I try to limit my driving. When I'm out, I'll do several errands at once. For example, last Monday, I needed to go to the bank--but I had an eye dr. appt. on Tues and would be driving right by--so rather than making 2 trips, I waited till Tues.

If we do eat out, we make it a rule to only eat half our meal, and bring the rest home for dinner the next day (I even do this with sandwiches). And we always eat near where we have another errand to do. Makes eating out much more affordable.

I always try to maximize the use of my oven by baking/roassting several things at once. And I further cut back on using my oven by cooking as much as possible in my Advantium. In the Advantium, I can to real baked potatoes--with crisp skins--in about 8 minutes; casseroles take only 12 minutes to get hot, browned and bubbly--and since I got it free, it's an extra saving to use. I excell in fast recipes--rarely do I spend more than 20 minutes making our dinner--so there, Rachel--LOL!

When I do use my grill, I cook the entire meal in it--meat, vegetables, potatoes. I even do breads and pizza in our grill. But I'm speaking about a propane one. Oh, and I grill fruits like apples, pears, peaches to serve for dessert.

We are looking to move, because taxes are extremely high here. We've found a house that has everything we want, that's about the right price, and is within walking distance of a supermarket, seasonal produce stand, park, hardware store, banks--even a water ice stand. We haven't absolutely made up our minds to buy, but it looks like a good choice, and is in a district with lower property taxes, and the sales tax is HALF there what it is here.

I have so much fabric stockpiled, that I've been making patchwork everything--quilts, curtains, tablecloths, etc--so that in the past couple of years, I've redecorated almost my entire house, without spending more than a few $$$ (filler for the quilts, thread).

Oh, one of my favorite ways to save purchased energy? Our Spin Sweep. Great gizmo from Hoover for sweeping the driveway and sidewalks. It uses NO power--pushing it makes the brushes turn and sweep the debris into the hopper at the back. Very effective. We also rake rather than using a leaf blower.

I bake most of my bread from scratch.

The dw was on the fritz--dh took it apart and attempted a repair. It worked. That saved us big time.

I, too, grow lots of fresh herbs--that's such a big saving over buying fresh. And for those herbs and spices I must buy I buy in bulk from Penzey's. I make my own vanilla--it's so expensive in stores, and not cheap to make, but cheaper, I think, and mine is superstrong, so it's much tastier.

I try to know what home remedies work, and when it's safe to use them rather than making an expensive trip to the dr. I go if necessary, but if I can save a little, that's a help.

Laundry--I use about 1/4 the recommended amount of detergent and the shortest wash cycle--and find my clothes come out cleaner, and with less wear.

Haven't been to a hairdresser in decades. I just get DH to trim my hair.

There are so many things we can do around the house to save a few $$$ here and there.

We use the outside grill most of the time. Saves on kitchen clean up too.

My trips to town are days that I visit my Mom and go shopping for groceries or whatever is needed.

My first year to do veggies and I'm really excited about it.

If we take a country drive we combine it with hitting Roadside Veggie/Fruit Stands and visit friends.

Gayle

I have cut back on my driving. Hang clothes on the line to dry whenever possible. Today I am going to bake two kinds of bread. I leave bell peppers out of my recipes because they are so expensive. I made tostados without lettuce.

I have slowed down on the freeway to 69. Yes, that's slow for me! I use cruise control as much as possible, even on normal roads that are 35 or 40, depending on traffic.

I am more focused on doing my errands on 1 trip, making a circle and home instead of seperate trips.

I haven't cut back in other areas yet. The gas prices are pinching me, but I soon will!

I walk everywhere in my town. I need the exercise. But I feel good not using a car for short trips.

I like to drive aimlessly. Gave that up. Now I plan my route more carefully. I take the freeway over surface streets even for short trips. DH stops off on his way home from work to do errands I normally would have gone out on a separate trip for before.

I'm not.

Me neither.

Not driving so much but too many Dr. apts. Hope to have a garden, but then depends on weather. If it does not warm up we many never have the garden, but no a/c either
too much computer
would love for DH to get rid of some stuff--do we really need all this electronic stuff that does not even work, but he might need the parts?

I'm not so much trying to offset gas prices as trying to keep more money coming in than going out. Being frugal isn't new here. Lately, I've been stocking up on canned veggies for the winter. They've gone up $.06 in the last few months. I expect to see them to take another leap here pretty soon. There seems to be a run on rice right now and stores are rationing it. I bought some to put away. I'm doing a clean out of my freezer right now. If we aren't careful, we lose things to freezer burn. I bought some sugar and flour wrapped them in the plastic sacks from the store and am storing it in the extra freezer space. I will use it to make bread and other baked goodies later on since the price of wheat is also increasing.

We're putting more effort towards not wasting food and other things. It's hard with three kids, but it's a lesson they need to learn too.

We don't have very much room in our yard for growing veggies, so I'm planting veggies in our flower beds. My main goal was to teach the kids how to grow things, but it'll work as a cost cutting measure too. It certainly tastes better.

Some other posters have been posting tips such as buying a bag of green onions from the produce section of the store using the ends and planting the bulb. I don't use a lot of green onions, but I thought that was a great idea. I bought some onions for my enchiladas a couple of weeks ago and planted the bulbs. They are growing great and taste good in salads. I also bought several herb plants last week. I don't normally cook with a lot of herbs, but as I've been going back to more 'from scratch' cooking, I've been experimenting. If I can find some recipes my family likes, it'll be worth it.

Since I am a re-user, re-cycler and re-ducer already I don't do anything new.

Oh, no, wait, I bought a cheap bicycle off craigslist to be able to leave outside a grocery store (locked up of course). I never felt good about leaving my high dollar bikes there.

Now, I can and do ride to the store.

Moni

I've always tried to be careful with waste but I am trying to be more careful. I am buying alittle less of everything when we grocery shop as I find the kids throw alot of away.. if I buy less and we go without for a few days I feel alot better about that then buying 10 yogurts and throwing away 3.

We went to BJ's wholesale club the other night.. cheese is $2 less a pound, we needed a few things and we picked very carefully and tried to not be impulsive which can happen in those stores.

We always have the lights off, keep showers short, we certainly don't go for a "joy" ride anymore.. we had to go to a family function yesterday 1-1/2 hours away and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride but all I could think of is "how much is this going to cost"

We buy alot of something if it's a great price. Try to take lunch to work.

It really is frightening thought to think where the price can go, I heard on the news that we could potentially go to $7.00 gallon... I think you will see several generations moving in together. My son is 25 and can't afford to put oil in his tank, his roommate showers at his workplace and my son comes here a couple times a week and showers and grabs a bite to eat...

Nobody rides public transportation???

No, Patser, I ride my bike or walk instead. The public transportation here in Tulsa sucks. Once an hour or less is when you can expect a bus. No bench at the bus stop, no rain protection, and no posted bus schedule.

Moni

Good ideas y'all!

And speaking of lettuce...I've found something that works super well to keep it from going bad (have only tried this three times so far...) I sewed two terry dish towels together like a pillow case- put washed leaf lettuce in it & went outside. Holding top closed I spun it around & around to get water out & then into a never used grocery store plastic produce bag. Amazingly, it stayed fresh and crisp a really long time...ate the last of it on burgers TWO weeks later!

The highly touted 'Green Bags' were a waste of $$$- for me, at least.

Suzi

I'm lucky in the sense that I do "field work" so I can shop, run errands, doc apts and such on company time just so I get my regular work done. I get to take my SUV home and can used it off duty for personel use. This perk is in lieu of a cut I received when our Fire Departments merged.
I don't use it much on personel time because I get most of my running done on my downtime at work.
When the other department was paying for gas last year, it took over $50 to fill the tank. The city dispensers don't show the price per gallon, but it take about 18 gallons to fill the truck. I'm sure they get a discount on their cost per gallon.
It is nice not to have to pay for the gas to get back and forth to work.