Make what you can. Some people cut their milk ½ and ½ with powdered. (I do this only for baking—the family won’t drink it. Some make bread (though for $0.89 at the Win-Co, I can’t justify this). There are some things that can be made without a loss of quality, or even better than if you were to buy it.
Shredded newspaper can be used as kitty litter (just put it through your paper shredder). We make home-made laundry detergent, and home-made bubbles (for the kids to play with outside). I don’t make clothes, but we aren’t shy about buying clothes that need minor repairs (zippers, buttons, etc). I experimented with home-made dishwasher detergent, but my variety was leaving a residue, so I just cut my dishwasher detergent ½ and ½ with washing soda, which works great.
Preparing meals at home is certainly the easiest way to be frugal. Freeze home-made meals for sometime when you’ll be rushed and tempted to buy out. Here’s a few menu ideas: Lasagna, enchiladas, home-made pizza.
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 Gazette