The only thing I can think of that I did recently was to take advantage of a free shipping offer from Lands End and do some advance Christmas shopping.

Also, many of the plants (roses and perennials) I bought this spring were on sale for half price.

I got some good buys at walmart on plants for a new flower bed I am making. Most walmarts around here don't mark down the plants that much, and when they do, they are dried up and dead. These still looked good and were only 75 cents each.
I got daturas, hamelias, yellow shrimp plant and pentas.

Went to a plant swap for GW folks. Got all kinds of wonderful plants for free and for my extras.

There is a place in a nearby town that gives away free compost and mulch...they take in tree branches, etc. and shred. I can't get the compost because it is only for people in that town and there is a limit on it anyway, but I can get all the mulch I want. I get a little over 2 yards at a time, by taking a trailer with high, solid sides. I'm on my second load. A neighbor loaned my husband his front end loaded to unload it...made it go quickly.

But those things add up, Alisande. I've come to the conclusion, if I can save a little each week, I'm coming out ahead. So your savings are considerable.

Our biggest "savings" are from NOT doing things. We've changed our mindset to accomodate this. DH wanted a new tree for the backyard. We decided that now is not the time for this. Also, our small TV/VCR went out and DH wants to replace it. I found one at Goodwill for $10. It didn't work, but it was a good try. A new one will be $200, so we've opted to wait on that too.

We were going to go to A Day out with Thomas, but decided to stay at home instead - don't have to pay for tickets, gas (100 miles each way), and goodies. We'll go to the museum instead where we already have a membership and it's only 10 minutes away.

At the grocery, I've become a stickler for the List. If it's not on the list, then it doesn't go in the cart. Except for one item for Jacob which he gets to pick while we're there. It helps with the Gimmes. In fact, when I talk about something at the store that's not on the list, he accuses me of the Gimmes. And he's right!

So, long story short, I'm trying to curb our family's case of the Gimmes. So far, it's going well. It's just hidden by DH's tuition payment, board testing, and a recent vacation.

I haven't gone back to work since we relocated and I try all and everything I can to save money. I purchase ground beef when it is on sale and freeze it in 1 pound packages. Some I freeze in 1 1/2 lb and a few in 3 lb. pkgs. Some times I cook it ahead of time and freeze it in a container . We moved into a rural area and it isnt close enough for us to warrant going out to eat at McDs or some thing when you add the 24 mile round trip to get there. I cook everything from scratch. I double up on things like Salisbury steaks and lasagne and stuffed shells when I make them and then freeze them for another day. I make soft cookies and put two together and fill them with icing for lunches. Or just any cake and cut it for lunches. I keep a freezer inventory so i always know what is in there and can use it up. I keep track of our daily menu so it is easier to keep track of when we had this or that and then I am not thinking when the last time was I had such and such. And it keeps me from giving in to the lets go out to eat mantra.... When I go out it is a planned excursion ! I wait til the store ads come out and then try to do all the errands in one day. I clip all the coupons and try and use them when the item is on sale. I'll hit the Walmart and the food stores that are along the way that have something that might be a great find. Then I hit the GW store as a last stop. I made all the curtains and window treatments for the house. I even made a window quilt for the bathroom glass block window, to help keep that hot sun out. I try to get material at Walmart too. The new ones that have opened here don't have fabric departments now. I reuse anything. The bags that onions and citrus come in I cut and tie up and use as scrubbers for the pots and pans. I use the WM bags for garbage bags and bread and rollbags I save and use to clean up dog doo, or to put wet garbage in. We use the dump permit instead of paying for a service. That alone saves us $220.00 a year.I had my dh make rainbarrels to catch the rain so we can reuse that to water the garden. I have about 45 tomato plants and peppers and cukes and beans and peas and limas and strawberries and onions and beets.. i figure that i grew everything from seed, it was a whole lot cheaper than buying them potted and it is good exercise to be in the garden. We changed all the lights to CFL a while ago. and we put power strips on all the computer stuff. So when you shut down the computer and then hit the switch on the power strip,it is not using any 'phantom energy'.I have one on the extra tv in the sewing room and one on sewing machine. Use cold water for laundry . And hang most of it outside. Lots of little things that drive my family nuts. But if I didn't do them it would add up to a lot of wasted money. ~~sorry this is so long~~

We are trying to fix up our back yard. It is huge so it can get very expensive. I am buying my plants from a guy that sells them from his house. It is so much cheaper. He is retired and gardens as a hobby. Helps us both out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Autism Awareness and Resources and how our family lives with it

Just a thought.. It is time to renew our auto insurance. When we first moved here we had all the insurances through the same company, then the rates went up so I shopped around. I got auto insurance for 400 dollars less. Then it came down again. I kept the homeowners through the old co. Today the old co. called to try to lure us back to their auto insurance . and get this ... it is now more than $787.00 MORE through them. Boy am I glad I changed. That is a differnace of almost $66.00 a month ! Woo-hoo.

I've given up finding any cheaper auto insurance. Have mine with a good, but small, obscure company my agent found for us years ago. Have checked all the supposedly 'cheaper' companies over the years and they're always hundreds of $$$ more. So, think I'll be sticking with my old auto company. Am hoping that when we get insurance on the new house, there will be some sort of discount for having two houses insured with the same company.

Love all the great ideas here. There are always a few new ones I hadn't considered. Thanks for the enthusiastic participation in this thread.

Dh finally got rid of his old vehicle that was taking up space in the driveway. Now we don't have to pay insurance on it.

We had a major storm with power outages last winter and our electric bills doubled this last month. We had talked about getting a wood stove for our house a couple of years ago, but the fireplace is too small for the insert. We decided to go ahead and get the less 'pretty' stove that will set out on the hearth. That should help with costs. If we need to sell the house, we'll just remove the stove and take it with us.

We set our thermostat to 79 and only run the downstairs air unit with ceiling fans. The upstairs unit stays turned off unless we are actually doing something up there.

I bought more tomato plants the other day at a local nursery. They were marked down to $.75 and had a few tomatoes on them. I figure the first couple of ripe tomatoes will pay for the cost of the plant. These plants are ahead of the other ones I sat out earlier. I'll end up with extra tomatoes, but I can imagine the neighbors will be happy to take any extras.

We are making fewer trips out in the car and try to do several errands in one trip to save gas. Haven't done much camping this year but are trying to stay closer to home when we do camp.

We talked about joining a gym toward the end of last year but DH hurt his knee and we needed to wait. By the time his knee was well I fell and hurt mine so we had to wait again. By then the gas had started going up so we didn't join, knowing we wouldn't make the trip. Yesterday we bought a Bowflex machine. In the long run it will be cheaper, more convenient and more likely used. We got a great deal. Academy Sports had them advertised in the paper for $599 - regularly $1299 (I check the Bowflex website and the price was accurate). Sale was limited to the ones in-stock and we got the last one in a box. Someone called while we were there and was coming to get the one on the floor. Glad we went when we did. Now just got to learn to do those 65 exercises.

I've also given DH instructions that we are eating the meats we have in the freezer before we buy any more. He does most of the grocery shopping and tends forget what we already have. He has been baking the 5 Minute Artisan Bread instead of buying the Publix Sourdough he is so fond of. I like his better and Publix used to sell theirs for about $1.98 and now it is over $3!!! We are buying most of our fruits veggies from the local produce stands. I don't really have a garden space but managed to plant some patio tomatoes and a couple of cucumber plants. I have fresh herbs growing as well.

Linda

This was going to be my year to plant lots of perennials. A friend at church mentioned that she was thinning her perennials and if anyone wanted some they could have them. She gave me about 20 plants and 15 of those are growing now. This morning when I mentioned to my neighbor that I wanted to buy a peony, she said I could have part of hers. I have not spent a dime on plants this year.

Besides paying my bills the only thing I ever spend money on is groceries as I need them and pet food.

Our coupon flyer had coupons the past few weeks for free cleaning products so I took advantage of that.

I redeem the free Air Miles points I get from A&P for A&P gift certificates or show tickets since I don't fly anywhere.

I walk to the grocery store or if I am doing a big shopping I go with my brother or SIL when they go shopping.

I have greatly reduced my energy consumption in some cases by half of what I used last year which was less than the year before. I really make a conscious effort to try to use less than the previous month.

I enjoy window shopping. LOL

My Sister and I barter. I let her cat live with me and she pays my house and life insurance instead of giving me the cash. LOL She gets off easy believe me. Also she gives me a yearly newspaper subscription for Christmas and my Birthday so I asked her to pay for my internet instead which actually costs less than the monthly newspaper subscription.

I also cat sit my neighbour's cats when they go away and in return they are buying me the digital converter box for my tv since I won't take cash from them.

I guess when you don't have any extra money to spend it is really easy not to spend it. LOL Sometimes it is also hard because you want to be able to give a gift to someone or send a card to someone and there is no extra money for postage.

Anne

The major thing I've done is make my laundry detergent at home. I think it washes better than the bought stuff. We also have a large garden. I enjoy sitting on the porch early in the morhing and shelling peas or butterbeans.DH's brother gave us some of his seed potatoes this year and I've canned 10 quarts of them. A neighbor let us pick some of his green beans and I snapped then canned 7 quarts of them. Have also done a few tomatoes, but they're not quite to full production. We, too, are going to the stores less. We try to do as much as we can in one trip, including going to the library for books once a week. Now I just gotta find cheaper car insurance . . .

This week I have made my leftovers stretch for more than two meals. Usually I throw them out after one extra time. I combine my trips now more than ever and have "no spending" days when I don't buy anything at all. They were harder to do than I thought.

Flopsy, I'd be interested to hear how you make the detergent.

I found some ArmorAll car wash at DollarTree (a true dollar store) and decided to start washing my cars myself. I found I enjoy it, even though my cars are not exactly small.

I'm eating more tofu. This is not a hardship since I love it. It's an economical source of excellent protein.

Liquid Fence has been a fairly effective deer repellant for me, but it's pretty pricey. So I'm researching homemade repellant recipes. One friend swears by a hand grater and a bar of "smelly soap from the dollar store."

I thought I had all my planting done, but someone gave me a Black Cherry tomato plant this weekend. I couldn't refuse such a delicious tomato! So my challenge now is to find a very large container to plant it inÂone that doesn't cost a lot of money. It doesn't have to be attractive, so I'm thinking maybe something a restaurant might discard . . .

Speaking of leftovers...

Last night I took out a steak from the freezer (which I know I'd bought at a really good price with a coupon)--it was about the size most restaurants serve as one serving. So I turned on my outdoor grill, and: roasted a big pan of new potatoes (they were on sale and really cheap this week) with herbs and paprika, a vidalia onion, the steak and a cheddar cheese stuffed tomato. When the steak was done, I sliced it crosswise into very thin slices--made it look like a lot more meat than it was. DH and I ended up eating about 2/3 of it.

So tonight, I'll be making a chef's salad with stuff I have in the house--lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, the leftover steak, etc. The leftover onion and roasted potatoes will turn into a side of potato salad. Oh, and I've got a couple of hardcooked eggs leftover from our egg salad on Saturday. So tonight, we eat almost for free.

I love taking leftovers and turning them into something completely different. My husband is good about eating leftovers, anyway, but it's just a fun challenge I've set myself to try to make them into something else.

And we're still working hard, ourselves on the interior and exterior painting and spiffing of our house. We're saving twice--not hiring anyone to do the work, and ultimately, we're hoping our work will increase the saleability of our home.

Indy...check the Craigslist in your area or Ebay for replacing electronics...We ususally hit those two places first if we're shopping for something...

I buy from Craigslist, ebay, thrift stores or discount stores. Never pay retail! LOL. If it is something new I want and I can't find a good price, I wait until the prices come down. And I believe in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I love to find new uses for old things. It brings out my creative side.
Clare

Here's a window cleaner recipe. It's 10% rubbing alcohol, 90% water, a little ammonia, about a tablespoon if you're making a quart, and a little blue food color, just to make it look like window cleaner. It works as well as any major brand, and is really CHEAP to make.

Have you visited the Garden Junk forum? We love to make stuff from junk usually found on the curb or in dumpsters for free, yard sales, or thrift stores, etc. It's really fun, and really CHEAP. It's amazing what gets thrown away. There's a link on GJ for the Trash to Treasure forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Junk Forum