<p>I shop at Goodwill a LOT. I would say at least half the clothes in our closet came from Goodwill. Also the only books I ever buy come from Goodwill. Paperbacks are only .59. I have found so many unbelievably great deals there.</p>
<p>I don’t buy books, cd, dvds, etc. I extensively use the library. I’ll only buy 0.99 greeting cards, and recycle gift bags. Use a Nalgene bottle instead of bottled water, most of the time. Plan all my errands together to save gas; plan my classes and work schedule together so I only drive to school once. Re-use plastic baggies if they are still clean, and use grocery bags for the trash. I like used clothes from Buffalo Exchange, and donate to Goodwill. I really don’t buy anything on the store that isn’t generic brand or on sale, since I have expensive tastes in food to begin with. (organic, etc)</p>
<p>The only thing we do bad on at my house is energy, as there is always at least 1 TV on, a few computers, and lights in every room. But, the A/C or heater doesn’t get turned on unless it’s unbearable.</p>
<p>Im so frugal, I don’t own a watch ;)</p>
<p>I think everyone chooses how they spend their time, money, and calories.</p>
<p>But it was so frustrating to visit a friend of mine with a large beautiful house and a cheap husband who thought it was wasteful to heat the house to a normal temperature. I would wear 3 layers and wool socks/slippers (couldn’t wear shoes in the house). We would sit SHIVERING at the kitchen table drinking hot coffee/tea all morning (couldn’t take beverages out of the kitchen). There were times I wanted to offer her $5 to turn up the heat for 2 hours!!!</p>
<p>Bethie–thanks for the nice compliment, but I think a lot of posters here are giving me a run for our money (so to speak). For the record, yes, we do go out to eat now and then.</p>
<p>But, some things we do: Live in a small house in a very moderate town, which means low mortgage (actually none now, because we decided to pay it off), public schools for K-12, little to no summer programs (just local rec ones with nominal fees), rarely replace cars–now drive a hybrid–I’ve paid less than a 100 bucks in gas so far this year. Both of us walk to work, and many other errands (good exercise, and boy do I need that). Also bike a lot. Keep thermostat low–MaryTN, you might not be comfortable here but my S would agree with you. wear discount store clothes till they’re falling apart, grow some of our veggies and belong to a CSA for others, H sometimes bakes bread from wheat he grinds himself (also good exercise). He also makes beer and mead. Home-made haircuts. Gave up make-up, never have had nails done. No fancy electronics except for computers. Older TV, very old stereo (did spring for new turntable for Christmas). </p>
<p>What we splurge on: college (obviously :)), computers, sports package on cable, our kayaks (but extremely cheap to run), occasional events like dinners, shows, and sports.</p>
<p>Biggest splurge we are saving for–time. Trying to get to the point of expenses minimized and savings maximized to severely cut down on time spent on paid work. (Well, unless someone buys my novel–I wouldn’t mind getting paid for that, just need time to write it:)).</p>
<p>A friend of mine who I consider to be quite a foodie (just graduated from Culinary Arts Institute) gave me a good tip. She said the new coffee at McD’s is better than Starbucks, and less than half the price, plus drive thru! I tried it and its quite good,plus they add the cream and sugar if you ask.</p>
<p>The best way to save money? Stay married. Divorce just rips your financial world to shreds. All of you who are hanging in there, through the ups and downs and working on it, give yourselves a gold star.</p>
<p>I had a co-worker years ago who at Christmas time would wait until he had received all the cards from other co-workers, then cross out his name in the “Dear” heading, write someone else’s name, and re-use the card. I think that might cross the line from frugal to cheap.</p>
<p>I reuse Christmas cards, but not like that. I cut out a pretty little part along the edge (so it’s like a little book) and use that instead of gift tags. Or cut out pretty motifs and use them in ornaments. </p>
<p>You can make some really pretty ornaments out of the oddest things.</p>
<p>My dad gives me recycled birthday cards by crossing out names…it’s more of a joke than being frugal, or he’s being lazy.</p>
<p>I take the bus/bike. Beat that.</p>
<p>Store brand everything. Casual clothes from Target; business clothes from the outlet mall; shoes from Payless. Lunches from home. I don’t have a car.</p>
<p>My family likes to make fun of me for my cheapness. When I was furnishing my apartment, I saw a very attractive sectional sleeper sofa in the window of a good store, on sale for $999. I went in and said I wanted the sofa in the window. They came over with a book of cover fabrics for me to choose from, and I said, “Are there any fabrics in that book that increase the price of the sofa by less than $100?” No. “Then don’t even show me the book. I’ll take the one in the window.”</p>
<p>Of course, the greatest money-saver is not having kids. ;)</p>
<p>Wow!! amazing stories!! Three points I could gather here:</p>
<p>1) there are a lot more people have a similiar life style like mine than I ever could image
2) no just Asians who put education as #1 and willing to spend necessary top $
3) no only the low income families are doing these frugal things. </p>
<p>Like us, we will save every penny possible at every corner but we are really not that poor. If you judge us by our clothes, car and house, you would not probably know that we save about $65K a year, excluding interest nor any gain from investiment.</p>
<p>I think that is more common that you realize laserbrother.</p>
<p>One reason why my H and I didn’t stay in our upscale neighborhood ( which we just happened to land in through a set of unpredicted circumstances) when we decided to have kids was that I knew that when the emphasis is on “presentation”, with your appearance, your home and your car, it is much more difficult to go against the pressure and live a simpler life.
at least I didn’t want that additional complication just in day to day life.</p>
<p>It was much easier to live in an area of mixed incomes, and spend money when we wanted to spend it, not just because we needed to “keep up”</p>
<p>In a mixed income neighborhood, we often dont know what income level someone has unless they share that info. For instance I know a family whose name you would recognize if you have lived in this country for any length of time ( big family company)
They don’t have actual “jobs” other than vote in stockholders meetings and raise their kids. ( they do much volunteer work)
They do have a lot of kids, which is something many families can’t afford I admit. But they dress like anyone else , clothes from Target and consignment stores- they drive the same 20 year old Volvo, and while they do have a home in Europe and a local summer home, their main home isn’t anything unusual, built in the 1940s like many others around here. I remember when the kids would eat their lunch for dinner, if they didn’t eat it at school & when they would bring cereal and milk for school lunch.</p>
<p>I also don’t have the impression that people like the Gates, go out of their way to spend money. ( on themselves) They do live in the neighborhood that we moved out of when our daughter was young, and they do spend money on education for their kids, but from what I have heard, they aren’t spoiled and I think that is saying a lot.</p>
<p>I don’t know about that Gates house, ek:</p>
<p><a href=“http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/05/inside-bill-gates-home.html[/url]”>http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/05/inside-bill-gates-home.html</a></p>
<p>The Gates have given billions to charity.</p>
<p>Gee, you learn something everyday. :)</p>
<p>Shrug. You have some of the oddest gaps in your knowledge, HH, so I never know.</p>
<p>yes I know about the house- but I think that is a business expense ;)</p>
<p>Ha ha, I love the people on this thread.</p>
<p>My friend couldn’t get over the fact that I carried a loaf of bread in my bag for most of the year. At first, it was just backup so I wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting to put other snacks (cereal in most cases) in ziploc bags before I headed out to class. I ended up liking the bread instead. I would vary the kind from time to time (usually plain wheat but sometimes cinnamon), switching back to cereal if I felt like it (my only reason for going to Whole Foods Market instead of a non-organic grocery store at times is because of the cheap Kashi cereals). I did this to avoid buying snacks in vending machines and to stay healthy. </p>
<p>After losing my UPass (which gave me unlimited rides to trains and buses for a semester), I nearly lost my composure. I retraced every single step to avoid paying the replacement fee (half the original cost). I actually figured out where I lost it, but I figured that somebody else had gotten ahold of it. I was upset because I didn’t understand why the fee had to be so high (I asked how the fee was determined and was given no direct answer), since the card had been deactivated (therefore, the system wouldn’t have lost any profit). Ever since then, I reserved public transportation for when it was absolutely necessary. This meant that I walked to places in the middle of the freezing cold, blasting snowstorms, etc. </p>
<p>I spend very little money on movies and plays, not really because I want to but because I have to. I still have access to high quality events through friends and friends’ relatives who happen to be involved in theater and through free events offered by the city (Chicago has a lot of them!). Just recently, I found out about this new initiative by the Lyric Opera of Chicago that would give college students a substantial discount (still about 3 or 4 times the price of a movie ticket but I don’t mind, since operas would afford me a much better experience). Needless to say, I’m excited, because I’ve wanted to go for the longest time but couldn’t because the cheapest ticket was still beyond my reach.</p>