Saving Time vs. Saving Money
When I asked what frugal things you all struggle with, a number of you brought up the issue of time vs. money.
It's an age-old frugality question:
When is it wise to spend money to save time, and when is it wise to spend time to save money?
I think the reason this question is so difficult is that there's not really a one-size-fits-all answer.
I mean, I do think there's a sweet spot to be found between saving money and saving time, but it varies from person to person, and I even think it varies for a single person, depending on life circumstances.
For instance, in the early days of our marriage, we lived on a super tight budget, and when I had to choose between time and money, I erred on the side of money. That worked out fine and dandy because we had no children (and later, just a couple), so I had more time than money.
As we accumulated more children, though, and especially as I began homeschooling, my time became a little more scarce. Around the same time, Mr. FG made a career switch from warehousing to IT work, and thus money became a little less scarce.
So now, instead of automatically defaulting to the spend-time-rather-than-money setting, I've had to think a little harder when that dilemma comes up.
(I am aware that this place...that this whole having-a-choice thing, is a privileged place to be. And I promise that I don't take it for granted, because I know what it's like not to have much of a choice.)
Anyway. All that is to point out that the right choices vary from person to person and from life stage to life stage.
So. How do you decide where the sweet spot is for you?
If you're in a phase of life where your budget is crazy tight, you probably won't have to think too hard. If it saves a few dollars, it's probably worth doing.
But if you're in a place where you have more choices, here's my advice.
Focus on frugal activities that:
-save a significant amount of money
The first thing that comes to mind for me is cooking dinner and packing lunches. The markup on takeout/restaurant food is hefty, and you can realize significant savings by eating at home. We're talking thousands of dollars a year, so it's not pocket change!
Cooking takes time, certainly, but to me, the monetary savings make the time investment worth it.
(Most of the time. I'm not above getting a pizza every now and again. 😉 )
-provide a lot of bang for your time buck
Keeping my kids in jeans could be a fairly expensive endeavor, especially as they're getting older. So, it's worth it to me to stop into Goodwill to take a quick peek through the jeans rack.
I spent 20 minutes in there recently and came out with about 8 pairs of $3.25 pairs of jeans, including a pair for Joshua, which made me super happy. Even if I'd been able to snag new jeans at $10/pair (unlikely!), I still saved myself $54.
Totally worth 20 minutes.
(Here are some pictures of our Goodwill jean collection.)
-take very little time
Some frugal stuff requires only a few minutes of your time, so even if you're pretty busy, this type of thing might make your priority list.
For instance, sewing on missing buttons takes just a few minutes, and my jean button repair was super quick (aside from the time I spent with the shipping mixup.)
Sometimes you can even save time by doing something frugal. For instance, eating leftovers is actually faster than getting takeout. And living with less stuff requires less shopping, which saves you time and money.
-have other virtuous qualities
If the activity in question is a slam-dunk on several fronts, it's probably a good use of your time.
For instance, cooking meals at home not only saves money, but it also nearly guarantees you a more healthy diet.
Shopping second-hand saves money, but it also reduces demand for new (sometimes sweatshop-made) goods.
One more example: cooking from scratch gets you tastier food. I enjoy baking bread and making yogurt (and they do save money*), but sometimes what keeps me going is that homemade bread and yogurt are flat-out tastier than their storebought counterparts.
*Here's a cost analysis of homemade bread vs. storebought. And here's a cost-analysis of homemade yogurt.
-you enjoy
If the frugal activity is something that really blows your hair back, you won't mind spending your free time on it.
Modifying hand-me-downs or mending dish towels is arguably not the most efficient way to spend my time. But I enjoy making something usable out of something unusable, so I choose to spend some of my free time doing things like this.
(tutorial for making a ruffly skirt from old khakis)
Incidentally, this list basically explains why I (mostly) don't line-dry my laundry. It took a lot of time, I hated it, and it wasn't saving me much money. The only iffy thing is that it does have some other advantages, like less wear and tear on clothes and less electricity usage, but those things weren't significant enough to sway me.
It also explains why I am willing to take the time to stop at Aldi, plus a regular grocery store to fill in what Aldi doesn't have. Aldi has really great prices, which means the savings are significant, Aldi treats their employees well, and their stores have a small environmental impact, and I love how small and convenient the stores are, so shopping there meets a lot of criteria on my list.
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So, what do you think? When you are in a life-stage that gives you choices, how do you decide what frugal stuff is worth your time?
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P.S. While I was writing this post, I kept thinking about the factors that go into deciding to spend money instead of save money (like when I forked over a bunch of money for my boots).
That topic sort of plays into what I wrote about today, but is also sort of its own discussion. Which makes me think I should write a post about it.
Stay tuned!
We are Frugal to save money and the help the environment. But as you say Kristen, you have to have a balance, so I will tend to give more weight to saving money/environment to things that save more of each with less time investment. For example, using the dryer, I have always disliked hanging dozens of tiny things after washing, so I have always compromised and thrown the "smalls" into the dryer and hung the larger things outside. In fact I don't even hang them from a line, we have a hanging frame on the deck and I just drape the big items that would take a long time, and therefore a lot of electricity to dry over that. Things like Jeans, sweaters, towels, blankets etc. That way there are just a few things to put out but I save more than half of the power.
We do a lot of what you mention above like eating at home, mending clothes, and shopping second hand. The big thing I'm looking into right now is health insurance. We are trying to decide if we should apply for Obamacare for just enroll our boys under my hubby's insurance. His income just went up significantly, so they no longer qualify for the state coverage. When we initially looked in to Obamacare, it looked like we could save around $100 a month with a plan through the program. However, there were so many snafus that we couldn't get our application to go through. Then we learned that if you get a subsidy, you may have to pay some of that deduction back if your income is higher than what you put in the application. This worries me as I'm trying to start a business and have absolutely no clue how much money I may make, and I'm not sure we'd have the money come tax time to pay it back. Plus there's the whole threat that Obamacare can be taken away, and we know exactly what we're getting with hubby's insurance. I'm wondering if it's worth the possible $1200 extra per year for the safety net of hubby's insurance.
I was under the impression that if you qualify for health insurance through your employer, your family was not eligible for Marketplace health insurance plans...?
I'm still confused by this myself. I've heard different things from different people. I was told to go ahead and apply since we might be able to get deductions due to my hubby's income (and the cost of the health insurance in relation). It's all so confusing!
Hey Megyn,
I don't know about eligibility for your kids, but in Colorado (which has its own webpage) you had to answer a bunch of questions to determine eligibility before you could even proceed.
Anyhow, this hasn't been widely publicized, but there are two separate kinds of financial assistance through Obamacare. The one you're talking about is the tax credit, which is designed to offset the cost of the monthly premiums, and you have the option of taking it upfront as a subsidy paid directly to the insurer. But you can also just wait and take it as a credit at the end of the year when you do your taxes - it works like Earned Income Credit in that you get the credit refunded to you even if it's greater than the amount of taxes you owe. You can also opt to have part of the credit paid upfront to the insurer and take the balance as a credit when you do your taxes.
If you've taken more upfront than you end up qualifying for, then you do have to pay it back when you do your taxes. Since my income varies wildly, and I have plenty of money in savings to deal with the insurance premiums, I just decided to wait and take the credit at tax time. You can get this credit no matter which level of Obamacare coverage you choose.
The other financial assistance part is called "cost sharing" and has gotten much less publicity, but can end up being a really good deal if you qualify. Basically if your income is 250% of the federal poverty level or less you qualify - as long as you buy a silver level plan. What the cost sharing does is to reduce the amount of your co-pays and deductibles significantly. Soooo... in Obamacare a bronze plan generally pays 60% of the cost, a silver plan 70%, a gold plan 80%, and a platinum plan 90%. That number is called the "actuarial value." So, the cost sharing works by giving you a higher actuarial value than the 70% that usually comes with a sliver level plan. Here's an article that explains it further:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-newman/obamacares-secret-subsidi_b_4078125.html
The only catch is that you have to buy the silver level plan to get it. If your financial situation changes mid-year, you have to notify them so they can adjust this benefit accordingly, BUT you don't have to pay back any cost sharing benefits you received up to that point. I ultimately decided to go with a bronze plan since I rarely go to the doctor and the difference in premiums between bronze and silver would have been close to $100/month - so choosing a bronze rather than silver plan made me ineligible for the cost sharing benefit. But if I was in a situation where I had to go to the doctor more frequently, it would have been a really good deal because my co-pays and deductibles would have been tiny (assuming I was at the low end of my ever-fluctuating income.)
OK... sorry to blather so long, but that's what I know. Hope that helps!
xoxoxo,
Cat
Here is a way to save the environment - and money for yourself if you use paper towels at home to dry your hands. We don't use paper towels at home, we use regular cotton towels, but like everyone we use paper towels at public places. Here is how you can save masses of trees.
Most people grab a handful of paper towels in public restrooms, you see great wads of paper thrown in the bin. But you can easily dry your hands with just ONE paper towel - thus saving trees.
Here's how - first SHAKE YOUR HANDS, and I don't mean just once or twice, I mean like twelve times, hard. Why twelve? - months of the year, signs of the Zodiac, apostles, whatever floats your boat. I do it 13 times because that is my lucky number. My daughter was born on the 13th. Coincidentally it is the 13th today. So, shake your hands hard 12 times, or 13, or ?, then take ONE sheet of paper, fold it in half, and dry your hands. One sheet! It works. If you use paper at home, you save money AND the environment. If you do it away you save the environment, and trees. Aren't trees beautiful?
And even better it takes no time and no money on your part, but it saves money and trees.
Have a beautiful day.
Shaking your hands is an awesome suggestion, on the face of it. Then I thought about the last place I used a paper towel. Oh yes, last week at San Francisco International Airport. Imagine if everyone shook their hands over the tile floors. They would quickly become soaking wet and a huge trip hazard. Not to mention all the crud that would become airborne. Fortunately, the airport has installed Dyson hand dryers. Still uses energy, but less overall. So, shake where it's feasible (wonderful idea!), but please be considerate of others in public places.
Just shake your hands over the sink. You don't need to get water on the floor. 🙂
I'm still debating this issue...I work 12 hour rotating shifts and get very tired - mainly from the rotating but so many hours plus 30 minute commute each way (sometimes more or less depending on traffic) and I don't feel like cooking or keeping up with the house..I've debated maid service but I think if I keep declutering and simplifying and cooking/freezing meals I can get on an even playing field eventually and not waste money on a cleaning service or maybe go to a light cleaning service or less frequently...I do prefer eating my own meals for health and money sakes but it's hard when I'm soo tired. plus it's just me so I dont' like eating at home by myself...
I just wanted to tell you that I use a light cleaning service (she only comes every other week) and I feel it is well worth my money. The time it saves me is actually priceless in my mind. It frees up time and keeps me from stressing about all the things I need to get done at home. I know other people that would much rather do it themselves than save the money, but this is what FG is talking about. There isn't a one size fits all.
thank you! I've felt guilty for even thinking about a cleaning service - guess I feel it's something I should be able to do..but just can't! it stresses me out and I hate doing bathrooms..don't mind laundry so much since it's just me and changing linens on the bed but bathrooms and mopping just dont' do it for me and I dont' do a good job no matter what.
I recently hired someone to come every other week to clean just the bathrooms. It has relieved so much stress, as the bathrooms are my least-favorite room to clean. I do some light cleaning in there each week, but she does a good deep-clean a couple times a month. Priceless! (I commute 15 hours each week, hubby travels for work so I am basically a single mom in many ways, and I cook almost all of our meals from scratch. My time is already stretched pretty thin.)
Suzanna - it might help to figure out what, specifically, you're feeling guilty about. Employing someone else, ie being "master"-like? Spending the money? Oursourcing a job you could, do yourself?
If you don't do a good job *and* it makes you unhappy, that's two reasons to get someone else to do it. Think, also, of what else you could do with that time. If you're not good at it and you don't like it, there's a good chance it takes you longer to do it as well.
It always makes me chortle when FG uses making yogurt as an example of frugality in action. It's such a perfect example of different things working for different people. I don't eat nearly as much yogurt as the FG family does and never really got the hang of it - it failed with some regularity. Further, I dislike making it. Then I ran a financial analysis. Even comparing store-bought organic/free roaming yogurt to homemade-with-cheap-milk yogurt, I'd save no more than $42 a year.
No more making yogurt for me!
Exactly...different things work for different people. That's why I think about it in terms of principles rather than specifics.
Another person could use those principles to decide that line-drying laundry is a definite yes, whereas for me, it came up as a definite no!
I'm still debating the yogurt issue- 6 people eating yogurt daily vs just me eating yogurt occasionally...not sure it's worth it for me though for the 6 it's definitely a big savings! I don't have the items needed to do the yogurt so I'd have to invest in the styrofoam thingy and dont' have a thermometer and prefer lower fat Greek yogurt which makes the recipe iffy and would require that straining step I don't like the sound of...but the tradeoff would be having yogurt that I know what's in it...right now I buy yogurt occasionally though part of that reason is the price.
As for the styrofoam container... In the summer they are often on sale for a very reasonable price. I found an OMAHA STEAK shipping box in a FREE pile at a Garage Sale. It works great. I see thermometers regularly at thrift stores for 99 cents. Check the stores return policy before making the purchase in the evant the thermometer doesn't work.
thanks!
We use the crockpot method which doesn't require any equipment except a crockpot and a beach towel. And we put the yogurt in Mason jars. We don't eat a huge amount so the cost savings are not enormous but it's worth it to have yogurt without weird stuff in it and I love not having all those plastic containers around. #5 plastic is not recyclable in our community.
LOL! William B. When I was single, I had time and did make my own yogurt. Now that I'm married and feed four adults every day, time is more precious. I found Mountain High "yoghurt" in a 64 oz. tub at Costco for 3.99 and I haven't looked back. Hated the plastic tubs, but a friend of mine has spoken for them. She uses them for all her baked goodies that she shares at Christmas time.
Susanna - As someone who didn't marry until 54, I can relate to your situation. Here's another perspective you might want to consider. Are you cleaning for one person or for a family? If you're the only one using the bathroom, must it be cleaned weekly? Do your sheets need to be washed every week? Can you sleep on one side of the bed the first week and the opposite side the next? How about towels? I used two big bath sheets and alternated them so they always dried thoroughly. I never touched the "pretty" towels, so the bathroom always looked neat and tidy. Do you need to grocery shop every week or can you try one big shop with one or two small small shops on a monthly basis? Must laundry be done weekly or can happen twice a month instead? There are lots more ideas and props to Amy D's Tightwad Gazette for prompting me to rethink what clean meant to me. Cut yourself some slack, see if you can get by with a little less housework and you may find you don't need to kill yourself or hire a housekeeper.
Diane, my main problem is I haven't been killing myself LOL! the hosue got waaayyy behind in neatness! I do use a couple of towels and alternate(just me) and I can put the sheets off a bit but I do like my bedding fresh since I'm working long shifts and it's often hard to sleep when I switch shifts..I don't mind that part so much and laundry isn't always weekly but probably more than every other week depending on how dirty stuff is. the bathroom might could be kept up better but the water here is awful and those toilet dropin thingies don't do the trick and I hate a yucky looking toilet. also the sheets would last longer if I could sleep in one spot but I'm all over the place- if I ever do get married it'll be a problem LOL! I'll start on one side then wake up on the other then find myself in the middle...
Since I started reading your blog (a few years ago), I've drastically changed how I live. Well, I had a couple babies that helped with that too. However, posts like this make me evaluate and think about my daily choices. Thank you.
a other factor of the time ,money thing is also social.
if you use someone to do youre lawn,laundry, cleaning, cooking. what ever it is that you really dont like. you are providing a income to some one, there is a social factor as wel. i have a lady coming in 3 time a week. she does al the cleaning, at a slow pace. she is a lady on a small pension, if i stop hiring her, she wil have a serious drop on her income. i dont live in the usa and labor is way cheaper in latin america. but if you want to support local economy , using local people to do jobs for you is one way to go.
That's a good point...kind of like the giving-by-spending post I wrote a little while back.
Every year, we re-assess our family goals. And it's those goals that help me to determine where I draw the line in our frugal activities. It isn't a "save money at all costs" determination, as our family goals are not simply to save money. Some of our goals include family time together, time for personal leisure pursuits, keeping our two daughters in university for the next 4 years, and good health.
We could have everyone take the bus everywhere, but the walk to the bus stop takes 35 -40 minutes each way. That would sacrifice our time for togetherness, and leisure activities. So we compromise, and my husband and daughters drive to a park and ride, then take the bus downtown.
A lot of folks think that frugality is all or nothing. But there always seem to be compromises which work. For instance, I am hanging laundry to dry these days, but not all of the laundry. I use the tumble dryer for getting a jump-start on heavy items like jeans and towels, and will do an entire load of other items in the dryer, about once per week, to save time.
Since we re-assess our goals each year, I know that any of these frugal activities that I undertake may just be temporary. It's definitely a "do what works best for you and your family" sort of thing.
Great topic and something I struggle with as well. Emily Oster wrote an interesting article on it too. http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/02/time_is_money_opportunity_cost_can_help_you_figure_out_how_much_your_time.html
Great points! Right now we are out of necessity having to be very tight with our budget, so often we don't have the decision to save time vs. money.
I'm in the midst of losing weight (yay me!) and for the first time ever I've been shopping at Salvation Army or Goodwill. I've found some awesome clothes there and it has definitely changed my thoughts on shopping used. I did splurge with some recent birthday money though - and bought myself a $60 pair of red leather shoes. Totally loving my shoes so it was way more than worth it (especially with gift money!).
Cloth diapering as been one of those trade-off things for me. With my first and second (born 6 years apart), it was worth it for sure. But when my third came along, I still had a 15 month old who was in diapers, and keeping two kids in cloth diapers was so time-consuming (and involved so much wear-and-tear on the laundry machine) and frankly just started to kind of gross me out and wear me down. When I had to throw out a bunch of diapers for the second time because I left them in the bin so long that funky stuff grew on them that I was just NOT going to deal with, I realized I would probably not be causing us significant financial harm by keeping the two in disposables. When our last is born this summer, we will probably do cloth again, because hopefully s/he will be the only one in diapers.
Oh, I was also going to mention, I had a friend give me some clothes for my daughter (her daughter has about 10 older girl cousins who give her tons of clothes, so much that she has extra bags to give to friends) that include SIXTEEN pairs of size 4T jeans. We love jeans, but not that much. 😉 She picked her four favorites, and we're passing the other 12 along. But nothing beats free cute jeans.
I think I do all these things without realizing it! I used to focus on time, now I weigh time vs. money saved, and consider what I really like to do. Great topic!
Deciding whether or not it is worth your time is a big one and definitely something to be considered. For me, however, since I am a stay-at-home, home schooling mom, I believe one of my "jobs" is to run our household as efficiently as I can. I interpret that as spending little to no money to meet our tight budget and investing goals. So while there are things I may do that I could purchase or hire out for less, if by doing it myself I spend little or no money; money which in turn can be invested and become profitable, it is worth me doing. For our family, the more cash we keep, the more we can invest in rental properties and the wealthier we become. Since I'm home anyway, might as well make the optimal most of my 24/7.
I’ve nominated you for an ABC Award AND a Sunshine Award. For details, see here: https://lynthelazy.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/awesome-blog-content-award/
Diapers were the biggie for us. In our previous home, water was cheap and I had plenty of time, so we did a lot of cloth diapering. Fast forward to moving 300 miles to the big city. The price of water tripled (!!!) and thus made cloth diapering very expensive, even with our HE washer and dryer. Suddenly, disposables actually saved us money (and time). It blew my mind.
The switch to that is that food is also more expensive here (especially eating out), so we eat most of our meals at home and I've also taken to baking my own bread and making our granola. Yogurt making is next up to add to the make-at-home rotation. It's funny how a change of environment changes what works financially and time-wise.
I hear you on that one! Owning a car became so much more expensive when we moved out to Seattle that we opted to just sell it in Ohio and go car-free - talk about trading time for money! We now bus, walk, or bike everywhere, which sometimes means we don't get to do things because they're too far away. On the whole, though, we're all in a lot better shape, and we know our neighborhood really, really well, having explored most of it on foot or bike.
I find that without a car, I now am willing to pay to have certain things delivered, like diapers, toilet paper, wipes, etc. - things that are bulky. I shop more frequently, too - 2x a week instead of 1x week - but since I'm limited by what I can physically carry home and fit in our apartment's tiny kitchen, I tend not to buy as much as I used to. I'm much more aware of buying what I know we can use, as opposed to just stocking up whenever a particular item goes on sale. It's no good to me if I have no place to put it at home, or end up calling a cab (to the tune of $10-$20 depending on the store location) just to get it home!
I used to be a full-time employee who drives half hour to work and lately I decided to work in town where we live and got a part-time job. I'm hoping to be a full-time stay-at-home mom but we have some big bills to pay yet!
We cut down our expenses on a lot of things from cellphone, always having home cooked meals,grocery shopping, buying clothes at Goodwill,experimenting on store brand items, you name it and we're doing everything to catch up with our bills and paychecks and we are much happier now than before because we are taking care of our girls 24/7 compared before where we dropped our girls at the daycare crying most of the time which breaks my heart. Simple living is the answer to our family of not looking for high paying jobs yet with high paying bills.
Great post. I especially love the way you so gracefully acknowledge that you know how privileged you now are, and are so understanding on people who don't always have the freedom to make the "money or time" decision. I used to be in the same boat. In the early days of our marriage, we made about 6K a year. Fortunately, there were programs like food stamps and subsidized housing to help us out while my husband launched his business. He's now fully self-supporting our family of 5 as a self-employed author/bookseller.
On a side note, what is that broccoli soup looking stuff up there?? It looks delicious! Is there a recipe somewhere? 🙂
It's a broccoli cheese soup-I haven't posted the recipe, but I can if you'd like. I'll make another batch and take some pictures.
It's funny that you bring this up. The other day on another frugality blog I frequently read someone commented that they didn't "understand" convenience foods. I actually explained that while I make most things from scratch sometimes convenience is necessary for mental sanity! With that wing said....
My Do's- Homemade laundry soap, homemade pizza, cook from scratch, homemade hand soap in refillable dispensers, programmable thermostats, shopping sales and/or in season, eating leftovers, combining errand trips, using some (few coupons)
My Don'ts- hanging laundry. (Except jeans/work pants), "extreme" coupon couponing, cheap pet food, homemade yogurt, uncomfortable home temperatures-if rather pay more money to be comfy than have the AC on 80 in the summer.
Sorry for the typos. I wrote it on my phone with auto correct 🙁
I like to cook- stressfree, easy, something new- but if I should be concentrating to my studies or to an other matter, that money saving doesn't necessarily bring much (at least when it comes to my nerves). What a good moment for subwaylunch or half ready- something- interesting.
I absolutely hate doing the mop-and-bucket kind of cleaning (picking up/laundry/etc doesn't bother me), so I hire a cleaning service to come every 4 weeks. I also make almost all our meals at home, and most of the time I don't mind cooking. So the money we save from not eating out more than covers that once a month cleaning in my mind, plus as you mentioned we generally eat healthier because of it. It is truly a give and take with the time/money issue.
As I get older I find myself choosing time over money much more often. There are probably two reasons. I have more money saved in the bank and I find my time more valuable than I ever did before. The exceptions are usually related to the environment and enjoyment. If I enjoy a task that takes more time I'm more apt to spend time on it.
Another thing I've learned from living in Seattle is the value of bartering, be it items or skills. I've "paid" for babysitting with fresh-baked bread, or for homemade granola with a couple of jars of my homemade marmelade. It doesn't require that much more time to put up a couple of extra jars, and when the granola came in the same containers I gave away, we both felt like we came away "equal". I got something that involves a lot of time, and so did she!
Swapping skills and products can help build community relationships, too, and somehow it just feels rebellious to step outside the "typical" exchange of money. 🙂
I recently started hang drying my family's clothes & I honestly don't mind it, reason being that I live in an apartment building with a community washer and dryer you have to pay to use, $2.50 to wash and dry a load of laundry. 2 loads of laundry a day (my new rule, to keep stress off of me & I do have 2 loads of laundry to do each day) = around $900 per year, I could do a lot with that money. Plus our apartment is really dry and those wet hanging clothes act as a humidifier, I can literally feel the moisture coming off of them & no more having to buy filters for the humidifier, which also costs money.
Checking receipts for errors or discrepancies in prices takes a second and can save a bunch over time. Sometimes an item doesn't ring up at sale price. Or, as it happened yesterday, when I went to return an item and they refunded the wrong item on the receipt (a less expensive one!). So I usually glance at the receipt on my way out or watch the items scan as the cashier rings them up but once in a while (depending on how distracted I am) I'll get out of the store before realizing and have to go back. I still think it's worth the time, though!
I forgot to add my favorite way to save money! I always ask for a discount if I think there's a chance I can get one (not at the grocery store or similar but the auto shop, etc.).. Recently, after internet shopping and realizing the store I was buying from wasn't offering free shipping, I called and they knocked off the price of shipping just like that! Saved me $34. I'd say this strategy works 99 percent of the time for me (can be tiresome at times or even embarrassing but I do it anyway!) Usually, all you have to do is ask. (And be polite;)
Hi, this is something I really have worked with over the years - to make myself MORE FRUGAL! These are a few things I've done/am doing:
1. Continue to pad my skills: cooking/baking is one great example. You know, we need to eat every day! I know if I weren't making my husband and myself tasty, really healthy things to eat every day that we'd be tempted to eat out more often. This is one oft-toted example that really does make a huge difference. It also helps lower medical bills!
2. Don't be afraid to try to fix it: I have always been one to do things myself, or at least try! Fixing a broken drawer, mowing my own lawn with a non-motorized push mower, sewing and other simple clothing repairs, dyeing clothing, etcetera. If I fail then I won't have lost anything and if I succeed I've continued to pad my fix-it skills! P.S. my husband is great at this too. One of his degrees is in electrical engineering so he's always handy for electrical stuff! 😀
3. Flex my frugality muscles: It's true that willpower gets stronger the more it's used (scientifically proven!) So, taking a periodic look at how I'm spending my money and choosing to decrease more spendy habits and increase free or income-producing habits can only benefit us. We've kind of got our habits pared down to the bare minimum by now, but I have to tell you that there were some I did NOT want to let go of! ( psst, Yoga lessons!) An example of this would be Yoga, which I love and is a necessary component of my well-being. I invested time, money and effort into getting my 200-hour Yoga Instructor training and now I can not only practice by myself with greater knowledge and joy, but I can also generate income with that skill! (this also pertains to #1)
For some of us there's an equally important consideration - energy. I have an autoimmune disease and I have episodes where I need to nap every few hours; awkward in the office, I know. 😉 One of the most important things I did was to make my kitchen more ergonomic. The super-heavy bowls that we rarely used? Gone. I replaced our super-cute oval casserole dishes with ones that have handles, since my hands don't always work that well and handles are safer for me. We're still figuring out the freezer situation, since the freezer is on the bottom and bending/lifting is sometimes difficult for me.
Regardless, I'm still cooking and our house is not quite the disaster I feared (though it's getting close).