genuinegirly

Thanks, smoore and Baraka_Guru for suggesting this thread!

Here we start our new repository of all things about getting by in this world with very few expenses. If you find any great tips, pass them along. If you have any tried and true ways of getting by on the cheap, share!

I'm going to post links to applicable threads. I'm also going to babble with random advice on coupon clipping, reducing energy and water expenses, and other penny-pinching tips. As long as people take interest in this thread, I'll do my best to add to it.

Cheap Foods thread from Tilted Cooking:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...ghlight=frugal

Websites for stuff swapping:
http://www.freecycle.org/
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/

Philosophies/ways of life that are condusive to cheap living:
Simple living: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living
Green lifestyle and Sustainable lifestyle (be careful, these have been yuppified)
probably many, many others.

My family's lifestyle has been a mix of bargain hunting, coupon clipping, community living, hand-me-downs, freecycle, lentils, beans, rice, potatoes, and low personal needs.

Coupon clipping:

Read this only if you like commercialized goodies like Chips Ahoy cookies or French's Mustard.

Where are your closest grocery shopping locations? Find out their policies on double coupons, and multiple coupons for each item. Sometimes it's advertised, sometimes you just have to learn by trial and error.

Figure out where they publish their weekly ads. You might need to check local newspapers. You can usually pick up the discarded coupon sections of Sunday newspapers, possibly from a coffee shop.

There should be two ads released by each major grocery chain each week. Usually a small two-color ad on Tuesday or Wednesday, and a full-color ad on Sunday. Sometimes these get mailed to you. Sometimes they're available in the store. They're often available online. Find them.

Also, grab that stack of manufacturer's coupons from the Sunday paper each week.

Go through and clip the coupons for everything your family will eat. You will notice that often the coupons overlap. If they don't overlap now, they will often overlap sometime before the manufacturer coupons expire. This is not always the case, but trust me, it happens more often than you think possible.

Figure out when your local grocer likes to highly discount their stock before discarding it. My local Safeway, for instance, has insane random unpublished sales on things like bread and cereal every Sunday.

General Inexpensive Food Basics

Learn to love the basics. Have them on hand. Learn to cook with them. Purchase them in bulk from cheap ethnic stores, dollar stores, or places like Costco or Smart & Final.

Rice (Long-grain white, brown, wild, whatever)
Lentils (green, red, or tan)
Beans (dry and/or cans)
Chickpeas (these often go on sale with beans)
Quinoa (if it's cheap or available in your area)
Tofu (can usually find 50cent boxes from Asian food stores like 99 Ranch)
Salt
Flour
Yeast

Start a Garden
If you live somewhere with a tiny bit of sun, start a vegetable garden.
Let me explain how easy this is:

Go to the grocery store. Purchase green onions. Cut off the white part. Place these nubs you wouldn't use in cooking, in soil. Water them. They will grow.

Purchase two whole potatoes, of whatever varities you like best. Leave them in partial sun on your counter until they start sprouting, then plant them in your garden. Within a couple of months, you'll have 5-10 new potatoes from each one you planted. When the tops of your potato plants start to wither, dig up the ground around them, you'll find several new potatoes. Save aside one or two to start the process again.

Don't have dirt? Gather coffee grounds. Have a friend at a local cafe? Ask for theirs. Coffee grounds work as a superior sort of soil, with excellent drainage and a delicious fragrance every time you water. Yes, even your French Vanilla grounds will work fine. Have soil? Ammend them with your grounds. Your plants will be healthier. Especially if you're container gardening - good drainage is key.

Ready to be daring and expand beyond potatoes and green onions? Seeds can be purchased at dollar stores or wal-mart. Germination instructions are on the package.

Good stuff that is easy to grow from seed:
Romaine Lettuce
Green Leaf Lettuce
Broccoli
Swiss Chard

Have you ever bought a delicious tomato or pepper? Come on, everyone has. When dicing them for salads, save aside the seeds. Dry them in a windowsill on a paper towel, then save them for next year or plant them in season. This doesn't work (hardly ever) for pitted fruits like peaches, nectarines, or plums. Also rarely works well for apples. They're plenty viable, there's just so much breeding that goes into fruit trees, you'll rarely come across something that matches yummy standards. Occasionally you'll get something nice, though. If you want to bother growing a tree for 12 years before learning if it'll produce decent fruit, feel free to experiment!

Did you realize that dandilions are edible and make a delicious tangy addition to a salad? Don't hesitate to pull them from your yard (assuming you don't use pesticides). The larger and leafier they are, the better they taste.

Entertainment

Don't bother with cable. Set yourself up with a healthy internet connection and depend on websites like hulu. The lack of advertisements alone is enticing to me.http://www.hulu.com/

Save up your money for the occasional theatre production or show or whatever you really love. Something special every three months is overkill for me. Attend free concerts in the park, get together with friends who have a film collection. Pick up that rusty musical instrument, or start up that (cheap) hobby you've been putting off learning.

Water-Saving Techniques

Time yourself in the shower. Take a 5 minute shower, or less. Use anti-perperant/deodorant. Skip a shower every now and again if you're confident you don't smell funky.

Wash your clothes only when they're really dirty. I mean, covered in muck, smelly, or otherwise just don't seem clean to you. Everyone has their own standard of clean. I don't pay for water in my apartment, so I handwash my clothes and line dry them on our little garden balcony. We occasionally take a load of towels and bedding over to a friend's place to wash. Tt prefers to machine-wash his stuff, quicker at getting his man-smell out. Find what works for you and develop a rhythm. Hand-washing becomes no big deal, honest.

*Some might consider the following poor hygeine. Sorry if it bothers anyone, but this is how I was raised*

If you have children, pull water for a bath once a week, and never more often. Fill the tub only half-way. Bathe your cleanest child first. Drain the tub only after all of the kids have bathed. Any other time of the week? Wipe them down thoroughly with a simple moist cloth, treat dry skin with lotion, and call it good. If their hair gets greasy fast, and you don't like braiding it, or finding other ways to mask the natural oils that are beneficialfor the health of their hair, then go ahead and wash their hair more often. Do this by filling a small sink with water halfway, moistening their hair, rubbing in shampoo, rinsing in the half-filled sink, let out the water, run clean water through briefly if necessary, repeat with conditioner. Brush/comb hair while conditioner is in their hair, rinse. Learn to work with hair without the use of a hair dryer, (unless it's freezing weather).

Building a friend/community base of like-minded saving inviduals is a valuable key to success. These can come in the form of relatives who have children just a few years older than yours, or friends who are interested in embarking on this great adventure of ultra-thrift frugal living. It can be frustrating to be thrifty when everyone you interact with is focused on material culture.

In the Store
Make a list of items that you're going to purchase before you step into any store. Do not deviate from this list unless necessary.

If you see something you really love, ask yourself if you're willing to give up two personal items to bring it into your home. (this does not apply to food)

Go through toys and clothing often and pass them on to a frugal friend, or to your local charity like Goodwill or Salvation Army. Someone else will appreciate items that are in good, useable condition. The more space you free up, the more room you'll have to accept offers of exciting new-to-you (used) toys/clothes from others.

Transportation
If you're planning where you're going to live with your family - Find a place within walking distance of a grocery store, a community park, and an elementary school. Try to have only one car/van for your family. Bicycles are handy in a pinch. Learn how to walk. Don't be afraid to walk a total of two miles a day to meet your transportation needs. I do this, it's healthy and energizing to start your day off with a half-mile walk to campus or to a grocery store. Though, remember children's little legs will need plenty of stops.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy