This is a classic frugal tip that is so good, it bears repeating. Supermarkets aren’t a good place to buy toiletries and many household consumables (diapers, paper plates, deodorant, etc.), so only shop the perimeter.

Most grocery stores are laid out in a “box” pattern with vegetables on one side, dairy and meats along another (usually the back due to theft concerns) and breads on the other side. Anything in the middle falls into one category or another:

1. Make it instead
2. Don’t buy it at all
3. Buy it elsewhere.

The one area that I stray is with pasta. One store we go to keeps it with bulks in the back—another with ethnic foods in the middle. I’ll run around and get some pasta—even though it’s easy to make at home.

This post is part of a series I’ve entitled “Frugal August” and is inspired by (though not copied from) the book The Complete Tightwad Gazetteby Amy Dacyczyn. My tips are meant to build on hers, but generally are not duplications.

Going from a lifestyle of excessive consumption to a frugal lifestyle is a shock.  Mostly because it’s very empty looking.  Right now, my entertainment center is empty.  I’m writing in the living room, and seeing a blank space. Why? Well, the TV is in the bedroom for the night.  The A/C is on in there and my husband wanted to watch a movie.  Rather than having two TVs, we simply pick up the one and move it to the other room.

Eliminating the expectation of rooms filled up with “stuff” can be percieved as weird, but it’s sure a lot easier to dust. 

One area you may notice this especially is in the area of gift giving. Scaling back your gift-giving can be especially challenging.  My best advice is to go in little increments rather than all in one.

A few years ago I hosted a bridal shower for a dear friend, and when I sent the invitations I sent an index card with instructions for guests to bring it back with a favorite heirloom family recipe.   I compiled all of the index cards in a discounted wedding photo-album from a craft store as a “brides first cookbook.”  Now when she goes to make her husband some cookies, she can use his mom’s favorite recipe and when she craves comfort food she can make her dad’s mac and cheese.   We filled in the album later with snapshots taken at her bridal shower and additional recipes from loved ones that she requested for her collection.  Sometimes buying more/bigger stuff doesn’t make for “better” stuff.

This post is part of a series I’ve entitled “Frugal August” and is inspired by (though not copied from) the book The Complete Tightwad Gazetteby Amy Dacyczyn. My tips are meant to build on hers, but generally are not duplications.

I discovered co-ops accidentally. In my very, very broke college days, I made it through by house-sitting for professors as they went on leave to teach abroad. For 18 months I lived rent-free caring for houses in much nicer neighborhoods than the student housing. One of these places happened to be across the street from a food co-op.

Image Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

Having just a laundry basket and a bicycle to my name, this appeared to be my only realistic option to for grocery shopping. There was a positively crushing membership fee of $35 annually, which I didn’t pay because I didn’t have that much cash. Instead I opted to accept the prices a few cents higher on each purchase.

Generally, my purchases there were limited to a tiny amount of chicken every other week, corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, potatoes and onions.

The house I was caring for had a good tomato garden and some herbs. From this I could make tasty quesadillas and salsa for next-to-nothing and rice for breakfast and lunch. (My food budget was $50 a month in the summer of 2000).

Co-ops pool resources and buy in bulk sharing the savings with the membership. There are some famous co-ops that you might not even realize exist (REI is a co-op).

Now I rely on more informal co-ops. A friend organizes a co-op with the mail order food company Azure. I haven’t participated yet but I’m working on my list and price comparison sheets to determine my order for winter. I could buy 10 pounds of oats and use them, but I think the bag size is 25. I could use ¼ pound of cinnamon, but not 1 pound, so it’s a little hard to develop a list.

This friend has several people that put in the orders together and then the food is all delivered by tractor-trailer to a central location—where everyone comes to pick up their orders. Some things will definitely be going on this list—like peanut butter, flour, some spices, but other things are going to need more careful consideration (how much butter do I want to freeze in the name of a good deal?). A co-op can be formed in an organized way via a membership club, but even splitting a jumbo box of diapers from Costco with a pal can save you some serious dollars down the road.

This post is part of a series I’ve entitled “Frugal August” and is inspired by (though not copied from) the book The Complete Tightwad Gazetteby Amy Dacyczyn. My tips are meant to build on hers, but generally are not duplications.