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This contest had 7 contenders. You can view the winning posts below.
Started: July 01, 2012
Ended: July 31, 2012
Voting Ended: August 07, 2012
Contest Entries: 7
Winners:
Here is my story. I grew up with a single mother, brother, and sister. Money was always tight around our house. We lived in a tiny two bedroom apartment. There I met Mrs. Hatter. She was the lady who lived above us. I use to run errands for her. She would always invite me for tea. Mrs. Hatter lived in a smaller apartment than ours. She had a lot of stuff and I was completely fascinated. She had china, several different tea pots, lace dollies which she made herself. Her walls were filled with pictures, needlepoint and anything you could hang on a wall.
I love visiting and working for Mrs. Hatter. She would teach me things. She had the largest couch and chair I had seen. She taught me how to crochet, knit, needlepoint, and she tried to teach me to sew (that was a disaster). She taught how to serve refreshment and pour tea, how to fold a napkin. What she taught the most was how to wring every last drop from what we spend. Everything in her house was made by her or her group of friends who came over for tea, talk and crafting. I didn't know I was in my first crafting circle. I was still a girl of 9 years old.
She taught how to take old furniture and make it new again, or to cover up something that was ugly with several yards of fabric. She was a treasure. She passed after we moved into a house. Her passing broke my heart. All things she instilled in me, into my soul and life. I will never forget her. She is the one who started on my path to creating.
What does all this have to do with being frugal? Sometimes you have to know where you have been, to find out where you are going. This will all make sense, from my opening statement, I promise. Next post, Part Two: Growing Up and Wanting More
By Georgetta from Waterloo, IA
Do you have a frugal story to share with the ThriftyFun community? Submit your essay here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_myfrugallife.ldml
Editor's Note: Here are the other two essays in this series
My newest frugal and healthwise challenge is to reduce the waste of food, particularly produce while increasing my healthy produce intake. I recently have started juicing produce before it goes bad. It's great if you don't want the work (I'm basically lazy, heheh) of canning, freezing or dehydrating. I got my juicer at a yard sale for added savings!
The great part about juicing is that you and your family will get all the health value of those great mixed veggies and fruits. There are free recipes on the internet for juiced produce on Rebootyourlife.com and other great sites.
You can mix together produce (veggies and fruit) that you or your family love or ones you might not eat otherwise, like beets. It's great for weight control too! Drink concentrated vitamins instead of caloried 'diet' shakes and drinks. Filling and healthy.
You could even freeze the juice to add to other drinks for a healthy vitamin boost. Oranges for the cold season perhaps? You can also add them to soups, stews or sauces as a healthy bouillon. The creative choices for recipes are endless.
As a lifetime frugal person, I challenge myself to spend less, waste less and use less. What's good for me is good for my Earth. Our country wastes more food than other counties eat!
Cheers!
By Donna from Sterling, PA
One of the stores we go to is a "day old" bread store. Loaves of bread there are approximately 1/3 the cost of the very same bread purchased at a store. This bread will freeze in our chest freezer for a month without any type of burn. We also pick up Angel Food cake bars, along with hamburger and hot dog buns. Later in the evening upon returning home, I will slice the cake, wrap each piece in a section of plastic wrap, and place in a large freezer bag, and place in freezer. It is a snap to take out what we need and allow it to thaw when ready to use. Since we do not use the buns as fast as regular bread, I do the same to it.
Then we hit the "stock up" store! We buy several gallons of milk, some I will separate into clean jugs to freeze. I also keep boxes of powdered milk on hand. I have found that you cannot tell the difference in it and what you buy from the dairy case. (We use skim milk.)
We also buy cereal and crackers here. They will be placed in clean mason jars at home, and the lids vacuum sealed, using my jar attachment on my foodsaver. They will be as fresh the day I open them as the day I placed them in the jar! I also have jars of candy sealed, left over from holidays! That way the kids do not gorge themselves, I can dole it out a little at a time.
Although I am a home canner, we also stock up on canned goods. We buy "flats" of 12 cans. I will date the box with a marker, and place this box under the ones previously purchased.
Meats I will divide up. Using my foodsaver, I will vacuum seal them in small portions. Some items, like shaped burgers, I will flash freeze first, then vacuum seal.
We also buy no-name diet soda here and find it tastes the same as name brand. Yes, I know a lot of people feel soda is a no no, but we like it, so we purchase it. It is about 1/2 of what the name brand will cost at the local stores.
Occasionally, we go to the warehouse club, too. There I will buy a 5 pound bag of shredded cheese. To store this, I will place a half cup into a snack size baggie, I will zip it closed leaving a small opening and insert a straw into the bag. I suck out the air and zip it closed. I will put these bags of shredded cheese into a larger freezer bag and freeze.
We purchased large bags of frozen fruit there, too. Since they come in resealable bags, there is nothing else we need to do with them.
While there, I like to visit their deli section, and purchase a 10+ pound loaf of such meats as baked turkey breast or low fat honey ham. We ask them to slice it super thin. (They call it shaved or wafer cut.) This I will separate and vacuum seal them to freeze.
They also carry foot long hoagie rolls which my family loves. I will do them like I do the angel food cake. I will cut it into 4 portions per roll, wrap each portion in plastic wrap, place them in a freezer bag, and freeze.
Other items I keep on hand is yeast (kept in the freezer), wheat flour (kept in the freezer), rice (vacuum sealed in quart jars), and a variety of spices and seasonings.
Plus I keep extra personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper on the shelves in the basement pantry.
It does take a bit to get the knack of things. Keeping track of what you have, rotating items, etc. And to stock up it does cost a bit more to begin with, but it is worth it for us. In the past, I found that running to the store just to pick up an item we were out of cost a lot of money! Not only the cost of the gasoline to go to the store (we have no public transportation here), but it seemed that I would always impulse buy. By staying out of the stores, I keep more money in my purse.
When the cold wind blows and snowflakes swirl through the air, I can decide to make a huge pot of chili. I feel good knowing crackers are just a step away!
By Beverly from MO
By Jacketbacker from Greer, SC
Things changed after I got to high school. My mother, who had been sick most of my life, got a job. My wardrobe changed, and I finally got a room of my own. Though I was not lacking, I wanted more, which meant more money.
Money I did not have, so I started repurposing my clothes. My journey led me to my own style, which is bohemian chic. Though I did not dress in the latest fashion, my style was me and I did not let anyone sway me. What little money, I could muster went to the local thrift shop and I would go garage sales with my sister. I was the first recycler in my family. I even decorated my room with things from the thrift shop. I am a repainting, restyling and repurposing.
I had learned from Mrs. Hatter (earlier post) on how to make style and restyle. I had started dressing some of my friends. They like my style, and I liked it too. I felt like Molly Ringwald character in "Pretty in Pink". Making do with what you have and looking fabulous in the process.
My thrift shopping ways continued as I got older and had my own job. I just could not stay out of the thrift shop. I remember two incidents that happened that made value thrift shops as the way to go. On one of my shopping hauls, I found a camera case. It was black with silver trim and looked like a box with a flap. It only cost me 50 cents. I used it as a purse. My friends at work raved over that bag. Everyone wanted to know where I got that purse. Of course I told and they couldn't believe it. That is also when I discovered that some of the ladies were thrift shopper too.
My other incident was with my daughter's school. I had moved to an area called Park Forest. She was starting school. The local thrift in the area was only 10 minutes away. I love this thrift shop. They always had colored tag day, each week a different color was half off. A lot of their children clothes were 10 and 25 cents.
One day, I stopped in to see what was shaking. I left with two garbage bags full of clothes. I also found some crafting material (buttons, fabric, paint, and other goodies). Before I left I made sure that I matched up outfits. I washed, ironed, painted, added buttons; the whole nine yards.
My most proud moment came when her teacher sent home a note asking me not to send my child to school in her good clothes. I had to laugh. Those were my daughter's good, bad, everyday clothes. It made my heart proud. Part 3 - My true journey begins.
By Georgetta from Waterloo, IA
Do you have a frugal story to share with the ThriftyFun community? Submit your essay here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_myfrugallife.ldml
Editor's Note: Here are the other two essays in this series
As my children were growing up, we were a constant at the library, whether it was researching information for a report or project, selecting books for pleasure reading or enjoying the summer programs that our local library provided. We were there and it was a place we could go enjoy and it was free.
Still a patron of the library now that my children have all grown up, I continue to enjoy its great benefits. Even my father, who is 87 years young, continues to go to his community library for competitive Scrabble games and to find the most current books on a host of subjects from politics to history to business. He just finished a book on President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama and he just started the book by Steve Jobs.
Libraries are supported by our tax dollars and I can not think of a grander way to spend my money than in the pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge is attainable to everyone just by stepping through the libraries welcoming doors.
By Cathy from California
A few of my friends even swap furniture with me and each other. Sometimes we sell the item cheap (between our own sales) and sometimes we just swap pieces that we each need. It is a great way to change the look of your home and still know that you're not picking up any bedbugs or other unwanted pests.
As our life style changes, we move to different homes or as our parents move in and our children move out, swapping furniture is a great way to maintain a sense of creativity without spending much money. One word of caution, you should be clear about the permanency of the pieces and the alterations the new owner/borrower can make with each swap.
I also have gotten pieces from friends and relatives that they just wanted removed. Often times I will refinish or paint the item, add new fabric or hardware, even cushions. After I've used it for a few years, I may find something else to fill the purpose better and I re-sell it at my own sale. Much of the time I have made a bit of money on the item when I do sell it.
Swapping or buying at garage sales allows me to pick up a piece that I need to purchase new more easily and faster than if I bought everything as a new purchase. I also don't feel badly if a garage sale item I've re-done, gets ruined or replaced. I have to say my customers love my garage sales and often give me their names and numbers to call next time I have a sale. I usually get close to my asking prices and sell larger items fairly soon in the sale.
Using these simple and fun ways to shop will not only save you money, but you will have a lot more places to shop (like at your girl friends' homes, lol). Scheduling your garage saling with friends is also a cheap way to spend a day with your friends. Have fun!
By Susan from Elkhart, IN
