I drive a lot less then I use to running errands. I combine several into one trip and wait till I do have more then one errand before I go. I compare gas prices when out. I grow my own veggies all year long especially salad stuff like lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. I wish I could grow cukes but never do well on the cool coast. I have 3 compost piles. I freeze or can any extras. I bought a dehydrator at the thrift store and hope to try that. I shop at thrift stores and discount stores (Ross, Marshalls, TJ Max) for clothes and look for sales. Even the thrift store has a half price day. I only buy what I need like jeans when the old ones wear out. And I sew, turning old into new. I cut off the sleeves of long sleeve T-shirts when the cuffs wear out and turn them into short sleeve T-shirts. My Mom use to turn the cuffs and collars on dress shirts. She also use to cut a sheet in half when the center wore out and sew the two outside edges together and you have a new sheet. I buy certain items like paper products, canned goods, and meat in bulk at Costco. I split up the meat and use my sealer then freeze it. And we eat very little meat, about twice a week. I make a lot of non meat dishes. I read this somewhere that you can use half the amount it calls for in detergent or soap in your laundry and dishwasher and they get just as clean. I buy box color and do my own hair and also don't get massages/pedicures or manicures. I go to the cheap hair cutting chain places for a hair cut. I shop at Big Lots, Dollar Store. That is where I buy snacks and some canned food. Always check the dates though. I buy cleaning supplies and shampoo and other personal hygiene products there. I am not sold on buying a certain brand, just get the cheapest. I buy cheap shoes at Kmart and Payless Shoes. I an not a shoe fashion person so just look for ones that are comfortable and fit. I buy all my purses at the thrift store. I can't believe women pay $200 or more for purses. Sorry, but I think that is insane. We check out books and DVDs from the library. The only time I buy books is from the thrift stores or online discount places like Half.com or ebay. And we have a used bookstore locally that will give you store credit (1/2 book value) or buy them (1/3 book value) for your old books. Ones they don't take I send to my Mom or give to the library for their sales. We only go out to eat for special occasions like birthdays and anniversary. I make almost all the meals at home from scratch, no pre-made package food that you just pop into the microwave. DH says I am a better cook then most of the restaurants anyway. And after working in a restaurant during college, I am a little leery of eating out. DH and I, when I was working, brown bagged it for lunch and always had breakfast and dinner at home. He has been taking his lunch to work for 32 years. Imagine how much he has saved. We haven't been on a vacation for 8 years. We use that time to work on house projects. We do all of the work we possibly can ourselves like digging out the septic tank. We had to pay someone to put it in because we didn't have the equipment but we saved thousands doing the digging. We pay off the credit card (1) every month. It is the Costco AE card and we get cash back at the end of the year. A big way to save is don't have a lot of credit cards, it can get out of hand. I either live without or buy things on Craigslist that I want. I just got a 21 speed aluminum bike in great shape and only 2 years old for $60. It was $310 new. I also sell things that we don't need or want anymore on ebay and Craigslist. Why keep it if you don't use it. We also give a lot to the charities. DH likes to clean out the house from one end to the other every couple of years. We use ceiling fans and open windows when it is hot. No A/C. In winter we use the fireplace to take the chill off the main area and don't turn on the heat if we are not going to be around. We cut our own wood from the trees we have been growing for 22 years. And always plant more. There is probably more but can't think of them now. Two good books to read are The Tightwad Gazette I & II by Amy Dacyczyn. I got both copies at the thrift store for a $1 each. Remember Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Clare

chi83 I don't quite understand your logic. A wafer of 1/2 thickness would require double the wafers to get the same volume for a crumb crust. That would require double the scraping of less product but wouldn't the residue you mention be essentially the same? Increased price, double the effort for the same outcome is NOT what I'd consider more convenient, handy or of any value. I do agree with you on convenience items and I do pay for the prepared fruits and things. More expensive but time for me now is more valuable than before, plus I don't waste as much. Granted, I could waste more of an item and still come out ahead money-wise but not time-wise. SnidelyWhiplash hit it right. Everyone wants THEIR wages, profits and the like to go up and THEIR costs to go down but don't think business should profit. I can accept reasonable profits and I don't like windfall profits, except to me! I sure won't suggest there is no corporate greed out there. Absolutely there is, but it's not always corporate greed as much as consumer gullibility. People want to "feel good" about everything. They are offended by words so you have to pick the exact name and commercials can't offend anybody. People happily pay more for less, and ironically they'll buy gigantic when they often can't use it when they can "feel good" about "saving" money. Sam-boy really knew the greed of the people. Give him credit for that. People will walk into his club, pay more per unit for things, pay extra for the privilege and to really rub it in, stand in line TWICE to check out, all for the "feel good" of thinking they are saving money! He figured out that people will pay any price for the illusion of saving money.

MtRdRedux is right on with the into on Too Much Available Credit", which is a myth for actual FICO Scores, which are used by almost all lenders. There are a few, very few, lenders that have issues with too much available other credit. This mostly applies to marginal borrowers and lenders that specialize in risky loans where the lender knows their prospect is already marginal and making them cancel the other credit will help to ensure that they are the one getting the money before they finally descend into the abyss. Perfect Credit Score is also a myth. The algorithms break down on extremely high scores and are effectively useless in differentiating risk. Classic FICO Scores have a theoretical range up to 850 but all versions of those scores including the '04 versions used for Mortgage apps max out well below that, one of them at 818. NOBODY can get 850 as there is NO path through the algorithm that makes 850 possible. If you are really curious about this, you can follow her link to MyFico.com where you will find my name attached to much of the mythbusting on credit scoring. I haven't posted in years as it eventually became more about selling stuff than information. Still the best credit site around in spite of big flaws. One piece of info is that it always a bad idea to close any credit card from a scoring standpoint. It can make sense from saving money if it has a fee and worth the small hit it has for a person with good credit, particularly if your accounts are mostly older. It affects Average Age of Accounts.

I agree about her probably having people to shop for her. but at the same time, how annoying to not just be able to click on a site and check out but to have to get someone else to buy everything for you! I guess you could create an alter ego, but then do you have to have all the item you buy shipped to somewhere else besides your home so people don't know it is you? And then have someone pick them up for you and bring them to you? Seems like a lot of unnecessary hassle, esp. since I think she has a newborn or very young baby.