It’s the last Tightwad Tuesday of 2008, and it’s time to start looking forward to 2009! When I first started doing my Tightwad Tuesday feature this year, I had thought about expanding it to include all of my blogging readers and frugal commentators. But because I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew, I started small.
Given the state of the economy, though, I’ve decided it’s time to expand. I know that people all over the United States and beyond are worried about their finances and are looking for ways to cut back. And since I’m sure I have the most frugal friends and readers on the internet, I figure we can all help.
So, starting today, I’m going to put a Mister Linky at the bottom of my Tightwad Tuesday posts. If you have a blog and have a frugal idea, which encompasses a lot of things from household tips to shopping tips to crafts….really the list is endless, write up a post and enter your link in Mister Linky, so others can find your tip. I really think that if we band together and make Tightwad Tuesday a hub of frugal ideas, we can help a lot of people! And everyone who participates, including me, will probably learn something new!
There are just a few guidelines that I’d like you to follow. And if you’ve participated in any kind of meme or carnival before, I’m sure all of this will be old hat.
- Please link back to my Tightwad Tuesday post in your post. We want people to find the list of frugal tips!
- When you sign Mister Linky, feel free to put your name and then the subject of your tip in parentheses. For instance, if my post is about a frugal laundry tip, I might write Lynnae (laundry). That helps people who are looking for something specific.
- Please use the permalink to your post in Mister Linky. A lot of people search the archives of this blog, and if they come across the Tighwad Tuesday post on a Friday, you want to make sure they find the right post on your blog.
- Feel free to use the button I’ve made for Tightwad Tuesday. Just right click and save to your computer and use like any other picture you’d insert into your post! Feel free to use the large banner on this post, also, though that might be a bit of an overkill.
Now that I’m through with the plans for 2009 and the formalities that go along with it, I’ll get on to this week’s Tightwad Tuesday post. We’re going to do a themed Tightwad Tuesday this week, if you’d like to participate. I want to know what your frugal goals are for the new year. What areas of your life do you really want to work on, as far as saving money goes?
I’ll get into my full goals post on Wednesday, but when it comes to frugal things I want to do this year, I have a few things on my to-do list.
- Eat out less. You all know this is a huge struggle for me. I don’t particularly like to cook, and beyond that, I’m prone to migraines, which makes me REALLY not want to cook. But now I have a freezer and pantry space, so there’s no reason for me to eat out as often as I do. I plan on stocking up on easy to prepare foods, such as frozen casseroles, so we can have a healthy alternative when I don’t feel well enough to cook.
- Set up a clothesline. I haven’t decided where I’m going to put it yet, but when the weather gets warm and sunny, I want to get back to line drying my clothes.
- Grow a nice garden and preserve my produce. I was planning on learning to can fruits & veggies last year, but my move got in the way. Now I need to plot out a new garden space, and this year I really am going to learn how to preserve my own food.
So those are my three frugal goals. What are yours? If you write a post about it, come back and sign Mister Linky, so we can be inspired by your ideas. If you don’t have a blog or don’t write a post, leave a comment! Here’s to a frugal 2009!
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December 30th, 2008 at 6:07 am
Our resolution is to downsize our home. The house we live in is by no means extravagant, however it has a big mortgage attached to it that require more payment than we are comfortable with. Our goal for 2009 is to get out of that mortgage and get on with our other financial goals.
December 30th, 2008 at 6:13 am
I’m hoping to keep better track of our resources and financially prepare for a second child which we hope to conceive in 2009.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:05 am
If you aren’t already familiar with J.D. Roth’s Get Rich Slowly, it is well worth your time. Last year he did a year long project keeping track of expenses and savings by growing his own produce. Here is the link:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/b.....ally-save/
I am a big fan of gardening, not just because it can save me money, but the produce tastes so much better, is (arguably) more nutritious, as well as gardening being a healthy activity for both mind and body.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:45 am
If you have the freezer space, you can wash, cut up and freeze many veggies in freezer bags or containers. I went a little crazy with the tomato plantings this year and had a huge harvest. We filled freezer bags with the cut up tomatoes we couldn’t use and flattened them for easier thawing and storing. We are still enjoying them in chili and spaghetti sauce.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am
1. Bigger garden and expand my edible landscaping resulting in very little need for buying any groceries.
2. Except for buying occasional pork, try to exist only on fish and game for meat - elk, deer, fish, clams, and goose. And some home raised hamburger from my son in exchange for my fresh veggies. Exercise, frugal eating, good nutrition, and good fun all in one package.
3. Buy my work boots and work hoody sweatshirts at garage sales.
4. I need to learn to can more. I dehydrate and freeze fruits and veggies, but I need to get better at canning since I have all the equipment already.
5. Continue to scrounge for free firewood, or $10 firewood permits. Good exercise as well as cheap heat.
6. Learn to use my miter saw so I can finish up the trim work inside my still under construction home myself.
7. Start earlier on homemade Christmas gifts.
Tip on the frozen Tomatoes: I place them whole in brown paper bags, roll the top of the bag, and freeze as is. Take out the whole tomatoes as needed for soup and stew. Drop the frozen tomato in boiling hot water for about 30 seconds and the skins will just pop right off.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
1.Save energy with light bulbs. (exchange with new when old ones die)
2.Eat out less
3.Menu plan weekly (I good for about 2 week, but the other 2 weeks of the month I don’t)
4.Don’t stockpile unnecessary items, just b/c on sale (should be easy with Christmas just past)
5.Consider all major purchases for atleast one week prior to buying (anything over $100)
December 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I’m with you. We need to cut down on eating out, actually we need to stop, lol. This has been on my mind alot lately. We are going on a financial “diet” in order to achieve future goals. So I am excited to read what everyone else has written as well.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:29 am
One thing I’ve done this past year that I absolutely LOVE is on-line bill payments. This is a free service through my bank. I access my checking account online as soon as the bill comes in the mail and schedule it for payment. I avoid MANY late fees by not shoving them in a pile on my ‘to be paid’ desk and forgetting about them and therefore missing the due date. I also save on postage. The average consumer saves $70 to $80 a year on postage alone by using on-line bill payment. It makes budgeting much easier as well.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
We are feeding 11 so our grocery bill is one of our biggest expenses. So we have decided to shop smarter and more frugal. We also looked at our shopping habits and found we made a lot of impulse purchases. So we are going to try a few things like not shopping on a empty stomach and making a menu and shopping list and sticking to it.
We also are using coupons religiously as they are starting to really add up to big savings! So much that we created our site to help others find these great deals and save money.
http://www.retailsavingsonline.com
Great post Lynnae and great idea with the Tightwad Tuesday!
December 30th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I think this web page is golden…..I also am frugal…raising 3 kids 60 goats, a llama, 2 calves, 12 chickens, a rabbit, 1 duck, 10 gerbils, a guinea pig, 8 cats, and 2 dogs..on $ 400 a week has taken being frugal to the next level…. we save by making most of our gifts … we also buy thrift store and clearance… we think animals come first….Walmart is our friend….we make our own soap ( from goats milk from our farm.) we also make our own dish soap and laundry soap…so being frugal is a way of life and a state of mind…my kids are 16, 13 and 9 all girls I might add..and they watch the other kids at school and pity them for all the new stuff and the bad outlook on life and they relish is knowing what they have is better ..a sense of self and a commitment to all old fashioned….may it be canning our veggies to milking our goats to making our soap to making our cheese…so here is to all the frugal people out there such as our selves ……may you not be rich in belongings but rich at self awareness……Tricia
December 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Eating out is definitely a big one for us. Our current “rule” is to eat out only two times a week or less, so I guess the actual goal is to keep to the rule more often.
I also want to get some major decluttering done. We have lots of “stuff” just sitting around and collecting dust that we could be turning into cash or free space instead. At the moment we’re selling off stacks of CDs, so that’s a start
I do a little preserving/canning, so I want to keep that going, and figure out ways to stock up on fruits for less money.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
As I mentioned in my addition, one of my frugal goals for 2009 is to restart the vegetable garden in the back yard. I’m not a huge gardener by any imagination, but I do enjoy pottering around in the garden when I start it. It’s keeping going that’s the real trick
December 31st, 2008 at 5:10 am
One thing I learned, which is not cheap, but healthier in the long run, is to avoid the nasty headaches by eating a bit more … getting enough protein for my body size (if I’m large, I can’t eat as little as the small person who needs less to operate well - so it varies per person) and by eating whole grains. I also need to pay attention to timing between meals … more than 5 hours and I’m getting into the danger zone, past 6 hours means trouble … cranky, headachy … and it grows as the day wears on. When I skip or skimp, I end up visiting the chiropractor more often because I’m not giving my body the materials it needs for repair. In the end, eating properly (not trying to save money by skimping on the expensive part of the meal … the protein) saves me in costs for headache reliever and chiropractic visits. It also saves on my health (since my headaches are never due to a shortage of headache reliever) and my sanity. Being sidelined due to migraines just isn’t worth the appearance of savings on my groceries. I can skip the chips and soda for a little bit of savings instead.
On the non-food side, we are attempting to sell our home and move to a less expensive area. This will reduce our debt. From there, we will be following Dave Ramsey’s plan for getting out of debt.
December 31st, 2008 at 8:08 am
I hope I remember to join in the fun next week. It always amazes me the ideas people have…you can never finish learning, can you?
My husband hung a clothesline for me last spring, and boy, do I miss it! Hanging clothes is so therapeutic. I’m sometimes tempted to hang a light wash (something that would dry quickly) when it’s sunny, but I don’t want my clothes to freeze, either, LOL!
I couldn’t do that today if I wanted to…it’s snowing!
Hey, Happy New Year!
January 6th, 2009 at 2:21 am
I have great link with home canning instructions on my blog post from December…
http://ocdeals.freedomblogging.....ade-gifts/
Hope that helps!