More Frugal Tips
Even during the best of times it can be difficult trying to make ends meet on one income. Saving a few cents here and there can make a big difference at the end of the month. In a previous article, our readers shared their frugal tips. This week, I would like to share a few more tips that parents have submitted. Thanks to everyone who has sent in their frugal hints!
From Kashca:
- I do once a month cooking where I cook main dishes for a month and freeze them. I have been doing it for 3 months now and am really seeing a decrease in grocery bill plus we are eating out a lot less!
And Stacey also wrote:
- I do something called "Once a Month Cooking" where I prepare and freeze a month's worth of meals. I got the idea from a book, appropriately named "Once a Month Cooking." I even wrote a newspaper article about it (I'm a former reporter) and I still have people calling me the "once-a-month cooking" lady. I have a 5-month-old daughter and I have to admit I stopped cooking so far in advance while I was pregnant. I'll still cook about a week's worth or two. I do plan to start cooking for the month again soon.
Maggie's Tip:
- I shop a lot at yard sales. With 2 children and 1 on they way it's hard to take the kids. I have a group of 3 or 4 friends and we take turns watching the kids so the others can go out and hit a bunch of sales a lot faster and easier!!
From Debbie:
- To save money on garbage bags for the bathroom or a little wastebasket use your plastic grocery bag you get at the store. The handles on the bag can be tied up and tossed out in the garbage can.
Jody wrote:
- My husband and I have a one year old and we are constantly cleaning up after her and the cats, esp. the carpet. We went to a janitorial supply store and bought rug cleaner there. I compared these concentrates with such places as Costco and it is cheaper to buy at such stores. Our bottle of concentrated cleaning solution makes 37 gallons as compared to Windex concntrates that make 7-9 gallons. I hope this helps save time and money as you may never need to buy regular cleaners again for a long,long time.
And finally, from Breeze:
- Compost all of your organic food and plant scraps. We live in San Francisco and pay for garbage by the can. Composting has reduced our garbage by at least 1/3 and given us great organic compost for our garden. Plus, our kids love to separate the worms from the compost as we ready it for use in the garden.
Related Mining Co. Links
- Frugal Living
From your Guide, these are links to sites with frugal living information. - Frugal Living Guide - an Interview - Freebies
From the Freebies site, Guide Lee Seat's interview with Pat, our Frugal Living Guide. - Timely Tips - Frugal Living
From the Frugal Living site, Pat has started a frugal tips page.
- Frugal Family Network
This great site has some wonderful money-saving tips. - Frugal Trading Post
This site offers plus-size women's clothes, as well as children's clothes, for sale or trade. Also offers some great money saving tips. (Note: some of the graphics at this site were not working when I last visited.)
The animated piggybank graphic above is in the public domain. More free, public domain graphics can be found at The Andover Press site.