Question:

Can you give me some frugal living tips?

Setting Limits

Set a limit on what you're willing to pay for a given item and don't go over that amount. For instance, I refuse to pay more than $2.50 for a 12-can pack of soda. A friend of mine won't pay more than $1 a pound for ground beef. When you get stubborn about saving, you'll see results! If you find the price you're looking for, stock up.

Allocate Your Groceries

Allocate your groceries.

For example, you go to the store and buy:
2 whole chickens (on sale of course), 1 bag (2 lb.) of carrots, 1 lb. celery, 4 cans tuna, 1 (large) onion, spaghetti noodles (1 lb.), 2 1/2- 3 lb. ground beef, and 4 to 6 cans tomato sauce. First, as soon as you get home, cut up the chicken! You always need to have on hand: gallon size Ziploc-type bags. Cut the legs and thighs off both chickens. Put in one bag together and label these "fryer chicken". This is one meal.

In a smaller bag (maybe a quart, or even a sandwich bag will do) put all the livers from both chickens (they usually throw in a few extras- chickens really do only have one liver each) this is another, quick meal. Before you scoff at this, keep in mind that KFC charges $2.79 for an order of these!

Next, with a big sharp knife or kitchen scissors cut the 2 chickens in half right down the breastbone center. Haggle the back off roughly. Now take the neck, gizzards, hearts, and all the extras that a lot of people throw away, and put all of that in a Ziploc gallon bag with any extra skin and backs too. This sealed bag can now be labeled "chicken soup".

Next cut the breast meat off the bone but purposely leave a little meat behind. The breast meat de-boned will be used to fix those fancy meals like the chicken breasts in a thick sauce, for chicken parmesan, stir fry...use your imagination.

The extra along with the breastbones will be put in the "soup" bag.

Then similarly allocate the other items. Separate four or five sticks of celery and four or five carrots and cut off 1/3 of the big onion, put all these together in the bag to make the chicken soup. (This keeps someone from eating them if you label it "do not eat--for chicken soup recipe"--)

Separate the ground beef. Put 1/2 to 2/3 lb. in a Ziploc quart bag and label this as "meat for spaghetti sauce". Put in the freezer, as you would do with all the chicken you were not fixing right away.

Put three cans of tomato sauce in a special place and mark it as "homemade sauce for spaghetti" and then mark the remaining can "for meatloaf".

Then 1/4 and 1/4 of the onion go each to the meatloaf and to the spaghetti sauce.

Whatever is left of onion gets chopped up with the tuna for tuna salad, along with that piece of celery you had saved. The other celery and carrots, except for the one or two you used in a salads earlier while trying not to waste that last one third head of lettuce, go into cooking the chicken soup, while the last two leaves of lettuce form the beautiful "base" for you designer tuna salad.

For about $209.00 you have just bought over seven full meals (not counting leftovers). Works out to less than $3.00 per meal to feed a family of four!

Convenience = Spend Your Money

Cook your own food and avoid buying items that are pre-made in part or in whole. If you can truly learn the art of this your grocery bill will be greatly reduced.

Freezing Cheese for Later

To save money, buy a large amount of store brand cheese (shredded or block) and freeze it in individual small freezer bags in 2 or 4 cup amounts. No need to throw out moldy cheese anymore. Cheese and butter are two dairy products whose properties won't change as a result of freezing.

Free Samples

Use supermarkets that have free product samples and in-store coupons for products, rather than buy a new product you've never tried and may not like at regular price.

Save Money Near Closing Time

If your grocery store offers a hot food area or deli, here's a tip for you. Many stores will mark down their unsold hot foods just prior to closing down rather than try to save them. I've bought whole rotisserie chickens that were selling for $3.99 for the discount price of $1.50 at an hour before closing. It's worth it to take a look.

Holiday Candies

After the holidays are over RUN to your stores!!

This is the best time to buy your seasonal candy items. Right now they have been reduced by 50% to 90%.

You can chop chocolate Santas, bunnies, hearts, and other designs to use them like chocolate chips in baking.

Also, don't forget those Hershey's Kisses. Christmas packaging comes with colors of red, silver, and green. Sort out the red ones for Valentines Day and the green ones for St. Patrick's Day. The silver are the everyday color foil.

Don't forget to use your coupons too!!

Save Money Buying Disposal Freshener/Cleaner--Use Old Lemons Instead

Instead of buying expensive garbage disposal freshener/cleaner look in your refrigerator. If you've got a lemon that's a little past its prime cut it in quarters and run it through your sink disposal to freshen the drain.

Save a Little Here and There

When you go to the grocery store and you're at the check out, write your check for the total BEFORE coupons are deducted (If your grocery store will allow this). The cashier will give you change for the exact amount you saved. Put it away in your savings account, piggy bank, or wherever. You might be surprised at how quickly those savings add up!

Leftover Bread Makes Bread Crumbs

Don't throw away bread heels or leftover cornbread, save them to make bread crumbs. For use later, store them in the freezer.