Frugal Living to Get Out of Debt

About a month and a half ago we decided to get rid of our business start up debt, put away the credit cards, and go cash only. If we don’t have the cash to buy it, we don’t buy it. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but it also coincided with our new health regime, so a few things changed immediately anyway when we cut out sugar, caffeine, and dairy, in particular.

All my friends and family know I’m the budget queen, so here are some tips for a more frugal household budget.

• No eating out or outings unless it’s a really special occasion. So far we’ve gone out on one date, and once for dh’s birthday in the last 3.5 months. We enjoy cooking at home, and the library has a huge inventory of movies – for free!
• Cut out luxury item extras, like organic body wash for instance. I use regular bar soap (Pears) instead now, and to be honest, my skin feels just as a moisturized and soft. I haven’t had a manicure or pedicure in ages, but I keep my nails trimmed and neat, and who knows, maybe I’ll get one for my birthday (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
• Cut back on packaged foods and buy whole foods in bulk. I bought brown rice and kamut grain in bulk. It’s fresher, and the money we spent goes a lot farther. We also bought a bread machine so we could make our own healthy whole grain bread, and we can buy the ingredients in bulk. A loaf of decent healthy bread is hard to find for under $5.00. Even the organic loaves have sugar, so we have really come to love having fresh homemade bread.
• Buy in-season foods locally. We bought our produce from a local organic farm for as long as they had food remaining for the season instead of buying organic produce that has been shipped from far reaching warmer climates at a premium price. Now that they are closed for the winter, we will be shopping for as much local oganic in-season foods we can find available.
• Pre-plan larger expenses or purchases and save up for them. Our car needs a full brake job, so we have a plan for going car-free until we’re able to save up enough to cover this expense.
• Make a list and pre-plan your purchase budget before shopping. Today we’re going to “town” and we need a new rain suit for our son. We did some research online and found they run about $35 new. We checked in-store flyers for any specials, and have a budget set for our purchase.
• Don’t go grocery shopping without a list. Before I shop I go through my freezer, fridge and cupboards and figure out my menu plan for the week based on ingredients we already have. Say I have some spaghetti noodles, some green peppers, and a jar of diced tomatoes, I just get the missing ingredients to make a spaghetti dinner. Sometimes I don’t get around to making all the meals on my menu, or leftovers last a bit longer than I expected, so it goes on my menu for the following week or the ingredients are split to become different meals.
• Shop less frequently. We plan a big shopping day bi-monthly for our business supplies and any items not available locally, so we keep a magnetic shopping list on our fridge with a running “order” of what we need. It saves gas, time, and money to buy everything at once instead of running to the store multiple times a week. It also prevents the impulse buys that inevitably happen.
• Avoid big chain stores and support smaller local businesses. We did an experiment recently. We noticed the prices for our small local grocery store were more than the bigger chain grocery stores, so we decided to do our weekly grocery shopping at the chain store and see how much we saved. We actually spent more in the big chain store because we were buying foods we don’t normally have available to us locally, and because of the added variety, we bought more. Add to that the cost of the ferry, gas in the car for the added distance, and time taken away from working at home, we actually spent $60 more than we usually do.
• Service trades are a great way to fit luxuries in. We have an agreement with a local masseuse. We do a trade for 2 full body 1 hour hot stone massages in exchange for a full colour, cut and style in the hair salon.