1.) I cut my own hair. I don't use toxic products on it either which are very expensive. No shampoos, conditioners, hairspray, hair gel. No color or permanents. Eeeww...I can't imagine. It sure saves money to have natural hair.
2.) I shop at the Free Store at my local food co-op for clothes. I have found shorts, pajamas, pants, coats, sweaters, and t-shirts. This takes patience and perseverance, but eventually something of good quality shows and I snatch it up.
3.) I shop yard, garage, and estate sales for basics: sheets, blankets, clothes, garden supplies, office supplies, anything and everything. Sometimes I find a house where the owner has my same taste. Jackpot!
4.) I get all books and DVDs out of the library. I have rarely purchased or rented either in the last twenty years.
5.) Because I get all my DVDs out of the library, I rarely if ever go to the movies. This takes an enormous amount of patience, too, to wait until the movie is released on DVD. I also don't subscribe to Netflix or HBO or other services.
7.) I watch free TV series also from the library, but I can find some series online. Again, this takes patience as one usually has to wait about six months for the DVD to be released and for online viewing, normally one needs to wait until a week after it was on TV to see it free.
8.) I check music CDs out of the library, too. There is often a very long wait on new releases. I listen to the CD until I'm sick of every song and return it. Later if I have a craving to listen again, I check it out again! I don't need to buy anything!9.) I rarely eat in restaurants. I know this indulgence is nice. So wonderful to have someone cook for you, but it is very costly for all that pampering.
10.) I don't buy presents: Christmas, birthdays, wedding and baby showers, etc. Call me Scrooge. Sometimes I will make something for someone, but I avoid shopping.
11.) I don't wear make-up and, therefore, don't need make-up remover or special cleaning soaps.
12.) I avoid buying packaged or processed foods and instead I buy in bulk. I also avoid buying any kind of plastic storage bags and instead use glass bowls and containers. This cuts down on garbage, too, but in the city limits residents are required to purchase garbage service so there is no choice. If I lived in the country, I would pack my own garbage to the dump....and definitely do more recycling.
13.) I get free water from the free flowing artesian well using refillable glass bottles.
15.) Wait for sales and then buy in bulk! I have cases of dishwashing liquid and laundry detergent stored in my house. One can usually get a per case discount ON TOP of the discounted sales price.
16.) Use coupons. Every now and then I find a coupon for discounted merchandise, especially office supplies or paper products. I rarely, if ever, find coupons for organic food or healthy products. I've always admired women who keep large, massively organized coupon collections. That takes a whole lot of work!
17.) Memberships at warehouse stores like Costco. There isn't much I buy in terms of groceries at Costco since most of what they sell is junk food garbage AND more importantly the organic produce they do have is usually sold in large quantities. Unless one is willing to can or freeze any excess, it would go bad too quickly. In addition, I don't do canned food and I have limited space in my freezer for frozen. However, this would be a good option for families. Costco does have really cheap gas, eye glass prescriptions, and electronics.
18.) Eat less. I try. I'm a notorious overeater. Food is health, comfort, and entertainment. Heck, food is sanity! However, lately I've been doing a good job of limiting my portions and, WOW! food supplies actually last longer! I'm buying less. For a while every time I'd go to the store I'd think how cheap that was, what did I forget, and what was wrong with me before I remembered I'm not eating as much as I used to! (I can't lie...I'm hungry, but I know even when I'm full I'm hungry. I just like to eat.)
19.) Free garden supplies. When possible I get plants for free. Take cuttings off of plants that will propagate easily and get left-over plants from friends cleaning out their gardens due to overgrowth. I have also dug up wildflowers along the side of the highway. If wild weed-like plants infest my yard, I strategically use them in my gardens and call them "native plants." I get rabbit manure from a friend's barn for fertilizer, ash from a friend's fireplace for soil amendments, and bamboo sticks from someone who ripped all the bamboo out of their yard. Every fall plants in my garden go to seed and I collect the seeds for planting the following year. I also collect seeds from foods, like squash.20.) I love Freecycle. Lots of freebies of all kinds.
21.) Garbage. Sometimes I just find free stuff. For a while I was going to the dump regularly looking for cast offs that could be recycled. My neighbors sometimes put things out on the road with a "free" sign. I have a set of lawn chairs I got that way. Other neighbors put shelves or basketballs or whatever out for the garbage. I am not proud...I take what I like.
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| Latest acquisition! |
23.) I get free cardboard from the local furniture store to use as painting canvases or protest posters.
24.) I do most of my house construction and maintenance myself. Not only is is less toxic and I can control any contamination, but it's just plain cheaper.
In conclusion, the key is patience. Waiting for the garage sale that is selling exactly what you need, waiting on hold for the latest movie DVD or music CD from the library, waiting for sales, waiting for freebies to show. Every little bit helps.
Also, my money saving ideas work for me because of my chemical sensitivity isolation. For social butterflies some of these ideas might be their worst nightmare: going without fancy hair and make-up or not having a social life. If you have MCS sacrifices are sometimes necessary...and also money-saving!!
Well, this makes it sound like I never buy anything and of course that's not true. I'm always looking for new ideas.
How do you save money?
By not buying anything but food!
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