Ditching Our Dishwasher: Saying Goodbye to Another Kitchen Appliance

Photo by Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We're officially down another kitchen appliance on what will likely be a permanent basis. About three months ago it became apparent that our dishwasher was toast. The age of this appliance is uncertain; all we know is that it was here when we arrived nine years ago and it was old then :)

Once it became clear that it was futile to try and extend its life, the discussions began. Do we really need a dishwasher? I know a good portion of you will commence questioning my sanity right here (if you haven't already ::grin::). Just remember that when our microwave died roughly seven and a half years ago, we decided not to replace it and we've never looked back. We've been living microwave-free quite happily ever since then and I can't remember the last time I even remotely wished we had one.

One of the main reasons we really wanted to give this some careful thought (aside from the expense of replacing a major appliance) is that our kitchen is of the very-modestly-sized variety, which means cupboard and counter space is at a premium. We've been planning to do some renos to the kitchen anyway, and eliminating the dishwasher altogether would free up a large amount of space and allow us to have both more cupboard and more counter space.

Yes, having a dishwasher is convenient - to a point. I've always thought that hand washed dishes were much cleaner than those that come out of the dishwasher, with all their cloudy buildup and baked on crud that didn't quite come off during the washing process. Plus it's just plain hard on your dishes - glassware can get pitted or permanently clouded, plastic containers get warped. Not to mention the ongoing frustration of trying to find an environmentally-friendly dishwasher detergent that actually works *and* doesn't cost a fortune!

While there are certainly still days when I'd be happy to toss everything in the dishwasher and walk away, overall I haven't minded our return to exclusive hand washing of dishes. The dishes are all sparkling clean, for one. A couple of side benefits have also become apparent: Firstly, we are more likely to minimize our dish dirtying (by reusing a barely-soiled glass or plate) so we cut down on the amount of items being washed on a given day. Secondly, I'm having more in-depth conversations with my husband and kids. Doing the dishes is one of those household tasks that is naturally suited to being a two-person job. Since it takes more than a couple of minutes, we have time for more elaborate conversations rather than a couple of quick sentences scattered in here and there before we dash off to various activities. I've even found it to be a wonderful mindfulness practice (when I remember not to think of it in terms of how-quick-can-I-get-this-done). I have the time to be grateful for each dish, spoon and platter, to consider how it came to be mine (wedding gift, yard sale find, etc.) and to really appreciate its presence in my life (because who knows how long I'll have it, stuff is known to get broken once in a while around here!)

So here we are, now happily dishwasher- *and* microwave-free, and down to half the number of appliances found in the typical kitchen, which is fairly ironic since I'm sure we do more than twice as much cooking as the average family!

While I know choosing to go without a dishwasher might not be the right choice for every family, it's another example of how it can be helpful to think through what you and your family truly want and need before going out and buying something just because that's what everyone else has.

How Does a Frugalista Do it All?

Photo by Phaitoon/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you are new to the idea of living more frugally, it's easy to be overwhelmed by what  promises to be a never-ending to-do list of money-saving activities. When people find out that I cook all our meals from scratch, garden, can and freeze foods, make many of our personal care and cleaning products and help my hubby with assorted DIY projects around the house, and on top of that manage to find time to blog, write a book and homeschool my kids, they often shake their heads in disbelief and state they could never find time to do all those things.

Well, as is often the case, I beg to differ. I am not one of those organizational geniuses who squeezes maximum productivity out of every minute of the day. I am very fond of sleeping at least eight hours a night. And I'm definitely not one of those mega-high-energy people who loves to keep busy - in fact, I prefer a much slower pace and factor an ample amount of leisure time into most days. So how do I still get all that stuff done?


One reason I'm able to "get it all done" is that there are a lot of things I don't do:

I don't spend a lot of time shuttling kids all over the place: My 12 and 14 year old kids are responsible for getting themselves to their climbing lessons, swimming lessons and hockey practice (all of which are an easy walk or short bike ride from our home). I don't have to ferry them around to visit friends, either as most of their friends live right here on the same street as us. There are a couple of homeschooling activities located a bit further away that require us to bike escort or drive them over, but that's about it.

I don't spend a lot of time shopping or running errands: I'm able to get most of our routine errands (such as dropping off/picking up library materials, going to the bank and post office, and shopping at the neighbourhood grocery store) done in 30-45 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays - and since I live in such a fabulously walkable neighbourhood, I'm able to do them all on foot rather than driving. Because we only go shopping when we actually need to buy something specific, we don't need to go all that often. We do two major thrift store clothes shopping expeditions per year (one in the spring and one in the fall). My husband and I share the grocery shopping duties, and often they are picked up in combination with other errands rather than making a special trip. Most of our gifts are homemade or come from my gift cupboard, so we don't spend much time shopping for gifts, either.

My house isn't ready for a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot: While our home is usually relatively neat and uncluttered, it's not often buffed and shined to a gleam. The kids are responsible for vacuuming, and the kitchen and bathroom get cleaned routinely but deep cleaning of the rest of the house is something we just don't get to all that often.

I don't cook fancy meals very often: While I do cook all our meals from scratch, I usually keep it simple.  Many of our dinners can be prepared in 30-45 minutes. I do usually put in more time and effort on our Sunday dinners, but even that isn't always true depending on what activities we have going on. We are always well fed, but I don't make it complicated.

I don't watch much TV and try to minimize my time on the computer: We don't have cable, so that helps reduce the temptation to park myself in front of the TV for extended periods. Since we watch TV shows on DVDs (borrowed from the library, of course!) it only takes about 40 minutes to watch a one hour episode of a show. Starting about this time of year, we usually abandon TV watching for spending time outside in the evening, puttering in the garden, going for walks and bike rides, and relaxing on the front porch. I also try really hard not to waste too much time surfing the net or hanging out on social media sites, which can be a huge time sink. I try to get on the computer, do what I need to do, and get off!

Right along with all these things I don't do, there are a few things I *DO* do that also help keep our frugal household running smoothly:

I have a (loose) daily routine: While our family's never been the type to stick to a rigid schedule, our days are generally organized in a loose sort of routine. Mornings I spend writing/blogging and doing household administrative tasks (like paying bills online and checking to see what's due at the library) while the kids have time to pursue whatever interests they want on their own. In the afternoons, I spend a couple of hours with the kids on more structured learning activities. Usually after that I will have a couple hours before I need to start dinner, so I will get some combination of household maintenance activities (cooking, cleaning, laundry) and exercise done in that time.

I make use of little bits of time: Many "maintenance" activities only take 10-15 minutes to complete and I use little bits of time throughout the day to get them done. I will often whip up a batch of granola (which takes less than 10 minutes of hands-on time) before starting the dishes after dinner. That way it can bake while I finish the kitchen clean up. Similarly, a batch of muffins or refrigerator bread dough takes less than 15 minutes to put together. Most of the personal care and cleaning products I make take little time to put together, too. The majority of my garden maintenance is done in 20-30 minute chunks of time, too.

I take advantage of my high-energy days: On those days when I feel particularly bursting with energy, I try to capitalize on it and squeeze in as many tasks as I can. I might spend a few hours in the kitchen, making everything from stock to yogurt to flour tortillas to quick breads, or finally get to some of that deep cleaning in other areas of the house!

I set aside scheduled work days for bigger projects: Some activities do require larger blocks of time to get them done and I set aside specific blocks of time for them. During the growing season, canning is a priority activity. Since my husband and I usually do this together and his work schedule varies a lot from day to day, we schedule in specific mornings or afternoons to get batches of preserves made. If we have a large DIY project in progress (such as renovating part of our house), we'll schedule in specific times to work on it.

I sometimes have to let things go: I'm far from perfect (just like everyone else) and sometimes things simply don't get done. While we do can food every growing season, some years we get more preserving done than other years, and yes, there have been clothes that have gotten outgrown while they've sat in my mending pile. Some of the things on our household DIY project list have waited years to get completed. I try not to be too hard on myself about those things that have gone undone and instead give myself credit for the many things that DO get done.

How do YOU find the time to fit in "frugal" activities?

5 Kitchen Tools I *DON'T* Own

 Photo by nuchylee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I cook three meals a day from scratch and have even written a cookbook. To say that I spend a good deal of time in the kitchen would hardly be an exaggeration. Most people who know how much I cook would probably be surprised to find out how much of a kitchen minimalist I am; I don't like to keep a lot of unnecessary equipment hanging around and cluttering things up. Multi-purpose tools are what I'm all about and I try to avoid anything that serves only one function (my waffle maker being the only exception that comes to mind).


You really don't need a lot of bulky, expensive equipment to cook a whole lot of great food. Here are five tools I get by without just fine:

1. Microwave: When our microwave died several years ago, we made the decision not to replace it and have never looked back. You can read about how and why we decided to go microwave-free here.

2. Bread maker: We make almost all our bread from scratch, but I've never felt tempted to acquire a bread maker. I really enjoy kneading dough by hand, and with my handy refrigerator dough recipe, making bread is super convenient (and I can make up to three loaves at once if I need to).

3. Yogurt maker: I used to have one of these (I received it as a gift). I found I got very inconsistent results with it, and as a result, I came up with my own yogurt incubation method that uses basic items you already have around the house. Not only do I get much more consistent results than I ever did with a yogurt maker, all of the items used to create my "incubator" can be used for other purposes when I'm not making yogurt.

4. Popcorn popper: This is another appliance we used to have and decided we didn't need to replace after it died. We now make stovetop popcorn in our trusty saucepan - and it's the best popcorn ever!

5. Rice cooker: We make rice just fine in our saucepan, eliminating the need for yet another bulky appliance.


Are you a kitchen minimalist, too? What tools do YOU think are unnecessary in your kitchen?

How to Get What You Want Without Money

The bounty from my produce cooperative's final swap of the season 

Money can be a really handy tool for procuring the things you need and want - but it's by no means the only way to do so! You might be surprised at just how many things can be achieved without using money, if you are willing to be resourceful. Whether your budget's particularly tight, or you just enjoy the sport of acquiring goods and services without having to exchange any money for them, here are some ways to go about it: 

1. Put the word out

Let your friends and family know what you're looking for - it may be something they have lying around that they can't wait to get rid of! Put a "wanted" request out to your local Freecycle group. I've given many things away through my local group, so I have no qualms about asking for something when I need it. You can also put a "wanted" ad on Craigslist and Kijiji. While you're there, check out the "Free" sections on these sites - you may find a listing for the exact item you need. We've received a lot of wonderful items through these avenues - including a washing machine (that ended up lasting us 5 years), some good quality dress shirts my husband is still wearing several years later, and a perfectly good television we've been using for the past couple of years.

2. Become a scavenger

It's surprising what you can find lying around at the side of the road or by a dumpster in a parking lot. While I'm not quite brave enough to venture into full-on dumpster diving, I'm quite happy to drag something home I found in a neighbour's trash pile. Almost every bike my kids have owned came from the side of the road (as well as the mountain bike that is my primary mode of transportation). Most of these bikes needed some type of overhaul to make them functional, and since my hubby's a pro at that sort of thing, he's happy to take on the challenge of bringing them back to life (although often, they only needed pretty simple repairs to make them functional again). We've also found a perfectly good TV stand (to hold our free TV), free hostas for the garden, and a wide variety of other odds and ends we've put to good use. My husband also knows a couple of good spots to find piles of discarded wooden pallets, which are an excellent source of free wood for small building projects (such as the planter boxes on our deck).

3. Swap, swap, swap!

You never know what you might have that someone else might want - whether it's no-longer-needed possessions gathering dust in your basement, or special skills and talents that others can benefit from. It's easy to do informal swapping with friends and neighbours. Sometimes you might swap related items (i.e. trading childcare services with each other, or swapping different types of garden plants), or maybe you could swap a haircut for some lawn and garden cleanup. If you really love to barter, you can take swapping to the next level and join a more formal bartering group. There are a growing number of these types of organizations available, as interest in bartering is growing around the world. LETS (Local Exchange and Trading Systems) are going strong in many areas and allow members to trade a wide variety of skills and services with one another; you can search for a local group here. A dedicated bartering site which is growing in popularity here in Canada is SwapSity, which I am planning to get more involved with this year. You can also search for trades and swaps on more traditional classified sites like Craigslist and Kijiji. A couple of years ago, I posted an offer to swap plants on Kijiji and ended up receiving enough perennials to landscape my entire front garden for free! Swap groups can also also have a specific focus; produce cooperatives (where local veggie gardeners swap their surplus garden produce) are gaining in popularity and the group I started last year got off to a good start. Some of these groups have evolved to become general food-swapping groups with a wide variety of edible offerings, such as the Boston Food Swap.

4. Be creative.

I've long thought that creativity and resourcefulness can be much more powerful tools than money. Sometimes, it may take a combination of several strategies to figure out how to get what you want with little or no money. Combining scavenging or swapping of materials with skills such as carpentry, wiring, or sewing may be necessary to create your vision. Need a new rug? With some old sweaters or T-shirts from Freecycle, you can easily make one. A few pieces of beaten up, trash-picked furniture might be disassembled and rebuilt to create the exact piece you're looking for. Busted up hockey sticks and an old futon frame can be transformed into a conversation-starting Muskoka chair. Take a close look at your junk before you discard it - it may have a second (or third) life you hadn't considered!

Have you ever gotten something great without using money? If so, please share the details with us!

"Life Editing" and Happiness

This morning I happened to stumble across this video of Treehugger founder Graham Hill giving a TED talk on why "less is more". Obviously, that's not exactly a new idea, but I enjoyed listening to his take on the concept.



 I'm not sure I'd ever want to live in a 420 square foot apartment, no matter how well designed, but I suppose I do practice my own form of "life editing" as he calls it.


Our family of four does live in what I would consider to be a fairly large home (a 2 1/2 story double-brick, 87 year old place that's almost 2000 square feet). I have to admit I've been pretty astonished at how many people have remarked on what a "cute little house" we have. I find it alarming that anyone would consider our home small, but I guess 3000-4000 feet is considered standard space for family living by many people these days. I also find it pretty scary that even though the average home is now three times the size it used to be, storage units are a booming industry because people can't fit all their "stuff" in a house that size.

While we do like our home (even with all its fixer-upper challenges), more important to us was its location in an extremely walkable neighbourhood with lots of other families. Since everything from the grocery store to the bank, library, drugstore, coffee shop, hairdressers, wooded hiking trails, park, public pool and arena are less than a 10 minute walk from our house, we can easily get by with just one vehicle (in fact, for three years we didn't have one at all, but now my husband really needs one for his job). Also, since there are many other families in our neighbourhood and our kids' closest friends live on the same block as us, there is no setting up of playdates and shuttling around of kids - they happily meander back and forth from one house to another whenever it's convenient. Now that they are old enough, they can also take themselves to the swimming pool, arena and park when they want to play with their friends or when they have hockey practice or swimming lessons. I consider cars to be a ginormous hassle and expense and I really can't understand why anyone would want one unless they absolutely needed it. So we are very happily a one car family (and again, so many people have commented that they just don't know how we manage with "only" one car).

We are also a family that loves our camping vacations, and we usually go on one to three camping trips each summer. A lot of people are surprised that since we love to camp so much, we have not gotten ourselves an RV. Well, let's see: Our $200 tent is easy to store, requires very little maintenance, packs into our van easily (and we can even pack it on one of our bikes should we want to go bike touring) and we can set it up just about anywhere. RVs cost tens of thousands of dollars, need to be insured and stored somewhere secure, take a good deal of time and money to maintain, are a huge hassle to tow, and can only be used in sites specifically designed for them. Sure, they might be a *tiny* bit more comfortable, but honestly, for the teensy bit more comfort and shelter they provide, I just don't feel they are worth it considering all the drawbacks! And I really, really, really don't want the capacity to watch television while on a camping trip :)

As far as the smaller stuff goes, I try to think carefully about whether we really need something before bringing it into our home, and if we had something in the past and it breaks, I think about whether it needs replacing before running out and getting a new one. When our microwave died a few years ago, we decided we didn't need to replace it. It freed up a bunch of space in our modest-sized kitchen, and we haven't missed it one bit! When our ancient popcorn air popper died, we decided to start making popcorn in a pot on the stove and found we enjoyed it even better than air-popped. I also don't have a cell phone because I just don't need one (I'm rarely more than a couple kilometres from home, and since I usually walk or bike places I don't need to worry about having car trouble!). No one needs to get a hold of me that urgently that they can't wait until I've gotten back from wherever I might have gone off to - and personally, I like knowing that if I'm on an exercise walk or bike ride that I am going to have some nice peaceful time to myself without any interruptions.

We try to purge stuff pretty ruthlessly around here as well. My husband's office is in the same plaza as a Value Village, so it's super convenient for him to drop off items we're no longer using (I will often offer things on Freecycle first, but sometimes I just really want the stuff out of the house ASAP!). I'm pretty impressed with how easily my kids let go of things they no longer need - they tend to be better about it than I am, actually!


One "mimimalist" trend that I have not embraced at all is that of digitalizing everything (papers, photos, books, CDs, DVDs). Sure, you can convert just about anything to a digital file these days and I know that's definitely a space-saving feature. The thing is, I just don't like it! I really prefer to have a bookcase full of real books, and to hold a book while I'm reading it rather than an e-reader. I still also prefer CDs to wrestling around with organizing music on an Ipod. And I also love my filing cabinet full of papers :). I absolutely loathe spending time organizing digital files and also worrying about backing them up in case my technology dies.

My own form of minimalism in this area is to simply not own more than I need. I do have two bookcases full of books, but I purge them regularly. I only keep the ones I really need or truly love, and borrow most items I read from the library. We probably own less than 20 DVDs, only ones that are real family favourites that get watched many times. The rest we borrow from the library. In general, I feel most stuff that's for transient entertainment purposes, we don't need to own when it's easy enough to borrow.

As I think about the many areas of our life where we have deliberately chosen less "stuff" than other people, I think it has led to less stress and hassle, much less money spent, and more time to do the things we really enjoy.

What do you think? How much space and "stuff" is enough? 

(I think the answer is different for each person or family, but it seems pretty clear to me that a lot of people could benefit from choosing to live with a lot less.)

R.I.P., My Faithful Friends

In a society where products seem largely designed to break down less than a year after purchase, it's increasingly rare to have a long-standing relationship with most of your "stuff".

That makes it doubly heartrending that I need to say goodbye to not one, but two of my hardest working and long lasting possessions:

#1: My Hiking Boots:

I'm sure that at least one of my kids was still in diapers when I bought these boots. The youngest is now 12, so I'd say these boots are somewhere between 10 and 12 years old. They are perfectly broken in, and have carried me in comfort through countless kilometres of tromping through the woods and trudging through the city streets running errands on foot. Unfortunately, they have suffered a fatal injury that my local shoe repair guy deemed unfixable. I know they look fine from the top - it's the heel and sole of one of them that's wrecked. You can't tell from a quick look at it, as my husband rubber cemented it back together after the shoe repair guy handed down the death sentence in an attempt to make them barely functional until I can find a replacement pair.

I'm really going to miss these boots. I knew they probably didn't have too much life left in them, but I thought I was going to get 1-2 seasons more out of them, otherwise I would have started searching for a new pair much sooner. It's going to be hard to replace these old friends!

#2: Our Blender:

This humble machine has lasted us nearly 20 years, withstanding all manner of abuse by both of my smoothie-obsessed kids, not to mention the many batches of soup it's pureed in the last 2 decades. I remember buying this blender with my husband when we first moved in together during our college/university days, paying for it entirely with Canadian Tire Money we'd stashed away (for all you non-Canadians, Canadian Tire is a national hardware store chain, and they give you a percentage of each purchase back in Canadian Tire "money", which you can then use to buy whatever you'd like!). Amazingly, it's not the motor that's shot - it's the glass carafe, which has several chinks out of it, plus it's not sealing properly and liquids are leaking out the bottom. We've replaced a couple of different parts over the years to extend its lifespan, but at this point I think the motor's days are numbered and it's really not worth it to replace all the other parts that need replacing.
Of course, I'm even more bummed that both of these hard working objects decided to call it kaput during our No-Spend Month. In fact, remembering the crazy week we had during our last No-Spend Month back in October, I'm beginning to wonder at the wisdom of declaring No-Spend Months! I think I'm probably just more acutely aware of extra, unexpected expenses during these months, as I'm sure they happen during the rest of the year, too.

I may not end up replacing either the boots or the blender until my No-Spend month is over, unless I find a fabulous deal on a suitable replacement before then.


In an age of planned obsolescence,  I honour both of these items for serving me so long and so well.

Farewell, friends! May I find worthy successors for both of you.

Accomplishments, Goals and Another No-Spend Month

 Photo: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot/FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

I guess it's finally time for me to admit that the holidays are over and a new year has begun! 2011 was a *very* busy year at our house, and I promised myself that I'd take a bit of quiet time after Christmas before jumping back into the rhythm of my usual routine.

In 2010, I shared my top five frugal successes of the year, and I wanted to do a similar look back on 2011 to see what I'd achieved in the past 12 months. As I took a look back, I realized that our family accomplished much more than I'd realized in one short year: 

1. Paying off our last credit card balance: Yes, it's a bit embarrassing to admit, but we did have an outstanding credit card balance we've been working on paying off. Rest assured that we didn't run it up on big screen TVs or other frivolous purchases. Let's just say we were in a really tight spot financially a while back, and had some expenses we had no other way of dealing with at the time. It took a good deal of discipline to finish paying off the balance, but we did it! 

2. Writing a book: I finished my book, Cheap Appétit: The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible), which I actually started back in 2010. Writing a book is a long and sometimes very frustrating process, and I have to admit there were more than a few times I just wanted to chuck the whole thing out the window! So I'm thrilled it's finally here - a real, live book at last! While this is a satisfying accomplishment for me personally, book sales will also provide a source of passive income for our family. 

3. Paying cash for a couple of large purchases: We made a couple of major purchases in cash in 2011 and receiving substantial discounts for doing so, saving us several hundred dollars.

4. Discovering soapnuts: I wrote about this inexpensive, eco-friendly and effective alternative to laundry soap here. I'm so glad I decided to give soapnuts a try - they are quite possibly the best thing that's ever happened to my laundry!

5. Making my own lip balm and hard lotion: One of my goals for 2011 was to continue finding homemade and inexpensive solutions for more of my personal care products. I'm very satisfied with the homemade lip balm and hard lotion I made a few weeks back (instructions here). Hurray for adding two more low-cost and effective personal care products to my repertoire!

Goals for 2012:

I'm not one for setting New Year's Resolutions as I don't think they're effective. What I prefer to do is to pick one big thing to focus on for the year, and doing as much as I can on a daily or weekly basis (depending on the type of goal) to bring myself closer to achieving it. Last year, my big goal was to finish writing my book, which I managed to squeak out with a couple of weeks to spare at the end of the year! This year, my husband and I have decided to focus on working on our house. We've lived in this house for eight and a half years now, and while we knew it was a fixer-upper when we bought it, we'd like to tip the balance so it starts feeling less fixer and more upper! We did do some work on the house in 2011, including installing a banister in the front hall and continuing to work on improvements to the backyard. We're currently at work on the next round of renos in the front hall, so I hope to be able to share updates on that area later this month! If you want to see the complete list of our DIY projects, check out my Domestic Arts & DIY page for links to all the relevant posts.

January = No-Spend Month

I did a fairly successful No-Spend Month back in October, and I've declared January another No-Spend Month to kick off the new year. After the relative indulgence of the holiday season, I'm more than ready for a break and look forward to a month of buying as little as possible! I'm going to try and keep grocery spending as well as general household purchases to a minimum. We kicked things off with a $55 grocery bill this week (not bad as we didn't buy groceries the week between Christmas and New Years!), which was further reduced to $30 as we had a $25 gift card we received from a generous neighbour over the holidays. My husband has also accumulated $20 worth of free gas (through the "rewards" program of the gas station he frequents) and we have another $20 gift certificate for a local grocery store on the way (received through redeeming Air Miles). We will need to purchase some supplies to complete the front entranceway project, so I'm excluding those expenses from the "no-spend" challenge as we need to get this reno complete ASAP. I'm hoping that our lack of spending in other areas will offset the costs of completing this DIY project!

Book Update:

Before I sign off this post, I'd just like to give a quick update about my book! It's now available for purchase on the following sites:

Amazon.com: click here
Amazon.ca: click here
Amazon.co.uk: click here
Barnes and Noble: click here

I'd also like to ask a favour of those of you who do purchase the book (or have already done so). If you enjoy the book and find it useful, it would mean a lot to me if you would review it on Amazon. It doesn't have to be long and involved - a couple of sentences and a star rating would be really valuable! (A note about the Canadian listing - it says it will ship in 1-2 months, which is definitely not the case - it should read 1-2 days and we're working on getting that fixed!). We're going to be doing the big "official" launch for the book in a few weeks, and having some positive reviews online will help make the launch more successful.

What are your favourite accomplishments of 2011? 

Do you have big plans for 2012?

A Look Back at My "No Spend" Month

At the beginning of October, I issued a "No Spend" Challenge for the month. My plan was to buy nothing except the absolute necessities for the entire month, and to keep my grocery bill below $325 as we'd gone over our grocery budget the last couple months prior (mostly due to purchasing surplus in-season produce for canning and freezing).

I'd planned to give you an update on this a bit sooner, but what can I say? I feel like I'm a bit behind in just about every area of my life right now! So, here's how it went:

Our grocery bill came in at $312.61 for the month, so we squeaked in at $12.39 under my goal. YAY!!

I had identified a few items that we would probably need to buy in October: a winter coat for my older son, winter gloves for both boys, Halloween treats, a birthday gift for my older son, and some coconut oil.

My husband found a great winter coat for my son at Value Village for $11.54 (I was *very* happy about that, as I was beginning to think we were going to have to break down and buy him a brand new one, which would have cost a heck of a lot more!). We didn't end up purchasing my son's birthday gift until the beginning of November (his birthday was yesterday, so yes, it was a bit on the last-minute side). We also didn't get around to buying winter gloves yet as it's been a relatively mild fall so far. We spent $33.31 on Halloween candy and $6.99 on coconut oil.

So far, so good, right? Well, we also had a few unexpected expenses thrown into the mix. Hubby had to go stock up on wood screws to fix my younger son's bed when it broke ($7.45), and he bought two new inner tubes for his bike after he got a flat ($22.58). We also needed some new bungee cords ($10.16 for a multi-pack) and I forgot to bring my yoga mat to class one day and needed to rent one ($2). My husband and son both needed new hockey water bottles ($6.76) and we splurged on a top hat at Dollarama for my younger son's hobo costume ($2.26).

That brings the grand total for our "no spend" month to $103.05. It's not quite "nothing", but it's a heck of a lot less than we've been spending on miscellaneous expenses the past few months. 

I think I might just have to have another "No Spend" month in January! Maybe some of you will care to join me?

Five Ways Having Money Can Save You Money

 Photo by Graur Codrin/Freedigitalphotos.net

When your budget is particularly tight, it can be hard to build up savings. I know, I've been there! But I'd have to say that, right after paying off debts, building savings is the second most important thing you can do to gain more control of your finances. Having extra money in the bank will not only let you sleep better at night, it can actually help you to save even more money, thus allowing you to contribute even more to your savings account. Even if you have to start by saving a very small amount each week, it's worth it to make it a habit, and it will always pay off in the long term.

Here are five ways having extra money will help you save even more:


1. Paying in full for large purchases upfront can result in substantial discounts:
As I've alluded to previously, my husband has been in the process of getting a dental bridge made at a nearby university's dental school. Getting the work done at the dental school rather than at a dentist's has already saved us a HUGE amount of money (in the thousands) but we had an opportunity to save even more when we paid for the lab fees in full immediately, rather than putting them on a payment plan. We were offered a 20% discount, which on the $1600 bill amounted to a savings of $320. In the past, other businesses have offered us discounts for paying in cash. It can't hurt to ask, and you may save yourself a large chunk of change!

2. You can take advantage of great deals and buy things BEFORE you need them

The worst time to shop for something is when you needed it yesterday! By having extra cash on hand, you can more easily plan for your needs in advance, and purchase items when you find a terrific sale. You can also afford to buy items in bulk, which often results in a large savings. Having the ability to buy in large quantities when staple items like food, personal care and cleaning products are at their rock-bottom price means you can avoid having to pay full price for household necessities.

3. You can take care of little problems before they become big problems

Getting repairs done as soon as you notice they're needed will usually stop them from becoming much bigger, more expensive problems. Ignoring that funny noise your car's making because you don't have the money to pay the mechanic will usually end up costing you much more in the long run.

4. You can more easily cope with unexpected expenses

Life happens, and even those of us who try our best to plan ahead will likely be hit with some type of unexpected expense at one time or another. Appliances sometimes die without much warning, and a sudden death or illness in the family might require a flight across the country. Having a cash reserve to draw from when these type of expenses crop up means that you can avoid putting them on credit cards and accruing huge interest fees.

5. You can buy larger-ticket items secondhand

If you want to buy things secondhand from private sellers, you usually need to have cash on hand to do it (unless you're buying online on a site like eBay). Shopping locally for larger ticket items like appliances and cars will require the ability to pay in cash. When our washing machine died this summer, we were able to replace it within a couple of days by making a cash purchase of a 2 yr old machine in pristine condition, from a private seller we'd located on Kijiji. If we didn't have the cash on hand, we'd have had to buy retail *and* slap it on a credit card, both of which would have meant we'd have paid a lot more to replace our washing machine.

Can you think of any more ways having money helps you save even more?

Keeping Your Frugal Flow Even When Life Gets Frantic

Photo by Evgeni Dinev/Freedigitalphotos.net

It's been quite a crazy week chez McLaughlin: 

1. On the weekend my younger son's bed decided to collapse (one of the steel supports for the wooden slats under the mattress collapsed, thankfully NOT while he was on it!)

2. On Tuesday, my husband went out for "a quick bike ride" before dinner - and was still not home an hour after he should have been! He had gotten a flat he wasn't able to fix about 15 km from home and I ended up needing to go rescue him, driving through a fairly high-traffic area during rush hour (which, since I rarely drive, was extremely stressful for me!)

3. On Wednesday, I came home from the library in the middle of the afternoon to find my 86-year-old grandmother in my living room (the kids had let her in the house). Since she doesn't drive and has never come to visit me all on her own before, this was a bit of a shock (she took a bus and a taxi to get here from my hometown about half an hour away from the city). After she'd gone to all that trouble to get here, I couldn't very well send her home on the next bus out of town! So I invited her for dinner and arranged for my hubby to drive her home later that evening. We had a very nice visit, but it sure threw my plans for the day right out the window.

4. On Thursday, my husband had to drive to London (Ontario, not England!) to spend a full day at the dental college there where they are working on making him a bridge. This is going to save us a lot of money, but the appointments tend to be made on fairly short notice (last time he had less than 12 hours notice; this time it was a few days). This disrupted the day's plans as, since we only have one vehicle, I now had to bike my kids the 5-6 km to the karate studio where our homeschooling group meets every Thursday for drama and crafts. Thankfully, the weather was lovely, but I did have to reschedule an appointment so I could have enough time to get home after dropping them off.

Needless to say, it's felt like somewhat of a chaotic week! And despite our normal schedule being disrupted at just about every turn, our frugal habits remained well in place:


-we didn't run out and buy my son a new (or even secondhand) bed when it broke. He slept on an air mattress for a few days until my husband had time to properly fix the one we had - it's now sturdier than ever!

-even though it was close to 7 p.m. by the time I got my husband and his disabled bike back home on Tuesday night (and we were both pretty worn out at that point) we didn't resort to fast food for dinner - instead I quickly whipped up my Cheesy Mac & Beef Skillet, which takes very little time and even less effort (and uses staple ingredients we always have on hand)

-I was able to invite my grandmother to stay for dinner on the spur of the moment, and adjust our meal plans to accommodate her tastes while still making good use of the foods that most urgently needed eating up

-because my kids are used to walking and biking places rather than being driven everywhere, they were easily able to ride 5-6 km with me to get to their Thursday activities. Yes, we could have taken the bus, but the service to that part of town isn't very good, and it would have taken several times longer for me to drop them off there and get myself back (plus we saved several dollars in bus fare and got some exercise to boot).

Sometimes it DOES take a little more effort to make frugal choices when life takes its unexpected twists and turns. But the more firmly ingrained your frugal habits are, the easier it is to stick with them even when the going gets a little bit rough. It's nice to know that even though life threw us a few curve balls this week, we still came up swinging for Team Frugalista full force!

Hopefully life will settle down a bit now, as I have a lot of prep work to do for this weekend's Thanksgiving dinner.

October "No Spend" Challenge

 Image by Ambro/freedigitalphotos.net

Despite my hubby's vigilance saving us $100 at the auto service department, it seems like we've been going through money hand over fist these last few months. We busted our typical clothing budget, and got ourselves a new front hall banister and a patio in the backyard. We bought a new washing machine (secondhand on Kijiji) when our (really, really) old one died and took a couple of camping trips this summer. My younger son needed to replace almost all of his hockey equipment because it was outgrown or worn out (which cost us over 200 bucks even though we bought most of it used!) We've even gone over our usual grocery and gas budgets these last couple months, for crying out loud!

Now, all things considered, this is not entirely a bad thing. We did some long-awaited renovations to our home, had some great family vacation time, and replaced household items and sports equipment that needed replacing. We had more than enough money in the bank to do all of these things, and still have enough left to pay cash to replace our 40-year-old furnace next month (another long-awaited item on our "to-do" list).

Still, being the frugal type of person that I am, I feel a need to take a little break from spending for a while. So, I'm declaring October a "no spend" month and am going to make an effort to buy nothing but the bare necessities this month. Right now, aside from the aforementioned furnace, the only things (other than food) that I know we will need to buy are a winter coat for my older son, winter gloves for both boys, some Halloween treats, and a birthday gift (also for my older son, who will turn 14 on November 4th). I also need to stock up on coconut oil to try my hand at making some hard lotion (I was planning to go buy this today, before the challenge started, but didn't have a chance to get to it).

I'm also hoping to spend less than $325 on groceries this month. Our average grocery bill over the course of the year is around $350 per month, but it's typically much higher in the summer months as we are buying lots of seasonal produce to can and freeze. So, since we have a pretty well-stocked pantry and freezer, I'm planning to eat strategically this month and minimize our grocery purchases.

I'm really looking forward to a month that involves a lot less running around and buying stuff than we've been doing of late. 

Anyone else care to join me in the October "no spend" challenge?

Paying Attention Can Really Pay Off!

Photo by Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes it seems like saving money involves a lot of work: canning, hanging laundry, cooking from scratch, mending clothes, etc. So it's nice to know that sometimes you can save a significant chunk of change just by paying attention!

We saved $100 last week thanks to my husband's vigilance at the auto service department of our van's dealership. Our van, which we purchased used 2 years ago, was still under the original factory warranty for 100,000 km or five years, whichever came first. We had not quite hit the 100,000 mark, but the van had officially turned five at the end of August. When we bought the van, we opted to purchase an extended warranty for an additional three years (for most types of products, extended warranties are NOT worth it, but given the ridiculously high costs of getting modern vehicles repaired, we feel in this case it will be worthwhile). So, since the original warranty has expired, we are now covered under the extended warranty, which has a $100 deductible.

Hubby took the van in last week to have some warranty-covered parts replaced, and because we were now under the extended warranty, they were going to charge us the $100 deductible. However, we had originally brought the van in to have this work done back in August, and they had been unable to complete the work because they had ordered the wrong replacement parts. The van was still covered under the original factory warranty at that point, and when Joe pointed this out to the staff at the auto service department, stating that the work would have been done at that time if it wasn't for the dealership's error in ordering the wrong parts, they agreed that it should be covered under the original warranty and we were NOT charged the $100 deductible.

That sure was an easy way to save $100 just by paying attention to the details!

(As an aside, one of the things that needed replacing was the passenger seat, because of a faulty airbag sensor. If we had to pay to have it replaced, it would have been $1800! Because cars are so sophisticated now, seemingly "small" problems can often be very expensive for parts and/or labour - one reason we opted for the extended warranty).

Have you ever saved an impressive amount of money in a similar fashion? If so, please tell us all about it in the comments!

Forget Sticker Shock; I'm Having Packaging Paroxysms

Earlier this week, I received a package in the mail. It was the Cuisinart mixer that I'll be reviewing soon here on this blog (I received a $55 gift certificate from CSN Stores to purchase it, in exchange for writing a review).

Being the thrift store and yard sale diva that I am, I don't often buy things new, and I buy things by mail order even more rarely. Usually it's the price of buying new products that I find seriously alarming; however while unpacking my mixer, I was more than a little appalled at the amount of detritus that ended strewn across the floor:

 Compare that large pile of refuse to the size of the product found inside:

I'm sure I can't be the only one who's somewhat horrified. Now, I'm definitely not picking on the company that sent this to me; all products I've ever received shipped in the mail seem to have had an excess amount of packaging. At least styrofoam peanuts seems to be going extinct; I can recycle or reuse all of this packaging material (and my kids and cat got some play value out of the box).

This was a definite reminder for me of how much less waste I'm generating by secondhand shopping! And although I think buying used is the best way to reduce waste (as well as save a bundle of cash), there are times when it's worth it to buy new. This good quality mixer will probably last me 10 or 15 years (since the one I'm replacing, which was not nearly as good quality as this, has lasted roughly that long). And having good quality kitchen tools that make cooking easier means it's more appealing to make foods from scratch and less tempting to grab take out.

I just hope that when I need another new mixer fifteen years from now, that it arrives with a whole heck of a lot less packaging.

Are You a Fair-Weather Frugalista?

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Katie over at the Non-Consumer Advocate recently shared some thoughts about an article in The Oregonian which stated that although a lot of people *say* they're going to stick with their new frugal habits post-recession, a lot of research shows otherwise; consumer spending has already begun to increase significantly.

I've always theorized that there are three types of people when it comes to frugality:

1. The Committed Frugalista: someone for whom frugality is a core value; this individual practices frugality consistently no matter what their financial circumstances or the state of "the economy".

2. The Desperate Frugalista: will resort to frugal practices when absolutely necessary to make ends meet; often feels embarrassed about penny-pinching practices and will return to their old spending habits as soon as their cash flow improves again. 

3. The Wouldn't-Be-Caught-Dead-Clipping-Coupons Anti-Frugalista: scoffs at frugal people and would never consider adopting frugal practices because it's "beneath" them.

It seems that many people who adopted frugal practices during the recession fall into category #2; as soon as they're not feeling desperate any more, they go back to their old spending patterns. I suspect that these people associate frugality with poverty and so will not resort to radical changes in their habits except as a last resort.

In contrast, the individual who is committed to a frugal lifestyle is a "fair-weather frugalista" who will not think twice about continuing their frugal ways even when economic times improve. Their actions are not born of desperation but rather stem from a deep conviction about how they want to live their lives. They get a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment from their frugal ways.

I love the way Amy Dacycyzn of the Tightwad Gazette puts it in this interview:

"We always do think frugality in the bad times, and I just wish people would do it in the good times, because if we would do it in the good times, the bad times wouldn't be bad; we'd be able to ride it out."

As for me, it's hard to imagine I'll ever give up yard-saling, curbside shopping or making my own bread, no matter how much money is in my bank account. What about you?

5 Ways Decluttering Saves You Money

We're knee-deep in an intensive declutter of both of my boys' rooms right now. After years of sharing a sleeping space with a bunk bed setup, they are moving into separate bedrooms. This means that we have to clear out some excess furniture from the second room, rearrange other furniture, move some from one room to another, and most of all, get rid of a lot of junk and items they've outgrown (we're trying to eliminate an entire beaten up old bookcase from the second room, one that stored lots of bins and baskets full of toys).

This is what my older son's floor looks like right now:

And my younger son's looks like this:

Currently, we're at the point right where I almost feel like throwing my hands up in despair; decluttering always makes things look worse before they get better! So, to make myself feel better, I've been reminding myself of all the ways decluttering can help save money:

1. You find things you've lost that you were going to spend money replacing. Those errant scissors, stray tools and missing craft supplies magically seem to reappear during major decluttering sessions.

2. You discover items you forgot you had that you can reuse/repurpose. This is one of my favourite decluttering rewards: unearthing a long-forgotten object for which I suddenly have the perfect use.

3. You eliminate the need to buy organizing supplies. Forget that trip to IKEA or The Container Store - once you get rid of the stuff you don't need, there's not a whole lot left to organize, and the containers/bins/shelves you already have are likely up to the task.

4. You realize you didn't really need half the stuff you bought in the past.This can be a really big eye-opener for some people. All those items that never got used, or got used once then tossed in a heap somewhere, are a real money drain (not to mention all the wasted resources that went into their manufacture.)

5. You can sell that unwanted stuff to make some cash. Yes, it's every declutterer's favourite hobby: listing items on eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji. It's great to make some money while getting rid of unwanted items, but it's also worth remembering how much more you paid for it than you're selling it for - did you get your money's worth out of that item, or learn a lesson about what's necessary and what's not?

As for us, we'll have a lot of toys and books to pass along on Freecycle, and we'll be listing a mighty big box of Bionicles and some Transformers on Kijiji. I can't wait to see the floors again.

My Top Five Frugal Successes of 2010

 Photo by Ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's the last day of 2010 and I've been taking some time to reflect on the year's many joys and challenges. A lot of things have happened in our family this year (many of them too personal to share on this blog). What I *can* share are some of the frugal changes we made over the course of the year that have been the most satisfying to me.

1. Finally ditching cable...for good.
This one seems like a total no-brainer; after all it's practically Frugality 101. We canceled our cable service in January. For a family that previously lived without a TV for a couple of years, I don't know how we ever managed to get sucked into cable, but we did. We had it for about seven years, and in hindsight it's definitely one of those "what were we thinking?" situations. Neither my husband or I are big TV watchers in the first place. We discovered after we canceled our cable service that a simple pair of rabbit ears given to us by a neighbour allows us to receive the 3 or 4 channels we most commonly watch. Since we're in Canada, we don't have access to Hulu; however the netflix streaming service is now available in Canada and if we wanted to spend $7.99 a month we could stream it through my boys' Playstation 3 system. Right now we've been very content to watch shows on DVD from the library (we're fortunate that our library has an extensive DVD collection). The only thing I've really missed is being able to watch baseball games during the summer (we listened to them on the radio instead).

We had our phone, internet, and cable services bundled through a single provider, so when we canceled cable, we reassessed our phone service and switched to a less expensive package (this was a new package that wasn't available when we first signed on with our current provider). These changes allowed us to cut our bill in half, from $162 and change a month down to just over $82. That means we saved $960 over the course of the year. I'm so pleased we made this change, but really wish we'd done it a lot sooner (or better yet, never succumbed to the lure of cable in the first place).


2. Switching to a cash system for groceries and miscellaneous spending.
I've always paid fairly close attention to how much we spend and allocated specific amounts for each item in our budget. Most of our bills are paid by automatic withdrawal, so they're pretty easy to keep track of. The two categories in our budget that were the most difficult to keep a handle on were groceries and miscellaneous spending (which for us includes everything from personal care to general household needs, gifts and haircuts). We finally decided to switch to a cash system for these two categories, and it's worked out beautifully. It's so much easier to track how much we've spent and how much we have left for the rest of the month. I simply put the designated amounts of money into envelopes at the beginning of each month, and once it's gone, it's gone (if there's any left at the end of the month, I roll it over into next month's envelope). This method has really helped us stay true to our designated budget without spending a lot of time trying to track our purchases.

3. Switching to reusable feminine hygiene products.
This is a change I had been meaning to make for a few years now. I tried the Keeper several years ago, and I really *wanted* to like it, but it just didn't work out for me (it was uncomfortable to wear and I had some kind of reaction to it). I planned to sew some cloth pads and never quite got around to it (my bottomless mending pile has a lot to do with that). I definitely didn't want to spend the amount of money required to purchase pre-made cloth pads, but I'd had enough of purchasing disposable products (not to mention all the unnecessary waste they create). I finally came up with a very simple, no-sew solution that took me all of five minutes. It's worked well for me for several months now. I'll share more details in a future post.

4. Learning how to make my own homemade deodorant.
Not only is this a money-saver, it's very satisfying to find an all-natural solution that actually works! My husband and I have been using this recipe since the spring and we both love it. I add a few drops each of tea tree and peppermint essential oil for extra anti-microbial coverage and a fresh, clean scent. This discovery has blossomed into an interest in making more of my own personal care products, and a few weeks ago I discovered the awesome blog CrunchyBetty.com. Since then I have enjoyed making Mocha-Frappuccino face masks and Winter Face Scrub and am itching to experiment with many more concoctions in the new year.

5. Perfecting my homemade yogurt and granola recipes.
I definitely know my way around the kitchen and generally have no trouble creating a wide variety of tasty foodstuffs from scratch. The perfect yogurt and granola recipes seemed to have eluded me for years, though. This year I finally got them both right! I can now consistently turn out a vanilla yogurt that my family loves, and have achieved what I consider to be "granola perfection" - flavourful, crunchy, but not too sweet (recipe here).


What were your biggest frugal successes in 2010?

Having Patience Pays Off

Photo: Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of the biggest keys to saving money is being able to wait as long as possible before you buy something. Predicting future needs and planning accordingly is an important skill for all frugalistas to develop! This way you have plenty of time to check out a variety of secondhand sources for the items you need, or to wait for a really great sale if it's something you absolutely have to buy new.

The ability to hold off on purchasing "wants" (things that might be nice to have, but are not essential to daily living) may be the biggest way in which patience ends up paying off. Since so many purchases are "impulse buys", there's a good chance you could end up deciding you didn't really want the item in question after all. If you hold off on the purchase and still decide you really want it, you may end up finding a very low cost or even free way to obtain the desired item.

A perfect illustration of this occurred at our house recently. My hubby and I had been discussing how it might be nice for us to have a second TV. We had one in the "games room" where our boys spend a lot of time hanging out with their friends. Since we don't have cable, this TV is used primarily for gaming and watching DVDs (we do get a couple of channels with rabbit ear reception and occasionally will watch broadcast TV). Often, we would want to watch a movie at the same time as the kids wanted to hang out with their friends and play games on their Playstation 3 (purchased with their own money). One of the nice features of the PS3 is that it will play DVDs and Bluerays in addition to the PS3 games. Since we already had a DVD player before the kids bought the gaming system, this meant that if we had another TV, we'd be able to use it with our original DVD player and give us adults the freedom to watch movies anytime we wanted without having to break up the kids' fun and games.

Although my husband and I agreed that a second TV would be a "really nice to have" extra, at this point in time, we were unwilling to go out and buy a TV (even secondhand) as there are several other items on our priority list to which all extra funds are currently being directed. I decided to keep an eye out on Kijiji and Freecycle for any free TV offerings that might come along. After just a couple weeks, I found one on Kijiji that was being offered by a household very close by (a 5 minute drive). They were thrilled to find someone to take it and avoid taking it to the dump, and we were thrilled to receive it. It was in just as good of condition as the TV set we'd purchased a few years ago, and was actually a larger screen than we already had. We decided to give the boys the larger one and take our original one to use up in our attic bedroom for movie watching.

Now all we needed was a nice TV stand on casters to hold our "new" set and the DVD player. Hubby had already been devising a plan to build us a stand out of scrap wood and hardware that he had lying around, but since he's got a few DIY projects on the go, he hadn't bothered starting to put anything together yet. This ended up being a good thing, as less than a week after we found our free TV, he trash-picked a TV stand that was exactly what we had in mind! All it needed was a good wiping down and it was ready to go. The only purchase we ended up making was one of those little connector doodads (highly technical term, I know!) to connect the wires for the DVD player to the TV. This cost us just under twelve dollars at a local surplus store.

In contrast, if we'd gone out and bought a new TV and stand the minute we'd decided we wanted one, we'd have paid around $200 for the TV and $79-$99 for a similar type of stand. With taxes, that would have put the total cost at over $300. I like $12 a whole lot better. Not to mention the fact that if we were going to buy it new, we would have chosen just to go without at this time, because we had higher-priority items to save our money for. With a little patience, we were able to find an extremely low-cost solution to get what we wanted!

How has patience paid off for you lately?

What are Your Bargain-Hunting Habits?

 Photo by Arvind Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I've been noticing lately how many little bargain-hunting habits I've developed - things I do routinely, almost without thinking about it! So of course I started wondering whether everyone else had these regular sorts of rituals or not. Here are the things I do on a daily/weekly basis to keep my eye out for good deals:

1. Check Simplyfrugal.ca daily for new updates on Canadian freebies, sales, and discounts. This is the best source I've found so far for exclusively Canadian deals and I usually find a great freebie or coupon at least once or twice a week.

2. Patrol the reduced racks at the grocery store every time I go (my neighbourhood store has a fruit and vegetable rack and a bread/baked goods rack) and take a stroll past the meat counter to look for marked down meat and unadvertised specials.

3. Browse the "free" ads on Kijiji and Craigslist  a couple of times a week to see what goodies people are giving away (I also check the "wanted" ads to see if I can help out anyone who's looking for something).

4. On Thursdays, our big stack of sales flyers for the week gets delivered. I sit down with a cup of coffee and wade through them, noting the good deals and starting to plan our shopping trip(s) for the week.

5. On Fridays, I check the newspaper classifieds and the listings on Kijiji and Craigslist for the upcoming weekend's yard sales, and plan my yard sale route.

6. On Saturday morning (and sometimes Sunday) I head out on my weekly yard sale rounds.

7. On Sunday evenings, I keep an eye on the curb for anything our neighbours may have set out for trash pickup that I might want to divert from the landfill :) I generally keep my eyes open anytime I'm out and about for the possibility of a good curbside find. Just yesterday my boys scooped a huge box of free Lego from the side of the road (yes, it was clearly marked "free" on the box!)

What bargain-hunting rituals do you have?

A Day in the Life of Our Frugal Family

Image by Mantas Ruzveitas/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today it struck me just how much our frugal ways permeate every aspect of our daily lives. I thought I'd share a quick snapshot of what a typical day looks like around here. No two days are quite the same, but today is as good a day as any other of illustrating our frugal lifestyle.

I started the day by checking on our batch of yogurt that had incubated overnight. It was successfully brewed up, so I poured it into individual serving containers and stuck it in the fridge. I wasn't sure if the yogurt would work out or not, as I'd invented a new incubation method on the fly. Our yogurt maker died and I didn't realize it until I had a batch in progress (I'll share more about my method in another post soon). Once I had the yogurt taken care of, I pulled the bowl of Refrigerator Bread Dough that I'd made last night out of the fridge, and got two loaves of bread rising (the rest of the dough went back in the fridge to be used later this week). I then started a load of laundry (in my freecycled-to-me machine, using homemade laundry detergent) and hopped on my (15 years old and still going strong) bike for a 4o minute spin along the Waterfront Trail.

Once I got back home, I had a Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin for breakfast, along with a cup of coffee made in our yard sale purchased $1.00 coffee perker. I got the bread in the oven, dealt with some household administrative tasks, had a quick shower, and got dressed in my thrift store and yard saled (and still looking nearly new) clothes. While I was doing all that, my hubby rode his (also many years old) bike over to the CAA office (a couple of kilometres away) to get his driver's license and license plate renewed.

Once hubby returned home, we planned out the rest of our day while we sorted out what was going to be on the lunch menu. He works a lot of evenings and weekends (he's a Realtor), so often he will take most of a day off one day during the week. This day usually ends up being an errand-running and household chore day, and that's how it turned out today. Our kids are homeschooled, so on these days they either help us out with whatever we're doing, or work on a project on their own.

Lunch was the last of our Sunday dinner roast chicken (bought on a buy-one-get-one-free sale), diced up and turned into a sandwich filling with red peppers, green onions and mayo, all on fresh-from-the-oven bread. I topped my sandwich off with avocado slices as there was half an avocado in the fridge that needed to be used up. All of the produce we used was purchased on sale as well, most of it for half price or less.

After lunch hubby and I ran out to do a couple of errands in the van (our only family vehicle) that were too far away to get to by bike, but located close to one another. I stocked up on sale-priced decent quality underwear for myself, and we picked up some paperwork my husband needed for work.

The errands took about an hour. Once we got back home, my husband taught my 10 year old son how to cut the grass (which desperately needed cutting!) My son is planning to do some lawn cutting this summer to earn extra money, so his dad is teaching him how to do a really good job so he'll have satisfied customers. While they were doing that, I hung the load of laundry out on the line, did a bit of yard cleanup and checked on my arugula seedlings to see how they were doing. My older son went down the street to pick up a perfectly good toboggan that had been left on the curb by one of our neighbours. A couple of our toboggans bit the dust this winter after years of use so a "new" one will come in handy for next winter. We've taught our kids to always check with homeowners first before taking stuff from the curb to make sure it's okay. It's a very common practice for people in our neighbourhood to put anything they no longer want on the curb, and no one looks askance at whoever decides to pick it up and drag it home!

The boys went back in the house to "do their own thing" for a while, and my husband then rode his bike over to the office to do a couple of hours of work there. I planted some spinach seeds in our raised vegetable bed and finished cleaning up the yard.

Now I'm sitting here taking a coffee break and writing a blog post. Soon I'll start our dinner of Pasta with Creamy Peanut Sauce, Broccoli and Carrots, with all of the ingredients having been purchased on sale (the recipe will be coming to the blog soon!)

After dinner we'll take the dog for a stroll. The kids will play outside with their neighbourhood friends. We'll probably read a bit of our library copy of Stormbreaker (from the Alex Rider series) together, then watch a Battlestar Galactica DVD (also from the library). If we feel like a snack, we'll make some air-popped popcorn and hot chocolate made from homemade mix.

We'll head off to bed well fed and fulfilled from another day of living life on our own terms, eager to see what the day brings tomorrow!