Frugal Experiment!

Generally when you hear the words frugal experiment, you would think that it would come from me! No, not this time folks! My husband is finally joining the frugal journey after many months and years of working on him...well not too many years, we've only been together for 2 1/2. So drumroll please.......he wants to go without lights for the month of November! Of course, not the tv and computer and things like that, but it's a start! The big power outage from September and the other day when we had no lights in the bathroom made him think that it wouldn't be that hard. You know me, I'm all for trying to save money so I'm like okay! He wants to use only candles and we want to try and find a lantern for cooking and shaving, things like that. I am sooooo excited about this! What a great way to save money and what a great mindset change from my husband! His mother is so not frugal (name brand everything) so this has taken some undoing on my part :) The only bad part of this is that we are getting a deep freezer (which in of itself is a great thing) but it will use more electricity. So this may balance it out! I was very proud of us this month. We got our electricity down to $80! This past billing cycle was very mild weather and helped out a lot!

Has anyone ever tried anything like this? If you have what are your tips and concerns? Also, where can I find cheap lanterns? Any advice would be great!

Fell Off the Frugal Wagon!

Ladies I need your help! I have fell off the frugal wagon and can't get up! LOL! I thought that once I was home it would be easier to be frugal but I am having a hard time sorting everything out! I think that I need to focus on one thing at a time instead of doing everything at once. What is the one frugal thing that you start with? Do you try new frugal things once a month or are you just naturally frugal? I'd love to hear your tips. I feel like I need to get the The Tightwad Gazette and brush up on some of the basics again. It always puts me in a good mindset when I read that book.,

Change in My Life

Wow! My life has changed so much in the past few weeks! I have had a hard time staying in my frugal ways with being so busy but now I need it more than ever. I am having a really hard time starting up my Mary Kay business! I love it and am having so much fun but I'm having a hard time finding customers! Do you have any ideas on how to network? I have such a hard time talking to people I don't know.

But anyways I need help getting back in the frugal lifestyle! Any tips to get back on the horse would be greatly appreciated! I have been slacking on meal planning, saving things, checking prices, etc. I need some motivation! Blogging again I'm sure will help me. I've been in the business mood for awhile so now I need to get back to the frugal mood. Thanks for listening!

Ways I Save Money

There are many different ways that we try to save money. A big one is that I try to turn off the lights when we are not in the room. The kids are very bad at that and Tim is learning. They call me a nazi but last month our electricity bill went up over $100! We can't afford that. I also try to keep the heat down low, especially since we at work most of the day. I've been using a heating pad to keep warm lately; I'm hoping that this does not make my electricity bill go up. We also use mostly cold water for laundry unless the load is extremely dirty. We do not buy dryer sheets and use fabric softner. I also try to stretch my grocery dollar as far as possible. We eat many frugal meals, including a lot of bean meals. It was a success the other day because the kids actually liked my split pea soup! Would have never expected that. Tim used to tease me because of all the bean meals and soups but he is starting to really like some of them. The crockpot has been my lifesaver with cooking beans. It took way too much advanced planning to make them before and many dinners at 8:30 at night. My honey does not like that! We also try to stay out of the stores as much as possible. I can't remember the last time I bought new clothes for any of us. I want to start shopping at different grocery stores for the best price but I have been lazy about it. I'm going to start getting prices tonight, starting with Kroger. Well that is just a few ideas. Do any of you have any ideas to add?