One Hundred Frugal Things We Do (continued)

Wow!  The winds are howling this morning! It must be the warm front coming in.

I will continue my frugal things list:

35. Spectrum is giving a free cable box for an extra TV for one year to prior Time Warner Legacy customers. So we ordered it. We will see if it is truly free. Spectrum just went digital here and I have a feeling because of that the rates will go up.

36. We hang our laundry to dry as often as we can. I use dryer balls when we use the dryer to cut down the dry time.

37. I also wash our clothes using laundry eggs.

38. Our Dyson stick vacuum is on it’s last leg. Since it cost us $299. and it 8 years old, we are looking for a cheaper alternative. The one I have costs about $600. now. So Hubby has been researching which one to buy now.

39. We try to use our big oven as infrequently as possible. We use our toaster oven a lot. But when we do use the big oven, we use the convection which saves 1/3 of the power.

40. We make as many things from scratch as we can. When we eat meat, we stick to the 3-4 ounces per person. We do make at least one meatless meal during the week if not more.

41. I mend our clothing when it needs it as to not lose the garment. Those garments are always good to wear around the house.


42.  Hubby has a Coke or two a day. We each drink one cup of coffee in the morning. I drink water the rest of the day and Hubby does when he is not having a Coke. We drink no juice. I gave that and soda up a long time ago.

43. We reuse wrapping paper and bows or any other decorations that come on packages. I also use the Sunday comics to wrap the little one’s presents.

44. Hubby deep cleans the carpeting with our rug shampooer. We don’t pay for commercial cleaning. I have off white carpeting in the family room and it looks almost new even though it is 8 years old.

45. When the A/C is on, we cook outdoors on the grill or use our small appliances outside so as to not heat up the kitchen. Slow cookers, pressure cookers, skillets, etc. work well out there.

46. We eat a lot of fresh local produce once it is growing season here. We love summer salads as a main dish or a side in the nice weather. 

47. I bake our muffins or quick breads from scratch.

48. We conserve water as much as possible using the navy shower method, only putting as much water in a pot to boil something as necessary, never letting the water run in the sink whether we are brushing teeth or rinsing dishes. I reuse boiled water to feed our thirsty bushes and plants outside.

49. We rarely eat out but stay within our $100. per week “Other Budget” when we do. Since we like a very expensive restaurant, we save our money up until we can afford to go there. Otherwise when the no cooking bug bites me, we do cheap takeout with coupons. For example: Our Arby’s just renovated the inside of the restaurant. So they sent us a coupon for 5 roast beef at $ 1.99 each. We will use that coupon before it expires. We will buy nothing else. These sandwiches freeze really well.

50. We try to stay as healthy as we can so as to not have to pay expensive medical bills or drugs.

51. With the exception of winter, we wash and detail our own car. In the winter, we only get the SUV washed on the outside and undercarriage to get the salt off.

52. We rarely pay to go to the movies but when we do we get Senior discounts and never pay for food unless it is a special occasion like taking our grandchildren. We watch our movies when they come out on Netflix or Amazon Prime. We make our own popcorn.

53. We always take advantage of senior discounts at take out places, restaurants, our grocery store, etc. when shopping.

54. We don’t leave TV’s on for noise. Someone has to be watching it to have it on. 

55. We close our shades and blinds on the sunny side of the house during A/C season and open them on the sunny side of the house during heating season. This saves energy.

56. We always return the soda and beer cans and bottles for the $.05 NY deposits.

57. I buy rice and beans in 25 pound bulk purchases and store it in long term containers in our basement. I just fill a container to use upstairs.

58. Things like butter, whole turkeys, turkey breasts, hams, legs of lamb, corned beef, cranberries, and blueberries are purchased once a year when they are at rock bottom prices.

59. I also buy chocolate candy on after holiday sales to use in baking.    


60. I am not buying salad dressings unless they are free. We are using up our stockpile and will make our salad dressings when the stockpile stash is gone. 


61. We use about 1 purchased tall kitchen trash bag a week in the kitchen. All of our waste baskets are emptied into plastic bags that we get shopping.


62. We recycle everything that we can which saves on bags too.

63. For exercise, I have been walking a lot. Who needs to belong to an expensive gym? Not me!

64. I preview the Sunday coupons the week prior. If the coupons are good and they are for things we use, I will buy one extra paper besides our home delivered one. I do not buy an extra every week.

65. I added 4 more liters of tap water to our emergency stash.

66. We are doing a new to us jigsaw puzzle as entertainment.

67. We have a stash of paper and office supplies in our basement. I ran out of post it notes in my desk so I shopped there for more. Sure enough we had plenty.


68. We rarely use paper towels- only for draining bacon. We use microfiber towels for washing windows and cleaning.

That’s it for today. It is now snowing like a blizzard outside. UGH!  I will continue this list soon.