Inspired by Simple Organized Living's post, Frugal Gal's post, and Money Saving Mom's post on "Things We Don't Buy", I decided to compose my own list. What works for every household is different and it is so much fun to come up with your own list.
1. New Vehicles- We only buy used, reliable vehicles.
2. (Most) Haircuts- My hubby cuts mine and our children's hair. We do pay a barber to cut my husband's hair, and it is worth every penny in my book. I tried to cut his hair once and will not try that again. ;)
3. Cable- Our main entertainment splurge is Netflix. ($8 a month) During our nearly ten years of marriage, we have never had cable and don't feel like we are missing out. (Which is probably a good thing because if I had cable, I would probably be lost in Food Network land or HGTV world.) We do rent an occasional $1 movie from a local Blockbuster kiosk.
4. Juice/Soda- We may splurge and buy a bottle of juice every couple of months or special drinks for a party, but we don't spend much on beverages from week to week. We mainly drink homemade (hot or iced) herbal tea (sweetened with raw honey), smoothies, and fresh water from our Berkey filter.
5. Shredded Cheese- I buy 5 lb. blocks of mozzarella and Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grate them, and put them in baggies in the freezer. It turns out to be tastier, healthier (less added ingredients), and more economical than buying most pre-shredded cheese.
6. Diapers- My two year old has been wearing cloth diapers for a while now, and I only occasionally have to buy a pack of disposables, for when she may have a bad diaper rash, a virus, or if we are traveling. It is so nice to save $20-$30 a month by not using disposable wipes and diapers. (It would be more of a savings, if she were younger, but at this point, she only dirties about 5-7 diapers a day.)
7. Newspaper Subscriptions- We subscribed to a newspaper a couple of years ago, but we don't really need it since I don't coupon any more. Having 4 kids, nine and younger, plus a baby on the way, isn't very conducive for spending copious amounts of time comparing prices and gleaning shelves for specific products. An 8 pack of toothbrushes from the Dollar Store suits us just fine in this busy season of our lives.
8. Books- I will buy a book on a very rare occasion , but I generally check it out via my library or I request to review it from the publisher.
9. Canned Beans- Cooking dried beans in the crockpot is very inexpensive, healthy, and easy. I make a big pot of pinto beans at the beginning of the month and divide the beans into baggies and freeze them. I defrost one baggie per week for our Mexican dinner night.
10. Cards- I usually make my own and/or let my children draw pictures for friends and loved ones.
I would love to hear what items you don't buy for your household! If you write a post about it, please leave me a link in the comments section. I am hoping to write a post on 10 Things We are Willing to Splurge on. Blessings!
This post is linked to Frugally Sustainable.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
10 Things We Don't Spend Money On
Posted by Christine at 9:39 PM
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17 Comments:
We have similar ideas on what not to spend money on! I think my most glaring splurge from this list is canned beans. I have jars of dried beans we grew, I just can never remember to pull them out so fall back on the canned. I love the idea of cooking up a bunch and freezing them. I REALLY need to try that!
11. Birth control ;)
- Gym membership, we've got a whole world to play in and a garden that needs weeding.
- Dishwasher, it does make a very nice drying rack though
- Dryer in summer months, sun dried clothes smell great.
Great list!
I'd add a few more:
11. Disposable feminine hygiene products. I use a re-useable Diva Cup and cloth menstrual pads that can be washed and re-used.
12. New clothing. With a few exceptions we purchase most of our clothing used or sew it.
13. Lawn care. We've converted most of our yard into perennial plantings and raised bed gardens. The small area of grass we have left we let go natural. We have a hand powered push mower to cut the grass.
14. Toilet paper. I keep some on hand for guests, but our family generally uses the family cloth (flannel cloths that are washable).
15. OBs - we birth at home with a midwife or Unassisted.
16. Processed foods - we tend to eat a whole foods diet and try to source as much as we can from local farmers, farmer's market, and our own home garden.
Hi Foy Update,
Great list! We use our dishwasher mainly for a drying rack, too, and I love to hang our clothes on bright sunny days!
Moomama,
I love your list! I also birth with a midwife, but unfortunately it usually isn't covered by insurance, so it is one thing that we splurge on. It is worth every penny in my book, though.
What a great list.
We have not purchase paper towels or paper napkins forever. We no longer buy bottle water. Most all our food is "made from scratch". Funny how a century ago "made from scratch" was not heard of as all food was prepared this way.
1. Birth control; we're done with kids, and insurance paid for a vasectomy :D
2. Gym membership; we have a weight machine and an OLD nordic track in the basement. Go for walks, bike rides, runs, etc in that amazing 'outside' place :)
3. Newspaper subscrition; I simply don't have the patience for couponing. I've tried it, and was reasonably successful... but most of it really is for junk that just accumulates and we don't use.
4. Cable; like you, only netflix!
5. We did cloth diapers, but now both are toilet trained - though I'm still proud of how much money we saved!! :)
6. Haircuts... I cut everyone's hair, including my own! My husband has cut it before too, he does a pretty good job!
We don't spend on most of the things you don't spend on. :)
Another thing we do is line dry our clothes. It keeps our electric bill much lower!
Just found your blog. Enjoyed, it inspired me to list my don't buy list.
1. CableTV (rent dvd's now and then)
2. Internet (my work is such that I am allowed to spend time online)
3. Milk, Yogurt, (staring to make my own cheese, still buy some)
4. Eggs
5. Dry beans, Canned Green Beans, Frozen corn, tomatoes (fresh, canned, paste, juice or sauce) During the summer months - fresh veggies.
6. White Flour, Sugar, Anything Processed
7. Bread, Tortilla
8. Laundry soap, bath bar soap
9. Rarely new clothes except for something special. I buy mostly at thrift store.
10. New Cars
I'm an American expat in Europe and have learned so much in the 8 years I have been abroad.
Fridges are very small here. Because of this and why, we shop for fresh produce nearly every day.
We store, cook and eat only whole food. We do not buy processed, canned or boxed foods. We make most stuff from scratch. We get our raw milk, etc… from local farmers. We also go in the alps and forage for stuff like berries, mushrooms, dandelions, elderberry, nettles, etc...
I make homemade tonics, tinctures and home remedies.
We do not own a car. We use public transportation for work, our feet in town and our bikes daily.
We do not drink juice. I am a big lover and maker of water kefir, but mostly we drink water and nettles.
I make our: laundry detergent, dish soap, lotion (though mostly we use coconut oil), cleaners for the house + ourselves. I also make toothpaste.
My daughter also wears cloth diapers.
We do not shop new for clothes, pretty much ever.
Fortunately, we get all our books from other expat and local friends that read English, including books for our daughter.
For toddler fun, we walk our dog, hike in the alps (our backyard), have play dates with friends and do a ton of arts & crafts. I make all our own craft supplies like play dough, finger paint, chalk, baked clay/dough/ornaments, you name it. ;-)
We do pay a friend to do our hair, but he comes to our house and does all of us for a very reasonable price.
We don't pay babysitters as we are lucky to either barter/trade with other parents or take our good friends up on their offer(s) to help now and then.
More food stuff that save us $: I make a huge amount of homemade tortillas, pancakes, waffles and other goodies to freeze for lazy days. Big batches of soups, chillis, goulashes, etc... also for the freezer. I prefer to make our bread too.
When we pick strawberries, they are cheap, about €2 a kilo, so we pick about 20-30 kilos and freeze for the entire year. I also dehydrate food on the way out, if I haven't juiced it first that is. :) It's a great way to use up produce that's about to expire.
Day trips with the family are usually long bike rides w/ picnics, parks, water, snow if it's winter, BBQs and parties with friends where everyone brings something. It's one of the best ways I've found to save money in that respect. You can start off the shindig with whatever you want and assign snacks or entrees to various friends.
We never buy disposable paper towels or napkins.
We don't have a dryer, but that's pretty normal here in Europe. We hang dry everything.
No gyms for us. Not owning cars and living in the European alps means walks and bike rides and hikes or swimming almost daily.
As the case with most Europeans, there just isn't air conditioning around, not even in the shops. You adjust.
Well, this was long.
Hopefully, something here was useful for you in your planning/money saving.
LOL at using the dishwasher as a drying rack- because I am SO guilty of that!! I agree with your post completely!! I'm always disappointed when my husband comes back from the store with a bottle of soda -- What is wrong with a lemon slice squeezed in water?!
~Kristen @ http://trialanderrorhomemaking.blogspot.com
Thanks!!! Great idea about the grated cheese!!! DUH! Why didn't I think of that? wow. I love this list. I have some things I won't live w/o, but agree mostly w/ all of it! Again..THANKS!
Great list! We use cloth diapers as well and keep a disposable pack on hand if we get behind on washing them. I'm a huge library and paperbackswap.com user too for books. I am stopping by from the Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways blog hop. Have a great weekend!
Great list! We don't even pay for netflix anymore. We just go the occasional redbox movie, and we do have a student amazon prime membership and they now stream movies for free for prime members...so that is awesome. If I want to see a newer movie, I'll rent one from amazon for no more than 3.99. That's once in a really great while. =)
wow! these are great ideas. some i already do and some, i felt like why didn't i think of that....
i have a 5 year old that refuses to poop in the toilet and will only poop in a pull-up. does anyone have any suggestions on where to purchase reusable pullups or how i can make them? i'm tired of spending $$ on these.
I am learning. I just made my second batch of laundry detergent, and I made lip balm. I too use the dishwasher as a drying rack, and hang clothes outside whenever possible. I love coconut oil as lotion and hair conditioner. I have waist length hair I trim myself. I use cloth napkins. I have an herb garden this year, with rosemary, sage, basil, thyme, lemon balm, and stevia (even though I don't know how to use it yet, LOL) and am reading a lot to do more. My next project is to make cleaning supplies. And going back to grating my own cheese. ;)I love the idea of being more independent and frugal.
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