Monday, August 3, 2009

What frugal habits will you keep?

I've read a lot of articles recently discussing how long people will stick to any cost cutting strategies in place since the recession started affecting paychecks. And I asked Kent that last night as we each worked on our pizza dough. We were making personal pizzas since Kent wanted pepperoni, and I didn't. I think some of the changes we've made are permanent even if I get a job at my previous pay levels, but to be honest not all would make the cut.

Kent agreed. He said he doesn't miss having cable TV, although technically we do have basic cable but really there's nothing on there worth watching. Instead, he's been watching TV online using Hulu. I haven't missed TV enough to even bother with that, although perhaps I will one day. But he would prefer we buy boneless skinless chicken thighs, instead of the bone-in with skin ones I've been getting. I think I'd keep making the granola bars, but that's because I like mine better. Ditto on the bread, I could make bread on the weekend rather than during the week day--and we both like it better. That it's cheaper is just a bonus.

We'd also keep making our pizza. Last night I forgot to cut the dough recipe in half so we had pretty thick crusts. But they were really good crusts, and they sure didn't cost $5, which is the cheapest I can get two pre-made crusts for at the store.

What habits will you continue? Which ones will you ditch?

1 comment:

KD said...

I'll continue gardening. The initial costs have been high so I don't think we'll have a positive ROI this year, but we're close. And while the rabbits ate all my lettuce and broccoli, we did manage to enjoy a lot of spinach early. And I've enough tomatoes and cucumbers to trade with neighbors for lettuce. One neighbor now sends her kids over with $2 to get grape tomatoes! I also see long term benefits far beyond money -- my kids are enjoying it and love harvesting right before meal time.