Please delete

[goofytinkerbell]

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[tvguy]

You have to be careful with coupons. Sometimes they are for a brand I don't buy because it more expensive that other brands, and even with the coupon it is more expensive.

As Gail Vaz-Oxlade, Suze Orman and many other financial experts point out, the big savings are going to be in cutting your discretionary items.
Cutting cable/ satellite TV, dumping Netflix, examining cell phone plans (can you really afford a data plan, do you really need that extra phone)....gym memberships, do you need the fastest internet connection speed at home....taking lunch to work instead of buying it. Buying Starbucks.
...those all can add up to hundreds a month in savings. With just 2 of us at home now, we spend about $300 a month on food, and cuts in the above mentioned items would save me more than that cutting 100% of my food budget.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[kuhltiffany]

Sounds like you've got to work on the money coming in, as you've got your other costs under control. Is there anything you can sell that you're not using? Kijiji or Facebook auction sites can make this easy. Can you or your DH pick up some extra hours at another job? Snow shovelling, clean houses, babysit?

What about doing your tax return early?

 

[Yougotit]

Hi, fellow Canadian here
It sounds like you are doing a lot to live frugally already.. I'm trying to think of some of the little things that I have found that ad up quickly.. the first one takes little effort and the second requires more planning but both can net you some extra cash in your pocket..

1. Are you familiar with the "scanning code of practice"? It's something put in place by the competition bureau of Canada and applies to all items that don't have price tags on them (that get scanned at the register).
Know your prices well when you are shopping and watch like a hawk when your purchases are being put through, if the price comes up higher than the shelf price, you are entitled to received 1 of that item for free from the store up to a $10 value, and if the item is more than $10, you get a discount of ten dollars to the purchase price. Big box stores have the info about the program at the register, Walmart, Safeway, Superstore, Extra Foods, London Drugs etc all are very good at honouring this. I find that prices at Walmart and Superstore/ Extra foods are often wrong where I live (probably because of the constant price changes), this means free stuff for my family!

2. When I was staying home with my son years ago I would shop for "hot items" (the cars toys that everyone was collecting, or lego that I got at a super discounted rate if I was lucky).. You need to do some research and know what people are looking for and then you can look for the "hot" items when you do your regular shopping and list those items for sale. I had a credit card that I used specifically for this purpose and I made sure I knew the return policies for the stores where I bought the items. If you list the item as soon as you've bought it and you are buying from the big box stores, you will have time to have your auction and sell your item before the payment is due. If the item doesn't sell, you take it back before your grace period is over for the purchase and pay no interest. By using a credit card you can do this without drawing from family funds, and by knowing your return windows you can make sure that your item sells or that you have brought it back before you end up paying interest or get stuck with an item.

Hope that helps and good luck to you!

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[goofytinkerbell]

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[Josh Hendy]

Food - We started checking grocery store flyers a lot more carefully, looking for big sales on staple items such as meat, cheese, canned tomatoes, kraft dinner, etc. Instead of driving all over the place, we bring the fliers to one of the 2 nearby stores which will "price match" the sales of any store within a certain radius. They will not price-match meat unless the type and quantities are exactly comparable, so you have to be careful about that. But it's easy for popular name-brand products and there's usually no problem at all, just show the flier to the cashier before they ring in the product. One local store even allows you to show them the flier on your cell phone (there is a web site which scans all the local fliers every week).

Telecoms - we ditched our "phone company" land line which we hardly used at all, but which cost over $80 every month (my gawd what a ripoff). We got a VOIP service from our internet provider and the total monthly cost is less than $25, with all the features and unlimited long distance that we NEVER got from "the phone company". And we kept our old phone number.

We don't have cable or satellite but we have antennas connected to our 2 TVs. We get about 8 or 10 local stations, of which maybe 3 are actually popular with the people in the house who watch a lot of TV. A few years ago DW and DK complained to me a lot about how they wanted cable, but eventually they found that every show they really want to see is either broadcast locally for free, or else they can find it online, or else we buy or borrow from friends the entire series on DVD at some point. So the complaints about no cable TV went away. This probably only works for you if you can get good over-the-air TV reception, if you have a good ISP with a low price and high bandwidth (hint: not the phone company or cable company) and if you don't freak out if you can't watch the latest hit cable-TV show the moment that it is broadcast. So if this could be you, you might want to compare the price of a "bundle" of Internet (say 200GB/month) and VOIP (for us the combined bill is $60/month) with your current bundle of phone/internet/cable.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

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[squirrel]

A few big savings for me is buying ECOS brand detergent for the washing machine. If you wait for a sale Canadian Tire has it on for $12.99. It does 210 loads of HE or 105 regular loads on old machine.

I also buy Scott's brand TP at Superstore. It's expensive at $21 but it lasts way longer than the other brands. It use to be a full double roll (500 sheets) but now it's 480 sheets. I don't think any of the brands do a full 250 sheets or double 500 sheets anymore. Each roll is individually wrapped which is kind of a waste, but it did save me throwing out a bunch that were stored under the sink when it leaked.

save.ca and websaver.ca are the two main coupon places I use.

 

[tvguy]

Like I mentioned above, changing out the phone/internet/cable bundle isn't an option until our contract runs out, but I love the flyer idea! I'll look into price matching at our local grocery store. We don't get flyers where I live but I do have an app where I can browse them all.

I guess the only advice I can give is making your meal decisions at the store based on what is on sale. Coupons will help.

Never been into bundling my TV/Phone/Internet just because they require you to lock in for a set period of time, and because the minimum level of service they require is almost always way above what I want, and unbundled basic services end up being cheaper than the bundle. It certainly is limiting your ability to tighten your belt because those type expenses are the ones you should look at first to cut back on and you can't.

 

[eliza61]

I agree with the previous poster. It sounds like you have a good grip on your expenses, I would look to bringing extra income in.
Any part time job you could do? Free lacing? Sell stuff?

 

[crisi]

How disabled is your husband (it sounds like he might be recovering from surgery) - could he do a little work on Mechanical Turk or another piece work type site?

We make our own laundry detergent - and most of the household cleaners. But its hard to cut more when you are already as frugal as it sounds like you are.

 

[Marionnette]

I agree with the previous poster. It sounds like you have a good grip on your expenses, I would look to bringing extra income in.
Any part time job you could do? Free lacing? Sell stuff?

Adding my agreement. Clipping coupons and signing up for free samples (which usually take 6-8 weeks to arrive) are only a small piece of the puzzle and won't be enough to make up for the loss of one income. If you were already living a moderately frugal lifestyle before this setback, you don't have much that can be cut from your spending. You will need to bring in additional income if you are not willing or able to make further spending cuts.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

It does sound like your down to basics and really there are only two ways to have more money

1. Cut your expenses
2. Bring in more income

Perhaps there is some social safety net you could apply for like reduced power bills or other income based assistance. Maybe he would qualify for short term disability. I don't know the ins and outs of those programs or what programs Canada might have specifically.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[LJSquishy]

My husband and I live pretty frugally since I am a housewife and he brings in the only income. This is a choice we made but some of our practices may spark an idea for you.

1. Make all of your cleaning supplies. White vinegar is almost all you need! I use vinegar and water to clean the bathroom and use baking soda in the toilet to scrub and then add vinegar.

I also make my own liquid foaming hand soap. I mix 1 Tbsp Dr. Bronner's liquid Castile soap with 8oz water...that's it! I didn't go out and buy a special dispenser, just used an empty one from a store-bought soap.

2. Make some of your own hygiene products. I just started making body wash, shampoo, and "conditioner". I need to tweak the recipes a bit but it saves a lot of money and is safer for you! Using Dr. bronner's Castile soap as a base makes it easy.

3. Evaluate your food budget. Determine if you can shave off money from your food budget by buying less processed food or different cuts of meat. A great example is purchasing a whole chicken rather than boneless skinless breasts. You can either cut apart the different chicken parts and separate them all out to use for different meals, or you can cook the whole chicken at once. I simmer a whole chicken for 1-2 hours which yields a whole batch of broth, then debone and shred the chicken, then simmer the bones in another pot of water and get a full second batch of broth. You can freeze the broth however you like...I like to freeze it in 2-cup portions (wide mouth pint jars). Each 15oz of broth in the store is about $1 so it saves a LOT, not to mention it tastes so much better!

Also consider making vegetarian meals at least once per week. When you do eat meat, make it part of the main dish, not the entire main dish (don't have a chicken breast, but have a dish with chicken IN it).

3. Buy less expensive makeup. I used to wear high quality makeup but we just can't afford it with me not working anymore. Well, we could, but that eats into our savings so now I wear cheap makeup. I don't like it nearly as much, but it's worth the savings.

4. Do Swagbucks or other things like that (I think you can do it in Canada). I used to only earn enough for $5 Amazon every month or two, but now I'm earning around $15-$20 per month.

 

[manning]

Do this only if you have a wood burning stove in your house and have access to free sawdust. Using an open fire place will only send 90% of the heat up the chimney.

Make your own paper logs by combining sawdust and shredded paper (use cross shredder).

Youtube will show you how.

 

[HeatherC]

What really helps our food budget is to make two of most things. If I make a mac and cheese casserole, I make two and freeze one. Same for lasagna, soup, meatloaf, etc..

Same thing with cookies, baked goods, etc.

Most times you don't need double the ingredients and can cut the next weeks grocery bill quite a bit.

 

[HeatherC]

You can also use rice or beans to stretch a meal. I do this by adding rice to ground beef to stretch it. No one notices.

 

[LovesTimone]

Dh and I do the 2 for 1 meal plan.

I will make a pot of spaghetti sauce, you can or can not use meat that is up to you and you can use small amounts of meat also. I cook a whole box of pasta, then combine what's left over for another meal. Baked spaghetti for another night.

You can make a large pot of chili, or a variation of chili - white bean chicken chili, lots of good recipes on line for this type of meal. - Freeze part of it. Then you can have a meal that night - the next night you might add rice or pasta, possibly can of corn which change it up so you don't feel like you are eating the same thing all the time. Normally you will have enough for some lunches.

Breakfast for dinner - is another less expensive meal.

Is there a farm stand or farmer market near you, fruit and veggies might be a lot less there.

My friends belong to a community garden, which has been a real help to them. Lots of the gardeners, trade items all the time, some fresh eggs, homemade jellies and jams, cheese, veggies and herbs.