Frugal Purchase Thread.

[greensgood]

netflix has saved me and my bf lots of money.
we would go to video store and always forget to return on time, so that's a big saving.
i got rid of our hbo and other movie channels too b/c we stopped watching them since we had movies we actually want to watch now.
we watch way better movies b/c the selection is amazing, no more crappy blockbusters wasting our time!

[vigilant20]

Me too! I used to buy at least one dvd and pay for cable tv every month, so I stopped doing that and picked up netflix instead...much cheaper!


netflix has saved me and my bf lots of money.
we would go to video store and always forget to return on time, so that's a big saving.
i got rid of our hbo and other movie channels too b/c we stopped watching them since we had movies we actually want to watch now.
we watch way better movies b/c the selection is amazing, no more crappy blockbusters wasting our time!

[Nickle00]

netflix has saved me and my bf lots of money.
we would go to video store and always forget to return on time, so that's a big saving.
i got rid of our hbo and other movie channels too b/c we stopped watching them since we had movies we actually want to watch now.
we watch way better movies b/c the selection is amazing, no more crappy blockbusters wasting our time!

Ditto :)

[rvijay]

I try to keep my mental health needs to a minimum. :) I am working on becoming just as satisfied with getting older movies from the library rather than buying DVDs. With the inter-library-loan system, I can get newer movies from other libraries even though my library had to cut costs and not buy new blockbusters. I just need to be patient.

Reading books from the library or borrowed from friends can impart the same amount of knowledge as buying books, even used books. A friend walked into my apartment and said, "What's this? You have only one set of bookshelves!" I told her I try not to buy a book until I am quite sure I will go back to it on many occasions, and when I do end up with a less versatile book, I tend to give it away. This keeps my clutter level down and keeps me mindful of how much "stuff" I have. The more stuff I have, the more my stuff has me. I'm trying to keep that in mind when I bring additional items into my living space. I'm far from perfect, but this is my goal.

As far as your exercise equipment, does your exercise equipment do something for you that going outside and walking, running, or jogging can't do? A lot of indoor-use exercise equipment that people are willing to sell for $6 is cheap, breaks easily, or grows dull quickly. A person could use a bicycle for exercise while transporting themselves to another location for errands, or to get to work, etc. Indoor exercise equipment doesn't have that added plus.

Keping mental health needs to a minimum is good for sure. There is a lot of stress in daily life from different things. So, I prefer to have a GOOD reserve of stress reducers if needed. Also video games help with co-ordination and some help develop skills even.

I get all my movies for free as I just watch B/W movies. I purchased relaxation CDs as they can be used several times over and are really worth it. Other DVDs that I purchase are mostly games once in a while.

I prefer to keep several deep/do-it-yourserlf books etc., with me for ready reference should I need them.
In the longer run, this worksout to be frugal.

Frugal exercise is good. However, in modern sedentary life motivation is the key. So having all the equipment I had is quite frugal in the longer run. The $6 finger exercises are quite high end actually.

One great frugal technique I learned is to develop the confidence to spend more money on items that are frugal in the longer run. There can be a few error purchases but most will be ok. For eg., I got a variety of kitchen equipment and they have ALL paid for themselves. I got a good bicycle last year, it has already paid for itself.

[Skylark]

Keping mental health needs to a minimum is good for sure. There is a lot of stress in daily life from different things. So, I prefer to have a GOOD reserve of stress reducers if needed. Also video games help with co-ordination and some help develop skills even.

Um, yeah. I'm not buying it on the video games. I think sometimes we develop expectations for what will reduce our stress that we don't give no-cost options a chance. Taking a walk in silence, meditating, prayer, calling a friend to vent during the free-minutes time on your phone... if one gets to the place that only video games will distract him/her long enough to de-stress, I think that person needs to take a break and re-evaluate. Please note, I am not saying you fall into this category.


I prefer to keep several deep/do-it-yourserlf books etc., with me for ready reference should I need them.
In the longer run, this worksout to be frugal.

Right, this is what I was talking about with a book I'll go back to many times. :)


Frugal exercise is good. However, in modern sedentary life motivation is the key. So having all the equipment I had is quite frugal in the longer run. The $6 finger exercises are quite high end actually.

Translation: I'm lazy and can only motivate myself to exercise if I can do it indoors and in any weather. :lol: Please don't be content to stay in that mindset.


One great frugal technique I learned is to develop the confidence to spend more money on items that are frugal in the longer run. There can be a few error purchases but most will be ok. For eg., I got a variety of kitchen equipment and they have ALL paid for themselves. I got a good bicycle last year, it has already paid for itself.

Absolutely! When you've been shopping around for months for something you actually need and can identify a good value when you find it, confidence shouldn't be hard to come by. I find myself much more cautious when I've only been looking for a day, and this is the first deal I've come across. I need to learn more about the types of products/services that are out there before I am educated enough to make a good decision.

And, if I don't really need something, in a few months I probably will have lost interest. :)

[LadyFaile]

It means when you can buy a larger quantity than you would ordinarily buy for the week or month, and buying this larger quantity gets you a better rate per item, this can save you money. Store the extra food in a pantry, under your bed, in a closet, etc. Just don't forget you have it!

For example, there's a scratch-and-dent grocery store a mile from where I live. Ordinarily, when I go I'd buy enough for the week with maybe a little extra in case I don't get back to the store on the same day of the next week. But, if I find they're selling Great Northern Beans in 15-oz cans for $.33/each, and the normal price is at least twice that (which is still a good price compared to the other grocery stores in the area) then I buy ten or more cans. In fact, when I did this two days ago, I bought all of the cans of these beans that they had and weren't so bent and twisted I thought my can opener wouldn't be able to open them. Now, if they had 200 cans and all were in good shape, I wouldn't buy all 200 for $.33 each unless I had some specific use for all of those. I don't want to buy so many that I'm eating Great Northern Beans every day for the next year and make myself sick of them.

Another option is to buy the 200 cans and donate 150 of them to the local food pantry. Then count this as part of the charitable giving you would ordinarily do. Still, 50 cans of the same thing in your own home is a lot unless you have a large household.

Does that help?

You can also lower prices through coupon use, but you have to be diligent about finding and using coupons. For me, I'd rather shop at the scratch and dent store and stock up as they have good deals.

don't forget bulk stores or sections in grocery stores where you can buy loose items from bins and save money because there is no packaging. it is usually much cheaper to buy things like flour, grains, spices, cereals from bulk bins than by the box/bag. anything i can get from a bulk food store i prefer to do so even if it's not that much cheaper just saving on the packaging is worthwhile. then transfer the items into airtight containers at home because the plastic bags the stores provide are usually flimsy. this way you can buy as much or as little as you want also. sometimes i only want a very small amount of something i don't use often and would rather not buy a whole package

[rvijay]

Um, yeah. I'm not buying it on the video games. <snip>

Translation: I'm lazy and can only motivate myself to exercise if I can do it indoors and in any weather. :lol: Please don't be content to stay in that mindset.




Look at games like Brain Age, Flash Focus for the DS and the Wii Fit for the Wii. Those games add real value and are actually powerful tools in my opinion. 3 to5 hours a week max. Video game play time for me.

Yes, I accept that I was very lazy and didn't exercise. Doc. has given serious warning in this regard as did the Canadian Govt. itself with general messages.

You are quite frugal and this is good to see. A lot of days locally have been grey/rainy.showy, specially in winter. For someone with a sedentary life, this makes one sedate by default. What do you do on a day like that ? Thanks.

[rainforests1]

It means when you can buy a larger quantity than you would ordinarily buy for the week or month, and buying this larger quantity gets you a better rate per item, this can save you money. Store the extra food in a pantry, under your bed, in a closet, etc. Just don't forget you have it!

For example, there's a scratch-and-dent grocery store a mile from where I live. Ordinarily, when I go I'd buy enough for the week with maybe a little extra in case I don't get back to the store on the same day of the next week. But, if I find they're selling Great Northern Beans in 15-oz cans for $.33/each, and the normal price is at least twice that (which is still a good price compared to the other grocery stores in the area) then I buy ten or more cans. In fact, when I did this two days ago, I bought all of the cans of these beans that they had and weren't so bent and twisted I thought my can opener wouldn't be able to open them. Now, if they had 200 cans and all were in good shape, I wouldn't buy all 200 for $.33 each unless I had some specific use for all of those. I don't want to buy so many that I'm eating Great Northern Beans every day for the next year and make myself sick of them.

Another option is to buy the 200 cans and donate 150 of them to the local food pantry. Then count this as part of the charitable giving you would ordinarily do. Still, 50 cans of the same thing in your own home is a lot unless you have a large household.

Does that help?

You can also lower prices through coupon use, but you have to be diligent about finding and using coupons. For me, I'd rather shop at the scratch and dent store and stock up as they have good deals.

Yeah, that helped. Thanks. It only works with cans, right? Produce gets bad quickly, so I can't see a person doing it with produce.

[Skylark]

don't forget bulk stores or sections in grocery stores where you can buy loose items from bins and save money because there is no packaging. it is usually much cheaper to buy things like flour, grains, spices, cereals from bulk bins than by the box/bag. anything i can get from a bulk food store i prefer to do so even if it's not that much cheaper just saving on the packaging is worthwhile. then transfer the items into airtight containers at home because the plastic bags the stores provide are usually flimsy. this way you can buy as much or as little as you want also. sometimes i only want a very small amount of something i don't use often and would rather not buy a whole package

Yes, this too! I love my local bulk-foods stores. It still really helps to price-check, though. Sometimes what looks like a great deal at the bulk-foods store because of a low per-pound price is more expensive than buying the same product elsewhere. This is especially so for items most of us buy a lot of if we're making most of our food at home, like flour, beans, sugar, and the like.


Look at games like Brain Age, Flash Focus for the DS and the Wii Fit for the Wii. Those games add real value and are actually powerful tools in my opinion. 3 to5 hours a week max. Video game play time for me.

Yes, I accept that I was very lazy and didn't exercise. Doc. has given serious warning in this regard as did the Canadian Govt. itself with general messages.

You are quite frugal and this is good to see. A lot of days locally have been grey/rainy.snowy, specially in winter. For someone with a sedentary life, this makes one sedate by default. What do you do on a day like that ? Thanks.

Well, here's the thing: I believe in being frugal, but I'm not yet living how I would like to be. I am still fighting laziness myself. (In fact, I put my bike clothes on when I got up this morning but have yet to actually get on my bike, and it's noon.) Grey days can be great biking weather since you don't have the sun glare to worry about. Rainy and above 60 degrees is doable for outdoor biking, and with snow, you just need proper clothing. There's also the option of buying a second-hand trainer to hook up to your bike's back wheel so you can ride indoors on days you just can't stomach riding outside. As a word of warning, some people have found trainers can destroy the back tire on their bike, so have an old junk tire around you only use with the trainer.


Yeah, that helped. Thanks. It only works with cans, right? Produce gets bad quickly, so I can't see a person doing it with produce.

It depends on what produce and how bad it is. If it's green peppers that just look a little sad, you can buy them for the purpose of washing, chopping and freezing. You won't even notice when you use them that they originally looked a little sad. If there are bad spots you have to cut you, you'd need to calculate the amount of savings vs. the amount of usable produce and find out if it's worth it. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes, other products than cans have been slightly damaged, like a 5 lb bag of flour that was damaged with a box cutter. If there are no metal shavings in the flour, and you feel comfortable with the idea of the baking process killing any bacteria that got inside the bag, go for it. I've also heard of people buying 20 or more boxes of laundry detergent that were knicked with a box cutter. Now, bacteria is less of an issue since no one should be eating the detergent. This would be a case in which you put the 19 boxes of detergent you're not using under your bed, or in a closet, or some other space you have available. If you are planning to move soon, and moving 19 boxes of detergent would be more hassle than it's worth, then hold off on that purchase. Each person knows their own situation better than I can extrapolate. :D

[hollywoodveg]

I love this thread. Some of the posts about video games, iPods and dvd memberships are kinda making me laugh. When I was in grad school and broke, like really broke, those things would have been huge luxuries.

Some of my habits from then I still can't let go of even if I can afford to, going through being really broke changed how I spend my money entirely. My friends make fun of me for being cheap, but I see it as frugal. I tip 25% at restaurants, and I won't sacrifice fashion and my high end makeup for anything, but I'm not going to spend money on things that I don't have to either.

At any rate, I think at the core of being frugal you need to be organized and really conscious of where every penny is going. I still cut coupons and wait to use them if I can until that item is on sale, it takes organization but I save tons of money this way. I don't care if my friends think I'm a dork, it's my money and I'd rather spend it on something else other than items at the food store. I walk to my farmers market and buy organic, it's still cheaper than the regular food store. I cook meals on Sun. and freeze them, and I never let food go bad, if it's going to go bad I cook with it and freeze it. I cut my own hair and dye it myself, I used to spend $200 a month having my roots done and my hair trimmed, what a waste, omg. I always do my own mani's and pedi's, yeah I buy Chanel nailpolish, so what I'm still saving a ton on not going to the nail salon. I used to love the nail salon and now I see it as such a waste. I am also really conscious of heating and AC, I turn off my gas all summer, and keep the AC on energy saving mode and at 72. I save so much by being conscious of things like that, it really adds up, it's crazy. I love growing my own herbs, and making my own cleaning products, it's fun and rewarding for me. If I really want something that's expensive I'll see if I can get it on ebay or a discount site, I bought my patio furniture on craigslist and it's super nice. I saved hundreds on it and it was brand new. If I'm throwing something out I can almost always sell it on craiglist, ebay or the local consignment shop. Recently I brought in some of my boyfriends old clotes to a consignment shop and ended up getting enough credit to get brand new Gucci sunglasses. I think there is a lot to be said for being frugal, it's just a matter of being organized.

Oh yeah, I never buy new vehicles. Buying a used car in excellent condition saves a ton of money.

[Skylark]

Coupons can save money, hollywoodveg, but for me, they're usually not worth it. They are typically for overpriced brand-name products, and the coupons may bring the price down to the price of the off-brand scratch-and-dent products I can buy without hunting through several newspapers and coupon books. If you are in an area where double coupons are accepted, it can be worthwhile. It'd be worth trying coupons for a few months, then trying off-brands at cheap stores for a few months, and then comparing the savings.

Oftentimes the store brand or other generic brand can be just as tasty, even better quality than the brand name. Don't let coupons entice you to buy a product you wouldn't otherwise, like a sugary breakfast cereal. If cereal is your thing in the morning, try hot oatmeal made from rolled oats bought at the bulk food store. It'll almost certainly be cheaper.

Also, if you keep track of prices, you'll start to notice trends, like every three months, a certain product goes on sale. You can stock up during that sale, not buy any more for three months, and then stock up again when the sale comes around again. Most people who don't keep track of prices may notice there are sales on certain things, but they can't remember how long ago the last one was, so they don't know how much of the product to buy if they're aiming for the next sale.

[vigilant20]

I really am quite organized, keep a price book, and have a big excel sheet that I manage my budget on....which all helps.

I tried the coupon thing, but it never worked for me. I don't get a paper or any mailings, so my access is limited. And when I do find some they are for name brand stuff, and even after the coupon the generic stuff I usually get is a better deal.

[hollywoodveg]

Also, if you keep track of prices, you'll start to notice trends, like every three months, a certain product goes on sale. You can stock up during that sale, not buy any more for three months, and then stock up again when the sale comes around again. Most people who don't keep track of prices may notice there are sales on certain things, but they can't remember how long ago the last one was, so they don't know how much of the product to buy if they're aiming for the next sale.

That's what I do, it takes a lot of organization for sure. I usually save well over half on my total, the cashier at my food store always loves to tell me my savings. He is always impressed, and says not many people at all take advantage. Also we do have double coupons here too.

ETA: I also use Entertainment Books, those save me big time on movie tickets at the local theaters, also they have food store coupons that are $5 off a month and I use all of those. They also have good deals on free meals at high end and fast food restaurants, local attractions, laundry, the car wash etc. I have a coupon for everything, lol.

[hollywoodveg]

Double post.

[Skylark]

That's what I do, it takes a lot of organization for sure. I usually save well over half on my total, the cashier at my food store always loves to tell me my savings. He is always impressed, and says not many people at all take advantage. Also we do have double coupons here too.

Sweet! Sounds like you're doing optimal couponing. :) If you use a coupon during the sale, that'll help, too.

[hollywoodveg]

Always when on sale, haha. A lot of times I even get things for free if the timing is right.

Also I don't buy packaged foods really, if I have a frozen dinner it's one I made, and only homemade pizza etc.

[hollywoodveg]

Oh, I thought of a few more. I grow my own sprouts in a jar, make my own trailmix, almost always make my own coffee in the mornings and I regularly make air popped popcorn and bring it with me to work.

[Skylark]

Do you have an air popper, hollywoodveg, or do you have another method for popping loose popcorn?

[hollywoodveg]

Yeah, I bought the Orville Redenbacher(sp?) at Bed Bath and Beyond, which you can always download a coupon for. :D

In case anyone is interested here's a good site for growing sprouts on your own:

http://www.pallensmith.com/index.php?id=980

[rvijay]

Sim City 4 is a highly rated game and really frugal as it has no end. Better thing is that I got it for 6 bucks in a Combo Pack. Here is interesting/motivating info. on the game designer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Wright_(game_designer)

[rvijay]

This is really frugal, the Magic Bullet:
http://www.buythebullet.com/

Just the smoothies alone this makes, it will pay for itself really quickly and a whole lot more down the road. In stores each GOOD smoothie costs like 6 bucks with taxes locally. I just got the very basic setup as this is what is used most often. The recipe book that comes with it is also good but it needs to be veganised. I use this atleast a few times a week and sometimes even daily almost. Magic Bullet videos are also available on U Tube.

It is frugal as it justs sits on the countertop, smaller in size than a regular blender and is real convenient to use.

The downside is that it is not good at crushing ice.

[hollywoodveg]

Hm, I'm a huge fan of immersion blenders. You can do a lot more than you can w/the magic bullet. You can make a smoothie right in the glass in seconds, or puree a soup right on the stove without having to pour it into another container. Also you can make salsa, mash potatoes, mix battter etc. Quite the multi-tasking kitchen gadget imo.

[beansprout]

Bread maker

started sprouting --all you need is a large jar :-D

Grow your own herbs

Blender for homemade smoothies.

[NaturesPrincess]

For movies, we have a borrowing system with both my family and my hubbies. They are always buying new movies, so we borrow a few and watch them, then take them back and borrow more.

With books, the laundry room of our apartment building always has used books on the table. So generally people read them and then leave them there for who ever wants them. I usually take them and read them, then put them back for somebody else to read. And my MIL always gives me books that are given to her, so I do the same with those that way it isn't always the same books circulating.

I'm also going to start making everything from scratch, although if you don't already have all the ingredients this seems to cost more.

[allyse]

the hubby and I are on a very limited budget with him supporting me while I complete my degree. I want to go green, organic, the works and have been working toward it step by step but there are some purchases that are difficult to justify when the environmentally-unfriendly, non-organic alternative is SOOOOOOOOO much cheaper. Suggestions??