10 Painless Ways To Save $100 This Year
Since I found that the sour dough recipe came from The Tightwad Gazette, I pulled my book (The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn) out to re-read. This is one of the first things in the book:
1. Purchase 10 articles of clothing at thrift shops and yard sales this year instead of paying department store prices.
Most of our clothes are bought this way.
2. Hang four loads of laundry per week instead of using your dryer.
I love hanging clothes outside and do this most days the weather allows...including today even though it's only 45 degrees outside.
3. Once a month make pizza from scratch instead of having one delivered.
When we order pizza, we normally pick it up since the pizza parlor is only a few blocks away. But much of the time I make it from scratch...like tonight for dinner - cheeseburger pizza!
4. Write a good letter instead of making a monthly long distance phone call.
Ok...I'm terribly bad at this. I'm not even good at mailing out birthday cards. But we do use Vonage...for now.
5. Reduce your soda consumption by four cans per week.
We hardly ever by "pop" here. When we do, it's usually a splurge of a 2-litre of Vernors for me...which is my all time favorite...and we make Boston coolers!
6. Bake one batch of bread (two loaves) per week.
I'm doing this now. We rarely buy bread anymore. Hubby much prefers the homemade bread...especially now that I've worked out the kinks. lol
7. Save $50 each on two children's birthday parties by making homemade decorations, cake, wrapping paper, and one present.
We only have one children, so we've already saved $25. lol We don't go all out for birthday parties, our decoration is a banner we use each year for everyones birthdays. I make the cakes myself. Gifts...well...we'll work on that.
8. Reduce your smoking by three cigarettes per day (or give up smoking altogether and save even more).
It's been 14 years since I quit smoking and about 15 years for hubby.
9. Reduce your whole milk consumption by two gallons per week, substituting dry milk in cooking, homemade cocoa mix, and in half-and-half for drinking.
I can't drink milk so we don't go through more than a gallon a week. I haven't been convinced that dry milk is actually cheaper when I've gotten milk on sale for as low as $1.99 a gallon. On the other hand, I drink rice dream and use that in cooking and such when I'm making something that I know could upset my system...and those are about $1.99 a quart.
10. Pack four inexpensive school lunches per week.
Since we homeschool, leftovers are usually lunch fare for us. Hubby also prefers leftovers and sandwiches for his lunches at work...which saves $5-10 at the fast food or sit down restaurants.
How about you?
fellow tightwad
Posted by rashel on Friday 13 April 2007 at 12:13 PM - Link
I am a fellow tightwad and I love those books, I have all 3 volumes! She has some pretty great ideas and then she has some that I just wouldn't do. What she does have is a way of motivating me to see just how much I can save. I use her pizza dough recipe and love it, I get two crusts out of it because we like ours thin. So many great tips in those books.
Rashel
*I forgot to ask, what is a boston cooler?
Edited by rashel on Friday 13 April 2007 at 12:14 PM
? Last Page :: Next Page ?
|
