Decreasing the amount of money it takes to manage your home and family life for an extended period of time takes a little bit a lot of discipline in the beginning. Changing the way you do everyday things doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come all at once. The up-side is that after you’ve been at it for a while, being frugal gets easier. Your habits become efficient and thrifty and as a result, it doesn’t seem like as much work as it did in the beginning.
Here’s a list of things I do as part of my regular, daily routine that have become thrifty habit to me. They don’t require extra thought or effort because they are my normal.
- Make only as much coffee as I intend to drink, not a full pot.
- Take a quick shower. I do everything I need to, but I don’t waste any time.
- In the summertime, I only blow-dry my hair when I’m going somewhere.
- Keep lights turned off during the day.
- Let the sun in to warm the house (it doesn’t get hot enough to need AC here).
- Line-dry our laundry.
- Cook food in usable portions.
- Don’t let hot water run any longer than needed.
- Cook food from scratch as much as I can.
- Recycle everything that I can.
- Turn computers off or on standby when not in use.
- Watch less TV (mostly because we decreased our package).
- Go running for exercise (no gym membership).
- Take the smaller, more efficient vehicle instead of the SUV when we can.
- Drink water almost exclusively througout the day (no soda or anything like that).
- Serve smaller portions to the girls and allow them to ask for seconds rather than one large helping.
- Dilute the girls’ juice with water.
- Don’t hold the refrigerator and freezer doors open while I gaze blankly into them.
- Use cloth napkins.
- Make all our bread.
- Spend time at the library and playground – free places.
- Take our daughter with us most places. No babysitter needed.
- Make and mend things that I can sew.
- Tend my garden.
- David packs his lunch for work instead of eating out.
- Use my cell phone for long-distance phone calls (which aren’t included in our home phone package).
- Wear my jeans or other clothes that are still clean a second time before washing them.
- Use bath towels more than once.
- Use bar soap in the shower.
- Pre-treat stains and use cold water to do my laundry.
What small things in your routine have you changed that have saved you money?
Why I do what I do ~ This isn’t anything cute about Chloe, sorry. Last night I was restless and had trouble falling asleep. I only slept one hour. It’s now 1:45 in the afternoon and I just noticed that I am wearing one black flip-flop and one navy blue flip-flop. I think I need some rest 
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This is a good list. I felt good to know that I am doing all of these things. The question is – where to go from here?
My question as well.
We just got back from vacation…LOTS of laundry to do..and I was tempted…but I still used the line
Britt´s last blog ..Oops!
I don’t leave the water heater all day on. I turn it on only during the night. In this way the heater doesn’t have to work to keep a constant water temperature all day long. We are only three me, my husband and a 10 month old baby girl so the hot water demands in the summer are very low. We also have a 500 gallon water tank on the roof which gets heated by the sun (not solar powered) and with these high temperatures the water temperature is fine.
Wow – this is a great list.
You’re right – being frugal does get easier the more you practice it. I needed a reminder today.
-Lauren
Mama Laundry´s last blog ..Mrs. Beeton’s Laundry Advice
Thanks for the ideas! I do some of these, too, and the cloth napkin one is my favorite! Not only is it cheaper (I can’t bring myself to buy paper napkins that I will just throw away when it’s just as easy to throw a cloth one in the wash), but they are so cute and fun! Some friends of ours laughed (lovingly) at me when they found out I wasn’t joking about all of our napkins being in the laundry – I’m so used to using the cloth ones that I forget other people think it’s odd:)
Kelly´s last blog ..Red Potato Salad
I do alot of those things myself and I do agree Little Things Add Up & Saves Alot. Keep up the good work.
Oh I forgot if you Knitt or Crochett try making your own DishRags & washrags and scratchers.
cristy´s last blog ..Creative Ways to Save Money
Making my own laundry soap, laundry softner & oxy-clean saves my family a lot of money too. Stay home, homeschool, can, freeze or dehydrate produce from my garden or a great deal from bountiful baskets or the store. No need to turn on the hot water to shower here in the summer as you never get cold water from the cold faucet anyway.