If your personal economy has tightened, or if you're just becoming more frugal, you've probably given up some things along the way - maybe drinking a cheaper brand of coffee or sharing meals with friends rather than going out to eat. What are some of the things and ways you've made substitutes for in the name of saving money? 

Pat:

What are some of the things and ways you've made substitutes for in the name of saving money? 

 We cut the cable and landline. We also sadly cut on food, reducing the better cuts of meat, the more natural and organic products and some other healthy options for us. 

Brandy:

We cut the cable and landline.

What have you replaced them with?

 

Pat:

We cut the cable and landline.

 My husband has to have a cell phone for work so we had this in addition to a landline. For an additional amount each month which is less than the landline, we added a cell phone for me.

Having cable was really an unneeded extra in life. We had a Netflix account that we kept open. All three televisions are older and not very large. One of the computers which is enhanced for entertainment offered better quality viewing and better sound. We were often passing on watching TV in favor of using the computer to watch DVDs, instant view movies from Netflix or watching programs directly from NBC or ABC that aired at inconvenient times for us.The living room TV broke shortly after we began discussing cutting the cable to save so we took our son's TV into the living room and he began using our daughter's. Then that TV broke before we had the cable disconnected. So we save money and just use Netflix, DVDs we own or watch shows directly from the sites.

 

 

 

Last summer I went from body soap (in plastic containers ) to bar soap. When we got our venison processed at the butchers, we re-packaged large amounts of sausage and burger into two-person portions. That keeps us from having a lot of leftovers that get thrown away. When Coffemate started getting expensive, we switched to half & half and stopped buying milk. Became diligent in measuring out laundry soap portions. Did a better job recycling trash and use fewer trash bags each week. Some of the substitutes, like dehydrating vegetables/fruit require more "effort" but I have the time and its payed off.

Lightning struck our satellite 3 yrs ago and we never replaced it. We have so many dvds why should we?

We buy frozen pizza instead of takeout. I used to make my own all the time, but when mozzarella skyrocketed it was cheaper to buy frozen. (I make goat mozzarella for ds' pizzas, but I can make so much more on it by selling it, that I usually save it for customers.)

 

Cinnamonhuskies:

but when mozzarella skyrocketed it was cheaper to buy frozen

I like my husband's homemade pizzas but I agree with you. Frozen pizzas on sale are cheaper than making them.

 

we stopped eating out .. It is amazing how much we have saved.

we are alot happier and healthy

 

 We haven't been out to eat, except picking up a burger, last Friday in months. I just cook at home.  A few times before Christmas, we had steak, baked potatoes, and salads at home.  We bought a boneless ribeye for $3.99 per pound and Les cut it into steaks.  It was so much less expensive than taking a family of four to even the least expensive steak restaurants.  This week, they're on sale for $2.99 per pound but we really don't have the money to buy them.....grr!

Instead of buying pizza out or buying frozen pizzas, I've been making them out of whole wheat english muffins. I can find those marked down to .79 for a package of 8.  I make a simple pizza sauce using tomato paste and tomato sauce with onions, garlic, and oregano.  We use whatever is in the house for toppings and I grate a block of mozzarella cheese that I buy at Aldi for 1.99 or we use other cheese I have here.  They are healthier than the ones we buy and taste really good, too.

 

we been using our library lots and we are are using paperback swap for book  that saved lots we are book readers .and we been using swap a dvd.