be more frugal

I’ve been trying to be frugal by bringing my lunch to work. I’m so sick of the same 5 varieties of canned soup (I’m being a vegetarian for a while, so the canned soup selection is reduced to just a few varieties which all taste the same) and pb&j every day! There has got to be another low-effort low-cost lunch option.

Instead of throwing away my junk as i would usually i have put it on ebay. Hopefully i can raise enough money to pay for my phone bill this month.

I made big batches of pb&j sandwiches and cookies then froze them for grab and go lunch options on busy mornings. (There’s no excuse for eating in the cafeteria now!)

I know I missed posting a lot of these here. The rest are on my blog.

The grocery store had big signs up saying banana prices are on the rise. So the next time I passed Aldis I stopped to get 4 bunches of bananas to dehydrate. That way I’ll have cheap banana chips to munch on when fresh banana prices are high.

I’ve been saving egg cartons to use as seed starter trays. I’m starting my first garden this year!

So we’ve been busy this week preparing. We’ve been thru all our belongings and decided what we want to keep/sell/donate/throw.

The ‘keeps’ have been given proper homes within our house, the ‘sells’ are boxed up in the loft ready for the beginning of the car boot season and the donates are already at the local charity shop. I’ve gone thru the ‘throws’ and salvaged old worn out clothes for patchworking and polishing the car, the rest is all in the recyling boxes waiting for the collection next week.

It’s been a busy week, but the weekend should be calmer. I think a spot of food shopping at the Farmers Market and then onto the local butchers for next weeks meat.

I got paid today but I’m not planning to spend anything until we go on holiday in a couple of weeks. I need to keep a tight reign on the purse strings so we have plenty of ‘spends’!

Until next week – keep pinching those pennies!

I have never been a wasteful person but I feel that in the past I have be less frugal than I would like to be.

I feel the need to reduce my outgoings, save for the future, stay at home with my family, live more simply and try to beat the system!

I’ll start off simply; sell some of my unwanted goods. Grow my own fruit & veg and walking to work. Then see where it leads…

...on making my own bread. I’ve made ordinary white bread twice, and cracker bread yesterday (for my husband’s hummus, which he has just learned how to make himself) Kneading is my favorite part, followed by the anticipation that builds while it’s in the oven. I haven’t calculated cost on it yet, but I’m certain that my homemade bread is no more than $1 a loaf, especially with getting the flour on sale. Different breads might cost more to make, depending on what the ingredients are, but I’m starting out simple. We bought lots of bread, so this is actually a good money saver for us. The homemade hummus is also a heck of a lot cheaper than storebought. It’s also great because he can customize it very easily to suit his taste.

I kind of accidentally canceled my debit card. Now I can’t buy anything until the new one arrives (a week?) unless I go into the bank for cash, which is unlikely because banks have stupid hours. (I’m going to try to not use the credit card at all, just to see if I can.)

Sometimes, frugality tips seem to focus on details rather than the bigger financial picture… I mean, bringing packed lunches DOES help, but sometimes getting a public transport discount card saves more money in the long run. Pennywise, poundfoolish my dad calls it. I agree to some extent; big saving decisions (rent, car, going out etc.) can sometimes matter much more than small stuff. However, I do find that combining big saving decisions with smaller frugality works quite well for me.

I work with a budget. I haven’t yet had the discipline to track my expenses in detail, but I have a pretty good picture. However, since I will be earning a lot more money from next month onwards, I want to really stay on top of my finances and continue to live within my means. This may sound a bit contradictory, but I don’t want to get too comfortable with my bigger income; I want to save a lot of money to serve as part emergency fund, part apartment/travel money.

Anyway, frugalness, or the pinching of pennies, can be a joy instead of a chore. What I do, is: continue to spend on the stuff that makes me happy (which includes having a coffee at my favourite coffee place), but cutting back on the things I don’t really miss anyway (eat breakfast at home instead of buying a sandwich at the station). There are countless personal finance blogs and advisors that use this tool of prioritising and I find it very helpful, as I can cut back without feeling restricted in what I can and cannot do.

However, I could do more. I want to:

-stop buying so many new CD’s and listen to the ones I own instead (or even better, throw a CD-listening evening with my friends to share our new music)
-stop buying books until I finish reading the ones I have
-buy clothes with ensembles in mind, so that I can create a lot of different looks with a few choice pieces
-get a thermos flask again so that I can drink the tea I brought along rather than having to buy it at the station/canteen
-buy only the groceries I need, OR immediately divide my groceries in portions and freeze the stuff I don’t need immediately. As long as I won’t have to throw away food, that’s what we’re going for here.
-borrow books instead of buying them
-not spend too much money on presents for people I barely know
-cook for friends instead of going out for dinner
-borrow and lend DVD’s, or better: watch DVD’s together with friends (rather than buying double sets or going to the cinema)
-wait with buying new CD’s until they become cheaper
-buy stuff through the internet rather than in the shop; often, CD’s and DVD’s are cheaper at Amazon than in the shop
-buy my veggies and fruit at the market instead of in the supermarket: not only does the market sell fresher produce, it’s also a whole lot cheaper
-cut back on calling people with my mobile phone: when I’m at home, I should use Skype instead as it’s free, or at least much cheaper
-get a membership card for the swimming pool instead of paying seperately for each time I go; it’ll be cheaper in the long run (and it will make me go to the pool more often)

Ok, so far so good. Anyone else got useful ideas?