Your #1 Best Frugal Tip?

Learn which plants etc are edible, and where they can be found, and also how to prepare and cook them, then if you are ever really in need you will never starve. I think that probably goes beyond what you asked, but bottom line, if you know where you can get food, you will live.

I probably save the most money over all by searching the net for products rebates and couoon for free or almost free products. I make sure to save the little coupons that you sometimes get with your receipt for a percentage off the next purchase, and I do most of my grocery shopping at sobeys so that I can collect air miles and cash them in for grocery coupons later.

Planning... planning and planning! Be it a menu, a shopping list or a travel out to town. Planning is the best way to save. For example, planning a menu. Some stores sell really good food at a reasonable price that serves generously. If you know what you want, you will save a bundle at these stores as they usually serve enough in one serving to feed two! Shopping list, if possible... get coupons, or discounts cards you can use when doing your shopping! Traveling. Peak hour traveling is the most expensive. If you can plan your traveling for the day, you will save time and money!

Wow - I can't wait to hear more too, cos I don't think mine is great. Personally I would say recycling, and not being shy to use hand me downs. Lots of new life can be breathed into old things, and we are such a consumer society with a throwaway mentality that we discard things in perfectly good shape. Like plastic containers used for takeout. Those in Singapore are microwave safe, and great for reheating all sorts of food so i always save them. Also, getting clothes from the local thrift store saves tons, especially for winter jackets and the like. They are usually sent to the drycleaners before coming on the shelves, so a clean coat is good enough for me!

my #1 frugal tip. "STAY HOME".

Mine would be to cook all your own meals. Everything you can get at fast food places and restaurants can be made at home for a fraction of the cost. Even gourmet meals cost less at home. They all usually taste better too.

believe it or not... my tip is very similar with you... i always buy food that are on sale because i am not very fussy with what i eat... so i always follow the weekly specials in big supermarket here like coles or safeway and i buy those special items... on top of that, i buy in bulks for non-perishable things that i often use and i can keep for a long time when they are on sale... i had managed to save heaps of money by doing this...

That sounds like a really good tip, as long as the sales rotate. If I didn't have any chicken in my freezer and my husband but home sausage because it was on sale I would be upset. I do know my parents would often have weeks when they had enough food in the house, but they would purchase only the sale items so that they would have them when they needed them . ( I guess this what you have stated in your discussion) When something is on sale I like to buy more than one of them , so that the very next week I don't have to pay full price for the same item. ( sometimes an item will come on sale every 3 weeks - so I would buy 3 to get me through until the next sale. I have a book on CD-Rom called " Frugal not Cheap" I will have to go through it sometime and maybe I can post some tips from it .

Have you noticed almost all the tips on here so far involve saving money on food? LOL Well my tip (newly discovered this week) is don't underestimate what you can get at garage sales! I had my first one this week, and also visited a couple and I still can't get over the things I got dirt cheap! Like play clothes for the kids, etc...

My #1 tip is don't eat out. You spend less money per meal per person when you cook at home. The food is usually healthier too. I found that I could feed my family of 3 on less than $5 a meal when I cook at home. Granted, I may have to buy 5 pounds of ground beef for $10. Add a half pound of meat to canned spaghetti sauce and 12oz of spaghtetti and I feed my family for just under $3. If we went out for a spaghetti meal we would spend around $24 for the same meal I can make at home for $3. We don't eat out except for birthdays and anniversaries.

Put stuff in two categories. Needs and Wants. So when you're out and you something catches your eye, ask y ourself: is it a need, or is it a want. Now if it's a want, then don't buy it. But if it's a need, then go ahead. It's amazing how much stuff we categorize as needs when really they are just wants. And once you really think about it, we become aware that we really need a lot less than we think we do.

I guess my number one tip would be to make a menu for the week and follow it. This includes making sure there is no eating out. It is amazing how much that money adds up after a while. Even just buying coffee out becomes extremely expensive. cheers,

If I could only give a person one tip it would be this. Don't throw anything away if there is a possibility it can be used later for anything. Ever.

Ah - ok so this isn't exactly a frugal tip. But it is the best rated tip out of everything I've told people to help them with money. If you have an hourly job - Such as $6/hr - figure out how much the thing you want is worth and divide it by your wage. This works crazy well with college students at least! "Oh man - I really want that shirt!" - Shirt costs $36. If you think about the fact that you will have to work more than 6 hours to pay for this shirt, is it really worth it? Most say no :)

The best tip anyone can give you is to spend less than you earn - sounds obvious, but budgeting is the key and all too few people do it. I have worked out how much disposable income we have available after fixed expenses and that gives us a weekly amount to spend on shopping. Never use credit cards for essential shopping - if you don't HAVE the money, you can't afford it! I leave the house with JUST the cash I need for that day, which means most of the time I have NO cash or cards in my pocket therefore I cannot spend on non-essentials. We had to really look hard at our finances when my wife wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom, we are surviving on one income and are actually better-off because we are much more aware of our expenditure now. More about this at my squidoo lens: http://squidoo.com/makingmoneyquickly/ which is about saving money being the quickest way to MAKE money...

My number 1 frugal tip? never ever buy ketchup again! Goto Mcdonalds, and ask for Ranch dressing for your fries. When they tell you there is a charge, snidely ask "do you charge for ketchup too?" when they say "No" if they have the packets in a bin, take the bin, and dump the whole thing right in front of them in your purse, and casually walk out of the store. They just gave you permission to take their entire stock! and yes, I have done this one.

Mine is cut your own hair. I use the RoboCut Hair Cutting Kit. http://www.haircut.com/buyR28.html It is so easy and feels so good. It does a great job, too! Also, the man who invented it is a wonderful person.

yeah u r right.