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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

What I've learned so far.....


I posted a little while ago that I was trying to learn how to live a more frugal lifestyle and try to put some more of my money away into savings instead of blowing it all on unneccessary items. I guess my main downfall is determining "need" from "want" right now. I think that "little" issue is going to to take some time to "overcome."

Here is a little sampling of what I've learned/saved so far -

~ Making lists is a good thing....I've started making lists of things that I need to purchase and have been doing alright at sticking to the list....I'm still working on it....I've got a LOT of bad habits to break.

~ My dog is another one of my downfalls....She's currently on a pretty expensive brand of dog food (Royal Canin....her tummy didn't like the Solid Gold brand we tried her on). I put her on this brand because it makes a kibble specifically designed for Cocker Spaniel's dietary needs. Well yesterday when I went into buy her some food I was comparing the Cocker Spaniel kibble to the regular Medium Adult kibble and there really wasn't vary much of a difference and in the long run it would be cheaper for me to feed her the Medium Adult because the store only sells the Cocker Spaniel kibble in 6 pound bags. A 6 pound bag lasts us maybe 2 weeks if we're lucky. So I picked up the Medium Adult 30 pound bag which will last us a LOT longer. Here's the upside to this "story"....I actually saved money buying the bigger bag....For some reason the larger bags have the "instant instore coupons" on them and I saved a whole $4.00.

~ I don't always purchase name brands....Most of the products that I currently use, the name brands are more expensive than the store brands (even with a coupon).

~ I'm in the process of learning to do all of my errands in one trip (if possible).

~ Clearance/bargin racks are a good thing.

I've also added some "frugal" blogs to my blogroll if you are looking for more ideas. Here are the links:

Bare Budget Beauty

BeCentsAble

Frugal and Fabulous

Frugal Fabulous

The New Frugal Mom

Thrifty and Chic Mom

Cheapskate Mom

6 comments:

Kati said...

You need to become a drug store shopper.. there are alot of "experts" on her about drug store shopping!

I almost always buy name brand.. its an addiction I suffer from... but I NEVER ever pay full price.. always very low!

Good for you for coming up with ways to be frugal!

Keeper of the Skies Wife said...

Ahhh yes it is great to be frugal!!!

I am a list person!! I write lists for everything.

I use Royal Canin as well and yes it is cheaper to get the 30 pound bag!

Hillbilly Duhn said...

I too am a list person. It helps keep me on track.

Frugal is a funny word. We are trying, but to get everybody on board and actually stick with it, it's pretty difficult.

Crazee Juls said...

...thanks for the tips. With this economy I seriously need to cut out some expenses...this helps

Yaya said...

Our main money saving technique are to go to the grocery stores not in the suburbs near our house. It's one way or the other. We go to the city grocery stores where things are significantly cheaper, but where we have to deal with ignorant neglectul baby breeder type people (hard thing for me to witness) or we go to the beautiful ritzy suburb grocery stores but spend more money on the same products. Sigh.

Heatherlyn said...

I can vouch for how useful the "list" is. Making a list saves me about $200 in grocery shopping. Seriously. I also try to plan my trips to do as many things in a loop as possible, also saving time, money and gas!