Tips
It's Time to Get Frugal!
Welcome to the first 30 days of frugal living! Although you probably expect the next month to be filled with major cutbacks, you’re actually about to experience one of the most fulfilling and rewarding times of your life. By taking control of your spending habits, you are claiming ownership of where your hard-earned money goes and paying yourself back with simple pleasures.
As you begin to spend your money on things that really matter to you and quit shelling out cash for things that don’t, you’ll find your life will become a whole lot simpler. We will provide you with the success stories you need, the money-saving tips you’ll tape to your refrigerator door and the encouragement you deserve every step of the way.
DID YOU KNOW? According to the Market Science Institute, grocers depend on 60% of your purchases to be impulse buys. That’s 60% of your grocery bill spent on things you never intended to put in your cart! Think how much money you could save by simply determining ahead of time what to buy and not falling for fancy gimmicks.
BONUS TIP: Buy store-brand food. It’s usually just as good and way cheaper.
I rarely buy anything that isn't on sale, or cheap to begin with.
We only have two markets in our small town, plus three small department stores that carry quite a selection of food and household items that one would normally buy in the grocery store.
Living in a small town has it's advantages. Even though the selection is limited, I don't have to travel far (saves on gas) and don't have so many markets to choose from that it drives me crazy.
I've learned where to buy what on my regular items, unless I find it on sale somewhere else. I buy in bulk on sale items also. On average, I save about 33% on my grocery bill.
My next big undertaking is going to be starting and maintaining a year-round garden. It's been difficult because of chronic pain issues, but I'm devising ways to garden in easier ways, like container gardening, and raised bed gardens, etc.
There are 'levels' of store brands where I live:
* premium (priced very close to national brands)
* house (lower priced)
* discount, sometimes called NoName (very low priced)
The quality varies dramatically between the top and bottom, with the top sometimes being even better than national brands and the bottom being... ew, so much lower.
For things like waxed paper or laundry detergent, there is often so little distinction that the discount brands are the best deal, other times the discount brands are quite disgusting, low-grade and not worth half what they're priced at.
P.S. National brands will sometimes go on sale to lower than the mid-range house brand pricing, which matters if you prefer that item