Comments on: Can You Devote Fifteen Minutes A Day To Frugality?

By: Dana Seilhan

Dana Seilhan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:36:40 +0000

I dunno about the making your own detergent thing–we have ingredients now that they didn’t have in Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain. For instance, oxygen bleach is widely available now, and you can get it in powder form, which means it’s easy to mix in with a homemade powder formula. The stuff works great, especially if you catch the stain while it’s still fresh.

You can also still buy Fels-Naptha soap. The stuff gets poison ivy off your skin–I can see where it’d be a great addition to laundry detergent!

By: Tao Kuei

Tao Kuei — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:24:06 +0000

Got any thoughts on the above, Trent?

By: Tao Kuei

Tao Kuei — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:14:36 +0000

Concerning, number 19. This is advice that I knew and considered valid. My clothes mean a lot to me. Recently though, I’ve been… God, this is embarassing… considering purchasing patterns with the aim of eventually sewing my own clothes. Too much? I’m really not sure, when you consider what an expense clothes can be, and what an investment good quality clothes are, and what better way to ensure it than do it yourself. Furthermore, I have done some sewing in the past (this just doesn’t get any easier to write).

By: Kathy H

Kathy H — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:33:17 +0000

I have done meal planning and that it’s self will save you money. As making it homemade is a budget saver.
This week to feed a family of four for five days, I spent a total of 65 dollars for all three meals. This included homemade cookies for dessert. They were not fancy meals, but were well planned out and healthy. So yes, no impluse buying at the store, go after having a bite to eat, and knowing your meals ahead of time. On top of writing a list and sticking to it will save money in the long run.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:20:25 +0000

I’m lucky enough to live within walking distance of several types of grocery stores, a mailing center, a general store, and a thrift store. Walking to any of these places requires a 10-15-minute walk each way, so I get extra exercise in my week when I choose to walk. With a little planning and a sturdy canvass bag, I save gas and burn calories with every trip!

What a pleasant way to save money.

By: FloridaLizz

FloridaLizz — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:43:22 +0000

For those who don’t like coupons, check out The Grocery Game.

The trick to using coupons is to pair them up with the best sales. If you pay attention to the sales cycles (most things go on sale every 12 weeks or so) you can buy enough to last you until the next sale. Ideally you never have to buy it when you “need” it and as a result pay full price. Buy when on sale, with coupon, and have enough on hand.

Coupons are available for just about every product (yes, including healthy food). The key is to not be brand specific.

We saved over $1200 in under three months by using this system (a total cost of $1 for the trial and $20 for eight weeks) and have only bought brand items. No more generic for us! (More coupon myth busters: We buy very few prepackaged food items, almost no “junk food”, no soda, and we don’t buy things we don’t need.)

By: Enso

Enso — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:20:26 +0000

Well, this is pretty funny. I do remember when living in Eastern Europe under communist rule in 1980s we used to test similar recipes. Not because we wanted to save money but of necessity – decent detergent were hard to buy. Sadly, no matter how much everybody likes to believe that these “home-made” detergent are as good as the commercial ones, the truth is – they are not. Every half-decent commercial detergent contains enzymes that help to break down starch, proteins, etc. Borax and soap mixture cannot do this trick. So, you will have to use higher temperature to attack tough stains. What you save on detergent you will spend on electricity. Good luck cleaning grass or blood with this concoction! It is not going to work even in 100 deg.

By: jon

jon — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:01:08 +0000

Personally I do my grocery shopping online – in UK. It costs a little extra to get it delivered but I spend a vast amount of time by not going into the shop, I can keep a tight view on how much it’s going to cost and put back stuff I don’t really need and can’t afford. I also save on petrol by not going there, stress by not going there, it’s massively quicker and there’s almost no impulse purchasing (maybe on bulk reduction stuff).

When I moved into my flat about 2.5 years ago we bought a cheap pack of replacement lightbulbs – about 6 I think. When those run out I’ll consider energy saving ones but normal tungsten ones seem to have lasted remarkably well.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:33:57 +0000

I think that I’m going to try to make my own detergent now. I already make my own window cleaner and now that I finally ran out of kitchen cleaner I’m going to try that.

I guess for the food thing and the 15 minutes a day I like to make enough for several days and no matter what it always ends up less than 15 minutes if I look at it per meal. Such as last night I made 4 chicken breasts (frozen from Sam’s in bulk, which means that each one was SUPER HUGE on top of that) so that should make my husband and I at least 4 meals now. Also, it helps the whole weight thing when you are in complete control of what you stuff in your mouth and well, 67% of America is now overweight (Time Magazine) I figure that it may help us there too.

For the car air filter you’re better off getting a lifetime one (a K&N) and it’s probably about the cost of having your local lube stop or whatever replace it a couple times.

I’ve started hand washing things and hanging them up to dry in our spare bathtub (just bought an extra shower curtain rod and put it in the middle) and let them dry that way.

Even though I don’t use EVERY coupon in the paper, I use about 4.00 worth of them a week on stuff I actually would buy and give the rest to friends that can use other stuff so they can save some money also.

I replaced my bulbs years ago and LOVE them. I had one of those strips in the bathroom with like 8 really hot bulbs on it and my makeup would melt off before I could finish putting it on. These things look a little funny, but I like tht I haven’t replaced a bulb since we bought our house 4 years ago.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:14:16 +0000

Victor, you only need to change your air conditioner filters every 3 month!! See you will save money now!

By: Literanista

Literanista — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:02:16 +0000

You have a great blog while this is a good list, almost all of those activities take way longer than 15 minutes, perhaps more like a couple of hours.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:01:11 +0000

Rob, CFLs _are_ Compact Flourescent Light bulbs. I think you’re referring to incandescents, which are the traditional light bulbs.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:53:34 +0000

Re: Monica: 14) Flying is expensive and bad for the environment.

Flying may be expensive, but small planes are more efficient than SUVs and only slightly less efficient than driving a medium-to-large car.

Flying commercially is far more fuel-efficient than driving.

By: Posco Grubb

Posco Grubb — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:02:41 +0000

I am thoroughly confused by Rob’s comment. He says CFL’s are horrible. Then he says that compact fluorescent light bulbs are much better. Does not CFL stand for compact fluorescent lamp?

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:56:52 +0000

Great tips! I’ll do the challenge. I already do a lot of the things, but there’s always room for improvement.

By: Alexis

Alexis — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:56:10 +0000

I don’t want to scare off anyone from making their own meals as it is a huge moneysaver, but it can’t be done in 15 minutes a day. The most you could do in that time is save out some dinner leftovers to freeze or make a sandwich for tomorrow’s lunch. Those are good things (especially the sandwich), but to really make a meal in rather than eating out will require at least 30 minutes.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:39:55 +0000

Rob, you wrote “CFLs are horrible . . much better are stylish [C]ompact [F]luorescent [L]ight bulbs”

Out of curiosity, what does CFL stand for in Spain?

By: Nigel

Nigel — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:59:35 +0000

Rob in Madrid, I thought CFLs were “compact fluorescent light” bulbs.

By: A Home in the City

A Home in the City — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:28:36 +0000

Re: coupons: I pick the cheapest Sunday paper for about a dollar, and I definitely get more than $1 in savings. If there is no insert that week, I don’t buy it. Who buys a newspaper for day-old news?? ;)

This past weekend, my wife and I essentially combined #2 and #6 (cooking and shopping list) after a particularly expensive and unhealthy week of eating take-out. We made a chart of a week of meals, and the things we’d need to buy. I’m out of the supermarket much more quickly and making dinner isn’t delayed by indecision. Healthy, faster, less expensive and tastes better. Plus, lunches are planned-overs (left-overs), so we’re saving there too.

The chart took maybe 10 minutes to make.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:34:47 +0000

Nice article, great tips….I posted a link to this article on my blog.