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What's the most frugal thing you have done?

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Sold my fishing boat and bought an Omega watch. Now I get 365 days a year usage from my expenditure, don't pay registration, maintenance or running costs and don't have mates freeloading off me when i go fishing. I've had the watch for eight years and have saved thousands of dollars (and my marriage).
 
One of the most frugal thing I did was only last week I bypassed 1 service station drove around the block to another to save 2 cents a litre. When I left the service station I hit a concrete truck barrier on the road which resulted in a new trye. Cost of tyre $270.00 saving on petrol $1.60. Being frugal is expensive.
 
I like to live as frugal as I can, Some of the things I have done include.

Gave up drinking alcohol for 12 months, saved $1000's, now only drink about twice a month.

I have so many frugal things I do on a daily basis it would be impossible to name them all.

I have designed my living habits so that I spend less than $250 / week, That includes everything, meanwhile I earn over $100K a year.
 
Sold my 3 motorbikes and now only ride pushbikes. I have 2 pushbikes, a road bike and a mountain bike. Better for the environment, better for my health both physical and mental (very therapeutic heading off into the bush on the local mountain bike trails as the sun is rising, kookaburras, whip tail wallabies, red tail black cockatoos, sulpher crested cockatoos, gallahs and a bandicoot this morning and).

I also don't fly as much anymore, better for the environment and save a crap load of money. I used to travel about 6 times a year, last year, not at all, this year, no plans at all either and prefer to go bushwalking and exploring locally.

Saved $1000's but I tend to live a frugal lifestyle anyway.

Here is an article on thrift.

http://travismorien.com/invest_FAQ/content/category/7/430/53/
 
1. Quit drinking

2. No car

The car thing happened by accident - literally. A friend wrote off my car and it turned out he was currently unlicensed, so no insurance payout for me.

I had a lot of other cr@p going on in my life so after drowning my sorrows in alcohol, I quit drinking, embarked on a nutrition and exercise program and decided to see what would happen if I didn't replace my car for 12 months.

Now it costs me $30 a week to go food shopping ($5 for the bus there and $25 for the cab back) - a damn site cheaper than owning a car.

At other times I ride my bicycle everywhere - it's approx a 25k round trip to Woolies, the fish market and the beach.

I'm sure I'll get a car again next year (either a Hyundai i30 or a Porsche 911, depending on how my trading goes ) but for now I'm getting fit and saving a bundle.
 
Too many to list. Recent examples...

Volvo V70 just coming off lease bought direct from Volvo dealership, with a major service and four new summer tyres for 100,000 SEK, market value 150,000 SEK. Can probably drive 60,000 kms and still sell it for the same price we paid. Thats 1.5 years of driving and a couple of European roadtrips.

If I use my expat tax status in NL to import the car I bought 12 months ago in Sweden I can avoid hefty import duties usually levied when importing cars to NL. High car sale taxes in NL mean the net result is that the current NL market value is the same I paid for the car 12 months ago in Sweden. Net result, I drove the car 20,000 kms and owned it for 12 months and avoided the usual depreciation and additional credit crunch devaluation.

Since its a faily common assertion that the two biggest purchases most people are likely to have are cars and houses anything one can do to minimise the inevitable depreciation associated with owning a car the better of they ought to be.

Lastly, if I order polos from Hilfiger.co.uk instead of Hilfiger.nl I save 10 EUR per shirt. Four shirts for summer = 40 EUR, I can have a lot of fun for 40 EUR.
 
1.
Work out each family member's energy expenditure, and required Calorie and macronutrient intake, spreadsheet a fortnightly menu plan that calculates exact qty of ingredients and makes shopping list, go to shops and buy that

Savings -> >$2000 a year on food spoilage, no obesity, optimal nutrient intake, 90% reduced probability of diabetes, artherosclerosis, debilitating arthritis. 1 trip to supermarkt per fortnight 1 trip to fruit and vege shop per week. 75 hr pa travel time saving.

2.
Bought a bicycle and do calisthenics in the backyard.

Savings -> $2400pa on couples membership at trendy gym. 90 hrs pa travel time saving

3.
Cashbook Spreadsheet -> automates everything once I have downloaded csv file from banks monthly and run macros on the transactions. qtrly BAS, net worth, income tax return estimate, cash flow, additional debt servicability.

saving -> $2000pa on accountant filing my BAS. 60 hrs pa on bookkeeping.

4.
Use the best accountant and solicitor I can.

saving ~$500k in the last 10 years. time saved = heaps.

5.
The time saved above is spent reading quality finance info.

-> acgr for 8 yrs to FY08 =24%.
 
Trevor, thanks for the Travis Morien link.

20 years ago when I was very young and working in a high paying job in mining in the NT, our town was targeted by the SE QLD "property floggers" who seemed to be giving kickbacks to my accountant.
I thought buying a house in "Brisbane" would be a good idea but was unsure about the $230,000 loan I would be taking out with the encouragement of the bank, accountant and smooth talking salesman. It wasnt a step I was comfortable with at 20 years old for a few reasons.

During this time I had to fly to Sydney and had a few hours in Brisbane. I jumped in a taxi and went out to where the "prestigious estate" was being built. One look at the setup on reclaimed land and my mind was made up that nobody except the taxi driver would be taking my money.

That $60 taxi fare was the best $60 I ever spent.
 
got the free trial of 'body trim'....read the book, watched the cds...

sent the lot back within 30 days. total cost $13 instead of $250 (?).

and have lost 17kg....


.
 
Eat weeds

I regularly pick dandeloin,catears and cobblers pegs to add greens to spicy asian type soups
 
RamonR said:
Eat weeds

I regularly pick dandeloin,catears and cobblers pegs to add greens to spicy asian type soups
Click to expand...

Hey, come on over to the weight loss thread. I wasn't going to mention it but I picked some juicy dandelion leaves earlier on my morning walk.
 
bowman said:
Hey, come on over to the weight loss thread. I wasn't going to mention it but I picked some juicy dandelion leaves earlier on my morning walk.
Click to expand...

I avoid picking weeds outside my property.
Two main reasons, I have plenty anyway but mainly you can't be sure that pesticide hasn't been applied.
 
If my dogs swim a lot they get ear infections. Instead of incurring $70 vet bill each time for consultation and medication, as soon as there's the first sign I just put a drop of peroxide in the ear and it clears it up.

Doing your own pool servicing saves about $50 per time.

It's good not to get obsessed about saving though. My mother used to wash and re-use Gladwrap!!
 
ouch poor dogs....the ear infection is because of water in the ears...just take a towel and dry the ears thoroughly each time....saves the price of peroxide and pain for the dogs....

if I give up the alcohol and ciggs can save about 11.000 per year
they are the two things I cut down on when things get tough

brother recently had a prescription...chemix ??? and stopped smoking within 2 weeks...saved $100pw....actually its over 6 months now....

I have to psyche myself up for this...those two are the next bad habits to lose
cheers
 
i find my pr0n for free on the internet rather than buying it from the service station, lol
 
Haircuts. Cost money and time! I used to get my hair cut at Gowings for $5. When the price went up to $10 I started going to a local place instead. Then I bought some clippers and now either do it myself or with some help from my wife.
 
Tysonboss1 said:
I have designed my living habits so that I spend less than $250 / week, That includes everything, meanwhile I earn over $100K a year.
Click to expand...

Do you live at home still? And do you have any fun??
 
I am wearing thermal garments under my clothes as i sit here and type this rather than turning on the heating.
 
1. Married a naturally beautiful wife - no make-up costs
( plus I get personalised catering, dry-cleaning and other free "extras" )

but seriously she is a gem of a wife, who is frugal too.

2. One car - the savings are immense

3. Use things until they are broken

4. Cook meals every night.
 
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