Saving Money, Feeling better!

Some of the new things we have been doing, via my shrunken budget, is looking at ways to make our own stuff. I have always been industrious in this area for the big things. I make heat, electricity as we are off grid, etc. I have made my own chopper (Harley) not sling blade, and I make a myriad of our own tools etc. Most recently we began focusing on the minutia like making our own laundry detergent, coffee creamer, toothpaste etc. The cost savings for these items are tremendous and the feeling of self reliance is a wonderful added bonus. To boot they are free....er of a lot of chemicals.
I am sure there are several other things folks do to save some doe that I haven't thought of. Ideas? suggestions? What are you doing to keep that hard earned keesh in your pocket?

Perhaps too obvious, but cooking your own meals is probably the best cost savings mechanic I know of. I can make around 20 super delicious pizzas for the cost of one mediocre take out pizza.

Roasting your own coffee isn't as hard as a lot of people think. A 20lb bag of green coffee beans can be had for super cheap, and fresh roasted coffee is going to blow away anything you can buy at the grocery store.

Getting comfortable with basic woodworking (very basic!) is another way to save money on just about anything. Make your own tool holders for the shed. Fix up a cheap Craigslist desk into your dream workspace. Make a hanger for your hats. Or a bed frame. Or a new shed door. Most of this stuff is at least 10x cost savings versus buying something off the shelf, and you don't need more than a circular saw and a screw gun to make most things. One day I hope to build up to Matthias' level of building his own woodworking machinery.

Now if only I could find a way to craft my own health insurance…

Kyle Neath wrote:
Now if only I could find a way to craft my own health insurance…

perfect...lol I guess I did do that via the Army.

talk to me about the coffee beans? where are you getting the green beans?

jim hughes wrote:talk to me about the coffee beans? where are you getting the green beans?

Last time I did this, my friend bought a 50lb bag from a local roaster and split it up. If you have anyone roasting near you, I'd ask them first. Coffee shipping is kind of a crazy business, and if someone is already getting regular shipments it's easy for them to add on extra to their orders. Google also has a lot of results, but I'd definitely pay attention to shipping.

Jim, would you share you homemade coffee creamer recipe?

I have been frugal for so long, I can't think of anything great to share other than dental.

I went to the dentist in April.  He wanted to remove a tooth.  I have not had any pain since then.  I am using baking soda and salt to brush and a hydrogen peroxide with baking soda as a mouth wash.  No fancy recipe for tooth paste.

The other thing I have done is to use baking soda for deodorant.

Anne Miller wrote:Jim, would you share you homemade coffee creamer recipe?

Anne, We use about the same thing for tooth paste, nothing fancy. The creamer is real easy. 1 partish condensed sweetened milk, 1 partish whole (or whatever) milk, and the rest is super flexible. We usually use vanilla, like a teaspoon for a pint but you can use anything, cinnamon, any of the coffee syrups, etc. It isn't much of a saving but we are heading to "the big city" to see if we can get the condensed milk cheaper. the important part for us is the storage. We like our coffee and like it sweet...It gets expensive and annoying trying to keep the creamer in the fridge. plus we have a little fridge.

Kyle, did a little research. We drink the cheap stuff, most of what I found was high brow brew. Seems $15/1lb is not uncommon. I buy whatever is on sale on the shelf for 6-9 bucks a pound. I'll check locally see if anyone is doing this maybe catch a deal. Thanks for the info, never even considered this!

jim hughes wrote: the important part for us is the storage. We like our coffee and like it sweet...It gets expensive and annoying trying to keep the creamer in the fridge. plus we have a little fridge.

One of what I thought was being frugal is to buy the cheapest dry creamer and use it as a substitute for milk or cream in recipes.  It doesn't have sugar in it.  The creamer might be about the same cost as a gallon of milk but it lasts a lot longer than the milk.  I am not a milk drinker and neither is DH.

Another one that I do that I thought was frugal is to make my own hot chocolate mix using the creamer then adding  to the cheapest chocolate drink mix, the kind that is to be added to milk

Neither of these needs refrigeration.

I use one heaping teaspoon of the homemade hot chocolate mix to a cup of coffee for mocha.

You could use the dry creamer and add sugar and vanilla to your coffee or any other flavorings.

You can make your own sweetened condensed milk by adding 1 1/2 cups white sugar to  1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk  

I've never had any of the fancy creamer that you by at the store so I don't know what I might be missing.

Anne Miller wrote:  

I've never had any of the fancy creamer that you by at the store so I don't know what I might be missing.

There's my problem....A taste of the good life! Sweet cocoa recipe, thanks Anne.

I used to make my own coffee creamer but decided the cost was not all that lowish, so I went a step further. I am pretty darn frugal so my thought process went like this:

Rather than try to lower the cost of creamer by making it myself, I thought why not lower how much I use to start with? I tried to limit the amount in my coffee, but did not like the taste, so I thought, if I switched to something  that took less creamer, then I would really be getting somewhere. So I switched to tea instead. It only takes a fraction of the creamer to sweeten my hot tea to my liking compared to coffee. Now my creamer consumption is really low! That saves a lot more money.

Overall my frugality starts with this one mantra: I have this little pile of cash, and EVERYONE wants to get their hands on that pile of cash. It might be something as simple as my old Union taking a slice of my net income, or it might be an advertisement on TV trying to get me to buy their Jerry Garcia Ice Cream, or my daughter wanting a TuTu for Christmas, but everyone wants my pile of cash, and my sole job is to protect that pile of cash. Once that is understood, it makes frugality easier to understand. It is a rather cynical way to look at fiscal life, but has saved me a lot of money.

Contentment.  Making it a practice to not want stuff makes it easy to not buy stuff (and thus 'save' money).

There's a lot written in homesteading/permaculture/back-to-the-land/etc. circles about growing what you eat.  We've learned the value of turning that around to "eat what you grow."  A subtle difference, perhaps, but I think it's rather significant.  Rather than making a list of what we want and setting out to produce it, we've realized the benefit of understanding what we can grow well and eating that.  This doesn't mean we stop trying to produce other things, but we do make a point of using what we have.

As an example, this past spring I broadcast a patch of oats (perhaps 1/16 acre).  Our local feed store sells turnip seed (mostly for wildlife food plots) for about $2/lb., so I bought 1 lb. of seed (for the same price that a small packet would have cost from the garden seed display) and broadcast that out with the oats.  After oat harvest, we had turnips everywhere.  Now, we don't love turnips.  We kind of mostly like them well enough.  But by gaw, we ate a bunch of turnips, because we had a bunch of turnips.  We would have rather had potatoes, purchased cheaply from the store, but we had turnips so we ate turnips.  (Now, thankfully, the potatoes are in and we can enjoy them.)

There are many things you can make yourself to save money.  One new thing we tried this fall is making apple cider vinegar.  Using some sugar and apple peels from making applesauce, we got a gallon of vinegar.  Buying the 1 quart organic ACV at the store cost $4.   Kombucha is another way to make something for cheap that would cost money from the store.

Wes Hunter wrote:Contentment.  Making it a practice to not want stuff makes it easy to not buy stuff (and thus 'save' money).

This is probably the key ingredient in having a frugal lifestyle.

Learning to live well within your means.  Learning how to get out of debt.

One thing that helped me was knowing how many hours I would have to work to pay for something.  

Do I want to work an hour to pay for a Starbucks coffee?  I've only had the kind that comes in a bottle and only a couple of them.

Budgets have never worked for me so I found the Envelope system worked to learn how to save money.

Basically you have an envelope for each of your bills.  Lets say an envelope marked Electric, Water, Groceries,  Gasoline, etc.  You put the amount of cash you plan to spend on these items in envelopes, then put the rest of the money left into an envelope for Savings.  This wasn't exactly how I did it, this is just an example.

While it may only be a difference of a few dollars, (but every dollar counts right?), I bake bread instead of buying bread. I didn't set out doing this to save money necessarily, I really did it because, kinda like what Kyle said, I learned I can make way better bread than what the store has to offer. So I'm very much a guy, and I'm way more proficient in the garage than I am the kitchen, and I only started baking bread this year, but I started with bread machine breads. The one thing I do different is I don't bake it in the bread machine, I don't like tall square loaves of bread. It's easy for me to measure and dump all the ingredients in the bread machine in order of the recipe, and the machine does all the mixing and kneading, then I take the dough out, punch it down, shape it, and put it in a loaf pan to rise again, then bake it in the oven, so I have a loaf that looks like, and slices like, traditional shaped loaves. I've really come to enjoy baking bread, and it's piqued my interest to want to branch out and try making dough by by hand. I haven't gotten there yet, but I feel like should be able to do it successfully.

I've really been enjoying the simple things in life, and a slice of warm bread fresh from the oven, with some creamy, golden, raw milk butter made by my friends slathered on top and starting to melt, really makes me happy.

I could not agree more with the contentment statement, and the envelope system. I am a huge advocate of understanding both.

I will admit those two concepts have been difficult for me these last two years because my income now is so sporadic being a full-time farmer. It is really hard to drop money into envelopes when I am not sure from week to week when I will get paid. Currently even if wood is on the landing, that does not mean it will not get trucked to the mill. As I write this it has been 3 weeks since wood has moved though I have loads of wood sitting there.

Contentment suffers only because I feel so compelled to provide for my family and it is such feast and famine; one moment having 10 grand in my pocket, and the next have 6 bucks. It is hard not to stress out about it.

One thing few people realize about full time farming is, most farm loans are not monthly in nature, but annually. Boy is it hard sometimes not to dip into that envelope and grabs some emergency money from something that needs to be paid 8 months from now!  And of course property taxes. That has me stressed right now, though for the most part I am debt free. Those pesky property taxes...

I make a lot at home, household cleaners, body products and cooking from scratch. It saves a lot of money, and I enjoy it. Using mostly home rendered fat has been a boon, good fats can be pricey. And beverages, home kombucha, ginger beer, and iced herbal teas have worked out great for us.

I'm working on growing most of my food, and transitioning to more foods that I can easily grow, less grains, more potatoes, winter squash etc.

But for eating what I grow I have to say spaghetti squash was a fail for my family. After trying to hide it unsuccessfully in food, we've now decided it's only fit for the dogs. It's unfortunate because it grows so easily here, but I'm sure that I can find a better winter squash.

Lots of good points! We have been going "backwards" for a few years now. Wes makes a good point as to wants and needs. I like to think of it as wanting what you need. I have been caught up in the biggest baddest shinyest STUFF.. in the past and letting go of that is quite nice. We really only have one thing left, in the physical anyways, and that is our fancy king ranch 4x4. I just bought a 1990 ford f350 7.3L diesel longbed for 680 bucks! runs, drives, pretty good pickup. She's uglier than a chunk of homemade soap but I dont care. The shiny pickup will be down the road in a few weeks. That will be the last of our "keep'n up with Jones" shit. On a personal note I think this comes from being broke all my life and homeless at 15. Same reason I still binge on crunch berries on occasion, didnt have any sweets growin up..lol This road has been fraught with obstacles though. The old life is like quick sand, every time you wiggle ya get a little deeper. They don't place trees with bent over limbs near the pit in this scenario, we've had to fight tooth and nail and still are to get cut loose. Small victories...

I don't have a lot of land, little experience with growing lots of food and less spare time. Land is expensive here - suburban plots cost well over 150€/m².

Still, i recommend growing herbs and spices. The price/kilogram is high, they add flavour to your menu and are generally good for health as many herbs have medicinal uses. Next on our list are local fruit varieties for jams, syrups, dried fruit snacks and such. Salad veggies, tomatoes and pumpkins are further down on the list.

This year we are also experimenting with liqueurs (elderberry flower, basil and sloeberries), flavoured vinegars (raspberry and elderberry flower) and flavored kitchenoil (chili). Another experiment is producing saffron (~11,5 €/g). For the coming years we hope to produce sechuan pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum~ 36 €/kg retail).

Prewashed salads (~6 kinds of salad veggies) cost between 11 and 16€/kg here. I can have a tastier; healthier salad that keeps better in the fridge with between 10 and 30 species for less than half that price.

If you look at the price/kg or price/l that is quite a saving. Of course growing your own flowers is also a cost saving if you happen to spend cash there.

The goal is not overall self reliance but having fun and satisfaction from providing ourselves with tasty food, herbal tea, salads and some luxuries while doing something positive for our local environment and health. Each year we add a bit to our own garden. We generally don't grow stuff we don't like to eat and/or don't know how to preserve.

Most of the plants we use are good for bees, butterflies and the general wildlife.

I work on my own vehicals,appliances,plumbing,and electric.
Now ive been trained in plumbing and electric, but  not the others.
By installing a free low flow toilet 9 months ago, Ive cut my water bill in  half.
In the past couple of months i have upgraded from an undying 16 year plus year old Maytag washer,to a  free high efficiency washer.
After an exhausting second floor install, it didn't work...
Alot of cussing,hair pulling,and interneting later, i found the loosened connector.
I anticipate  cutting my water bill in half yet again.
I found a gas dryer with moisture sensor for sale on Craigslist.
He was asking $25.00, but I guess seemed nice, or maybe needy, so he gave it to me.
I ran black iron pipe to the second floor, to install the dryer.
I hope to save 2/3rds on energy costs over my electric dryer.
My van has a busted windsheild,no hear,no AC and only one door that works like its supposed too.
I cut a hole in the floor to replace the fuel pump.
It did NOT adress the actual problem.
I took both front wheels off to change the spark plugs and wires. Problem solved.
I learned how to do two major repairs,and still saved 75% over paying for one.

Most of these changes would be too expensive to pay for,but the ability to do it myself puts them in reach,and my reputation for being handy  brings me side jobs and access to free uphrades.
Everytime I do for myself, I feel like Im putting money in in my pocket.
Everytime I make my household more efficient, I feel like Im getting a raise on future earnings.

Travis Johnson wrote:I could not agree more with the contentment statement, and the envelope system. I am a huge advocate of understanding both. ...

most farm loans are not monthly in nature, but annually. Boy is it hard sometimes not to dip into that envelope and grabs some emergency money from something that needs to be paid 8 months from now!  And of course property taxes. That has me stressed right now, though for the most part I am debt free. Those pesky property taxes...  

This is where Dave Ramsey's advice on having an emergency fund comes in handy:

"This step is all about building a full emergency fund. It's time to kick debt for good, with 3–6 months' worth of emergency savings. Sit down and calculate how much you need to live on for 3–6 months (for most, that's between $10,000 and $15,000), and start saving to protect yourself against life's bigger surprises. You'll never be in debt again—no matter what comes your way.

Most people lose momentum after Baby Step 2 (getting out of debt) and don't push to complete their emergency fund. This pile of cash will make sure you aren't caught off guard by a job layoff or a leaky roof. Keep your emergency fund in a simple checking account or money market account with check-writing privileges. That way, you can pay the doctor or wrecker service on the spot."

https://www.daveramsey.com/baby-steps/3

"You should also lean toward a six-month fund if someone in your house has chronic medical issues that require doctor or hospital visits. Even if there is room in your monthly budget to pay for medical attention, it’s still a good plan to be prepared in case of a big emergency."

https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/quick-guide-to-your-emergency-fund

BTW, Step four is Invest 15%

I know this is hard as I have been there.  Having children that want to "keep up with the Jones (other kids) makes it difficult too.

A person just needs to make up their mind that they are going to do this and use baby steps to do it.  If a dollar is left over at the end of the month, don't buy that candy bar put the dollar into a envelope or an account that is separate from you normal bill paying account.  Many banks have an easy saver account that requires a low amount to get it started then you have to keep "X" amount of dollars to maintain it without a service charge.

I was surprised to see here, in a thread about saving money, so many of you drink 'creamer', condensed or other milk in their coffee. Maybe it's the American way of drinking coffee? When I drink coffee, it's only coffee (or 'espresso'). And when I drink 'tea' it's a herbal infusion made from herbs out of my own garden.

Cooking 'from scratch' is my habit, and using vegetables from the garden or even 'wild' is my way to save more money.

Making most of my own clothes and household textile, and making them in a good quality, so they'll last for many years, is my most important way to save money ...  and of cause 'not smoking', and riding a bicycle!

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:I was surprised to see here, in a thread about saving money, so many of you drink 'creamer', condensed or other milk in their coffee. Maybe it's the American way of drinking coffee?

Honestly, I do not think that is the case. I never cared for tea until i was over in Ireland staying with some friends. At their house they invited me over and offered me some tea asking if I liked creamer in it..."Why yes I do..." and interestingly enough, since trying it with creamer, something I never even considered here in the USA, I actually like tea now!

One thing I do now that it is winter is; use my coffee maker to make coffee, then take the decanter and place it on the stove. This keeps it warm without excess electricity.

We also like to take less costly cuts of meats and make it delicious. Smoking lower cuts of meat allows the food budget to stretch.

Anne, that makes a lot of sense.

Being the new year, my wife and I took a long hard look at our expenses and really trimmed our budget. If we can hold to it, we are looking at $200 off our monthly personal expenses, and $500 off our farm expenses. That is some pretty good savings.

I certainly do not mean to convey an excuse, but being retired at age 43 is a little challenging when a person has 4 young daughters, but it is that same quality of life that makes retirement at such a young age nice too. Trade-off's you know.

I don't buy gifts. Not for Christmas, not for birthdays not for fun. Instead, I feed people, give people free stuff that I find at the buildings that I demolish, and sometimes provide services, such as blowing out the roof gutters. I remember one Christmas, I installed new plugs and switches, that I salvaged from an almost new addition that was being torn down.

I don't alter vehicles. I have always accepted every car or truck, in the color it came with and I've never been tempted to buy go fast rims. I'm using older vehicles, so never buy collision or comprehensive insurance. 30 years of this has saved me enough, that if a tree dropped on three cars in a row, I would still be ahead of the game.

For many years I lived at job sites, and didn't pay rent. I currently pay $300 per month, for a little hole in the wall. Most months, I work it off in some way.

I enjoy saying no. Nothing pleases me more than telling a salesperson or needy, lazy person, that I have nothing for them.

If something isn't working out with an employee, I always ended in the first half of the first day. It's usually that simple, but some people don't reveal their true colors so early.

I'm a thrift store and yard sale expert. There are only certain thrift stores that I will bother with. Then, I only look at the stuff that is half price that day. In and out. That's how I got my almost new, $4 Clarks shoes. With yard sales, I start early, only if there's a cluster in a good part of town. It's all over by 10 a.m. . Not interested in picking through leftovers, or the stuff that poor people are getting rid of.

I check the freebie section of used Victoria, especially if I have a job that requires Rock, Brick or other things that are given away in quantity. Unless it appears to be something awesome, I don't drive more than 5 kilometers to pick up free stuff. Quite often, it's no good. Before leaving, I always ask, do you have any other stuff that you were giving away? They often have lots of stuff that wasn't in the ad.

I buy top quality tools, that help me make more money, without needing to be replaced very often. I no longer mess with cans of gas, 2-cycle oil ,generators or extension cords. My carpentry tools and my lawn and garden equipment are cordless electric.

Most of what I would call a toy, for a guy my age, are actually tools that can make me money. I almost never buy these tools on spec. They are only bought if I can justify it, by immediately putting them to work for money. I don't buy my tools, my customers do.

I'd never heard of "creamer" in the UK people put milk and sugar in both tea and coffee, creamer to me just sounds like a gimmick to make you buy yet another product.

Saving money; mend clothes, an active life outside means holes in clothes, those brambles do not play nice! My mother has a little saying for this, "A free berry is not free if you tear your shirt to get it." I mend most things, to begin with the mends looked pretty terrible, not one often can't see them. My dog put a pair of tooth holes in a nearly new top down on the seam, so I found a patch of material sowed it on, of course it looked like a patch, so I did a little chain stitch heart on it, now it looks like a design feature!  

If you pay for water one way to save a little (or a lot) is to collect rain water and use it for the toilet. you can flush a toilet by pouring water into the bowl no need to play about with removing the cistern cover.

We drive a old car, bought a very cheap property, we do not have smartphones do not smoke but do drink. We could save by giving up the dogs, but that isn't an option, and to be honest the cats cost a fortune when one needs a emergency tail amputation as well!

Do things you can yourself, but know when you can't. Better to get a professional in than do a bodge job and still have to get someone in to fix it.

Invest in training. I did a bricklaying course last summer because there are lots of repairs that need doing round this place, and the cost of labour is horrific.

And as others have said, (and something I am bad at) save so you don't need to borrow.

Yeah I'm not sure what they mean by creamer, unless it's something like Coffee-Mate. I use milk and sugar, or cream and sugar. Seems like there's quite a culture of making this coffee creamer.

Anne Miller wrote:   One of what I thought was being frugal is to buy the cheapest dry creamer and use it as a substitute for milk or cream in recipes.  It doesn't have sugar in it.  The creamer might be about the same cost as a gallon of milk but it lasts a lot longer than the milk.  I am not a milk drinker and neither is DH.

Another one that I do that I thought was frugal is to make my own hot chocolate mix using the creamer then adding  to the cheapest chocolate drink mix, the kind that is to be added to milk

Neither of these needs refrigeration. ...

I've never had any of the fancy creamer that you by at the store so I don't know what I might be missing.

This is what I mean by creamer except that I buy the store brand, this may last me 2 years or so:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coffee-Mate-Lite-Powder-Creamer-11-Oz/26690400

I also buy Non Fat Dry Milk which lasts me 2 years more or less:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Nonfat-Instant-Dry-Milk-3-2-oz/55081618

I have never bought cream. I have never lived in a household where anyone used milk or cream in their coffee.  Everyone drank their coffee black except me and my mother in law liked hot tea with milk in it.