3 steps finances

So you want to be a rockstar. A frugal rockstar, that is.

My story: When we moved to our homestead, our financial life was out of control. 

We were way stressed because we were constantly trying to keep up with the financial output.

I adjusted how we were living to cut our spending and increase our control. The out-of-control, impossible-to-keep-up feeling stunk, and I was done. I hope by sharing these tips, you’ll gain some control (you CAN do this!), or if you’re already a frugal rockstar, these tips will take your frugal-awesomeness to the next level.

1. Cut the cell phone. Sort of. We made one significant switch to our cellular service, and saved over $350 each month. And a lot of headaches. Read about it here.

2. Buy in bulk effectively. I used to use coupons, but now I’ve learned how buy in bulk, when the sales are right, to save big bucks on meat and veggies. That means whenever the price is right, say around $1.20 per pound on pork butts, I buy as much as possible within my budget. (Spending $250 on meat doesn’t work if you can’t pay the electric!) Just last week, I bought ground beef for $2.50 per pound, and we have enough for a month. I’ve come home with 40 lbs of flour. If tomatoes are in season, and you love tomatoes, you can always can some for later, so you don’t buy when they’re more expensive. Yes, there were times when we ate the same thing, or went without to buy the sale items. That’s just how it works sometimes. You’ll adapt.

3. Don’t be afraid to be inconvenienced. Joe Salatin said the only thing Americans fear is inconvenience. There have been times when we’ve simply had to make do with what we had so we could achieve our goal. I’ve become a master at cooking substitutions. When we had a payment on our washer/dryer set, and I just couldn’t stand the payment anymore, I sent it back and went without. I dealt with the inconvenience, which, incidentally, lasted a week, because we were able to pick up a usable, close-to-new washer for $20.

Yes, really, $20. Don’t be afraid to be inconvenienced. Repeat. Don’t be afraid to be inconvenienced. You don’t know what opportunity might come.

Bonus tip: Try to produce as much as possible. Can you keep chickens? Go for it, and stop buying eggs! Can you have a garden? Grow those tomatoes you love, can what you don’t eat immediately! Do you love yogurt, ricotta cheese, and milk? Learn how to make both yogurt and ricotta from a gallon of milk instead of buying each separately. Eventually those dollars will start to add up.

Our lives are a little more stable now and my blood pressure is thanking me for it. What are some ways you’ve saved?

Until next time!

I participated in Simple Saturdays Blog HopFreedom FridaysInspire Me Mondays, and MisAdventures Monday Blog Hop, Mom 2 Mom Monday Link Up, and Monday Madness!

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Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category.  Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.

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6 Comments

  1. “The only thing Americans are afraid of is being inconvenienced,” I believe was said to Joel Salatin, repeated by him in the movie Fresh. Does that sound right?

    Thanks for the tips. I’m determined to pay off a big bill this year.

  2. These are great tips! We were in a lot of credit card debt last year and worked really hard to pay it off and stay out if it. We downsized to one car for a while, worked to cut our grocery bill in half and limited going out to eat to once a month. Sticking to our plan worked! We were able to pay off all our debt within 8 months!

  3. That’s great! We downsized our cars too, sold our newer Chevy Silverado for more than the payoff (sold because I was tired of the payment), and used the amount over the payoff to pay off our house and have money to invest in trucks to flip. My husband was very upset at the sale, and it was an inconvenience because we didn’t have a truck for a while to get hay and grain for the animals, but we were able to reinvest the money into other trucks, and now have a great running older Silverado for hay/grain, etc that we owe NO money on, and we can sell it hopefully at a profit.

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