Monday, March 7, 2011

How Frugal are you?

Are you as frugal as ME?? LOL  I find myself to be pretty frugal and I think I do somethings that others might find silly or a waste of time.  Tell me what you think??

*When I wash my dishes, I always microwave the sponge when I'm done.  It helps kills the germs, pluse keeps the odors away, thus making my sponges last longer.

*I save my plastic bags that holds the cereal.  There is always a good use for them somewhere.  Most of the time I use them to make my own 'shake and bake' type meals,  saves my Ziplocks.

*When I buy chicken, I ALWAYS cut them thin before I portion and freeze them.  A full portion of meat is only about 3 to 4 oz,  a full breast is usually about 6 to 7 oz.  SO I cut them and make my 5 breasts into 10,  then portion and freeze them.

* I save coffee.  When its leftover in the pot and I'm not going to drink it, I put it in a pitcher in the fridge  and either use it to water my plants or drink it for ice coffee. LOL (another tip, pour some in a ice cube tray and make coffee ice cubes  for your ice coffee! This way it doesn't get watered down)

*After supper, I take the leftover veggies, no matter how little is left, and put them in little containers then freeze them.  Once I have enough, I'll defrost them and serve a 'mixed' vegetable for supper.

*When I do my laundry, I only use 1 ounce of detergent.  You really don't need much more than this,  it still gets my clothes clean, and it still gets sudsy.  Then I toss my clothes in the dryer and only use half the dryer sheet.  A box of 40 dryer sheets is now 80.  And to be honest, you don't even NEED the dryer sheets, but I prefer them to keep the static off my clothes.  

*Everyone who knows me know I'm a coupon clipper!  But I don't buy the paper, I  get my coupons from family and friends who save thier inserts.  They are just gonna throw them out anyway, so I'll take them!  

*On the rare occassions I take my kids out for fast food like McDonald's, I don't let them get happy meals anymore.  For the most part they are okay with it, they don't even ask anymore.   We will usually order 1 Value meal, and share the drink and fries.  Then they get what they want, usually a doubler cheeseburger.  And here is another tip: Did you know that the 6pk nuggets are 2.63, BUT the 4pk is only $1?? If you order 2 4pks, its only $2 and you are still getting 2 extra nuggets!   

*I don't buy cleaning products.  I clean my house with bleach, vinegar, and Dawn dishsoap.  I will 'splurge' on Magic erasers, and Scrubbin' bubbles.  I've found  those are the BEST products for cleaning my tub and keeping it white.  And I don't buy the name brand erasers, Target and Walmart's brands work just as great and half the price.   I use them all over,  those are truly magic! LOL  Otherwise,  I use vinegar on pretty much anything to clean it,  bleach to disinfect what needs to be, and Dawn is a great grease cutter, stain remover.   Thats all you need! 

*When I pack my kids lunches, I try to use reusable stuff as much as possible.  I don't buy prepackaged or portion control items, its cheaper to buy the box of crackers or cans of fruit and portion them out myself.    I put thier sandwiches in reusable sandwich box, not a ziplock bag.  I do purchase plastic utentsils, but I wash them everyday and put them back in until they break or get lost.  I do buy juice boxes, for some reason my kids just won't drink out of those little plastic containers with the straw. And I have trouble keeping them clean and deodorized so to me its actually worth it.   My oldest prefers a 'hot' lunch to a sandwich, so if there is pasta or mac and cheese leftover from a previous nights meal, I'll heat it up and put it in a insulated container for her.

*SO how frugal are you??  Do you use some of my ideas or have any of your own you want to share with me??

2 comments:

  1. Great tips! I rarely buy clothing new. Salvation Army has half price clothes on Wednesday and I find some nice stuff pretty often.

    I never go to Starbucks or buy drinks from machines unless they are 35 cents like Kroger has (when the machine's working).

    Buy OTC meds at Dollar Tree. They always have nyquil/dayquil, benadryl, tylenol, advil, sudfed, etc. in generic for a dollar.

    Use half dishwasher detergent and half baking soda in the dishwasher. I think it actually cleans better.

    Christi S.

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  2. Nice Christi!

    I will freely admit though I am a Dunkin Donuts JUNKIE. I love thier Camamel swirl coffee! LOL But I don't go there every day, I can't afford it. I'd love to though!

    I don't have a dishwasher, I wash my dishes by hand. I'm dying for a dishwasher so I'll remember that tip!

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