“Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!”
—— My husband
At the end of 2009, I posted “My Top 40 Frugal Living Tips.” Now, 2 years later, it is encouraging to review it. If you have been reading Dimes2Vines for a while, you know the last 4 years have been challenging, to say the least! Starting a 20 acre vineyard from scratch is a lot of hard work. Hard work without an accompanying paycheck!
With a large family, frugal living has always been a part of our lifestyle but became significantly more important. Now after our first successful harvest, we are continuing our frugal lifestyle. Why? To be good stewards. I am not talking about a miserly lifestyle. Rather, we are continuing to work together for our common family goals.
These goals include expanding the vineyard – we are planting another 2 1/3 acres of grapes this year – and finishing our house which overlooks the vineyard. Hopefully, we will continue the Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) upward after this year’s havest in Oct. 2012.
Many items on my top 40 list seem to be common sense things but they are also easy to forget about, such as, #16 adjust your thermostat, #17 turn off lights and #18 turn off ceiling fans when leaving a room.
In fact, as I review the list, we are still practicing them all – from tithing (#1),to writing down all expenses in my budget book (#2) to using VoIP as our phone rather than cell phones (#40).
Don’t underestimate the power of the “little things”. The little things can quickly add up! Each of the 40 tips alone may seem insignificant, but, together they can amount to great savings.
I was privileged to participate in the group writing project sponsored by Daniel Scocco at Daily Blog Tips. The topic was 2009 in Review and there were 90 participants. My post “My Top 40 Frugal Living Tips for 2009” was published in the General category. Other categories include: Blogging and Social Media, Business and Marketing, Cooking and Parenting, Lifestyle, Writing and Education and Technology and the Internet. If you are interested there are some good articles worth the reading from many different perspectives.
Frugal living is not new to our family but now has new meaning! 2008 saw our family move from the “secure” life in Alabama (job with a monthly paycheck) to the exciting life in west Texas to start a vineyard (no paycheck at all !). In the past, I had tended toward frugality, reasons including living within our means and being a good steward. But using most of our savings to start our vineyard and then watching the rest disappear just living, I have had to take an advanced course in frugal living. As 2009 draws to a close, I began thinking of just how we have been able to live on so little. As I thought about this, I began to put my thoughts into words and hence the following list. These separate actions may seem insignificant, but their cumulative effect over time has added up to big savings.
- Tithe to your local church – Remember that God is source of all we have and can do. And He uses our all experiences to bring us to a greater knowledge of Him.
- Write all expenditures down in a budget book - Know where all your money is going.
- Stop impuse buying – Give yourself a week to think about a purchase and the necessity of it.
- Stay out of the stores as much as possible - What you don’t see won’t hurt you!
- Determine “needs” vs “wants” – Keeping up with the neighbors is an endless task in our society costing you not only money but needless anxiety.
- Compare prices – Look for the best buy. Check different stores as well as brands.
- Buy used – Shop yard sales, thrift stores, Craigslist, eBay
- If buying new, shop sales – Certain times of the year are more “sales” oriented than others so wait for these if possible.
- Make your credit card work for you – capitalize on the “cash back” aspect many card have when used to purchase particular items. Example: 5% cash back offered for gasoline purchases for the first $150/month.
- Use coupons – Coupons are a tool for you to use to save but also for the seller to hook you on a fad.
- Combine coupons with sales to maximize savings.
- Utilize store “rewards” programs – Example: Walgreens - Register Rewards or CVS - Extra Care Card and Extra Care Bucks.
- Drive older cars – If it still works and is reliable, keep it!
- Combine trips to save gasoline.
- Walk or bike instead of driving
- Adjust your thermostat so as to save energy.
- Turn off room lights when leaving a room.
- Turn off ceiling fans when leaving a room.
- Do not window shop in front of the refrigerator – Determine what you want to remove ahead of time to avoid unnecessary time spent with the fridge door open.
- Wash your clothes when they are dirty – This may be after one wearing, but then again, maybe not until several wearings.
- Hang your clothes out to dry – Save energy and get that fresh, line-dry smell in the summer. In the winter, use a drying rack inside to help humidify your house, which is healthier and feels warmer!
- Make your own laundry detergent - Homemade laundry detergent is easy and economical.
- Use cloth diapers instead of disposable – They are both economical and “green”.
- If applicable, nurse your baby – Nursing is definitely more economical than formula, healthy for the baby and helps you lose “baby weight”.
- Plant a vegetable garden – Space is not an issue as even small areas can produce large amounts. Incorporate vegies into your flower beds. Read books pertaining to gardening to learn more.
- Freeze or can your own vegetables. This is both economical and rewarding.
- Plan your meals - Monthly menu plans work great. Here is a free downloadable menu planner in either the weekly, 2-week, or monthly formats.
- Make a master grocery list of staple items – Go through your pantry and make a list of each item you stock and routinely use. Once you have your list, make an Excel worksheet of it. Then when you shop monthly, print off a copy, check your pantry, mark what you need, add items based on your menu and you are ready to go!
- Shop for groceries once a month – This sounds overwhelming, but with a master list it becomes easy. ***Planning meals combined with monthly shopping from a master list cut my grocery bill by over 60%.
- Drink more water and less soda – Save not only money but also empty calories and decrease sugar intake.
- Make-it-yourself
- Fix-it-yourself
- Do-it-yourself
- Cut your own hair – at least your husband’s and sons’. Having 1 husband (of 25 yrs) and 7 sons, at $5 per haircut every 2 months, I figure that I have saved over $3,000!
- Eat out less – if you do eat out, use Restaurant.com Gift Certificates
 .
- Fix your lunch and carry it with you – This option is healthier and you are able to control the ingredient, calorie and fat content of your food.
- Don’t eat out at all - Homemade meals are healthier as well as more economical.
- Use the local library – Depending on the size of your local library, they will have many current books and videos/DVDs and are able to order ones they do not have on the shelf.
- Discontinue cable – Stop watching television. Read books together (from the library) and make more quality family time together.
- Discontinue cell phones – This is not a popular option in our society. I found that for 1/2 the price of two cell phones and dial-up internet, we can have a landline, high speed internet and still maintain a trac phone for emergency use.
Frugal living tends to become a way of life in order to be a good steward. The necessity of it may depend upon your circumstances but it has become for me a fun challenge. Frugal living should not be confused with miserly living. We are living frugally for a purpose and a common family goal.
As a final word, as my husband says, “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!”
While in high school, I started to learn the value of earned money. The desire to be a good steward (rather than necessity) resulted in a tendancy towards being frugal. For example, I wanted and learned to sew because fabric was so much cheaper than clothes.
When we were first married, John was in graduate school and I was working as an R.N. A few months into marriage, we had a change of heart and chose to start having a family instead of building a nest egg. We were soon blessed with our first pregnancy. With that exciting news, I became a stay-at-home mom.
Being at home with our growing family was more important to me than the salary from my job. It did, however, require creativity in budgeting. Part of John’s schooling included a modest stipen of $9000 per year. This was not much money, even in 1984, to live on in the city. Remaining debt free required being frugal and then taking it to a higher level. We also had no health insurance, so the stipen not only had to cover living expenses, but also had to stretch to cover the doctor and hospital bills for the birth of a child. We paid cash – up front!
To facilitate these changes, I began my budget book in which I wrote down EACH AND EVERY expense. Limited funds required our knowing exactly where each penny was going. I also had to learn to keep a running total of my purchases while shopping. Decisions had to be made as to which purchase was more of a necessity, sometimes at the cash register. These early years helped me learn to distinguish between “needs” and “wants”.
I quickly realized that even for our small family (“small” that moment in history anyway) buying in bulk was usually the most economical. Living in a big city had an advantage here because we were able to buy from a large food co-op and the largest Asian “farmer’s market” in the country. I can remember running over to get the “we bag it specials” as they were announced over the loud speakers a half hour before they closed. The only problem was that we sometimes had to eat 3 lbs. of mushrooms in a couple of days! Obviously, not everything could be consumed in a timely manner. If it spoiled, I was not saving money! But 50 lb. bags of wheat berries (to grind for whole wheat flour), popcorn (for corn meal), noodles, rice and oats were bought and stored in 5 gallon paint buckets. These normally protected the contents until they were finished. But to protect further against bugs, John was able to get dry ice to de-oxygenate the buckets. Now we use oxygen absorbing packets for long term storage. (Buying in bulk is not always cheaper. When using some coupons, smaller quantities can be cheaper as you can read about here.)
In our first year of marriage, we had acquired a bread mixer (Bosch) and grain mill (Kitchenetics). These items remain two of the most used appliances in my kitchen. Now, 25 years and 10 children later, we are on our third grain mill and third bread mixer! These not only provided a very economical alternative to store bought bread, but a much healthier one as well.
The biggest monthly expenditure for most people is housing. We chose to rent smaller, older houses in the country for much less than their city counterparts. Our heating and air-conditioning were not equal to our friends the Jones, but then neither were our utility bills! The country houses had enough area around that we were able to garden in some way. These gardens and deals with farmer friends led us to buying our first 25 cu. ft. freezer (which is still running and now full again 20 yrs later – PTL).
Little did I know, the lessons learned during those early, lean years would be so valuable throughout life. With a large (or any size) family, remaining debt free can be challenging in our society. As John’s salary grew, we remained frugal which enabled us to live debt free and save while living comfortably. Our saving was not miserly though. We saved to finance the plans for our future: house, cars, college…without involving the bank. Ultimately, all that saving has enabled us to venture out of the “secure” corporate world into real farm life and our vineyard.
One of the most frequently asked questions is, “How do you do it with so many children?” My response—You do what you want! We have never driven new cars, followed the latest clothing fads or had a large entertainment budget for dining out, going to the theater etc.
OK, I admit that with 8 still at home, living on a tight budget until our house sells, we have cut back on extras. But, I have willingly accepted this challenge and enjoy seeing how far things stretch!
My advice to anyone wanting to live within their means and have financial freedom is:
Write All Expenditures Down. I mean everything! It does not matter how large or small–BE HONEST!
Being an old fashioned, pen and pencil sort of gal, I have a notebook (my Budget Book) with columns spanning 2 pages to organize my spending. Categories include:
- Standard (tithe, rent, insurance, utilities, phone)
- Food
- Gas
- Clothing
- Pets
- School
- Medical
- Cleaning
- Miscellaneous
Under each category, I make notes beside each entry as to what or where it was incurred (ex: Misc-$4.50-batteries or Food-$20.00-Walmart) I know there is software available that is very effective but then… it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks!
Be honest and write it all!
Analize Your Expenses. After a month, look at where the money is being spent. Begin looking for areas to cut down. I will post personal examples of this in the future.
Simple measure often help tremendously, such as, turning off lights or ceiling fans to decrease the electric bill (which can be a task with little ones around!), not window-shopping in front of the refrigerater…..
Distinguish Needs vs Wants. This can be difficult in our culture! Peer pressure and selfishness can make this distinction very cloudy. Simplifying our lives has helped me as we have gotten back to quality family time and viewing “treats” as just that, treats for special times.
There are great financial resource available to help anyone who desires to live in financial freedom.
There are many methods of organizing your finances, for example: envelopes with the category and amount of money placed inside at the beginning of the month. When the envie is empty–that’s all until next month!
The notebook works for me and that is my point.: Use What Works For You and Stick With It.
Like many things in our lives, self-control is needed. It takes self-control to go through receipts and organize expenses and it takes self-control not to make spontaneous purchases. Form the habit of thought-out, deliberate purchases as opposed to those made on a whim.
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About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
