If you have read this blog for any period of time you know that the most "thrifty" thing I do is use coupons regularly, meal plan, shop sales and stockpile items when prices are at their lowest. This helps keep our grocery bill pretty low each month.
I regularly make my own laundry detergent and many cleaners.
I also made it my goal to not purchase bottled water as much as possible. You can almost always find me carrying a metal water bottle for each of my kids and myself. It is an easy step to save some money (bottled water costs a fortune and often comes straight from the tap) and help keep plastic bottles out of the landfill. You gotta love it when something is thrifty and earth friendly.
We also made the decision almost 5 years ago to cut cable out at our house. We now get a whopping 8 channels of TV but save a ton of money and spend our time doing other fun things as a family.
This summer we have only ran our air conditioner 4 times. We have central air conditioning and it costs a fortune to run. So this year we decided to try to use it as little as possible. We have fans that we use and also open up windows to try to get some airflow. We've spent much more time hanging out in our basement since it is so much cooler down there.
I've also decided to learn how to can produce this year and have already done my first batch of pickles.
Well, enough about us - what about you? What thrifty things do you do?
I almost never buy clothes that are not on the clearance rack. I buy a year ahead for my kids - when the seasons are changing, although most of my kids clothes are from friends, relatives, or consignment sales. I also LOVE using Hotwire.com to find GREAT deals on hotels!!
ReplyDeleteI love baking, so enjoy making fun designed cakes for my kids birthdays. There are now great ideas on the internet, or I design them myself. I have even made my own pinata. :-)
I made almost all my own baby food and for 3 of my 4 children I used cloth diapers and washed them myself.
ReplyDeleteI like to hang clothes outside on the clothesline and not use the dryer.
I have a two big plastic "gift tubs" where I store things throughout the year. As I find great sales on items, I buy them and add them to the tub. Anytime there is a birthday or Christmas, I pull out the tubs and can always find the perfect gift. (Sometimes I keep a list of what I have, with potential recipients next to each gift.)
ReplyDeleteThese are all GREAT thrifty things you guys are doing - I do many of them too and love to hear that others use the same ideas...and that they work for you and your families!
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