I love this topic! Weve been eating mostly from the garden right now.....lunch was a cucumber sandwich, yum! And dinner was a veggie stir fry....so only paid for the oil, rice and coffee. Try NOT to go into any stores, I just see something that I really dont need.
Only buy my batting on sale or with coupons, and havent bought alot of fabric, except from a sweet lady here who offered me some bulldog fabric at a GREAT price....HOW COULD I RESIST?! LOL!
I am getting rid of the satallite tv, got rid of the house phone....am chopping away anything I can live without!

Great thread, hope it keeps going I love to read about being thrifty, I currently am making "plarn" rugs and rag rugs . I have found the ones at the dollar store fall apart too quickly. I also put dishsoap in a squirt bottle ,one squirt makes lots of suds!

Thanks all! I love this thread too! I hope we can keep it going as well. Maybe we can learn from each other. I will start writing everything down starting now. I could so get rid of the satelite, at $90 a month, I just don't find the value in it, but dh likes it! I spend way too much on fabric and such, and don't have time time to use much of it. So I got to really cut back on my spending there. I am getting so tight, I even cut our bills at work. I am trying to recycle, repurpose as much as possible.

A few other things we do...

1. I try to work from home at least one day a week, which saves at least 50 miles a day on my car, gas, lunch and needing business clothes for that day.

2. I changed to a Diva cup and cloth pads as backup about five years ago and haven't bought tampons or disposable pads since. HUGE savings!

3. I also bought a lot of washcloths and towels at serious discounts and use them almost exclusively in place of disposable paper towels.

4. Following the same principle we also use cloth napkins instead of paper.

5. Common sense: turn off the lights! :)

I am working on getting better at saving. Some of how I save is when I do go out to eat I try to save half of the meal to eat the next day. This cuts the price in half. Or split the meal with a friend. I am trying to take my lunch to work more often. I also try to save leftovers as much as possible they are great for lunches. When I use Enchilada Sauce or a can of chili, I freeze what I don't use. It's just me and my Dad so we don't eat much. I cut down on my cell phone bill - a little. And I cut down on my Uverse bill by going to a cheaper plan. Next I am planning on going back to shopping at a Neighborhood Walmart store as opposed to the Super Walmarts - less temptation to buy extra stuff.

We are retired and two years ago out income dropped dramatically so I had to make some adjustmesnts to our spending. I started getting DH meds at the VA and saved a bundle on medications as we did not have a good insurance in that dept. I called a few ins. agents about car insurance and got a cheaper rate to the tune of $500. less a year. We only eat out on special occasions, birthday, anniversary etc. I cook from scratch and do not buy perpared foods. Canceled all the extras on my phone bill such as caller ID, call waiting,long distance etc. Went on a fabric moritoriam and sewed only from my stash, which incidently is most gone now so its time to hit the sales and get some.When I do go grocery shopping I check the sales ads first and have a list with me No spur of the moment buying for me. Thats all I can think of right now but it all adds up.

I make my own laundry soap. We have a big garden and I have canned lots for later when the fresh is not available. I never buy any fabric unless it is on sale. I shop for my clothes from our church clothing closet and I limit my trips to town to once a week. I cook from scratch and we hardly ever go out.