A Penny for Your Thoughts

It seems like frugal living is a popular topic to blog about. I love reading tips and ideas that others post about how they cut costs to live within their means, and I thought it would be fun to blog about some things we do to keep our living expenses low. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do some of these too or have some other ideas.

1. Budget - The most important thing we do is keep a written budget. This allows us to plan exactly what we will do with each month's support and to know our limits.

2. Drive one car - This may be a bit extreme for the US, but the cost of gas here is over double the costs in the States! We drive our car together when we're going to Asas, and when we're headed in different directions I drive the car and Jeyson takes his bicycle or motorcycle.

3. Eat at home - A big way we save money is by eating almost all of our meals at home. Of course we do enjoy meals out as well, but always within the limits of money budgeted for fun in our budget. One thing that is a major help with this is meal planning. If I know what I'm planning to make, we're much less likely to grab something out.

4. Avoid the grocery store - This may sound a little crazy, but here's what works for us. At the beginning of each month I make a list of all of the meal ideas I have for the month. I go out on one huge grocery shopping trip for everything to make the meals except for the very basic fresh stuff like fruit/veggies. (I even buy meat and freeze it in potions for the two of us). Then every week I decide which of those meals I'm going to make and buy just the fresh food to go with it. I try to avoid going to the grocery store more than once a week because I know I'll always come home with way more than I had planned on! If I need something before the week is up, I try to be creative and use something from the pantry/freezer unless I'm really stuck!

5. Lights - We invested in economic light bulbs a few years ago and it has REALLY paid off! Our light bills are SO much lower as a result!

6. Clothes - We don't often go clothes shopping. The clothes here are no where near as nice as they are in the States, so we bought back new stuff with us. Now, we'll only go out to the store to buy something if we are looking for something we actually need.

7. Gifts - In general, we try to keep gifts meaningful, yet simple. After all, it truly is the thought that counts!

8. Homemade stuff - We both love creating things, so this one comes naturally to us. I make lots of food from scratch - bread, granola, croutons, pizza, and even now yogurt....just to name a few! They turn out so tasty and healthier. We've also made gifts (Jeyson recently made an adorable puzzle to give to a baby as a birthday gift), curtains, lamps, bookshelves, and pillows.

9. Contentment - I guess the biggest thing we do is choose to be content with and grateful for what God has given us. This helps us to keep our life simpler, less expensive, and happier!