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This Is My Story about frugal and Tightwad Living! To start, I live alone right now. I have been frugal my whole 38 years. I am also a tightwad. My family laughs about to what lengths I will go to live the way I do. For instance, when gas hit four dollars this last summer, I asked for a ride with my parents to a family function we were attending on the same day. I only drove once a week unless it was to work. I cleaned out my car completely, trunk and all. I cleaned it myself with a hand held vacuum cleaner and used my outside plug-in. This helped my 2 door gas guzzler car. I filled up before the hike in gas prices and it has lasted two weeks.
I use the dollar store for presents, food, pet for both the kitties, health items and school supplies for my foster children. I also buy some clothes at the dollar store, socks and undies. They also have powdered milk, so I buy that instead of the liquid kind of milk. At the end of the month I go to the food pantry in the next town (3 miles away) and get food for free. The only requirement is that I have to live in the county. Making things is my specialty. I sew potholders from scraps of rags. I iron them so they come out nice.
I wash my clothes in a bathtub so as to save money for other things that I may need during the year. I wash my foster children's clothes this way too. Plunge, scrub and soak and that is all there is to it. This year, I am going to a social club that allows us to do our laundry for .75 a load. I think I will do their clothes there since I will have six foster children to take care of as of September 1st of this year, but it is just as easy to do them in a tub or sink.
For entertainment, we have a VCR and a lot of movies that are well taken care of. We will use the library for videos as well, It's free. I go to church every Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday. We have potluck on Saturday afternoons and Sundays sometimes, if the men's dinner is Saturday. I am a Protestant Baptist. I believe that frugality is the only way of life that the Lord meant for us to live. I also believe in helping out the less fortunate. Those who are dirt poor with no welfare help. The children whom I foster are from drugged out and abusive families that they were taken away from by welfare. This is my way of practicing my religion.
My husband is in the Armed Forces of America. He sends money home to help with our expenses here in the states. It's not much because he has living costs overseas. The loneliness in my life is what caused me to take in foster kids as well as my upbringing. I sell Avon on the side too.
We live in a suburb away the main city and I use public transportation only to go shopping. I walk to the bus stop 1 mile away from our home. I shop with coupons for everything, I do mean everything too, including shoes and presents that aren't from the dollar store. I shop in bulk even at the thrift stores, with the 3 dollar bag sales at the end of the seasons. I also use a back to work thrift shop for clothes for work and winter too. My children that are in foster care get hand-me-downs from cousins of mine as well as some new clothes. I get welfare assistance for my foster children, It's not much, but it helps me out with them. This year I will have four boys and two girls which it is a good thing since almost 70 percent of my cousins are male.
Free lunches at school for my school age kids go a long way. I also pack fruit for them as this is extra in our school lunch program. I use the bags of apples from my brother's land who has apple trees and plenty to pick from.
I get help from local women's groups to send my husband calling cards so he can call me when he gets lonely. Asking around helps you find out what is available in your neighborhood. I believe in giving back to my area as well. Everyone in America should give back because you never know when a good deed comes in handy. What goes around comes around, and back three fold, is what I always say! So put out the good, so you get back good.
Well... this is how my family lives frugally.
Tonya from Northern Minnesota
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