“Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.” -Samuel Johnson

"With prices going up, a dollar doesn’t go as far."

BeingFrugal.net has a great post that lists 168 tips collected from her readers of ways we can all be frugal in our day-to-day lives. I predict that the Sprik household will be focusing on the following items from that list (some of which, we already do):

• Always grocery shop with a list.
• Take advantage of sales on items that you would normally buy.
• Stockpile staples when prices are low.
• Buy generic items, shop at Aldi.
• Buy enough of a sale item to last 12 weeks. That’s about how long sales take to cycle.
• Eat leftovers.
• Cook large amounts and freeze extra for busy nights.
• Cook from scratch.
• Eat from your stocked pantry.
• Bring lunch from home (it’s worth it to invest in proper containers).
• Always have a meal plan. Always.
• Cook with the crockpot to avoid using the oven, which warms up the house.
• Run errands once a week and use the most efficient route.
• Walk as much as you can.
• Make it a challenge to see how far you can go on a tank of gas.
• Fill up when your tank is half empty.
• Use gasbuddy.com to find the lowest price on gas.
• Line dry clothes by setting dryer racks over heater vents. Use your shower rod if you need even more room.
• Never leave the water running when rinsing dishes, brushing teeth, etc. Only use the water you need.
• Do home repairs yourself.
• Reuse things. An example: Plastic grocery bags can be reused as lunch bags, shoe bags, or laundry bags on vacation.
• See if your local dump or transfer station offers free firewood or garden mulch. Take advantage of it.
• If you’ve bought stuff that you haven’t used, see if you can return it.
• Celebrate “no spend” weekends, where you don’t spend anything.
• Prepare special dinners at home, rather than going out to celebrate.
• Use hotel points and airline miles for vacation.
• Do free things for entertainment: Hiking, free city concerts, board games.
• Go to the park and have a picnic.
• Take advantage of “get in free” days at the museum, etc.
• To find special festivals, get a free state tourism guide.
• Shop for Christmas gifts year round to catch the good sales.
• Never spend change. Collect it and put it in a savings account.
• Enter blog giveaways. You never know what you might win. (I won $100 last month!)
• Use a fee free credit card with rewards. Charge everything to get the rewards. But ONLY do this if you are diligent about paying it off every single month. If you pay interest, it isn’t worth it.
• Pay off debt as quickly as possible. Saves on interest.
• Use a budget.
• Change your mindset. Instead of thinking “what do I need to buy?”, think, “what do I have that I can use?” That’s how people got through the Great Depression.