The Return of Prudent Penny
When I worked in corporate America, I made a great deal of money. I knew the day I walked away from my job that all that liquid asset, every fancy dinner, trip, and extravagance was going with it.
I didn't really mind. I have a spouse who could easily support me. Other than the new house, we owe nothing. And by my very nature, I'm a frugal person. BUT...I do feel pangs of guilt when Greg pays all the bills. Moreover, it's a little hard on my feminist ego. :grin: Even though we're a team, I've always been proud to foot my share of the bills.
To compensate, I do everything in my power to keep our bills low and put a lot of effort into the garden and chickens.
I ask for no money from Greg to supplement my daily expenses, and except for the last feed store trip (when he did the shopping during my unfortunate near-death experience), I also pay for chicken food and supplies. All this from my meager earnings as a writer.
Since Marian Perera reminded me I haven't done a Prudent Penny post in a while, I've made a list of some of the things I do to keep my expenses down. Every Friday for the next six weeks, I'll break down how I work with each one of these items.
UPDATED!!
UPDATED!!
Week One
Coupons: I used to be a coupon clipper but I found I didn't often use the name brands they were discounting. In week one, I'll tell you how I browse coupons. I don't use many, but they're always high dollar or free products. I'll include Comparison Shopping here too.
Week Two (NEW)
Travel: Since you asked for it, we'll talk about how to save your wampum when traveling.
Week Three
Menu planning: I hate cooking. But a little menu planning not only saves my sanity on what to make, but moolah as well. I'll also include a list of my favorite cookbooks.
Week Four
Cheap landscaping: Landscaping is very expensive. I haven't yet found a way to make it free, but I have a few tricks so you don't have to open a vein.
Week Five
Garage Sales: If I could offer a live workshop on garage saling, I would. Shopping at garage sales have so much nuance to it, it's easier to demonstrate than explain it in words. --but I'll do the best I can. Though if you happen to be in my neck of the woods some Saturday, I will take you with me on my next jaunt.
Week Six
How to buy a car: Next to house buying, car buying is one of the most stressful things you will do in your life. I'll share our personal adventures in car buying and how not to get taken for a ride.
If you can think of any other topics you want to discuss, feel free to add them in the comments. If I have experience with it, I'll share it and if I don't, I'll see what I can find out.
Tell me, if you could save money on anything, what would it be?
Comments
You keep fighting the good fight. Food prices have gone up dramatically last year. I suspect it will be worse this year.
I too took early retirement and the most important thing I did was to make sure I had savings and investments giving sufficient returns to finance the rest of my retirement.
Keeping oregano as the major spice and cayenne for your other hot dishes can go a long way. The rest of the spices and herbs is luxury cooking, although I do like just for me my Indian spice.
Jacqueline: I need recipes that can fool my husband. :wink: His idea of a meal is MEAT. Everything else is filler. It's hard living with a diehard carnivore.
Joanne: I have some useful sites to show you then. You'll like them.
I think I had a 101 book on hamburger too. It was the first cookbook I bought when I got married.
Ref: making clothes
Good call on the clothes. Your boys would have never forgiven you. LOL!
I can't wait for the warm weather, when all the farmer's markets open - great produce for really good prices? What's not to love! :D
Angelina: Thanks, hon. All that's left is a bad cough. I can handle that.
Barbara: Ooh, travel. I have a few hints. Maybe we can put our heads together on that one.
Lydia: I have to admit my shameful secret. I always hated that the husband made more than me. LOL. It was always a mock contest. I never won. --at least it always went into the same pot. :grin:
Add me to one who'd like to save more $$ on travel.
I hate coupons because I do not buy most things that they are far... I do love fresh produce but alas in our area the Farmer's Markets are over before they begin! (Since there are so many older people in this neck of Texas they get up with the birds and beat me to the sites!)
Travel would be my main area of wishing to save on, someday we plan on having an RV to drive and see the places we have never been yet... (have a feeling by that time fuel will be around $20.00 a gallon with my luck!)
Jennifer: Ooh, internet shopping is a great tip. I can't use it because my area is too small, but some Dallas stores employ it.
I prefer to go in anyway since most of my shopping is for produce and I like to pick my own.
Jackie: LOL. Oh, I wouldn't worry. You can always count on me for sending jokes and videos. :)
ref: travel
I will definitely include a tip sheet for travel. I might even move it up on the list.
Great post!
Re: coupons -- I absolutely agree (though occasionally I find name brand ones that coincide with store sales and then I'll use them).
Looking forward to the rest :-)
And it's probably too late for you, but I saved a bundle by testing out of several core courses. I ended up graduating a year early because of that.