Tightening Our Belts

With the economy the way it is, Jesse and I have decided to try to be more frugal. We both know how to live this way.

When Jesse was growing up he hunted for a lot of the family's meat and then helped to butcher it. His Mom cooked everything from scratch and he helped her cook and clean the kitchen, so he became a very good cook. They also always had a large garden which provided them and their friends and family with plenty of vegetables.

In my home my Mom seldom wasted anything. She cooked from scratch and usually cooked what we could eat for that meal so that there was no waste. She even washed used pieces of aluminum foil and then smoothed and folded it to be reused in the future.

A few things we are doing to conserve are:

Buying generic items at the grocery store when it doesn't make any difference to us.

Jesse is taking lunch to work instead of eating out each day.

Raising our own veggies and canning, freezing and dehydrating what we can - plus sharing the produce with others.

Not eating out as often as we used to.

No more paper plates. (We used to eat almost every meal on Styrofoam)

Cooking more from scratch instead of buying prepared foods. (this is healthier too)

No more soft drinks in our refrigerator! (another healthier choice)

We are riding the motorcycle, instead of the car, when we need items from out of town. (of course it's more fun to do this!)

Making more meals out of leftovers.

I'm planning to start clipping coupons for the items we use. Our one grocery store doubles coupons.

We're seriously thinking about getting a converter box and doing away with satellite TV service.

No more buying bottled water!

I'm sure there are more things we are doing to cut back that don't come to mind right now. I would love to hear what you are doing to conserve, or any suggestions that you have for us to do. Click on comments below to type your suggestions.