The Frugal Lifestyle

[ArtistLady]

This is a subject written just for me lol. I could write pages about this but I will keep it brief. I make my own household cleaners, laundry detergent,candles and air freshener, about once a week I cook a couple of big meals and then freeze them into "tv dinner" sizes, I usually have my own vegetable garden (unfortunately I didn't have the time this last summer ), I am a thrift store junkie and I recycle and re-purpose. In addition I realized I am quite the pack rat and I have been working on downsizing all the junk I have accumulated. It isn't easy but I am determined!!

[Ginger]

I get pre-tax dollars taken out of my paycheck to be put aside for my monthly Metro card (for the subway).

I'm going to dial down my cable subscription as soon as Homeland ends this Sunday. Then in the spring I'll ramp it up—with on Demand, too—just for a couple weeks, to catch up on the entire season of Enlightened and whatever else starts in January 2013.

With what I save, I'm joining a gym.

Also, I take my lunch every day and drink mate in my office instead of buying coffee. I'm saving over $250 a month doing that.

[Ginger]

Update. I joined a gym tonight. My old gym was asking for $88 a month, plus a sign-on fee. I asked them to waive the sign-on fee, and they offered to cut it in half, but I said their competitor didn't have a sign-on fee and it was just as easy to get off the 2 train and go to their competitor's gym on my way home as it was to get off the 2 train a few stops later and go theirs.

But they weren't buying it. So I said I'd have to think about it (secretly, I wanted my old gym, for nostalgic reasons I would never admit in a negotiation). And the guy tried to pressure me, saying this deal was just for me and wouldn't last long and I said, "I'll take my chances." (It felt so bad ass to say that!)

Then at work I was talking to a guy and we started looking on line at a gym he'd heard of in our part of Brooklyn that is new and supposedly very very cheap, and on the way home I checked out two of their facilities, and picked one.

It's huge, bright, nice safe friendly vibe, has the kind of stationary weight machines I'm used to, everything I need.

And check this out, it's only $99 a year, only $8.25 a month, as opposed to ten times that for the gym in my more immediate neighborhood.

I can't believe it's so much cheaper. Okay, it doesn't have a steam room or sauna or hip hop DJ on thursday nights or pole dancing classes or yoga or personal trainers—but I don't even care about those things.

And I can get there and work out and still be home by 7:30 or so. It's really convenient.

[Sweet_Amor_Taino]

A well planned meal offers us the nutrition we need to be healthy. I recently cut down my hours with my private client to rest I had been pushing to a point of exhaustion. Now I am able to enjoy cooking from scratch, baking a cake which I had not done in years due to lack of time. I also like shopping at the thrift store you could find great and expensive stuff there, for less. Freezing meals is a great Idea it saves time and money, I will try it. Thank you for sharing.

Originally Posted by ArtistLady

This is a subject written just for me lol. I could write pages about this but I will keep it brief. I make my own household cleaners, laundry detergent,candles and air freshener, about once a week I cook a couple of big meals and then freeze them into "tv dinner" sizes, I usually have my own vegetable garden (unfortunately I didn't have the time this last summer ), I am a thrift store junkie and I recycle and re-purpose. In addition I realized I am quite the pack rat and I have been working on downsizing all the junk I have accumulated. It isn't easy but I am determined!!