How have you cut back?

[oobiecoo]

The homemade laundry detergent supposedly works fine in an HE washing machine. Here''s the recipe I plan on using:


1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above (ivory, zote)
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

 

[jewelerman]

Date: 12/30/2008 1:28:12 AM
Author: LuckyTexan

Date: 12/29/2008 1:03:09 AM
Author: jewelerman

Date: 12/23/2008 3:36:23 PM
Author:oobiecoo
How has your family cut back on expenses... whether it is due to the economy or not?

BOTH of our tv''s have broken recently so today I called and cancelled our cable. I also changed the data plan on my cellphone. Those changes alone will add up to a few hundred per year. It actually felt really good to do that...

I know this is going a little far for some people but I''m also planning on making our own laundry detergent when we need a new bottle. I''ve seen alot of recipes on it lately and it really intrigued me! Plus, I can make it smell like whatever I want!

Because i have recently been a student for 4 years ive had alot of practice at cutting back for these hard economic times and under-employment...

1-no movies or magizines(dollars movies are an exception and the library for magizines)

2-no eating out

3-no junk food..(.except for dollar store now and again)or expensive brand name foods

4-no gift giving(didnt buy one christmas gift this year)

5-no spurging on extra clothing or shoes or anything!

6-no cable

7-no expensive haircare or skin care products

8-pay cash for everthing...no credit card temptations

9-no extra traveling to save gas and wear on car

10-bus pass if possible

11-more careful about extra laundry or dry cleaning...(dont wear an item only once)

12-shorter shower time

Does this really make a difference?

SURE DOES!...My dry cleaning bills have gone way down when im careful and wear an item more then once. Being more careful about extra laundry has saved money on laundry products and over time the cost of heating the water and the water itself.When I cut my shower time down it saves on the heating and water bill over time plus I feel better about conserving water and cuts down the time on getting ready in the morning.Also I will wait and run the dish washer when it full and not when its just part way full....between the shower ,the laundry and dishwasher it does save money on the water and heating bill.Im sure people here on the forum will agree.

 

[mayachel]

Bliss- I took your idea and ran with it. I''m cooking a soba noodle stir fry for my dinner party tonight.

Cutting down on eating out is HUGE for us. The next part is curtailing how I''m shopping for food. I found this great website on cooking vegetarian on a budget.
www.lbveg.com the author''s free book that is available for download has a great "how to stock your kitchen" advice and info like how long different foods keep and weekly meal planning.

 

[Aloros]

Date: 12/29/2008 2:22:01 PM
Author: oobiecoo

Date: 12/29/2008 1:44:18 PM
Author: Aloros

Date: 12/23/2008 8:20:18 PM
Author: oobiecoo

Date: 12/23/2008 6:52:34 PM
Author: Aloros
We almost always buy things on sale. Shop at Costco for frequently-used items. We also check craigslist and ebay for things before buying them from the store.

We don't have cable, don't go out to eat (except happy hour once in a while), and we rent movies instead of seeing them in the theater. We bought boxed sets on Black Friday for a TV fix.

We bake our own bread and are growing our own vegetables. We both always pack a lunch for work.

I take my pets to a local vet teaching hospital - the wait is longer with all the people in and out and observing, but the service is amazing and the price is excellent.

When the weather is good, we bicycle to work instead of driving.

Thrift stores are great if you have the time to sift through and find the gems.

Both FI and I cook, so when we work together, dinner's ready pretty quickly.

Do you find that this actually saves money? I'm making bread right now and I'm not so sure its cheaper than buying a cheap $1.00 loaf at the store.

I haven't seen any $1.00 bread around here. Cheapest we've been able to buy is $1.50/loaf, though it's usually upwards of $2.00. Plus, FI really dislikes regular 'ol wonderbread. We buy the flour and yeast in bulk from costco, so it comes out really cheap - probably less than $1.00/loaf.

In addition, fresh home-baked bread is much tastier!

Very interesting! You can get a couple different loaves for under $1.00 here... they are the off-brand, nothing fancy types but still do the job. I do really like homemade though. I made some mini-loaves for Christmas but they didn't have the crispy crust that I like... do you have any recipe suggestions?

We just recently started baking bread, and since we're very busy usually, I looked up a 5-minute recipe.

3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt (I cut this down a tad)
6 1/2 cups flour

Add the yeast and salt to the warm water, adding the flour last. Stir until all the water is absorbed. Plop into a bread pan, cover and let rise for 40 min, bake at 450 for 25 min.

It makes a fairly heavy, somewhat spongy bread. Tastes great, but it can vary a bit depending on how long you stir it for, how long you let it rise, and how long you bake it for. We tend to let it bake for 30 min as opposed to 25. We've found letting it bake for longer makes it last longer and not get all crumbly after a couple days.

ETA: You can make a round loaf with this too by just plopping it on a flat sheet instead of in a pan.

 

[Steel]

I have been shopping at low cost markets for 6 months. I used to shop at Tesco but now do my main shop at Aldi and buy one or two things at Tesco. It has made a HUGE difference.

We decided not to take a mortgage for the build of our home. It is taking forever but we are building with cash

. I know it will be worth it in the end.

 

[oobiecoo]

I tried to find soba noodles yesterday and my supermarket didn''t have any! They had all kinds of rice noodles and thick wheat noodles but nothing that looks like the picture!

 

[Itgirl76]

I have done a few things to cut back, mine is for the just in case (I fortunately still have my job)

-I have what I call cooking Sundays. I have always in the past eaten out 4-5 days a week (sad I know...but I never had time to cook), so now on Sundays I cook next weeks meals so I can just heat up food during the week and I haven''t eaten out in almost 3 weeks!

-I cleared out my closets and I found that I was rebuying a lot of things because my closets were so overloaded.

-I signed up for a membership at Costco. I buy a lot of things like paper towels and bulk items or items that can be frozen. I actually found I really enjoy shopping there...It is kind of fun and the people who work there and shop there are sooper friendlier...friendlier than Whole Foods. I also freeze a lot of items I buy or freeze a lot of the items I make .

-I recycle everything...In the city I live in we pay about $3.00 per a bag of garbage but recycling is free

-I have 2 homes and I am trying to get rid of one of them...there is no reason to have 2 homes in todays economy especially when people are losing thier homes left and right.

-I give my time to soup kitchens and food pantries it #1 allows me to help people who need it. #2 It keeps me away from shopping and frivolous money spending.

-I plan out my driving more carefully so I don''t waste gas and do a lot of back and forth.

-I have curbed my shopping...I used to shop everyy weekend, I only try to go out 2 times a month with a budget....I know it doesn''t seem like a lot but for a compulsive shopper it is.

I am pretty fortunate #1 that I still have a job and #2 my company pays for a lot of things that sometimes I admit that I took for granted-Cell Phone-Internet connection-I work for a hair care and cosmetic company so I get all kinds of free stuff-my milage on my car-I also get a car allowance-they pay for 1/2 of my gym membership.

I don''t have a land line-I haven''t had TV in 7 years-I have started to keep the heat to a minimum...so it is comforatable.
I know my list doesn''t seem like a lot but for me it is.

 

[ms_claudia]

this is an awesome thread, it has me thinking..

my BF and I have decided that we need to cook at home more often, it''s hard to do because we live in a college town full of quick and cheap (and unhealthy) food spots , and after he gets off work and I get out of class we usually don''t feel like cooking. But the Sunday cooking day is a great idea, frozen homemade beats takeout anyday. We need to find a cheaper grocery store and start using coupons.

Giving up my Evian water fixation... I used to drink ONLY evian water... at $10 for 6 bottles.. yikes, I''m just realizing how insane that sounds... I''m gonna buy h20 in the 5 gallon dispensers and refilll water bottles... Evian will be a once in a while treat.

I''m gonna make a concerted effort not to buy anymore skincare products and makeup.

I''m going to save myself trips to the nail salon by doing my own fill ins.

Thinking about changing my cell phone plan to something cheaper.

No purses for 2009, you have no idea how hard this will be for me. purses are my crack...

Cutting off website memberships with monthly fees (auctionraptor for my fellow ebayers... a great site but definitely not a necessity)

Dare I say... no more jewelry bingeing in 2009...

No more clothes until deep spring-summer. Swearing off juicy couture sweatsuits for good.

Cutting down on movie theater trips.

No birthday splurging.

Cutting the credit cards in half... or at least taking them out of my wallet... Cash and debit only.

Put my free gym membership to work by using their water massage table and ditching the masseuse.

I don''t wanna give up my monthly facials so instead of driving into nyc (gas+tolls+parking=$$$$$$$$$$$$) I''ll take the train.

If I can effectively implement this, I''ll save myself thousands.

Any other ideas?

 

[oobiecoo]

I''m seriously considering starting a blog to discuss this type of thing and to keep track of how much money I''m saving each day/week.

This week I''ve been cooking SUPER cheap stuff but trying to keep it varied in order to be a little healthier. I also recieved a Starbuck''s giftcard for Christmas so I haven''t had to pay for any coffee drinks out of my own pocket. So far this week, I''ve cut down over HALF of my normal spending with just the cheap cooking and free coffees! I''m also kind of liking not having a TV or cable because I''ve been able to focus on organizing and cleaning the apartment!

Another thing that will save us money is that my dad gave us this REALLY old water purifier... the industrial strength kind lol... so DH has been refrigerating that in a carafe instead of drinking bottled water. I''m having a hard time getting away from my bottled water though because I know what terrible smell/taste the water originally had before it was purified so I''m worried that the stuff may still partially be in it. At least we cut back on half of our bottled water intake though... and we don''t pay for our running water. The apartment covers that.

 

[phoenixgirl]

This is really tough, and something I still need to work on. But here''s how we''ve cut down:

* I learned to cook this past summer, so we eat out way less. When possible I take left-overs for lunch. We get coupons for a couple of restaurants near us, so if we have to go out, we do that.

* I called and negotiated the Merry Maids down $10 each cleaning. They come every two weeks, but sometimes I call and cancel with a "conflict" to save $. If I switched over to the once a month schedule, I would be paying 73% of what I''m paying now for 55% less cleanings.

* I cancelled HBO.

* I just switched our Proactiv delivery from every 8 weeks to every 16 weeks, saving $120 a year.

* I paid off DH''s student loan with inheritance money, saving us $400 a month.

The problem (well, really a blessing, but problem in terms of us changing our habits) is that we have a little nest egg which we just dip into when things are tough. But things are really tough right now, and we''ve been dipping far too much.

New Year''s Resolutions:

* Cancel Brinks'' Monitoring as soon as our contract runs out next month. That will save $30 a month, and the alarm will still work, it just won''t call the police or Brinks automatically. We live in a row house (detached, but our neighbors are about 3 feet away on one side and 5 feet on the other) so I feel confident that the alarm would still do its job of scaring away anyone trying to break into my house.

* Use up what we have and ONLY shop when truly necessary. Today I almost bought more champagne flutes because we didn''t quite have enough on New Year''s and somebody broke one. But when will I need more than 8 champagne flutes again? Surely not before next New Year''s, if that.

This also applies to cleaning and personal hygiene supplies. I have this sense of apprehension when the supply of something gets too low, so I run out and buy more Clorox wipes or what have you, when there are probably some hidden somewhere around the house or I could use an old rag and a spray bottle.

This applies to alcohol too. Somebody drank all our vodka at our New Year''s party, so I felt like I needed to go buy more, but we are TTC and I drink vodka more than my husband, so nobody will really miss it. It''s a good excuse to try out a more unusual drink instead.

And food. I stock up way too much on food, and I like to plan interesting sounding meals. My next cooking goal is to learn to be more of a "throw together what''s on hand" kind of cook. We can eat quite comfortably for while, and yet I run out and buy a whole new batch of stuff the next week. So this month I am only going to the necessities -- milk, fruit, etc. -- and use up all our pasta and sauces and cereal and pizza dough before buying new stuff.


What I find to be so hard is that I don''t spend a lot of money on clothes, but there are always things you "need," like new running shoes. Today I realized that we don''t have any smoke detectors in the house, so I spent $100 on 3 smoke detectors and a gas & carbon monoxide detector. When there''s the nest egg to fall back on (i.e. deplete), it''s hard to say, no, don''t get the smoke detector, or no, don''t buy the new shoes, just keep running in shoes that hurt your joints.

And with the market, I''m sorry to say, I don''t even know if there''s anything left in the nest egg. I haven''t had the guts to look!

 

[gemgirl]

We haven''t been too successful in actually seeing a savings, but I keep to my cut backs anyway. It seems that just when I think I''m going to get a little head, something else pops up that has to be repaired or replaced.

~We don''t eat out anymore.
~I buy literally everything on sale except for food. Unfortunately, we both enjoy eating good home cooked meals and I can''t scrimp too much there.
~I don''t drive when I don''t have to.
~I don''t leave the house if I don''t have to be out. I know that when I go out, I spend money.
~I get my hair cut every three or four months instead of every other month. My hair is long so it''s not that bad.
~I stopped seeing my Chiropractor once a week. Now I go once a month.
~I turn off the circuit for any major appliance I''m not using because I found out that appliances draw a small amount of electricity even when they''re not in use.
~I keep the thermostat a few degrees lower than usual during the day, so I can heat the house to a comfortable level at night. I can''t sleep if the house is cold.
~My husband won''t eat leftovers, but I can''t throw anything out, so I turn leftovers into something else two days later for
myself.
~We also changed our cell phone plan and are being cautious about the minutes we use. We have a rollover plan now, so we can "bank" our unused minutes for summer time use when my husband typically goes a couple of hundred dollars over every month.

 

[steph72276]

We have also really cut back on eating out and buying groceries from Whole Foods so much. We added it all up, and realized we were spending over 3k on food alone! Now we spend about $600 or so...big difference!!

 

[tlh]

Ms. Claudia, I have the same obsession... only with Aquafina! I spend maybe $20 or more a week on it!

I cannot give it up! KUDDOS to you! I wont let my husband know that it can be done, though. (He gets mad because as a runner I drink more water than the average bear!) As sad as it sounds, I''d rather eat Chef Boyardi or Ramen before giving up my GOOD water!

 

[Blenheim]

Oooh, thanks for the detergent recipe. This is a long shot, but do you have any idea if it's okay for cloth diapers? They recommend specific brands only, and those types of detergent seriously cost $40 a bottle.

Date: 12/31/2008 3:06:43 PM
Author: Aloros

We just recently started baking bread, and since we're very busy usually, I looked up a 5-minute recipe.

3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt (I cut this down a tad)
6 1/2 cups flour

Add the yeast and salt to the warm water, adding the flour last. Stir until all the water is absorbed. Plop into a bread pan, cover and let rise for 40 min, bake at 450 for 25 min.

It makes a fairly heavy, somewhat spongy bread. Tastes great, but it can vary a bit depending on how long you stir it for, how long you let it rise, and how long you bake it for. We tend to let it bake for 30 min as opposed to 25. We've found letting it bake for longer makes it last longer and not get all crumbly after a couple days.

ETA: You can make a round loaf with this too by just plopping it on a flat sheet instead of in a pan.

Do you just stir this, or do you have to knead it?

We've quit buying bread and have been making our own (I refuse to eat wonderbread type bread, so it definitely is a big saving for us!), but I've been adding half the flour for the first rising to make a sponge, adding the rest of the floor and then kneading and letting it rise again, shaping and then rising a third time, and THEN baking. (I've found that making the sponge leads to a better texture than just mixing everything at once and doing 2 risings.) It's just little spurts of activity and so not terribly labor intensive, but it takes FOREVER. So, thanks for the recipe! We have bread rising right now, ready to be shaped, or I'd try it today.

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 1/3/2009 12:00:15 PM
Author: Blenheim
Oooh, thanks for the detergent recipe. This is a long shot, but do you have any idea if it''s okay for cloth diapers? They recommend specific brands only, and those types of detergent seriously cost $40 a bottle.

Date: 12/31/2008 3:06:43 PM
Author: Aloros

We just recently started baking bread, and since we''re very busy usually, I looked up a 5-minute recipe.

3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt (I cut this down a tad)
6 1/2 cups flour

Add the yeast and salt to the warm water, adding the flour last. Stir until all the water is absorbed. Plop into a bread pan, cover and let rise for 40 min, bake at 450 for 25 min.

It makes a fairly heavy, somewhat spongy bread. Tastes great, but it can vary a bit depending on how long you stir it for, how long you let it rise, and how long you bake it for. We tend to let it bake for 30 min as opposed to 25. We''ve found letting it bake for longer makes it last longer and not get all crumbly after a couple days.

ETA: You can make a round loaf with this too by just plopping it on a flat sheet instead of in a pan.

Do you just stir this, or do you have to knead it?

We''ve quit buying bread and have been making our own (I refuse to eat wonderbread type bread, so it definitely is a big saving for us!), but I''ve been adding half the flour for the first rising to make a sponge, adding the rest of the floor and then kneading and letting it rise again, shaping and then rising a third time, and THEN baking. (I''ve found that making the sponge leads to a better texture than just mixing everything at once and doing 2 risings.) It''s just little spurts of activity and so not terribly labor intensive, but it takes FOREVER. So, thanks for the recipe! We have bread rising right now, ready to be shaped, or I''d try it today.

I just looked that up and supposedly both the borax and washing soda recommend themselves for washing baby diapers. The only other thing would be the soap and essential oils if you choose to add any. Essential oils have lots of different properties depending on what you go with (antibacterial, etc) so you could fine tune your recipe to protect "baby''s bottom" the most!

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 1/3/2009 9:56:10 AM
Author: gemgirl
We haven''t been too successful in actually seeing a savings, but I keep to my cut backs anyway. It seems that just when I think I''m going to get a little head, something else pops up that has to be repaired or replaced.

~We don''t eat out anymore.
~I buy literally everything on sale except for food. Unfortunately, we both enjoy eating good home cooked meals and I can''t scrimp too much there.
~I don''t drive when I don''t have to.
~I don''t leave the house if I don''t have to be out. I know that when I go out, I spend money.
~I get my hair cut every three or four months instead of every other month. My hair is long so it''s not that bad.
~I stopped seeing my Chiropractor once a week. Now I go once a month.
~I turn off the circuit for any major appliance I''m not using because I found out that appliances draw a small amount of electricity even when they''re not in use.
~I keep the thermostat a few degrees lower than usual during the day, so I can heat the house to a comfortable level at night. I can''t sleep if the house is cold.
~My husband won''t eat leftovers, but I can''t throw anything out, so I turn leftovers into something else two days later for
myself.
~We also changed our cell phone plan and are being cautious about the minutes we use. We have a rollover plan now, so we can ''bank'' our unused minutes for summer time use when my husband typically goes a couple of hundred dollars over every month.

I''m SO cheap in this way! Unless its under $15 or so, I refuse to buy it unless its on sale. Thats for clothes, home decor, whatever.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 1/3/2009 2:50:40 PM
Author: oobiecoo

Date: 1/3/2009 9:56:10 AM
Author: gemgirl
We haven''t been too successful in actually seeing a savings, but I keep to my cut backs anyway. It seems that just when I think I''m going to get a little head, something else pops up that has to be repaired or replaced.

~We don''t eat out anymore.
~I buy literally everything on sale except for food. Unfortunately, we both enjoy eating good home cooked meals and I can''t scrimp too much there.
~I don''t drive when I don''t have to.
~I don''t leave the house if I don''t have to be out. I know that when I go out, I spend money.
~I get my hair cut every three or four months instead of every other month. My hair is long so it''s not that bad.
~I stopped seeing my Chiropractor once a week. Now I go once a month.
~I turn off the circuit for any major appliance I''m not using because I found out that appliances draw a small amount of electricity even when they''re not in use.
~I keep the thermostat a few degrees lower than usual during the day, so I can heat the house to a comfortable level at night. I can''t sleep if the house is cold.
~My husband won''t eat leftovers, but I can''t throw anything out, so I turn leftovers into something else two days later for
myself.
~We also changed our cell phone plan and are being cautious about the minutes we use. We have a rollover plan now, so we can ''bank'' our unused minutes for summer time use when my husband typically goes a couple of hundred dollars over every month.

I''m SO cheap in this way! Unless its under $15 or so, I refuse to buy it unless its on sale. Thats for clothes, home decor, whatever.

Food is one place that I can''t scrimp. I do buy whatever I can on sale, but I''m on an all natural diet (I can''t have artificial anything which rules out most canned, pre-made and prepackaged foods) and I have to eat everything fresh, so that puts a real crimp in my efforts to cut corners.
My husband meanwhile, can eat anything and everything and does! I cook two completely different dinners every single night. My grocery bill is kind of atrocious.