Senior Member
How Do You Identify?: Lil' Miss Sassy Pants
Preferred Pronoun?: She/her
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: My place by the river
Posts: 3,656
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I keep things pretty simple.
Food wise, I mostly eat what is in season, as it's a healthier way to eat and more affordable too. Non-perishables are stocked up on when on sale.
I used to use more cloth re-usable cleaning materials, but then my guy came along. He cleans all the time and uses a lot of paper towels. He buys them in bulk. Since he is cleaning my house, I don't complain about the disposable issue.
We don't have a television or cable or anything like that. Mini-netflix membership is all I spend on entertainment.
We go to the library at least once a week. Books, music, movies. Free so long as we turn them in on time!
My grocery store gives gas discounts for every $100 you spend, plus bonus items buy you more. I spend a fair amount on food since I buy for my house, plus cooking classes I teach. And I don't drive much at all. Really only one day a week when I have a 50 mile round trip. Everything else is really in a 10 mile radius. So I wait to fill up the tank after I have racked up a fair amount of discount on gas. If I have to put gas in without having reached a good discount, I just put in maybe $10 and that will last me a week usually. Then I go for more gas when I have more discounted.
My daughter has finally slowed down on growing, so I could buy her more new clothes without it being a big waste of money, but she still often prefers used clothing. We both have a pretty small wardrobe, neither of us spend too much time thinking about fashion. Still, when we need new things, we shop on sale.
I mostly pay cash for everything. It helps me stick to a budget better when I'm in a store- can't go beyond the cash I brought with me.
I do have to keep a landline and cell phone. Cell phone reception is very bad in my home area. I need the cell phone because I am self employed and like to not be stuck at home, and because I have a teenager roaming the world who I like to keep open communication with. I also have a business line in my home, but I was able to roll all of that into a small business package, so phones plus internet all rolled up weren't bad once i shopped around.
I clip coupons, especially those that are doubled at my market. I often save between $20-40 on shopping trips between sales and coupons. Earlier this month I saved $95 on a big shopping trip because I had some bonus 20% off my full order coupon plus a bunch of other supplemental coupons. So I made it a massive stock up trip.
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