A detour from sewing..

I started a thread over on PatternReview.com regarding spendthrift or tightwad tips. I did it because I'm currently reading the compendium of the Tightwad Gazette. It had such a variety of interesting tips that I wanted to share them with my fellow PR-ers (that is so not a word, but it works!) and start an online conversation about everyone's money-saving tips. Everyone has shared such great tips, that I wanted to compile a list on my blog. i'll try to give credit where it is due, but sometimes I'll spell usernames wrong or miss them altogether. So I apologize in advance. I can't post everything on the blog, so here's a link to the thread.

Here goes:

From Leora: Mary Hunt's www.debtproofliving.com blog and forum.

From yorkshire lass:
I will have a huge cooking day and freeze the results. Stews, pies, lasagne that sort of thing. Stews and similar go into old margerine tubs (they stack nicely in the freezer and hold enough for one person). This way I have the oven on for about four hours but will get enough food from that session for twelve to sixteen meals, depending on what I make. Pies get cut up into single size servings and cling filmed, Lasagnes go in single size silver foil trays, soup in plastic bags stood inside something square then taken out and stacked up when they are solid enough to stand up. I have been known to cook and mash several pounds of potatoes at once and freeze them in single servings.

From Phyllis: I always water down liquid dish detergent and shampoos by almost 50% - and they work just as well. My note: My parents did this when we were little and it drove us kids nuts. But, it's a great idea..one that I will revisit! (Mom and dad were right,eh?)

From EWP601: Pay your bills on time. (I am TERRIBLE about paying bills on time. I have 99% of my bills on an automatic payment system (for free!) from my bank. That has got to be the single best money saver for me.)

From EveS: I've learned the rotation of my store's sales and shop accordingly. I try to buy enough of whatever is on sale to get me thru to the next sale. (This is something that I have to adopt, my food bills are ridiculous.)

From JoanN5A:
1) I hate this one -- Buying at most about one bottle of wine a month. As I said, I hate this one. (Sigh. I'm a big wine fan too, tho not a wino :). Fortunately for my wallet, I don't live anywhere near a wine store, unless you count the wine section at the Food Lion.)
2) Trying to avoid reading blogs and posts (including on PR) about what people are splashing large quantities of money around on. ( I found it so "enabling" that I had a hard time resisting the tempation. I finally had to quit reading those threads. Maybe someday I'll have the self-restraint to enjoy reading those threads without feeling tempted. It can happen...)

From MichelleT: I also have one grocery store on the way to and from work that marks down it meats from the day before every morning. If I have time I stop in to see what is marked down and something we would eat. Two days ago I got meat for 5-6 meals with a total of $36.00 off the regular price. (What a neat idea. I'll have to steel myself to wake up at 5am one of these days to see if this will work at my local grocery store...)

From tourist: I also make a point of saving money and electricity by vacuuming as infrequently as possible. (I got such a kick out of this. I do the exact same thing!)

I'm sure that there will be many more excellent tips posted, but these are the things that caught my eye.