For Frugal Fridays, Crystal shared her 5 ways they saved $100 dollars last year. Here is our list, posted a little while back (more specific one frugality and being good stewards). It is a good refresher to review this list, and add to it this year.
Here it is in simplified form:
1. We choose to cloth diaper and we love it too!
2. We switched to CFL bulbs.
3. I hang my laundry to dry (it is possible, even in the Pacific Northwest!).
4. Paid bills and charity gifts online.
5. Limit trips out. We limited our errands to 1-2 a week to save gas money. Having one vehicle also helps with this!
6. We eliminated paper napkins and towels (cloth napkins are so elegant!)
7. I am in process of gradually fading out all store bought cleaners and body products and making my own.
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January 11th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Hello.
I am also trying to become more frugal and I have a question for you. For the most part I can see elimniating paper towels and napkins, but….how do you drain your bacon?? I know it is silly to keep using paper towels for just that reason, but we are a big bacon family.
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Lindsay replied on January 11th, 2008:
Sharon, that is a really good question. I honestly just lift the bacon out of the pan with a fork and leave the grease behind. I try to just shake off the excess grease into the pan before putting it on another plate. It may not be eliminating all the grease, but it is better. It works for me!
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Tia replied on January 11th, 2008:
That’s a really good question, because I don’t fry my turkey bacon, I put it in teh microwave between 4 paper towels.
Not sure how I could do it any other way, unless I want to use the oven. Any suggestions Lindsay?
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January 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Great ideas for saving! We have a daughter named Caris, too! (Our last name begins with a C ~ but translating from the Greek it should be a K)
Anyway, thanks for sharing!
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January 11th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
We do a lot of the same thigns here.
As for the bacon, you can also drain it on some flour sack type dishtowels that you reserve for that purpose. It works great.
I usually don’t have to drain mine if I make a whole batch because I cook it in the oven on cookie sheets which works great.
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January 11th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Question tho. I work both inside and outside the home, and so does my husband. If one of you is already out, what’s wrong w/doing errands? How is it really saving money, since you are out? I don’t understand. I mean, aren’t most people out everyday for work? Across from my job is a plaza w/CVS, Dollar Tree, Wine and Spirits and a grocery store.
I dunno, maybe not everyone has everything near them.
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Lindsay replied on January 11th, 2008:
I should clarify. Aaron & I both work from home, although my teaching is only 6 hours a week. We were in the habit of just making frequent quick runs to the store for this or that. For me it has been saving more of my time than anything, by scheduling all my errands for one day each week. It helps me to limit driving, really plan out what I need (in order not to buy on random), and save time. If you were already out at work that would be somewhat different. Hope that clarifies.
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Tia replied on January 12th, 2008:
Oh ok!! That would make sense Lindsay!!
Thanks for clarifying.
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January 11th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
You could also drain bacon onto a piece of a brown grocery bag. Many people did this before there were paper towels.
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January 11th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Of course I meant a paper grocery bag.
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January 11th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I’ve always wondered how to make homemade cleansers and body products? I’ve always imagined it as this long, intensive process and searching for hard to find ingredients. How do you do it?
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Lindsay replied on January 12th, 2008:
Jessica,
Making your own cleaning supplies and body products is actually quite simple (it blew me away!). Follow the links in my post above and you will find all the recipes I have made and am continuing to experiment with. I haven’t done it all, but we are in process. You can also follow the category link natural living on a budget to find all my posts on the topic of making my own recipes.
Hope that helps!
Lindsay
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January 11th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Great list! We have begun to switch out our light bulbs to CFL’s too. I have noticed a huge difference in a few small things that have really added up to great savings.
Blessings,
Vickie@PursuingSimplicity
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January 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I’ve been trying to switch to cloth napkins. You are right–they’re so much nicer. Recently, I found a bundled pile of cotton (not terry) dishtowels on the clearance rack at Target. There were maybe 5, in different colors. They were ridiculously HUGE. So I cut them in fours, hemmed the raw edges, and got about 20 nice napkins for practically free!
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May 16th, 2008 at 10:51 am
My parents use cloth napkins and cloth dish towels, but they do keep one roll of paper towels on hand for draining bacon. Obviously, one roll lasts them a looong time.
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August 31st, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I noticed you wrote CFL’s as a money saving method. We too were using CFL’s throughout our entire house. My husband started researching them and got really freaked out over the danger they pose as they contain mercury vapors. It is thought that they actually release vapors while in use. If broken, they pose serious risk to those around. And you have to dispose of them as a hazardous material. I fear what will happen when we start dumping these in our landfills. You may want to research this on your own. We got rid of ours as soon as possible and have chosen to be extra extra careful about leaving lights on.
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