This year was not a good one. Tips for next year?

[savingdogs]

Pinkfox has some great ideas here, well put!

When we entered our super-frugal stage, we managed to exist on much less than we thought we ever could. But we learned the thought process of saying to ourselves, "Do we really need this? Is is essential to survival?" And then purchases have to pass the other questions "Is this the cheapest I can find this?" and the worst one, "Even though I really need this, can I afford to buy it today?" Very few things pass all these questions.

We gave up things to impress the neighbors....such as buying annuals to decorate our front walk or home decor. Those are not essential. We did not even buy a bed when our old one broke, we are making do with some cots and padding we had. It was not essential to buy new beds, we still have a place to sleep. Our couch seat covers ripped, so I just cover it with a blanket, we did not buy a new couch.

We don't participate in very many social events either, if they cost money. Even the cost of gas is more than you can spend sometimes. We don't exchange gifts with people, even family members with whom we used to. They understand. We let people know that our circumstances have changed dramatically and before people come visit, I explain we "came down" in house.

They usually say something like, "Can I bring you something from the store?" as an answer. I'm not saying that you need to ask for help from people, but when you admit your circumstances, people help you. There was an event I could not attend recently because the gas was going to be too much money. The day after the event, someone from that event sent me money anonymously.

We continued, however, to do our volunteer activities and do things for others. When you give, you get. You don't mean to "get" things when you volunteer, but your life is enriched in ways you would not expect and in ways that you could not buy.

 

[freemotion]

Combining trips saves a lot on gas whenever you can do it. We know all the discount stores along our regular work routes and plan to pick needed supplies up when we are already driving by. Since we rarely "shop" (meaning wander through a store looking at stuff....although this is important on occasion to stay familiar with what they have and the prices....I recently found a store that we frequent now carries an item I buy regularly for HALF of what I was paying for it at another store!) we can run in and focus on the few items on our "need it now" list.

We went down to one car a couple years ago when the old one suddenly died. We discovered that we can do this. We have had to rent a car for a day a very few times, but this is still far cheaper than keeping two cars. We only do this when we have important or lucrative work in two different directions....this is rare. We also trade for the use of a pick-up truck on occasion so we can go get larger items when we find stuff cheap or free, mostly through craigslist. We've done quite well with this and the truck owners are ecstatic to get free massage or jewelry or farm products or whatever.

Always factor in the price of gas when driving to get a bargain. It might not be a bargain....or you may need to buy stock-up amounts to make the trip worthwhile.

Remember when you do something yourself to save money, it is worth about a third more than the same item if you had to work to pay for that item....when you work, you have to pay income taxes, and when you buy stuff, you pay sales tax. When you don't buy the item but make it or grow it, you don't have those taxes that you have to first earn the money for, then pay the taxes, then buy the item. Am I making sense?

In case I'm not, here is the math. Suppose you grow $60 worth of herbs and veggies using saved seeds and compost (no dollar input.) You'd have to earn $80-90 to buy the same stuff in the store. Remember that when you add up your savings.....it is much more encouraging, especially when you are pooped from all the work!

Also remember to compare apples to apples.....We just put 6 roosters in the freezer. We can't compare them to the $3 sale birds at the grocery store. These were organic and truly free ranged so they compare to $25-30 (add 24-33% for taxes not paid.....$32-40 each!) roosters at the farmer's market. Or more. No, we wouldn't be able to spend that money on food normally, but it makes it much more fun to do the math my way, doesn't it?

 

[RedneckCowgirl]

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you everyone for all the wonderful ideas. We are going to try and sell the house, however since my parents got divorced it is requiring a LOT of fixing up as it hasn't really been a top priority. My mom owes around $333,000, which is more then its worth (last time it was appraised at $223,000 ) so we are going to do our best to do what we can, but the outlook isn't awesome right now.