gollytwo

I also wash and reuse baggies
My most frugal practice that friends laugh at: I put Staples 2"x4" blank stick-ons over all return envelopes that aren't prepaid and then use them when writing to friends.

Central Ohio Quilter

In the summer we hang our wash outside on the line to dry. In the winter, we hang our laundry over folding/collapsible racks in our family room where the woodstove is. The drying clothes add needed humidity to the house air during the winter. I do have an old electric dryer, but about the only thing it gets used for is to dry fabric to preshrink it.

We heat our house with wood and DH cuts and splits all our wood.

I have a vegetable garden in the summer and I can or freeze most of our vegies that we eat throughout the year.

I cut DH's hair. I get mine cut at the cheapest place in town. I've never colored my hair.

I darn socks and sew underwear waistbands back on when they come loose. They will last for another couple months. I have also replaced torn zippers on jackets.

At the grocery store I pay close attention to sales and purchase in bulk when things are at their cheapest. I use coupons. I buy bread and rolls off the day old bakery rack and just about the only meat I buy is marked down 40% off because it is ready to expire in a day or two. It will still stay just fine for several days, or I will put it into the freezer for longer periods.

I don't buy convenience foods. I cook from scratch.

We seldom go out to eat, maybe once a month. I pack each of us our lunches every day to take to work.

We never buy anything from the vending machines...... Why pay $1.25 for a bottle of Coke from the vending machine when you can get a 12 pack for $3.00 at the grocery?

We don't buy water. (I just don't get that one!) We get it free from our faucets! Fill a reusable bottle!

We do use credit cards for convenience, but pay off the entire balance every month. We have never paid a cent of interest on a credit card.

I shop at garage sales, yard sales, thrift shops, consignment shops for just about all our clothes, home furnishings, etc.

We don't go the the movies, or even rent movies from where ever it is you rent movies from. We borrow them free from the library, or wait until they are on TV. I read a lot, but my books come from the library or yard sales for 25 cents.

Oh yes- my favorite - instead of buying expensive wedding or baby presents - I make quilts!!!!!

gollytwo

Watch youself on stairs, my son, wearing socks and no shoes, flew down his uncarpeted stairs and broke an ankle.

qwkslver

Probably the cheapest thing I do is I use the big Beggin Strips resealable bags to put table scraps in so they don't make a mess in the garbage. I make my own candles, chap sticks, anything sewn you can think of, and probably lots of other things I can't even think of at the moment.

catrancher

Grow my own food (vegies), can it, and cook at home.

Favorite Fabrics

The cheapest things I do cannot compare with the cheapest thing that my 16-year-old son does.

When we take the family to the local baseball games, we give each of the kids $10 to spend on food (so that they don't endlessly pester us). This kid waits for his two siblings to buy more food than they need, and when they get full, he downs their leftovers and goes home with the $10 still in his pocket.

I think when I'm old and gray I'm gonna hit him up for loans. Somehow I just KNOW he will have money.

lynnie

i grew up poor, i reuse envelopes, and stamps if i can...i am the Queen of Compensation, no matter where i go i seem to get it. We are not poor now, we can afford to go to Applebees 1x a week, but here is how we do it. we buy off the sale menu, anyplace we go, Call up and compliment the store manager, or while you're there, call the manager over and tell them how great their restaurant is and the waitres is, FREE dessert. if foor is yuckky, complain, but do it nicely, if service is good or bad, CONSTRUCTIVE is the word here, you get free stuff.
when making pasta, i put the cooked pasta in the jar of empty sauce, theres always alot left.
we only buy food that's on sale, we'll buy a monts worth so when it's not on sale we have it.
now i can buy fabric with leftovers.

lynnie

we also go to the movies in the afternoon and bring our own food, otherwise, i order first releases from the pub library for free

plainpat

I almost never buy fabric that isn't on sale.It has to be at least 50% off to catch my eye.I mix what's left of a box of cereal with another box....we never run out of cereal.Of course, we never know what kind it is either :D :D

misseva

I use strips of fabric to wrap gifts with. If I'm gifting a quilt I roll it up inside out and tie it with leftover strips of cloth. Sometimes I wrap a baby gift with a receiving blanket & use fabric strips instead of ribbon. Everyone KNOWS who the gift is from if they see fabric ribbon.