Living Simply, Frugally, & Abundantly

Frugality, home economy, thriftiness, whatever you may prefer to call it, it’s an art form. I love the thrill of finding ways to cut costs and use our money in better ways. From learning sneaky ways trick myself into spending less money, to being more mindful of consumption. Here are some of my favorite thrifty hacks and habits that promote frugality, thrift, and economy in our home.

I’ll put a short list here so you can get a preview of my topics. Scroll down and read to get the juicy details!

• Keep things tidy and minimal to reduce what you buy
• Stop mindlessly thrifting, or maybe even stop thrifting at all!
• Grocery shop less
• Patiently waiting for a good deal
• Little things add up
• Use less
• Reuse
• Learn to make things instead of buying the finished product (keep it simple)
• Don’t let thrift, frugality, or money consume you

All of the content on this website regarding financial decisions and preferences are to be taken as the author’s opinion only and should have no bearing on your own financial decisions and preferences upon reading/consuming content from this website. I am just a homemaker that thinks Dave Ramsey is pretty cool and that debt is dumb. You can find my full disclosure/disclaimer section here.

Keep Things Tidy and Minimal to Reduce What You Buy

You may have read the word “minimal” and rolled your eyes. Obviously buying less means spending less. What I mean by “keep things tidy and minimal” is that when you know what you have and you can find it, you can actually use it. Prior to decluttering our home I found myself constantly buying things I *knew* we already had but couldn’t find. Paintbrushes, drywall knives and tape, stamps, thank you cards, whatever it is: if you are constantly having to buy replacements, clutter is stealing your money.

I’m certainly no minimalist! My kitchen alone is a testament to that! I don’t think Dawn from The Minimal Mom has 4 rubber spatulas, 5 bread pans, and 50 lbs of wheat berries in her home. However, I strive to keep everything contained within our space, make it easy to use, and have the tools I need to succeed. The French call this “mise en place” having a place for everything, and everything in its place. Keeping the places you store food tidy and organized cuts down on food waste and overbuying.

This frugal tip is especially important for seasonal items that you could easily forget about. All of the next season’s clothing for our children is kept in one big plastic tote in our storage area. I pull everything out of that tote every season change. I won’t buy a single stitch of clothing for my kids until I know what they already have. Hand me downs and resale clothing are great, but only if you can find and use them!

Stop Mindlessly Thrifting!

Or maybe even stop thrifting at all.

Wait, but shopping at thrift stores and resale shops are supposed to be the hallmarks of thrift!

I’ll be honest, I believe the glory days of the thrift store have passed…or at least on vacation. Sure, you can still find a good deal sometimes, but it’s not a good deal if you don’t need the item. It’s also not thrifty to buy items that are worn out or need repairs and alterations that you know you won’t or can’t do. I’ve also noticed that some larger corporate thrift stores have taken liberty with the word thrift. If you are shopping with purpose and will only buy what absolutely fits your needs then go ahead! But, if you fall into temptation easily, or are bored, stay away.

I’ve almost completely stopped thrifting over the last couple of years and I still find great deals on clothing and other items I used to buy at thrift stores. With the advent of online resale such as Poshmark, Mercari, and Facebook Marketplace, people are less likely to donate their nicer things to thrift stores. That means that thrift stores nowadays are usually filled with lesser quality items. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the thrift stores I go to have been steadily raising prices. Gone are the days of quality clothing for less than a dollar. Or even five dollars. I’ve often found much better deals from the online resale spaces and there’s the benefit of using filters and settings to find items that are exactly what you need.

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Grocery Shop Less

Once again, captain obvious stating that shopping less equals spending less. But hear me out. As a home economist (should we start a petition that that is the the new PC term for homemaker?) it is my job to keep our spending under control. Groceries and household items are the largest expense for our family of 5, especially since the events of the last three years. I also live in a rural area with minimal options for grocery shopping. That means I have to drive 40-60 minutes away to shop at anything other than a Walmart, dollar general, or smaller regional grocery chain.

I’ve started minimizing the amount of grocery trips I take. Only grocery shopping 2-3 times a month means less exposure to impulse purchases. It saves gas (vehicles that fit our almost family of 6 are definitely NOT economy vehicles). It saves time. It’s also forced me to be a better planner and administrator of what we bring into our home. My main source for groceries and household items are Aldi, Azure Standard, and Costco. I do pop into a local store to get fresh deli meat and some produce towards the end of the month, but I try to limit the amount of items purchased and time spent there!

Be Patient and Wait For a Good Deal

A thrifty hack or rather habit, is a time tested and virtuous one: exercising patience. I do this with big and little things. If I’m shopping at Aldi and really want chocolate chips but I know I can get them at Costco for a better deal, I wait. I’m not always such a perfect angel, sometimes I forgo the chocolate chips and buy the mini peanut butter cups. I’m a work in progress. The point is, I know I’m going to buy the chocolate chips for a better price and it doesn’t make sense to pay more and get less just because I have a craving.

I’m not talking about self denial for self denial’s sake! If I end up purchasing a $3 bag of cookies to satisfy my chocolate chip craving, I’m better off just buying the chocolate chips and making some at home. What I mean is that being mindful of waiting for the better deal or higher quality is always worth it. Especially when it comes to more “fun” items. My children will not suffer nutritionally if we go without chocolate chip cookies for a couple of weeks. Of course we generally think of waiting for the better deal for large purchases, but the small ones add up too!

Having patience helps us to plan for exactly what we want or need. An impulse purchase just because something is on sale rarely turns out to meet our expectations or needs. I am needing to upgrade my phone within the next few months. To get a decent quality phone I know I’m going to spend at least $500. I’m planning on upgrading after I’ve set the money aside and can find a clearance or promotion that fits my budget. This gives me plenty of time to research how much I will have to spend and exactly which phone will suit my needs best.

Little Things Add Up

Again, maybe not so much of a thrifty “hack” as it is a reminder. Sometimes we focus so much on saving money on the big things, that we neglect the tiny leaks in our budget that slowly drain us. It’s great to get a better interest rate on your home, or change your phone provider and save extra money but it’s also great to pay attention to the five or ten dollar expenses that you aren’t aware of.

I wrote an article recently about how we let go most of the streaming services we used and mainly watch YouTube instead. Even though most of the streaming services we used were less than $10 a month, it added up. Between Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu (not to mention the occasional use of Disney Plus, and additional subscriptions on Amazon Prime such as Britbox, BBC, and PBS) we spent around $25 a month on entertainment. That doesn’t sound terrible. And truth be told, most people probably spend more than that. However, when looking at it over the course of a year we spent around $310 on those services. Give or take a little.

We really enjoyed some of the things we watched over the past few years on those streaming services. I don’t consider it a waste of money if you use and enjoy them! However, we got to the point where we weren’t really using them. Letting them go one by one was freeing. Now we have $300 more a year to do other things that we enjoy such as listening to unlimited audiobooks on Scribd!

Use Less

We are told that more is better. I recently saw a commercial for dishwasher pods encouraging people to run their dishwasher even if it was only partially full. They claimed that it isn’t wasteful because modern dishwashers use less water than washing by hand, and why would you want to wait all day long to have fresh, clean dishes? Well, it may use less water than washing by hand (I highly doubt it. I’d like to see the data on that.) but it definitely uses more product. Basic economics: sell more product, make more money. Basic marketing: if you aren’t selling as much as you’d like, convince people they need more of what you sell.

I personally don’t have a dishwasher. I watch with glee as I’m told to buy more of something that I can’t use. It feels like I’m able to take a step back and see the marketing ploy for what it is. It also helps me to look around and consider ways in my home that I could conserve more. I buy a gallon of natural dish soap from Azure Standard about every four and a half months. It probably wouldn’t last me that long if I didn’t dilute a couple of tablespoons in a 32 oz. jar of water before using. By doing this I can use a high quality, non toxic dish soap for under $5 a month. Every single dish, utensil, pot, and pan we use is washed by hand using that soap.

I feel like that’s frugality at it’s best, making the most of something without sacrificing quality. It can become an addiction to walk around your home and challenge yourself to conserve more. Which ends up saving more. Do you really need five squares of toilet paper when two or three would do the job? Can you use a smidge less of your laundry detergent and still get the same results? Sometimes we use more than we need because that’s what we’ve always done. Or because marketing has conditioned us to use a certain amount. Call it a frugal hack or frugal habit, it works. You might be surprised at what you can get away with!

And Age Old Thrifty Hack/ Habit: Reuse

Reusing, the thrifty younger sibling to reducing. Once again, we are marketed to and told to buy more, use more, and replace it quickly. There are many examples of reusing and not all of them will work for you. Some examples from my personal life may either cause you to shake your head or fuel a strange passion to reuse as much as possible. Like I said above, little things add up. We can reduce what we spend by reusing some products that are marketed as consumable.

• We use a wet/dry vac instead of a regular upright vacuum. (I LOVE it). We clean and reuse the filter every few months and it keeps going strong.
• I wash out gallon containers from dish soap, vinegar, and stain remover and fill them with water for emergency water purposes. Did you know that it’s recommended to have 1 gallon of water per person, per day in an emergency situation? I’m building up our stash without having to buy water from the store.
• Don’t throw away bones and veggie scraps. Toss them in a zippy bag (which can also be a reused item) and keep in the freezer until you have enough for a batch of broth. Even if you aren’t a soup person, broth can be used to make sauces, gravies, casseroles, and cook your rice or quinoa in for added nutrition and flavor.
• Use cardboard boxes under the soil as a weed barrier in your garden beds to keep weeds at bay without purchasing the plastic or cloth weed barriers.
• Coffee and tea grounds are excellent to add to your compost (worms love them, and worms produce some of the best soil amendments with their castings.)
• Save fruit scraps and make compost tea to boost your soil health
• If you enjoy beeswax candles, save the “nubbins” of candlesticks by peeling away the last bit of the wick and saving the leftover beeswax until you have enough to melt the wax and make some candles at home.
• Empty essential oil bottles are great for making custom blends or homemade oil infusions. Make sure you label them though!

Learn A New Skill and Make Some of the Things You Buy Regularly

This doesn’t mean you have to learn to sew, pressure can, or keep a dairy cow. Keep it simple! Maybe instead of always buying a premade pancake mix, you spend 5 minutes a month and make up a homemade version. Chances are, you already have most of the ingredients in your home. Recipes abound online! This goes for a lot of boxed mixes! Convenience will generally cost much more than spending a bit of time to make your own. I’ve also started making my own baking powder because it’s difficult to find aluminum free baking powder in my area. I use a lot of it and when you need it, you need it! I already keep the ingredients around (cream of tartar, corn or tapioca starch, and baking soda), so why not have extra and not risk running out?

Start small and increase your skills little by little. Even learning how to make one new thing a month will make a huge difference. What if at the end of the year you have twelve items in your home you make or consume that you used to pay more for? That’s huge! As you level up your skills you may also find that your capacity to learn and do will grow as well! I never thought I’d be able to have the brain space to learn pressure canning or soap making, and yet I plan to learn this year! I’m really excited for it!

A Thrifty Hack, Habit, or Skill Is Great, But Don’t Let It Consume You

I know that some of us have been forced to reconsider how we spend our money and get creative. Some of us weirdos have always had a penchant for penny pinching. It’s easy to become either apathetic about or a zealot for frugality and thriftiness. Everyone has different life circumstances, comfort levels, and resources. I love frugality, home economy, and thrift because it allows me to live my life more fully on a small income. That should be our goal: Thrift and frugality should help us live optimally without making life harder.

I intentionally tried to think of topics and tips for this post that would inspire veteran frugal hackers as well as baby thrift seekers. There will always be someone who thinks you’re either too extreme or not frugal enough. Do what you can, learn from others, try new things. Most of all, find where frugality and thriftiness intersect with joy and abundance. Not every thrifty hack will be worth it in the long run, so evaluate your needs and physical or mental capacities often. Those things will change as your life changes. I used to have the capacity to do all my grocery shopping for the month in one day. Now I don’t. I also never thought I’d be able to make homemade bread or buy in bulk, now I can and do!

I love exchanging ideas, tips, and encouragement for thrift, frugality, economy, stretching budgets, and money savings. Just remember to enjoy your life! Don’t let money rule you by either the lack or abundance of it. That’s the key to being happy and content with what you have and where you are!

Happy thrifty hacking!

Shalom,

Olivia

Want to read more about frugal living with joy and abundance? Read the post below!

Tired of the endless streaming services and their rising costs? Me too. Our family has ditched most of the streaming services we used to pay for and now watch free shows and movies on YouTube. Here are some of our favorites!

How to save money and still watch quality shows and movies

It wasn’t just groceries and housing that got hit hard by inflation over the past couple of years. We’ve always been a budget conscious family and only had a few subscription services at a time. We would often rotate between a handful of streaming services only paying for one or two at a time. As 2022 plugged along, we started rethinking which streaming services we wanted to pay for.

Multiple streaming services continued to make decisions about their programming that didn’t reflect our family’s values. We also found that their prices continued to rise steadily. Both factors contributed to us not watching as much TV as we used to and deciding to cut them loose.

We also found ourselves watching YouTube whenever we did want to watch something. There are so many creators there that produce the type of content we want to watch. The one problem was that our children were missing a few of their favorite shows they used to watch. This pushed us to search around and find shows and movies they would enjoy and that we as parents approve of.

The one streaming service we did keep

Over the past eight years of marriage we have paid for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, BritBox, PBS Masterpiece Theater, and Disney Plus. As I said above, we rarely paid for all of those streaming services at one time. Even so, that’s quite a bit of money each year going to less than stellar content (except I will say that I truly enjoyed BritBox and PBS Masterpiece theater as a through and through anglophile). As we slowly decided on what we actually wanted to watch, we found ourselves hanging on to Hulu. I think part of it has been that Hulu is still one of the least expensive streaming services around. Although they have raised their prices a couple of times for the ad supported tier over the past year.

As I said above, our children also enjoyed certain shows and we felt bad about taking them away. We limit our kids’ consumption of TV to only a couple of hours per week but do allow them to watch a few shows here and there. When I went to cancel our Hulu subscription they offered us a six month deal of only $2.99 a month instead of the usual $7.99 we had been paying. I decided to try it and see if we would use it enough to justify keeping it.

That was a month ago, and to be honest, we really haven’t used it much. My husband and I have watched one movie on Hulu since then and our kids haven’t watched anything on Hulu. They haven’t asked to watch any of the old shows they used to enjoy. Something else I noticed is that many of the movies Hulu offers are also available on YouTube for free with ads.

Don’t underestimate what YouTube offers!

Free family friendly content abounds on YouTube! It’s not just content creators that reign there, although there are a many that our family enjoys watching. YouTube also provides free ad supported movies. It isn’t much different than the ads that pop up in the middle of your favorite YouTuber’s videos. There is now also the option to buy or rent movies and shows directly from YouTube. I’ve found that I can rent or buy some of my favorite shows and movies inexpensively compared to what Amazon Prime charges for the same content. I’ve also been able to rent or buy shows and movies that we haven’t found on other streaming services.

Many production companies have dedicated channels where they upload full length episodes of beloved children’s shows. Although they aren’t new or currently on TV elsewhere, they’re still as fun and exciting to my kids as they were to my husband and I growing up.

The Downside of YouTube

Obviously, the down side to not paying for a streaming platform is that some content can only be found on that specific platform alone. There’s also the frustration of not being able to control what ads may pop up on YouTube while your kids are watching. Unless you pay for YouTube Premium that’s something we all must contend with. Although YouTube does offer a kid friendly version of their app, I haven’t used it and probably won’t as even the YouTube Kids shows ads.

How our family goes about contending with the ads is simply not to leave our children completely alone while they are watching something on YouTube. Not only can we skip the ads when possible, but also take quick action when a show ends to either shut it off or select a new video. Sometimes other content will be suggested to our kids that we aren’t sure of or know we don’t want our kids to watch.

Although this can be a bit frustrating at times, it’s worth knowing exactly what my children are consuming. The luxury of being able to turn on a “trusted” show and walk away has lulled us into apathy about what is being shown and taught to our kids. It’s also easy to let the TV drone on for hours without being aware of how much screen time our kids are getting.

Having to be within earshot of whatever my children are watching has made me more aware of what they are consuming and also how long they have been watching. It’s also made me more creative in finding ways to get tasks done without relying on TV to babysit my kids. That’s a whole other conversation though! Maybe a future blog post?

Free family friendly shows on YouTube

I’ll do my best to add and subtract from this list as things change. Of course this isn’t exhaustive and is based on my personal family’s interests and values. Always moniter what your children are watching (don’t take a stranger from the internet’s word for it). Be proactive in discussing with your kids what the rules are in your household concerning what they watch and what they are allowed to do on the internet. I’ve purposely only included channels in this list that aren’t from random uploaders, but from the actual production companies. No repeats of scary Peppa Pig here!

Christian Shows on YouTube

• VeggieTales -Although you won’t find the latest movies on this channel, they are adding new content regularly. They do have full length content of some of the classics I grew up with such as “Esther: the girl who became queen”, “Josh and the Big Wall”, and “Sumo of The Opera”.
• Superbook – This channel features old episodes of the classic version as well as the rebooted version in the 2010s. We enjoy watching episodes that correlate to passages of the Bible that we have been reading.

Classic Kids Shows For Free on YouTube

• Curious George – always a classic. Sweet, entertaining, no “morality” lessons that might conflict with your beliefs, and actually sometimes pretty funny!
• Little Bear – This show brings back so much nostalgia for me! My children have enjoyed this show and also the original book series!

• Madeline – My daughter recently fell in love with the Madeline book and has it memorized. This animated series is sweet, funny, and adventurous.
• The Big Comfy Couch – I’m not sure how wide spread this show was in the ’90s, but I remember watching it when I was little. I even had my own Molly just like Lunette. My kids love the silliness and erupt in giggles during nearly every episode.
• Tractor Ted – A British television show about farm life. My kids enjoy the songs and learning what farm equipment is called in the UK. Of course I may be sneakily trying to make my children fellow anglophiles by watching this!
• Busy World of Richard Scarry – Many of us grew up with Busy Town books, but I never knew about the show until now.
• Hurray for Huckle (Busytown Mysteries) – Another version of the show that focuses on Huckle cat and mysteries around Busytown that must be solved!
• The Adventures of Paddington Bear – Another British show that my kids enjoy watching. I want to get some of the books too!
• Original Little Rascals (1927) – I have so many memories surrounding the box set of VHS tapes we had of this show growing up. Definitely one that I want my children to watch and appreciate as they grow up! Children being children, using their imaginations, and showing what life was like before electronics were the main source of entertainment for children.

Historical and Educational Shows for Free on YouTube

• Tuttle Twins – Although my children are still too young to understand economics, this show based on the book series by the same name is fun and educational. Join the Tuttle Twins as they travel around the world back in time to learn about people and ideas that have shaped the economies of the world.
• Liberty’s Kids – A show that aired on PBS kids in the early 2000s. I LOVED this show and woke up early just to watch it. I can probably attribute both my love of history and of being an early riser to this show alone.

Free Movies on YouTube

YouTube now also offers free ad supported movies. I don’t have a list of the movies available because they change somewhat frequently, but they can be found here. Some of the movies aren’t well known or may be on the raunchy side, but I have found some movies that were worth watching on there before!

If you see something you want to watch, plan on watching it as soon as you can. I absolutely love the movie ‘Miss Potter’ about Beatrix Potter. It was available to watch for free on YouTube for several weeks, but by the time I was ready to watch it, it had been taken off of the list.

Not Free, but Still Budget Friendly

As I also mentioned above, YouTube now also offers movie rentals. Although it wouldn’t make sense to rent a movie every single day, we do rent something from YouTube occasionally. It’s a great way to watch a favorite show or movie for less money than a streaming platform (most of the time) and you can also find content for rent on YouTube that isn’t currently being streamed elsewhere. One example is the movie ‘Epic!’ we wanted to show it to our kids, but had never been able to find it on any of the streaming platforms we had used. Most of the rentals we have seen or purchased have ranged between $2.99 – $3.99 for a 48 hour rental. I also purchased my favorite version of ‘Sense & Sensibility’ (the 2008 mini series if you’re wondering) for $3.99. That’s cheaper than a subscription and I have lifetime access!

Beyond Kid’s Shows

Our children also enjoy listening to music and audiobooks on YouTube. One of our favorites is watching ‘The Nutcracker‘ being performed by The New York City Ballet. The orchestra and conductor and not just the ballerinas are delightful to watch. We try to give our children access to content that will develop a desire to learn and engage, not just inform or entertain. If your child has an interest chances are there’s an age appropriate YouTube channel dedicated it!

Let’s challenge ourselves to show our children quality content and allow them to be kids!

Shalom,

Olivia