ecosophia | Frugal Friday

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change as we proceed.

Rule #1: this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc. I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2: this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3: please keep it to one tip per person per week. Data dumps are tedious for me to moderate and also for readers to use. If you have lots of tips, great -- post one per week. This is an ongoing project. If you want to comment on someone else's tip, that's welcome, but again, don't use that as an excuse to post a second, unrelated tip of your own.

Rule #4: please keep your contributions reasonably short -- say, 500 words or less. If you have something longer to say, please post it elsewhere -- a free Dreamwidth account is one option -- and simply put a link here. Teal deer comments won't be put through.

Rule #5: please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about. Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #6: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'd add that sometimes "what you won't look at" might come from childhood patterns. When I was a kid, my parents were careful not to spoil me with toys and games and such, but since they were readers and wanted me to be a reader, anytime I wanted a book, I got one. I was well into adulthood, paying my own way, before I realized that I didn't "count" book spending - I had to worry about eating out and buying games or other leisure-related gear, but not books. It's been hard to accept that the money spent on books is the same as all the other money, but likely helpful :)

Cheers,
Jeff

That's a great point! and a humorous (and too-close-to-home) anecdote. :)

Hah! Yes, that is absolutely our household. Books? What? You mean you have to budget those?

It helps to keep a list, and delay purchases-- a book waiting period. "I really want this book!" becomes "I'll put this book on the list!" and then, I take my list, compare it to the library catalog, and figure out what I can read for free. Then whatever's left on the list can sit and marinate for a while. Often, after a couple months, I'll read reviews that change my mind, or it just doesn't seem that urgent anymore, or I found it on archive.org, read part of it, and decided it wasn't what I wanted anyway. This cuts down on regrettable acquisitions.

Frugal Friday

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