Frugal Tips

What I do to be frugal

On one of the blogs that I read regularly Rural-revolution you can see it here Patrica posted a list of frugal tips that her and her family use, then
She challenged other blog writers to post their own list of frugal tips and ideas!
So here is my list and a little latter on I will elaborate on some of these a little more.

Food
I grow as much as we can then can or dry it.
Things I have to buy from the store I buy on sale and buy a very large quantity when it is on sale ( about a years worth).
I barter for Beans and honey from a couple local people that I know.
We raise our own meat and chickens for the eggs.
Cook most everything from scratch and grind my own wheat for flour .
We have a milk cow but haven’t stated milking her yet when we do that I will make my own butter, cheese sour cream and have fresh milk these are about the only things I have to go to the store for on a regular basis.
In the winter I cook a lot on our wood stove.
We use leftovers for Andy’s and my lunches.
When we go on trips we take some food with us then we are not having to eat out as much.
I render my own lard and tallow to cook with and to make soap with. ( I have a friend who works at a meat processing place so I can get all the fat that I need).

Disposables
We use dish towels and rags instead of paper towels
I do use a few Baggies especially for freezer things but I get the cheap bags that do not seal then line the freezer bags with these to prolong the life of the freezer bags that I wash and reuse and if I do have to use a plastic bag I use the bags with the twist ties
For feminine hygiene, I have a pattern to make or own pads I am waiting for winter when things slow down a bit.
This may gross out a few of you but it is a real money saver I go to the thrift store and buy a bag of rags come home and wash them ( they are mostly old Tee Shirts) then I cut them into 8x8 squares and use them instead of TP for # 1 do still use tp for # 2 not only does it save on buying TP but I don’t have all that paper going in to the septic. I also cut out 6x6 squares for Kleenex.
We use cloth napkins instead of paper.

Hygiene Products
I make our toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, shampoo , soap hair spray and mousse.
　
Cleaning supplies
I make all our cleaning supplies,
And my dishwasher soap ( I know I should not be using the dishwasher but it is the one luxury I allow myself, when things get real bad I will start to wash by hand)
Clothes and Laundry
I make our own laundry soap and stain remover.
Hang the clothes on the line in the winter when cold outside
I have a drying rack I set up bu the wood stove.
I mend all our clothes ( some of my husbands pants are more patch then pant lol).
I do a lot of sewing.

Utilities
We heat with a wood stove
I keep a large covered pot on the stove for hot water in the winter we just dip out of that for hot water to wash up with, wash dishes, and anytime we need hot water ( expect showers)
We live like we haul waster I have small buckets in each bathroom to collect cold water that we are waiting on to warm up ( we do this before we det in the shower then you are not wasting water waiting for it to warm up)
Then I have a larger bucket we put that water into then use it to flush with and water plants.
Then as the old motto goes if it is yellow let it mellow if brown flush down.
We use the gray water from the washer in the summer to water trees and some plants.

Medical
I use a lot of herbs and make a lot of our own meds we don’t hardly ever go to the doctor.
So here are some of the things that I do.
If you have any good ideas please feel free to post them

So what do you do to be frugal? I would love to hear your ideas.