Question about your old bad habits.

[Vegreenmom]

What habit that you used to have before being frugal (for those who haven't always been) went down kicking? You know, which was the hardest for you to break?

For me it was taking baths, in fact I'm still not 'over' it yet. When I was about 5 months pregnant I found that the only thing that made me feel relaxed was taking a warm bath. I started taking one every day to every other day. Well, the habit stuck with me and even up until recently I have been taking a bath every day and sometimes a shower too *eek!*. But I'm starting to work on changing that, but man oh MAN bad habits die HARD!

[faw42077]

For me it would be shopping. I use to go and shop a few times a week ( not counting grocery shopping). Now I hardly go at all.

[CristiK]

I would say the biggest was eating out. Dh added up what we spent on eating out in 1 year and it added up to SIX THOUSAND!!!!! That was quite a shocker. Once that figure stuck in my head, it was alot easier to say no to eating out. We need some stuff around here like a new roof and soon the air will go on us too. I sat and worried about where that money will come from....well the extra six thousand should help a little, don't you think???? Sheesh.
Next would be leaving stuff on all the time when not being used. Like leaving the laptop on all night and such.

[McD]

I still take my nightly baths....but our water bill is only between 20-30$ so I'm willing to shell that out for the relaxing comfort of a bath.

I cannot break the habit of buying soda!

[cab54]

I've never been that much of a clothes horse (always waiting to lose just 10 more # before buying...) and bought some stuff for the house ad expensive gifts before.

But the thing that went down kicking was my bath and body/cosmetic/ makeup/hair stuff/froo-froo addiction. Obsession would be more like it. dh used to say he was wading through all my stuff to get to the shower, and tripping over more stuff IN the shower. It was---insane.

Now I laugh at all of those facial products infomercials that used to draw me in that promise firmer, younger faces. And the eyeshadow that's supposed to make me into a diva. (I barely put on lipstick when running out the door now). I realized I had no real problem with aging and embrace it now.

And the $1 shampoo washes my hair same as the pricey ones. These are not the things that matter in life.

[Momto2Boyz]

Mind is soda. It has been the hardest thing for me to kick so far, but I think I have finally gotten it. I can drink as many as you put in front of me in a day, so it can add up really fast!

We still get the occassional 2-liter, every other week or so...but nothing like I was doing before.

I am now in the process of quitting smoking, which is by far my worst and most expensive habit. So hopefully, I can kick this one too! I'm on day 1 and so far so good.

[faw42077]

Momto2Boyz-Congrats on your decision to stop smoking. I know exactly how you feel. I am also a smoker, quit last year for 4 mths, but stupidly I started back. My quit date is next Monday the 14th( I will not move it again ). Good luck to you and we're here if you need support!!

[ms. frugal kugel]

I have a hard time not buying coffee, but the sheer price of it is making it easier to quit! Tne next one to work on is not using the debit card. I really want to stop that. Lots of silly purchases that add up at the end of the month if I'm not careful.

[forHISglory]

Clothes were my love. I was a professional and expected to dress professionally, but I went way beyond that. I loved having a closet full of clothes to mix and match, but I had stuff in there that I barely wore. I loved spending an afternoon wandering around the racks, especially the sale racks. I would touch the fabrics, dream, buy. I justified that if it was on sale, it couldn't be all bad!

Now that I have retired, I spend most of my day in sweats, and my nice professional clothes just hang in the closet. I wear them to church and weddings and funerals. I absolutely cringe when I think of the thousands of dollars hanging in the closet.

Nevertheless, I am still tempted to visit the clothes section. I'll see something cute and think, "I could wear that with my ______." I have to take a tight grip on the shopping cart and move on. It's hard to resist, but I have not bought one thing since I retired. No, I take that back. I bought a pair of shoes this summer for my niece's wedding.

I wish you all the best as you honestly face your situations.

[DAAC3DEC]

1-grocery shopping without a list, just whatever I was hungry for, or whatever looked easy or good.

2-Saturday day all day shopping with my kids, everyone gets to buy a treat and we eat out for lunch and dinner.


I do miss #2..........we had fun.......

[peanut]

For me it's turning down the heat. I still can't stand it any cooler than 68 F in the house. If it's that cold, I'm wearing 2 layers of everything. Course, our thermostat is in a weird place. I once hung a scientific thermometer beside it and had it register 10 degrees cooler! We replaced the thermostat, but I don't think it's made any difference.

Jean

[Dancing Lotus]

I am refuse to turn the lights off, or run cold water to sve ont eh electric. I know I should do these things but I just havent been able to do it.

[AmyBoz]

Mine would have to be Friday night pizza ordering. We used to have Dh pick up a pizza every Friday night after work. I've been working hard at meal planning so that we don't do this anymore. I checked our CC statements (we don't carry a balance, but we do charge) and we were spending $80 a month on pizza. That's $960 a year. On pizza??? No way. I can't justify that anymore...busy and exhausted by Friday or not.

[enkmom]

MAGAZINES!

I could not pass a news stand or grocery store check-out without picking up 3 or 4 magazines that caught my eye. It FINALLY dawned on me what a money suck it was when I noticed that one of those magazines was $7.95!! Then I got to thinking about those piles of cooking magazines I was keeping around that I had not tried a single recipe out of. We settled as a family on the 3 magazines that we actually read and use, and now subscribe to those. Otherwise I read them at the library.

[shoiji]

Stopped smoking. This was a really difficult one for me. But the extra cash is just in time for all the increased food prices.

Ordering takeout. Will make what I would normally order out. The diner I walk past is always calling my name as I pass it.

Going inside stores. I have to consiously tell myself "just looking and do you really need that". I realize I have the attention span of a cat sometimes. Bright shiny objects can distract me. : )