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<p>You know it! Mine does EVERYTHING from putting on an addition by himself to building furniture to yardwork to plumbing repairs…</p>
<p>We didn’t stay in the starter house either. We wouldn’t fit with 3 kids, and the neighborhood was going downhill fast. I do think that buying a thrifty starter house is key to later financial solvency. I have seen so many people buy as much “as the bank told us we could borrow” for their first house. It makes them live paycheck to paycheck forever after.</p>
<p>I won’t drive clunker looking cars either. I grew up that way. Harvest gold Vega with avocado green door, anyone? I want them to look decent. We buy reasonable vehicles, maintain them inside and out, then drive them until they die.</p>
<p>Our downfall would be purchasing too many convenience foods, although we rarely eat out, and my Diet Pepsi addiction. I buy too many flowers for landscaping too and refuse to freeze all winter, so our heat bill with leaky windows is outrageous.</p>
<p>One of my big budget busters is Target. I cannot get out of that store for less than $100. I find it more economical to just buy my shampoo, toilet paper, etc while I am at the grocery store. Sure it may cost a little more per item, but it is way cheaper than heading into the Target store.</p>
<p>My H is a magazine junkie. It amazes me how expensive they have become.</p>
<p>I have put almost everything that plugs in on power strips/surge protectors where I can get at them easily (eg, TV, sound system, computers, etc.). I turn them off every night before bed. Usually they don’t need to come on again until 6 pm the next day (if then). Not only does it save a few $, I also like to think that some little speck of nuclear waste is NOT being created every time I do this. I also started using the programmable thermostat. My electricity & heat bills have gone down a lot.</p>
<p>I don’t have cable, and I also refuse to pay for a data plan for a cell phone. I bought an iTouch because internet access where there is free wi-fi is good enough for me, and I figure it saves me almost $1,000 a year.</p>
<p>I also carry no debt except my mortgage. Credit cards are paid off every month, and I only use cards with a reward or rebate that I really use. The hard part of this is getting ahead on that first car, and also paying college with no debt. Fortunately D1 was happy to go to the college that offered excellent merit aid.</p>
<p>No gym membership, my workout buddy is my dog and my (limited volume) Netflix subscription when the weather is too bad.</p>
<p>Gave up the house cleaner for Flylady a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>I do think having a handy spouse is so important. H never throws anything away that breaks or is beyond repair. It goes in the basement. Sure enough - something breaks and MacGyver disappears down in the basement and returns with the item fixed - using parts from other broken items.<br>
I am one of those strange people who records every item I spend. It came in handy when D2 complained that I never bought her new clothes. She should have known better. Mom pulled out the “books” from a few years and was able to show her that I had indeed spent more on her than the other two. She never made that complaint again.
H and I drive cars until they die. We do take care of our cars, but we can’t seem to get more than 10 or so years out of them. I wonder if it is the NE winters?
H does all home repairs and yard work and I am in charge of the inside - no hired help. Last summer, we painted the outside of our house - two coats. So much work, but I am so proud of it. I have never done anything like that before.
Neither of us is a shopper and we tend to eat most of our meals at home. I take my lunch to work and H (who works at home) enjoys the leftovers from the last night’s dinner.
When we go to the movies, we go on Sunday mornings - very cheap.
Our frills are season tickets to BC football and my hair.</p>
<p>Great find, 1moremom–I will bookmark that for sure.</p>
<p>Dogwood, we go (usually in the winter when we can’t get outdoors) to the cheap $5 movies too. We keep track of all expenditures to. DH is one who balances the checkbook to the penny. Wow, ya’ll painted your own house? That is hardcore frugal!
You GO Dogwood.</p>
<p>Luckily, our S’s never really required much fashion attention once they got beyond the American Eagle phase each went thru about 9th or 10th grade.<br>
Only when S1 became a big runner did we have to start spending serious money on running shoes. </p>
<p>Garland, we too are building a second home (supposed to be finished this week!) that is to be our retirement home. Since we paid off current house a couple of years ago, we’ll just resume the payment we always had until S2 finishes college (2012) then sell this house and pay off the new one and move to it permanantly. </p>
<p>I would say our biggest splurge is eating out on weekends. We never go to expensive places though. It’s usually Panera Bread, pizza, chinese (cheap lunch prices after church on Sundays), Chik-fil-a or the like.</p>
<p>Check if you have Groupon (yes, like coupon but with a G) or restaurant.com in your area-both have deals worth checking out if eating out is still in your budget</p>
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<p>Same here! And it does lead to saving $$$. We try to take “vacations” but it stresses us out too much to plan them and “decide” and so we usually stay very close to home and save a bundle. Then the whole house thing . . . yes, coworkers have traded up and we go to their homes, but we’ve lacked the initiative more than anything else. </p>
<p>I think enjoying the wonder of the ordinary day is a big, big boost in not spending a ton of money.</p>
<p>We are boring here, too. While many of the Xmas letters we receive include tales of family safaris and the like this year my sweet H wrote “Mostly we are content in each other’s company . . .”. :)</p>
<p>Packman - The main reason we painted the house is that H knows he can/would do a better job than a painter, so it would kill him to pay someone to do the work and it would not be up to my H’s standards.
We also go out for lunch vs. dinner (Panera, Joe’s American Bar and Grill, and a local Italian favorite), as it is much cheaper.
Sewhappy - I love your comment: Enjoy the wonder of the ordinary day. That really is how H and I live. We may seem boring to others, but we get such joy out of the ordinary. Thank you for what is to become my motto.</p>
<p>1More- I love that. Kudos to you and your DH.</p>
<p>Have any of you frugal folks followed Dave Ramsey’s methods? </p>
<p>When I listen to him, I swear he’s channeling my mother! (They’re both right, IMO). If interested, you can download his radio show on itunes for free.</p>
<p>I charge everything I buy on my Travel Miles card and pay it off every month. I usually get 2 free airline tickets a month. I don’t pay interest on anything since we paid off the mortgage. I use Priceline for hotels and Costco for staples. I don’t believe I use more Kleenex or toilet tissue because I buy in bulk. We eat small amounts of meat and a lot of fresh vegtables and fruit. I rent movies at the Red Box and drive a 2003 Toyota Avalon that looks and drives like new. I don’t eat in restaurants too much because they serve too much food and I have to watch salt. So I cook and frequently freeze meals for later.</p>
<p>I haven’t bought a Kindle because I trade books with friends.<br>
My indulgence is, my call anywhere in the country and talk as long as you want calling plan. We live in a college town and our hobby is college sports and we can walk to the events, which except for season basketball tickets is very reasonable.
I think that doing everything one can do now for one’s health is a money saver for later.</p>
<p>Correction: I meant to say, 2 free airline tickets a year, not a month!</p>
<p>And the best free entertainment of all: the local library.</p>
<p>I donate money to two library systems every year but I still come out ahead.</p>
<p>"Also, I get my hair cut at one of those walk-in places that cost $14 and I don’t color it.
I don’t get manicures or pedicures. I buy cheap cosmetics from Target. I pack our lunches for work every day. DH does all our yardwork and most of the home repairs…hey, maybe marrying a Mech. Eng. major is the way to be frugal! "</p>
<p>Here is my semimatching story:
My haircut is $25 (tip included), but only because my husband would not cut my hair. I cut his whenever he wants, takes about 20 min. with all grooming included (I never had any type of training). Saves $$, time, gas. I absolutely have to color my hair or I will look 100 years old. Dollar General has hair color for $3 which I split into 2 times since my hair is short. So, one coloring is $1.50 at home, not too bad. I do not buy cosmetics, I do not use it. I pack all lunches from leftovers, we never buy anything special for lunch like lunch meats, bread, since it is even not good for you. We do as little as possible at home, we hire for everything. However, anything electrical / electronics (including expensive TV’s…computers…) are bought/done the cheapest way that nobody that I know can match up. Well, as one can imagine, I even do not know exectly how many TV’s (big screen, small screen, average screen) and computers we posess, they are in every possible place, including closet’s shelves. “hey, maybe marrying an Electrical Eng. major is the way to be frugal!”</p>
<p>Mousegray–I belong to two library systems and use them extensively.</p>
<p>Libraries may be the most sublime form of socialism ever invented. I never cease to wonder and appreciate that I can simply walk in, load up an armful of books, and walk out without paying a cent. Simply marvelous.</p>
<p>As far as frugal advice/influence, the book that changed my H and I’s view of money and time is Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. I recommend it wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>Regarding Priceline-</p>
<p>I am clueless and not sure how it works so have never pushed the button to book a hotel. Location is usually important to me when booking a hotel (so I can walk where I need to go). I also often travel by myself and don’t want to be in sketchy neighborhoods. To this uninitiated user, it looks like you are bidding on a “pig in a poke.”</p>
<p>Please clue me in.</p>