Frugal101 - Be Rich, Live Rich!

I wrote a quick introductory article on DIY (do it yourself) fashion and IMEDIATELY lost 8 subscribers to frugal101.com.  I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.  I think I did both.

So, before I scare off more readers, give me a chance to convince you of the legitimacy of DIY for folks who want to be frugal and save money. 

What are some skills that we need in order to save money in our daily lives?

1. Budgeting and basic financial skills.  We need to know how to spend less than we earn.  We need to save the difference.  That is the basic premise of frugal living.  If we can’t save some of the money that we’ve earned, we will never become a) rich b) financially secure c) have money for the things we want and may even d) die on the streets a pauper.  There are lots of books out there devoted to this topic and I have lots of articles on this as well.
2. Cook.  We need to save money where we can and one place we can easily slash our bills is in food and dining.  A useful skill to have is to cook, or else it’s canned and frozen food or, even more expensive, fast food, take-outs, and delivery.  Cooking our own meals immediately saves us money and we can see it.
3. Basic car maintenance.  One skill I don’t have and truly wish I do is basic car maintenance.  If only I can change oil, I would save so much money!  My cousin knows how to change oil.  She is my new hero.  If you know how to take care of your car, even just a little bit, how many thousands of dollars can you save in a year?!  Better yet, you would have the confidence to purchase older vehicles, or even accept free ones, and slash your transportation cost even more!
4. Handyman skills.  If you can paint, knock a nail to a board, sandpaper some walls, unscrew a lightbulb, put doorknobs back on, just little things, you would save hundreds of dollars a year, if not more, because you DIY!  You don’t have to call in someone to take care of little things.  Years ago, my bathroom drain got truly clogged.  Crying and panicking, I called in a plumber.  He used a wire coat hanger and unplugged the drain.  You don’t know how P-ED I was at myself when I wrote that check for $95.  I’ve kept my drains clear ever since using baking soda and, you guessed it, a wire coat hanger.

Now, all of these skills are basic, take care of yourself skills that fall under DIY.  They all save us a tremendous amount of money, money that we can keep.  Money that we can save.  Money that we can spend on more important things, like investments. 

To that list, I want to add DIY fashion. 

For men, this is not so relevant because, let’s be frank, I don’t know too many men who can’t be satisfied with a shirt and a pair of pants, preferably clean.  For women, this could be hundreds of dollars in savings, in a month! 

So, if you have expensive shopping habits, even if it’s at the thrift stores, and you want to cut that down, but still be fashionably dressed, learn how to DIY.  All you need is basic sewing skill.  A straight stitch is fine.  A pair of scissors, and some ingenuity.

 College women, you’re probably thinking, you’d rather spend the time doing something else, rather than sewing.  Me too.  Use shortcuts.  Lots of them.  Don’t listen to what your granny said about sewing, because she spends a lot of time on it.  You don’t have time.  Forget hemming.  Use fabric that doesn’t fray and leave off the hemming.  Heck, forget sewing.  Learn how to lace shoes, cut some holes, and make terrific shirts and skirts.  Get your materials from Goodwill for cheap.  I’ve made entire outfits for $2 in less than an hour.

Borrow Generation-T by Megan Nicolay from the library and get started on being fashionable AND frugal.  Visit Threadbangers, especially the forum, for great ideas on how to look fabulous on the cheap.

Here’s a dress I made using ideas from Generation-T.  All that was required was cut, sew straight up the two sides.  Sew the black band on, again a straight stitch.  Wear!  There’s no time consuming hemming.  Didn’t have to worry about fit because the jersey material is very forgiving.  Cost was $2 because the original fabric as a XXL t-shirt from Goodwill and an extra black t-shirt I had lying around.  Took me maybe 30 minutes top!  How much would a dress like that cost at the mall?  Actually, you can’t FIND a dress like that at the stores because they don’t make cool super hero clothing for girls. 

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Spam is just a wonderful waste of everybody’s time.  I wonder if there are still people out in the world who is taken in by spam?  Probably.  What’s the old saying?  “A sucker is born every minute.”

In this case, very true.  There are actually people out there who will believe the above spam message, “improve your borrowing power.”  In our American culture of debt, we believe that we need good credit so that we can borrow more and more money to buy more and more stuff.  We forget that what we are borrowing is our future money, paid for with our future earnings, usually with heavy interest.  Someone benefits, but it isn’t us.

Rather than improving our borrowing power, let’s improve our earning and saving power. 

Improve Your Earning Power

1. Take classes to improve your professional skills.
2. Consider a career change if you are unhappy where you are.
3. Go back for a degree.
4. Take a part-time job or start your own business.
5. Work harder where you are and politely let your supervisors know you are looking for more duties with more pay.

Improve Your Saving Power

1. If you haven’t started saving yet, open a savings account and start with just $50 a month.  That’s pocket change, but will add up quickly in one year.
2. Use a change jar and dump your change in it every night.
3. Move your savings account to one that pays higher interest.
4. Check with your benefits department and join in the company’s 401K or 403(b) plan.
5. Have your money automatically withdrawn from your paycheck every month to go directly to your savings

Copyright 2007, Donny Ha, http://www.frugal101.com.  If you would like to repost this article, you have permission to, but please keep this copyright statement with the article and link back to http://www.frugal101.com.

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Just a quick post.  I’ll be going into depth later about how to save money by refashioning your own clothes.  Here’s a quick snippet of what you can do.

I got a GAP Kids t-shirt for $1 at a thrift store.  It was too large for me, the robot too interesting to be left on a boxy tee.  I wanted something more feminine and I certainly don’t want to pay for it!  So, with a few cuts and simple sewing straight up the sides, I turned a boxy tee into a cute, fashionable top that I will happily wear.

COST: $1

TIME: 30 minutes

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I came up with this delicious recipe today using stuff I had lying around.  YUMMY!  It’s so good and healthy!  Since these were all items I had lying around, this dish is very cheap.  Frugal to me means that we use what we have to make our life rich, not poor.

Ingredients:

• A few ounces of fish.  I used a salmon patty I had in the freezer for a few weeks already.  Cost $0.
• Three hard boiled eggs.  Purchased on sale.  Cost $0.10/egg.  Chunk the eggs coarsely.
• 2-3 cups of cooked brown rice.  I had a container with lots of brown rice, my carb for the week.  Cost pennies.  Rice is cheap!  Warm the rice.
• 1/4 white onion, chopped.  I had leftover onion from a previous meal.  Cost $0.
• 1/2 grapefruit, on sale for $1/lb (remember the ethnic supermarket I visited this weekend?).  I probably used $0.50 worth.  Cube the grapefruit.
• Salt and pepper to taste.  A little cayenne pepper because I like it spicy.  A splash of white wine if you have it.

Saute the onions until lightly browned.  Add the fish and some liquid, maybe the white wine.  Cook the fish for 5-10 minutes until cooked.  Flake the fish.  Add the rice, egg, and grapefruit.  Cook, stirring often, until hot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I had some green onions already chopped up so I added that too.

A recipe like this, you can add whatever you want.  If I had mushrooms, I would have added mushroom.  I would have used tuna if I didn’t have the salmon.

You know a dish like this is considered fancy and would cost a $18+ at a restaurant.  What’s my cost from the grocery bill for this week?  About a buck for 2-3 meals worth of fancy, healthy food.

Use your creativity and be fearless in making your life enjoyable!

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College students, young professionals, and anyone trying to save money as well as time cannot afford to have food waste before consumption.  Here are some tips to store your food to save time and money.

1. Use good containers.  I recently discovered Freshvac containers.  I didn’t really believe the promotional claims, that freshvac can seal in freshness by locking out excess air, but the containers were on sale, so I had to try.  Guess what?  It actually worked ridiculously well!  I stored grapes in them in the refrigerator.  Instead of wilting within a week and a half, they were fresh and firm for three weeks, the amount of time it took for me to finish them.  Usually, I have to throw out half the grapes because I just can’t eat that much.  So, invest in some good containers, freshvac or anything else that works well to store your food.
2. Wash and dry vegetables immediately after purchase, then store them in a good container or bag with a paper towel.  The paper towel reduces moisture, delaying rotting, but gives out just enough moisture to prevent the vegetables from wilting.
3. Plan your purchases to account for the fact that some food will go bad before others.  I have a bi-weekly grocery shopping schedule.  I buy and plan my meals so that I eat the fragile foods first and the hardier, longer lasting foods the following weeks.  So, fish gets eaten the first week, sausages the second week.  Spinach the first week, broccoli the second week.
4. Cook meats as soon as you get them, portion the meats, then refrigerate or freeze the meats. If you don’t, one of two things will probably happen if you are anything like me.  One, you leave the meat in the refrigerator and a week later throw it out because you don’t want to touch it anymore.  Two, you put the meat in the freezer and then keep it there for months because the whole process of defrosting and cooking mid-week is too much for you.  But, immediately cooking, portioning, and then freezing assure that you have individual sized meals ready for the microwave whenever you want.  Chicken and pork work best.  Avoid reheating hunks of beef, just doesn’t taste good.
5. Create your own freezer meals!  This is just the best thing to do for anyone trying to save money and time.  Make your meals, pack them in individual containers, and grab and go for the rest of the week.  Check out my earlier articles for great freezer meals.

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Let me introduce my cousin to you. She is new to Los Angeles, attending UCLA for graduate school. She just moved her about a month ago. While I needed to learn how to be frugal and I’ve fallen off the wagon, my cousin was born frugal! I’ve learned a lot from her in the last few weeks and hope to share what I learn with you!

I invited her to a concert tonight so that she could see a little more of Los Angeles night life. Of course, we wanted it to be frugal! A friend was throwing a concert, or more correctly, a “gig”. No cover charge! They’ll charge you for drinks, but walking through the door and listening to the music was free. Parking was also free as it was street parking on a Sunday. Altogether, we had a fun night out for the total cost of $0! I like that kind of night.

Who said entertainment has to cost money?

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I took $20 with me to go grocery shopping at an ethnic grocery store and spent $17 on groceries! Did I buy enough to last me two weeks, the goal? Well, we’ll find out in the next two weeks.

I purchased lots and lots of fresh herbs and vegetables. I purchased some tofu. I purchased some delicacies to make “bun rieu” a seafood noodle soup. This dish would be my most expensive dish for the week but should last me about 6 meals. I already have rice and bread at home. My cousin, my fellow grocery shopper, gave me eggs and tortillas because we made a stop at Costco for some stuff for her. As for protein, the eggs and tofu should last me awhile. I still have some frozen salmon and tilapia fish in the freezer. I may have to make a run to pick up some chicken from the regular national chain grocery store, but maybe I can hold off.

I came home with four bags of groceries, for $17! Unbelievable! I didn’t buy any of my usual snacks, which is always a money saver.

Let’s see how I do for the next two weeks!

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