What are you doing to save Money?

[Want2BFarmer]

With the world the way it is lately everyone is trying to save money. We got our car insurance lowered, refinanced the house to lower our interest rate, beat up the internet company for a better price, changed our trash removal service, shop around for the best price on heating oil, grocery shop at aldi instead of the big chain stores (saving a boat load), buy clothing at the good will store or on ebay, keep the heat low, we don't have cable and we actually have a rating company paying us right now to see what we are watching. We have 20 chickens coming late March for meat, we started our seeds for the garden and I'm hoping to get atleast one deer during hunting season this coming fall. Basically we are living as cheaply as I think we can. Have any of you done items I did not mentioned to save money.

 

[TTs Chicks]

I have the thermostat lowered - means I have to wear a sweat shirt instead of of t-shirt but I can live with that. We got started with chickens last year - we have butchered 30 so far. I have plans to hatch some to raise for meat and of course I have 22 hens laying eggs. We are planning to have a garden this year and I want to get some fruit trees in the ground. We are also planning on getting a cow to raise for meat. We are planning to try raising a lot of our own food now that we are on our own property.

I try to buy things I know we will use when they are on sale and for some things I use coupons.

 

[farmerlor]

We're basically just ramping up on the same stuff we've been doing. The garden is getting bigger this year. We're adding several more chicken coops and plan to sell some and butcher some. The thermostat has always been evil low according to my son who tells us we're cheap about heating the house. I can a lot so we buy almost no pre-packaged food and we really don't go out much so we save money by staying home.

 

[FarmerDenise]

We consolidate errands. Actually we avoid going to stores as much as possible. I have gotten real good at only getting what I intended. For instance I need some elastic for a project I want to finish today. I'll be going to Michael's since that is the closest store to sell that sort of stuff. I will possibly look around at some of their other stuff, but I'll leave with only the elastic. I'll also go the grocery store that is in that direction and get whatever we need. Before I go, I'll ask my SO, if he needs anything from any of the stores in that area. I'll gas up the car too, since the gas station that has the cheaper gas is on the way.
We also canned and otherwise preserved a lot of food last summer. Living in a milder climate we have fresh vegetables growing in the garden right now.
We give our surplus to our neighbors, who give their surplus to us. We make double batches of cookies, so we can give some to our neighbors, whose oven doesn't work. They sell second hand stuff, so we often trade them.
We barter whenever we can.
I mend our clothes. We wear beat up old clothes around the house and wear our "going out in public" clothes only when we go somewhere. I always get compliments when I visit people, probably because when they see me at my house, I'm dressed in my farm clothes, with my hair in a ponytail.
We cut our own hair. I hang the laundry to dry. I don't buy stuff that requires dry cleaning. We don't buy specialty gadgets (I think of it as "clutter")
A lot of what we do is so automatic by now. I've lived on a sparing budget most of my life. Even though we continue to figure ways of not giving our money away, most of the time I don't think that much about it, I just do it.

 

[patandchickens]

Have any of you done items I did not mentioned to save money.

I've done everything you mention except dropping cable and hunting deer, and a bunch of other things too. However, with the exceptin of chickens (which I only started with a few years ago) I've been doing it all for years - which of course leaves less room for lowering bills further *now* LOL

Welcome to the forum,

Pat

 

[VT-Chicklit]

Our thermostat is set at 58 instead of 62. We purchased log length wood (6 coard) that was delivered last Saturday, insead of getting it already split. I now check the dented and discontinued bins at the close out store I go to. Getting 2 more chickens on Wednesday (Jersey Giants). Check Craigs List and Free Cycle daily for FREE or almost free things that I need. I am always looking for another way to shave a little more off the budget or get a little more for the money that I am spending.

 

[breconbcs]

Over the years we have: switched to Vonage - they are still cheaper than the "local" phone company, locked in to a natural gas plan for the house, installed light switches and some outlets on timers so that the kids can't leave them on by accident anymore, turned down the temp of the waterheater, started a worm bin last year to take care of our kitchen waste as well as I have bins outside. I usually have one yard sale every year to clean out the clutter, donating what I don't sell to Goodwill just so it doesn't come back in the house. I feed the dogs a raw diet - most of which they work to earn not just for them but for us also and when I have to buy meat for them I buy in bulk (6 months supply at a time) and if travelling to get it carpool with a friend so we share the gas costs, so my costs are pretty low to feed them. I've always made their treats, which turned into a side business and occassionally I sell some of the meat I have in the freezer to other raw feeders. Don't make much from it but it at least covers the costs of the ingredients and paid for the dehydrator. I try to only go into town once a week or grab things when I'm on the way back from one of the farms the dogs and I work. We did away with paid satellite - we use FTA instead and we just got a paid satellite through barting with a lady, we do some work for her and she put us on her commercial satellite account.

Every year we sit down and see what else we can cut or shave off the budget so there isn't much left this year to do - we did shop around for better car/house insurance and found one so that will save us quite abit this year. I'm trying really hard to bake most of the bread and treats the family eats and stop from eating out. I've talked dh into adding at least one raised bed for veggies, also I'm growing flowers for my work in progress flowerbeds and I know I will have extras so I've already got a waiting list of people who want to buy some, plus we are considering a booth at the local market for the flowers, treats, worms & worm castings, and my african violets that I grow and show. This will help to cover the costs of buying the seeds (off ebay in bulk) and growing them. Plus I hate to just throw the plants I don't use in the compost bin, it seems like such a waste. I plan on trying my hand at making soaps, I already make simple liquid castille soap with essential oils that we use for not just ourselves but the dogs too.

Our main thing is we want to move next year to a piece of property so that I can have larger gardens and raise some livestock. Not alone be able to work my own stock rather than everyone elses.

 

[SKR8PN]

Believe this or not, but, we are going to spend some money so we can save some money. I am building a new storage shed for the tractor and equipment,and and plan on adding a greenhouse to the south wall of it.
We are making the garden larger(again!) and expanding our canning to include more meats. Already switched over to CFL's in all the sockets, cut the home insurance bill to the bone and switched both vehicles over to liability insurance only. I scrounge everything I can think of to either resell or recycle for our own use. Got chickens coming the end of March so we will be getting our eggs by fall. We buy very little in the grocery store, but when we do, it is always on sale and in bulk. We can not drop the landline phone because our internet service is tied to it and the wife has a part time job coding that requires a high speed connection.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a link to an older thread, with the same theme, that has some energy saving things we all do:

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61

 

[Mackay]

Actually, we arn't saving money. Were spending it while it is still worth something!