What tips have you implemented or do you plan to implement from the Tightwad Gazette this month? I'm working on some of the recipes. I'll have to go through my copy of the "Complete Tightwad Gazette" when I get home and decide what to try.

What about you? Do you pick out certain activities to try each month? Have you figured out how much they save you? That's where I fall down. I hate doing the math, but I force myself to do it.

Jean

I don't do the math....:lol: I just take Amy's word for it. I've been working on the leftovers to use them creatively. I am terrible about using up all the leftovers.

I was inspired by an article she wrote about window coverings. It gave me the idea to use an old sheet from dd's bed for curtains in my room. I also would have loved to buy new rods for curtains I'm sewing for the dining area but after re-reading her article I found I have old rods from two other windows that will work, and their free!

I guess I'm kind of nerdy! I like doing the math and seeing just how much I've saved, or not spent on a project or recipe. It helps to motivate me. :)

Well I was just thinking that it was about time I reread the book. I read it every year or so. It is just so worth the read. I learn something new every time!

Jennifer

My favorite tip was the use of a price book. Unfortunately, prices have been changing so much, that it's hard to keep up-to-date, but it really makes me aware of when I'm really saving money, or the "sale" is really just 5 cents off an already inflated price.:bang:

I keep my price book in an old day-planner. I use old envelopes--like from junk mail, and write my grocery list on the envelope, and put the coupons I want to use in the envelope, so they're handy. I also use old recycled sheets of paper for my price book pages. You know, the ones that have 3 lines on one side. That way, I'm not spending money for the expensive pages that go fit the day planner.

PrairieRose, you'll laugh. I'm at dsis's right now. They live in a wooded area with birch trees. They just cut a branch off a tree to use for a curtain rod! They want to hang one of my homemade traditionally handhooked rugs from a branch too. It looks cool!

Jean

I just read this recently and the one thing I am doing this month is planting seeds for plants and vegtables. I usually go ahead and buy the plants for both. But this year I decided to use the seeds. I live in the south and have a big sunroom so it is the perfect place.

I think I will save close to $100 just the purchase price because I often buy plants for the porches, etc for the spring and summer. Also, I usually only plant cucumbers but this year I am planting a few other things also.

I will also save a little off groceries but have no idea how much.

Way to go, Free Deal! Gardening is an excellent way to save BIG. That was the "duh" for me when I read the TWG. I haven't had a lot of luck with starting some plants from seeds--especially tomatoes, but it sounds like you have an ideal place, and that makes all the difference.

Enjoy the garden, and the savings!

Rejena

I just finished going through all 4, checked them out from the library! And some of the stuff I knew, but I was amazed at some of it. I'm taking down the recipes for everything, but one thing I read (and I don't remember if it was in TG or something else) was that white vinegar makes a great grease cutter. I was curious because my soon to be ex-DH always leaves the stove a mess. I tell you vinegar is better than anything I've ever bought! Absolutely amazing!

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: <img src='http://www.frugalvillage.com/forums/images/quick.jpg'> funny!

Originally posted by peanut
PrairieRose, you'll laugh. I'm at dsis's right now. They live in a wooded area with birch trees. They just cut a branch off a tree to use for a curtain rod! They want to hang one of my homemade traditionally handhooked rugs from a branch too. It looks cool!

Jean

Actually Jean I'm sure both will look very, very cool! But I do find it amusing, I mean use what you have, right? :D

LOL! Right! This dsis goes a bit far, imho. She means well, just a little too frugal for not much reason. She also does 'sock vacuuming'.LOL I gave her the gears about that. She shuffles around the edge of the living room/dining room every night to pick up dog hairs. In the time it takes her to do that, she could have vacuumed the room a few times! Or swept it.

Jean

I see in several people's post things like "grocery challenge" or "penny challenge", et cetera.

What are these challenges about, and how do I join?:)

I love TWG! I got a copy of the Complete version last year and read it constantly. I bring it to bed with me and flip through it.

I can't really do much this week, but next week, when I'm unpacking and in my own kitchen, I can't wait to try some of her "universal" recipes. Those look like a lot of fun, similar to the recipes they list on the back of Kraft and Campbells products.

Originally posted by kathirynne
I see in several people's post things like "grocery challenge" or "penny challenge", et cetera.

What are these challenges about, and how do I join?:)

The challenges are a lot of fun. :) Basically it's a way to encourage and entertain ourselves into being more frugal and saving more money.

One member of FV will post a challenge to the rest of us. The Emergency Fund Challenge, for example, is always issued by Shell. She challenges us to put a certain amount of money into our emergency funds, and to post about it once it's done. The amount of money we put in and how we put it in -- weither it's spare change, a weekly or bi-weekly deposit into a bank, or shoving ten dollars into an envelope and storing it between the mattress and box spring -- is up to us.

You can find the challenges in the Frugality and Budget Living forum. Just post that you want to join and get active. Have fun! :D

You know, someone should produce a mattress with a slot in it for money.:toothy: It would be a big hit in the Maritimes, where I was a girl. The fishermen often hid large amounts of cash in between the mattress and box spring...or in the freezer.

Jean

A lot of poeple here use drift wood for building, curtain rods, fencing etc.... free and plentiful!

My biggest twg project this month is to a) get all my spinning done so that I can sell it and have more room in my home so that I can:

organize the things I have using creative methods like painted shoeboxes and the legs of old pants.

mend clothes. I haven't done any mending for months! and the little seam splits here and the little holes there are adding up! It's starting to look like no one owns us!

I made turkey tonight. I can make a chicken stretch 5-6 meals. I'm going to try to get 20 out of the turkey, including stock and soup.

Tomorrow my SO and I are going to go over the budget with a fine tooth comb. She's a bit of a spendthrift (a bit?!) so I have to factor in 'blow it' money for her so she doesn't feel deprived or shackled (I argued that I want blow it money too.... except that goes into savings)

babs