How to be Frugal

💲The Envelope System💲
I know some folks might think Dave Ramsey came up with the idea of the envelope system, but actually he just endorsed it. The envelope system is a lot older than most people think. Example there's a story on my maternal side that describes how old the envelope system is. Here me out. My great grandmother, Cora, whose nickname was Cokie. She got this title because she was always drinking a coke cola bottle. Every now and again she would say, "they just dont make them like they used to." If anyone knows the backstory about the original coke cola recipe, well they used to make it with Cocaine....poor great grandma, she really didn't know. Anyway, my great grandfather, Joseph Sears and great grandma Cokie owned a small grocery store during the Great Depression here in San Antonio. In this era of time, other business would take their monies at the the end of the day to the bank and then pick it back up in the morning. Joseph didn't trust the banks. To Cokies dismay, Joseph had a habit of taking a fresh loaf of bread that she had prepared and he would stick the money's in-between the slices. Whenever there was left over baked goods at the end of the day, Cokie would give them away to the local indigent families. One of the members of the many families was a African-American woman named Ruby. Cokie was always afraid that the money would get mixed in with the loafs of bread and be lost for good. So, one day, she hid it from Joseph and told him that she believed she gave that loaf of bread to Ruby and her family. When my great grandfather could not find it he just about went off the deep end. Cokie let him be that way for a while before she let him in on the secret. From then on, they both decided on a better place to safely hide the money. That was when my great grandmother came up with her money pouches. She sewed up a few pieces of fabrics together to make one medium sized rectangular case and several other smaller ones to fit inside. Cokie would hide these in the back compartment of her herb chest. Cokie had everything in that medium pouch, including my Nanas college fund. In this era of time it really did help to budget out each and every month. The same goes for this era too, for any era actually. For example; start with the diagram below. What needs to be paid monthly in your household?

💲Make Lists💲
Start making lists, such as grocery lists, absolute needs lists, things that must get done lists, automatic monthly creditors lists, menu lists, etc. In this way you know what needs to be done, what will be taken out from you bank, what has been purchased or needs to be, what food will be served from morning, noon and night, etc. It's always good to be prepared.

💲Couponing💲
This is another great method to be frugal. If you have a working printer with ink and paper, or if you prefer to go paperless and use your phone to download, it's all good. Here are some coupon sites you might want to do some digging on.😉
www.coupons.com
www.smartsource.com
Couponing has saved us in more ways then one. 👍

💲Stop Buying Name Brand Items(if you can)💲
Name brand items can be bit over priced. If the item is a food related, example, Campbells, chicken noodle soup or Kraft, Mac and Cheese, get the house brand, such as Hill Country Fair. Let's say the item is a two-in-one dandruff/hair conditioner, like HeadNShoulders, get the Equate equivalent kind. This will save you a lot of money in the end run. I know that some toiletries brands cannot substituted, so try your best to search for those coupons for those same name brand products. Links are above⬆️

💲Do Your Best To Grow A Garden of Your Own Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs💲
I know that gardening can take up a lot of time and can be a bit of a hassle, but here me out. I'm no great gardener myself either, but if you have the space in your back yard, and you're up for the challenge, by all means save some green by growing some greens. Try it out and see if gardening works for you and your family.

💲Start Shopping for Clothes at your Local Thrift Store💲

There is no sin in purchasing your clothes at your local second-hand store. I for one enjoy shopping at my closest Texas neighborhood thrift market which always has a multiple amount of awesome items with budget friendly prices. Try it out, I think you might like the experience. 😉

 

💲Stop Eating Out & Dining In💲
In my opinion, restaurants drain both your pocket book and your body. And don't get me started on the delivery services...What my mother and I do is we wait until the end of the month to see if we have any money leftover. If we do, we get something that is healthy and is within our price range. But still, even then, we conserve that money. Restaurants are a great treat, but there is moderation in everything. 😉👍