50 Small Steps toward Frugality

Frugality isn't something that you take on in one fell swoop. That would topple just about anyone's best-laid plans. Instead, try making a series of small changes over time; they really add up. This is what has worked for us.

A lot of these we started doing because they were more frugal than the alternatives. Others, we do for different reasons (usually because they're more natural or simpler), and they just happen to be frugal. In any case, here are 50 ways our family is frugal.

1. Making our own cleaners, shampoos, toothpaste (well, tooth powder), etc. If I know how to make it, that's what I do. Baking soda is my friend.
2. Turning off lights. We keep all the lights out during the day, and at night, only the rooms currently being used are lit.
3. Washing only full loads (dishes/laundry) and air drying.
4. Keeping the thermostat at 78 degrees (higher if we're out). If it gets too hot, we turn it down until we feel comfortable, then turn it back up to 78.
5. VHS movies. You can find them dirt cheap just about anywhere. Watching movies is one of our favorite pastimes, and having lots of movies we picked up for $.25 to $1 makes it a cheap one.
6. Owning only one car.
7. Hypermiling. It's my new passion (and it's much easier than this comprehensive website makes it look).
8. Eating vegan.
9. Learning how to fix things ourselves, like the car, the computers, clothing, toys, etc.
10. Thrift store shopping. Except for consumables, we buy everything used. If we can't find it at a thrift store, we search online - Craigslist, half.com, ebay....
11. Speaking of Craigslist, keeping an eye on the free section, especially on Saturdays and Sundays around the time people start packing up their yard sales, has really paid off. Lots of people give away what they can't sell.
12. Oh, and Freecycle, too.
13. Having our pets' vaccinations/spaying/etc. done at low-cost clinics, rather than our vet's office. We know the people at our local humane society who do this and feel very comfortable with them taking care of our animals.
14. Eating smaller portions. Really. I've found that the portions I used to eat were actually much too large. Cutting back is better for me and my wallet.
15. Using the envelope system. We deal in cash, and dividing it up and putting it all into the proper envelopes as soon as the check is cashed makes all the difference in the world.
16. Keeping abreast of grocery sales. We have a few expensive stores in the area, but they often have loss leader items that are a steal! Oh, and one in particular has amazing clearance finds.
17. Knowing how much we pay for our usual grocery items. This way, we know a good deal when we come across it.
18. Home hair cuts.
19. No cable/satellite/Netflix. Just plain ol' network TV. Of course, we just got our digital converter box (with the government's $40 coupon), and we get a few extra stations we didn't have before. One of them is a retro network (all stuff from the 70's and early 80's, like Knight Rider, Hawaii 5-0, Gannon, The A-Team, etc.). Pure cheese! We're really jazzed!
20. Using a reel mower, rather than a gas-guzzling mower.
21. Not shopping hungry.
22. Finding things to do around the house - lots of board and card games, vhs movies, reading (library books), chatting on the phone (local), drawing, listening to records, writing, just hanging out, etc.
23. Really considering before throwing something away.
24. Really considering before making a purchase of any kind.
25. Keeping the house nice and livable so we are happy staying home. Having a nice, clean house means we aren't wanting to escape all the time.
26. Putting out the word when we're looking for something. Friends have given or loaned us tons of items.
27. Doing things for myself that make me feel the abundance in my life. Sitting down, drinking a cup of herbal tea, listening to music, and reading a good book. It's hard to feel lack while doing something like that. If I don't feel lack, I don't have such a desire to buy "stuff." I don't feel like I need more.
28. Making do as long as we can. Procrastinating before buying, I guess.
29. Taking short showers.
30. Using cloth pads.
31. Actually eating the leftovers.
32. Researching symptoms online before heading to a doctor (or vet).
33. Being really creative with gift-giving. Making things, putting together a basket of pretty things we have around the house, etc.
34. Watering the lawn as little as we can get away with. Just enough to keep it greenish and alive.
35. Parking in the shade (this minimizes gas loss due to evaporation)
36. Walking.
37. Bringing lunch to work. Always.
38. Not using makeup or hair products.
39. Reading the news online rather than buying a newspaper subscription.
40. Doing instead of buying - finding alternatives to buying any way we can: waiting, making do, fixing, repurposing, making something ourselves, etc.
41. Baking our own bread.
42. Using things up completely. For instance, when we use glasses cleaning cloths (they work so much better than microfiber cloths and seem almost a necessity when you have a ten-year-old boy in glasses), we pass them around to everyone until they're dried up. We can always clean at least two pair that way - usually three.
43. Saving the change. Instead of spending it, we put our change in a pretty jar at the end of every day. It adds up quickly, and it really makes you think about those smaller purchases. When we have to break a five for a $.25 item, we often decide to pass it up, altogether.
44. Snapping digital photos and getting prints only of our favorites.
45. Using the crock pot, rather than the stove and the toaster oven, rather than the full-sized oven.
46. Growing some of our own food (tomatoes, herbs, etc.).
47. Not being afraid to pick up the things people have left on the curb.
48. Blogging about our days, rather than creating an expensive, glitzy scrapbook.
49. Keeping things well-maintained - the car, the a/c, the faucets, the weatherstripping around our doors and windows, etc. (We've just started really focusing on this one.)
50. Making a game out of being frugal. Frugality can be fun!

I'd love to hear from you about making frugal choices! Are there little things you do that help your family live more frugally?