Lynnc

If you get cold in the evenings while watching TV don't turn up the heat, use an electric throw or blanket. It's cheaper to just heat up your legs than a whole room. Maybe even use a heating pad and a blanket. When I'm camping I use a hot water bottle.

QultingaddictUK

I have a quilt on the back of my chair so when I get a bit chilly it gets thrown over me, lovely n cuddly as it has flannel backing.

sweetana3

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.com/

this is a great blog from a woman in Cornwall England who practices frugality. Lots and lots of posts on what she does to save money. Her attitude is interesting and the posts are fun to read. Not everything will translate to our issues but she may give you ideas.

http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.com/

Another interesting blog. Woman is older with very limited income and she writes about her life and what frugality she practices. I find her creative and worth reading about. She also lives in England.

cactusmomma

I found this depressing and inspiring. I am 70 and hope to retire at 72 but scared to death because I'll be on a very minimal fixed income unless I come up with some way to make a bit of extra cash. Everyone on here had such great ideas. I'm going to start a frugal file on my computer and start keeping tips. I know I waste a lot of money so the next two years will be focused on cutting waaaaaaaaaaay back. I started a quilt stash so that should keep me for a few years as I hand quilt. My biggest expense is eating out and not cooking frugal. I will be working on that. Thank you to those of you who added websites to find frugal ideas. I know the inevitable is coming so hopefully by that time I'll be ready. Everyone on here is great. I'm always bragging to my co-workers that you can learn about anything and everything on here. Love you all.

AAD

Last year we decided to cut back on everything not needed. we changed from our cell phone company to one from Wal-Mart and saved $60.00 a month. we cancelled cable (80.00 a month for basic. living in country was more) and paid $250.00 for a new antenna. we only get local channels but very good reception and still get some good channels. In 3 months the antenna paid for itself. cancelled AT&T and now have Verizon home phone lowered our phone bill $30. a month and now we have free long distance and some international are free. that is why we were able to save on our cell phone. internet well be changed as soon as our contract runs out. I make my own laundry detergent and it is wonderful. about .08 a load I am planning to start making my own bath soap. If you check on youtube you will find so many recipes for making home made cleaning supplies and save so much money. I make my own deodorant, make up remover, hand lotion, baby wipes for grandkids and to keep in the car for trips for us, sugar scrub for cleaning my face, fabric softner, fake fabreeze, glass cleaner, the list is almost endless. you can save so much doing all this yourself. check out youtube videos for home made cleaners and you will feel so proud of yourself for making your own and knowing what is in them.

Dragonomine

Ah right! I forgot about the cell phone! I got rid of my $100+ contract plan and went with $35 unlimited text and data (200 talking min) a month at Virgin Mobile. Also I bundled my phone and internet with my cable company. It's saved me surprisingly about $40 a month. Laundry detergent I get from Sam's Club. $13 for over 200 loads but I'm thinking about making my own when I run out.

TanyaL

One way to increase the use of your money is to have more money. Are any of you finding ways to earn some money without actually earning a paycheck? There are many of us who cannot for many reasons take a job again, but perhaps could earn a little from time to time. I have started accepting commissions for paintings. Who else is doing something? I guess I am primarily asking those who are retired already.

damaquilts

Well this is timely. In the coming years I am going to be using a lot of these hints.. For the past 4 yrs it hasn't been too bad living on my disability I can't afford much but I could afford to buy most needed things. Well my brother is selling the house which means at first I had no where to live. A friend stepped up and said I could stay with her . Thank goodness cause I just couldn't find any place that I could afford. I was actually thinking about living in my car or buying a tent. People just do not understand that when I say $400 including utilities that is all I can afford and they send me notices for rentals in the $800 range. Well they are trying to help.
I figure I am going to be losing weight now since most of my money is either going to my friend, storage or my dog,good thing she is small and $50 covers her food for the month I really am trying to look on the bright side.I have always shopped Dollar Stores and thrift stores. or made my own clothes and curtains and such. I do eat all my left overs but physcally can't do a garden anymore and really haven't had the space/place. I tried containers here but no light and my DB wouldn't cut back any trees. NO freezer. I do laundry about once every 2 or 3 weeks. Since I am not doing anything to get dirty I wear my clothes repeatedly and my pajamas when I am home and don't go out. I try to do all my errands on one day a month maybe 2 if I get tired. I don't like to shop so do as little as possible. My gas is going to double when I get back to GA since instead of living close to everything I will be living out away from most stores and such. I have never had money but I have always been able to work extra jobs to make more when I needed to. Not now. And being alone makes it even more scary.
No TV . Haven't watched it in 2 yrs or more. I use my computer and my DB has netflix. Well worth the $8 a month to me. Going to look into making my own soap since I like it so much better. And glass cleaner etc. It depends on what my friend will want to do. Here no one wanted to even try to use natural things.

Krystyna

Being frugal has always been a way of life for us. Here is some of what we used to do ~

In our home we had an oil burner and that was costly, so I kept the heat down, wore toasty warm totes and kept a quilt on hand in my studio. I also used a kerosene heater. If you use it properly, there is no smell at all. We saved so much that the oil company called us up to question us about the bill being so low! They thought we were getting oil from someone else!

My husband and I each had a car. We once purchased all our cars at marshall's auctions and only got burned once. When his finally gave out, I told him we could share a car. He only works five blocks from the house, so he would often take his bicycle to work. In all honesty, that didn't always work out, but it could have if we tried hard enough.

I got sick and tired of paying high water/sewer bills for my front lawn -- not to mention the constant battle against the weeds and trimming the edges. So we ripped out the grass and put in raised beds for veggies. The azaleas and other shrubs that looked nice for a few weeks and then were just blah went too and in went blueberry, raspberry, blackberry shrubs and a couple of fig trees. I can't tell you what a joy it was to go outside to pick your breakfast in the morning. I did keep some marigolds but never purchased new plants. When I dead headed, I'd toss the seeds into the bed and voila! new plants year after year. The flower bed turned into an herb garden.

In the backyard since I no longer had children playing back there I had a grape arbor and another spot for veggies. The paved section of the driveway had pots full of tomato plants. I invested in canners and canned everything. Fruits got frozen and put into a small chest freezer along with any meat or poultry that was on sale.
I had jars and jars of canned chicken, beef stew, chili and many other things all made when things were on sale. Working at home, I didn't need much in the way of clothing, so that wasn't an issue. We did have a washer and dryer, but one birthday I asked my husband for a clothes tree and just loved hanging sheets on it -- the fresh scent was wonderful.

I purchased lots of fabric, thread and quilting tools -- including a huge cutting table -- at estate sales. Can you imagine getting a shopping bag full of thread for $5?

Retail was a dirty word. I was a coupon fanatic. BUT if there was something I didn't normally use, I wouldn't get it unless is was dirt cheap and then I had things to donate. Since I made a lot of jam and the cost of sugar was going up up up, I started buying 50 lb bags at a restaurant supply store for a fraction of the cost. Bulk items were stored in 5 gallon tubs that I got for free from a bakery.

Now, life is different. On October 29th Hurricane Sandy destroyed our house and everything in it. Starting over, if we are ever able to rebuild, is going to be tough, but there is an upside to it all. When you have less, you don't have the maintenance you once did. Simplicity is now the word of the day.

Dragonomine

I'm on disability so working isn't an option for me. I do sell some things on Etsy and Ebay but it doesn't really add up to much. Half of what I earn probably goes to listing fees. lol