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What are your best frugal living tips?



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baby12x




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:06 am
What are your best frugal living tips?

What do you do, big or small, to help you live frugally?

Full Disclosure: I am writing an article and I hope to get some ideas to use. Anyone who wants to be credited can contact me.

[locked until Yael verifies she allowed this thread -mod
]
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lk1234




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:13 am
baby12x wrote:
What are your best frugal living tips?

What do you do, big or small, to help you live frugally?

Full Disclosure: I am writing an article and I hope to get some ideas to use. Anyone who wants to be credited can contact me.


Hi Baby 12x- I have a ton of ideas- I am super frugal and hope to write in later today.
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FranticFrummie




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 7:05 am
My number one frugal tip, is to buy a large freezer. Your freezer will pay for itself in 6 months or less, I promise you.

If you have to, keep it in your patio, garage, anywhere you can get electricity and somewhat protect it from the elements. Mine is outside right now getting rained on, but it has a few garbage bags on it to protect the wires from getting wet.

When you find a great deal, buy in bulk. If meat is on sale, have your butcher cut it up into smaller pieces, and then wrap them separately. Label everything clearly!

If you are in Israel, shmittah is coming next year. Stock up on lots of fruits and veggies that can be frozen.

Cooking ahead for Shabbos and holidays will be a lot less stressful if you can freeze a lot ahead of time, and that will free you up for other things. Time is also money!

Even when it finally dies after 20 years or so, it makes great storage for gardening tools, potting soil, and empty flower pots. (Just make sure you remove all of the rubber seals around the edge, so that there is air flow. You can also block it a bit so that it will never fully close, in case there are kids around who would want to play in it. You can also put a padlock on it to keep kids out.

If you have a chest freezer, take the door off, and an upright freezer, remove door and turn it on it's side. Drill some holes in the bottom, and fill it up with dirt. Now you have a raised garden bed that won't kill your back.

If you are crafty, you can paint it to match your garden. If you are super crafty, you can cover it with broken china and make a mosaic!
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amother
Aubergine


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 9:40 am
We are super frugal! There are tons of tips out there, you just need to choose what works for you.

We only shop once a week so every menu, lunch, supper, and shabbos is planned on Sunday which takes about 10 minutes. We shop at aldi's.

We stock up on chicken and meat so we rarely go to the kosher groceries because you will always buy more and they are expensive.

We don't eat out, we experiment at home! We don't go to bakeries, we figure out something fun with the kids from home.

We don't have cleaning help. We clean one floor together as a family every Sunday and we often turn it into activities.

My kids wear really nice hand me downs. The girls don't care until ages 7/8 and then we get from dejanew in Lakewood. We get compliments on my kids clothing all the time.

We live in an area where families are happy with little making it easy to live below our means and our kids to have fewer expectations.

We teach appreciation for everything and not to live up to others standards. Today, my daughter was bringing in a snack because she thought the others would think it's cool in the original packaging. Then she said, I don't care I want it mixed with another treat, opened it up, mixed it, and took what she really liked without fancy packaging. I was very proud.

We have little and our needs are little. Our only want is only a happy loving family. He who has 100 wants 200. This isn't to say we can't afford more, we can afford more. We don't want the lifestyle of more. I'm also not putting down anyone else or their lifestyle. My dh and I are very happy minimalists. I don't think most people want to live the way we live.
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lamplighter




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:05 pm
I decide before each season how much of each clothing item my kids need and only buy that amount (if some of it is from hand me downs even better). Sales were causing me to overbuy until I set it up this way.

Everything in the Amazon cart has to sit for 24 hrs.

Budget Budget Budget.
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amother
Red


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:11 pm
No particular tips, but I think that mindset matters. There are rich people who are constantly talking about their expenses, and poor people who just live life. Children need to grow up feeling a sense of Hashem's abundance. If you project a sense of having enough, that goes a long way.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:20 pm
amother [ Red ] wrote:
No particular tips, but I think that mindset matters. There are rich people who are constantly talking about their expenses, and poor people who just live life. Children need to grow up feeling a sense of Hashem's abundance. If you project a sense of having enough, that goes a long way.


I love 💕 it! Can you produce a cute little sign for parents to hang up and with the money you make, you can create a website with inspiration for people who have lots of love to give but not much money.
There are no lack of tips on how to spend less.
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Elfrida




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:26 pm
Turn down the heating and put on a thick sweater. The house doesn't need to be warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt and bare feet in the middle of winter.
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amother
Slateblue


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:27 pm
Love the amazon 24 hour in cart tip!!

The first thing I did away with were disposables!! I didn't realize how much I was using until I realized my family was using until I saw that I'm not stopping to take garbage.
It does take more time, but it's all in China now.
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amother
Red


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:33 pm
southernbubby wrote:
I love 💕 it! Can you produce a cute little sign for parents to hang up and with the money you make, you can create a website with inspiration for people who have lots of love to give but not much money.
There are no lack of tips on how to spend less.


You're too kind! I'm sure the idea is not originally mine, but I do feel like it makes all the difference.
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amother
Slateblue


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 2:43 pm
Love the amazon 24 hour in cart tip!!

The first thing I did away with were disposables!! I didn't realize how much I was using until I realized my family was using until I saw that I'm not stopping to take garbage.
It does take more time, but it's all in China now.
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amother
Blush


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:53 pm
Train your children from very young ages to do chores and household cleaning, according to their ability. Have a list of things that need to get done nightly, weekly, and monthly. Make it a fun family activity, done every evening, to music etc.
Believe it or not, you may find you dont need a cleaning lady, saving you thousands per year.
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:59 pm
Don’t have a prime membership. Easier access to spending on little unnecessary items due to convenience.

This is a life changing tip if you are dedicated to truly make it work. Your savings goals are bills. You will make them work by paying them.
If you get paid weekly sit down figure out your expenses for the week. Leave a bit of a cushion and everything else over to savings. Same if bi weekly. Monthly is harder to do but can work.

We started this method a bit back and it’s unreal the percentage of savings that we can transfer now over when we didn’t.

Why? It’s a psychology. You don’t spend money you don’t have (hopefully) and you spend money that’s available. So make it unavailable and you’ll see you’ll manage.

Obviously this isn’t for someone who doesn’t have money leftover after basic bills are paid.
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:02 pm
I also want to say that there’s frugal and then there’s frugal that’s not within the mental norms. Be aware of the difference.
Don’t make your children be outcasts because of your frugality. Don’t let them feel deprived and weird.
Signed
A child of frugal parents that never felt part of society
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amother
Teal


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:11 pm
amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:
Don’t have a prime membership. Easier access to spending on little unnecessary items due to convenience.

This is a life changing tip if you are dedicated to truly make it work. Your savings goals are bills. You will make them work by paying them.
If you get paid weekly sit down figure out your expenses for the week. Leave a bit of a cushion and everything else over to savings. Same if bi weekly. Monthly is harder to do but can work.

We started this method a bit back and it’s unreal the percentage of savings that we can transfer now over when we didn’t.

Why? It’s a psychology. You don’t spend money you don’t have (hopefully) and you spend money that’s available. So make it unavailable and you’ll see you’ll manage.

Obviously this isn’t for someone who doesn’t have money leftover after basic bills are paid.


I agree with no prime. For me having to think about each purchase is a good thing. Same for us and our small family: we don’t have Costco membership. We just don’t need $10 worth of strawberries no matter how juicy they are: we do just fine at Aldi (and try to buy what’s on sale. Grapes on sale! Hooray we’ll have grapes this week)
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:13 pm
amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:
I also want to say that there’s frugal and then there’s frugal that’s not within the mental norms. Be aware of the difference.
Don’t make your children be outcasts because of your frugality. Don’t let them feel deprived and weird.
Signed
A child of frugal parents that never felt part of society

Make frugality work for you don’t work for it. Being frugal is a means to an end not the end itself.
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:17 pm
Zehava wrote:
Make frugality work for you don’t work for it. Being frugal is a means to an end not the end itself.


Explanation please 😊
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:18 pm
amother [ Forestgreen ] wrote:
Explanation please 😊

Thought I was being clear. What exactly don’t you understand
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:23 pm
Zehava wrote:
Make frugality work for you don’t work for it. Being frugal is a means to an end not the end itself.


That is brilliant
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Fave




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:54 pm
lamplighter wrote:

Everything in the Amazon cart has to sit for 24 hrs.


This is a great tip. Impulse buying is difficult to overcome when Amazon Prime is at your fingertips all day.
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