With the recent news about the economy, I have decided that my husband and I need to develop more frugal habits. I believe I first saw the idea of Frugal Friday on my daughter-in-law, Kara's blog, but I have noticed that several other bloggers that I follow are beginning to post money-saving ideas or ways to simplify their lives. Barbara has posted several great sounding recipes for hot roll and bread mixes and a homemade sausage mix. Linda talks about simplicity. Ms. Smockity , when she isn't moving her large family (seven children!) across the state, is great about posting her frugal hints.
My hint for this Frugal Friday is to clip coupons! Mercy! I have not done that since we were trying to feed four hungry boys on an educator's salary. However, this week, in my efforts to be more frugal, I
1) read the Wednesday grocery ads in the newspaper,
2) made my list of needed items from the sale items and determined to stick to the list,
3) went through the coupons that I still clip (but rarely use--until now!) and found several coupons that matched the sale items,
4) shopped the store and resisted impulse buying (except for the brussel sprouts that looked delicious and were half their normal price!), and
5) got my flu shot in the pharmacy because they were offering 10% off the grocery bill with a flu shot.
At the end of the shopping, my bill totaled about $81, but by the time the coupons and the 10% deduction from the flu shot were deducted, my bill came out to about $62 and the only item that was not on sale was the brussel sprouts!
I felt like I had pocketed a crisp, new $20 bill at the store yesterday! And that is my hint for Frugal Friday.
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Wow! I am so inspired by your shopping trip.
ReplyDeleteI hope our young people will "jump on the bandwagon" and join us.
It's so important, for those of us who are older, to set the example.
Nice post!!
Thanks, Barbara. I believe it was Sharon Lippincott who said that we (and our stories) will have to be the teachers of the younger generations. I don’t believe my own children have gotten the message yet that frugality is going to be necessary for the time that we are in. It appears that we will be in for a lean time.
ReplyDeleteI used to be so good about coupons, but now find myself always forgetting them. I do enjoy shopping at the thirfty meat section and bakery section of my grocery. In fact, I don't usually buy any meat that is not in that section.
ReplyDeleteYes, Kara, that is where I buy my meat also, because it is too expensive otherwise. However, our market usually only has beef and we try to eat less beef and more fish and chicken. I am not sure what they do with the fish and chicken—maybe they have laws about what they do with those meats??
ReplyDeleteMy tip for thrifty shopping is to leave it to a penny-pinching mate. My hubby has been retired for a dozen years now, and his contribution to "housework" is to do the shopping. He has always shopped like you did this week Pat. It's amazing how well we eat for about half what our neighbors spend. Of course it helps to have plebian tastes too...
ReplyDeleteIt took a few weeks to coordinate, but I learned to plan ahead a little better and the main challenge is to keep his tendency to stock up on bargains under control lest my cupboards spill over into other rooms!
Perhaps it would be good to start a separate set of Frugal Living stories and share them soon as a sort of Family Foxfire book. Remember that series from the Seventies? Bet they're in big demand, or will be soon!
I always clip 'em and forget 'em. I need to get a better system. Thanks for the reminder. Enjoying your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Candy. I also clip ‘em and forget ‘em, but am making a concentrated effort to do one shopping a week using current coupons for items that I need.
ReplyDelete