This is What Frugal Looks Like: Domestic Cents

This is What Frugal Looks Like is a series that highlights different ways that people can be frugal in their lives- after all, frugality doesn’t have to be drastic or just about clipping coupons. Frugality can be fun and easy. Each respondent answers the same four questions.

Today’s interview is with Nicki, from Domestic Cents.

What does frugality mean to you?

Frugality is a way of life for me, choosing to be the best steward I can with what I have. Living frugal very much fits in with the lifestyle I’ve chosen. It has less to do with money now than it did to begin with. At first I was frugal because I had to be, now it’s also because I want to be. The more I became aware of the wasteful lifestyle I was living, the more I wanted to change that.

What is something that you do that is ‘typically’ frugal?

I use coupons when grocery shopping and try to match coupons to sales to get the best deal. There’s good reason behind why it’s typical though. There is plenty of money to be saved with mindful grocery shopping.

What is something frugal that you do that is unusual?

I make all of our bread. I get strange reactions from people when they find out that I do that. I think that people believe it to be a lot harder than it is. I love that it’s frugal and better for my family, not to mention the to-die-for scent of it baking.

What are some of your long term goals that being frugal will help you to accomplish?

We intend to become debt-free, so living frugal frees up money to pay down debt. Once we become debt-free we’ll have a lot more freedom with our money and I think the frugal habits we’ve developed and embraced will help us to use what we have in a positive way. Also, I want to train my daughter and any future children to be responsible consumers and to live a lifestyle that’s less wasteful.

Bio: Nicki is a wife and mom living in the rural northeast of the United States. She enjoys coffee, chocolate, sewing, baking, writing and running. She writes about her simple, frugal life at Domestic Cents.

Some of my favorite frugal posts:

{ 4 comments }

1 FrugalMaman November 12, 2009: I’m right there with you Nicki, I began being frugal because we needed to be, but is indeed a way of life and I can’t imagine living any other way now.

I bake my own bread too (often with the help of a breadmaker) and recently I got a strange look from my father who was visiting, when he asked “can I get just a piece of bread” (to mop up the rest of the sauce from his meal)? I said “no, I haven’t made any.” He was confused, so I explained that we try very hard not to buy any bread and that any we have is made at home. The idea of not having a loaf of bread on hand was foreign to him.

People have asked me if we eat too much bread this way, but it’s the opposite actually. I simply don’t have the desire to supply us with fresh bread each and every day, so we eat other healthy foods like steel cut oats (breakfast) or quinoa (a family favourite) or simply fruits or vegetables.

The best part of making our own bread (other than the smell and taste and texture): being able to completely customize it, including adding veggies.
2 Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog November 12, 2009: I bet doing all of that baking saves on air fresheners as well ;). I would love to have the time to do that on my own!
.-= Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog´s last blog ..How much does your pet cost you? =-.
3 Monroe on a Budget November 14, 2009: It's pretty easy to make bread. The only difficulty I had was my electric oven was not too friendly for rising bread. So I got a breadmaker. Problem solved.
.-= Monroe on a Budget´s last blog ..Detroit News columnist writes about her husband’s layoff =-.
4 Lawrence @ CRB November 14, 2009: I've got a breadmaker and think it's wonderful! It's extremely cost effective and tastes so much better than the store bought stuff anyway.