Small things you do to be 'frugal'

I, too, ask for no ice or light ice. :) We do several of the things others have mentioned - vinegar and baking soda for cleaning, taking lunches, and making FULL use of our library. Several other little things we do: I try to wash laundry exclusively during off-peak time for electricity; the electric during those hours/days costs almost half of on-peak times. Do most laundry in cold or cool water. Hang most laundry to dry. Bake much of our bread; try to do several baking tasks at once, or in quick succession, to make the best use of the hot oven. Cook/bake most foods from scratch. Power bars for non-necessary electronics - TV and peripherals, computer and peripherals, are all attached to power bars that get completely turned off when not in use. What else? Oh - wash out zipper bags! :) Buy a lot of our produce and other foods 50% off. Make our own chocolate sauce (for choc. milk and ice cream). Chocolate sauce takes about 10 minutes to make and the taste is so much better than store bought! This is the lifestyle we choose. We are one income by choice, with two little ones, and frugality enables us to live far 'better' than we should on the income we bring in. I'm sure there are other little things that are just such a part of our lives that I'm not even thinking of them!

Thank you for this awesome idea. I love sharing quick and easy things we can all do. I got a bike this year for exercise and fun. I know it will take me a very long time to save the money I spent on the bike in the gas I save but eventually it will get there. Also It saves us money because we go on family bike rides instead of going somewhere to spend money or gas. We pack lunches for my Hubby. The kids and I are home all day so we dont need to pack them but we eat unprocessed food whenever possible. We try to grow a garden that will help us with most of our food budget but that is a lot easier said then done. During the winter when we dont drive the motor home we change the nsurance to storage and its just a couple dollars a month instead of the money we spend to insure it fully. We use our windows to help control heat in the house. Let the sun in during the day to warm us up and get the air flow to cool us down. More then anything we just try to think about the things we are spending money on and try to keep track of our pennies. If you keep track of the pennies the dollars will keep track of them selves.

Never fill the sugar pot right up, and always keep a spoon in it. I've found that people take twice as much sugar when there is lots there, and if there is no spoon available they just tip up the pot and use double again!

I larned that many years ago. I usually asked for no ice.

I try to buy in bulk, even though there are only two of us. Not only do I save on price but now I also save on gas.

That is a very good point. But at my McDonalds we get our own cup and put our own drink in our cup. That way we put however much ice we want in our drink.

Well, unless it is somewhere where you can get Free refills, or like a McDonalds, etc. go thru the drivethru, this is the smart thing. Ask for light ice and then you do not have to worry about getting too much and not enough drink. I also have the tendancy where I can to ask for extra Sauces, ketchup etc. that I keep at home somewhere for when I run out. Because any way you can save money is great.

in the summer here our McDonalds has cold drinks for $1 and their ice cream isn't all that expensive either so for a treat, that is where we go. we also go to the library when its really hot to spend time there. (we dont have central air and it can get pretty hot here in Canada in the summer).

A couple of the things I've been doing is cutting down on driving and doing all my errands at once. As I'm out in the country it takes more gas to get anywhere, which of course takes more money. So I do all my errands at once. That way I'm not constantly driving around. It may not seem like much, but before my husband lost his job I used to run errands daily. But now we only go when we need to. We also cut down on our cell phone bill as well. Up until recently we were on a contract plan which was rather costly, especially seeing as it was just for one phone. But we were finally able to cancel it. Now we have 2 prepaid's instead. It's not a whole lot cheaper with having 2, but it is cheaper. Best of all we aren't on a contract anymore, so if we need to we can drop either of them at any time, without having to pay some ridiculous cancellation fee. Now if only we could cut down on other expenses, like food and electricity...

I clean with vinegar and baking soda and other items that I have around the house that work and I make my own laundry soap which allows me to have more for less money than it would cost if I bought it from the store.

I go to the store in town once a week for work lunches - i pick up some bread some veggies etc and i take them to the fridge in my office. I make my lunches at work so they are fresh like i would at home so i'm not tempted to run out to the store and grab a sandwich or go to a restaurant for a burger and fries. I refill my water bottle rather than buying bottles of water - i purchased a brita filter bottle so it cleans the chlorine out of the water too and tastes way better. I pick pop bottles and cans when i walk to take in for recycling. I sew worn out jeans into blankets or bags or pass them off to my auntie who makes all sorts of crafts out of them. Rather than buying baby gifts i take the time to knit baby blankets and quilt blankets for babies in my life that are born. They mean so much more to the moms and dads too. I fill up for gas at stations that give cash back or grocery coupons.

Wow,that's really a bargin and that's so called frugal and make life more joyable.I will try next time and actaully there are many more details such like this and therefore we can get better value from that.lol,have a nice day.

I truly admire people who are living frugally and had the discipline to do so on a daily basis. There are lots of times in my not-so-electrifying life that I am motivated to live a frugal life. I do it for a week then I lost the discipline to continue until it becomes a habit. How I wish and pray that I can truly force myself because frugal living can really be helpful in the long run, saving something for emergency situations. I appreciate your dearly beloved sister for her decision, and might be also for you. As long as we don't sacrifice our health, a frugal life is not that bad at all. Good day maezee.

i also do that. i often ask if i can have less ice on my soda or drink. funny how your friend does that too!

if the distance from home to wherever i am supposed to go or would like to go, i prefer walking instead of taking a bus or a taxi which would have made me spend a few coins. I choose to bring a packed lunch i made from home than to buy stuffs in a resto or a fast food chain. That way, I know the food i am eating is healthy and clean and i have saved my salary or allowance! ^_^ happy mylotting!