Rehashing Frugal Living After a DeathI mainly lurk these days but I had to become super frugal since the death of my husband in May. I am trying to get my widow benefits (we were both on SSDI), so I am living on less than half of what we were bringing in. I paid $500 up front for the cremation, but because SS is taking so long on my widows' benefits, the funeral home wrote off the rest of the bill. I do have his ashes with me now.
Become a Frugal CrafterFor those of us who have fallen on tough times more recently, this essay is intended to help you find a creative outlet for free and perhaps the chance to make some gifts that will be all the more treasured simply because you made them.
Suzzycue's Frugal LifestyleLiving a frugal lifestyle is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication to make it work. The best thing I did to promote my frugal lifestyle was learn to cook. If you learn to cook you can have delicious meals with leftovers for the next day for the same cost or lower than buying one hamburger.
Take Time To Enjoy Your WorldIt has been said that only boring people ever get bored. I think there's a lot of truth in that saying. People who are easily bored lack a healthy curiosity about the world around them. Some people go all their lives without awareness of things that make other people's lives more enjoyable.
Thrifty Living Could Mean EverythingThrifty living does not mean you have to avoid the good and healthy things that cost a lot. Sometimes, it also means self discipline. For me, policies are indeed useful for disciplining myself.
My Frugal Life: Compromise and CompensateAs children, we grow up not ever paying attention to advice or knowledge provided by our elders, usually on a frequent and routine basis. Going along with our childish and playful days, knowing it all, and living the racey lifestyle, along with making unattentional choices, with little regard to our bodies limitations of the aging process.
My Frugal Life: Price Hike"Hey, Bob, look!" I said as we neared a bus stop in my neighborhood. "Now why would anyone want to do that?" he grumbled, outraged at the eyesore we'd just driven past, a gang of abandoned shopping carts.
My Frugal Holiday: Our First Family Christmas StoryOnce upon a Christmas time in a little college town there lived college couple with a baby son. In between classes and jobs and studying late, they had bought gifts for parents, sisters, brothers and baby too, of course.
My Frugal Life: Saving Money is FunI still live in the same house I did when my first child was born. That was 37 years ago. What does that have to do with anything? Well, at first it wasn't intentional; staying here I mean.
My Frugal Life: Buddha's ExampleThe Gautama Buddha, over 25 centuries ago, commended frugality. As an example, he taught the first monks and nuns to make their robes from "pure cloth" that is cloth that no one wanted.
My Frugal Life: Of Misers and MotherhoodMy father shared the title of his self published book "The Miser's Muniment." In the mid eighties, with freewheeling credit within the reach of practically everyone, hardly anyone was interested in reading about misers.
My Frugal Life: If In Doubt, Don't!I have been working since I was 15 years old and I am now 51. Knowing how to stretch a dollar is a lesson I learned early. My older sister was a seamstress and she taught me how to sew.
My Frugal Life: Grocery ShoppingI make it a habit of being open to food-shopping deals whenever I go anywhere. Today I stopped in at an independent dollar store, where I found a quart of lemon juice at 2/$1.00. That'll last a good long time.
My Frugal Life: The Coffee TestI have found it helpful, thriftily-speaking, to take a look at all the necessary things in my life and make a list of those that I just can't scrimp on.
Frugality And A Question Of MoralsI recently voiced my opinion, maybe too loudly, on a post about asking for extra condiments when dining out. I felt keeping extra condiments automatically given to you was OK, while asking for extras to increase your at home stockpile was not.
Do These Little Things Really Add Up?We're governed by our habits, and while some of them are simply irksome, others serve a purpose. After coaxing the last spurt of shampoo from the bottle, do you add water and swish out whatever is left?
Living on a BudgetMy boyfriend and I live in Southeastern KY. We are both disabled and living on disability. We have to budget everything, from electricity to groceries, every month. We are members of several store loyalty programs that automatically apply coupons to your purchase, which helps a lot. You can also use clip coupons along with that to add extra savings. Just about every store has a loyalty program now and you should be able to easily sign up online or at the store itself, just ask a clerk.
Living in the BoondocksWe live in the country and it is 45 miles away from any grocery store. The first thing we do is to make a shopping list and only go shopping once a month. Our doctors are 180 miles from our home so, when we have a doctor's appointment, we check the shopping ads for the stores in that town and buy what we know we will use and stock up on those items at those stores. We go to a Sprouts at those times and stock up on sale meat items because they are organic or Kosher, due to my allergies.
RepurposeAn artist at heart, my brother loved doing home renovations. He also loved teaching me the basics, like how to use a power drill. This skill has played an essential role in my frugal living. Many of my frugal habits center around repurposing. It is finding another meaning in something, whether it retains its current form or not, and whether it is carefully preserved or eventually discarded.
A Fortnight's Lost IncomeThis is a story from my past, which taught me that when you have to you can do it! It was the day after payday and I had the cash on the table, working out where it would be going. There was a knock at the door so I hid the cash. It was an hour or so before I got back to my budgeting task. Unfortunately, I had forgotten where I'd put the money!
The Christmas Tree GrinchMy father bought our Christmas tree every year on Christmas Eve. My father, well, he was a bit of a Grinch when it came to purchasing a tree. He didn't want to spend money for a tree that was only going to be up for one week. It was his money; after all, we were spending.
Finally Starting Out Being ThriftyMy partner and I are on SSDI with SNAP and I am enforcing a budget for 4 people in this household. We consume a lot of tea so we get the gallon bags on our main shopping trip. My partner brews it up in a large Dutch oven like pot and makes 2 gallons out of that, one for him and one for the rest of us.
I Hope You Dance to HeavenMy sister was diagnosed with cancer in the year 2000. She was not expected to live over one year, but God gave us seven years to watch her journey through this cancer and her spiritual journey to Heaven. The last Thanksgiving that my sister was on this Earth, she was wheelchair-bound and I was asked by her to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her and her family.
Pinch Those Pennies When You're YoungMy great aunt and uncle were very frugal. They made their own furniture out of pressed wood. They had a schematic of the property, where every wire was buried outside, location of all piping, cable etc. They ordered kitchen cabinets to put together themselves and bought parts for repairs in bulk; plumbing, sprinkler, electricity, basically anything that could break and need repaired. They bought the best quality gloss enamel paint so everything was easy to maintain with washing.
106 Ways to Save in the KitchenThere are numerous ways you can save money with regards to your kitchen including reducing the cost of food, eliminating the use of disposable items such as paper napkins, growing a veggie garden, and more. This page contains several essays that outline 106 ways to save in the kitchen.
Lessons From BakingShare your love of baking with others. Cooking can teach us all sorts of life lessons, such as following directions, measuring, caution and patience. Your family also gets to enjoy the end product too.
Developing a Frugal LifestyleDid you know that a frugal lifestyle can become a way of life that allows more time for relaxation, less stress over money, and daily expenses in general? Budget, organize your home, reuse and recycle. This is a page about developing a frugal lifestyle.
Transitioning from HomelessnessIf you can look at possibilities without preconceived ideas, you can have a comfortable life without spending a lot of money. This is a page about transitioning from homelessness.
Becoming More DIY in the KitchenBuying produce on sale and preserving it, making your own soup bases, and purchasing clearance items are just some of the ways you can save money in the kitchen. This is a page about becoming more DIY in the kitchen.
Enjoying Being FrugalLife is always subject to change. Learning to live within your means can be a challenge and very satisfying. This is a page about enjoying being frugal.
Gardening With GrandpaTime spent with one's grandparents often creates treasured memories that drift though our minds later in life. Life lessons are also often learned at the side of these experienced elders. This page contains two award winning essays from one of our Thriftyfun members, reminiscing about gardening with her grandfather when she was a child.
Change from a Spendthrift into a SaverLiving within your means makes life less stressful and you still are able to get what you need. This page is about change from a spendthrift into a saver.
Thrifty Love StoriesBeing thrifty doesn't prevent a person from being romantic. This page features thrifty love stories. Feel free to share you own!
Surviving an Economic CrisisLiving a frugal lifestyle can help you live comfortably during tough economic times. This page is about surviving an economic crisis.
