The storage locker thing.

I've seen your post about all the stuff you buy, you're cool🙂 but you spend like Mr Howell:p

All the stuff I buy? Besides, I said semi-frugal

And you don’t see all the things I return ;)

Another great piece of advice; don’t be embarrassed to return something you bought yesterday. :lol:

I'm with there! I've gotten $$$ money back by returning everything I don't need, even little crap. I figure if I ain't going to use it, it don't or I don't like it, send it back!

Yeah... no. It's a long story. I've looked into a smaller one, but the place I deal with said there are none available.

Plus, I have basically a small house or apartment-worth's of stuff I do not wish to part with so it might not all fit in a smaller unit (nor would I know how to part with things too big to sell on ebay - that are buried under things too heavy to move or that I can't sell at yard sales). I contemplate having my own place again one day and I'd have some necessities to start with rather than having to buy all new stuff.

It is a drain, I know. Which is just one reason I seek to save money in other areas.

Speaking of yard sales - did one at a neighbor's this past weekend - the weather was perfect (for a change - almost every yard sale I've done comes with rain or wind that blows most my items half way down the street!)

Friday was a bust - made 2 dollars!
But Saturday was good - made 94 dollars!!! :D
...which pays for about 1 week of my storage unit... :(

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

Definitely wouldn’t describe myself as frugal. Spent a tremendous amount of money during the decade I lived in Manhattan, but my life is much quieter in Connecticut. If I need something such as my tv needing replacement last month I just buy it from Amazon. If it fits the bill, I pay whatever it is.

I have an iPad upstairs & downstairs, which is rather luxurious.

Don’t need clothes. Skincare is Clinique, but, otherwise, very basic items I share with husband.

I go in & out of the streaming services. When I’m done with any site’s offerings I opt out of my subscription until next time.

I'm still the king of frugal! I posted this almost 4 years ago on this very thread...let's see how things have changed? Or stayed the same!

And I still don't have any money to blow!

If i weren't frugal, i would be wading in garbage 24/7, so its kinda a must unless you were born 100 years ago.


Money saving tips...uh, f*ck real estate? Is that legit enough?

Library movie rentals

And on that note discounted digital movie rentals 99¢

I recently noticed that one of the ways that I save money on unnecessary items is by being indecisive. When Hubby and I go shopping, and I find a few things that I want to buy, I try to save money by narrowing it down to only one or two things.

But the problem for me is that I usually can't decide on only one or two items, so I usually just give up and decide to buy nothing. :shrug:

The pandemic helped us to stop spending money on eating out. Hubby and I stopped eating out when the pandemic started, and we just haven't started going back to restaurants yet. We haven't even gotten any take-out since the start of the pandemic.

Friday yard sales are usually very slow, but I'm surprised that you didn't make more money on a Saturday. My co-op had a community yard sale a few months ago. I wasn't able to sell on Saturday, but I set up a few tables of stuff on Sunday, (which I was told by my neighbors was very slow compared to Saturday), and I made about $300.

Yard sales have been going later than normal this year. Hubby and I went to a community yard sale this weekend that had over 150 houses participating. We bought a lot of stuff, (including more than 50 DVDs), but everything was cheap. :)

See, I’m the opposite. I would have bought everything. :rolleyes:

Where ya gonna put those DVDs gbg? :p

Yeah, I saved quite a bit of money those first few months of the lockdown, but after getting vaccinated I started eating like before. I just decided this weekend that I am going to stop eating out and put that money towards savings for a house purchase. I'd say in about 10 years I'll have enough :facepalm:

Why not start with a condo? Smaller down payment.

We don't really have condos here except down near the lake, which means they are all horribly overpriced.

And I have an 80 lb dog.

My first home is probably going to be a manufactured one the way things are looking. Give me a single wide out in the country and I will be happy AF, tho.

Or something like this...

The place in your link reminds me a bit of the house I rented for 10 years - but mine was a bit smaller and not as nice. (I called it a shoe box due to it's shape - it had only 5 rooms including kitchen & bath - it was what some might call a bungalow.) It had a big back yard though.

I miss that place. The house no longer exists as my landlords kicked me out so they could build a mini-Mcmansion on the lot for their daughter.

Not bad at all for the price. Good buy if you have fixer-upper skills. Oof, love how the hardwood floors are wrecked. (Very fixable though.)

Right now they're just in boxes in the corner, but Hubby and I are planning to rearrange the furniture to make room for another bookcase for DVDs.

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

The hoarding has begun again at supermarkets.
This time it's not so much panic over the pandemic as panic over the inflation and supply chain disaster.

Are you "stocking up" on anything?

OH...MY...GOD! what timing Captain! I was planning on going to the grocery store and stocking up today, no kidding. But I got a late start this morning so decided to go tomorrow. Now I suppose there won't be any time toilet paper left....again!

Don't panic, Rules.
I was at my local ShopRite today and, despite reports on the news, things were still pretty well stocked. Surprisingly, they had a lot of reasonably-priced chicken (wasn't there a chicken scare at the start of the summer where they said it would be hard to find and cost a fortune?)

Seems the stores wised up after last year and have limits on how much a single customer can purchase at one time on some goods (such as paper products)

What IS noticeable is the price increases!

Have you noticed your grocery store being out of different items at different times? I have and at different stores.

Yes. But that's been the case during the whole pandemic, and even before.
For me, it works like this: if I discover a new item I really really like (new to me that is)... it will quickly disappear and be discontinued. The more I like it seems to determine how quickly it will become unavailable! ;)

Ha I can relate to that!

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

I'm not frugal at all. I spend money quickly and I don't know what for. It's a terrible quality in me.

Yes, and no.


I am frugal toward most things. But I do spend money on what I truly care about.


In my life experience, I've known the feeling of spending a lot of money on something, having an expectation on how happy I'd be with that, and then after the high wares off, I realize that I'm not really any happier.


I'm also a minimalist and I hate clutter.

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

OMG! Someone bumped one of MY threads?
Now I'll have to resign as President of the Thread Killers Club! (Or did my posting this just kill this thread?) ;)

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=47741

Since we are in a current fuel inflation crunch here's some tips I picked up over the years that may save on automobile gas usage.

• Keep tires properly inflated - if they aren't, they say you'll be using more gas.
  
  
• Drive slowly, safely and steadily - peel outs, flooring it, rapid lane changing, sudden breaking, and speeding all use & waste more gas.
  
  
• Remove excess weight from your car. (Also, if you can remove any exterior accessories like racks or anything that creates wind resistance).
  
  
• Choose the shortest route (this goes right along with ideas like drive less, cut out joy rides, walk, bike ride or use mass transit when you can to avoid driving).
  
  
• Don't idle - turn the car off if you're stopping for any length of time beyond a minute.
  
  
• Don't spend time warming your car up - except for personal physical comfort with the interior heater, there's no reason to "warm your car up" except in exceptionally frigid temperatures. A misconception is that cars need to warm up - they don't need more that a few seconds in warm weather and only about a minute in cold.
  
  
• Check your gas cap, especially after fill ups. Make sure it's always tight. I live in NJ where it's illegal to pump your own gas, and some attendants don't fully tighten the gas cap. A loose cap can cause gas to evaporate quicker or even spill out.
  
  
• Avoid gas stations near the highways - they tend to be more expensive. Try to find the cheapest in your area. (If you live near a state line, gas may sometimes be much cheaper just by buying it in a different state!)
  
  
• In hot times of the year, park your car in shaded areas if possible - this also helps reduce evaporation. (If you have a garage, use it.)
  
  
• Practice regular maintenance - keeping your car running more efficiently (oil changes, filter changes, engine tune ups) will use less gas than a car that is not maintained.
  
  
• Windows open or AC? This one's a trade off - in warm weather the AC uses more gas, but driving with the windows open creates drag and uses more gas. The general rule is open windows uses less gas than AC, but both use more gas... unless you really want to sweat it out by driving in the heat with the windows up and no AC! ;) At least it's not an issue in winter months!
  
  
• Try momentum driving - this is really difficult anywhere there is traffic, and it's a potential speeding risk - but the concept is that your car burns more gas going up hills, but doesn't need to waste gas going down hills, so the idea is to increase your speed on the flat plane before approaching a hill and let that momentum carry you up so you're not depressing the gas pedal so much, then let it coast down hill. Again, this tactic is nearly impossible if there's traffic in front of or behind you, and if you want to maintain a steady speed.

What the heck is a peel out?

LOL. Good excuse not to drive with the MIL.

That's a car that's been hot waxed but not buffed out;)

This doesn’t help because I still don’t know what it means.

I was joking:p
I'm sure everyone has heard The Beach Boys, Christmas song: Little Saint Nick...the lyrics will explain the meaning of 'peel out': https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beac...saintnick.html

Hi Stirch. A "peel out" is when someone floors or nearly floors the accelerator of their car when the car is in a stopped or nearly stopped position - this usually causes the tires to screech loudly, creates smoke (either from the tire friction or out the tail pipe), leaves marks on the road and (IMO) makes the driver look very immature.

Some people will do this at stop lights to try to "beat" traffic, intimidate other drivers, make believe they are a drag racer (or something) or they feel that the smoke & noise "peeling out" creates makes them look "cool" and will impress others - when all it really does it reveal them as a gas waster, someone who adds needless wear & tear to their vehicle (especially their tires), and a reckless driver.

Thank you for making me feel less alone.

I believe "peel out" is a noun. The expression for the act of doing one is "peel your cap back".

I peel in and crawl out.

I'm thinking it could be a noun or verb depending on usage.

To perform "a peel out" would be a noun, but if you said "Hey, let's peel out, man!" then that would be a verb.

Yup, and this is why English is so English.

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

What's a noun?

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

and verb? is that French. I verily know English:D

Captain, thanks! Gosh, I hate this kind of driver. As a male friend of mine always says “Is this really necessary?” when we’re taking a walk together & some idiot (never a woman) is peeling out. (I feel so cool now for using this term.)

Totally correct.

The opposite of an adjective. :D

Doesn't help:p

Because it’s not true. :p

You are a noun, Rules.

That's not quite right either... "Citizen Rules" is a noun; more specifically it's a "proper noun."

While "you" is a pronoun (that is of course if you support nouns, but if you are against nouns then you are an anti-nouner). ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZFca8AkT0

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

whats frugal =/?

It means to be especially careful with your money

ohhhh okay thank you :D

This thread title always reminds me of this :D



Maybe it's just because someone named CaptainSteel is asking, I don't know!

Enjoyed reading @Citizen Rules takes on his frugality.

I can't say I'm frugal, but people around me say I'm too frugal, my colleges, my mother.

Obviously, they don't say that when:
1. I spend a paycheck on a present, or give away what usually three people give in a wedding;
2. Pay my share and other people's share to the guy driving his own car/gas on a 150km journey, in a country with one of the lowest minimum wages and most expensive gas prices;
3. I take it personally when the dinner bill comes and they want to divide the wine price between them and not with me since I didn't drink wine, it's a dinner, I don't mind the bill be split equality. Although I don't like getting invited to dinners because I eat well at home;
4. I don't ask and even forget the money I lend.

I don't like to spend money, and people nowadays like to spend money, maybe because they have a lot of places to spend money. When I spend money, I try to buy quality, the price is important but is almost secondary. Food is in what I most spend money on quality. Also, it's like Tarantino said: I like to taste my coffee.

I also like to dress in average quality clothes, brands like C&A or Springfield when the prices are 35-50% discont. Just bought this jacket for 40€, the price was 70€. The last jacket I bought from this brand lasted more than 10 years. If 40€ lasts another 10, that's 4€ a year, you can't buy a decent jacket for that price. Also, I usually do an investigation of what I like from these two brands, I've been searching for a rain jacket that is thin for almost three years now, I hate the two pockets in the front but I'll have to live with it.

If I go to the movies, which I don't, I can get them all online, for free, the tickets are overpriced anyway, but if I go to the movies, I don't buy the Coca-Cola and popcorns, if I want popcorns I go to the supermarket, get them for 1/5 of the price, sneak them inside, and eat them. The Coca-Cola is full of ice, and overpriced as well. Nowadays the only place concerning this that I spend money without crying for it is in independent movie houses. Usually there's a day in the week that the entry is free, I try to take advantage when the movie is suitable, last week was Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I skipped it.

I don't go to fast food chains because it takes a lot of food for me to be satisfied, the food is good in the mouth, not in the body, is expensive when you add stuff around it, the drinks, the dessert, the chips full of salt, and it doesn't feed, I get thirsty all day long. In my lifetime I went five times to a fast-food chain, still, I'm fat, go figure.

I don't go out and take a breakfast, or go to the pub. We have the greatest breakfast places in the world, everyone says our bread is from the gods. But you pay for it, 1/3 of the cost of eating in a bakery is eating in there, take the bread home. The same goes for pubs, you're paying everything doubling because someone is serving you, and you are in the designated place to be drunk, go be drunk at home.

I try to drive my vehicle the less as possible, this means I have a notebook with the places I need to go. I use Google Maps to see how each route can collide. It's not of my liking to drive around, I stop the car somewhere and go walking, good exercise and I can see what's around slowly. All my activities to do on my own are free. The ones I feel compelled to do are the ones I pay money, they involve company, mostly from work, that I tend to avoid, and that's why they call me cheap.

Frugality is something you learn, things like:

• How to spend less water taking a shower, the army shower, showerheads that drip less water. Learn what human parts you suppose to spend time cleaning;
• Buy in bulk, everything you can, hair washer, everything you can;
• The energetic efficiency of the electronics you buy;
• Buy extension cords with a switch, easily unplug appliances you're not using;
• How to save gas driving a vehicle... the essentials to maintain it, take care of your tires;
• How to take advantage of internet investigation to fix things around the house;
• How to make meals that are nutritious with the cheapest vegetables;
• Drink water with your meals, if you like juice, take a lemon and cut it, don't squeeze it, if you cut it and just add water it last much longer. If you like wine, the price doesn't tell how good the wine is;
• Learn what appliances spend less doing more. Pressure cooker, slow cookers, rice cookers, electric kettle, the list goes on and on;
• Where to buy your fish, what fish to buy, for instance, sardines are the most nutritious fish around, a can of sardines is cheaper, also, frozen sardines are not as bad as people think;
• How to take care of your boots, the leather conditioner is not expensive;
• A garden is a great way to see things grow and also eat what comes out of it;
• Dryer is a electricity magnet, it consumes so much electricity, hang clothes on a clothesline to dry;
• Everything you do, do it when it's full, washing dishes, washing clothes, make it full;
• Whatever you use to eat the water to take a shower, insulate it;
• Don't use anything disposable. Those who shave frequently, buy a Safety Double Edge Razor with some Russian Blades, it's more comfortable, shave better and much less expensive long term;
• Don't give money to the banks, it's okay to buy stuff and pay it for three months, take a look at how much they're going to take for themselves;
• Renegotiate every contract you have, internet, cellphone, television. Nowadays you almost just need internet.

There's so much you can save, ask your grandmother, she'll probably know better than me or anyone here. What's most important in all this is: Learn to value what you have, if you do, you'll probably question if you need anything else, that's called gratitude, it's born out of awareness and it's scientifically proven to be the key to happiness. What more do anyone needs?

Re: Are YOU Frugal?
 

I should probably look at the cost of things more. Went to buy Sensodyne toothpaste from CVS & noticed if I bought 2, one would be half-price. Then I looked at the price of this stuff that I have used forever & was surprised to see that a tube costs $10. Too lazy to get up & see the size of this stuff that I bought, but, basically, a largish tube.

I had no idea that a tube of toothpaste could cost $5 let alone $10. I’m very out of touch.

I missed this post first time around. Lots of good stuff here. Thanks!

Remember all them canned goods for the zombie apocalypse, kids. So buy Chef Boyardee!