<p>I just went back and looked at the NY Times link - :eek:! Dry-cleaned sheets? OMG. I do not even iron much stuff in my house. I’m thinking of hanging clothes to dry on the back porch in the summer. The neighbors won’t see, why run a dryer on a warm day?</p>
<p>I’ll second (heartily) Plato’s Closet for teen clothing. I actually shop there myself & get tons of clothes for the fraction of a dept store.</p>
<p>I’ve also shopped at Goodwill as well. I donate a bunch of stuff I couldn’t sell on Craig’s List, then walk around & find a mint condition Hollister hoodie for $2. It’s great.</p>
<p>One day I realized that the majority of my (outer) clothing came from consignment stores, etc. I get compliments too! </p>
<p>For teen girls, Plato’s is fabulous…</p>
<p>I got mad at Plato’s Closet once I tried to sell a stack of my son’s jeans to them. The wouldn’t take the jeans from Old Navy or the Gap. They gave me $1.60 a pair for the ones from American Eagle. I figure for that I’d rather just donate them to a clothes closet!</p>
<p>
My hybrid is a Civic–looks just like the conventional one (it’s a stealth hybrid; you have to notice the little label plate to notice we’re driving one.)</p>
<p>Actually, though, I think the Priuses (Prii?) are interesting looking. My Enviro kids and their friends introduced us to Punch Prius, which is the green alternative to Punch Buggy. (They were going with Hit Hybrid first, but it got too violent (they hit too hard)…and none of the other hybrids are easy to spot.)</p>
<p>missypie,
I hear you; Plato’s is very, very picky. They gave me $6 for a Liz Claiborne bag & a gorgeous summer dress. I figure, it’s better than the zero I’d get if I donated, but you definitely have to go into w/the expectation that it won’t be much. It’s much more a shopping place!</p>
<p>Bunsen Burner- just where are you finding sun to dry those clothes? I think you are in West WA, right? ;)</p>
<p>Trust me, if the porch is covered, anything will dry eventually. D might have to wait a couple of days for her undies, but they’ll be dry. 
Yipee, I just imagined the how much color my kids undies will add to the porch!</p>
<p>We do get sunny weather here, we do! As WashDad once mentioned, it usually falls on one of the Thursdays in August :D</p>
<p>
Replace the flying saucer-like wheels with the 5-spoke wheels from the EX model and Honda would have a winner.</p>
<p>Actually, I love naturally dried clothes. Wife unit hates it, but now I have all the time in the world, so here comes the clothesline.</p>
<p>H removed the clothesline a few years ago. He thought it was ugly. Maybe now is the right time to request a replacement :)</p>
<p>But back to the subject of saving money . . . ;)</p>
<p>Has anyone rented out the DD or DS’s room?</p>
<p>Has anyone sold a kidney? Or blood? Or sperm?</p>
<p>Has anyone taken a second (or third) job?</p>
<p>Has anyone stopped putting $$$ into the 401(k) or other plan?</p>
<p>I agree with all that’s been suggested – drive cars till they die, stock up on sales, buy clothes frugally – but I’m still looking for more to do – and, on a short-term basis. </p>
<p>I did recently switch from a $60-a-month gym to a $20-a-month gym. And I finally got around to canceling DS’s membership, at $30 a month. (He only left for college eight months ago . . . ) But I want more great money-saving ideas!!</p>
<p>I sold a bunch of old gold jewelry (broken stuff, ugly stuff) for a LOT of money on a site reviewed in The Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>I cut back on yoga ($13 a class) in favor of more running. I run competitively and yoga was for cross-training. H and I also belong to a gym, but fitness is a family priority.</p>
<p>Trying to drive more slowly (this is hard) and less. </p>
<p>Stopped a few prescription meds and am trying to manage a few “aging” things without meds- diet and a little weight-loss etc. </p>
<p>Put the old, sick cat down. (seriously- we miss him, but the expense was getting to be nuts). </p>
<p>Put the 120 pound dog on a green bean diet and cut down on his dog food.</p>
<p>Our family is pretty sunk for awhile with daughter’s wedding in June and WildChild moving living at an expensive college in an expensive city. We are really good about water and electricity usage. Electricity is cheap here but water is really high.</p>
<p>Aldi…we get our groceries there. We pick up occasional items from the regular grocery, but not much. I love the sport of shopping at places like Goodwill and Big Lots. Last winter we turned the thermostat down a couple of degrees and this winter we’ll turn it down…again. I doubt that we’ll use the AC this summer. We have “paid for” cars…and would love a hybrid, but we can put a LOT of gas in those “paid for” cars for the price of a hybrid car. Eating out is at breakfast or lunch…not usually dinner, and we don’t eat out much.</p>
<p>As I said previously, DH does all the car maintenance. I am very lucky that way, also DH’s cousin is our contractor for any big home improvements and he is happy to trade his services for DH’s (auto body repair). The Metro we are thinking about buying belongs to one of DH’s customers, also would be a trade type thing. </p>
<p>We have a garden in the summer, not sure if that saves much in the long run, live in the country so we have a well (no water bill), and our local electric company is run by the municipality so we heat w/ electric at (for now) about half the price of oil or propane. We are very lucky in those respects. </p>
<p>Luckily my DH was raised on a farm and his parents always lived very frugally and retained those values. I grew up without much but more white trash so I am always trying to compensate and overindulge my own kids sometimes. Thank god there is one of us that is frugal, I am trying hard to learn.</p>
<p>To save $$, I should maybe put MYSELF on the green bean diet… (please provide details of said diet)</p>
<p>DH has not bought ties in a long time, but he has been paying $10 or less for silk ties for years. Some ties are sold for $50, $100, and all kinds of crazy prices. He also buys his leather shoes online (he knows that they will fit, he buys the same size and styles for years). They are very reasonably priced leather shoes. He also has had them resoled, but our local shoemaker has gone out of business, so I don’t know if that will be possible any longer.</p>
<p>I buy jackets (fall and winter) off season for myself and my kids. I just bought a $250 down jacket (excellent quality) for $50 (with my coupon) for one my sons. I actually found that deal in a department store. Oh, and I do the same with sweaters and long sleeved polos. I buy much of it off season. The stores have plenty left over and when spring merchandise arrives, and if one shops well one can get even better deals than at the off price stores. </p>
<p>When I have a Rx for a cream/ointment I request that my medical doctor writes it for the largest tube possible. My copayement is the same, and I can get a tube that is often probably 4x larger than the small tubes. The medical doctors that I have seen have always happily complied with my request (pediatricians, dermatologists, etc.).</p>
<p>Stories of Plato’s Closet being the receiver of stolen clothes from dorm laundry rooms… warn your kids.</p>
<p>Two of our apts use natural gas only for heat, so tenants are advised to have the gas temporarily turned off from April to October. Saves them about $30/month. No charge from the gas company.</p>
<p>I used to sell plasma in college.</p>
<p>With 2 kids in private high school and colleges for the last 8 years, we haven’t had much discretionary income for so long that it’s hard to imagine where we can cut back any further!</p>
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<p>Be careful - I’ve heard a story of people trying to convert their dog to vegetarianism, and the dog ended up wolfing down their neighbor’s chickens, feathers and all.</p>
<p>We eliminated our land line - everybody in the family has cell phones, so we have enough minutes. Saved about $ 60 per month.</p>
<p>Green Bean diet…our pup’s on that as well. </p>
<p>You are essentially swapping the bulk of high calorie food for the lower calorie but equal bulk of green beans which lowers the dog’s weight without causing him hunger.</p>
<p>Let’s say you feed your dog 1 lg can wet food every night. Use half a can and replace the other half with a cup of green beans. We use them drained straight from a can – low sodium – but you can warm up frozen from a bag if you want to use those…cheaper probably but not so convenient. Mix together…we add a slug of beef-flavored glucosamine for our boy’s joint health. If you feed dry food, cut back to a single <em>measured</em> cup at a time. If you just slosh it out of a bag, you are probably overfeeding. Dry food usually has more calories than the wet. </p>
<p>My dog gulps it down without noticing the change even though he can smell a ‘cookie’ through the front door, down the roadway and in the car when I’m driving home from Petsmart!</p>