Common Sense Frugality: Stop Buying Crap

I wanted to wrap up the week with one of the best tips I know: Stop Buying Crap.

• First, I question the need for expenses most people take for granted.  Six months ago I shaved my head.  I haven't paid for a haircut (which was $7 a pop at the cosmetology school) since.  I haul my garbage ($48 every 3 months) either to the dump or to a dumpster at one of my condos.  I've also learned that clothes last a really long time, especially if you wear them more than once before washing and air dry them on a rack or clothesline.  
• Second, and this is something I'm working on, I try to pay for quality when I do purchase something.  Not long ago my primary criteria when shopping for something was finding the cheapest option available.  But I've been burned by refrigerators that go bad after 3 years, vacuum cleaners that last under 12 months and shoddy work by a cheap HVAC installer that flooded a room, requiring the carpet to be replaced.  I've learned to read online reviews before I buy something to better understand which products are made to last.  I also look at guarantees and warranties to determine which companies stand behind their products. 

Paying for quality over price is new to me, but I'm having a ton of fun learning what to look for in products that are built to last.  Are parts made of plastic or metal, and how thick is the plastic from one product to the next?  Is it pressed wood or solid?  Can I return it if it breaks, and do I have to pay a processing fee to return the item that is nearly as much as the replacement cost?  These are all questions I've begun asking when I buy something.

A perfect example of how I have deployed my "quality over price" mantra was last month when I bought a new bathtub for one of my rental properties.  The old me would have found the cheapest tub, or might have used one of those re-bath outfits that spray a coating over the old tub.  The new me looked online to find the highest rated, most durable tub available.  I want this bathtub to last 25 years, particularly considering how expensive installation costs are.  

Common Sense Frugality: Use Less Electricity

In 2010 the average household spent $110.55 per month on electricity.  Alabama, where I live, claims the highest monthly bill in the lower 48 of $147.69, thanks in no small part to our oppressive summers.  But at the Frugal Miser homestead, the bill clocks in at an average $46 per month.


How do we keep our electric bill less than 1/3 the average for my state?

• Most important, we let our bodies adapt to the temperature instead of rushing to turn on the A/C or the heat.  In the last six months I have turned on the thermostat fewer than 5 days.  In the winter, dress in layers, drink hot drinks and wear socks!  In the summer, drink water constantly.  Most people don't drink enough water anyway, but this is the best way I know to cool my body in the summer.  We also use ceiling fans to circulate the air, but only when the room is occupied.  It is a complete waste to run a ceiling fan in an empty room.
• We unplug most things instead of just turning them off.  Energy vampires, which are those appliances such as the TV or your computer that continuously use a small amount of power when plugged in, account for a not insignificant up to 20% of your monthly power usage.

I've learned to leave the TV off when I'm not watching it.  Seems obvious, but before I might be sitting at the couch checking emails while the TV was on, completely oblivious to what was actually showing.  When I'm out mystery shopping, sometimes I'll bring my laptop with me and enter my reports at the library, using their electricity.  Once you make a habit out of being energy efficient, it takes almost no effort to save real dollars.  By choosing NOT to be the average household, I am saving about $1,200 per year on my electric bill alone.

Common Sense Frugality: Stop Wasting Water

If you've never watched the documentary Tapped, do yourself a favor and check it out.  I streamed it free on Netflix.  After watching it I feel stupid having ever purchased a bottle of water.  Really, with a little planning is there ever a need to buy this stuff within the confines of the US of A?  The water that comes out of your tap is  just as good, if not better.  In fact, often all you're getting from bottled water is what comes from the tap: Dasani is 100% tap water.  That $.99 you pay at the gas station is for the convenience of having it served cold in a plastic bottle.

Once you've stopped paying for other people's water, it's time to look at ways to reduce your water bill.  Here are a few things you can try.  Remember, at home you are most likely paying two bills when you turn on the tap:  water AND sewer.

• I wash my car when it rains.  This is how Warren Buffett washed his car when he was younger.  Zero water used, plus it's faster than rinsing it myself.  
• I skip a shower from time to time during colder months.  If I haven't exerted myself, I'm not dirty, and a hot shower dries your skin out.  
• To cut down on laundry I wear clothes more than once before I wash them.  This works particularly well for pants; not so well for t-shirts and underwear.  Most of our clothes are air-dried, as the clothes dryer is one of the most expensive appliances in the house, energy-wise.

Once upon a time I would have thought it was penny-wise but pound foolish to focus on saving money by saving water.  But in my home, our water bill is the most expensive utility bill we pay.

Common Sense Frugality

I'd like to think that I've found the right balance between making frugal choices and living a "quality" life.  Sometimes I read suggestions on blogs like "make your own deodorant" and "order takeout so you don't have to tip the server" and think how ridiculous it sounds, at least to me.  Really what I think about the person who says it is that surely they have too much free time.

Common Sense Frugality is all about being naturally frugal.  I used to think that I had to use a certain amount of deodorant, for example, or I'd stink.  By drinking a ton of water and cutting out red meat I'd like to think I don't need as much as before.  Even so, who pays more than $1 or $2 for a stick of deodorant, anyway?  I get about six weeks out of one stick and at $2 we're talking less than a nickel a day.   Making my own deodorant doesn't move the needle.


I also tried an experiment where I completely turned off the water to my toilet and used water from my rain barrel instead.  I've since stopped doing it.  It's not that it was a bad idea - there was little effort involved, frankly.  Rather, it's too subtle a change.

You might be asking whether I've abandoned my frugal ways altogether, and the answer to that question is a firm NO.  I've just refined my practices to be both efficient and meaningful.  This week I plan to highlight some of the meaningful ways I practice Common Sense Frugality.