[Tonya]

We’ve been living frugally for 5 years now, and this year even more so
Here’s the things we have done in the past 5 years to save on the things WE CAN CONTROL

We live off of $3k a month
We are debt free and have been for 8 years
No car payments
No health insurance
No house insurance

My husband is a ‘do everything handy man’ kind of guy from construction on homes to old cars, to plumbing and electrical to concrete and hunting.

I am a retired veterinarian tech so skills in animal care, I’ve been homesteading for 12 years which includes raising animals, chickens, rabbits, garden in a 3,000sq ft space, fruit orchard, we forage our area for mushrooms, fruit as well as medicinal herbs.

I also cook every single meal at home from scratch. We are mainly animal based eating but do add in seasonal vegetables that I grow.

So what I don’t can, we don’t eat. Haven’t had fresh pico de galo since last August so we are excited to taste the seasons harvest.

I switched from paper towels to using cellulose fiber cloths (so much better and more absorbent and biodegradable)
One celluose fiber cloth takes the place of 10 paper towle ROLLS

The groceries I do purchase, mainly diary products, honey, syrup and some nonparishablea I buy in bulk from my lil grocery store.

For example, organic milk on our grocery store shelf where I live is…$$5.97 for 1/2 gallon but when I buy it by the case the price per 1/2 gallon gets knocked down by $1.50/each

Same goes with the cheddar I buy, price gets cut by at least $1.50/each if I buy by the case

I buy 12lbs of local raw honey for $53 (which is $4.42/lb) as apposed to the 3lb jar is $20

I sew or repair our clothes, never buy new and do buy from a second hand thrift store.

Buying in bulk saves you money but I understand you need the space for it and not everyone has the space.

However there are some creative ways to store if you can purchase in bulk.

[Kathy]

Not having health insurance or homeowners’ insurance is not frugal, it’s foolish.

[Karri]

I will pay for house insurance and health insurance because if my home was destroyed by a fire or weather it can be replaced.

1 major health issue can destroy you financially. Why risk it?

I live on far less than $3000 a month and I pay for house insurance and health insurance.

[Marcy]

Heath insurance is so important – I have been healthy and then in December was diagnosed with breast cancer -I got great care and can only imagine without insurance what my bills would have been.

Out of the blue health concerns can happen

[Lynne]

Speaking from experience. I was 29 an healthy. Never went to the doctor. Almost canceled my health insurance but so thankfully I didn’t.

Got flu like symptoms on a Wensday, Friday in the icu, Sunday on life support.

Spent almost 3 months in the hospital plus a year of physical therapy from being paralyzed from the neck down. You just never know.

[Brittany]

Look, I get it. Insurance can be a pain in the butt and sometimes you’re like “what’s the point”. In my case, health insurance is absolutely needed because I have children and god forbid something happens that I need to get them to Children’s Hospital.

Our deductible as a family is $5000, and while we have to pay it of pocket till we reach that at least I know that if something happens to my child that will cost tens of thousands I know it will be covered after the deductible.

I’m not a home owner myself but I do have renters insurance due to the fact that I don’t trust my neighbors to not do something incredibly stupid one day.

I also have dogs and my renters insurance also covers if god forbid they attack someone.

It’s incredibly risky to not have it.
You can be frugal in so many ways but insurance is a must due to so many thinks that could happen.

Plus, I live in a state that requires it and there could be insane fines that happen if they find out.

Good for you to be able to do this but I would have major anxiety every single day if I did this.

[Sherri]

The no health and house insurance scares me. I’m all about living frugally but since I have glaucoma and two teenagers the health insurance is needed.

Five years ago our refrigerator caught fire and I was very grateful for our house insurance.

[Renee]

I am very into frugal but would never go without health insurance. At minimum I would have a major catastrophic plan.

Even if you are healthy, you are one unexpected event away from medical bills that could lead to financial ruin.

The leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States is medical debt……..

[Barbara]

Wow living on 3000 a month is not bad my ss is 1600 try to live on that.

there are a lot of seniors that are getting about that amount and are struggling.

[Denise]

I completely agree with not going broke by having health insurance. Paying for expensive monthly insurance is like betting that you WILL get sick while kissing money goodbye that you’re never going to see again.

Cheers to living an exceptionally healthy, low stress lifestyle.

[Reilly]

I am 35 and have broken both hips from simply tripping/falling pretty hard on two separate occasions (totally sober both times). One time as recently as when I was 32.

It resulted in several days in the hospital (close to a week), 3 months of no walking, various medications (blood thinners/pain meds), physical therapy.

I was luckily enough to NOT need surgery, but they put me to sleep and said, you may wake up to having had surgery, you may wake up and we didn’t need to.

That would have meant 8+ months no walking, more meds, more physical therapy.

Both times was was by the time I was 32 and I’m sure it gets more risky with age. I couldn’t imagine elderly having to go through this.

I also can’t imagine how much that would have been without insurance. It was just a freak occurrence both times (tripping over a doggie gate in a hurry, tripping because I ran in the yard and caught a mole hole with the tip of my shoe).

It’s a huge risk to not have insurance.

[Heather]

You can and possibly lose everything with one natural disaster or an illness diagnosis’s

I can share my husbands EOB’s for his cancer treatment.

Please don’t roll the dice with insurance to save money.

[Roxie]

I was with you until you said no health insurance. My husband and I are extremely healthy but heaven forbid if we are in an accident or get cancer.

Home insurance just worried if we had a fire or tornado go thru. We carry a 25,000 deductible for this.

We are also frugal but 8 years ago I was out in Montana found a pair of boots I loved that fit, I wear a size 11 in women’s and they fit like a charm.

Wasn’t going to buy them but my sister said if you have them for 10 years its was only 60.00 a year.

I still have them. Living frugal is great but we don’t deprive of ourselves.

[Jennifer]

Great! However, health insurance is important…it can wipe you out financially and put you back in permanent debt. House insurance might also be important if you live in a

flood/hurricane/fire/earthquake/tornado zone/tree falling/auto accident on your property/meteor or space junk falling ares.

That might be most of the country…

[Julie]

yes everyone makes their own choices but having a child with a heart defect we’ll we have to have health benefits and I rather be safe then sorry..

you can be so careful and get in a car accident and your life can change in an instant

[Kristi]

We live on $2500/month and I understand about the health/house insurance. I’ve gone without health insurance for years, but the Marketplace allows me to afford insurance now.

I don’t know if any of y’all are in states like Texas and Florida but house insurance is becoming ridiculous and I’m considering dropping ours, also.

Not only is it approaching $5k a year but they are starting to exclude stuff like roofs and fire. I’m wondering just exactly what they will include.

It’s like how health insurance used to be, covering very little.

They dropped our church insurance because of a name change and we couldn’t get any new policies with an old building – the quotes were $50k/year!!

And we couldn’t pass inspection anyway.

[Carrie]

This is great advice! One of the differences in us is I freeze my salsa so we can have it year round.

Eating at home all the time IS kinda of a drag, but we sure haven’t gotten sick at all….whereas my friends and family that DO eat out a lot get sick a lot more…..

they always say….”oh, I caught a little something”……..but it’s food poisoning.

[Angela]

I couldn’t go without health insurance or home insurance. This seems like a huge risk. I would at least have a high deductible policy even if I didn’t really want to pay for insurance.

One health incident or one bad storm and you’d be out thousands and thousands.

And it would be much worse with something catastrophic.

[Author]

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