I grew up with make-do, possibly because of the "Depression" and possibly because of a Scottish heritage which made a lifestyle out of making do. No Barbies at that time, I sewed the doll clothes myself, by hand. I haven't any memory of not being able to sew or darn. I rarely alter my clothes -- never did, preferring classical styles of good design and material, and having a mostly unchanging figure. Mend, yes, I still can 'sew a fine seam' and blind-hem and replace a zipper with the aid of only a few swear-words. But by the time my clothes are worn out, they really are worn out; they progress from crisply ready for office work, to limply ready for yard work, to threadbarely suitable as a coverup when painting. It isn't long until only the paint spatters are holding the material together and then they become rags to use when staining wood or applying wax. Yesterday, I finally threw away a rag which began life as a sleeve on lace-trimmed blouse, about thirty years ago. *That* was good material. I remember embroidering crazy quilts made from sections of my father's wool suits. The suit's seat, elbows, knees and collars would be too worn to wear to the office; so eventually a brother would get a jacket or pants made from the larger still-good sections while the scraps would be saved for piecing into a quilt. I don't unpick yarn nowadays, although I certainly did when I was young... a hole-y child's sweater could provide enough yarn for three or four mittens. Now, it seems that sweaters are acrylic or some other chemical name, and the threads aren't worth the effort to unpick. We weren't poor, or even low-income. Looking back, I suspect that monetarily the family would rate as upper-middle class, although the lifestyle would have been familiar to a budget-conscious back-to-the-lander. Then, thrift was simply a way of life, which has stuck to this day. I am equally unable to throw out stale bread or to wear new jeans when mowing grass, lol. Interestingly, there are a number of on-line sites -- the code word is usually 'frugal' which apparently lacks the implications of poverty that some associate with 'thrift'. Most of the web-sites are yawnable, but there are a few good ones. For young-uns who want real-life, up-to-date, usable ideas for help in living well [which is not the same as living extravagantly], I do recommend a book, "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn, which is a compilation of the newsletters she produced for several years. She combines practical money management tools with familial anecdotes in a way that makes for fairly easy pick-up, put-down reading. Rob ~ invest in a large packet of tiny gold safety pins. Each garment kept should have a tag pinned to it, showing the most recent date worn. Anything not worn for three years (the experts say two years) should be donated to someone who can use it. Clothing kept for sentimental value should be safely packed instead of hanging in the closet.

To aswer lynxe's question, for example, making a greeting card is, for me,a creative outlet and fun. It also saves $$, I think $3+ for cards is high and I won't pay it. It also means that I don't have to use gas and time to make the 16 mile round trip to a drugstore to purchase a card. WRT shopping at thrift stores, we happen to have two in the same town that's 8 miles away, and I usually go once a month on a Saturday morning. The closest mall is 40 miles away, but I'm not even sure what stores are there, I've only been there once or twice in the years we have lived here, I'm just not a recreational shopper and I hate paying full price, so if I do go to a retailer, it's TJ Maxx or Marshall's, they have a great selection and good prices. I do think there is a distinction between being frugal and cheap, for instance, I'm not one to skimp on a tip, never ever, and I buy the best, say, turkey breast at the deli counter or 95% lean ground beef because Iike the more expensive cuts of meat. But when it comes to cars, I drive a low end Civic and mr. sandyponder drives a 10 yera old Jeep. I will pay for vacations, dinners out, good quality furniture (retail or, my obvious preference, CL) and recreation, but bring all my potted annuals in every fall and overwinter them in the house, I just can't see paying $200 each year for flowers when I can invest in them once and reuse them. I think some folks here and IRL confuse frugal with cheap, IMO cheap is undertipping the server, or as a former neighbor of my parents did, buying LL Bean clothing at garage sales and returning to LL Bean and asking for a refund because the item was defective. They called that frugal, I call that theft (and *of course* they were fundies who were holier than thou, loudly). I call my quirks frugal, and by not using the dryer, we save about $50 a month. In the summer that's gas for the boat and in the winter for the snowmobile. I said I am a proud tightwad and I am, not ashamed at all, but the conspicious consumption glorified in the MSM makes me sick, so we don't have cable, but we do have Netflix, cuz I do enjoy watching HBO shows, just not paying for them. I would much rather be called cheap than extravagent, to me one is a compliment, the other a slur. sandyponder

The Grocery Price Book can also include the prices of anything you purchase on a regular basis, not just groceries. You may need to figure out what is essential and what is optional. That's where "need" and "want" fight it out. It's sometimes difficult to draw the line between essential and optional (need and want) because we all have a different value system and different needs. Perhaps you can begin by deciding what is essential and what is optional in order to bring your spending in these areas under control. In the pet division, I'm probably in a somewhat extreme position - we don't have a pet because we have a financial retirement goal that we're trying to reach that doesn't have room for pets and their expensive up-keep in the budget. It's not that we don't love pets, they are just unnecessary at this point in time in order for us to achieve our financial goals. I can love-to-death the neighbors pooches...for free. That's extreme, I admit. You need to decide, for you, what is essential in this area. As an example: are 5 cats and 3 dogs essential? Probably not if they bust your budget. My SIL made her own dog food and used inexpensive rice, and I don't know what else, in the recipe. It was a vet. approved recipe. It not only was good for their dog, but it was very cheap. Other friends learned how to groom their cats/dogs to save money. Soap products. Once again, it's price for me. My husband likes to use bar bath soap and one that suits our budget is available at a low price from Aldi's (similar to Dove). It also doesn't leave a soap scum in the tub (a secondary benefit). I like liquid soap, so I take the small ends of the bars and make my own homemade liquid soap and reuse a decorative pump dispenser. Soft Soap: 1/4 c. soap flakes OR 2 oz. soap ends, shredded 1 cup water Simmer in pan, stirring, until the soap has melted. You can add some scented oil or your favorite perfume, if you like. I've gotten triple value from one small container of very expensive body powder by mixing it with 3 boxes of inexpensive cornstarch (now I have a life-time supply). It smells the same, and cornstarch is a good/natural body powder. My only "beauty supplies" are 2 containers of translucent face powder a year (Dollar General Store) and I make my own lip balm for pennies instead of purchasing the expensive stuff I used to use. I use coconut oil (LouAna brand from Wal-Mart - next to the Crisco) for a body/hand lotion or face moisturizer. Most expensive commercial products do more damage and are more drying, from what I've researched. I've eliminated everything else because I really didn't look all that much different with or without it, as long as I dust my face with loose face powder (blessed with nice skin and long eyelashes). I don't even bother with mascara anymore (that was the last thing to go). I purchased a package of 12 inexpensive white face cloths at the Dollar General store for face care. A dermotologist suggested using them along with a bar of unscented Dove soap as a good cleanser and exfoliant (the cheap face cloths are kinda' rough), and this is also suggested for anyone with mild acne. Works like a charm, although I use my homemade soft soap with some tea tree oil in it. The liquid form of the sweetener stevia is one of the best things on an occasional zit - they heal very quickly using stevia on them. A small travel-size of stevia (found at the health food store) will last a long time. Once again in the extreme side of things... I cut my own hair. I wouldn't dream of wasting money on things like highlights or color. Everyone loves my "natural" silver highlights. I budget money for a hair cut each month, but I deposit it into the savings account. I get as many compliments on my hair as when I used to get it cut by the top per$on in town. I just observed how he cut it and did it myself after he moved from the area - and my hair is a short precision cut. Not everyone can do this, I realize, but perhaps they could reduce the high-maintance, high-cost, options. It's all about need, not want. I've switched laundry detergent to ALL small & mighty which is 3X concentrated and was cheaper per load when I did the math, than nearly everything that was on the market. When I found it on sale as a promotional product at Wal-Mart this summer, I purchased a year's worth of it. I also use homemade detergent which is easy to make and inexpensive. A safe option for most of our laundry. Whatever kind of laundry product you use, make sure you measure it and try reducing the amount you normally use. I use white vinegar instead of softener in the rinse (least expensive vinegar is Sam's Club). I hang clothes on the clothes line as much as possible. When I use the dryer, I've added a pair of dryer balls to reduce the static. They also reduce drying time by 25-50 percent. After some testing, I found they work better than tennis balls. For general household cleaning: I use bleach/water as a kitchen disinfectant when mixed 1 quart water and 1 t. bleach - I keep it in a spritz bottle. Or I could use expensive pop-up Clorox wipes. Alcohol/water -50/50 and use it daily on my bathroom counters/faucets, and general floor cleaning in the bathroom - mixture in a spritz bottle. Vinegar - good cleaner for no-wax floors, and Borax and/or soda (an endless list cleaning uses). I wash windows with water/cornstarch solution. I've used a container of Simple Green for several years because I measure it carefully, since it's concentrated. I'm a clean freak, but I pass up the expensive, highly advertised, stuff. This is a very low-budget area for me, so if you have some specific needs I haven't thought of, fire away and perhaps someone will contribute a frugal answer or substitute. -Grainlady

Well, after reading your further posts I think it's sorta a cute idea but certainly not useful in the long haul. My personal suggestion would be to say stop trying to find cheaper TP & concentrate on building wealth. A good place to start that process is by getting more education; no matter your current level...get more. Also, a music degree is lovely but unlikely to be useful in creating wealth. :) Learn how to grow your wealth (probably will mean even more education for many people), learn to diversify your money yourself (mutual funds only create wealth for those who sell them to you & the fund managers), pound into your brain the difference between earned income, dividends, & capital gains then set goals to reduce your dependence on earned income, learn to use leverage properly with acceptable risk (yes, that's not only possible, it's necessary build real wealth), set an annual budget & strive to fund that budget annually - not monthly (an annual budget was the single most important thing we taught our kids to strive for after their education...again, this may require even more education so choose your classes wisely), learn to think like a CFO not the CEO, & I could go on but I think you get the idea. You can't save your way to true wealth. It's created by a combination of education, putting forth effort to make good networking connections, and then learning how to make your money work for you. We tried the saving your way to financial freedom thing...it didn't work. Yep, we had a savings account. Good for us. But, it wasn't wealth. It just meant the wolf wasn't yapping at our door every month. DH went back to school (started life as a math high school teacher) & got his Juris Doctorate. We had kids & he went to night school - took 5 years. We incurred student loans that took many years to pay off. So what? The income that degree provided unlocked doors that would have been paddlelocked before getting that education. It didn't stop there either...he's retired now & still taking courses. Just getting the education though isn't enough to create wealth - there are millions of non-wealthy liberal arts degree owners in America. Choose wisely. Don't forget to make networking contacts while in school. Many of America's mega-wealthy met while in school. This is less in the technology field but the concept is still likely to yield powerful results 20 years later. I know, I know...we're supposed to be offering ideas about how to stretch a dime. But, I'm giving an alternative. Rather than saving a dime...earn another dime. It's easier & works better if your goal is to create true wealth. It may even mean postponing (not giving up) your desire to live in a rural area away from cities, crowds, yada yada. You will have to go where there are jobs available in your chosen field until you're no longer relying on earned income. /tricia (who is recovering from a tough couple days of doctor's appointments & crabby, but honest)