sale). We take trips close to home instead of long vacations. Many places have free or reduced admission days throughout the weekdays. I will say we do eat out on a regular basis. I have a list of places where kids eat free. My husband and I typically choose the cheapest meal and get water to drink. All six of us eat out for about $12. We use the library to rent free videos. Our kids usually get gift certificates for the childrens museum in our town or for things like ice skating or ballet lessons. We have garage sales at my sister-in-law's twice a year. Darrell also does janitorial accounts for a few businesses. This pays very well for a few hours work. Yes, I would love to be able to buy whatever I want brand new, have nice cars, and a nice house. I don't mind sacrificing whatever I need to so I can stay home with my kids. There's nothing more important than they are! -Sarah--------------------------------------
To join in Frugal Friday, just post a frugal tip or post on any subject of frugality on your blog, link to this post in your post, and then post the direct link to your Frugal Friday post below. Any link or post which does not adhere to these rules will be deleted at my discretion. If you do not have a blog, but have a tip to share, please post your tip in the comments section. And, remember the rules: Must be family-friendly. Please no posts on frugal Halloween ideas (email me privately if you have any questions on that one!). Thanks! I can't wait to read your tips!
posted by Crystal Paine at 5:43 PM
7 Comments:
Yea! I am so excited about this new series. Thanks, Crystal.
I used a tip I got from you this week about finding coupons in the recycling center!
Ever wonder what the American Frugal Housewife of 1832 thought? Some tidbits can be found on this frugality website...along with a link to the Guttenberg Project(where old books can be read/downloaded for free, such as the one of 1832 and The American Woman's Home by Harriet Beecher Stowe). Check it out!
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/10/03/the-american-frugal-housewife/
Also, be sure to consider inexpensive reads that can be found at many library book sales(many, such as our library system, have them in the fall).
I left my Frugal Friday tip - Cloth Everything. I have used cloth diapers, wipes, and feminine products for a while and we have saved thousands of dollars because of it. Cloth really is a money saver!
I don't have a blog so here's my tip:
Chicken Broth:
I don't know you any of you shop at walmart, but the off brand of
chicken broth is still 50 cents a can. Recently I found a convenient way to make my own. I often buy boneless thighs instead of breasts because of the cost. The other day I noticed how much cheaper the bone-in thighs were. So I bought them to see what I could do with them. I deboned the thighs myself which was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, just cut one bone out of
the center. I also removed the skin, and reserved that with the bones. Then I put the meat in the freezer and put the bones and skin in a big pot filled with water and salt, cooked till the mixture boiled and voila instant chicken broth! I strained the meat and skin for the cats. I then filled some
canning jars with the boiling liquid, screwed the lids on and turned upside down for them to seal. (Make sure your jars are clean and sterile) I got 4 pint size jars from 4lbs of chicken. I earned about $2 not including the savings from buying the cheaper meat. I noticed that when the jars cooled
the fat made a layer at the top of the broth so if you were worried
about fat you could skim that off before you use it. This works better than freezing the broth for me because it preserves my freezer space. I use it just as I would a can. Plus if I don't use it all it has it's own container to store in the fridge.
On a side note, you can many times buy canning jars are yard sales.
Then all you have to do is buy the lids.
Rachel
I'm with Mel on the cloth idea. I've been trying to replace disposables with reusables. My biggest tip for doing this is to buy the blue microfiber shop towels in the Sam's Club automotive section (probably in other warehouse clubs too). I think they're around $11 for 25 towels. They're great as they are as kitchen towels, and I've taken some and used them as inserts for my cloth pocket diapers--they are sooo absorbent.
But they're even better when you cut them up into quarters. You don't even have to hem the edges! I use the quarters as baby wipes, spit up rags, face cloths, and for lots of other things. If you cut up all the towels in the pack, that will make 100 mini-towels for about .11 each. I love those things.
I found this site by checking on my own website of a similar name. There are quite a few pages at my site you may be interested in. The groceries page (http://www.centsible.net/groceries.shtml) has links to virtually every supermarket in the US and is useful for accessing the weekly flyers. Also, be sure to check the forums for some fantastic freebies. Hope to see you there!
Regards,
Laura Schofield
Admin - Centsible.net
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