Seven Things...

Take a look at Jen over at Conversion Diary for her 7 Quick Takes Friday! I thought that this week I would share the things I do over here to be thrifty.

1. Maybe I'm just a bit too in touch with my Scottish side, but I cannot stand to throw away perfectly good food, even if it isn't perfectly good anymore, which is how I came up with the 'soup bags'. In my freezer there are two heavy duty ziploc bags, and into one I put all of my meat scraps and the other holds my vegetable scraps. Celery leaves, the stems of parsley and other herbs that I buy in bunches, carrot peelings, essentially stuff you would put in the compost, really. And then when the bags are full I boil them together in a pot of water, let it simmer for a while, and strain. I use the liquid as either a soup base, or broth to cook rice in.

2. I have saved all of my little balls of yarn from knitting projects, even the 6-inch ends of yarn, and I keep them in a baggie by my knitting. The yarn ends all get tied together and knitted into squares about the size of a dishcloth. So far I have 25 squares made from colourful ends of yarn. When I have knitted enough I intend to make a playmat for the baby, but in the meantime I just keep using up the bits rather than throw them away.

3. Hydro is very expensive where I live. I keep the lights off completely except a dim hallway light to see by in the evening. If I want to read or knit in the evenings I pull back the curtains to get the last of the evening sun before turning on a light. I've heard that appliances will continue to use a small amount of hydro even when completely off, so my next step is to slowly, over the next little while, start acquiring power bars to plug my appliances into, then it is a quick flick of the switch to turn everything off all at once.

4. I'm learning what isn't worth spending money on. There is a lot of talk out there about spending more money, but getting a better deal because the item last longer. Well, in some cases that is true, but in a lot of cases it isn't. We bought our wall clock for 97 cents at Walmart and, except for a few battery changes, it has lasted for seven years without a hitch. I pick up baby clothes for 25 cents at the thrift store because the baby will have grown out of them in a few months. Take a close and realistic look at your lifestyle, if you have small children maybe an expensive carpet or table isn't the best choice right now. Good quality isn't always equated with pricey. That being said, there are some places I won't scrimp. Canned cream soup HAS to be Campbell's, I spend the money on a long-distance phone plan to talk to family, and mayonnaise really does taste better than whipped dressing.

5. We use meat as a condiment, rather than a main dish. We're somewhat flexible about this, but you can read my posts on vegetarian week if you're interested in getting some ideas. I also substitute cheaper ingredients for expensive ingredients, or use less of an expensive ingredient. For example, pumpkin might be expensive, but sweet potato is cheap, and it is indistinguishable in pie from pumpkin once you add the spices. Same goes for squash.

6. I look for the money I toss out or walk by. Do you pick up pennies off the ground? Probably not, I bet. If you saw a five dollar bill, would you pick that up? Yes, I bet you would, so at what point do you see bending over as worth your while? I can't tell you how often I stoop to pick up a penny and put it in my pocket. I probably find, no kidding, $10-$20 dollars a year worth of change, and I'm not looking for it or running across roads or anything! Same goes for my recycling. Every glass, plastic or metal bottle or can I buy has a 10 cent surcharge added, 5 cents of which you can redeem if you bring it into a recycling facility. We have a big bag in our kitchen where we toss bottles after they're done and rinsed, and when I bring my bag to the depot I get about $3.50 a bag for the bottles.

7. I take advantage of the 'free' stuff. When I was expecting I signed up for all of the samples companies would send me, and I got cans of formula, diaper bags, diapers, rash cream, wipes and and coupons, which I used to make cheap items even cheaper. If I want to see a movie I put my name on the list at the library, same goes for new books to read. I don't have an older child yet, but the free toys and toy lending library, snacks and summer day camps at the resource centre would be great for someone with a four or five year old. I made sure we signed up for the welcome wagon in our town and recieved lots of free stuff like dish cloths, pens, batteries, cloth bags, even a free Dairy Queen cake! I checked with Public Health to discover that all of my prenatal vitamins could be free for six months after the birth, and so forth.

Well, there you have it. That's some of the stuff I do to make living a little less expensive. What about you?