I'm Cheap. Here's a how to.

Many of you have asked, wondered and questioned my ability to find great deals while still holding somewhat of a style ( Yes, I like to think I've some style ).
It's quite easy. I browse. BROWSE, Browse, b-r-o-w-s-e. AND think outside the box.

-Here are some of the top sites I look for deals:
-Local mommy groups/sites
-Craigslist ( The majority of my hits )
-Kajiji
-AND, in store too.
-Coupons

I rarely buy anything full price. I mean, if I REALLY REALLY want it, maybe. I know a lot of you're thinking: Well, I look for deals, but I can never find anything. 
How often are you looking? I browse the free section on Craigslist about 10 times a day. Lucky for me, this takes no time at all. If you've a ipad or a iphone that can be in a pocket, you can do this while playing with your kids, drinking your morning coffee... or eating lunch!
Second, If there's something I want: This week we decided to get a new video monitor for our kids because our last one blew up six months ago. Instead of going straight to the Costco which I almost did, I browsed online, then I browsed Craigslist.
Turns out, I found the exact model I wanted for 100 bucks. No taxes. They're 260.00 in stores + Taxes.
This is how I see it. Every penny I save, can go to something else. Something else we need, want, better food or savings.
A lot of the canadian/american world doesn't realize this. But good for them, they keep our economy afloat. Don't get me wrong, I DO support small and local stores. In fact, that's where I do buy things new.
I'm from a smaller town on Vancouver Island, and we've a street called "5th Street" A lot of specialty stores and people trying to make it by doing something they love, in a place they love.
That street always attracts us and we often spend a bit there.
But when it comes to big box stores, although we do spend money there. We try to spend less and be more creative.
This week we found a 1500 bed frame for FREE. The only thing we payed for was 20 dollars in gas & our time trying to set up the crazy thing. ( It's a storage bed, which is super handy.. but without a manual, took us some time to set up! )

I feel it's way easier to live the way I'm talking when you live near or in a big city. So much competition. Back in November I finally put my mind to buying a pair of new Hunter boots.
Glen was going to buy me a pair for Christmas, but I just couldn't stomach spending 167 + 12% tax on a name. I mean, they're rubber boots. They probably cost 10-20 bucks to make!
Anyways, browse I did and three weeks later I found a pair of grey size eight Hunters. Lady was asking 30, and I snagged them for 25. Now THAT is a steal.
We needed winter tires so last week I found a set with 95% tread left for 25/tire. Yes we could of spent 600+ in stores... but when you can get them for 25/tire, who wants to argue with that?

I find being frugal with food is a lot harder. You can't be picky. If you want to fill your body with packaged, processed crap, yes It's quite easy to live on 200 a month for food...
But when you want to fill your body with whole, real and organic foods. It's much harder. There's no coupons for fruit, vegetables or real meat. This makes up 90% of our diet. So this is the only area we're not too frugal. I still buy little.
Did you know that instead of doing a grocery shop every 1-2 weeks. If you do one every 3-4 days and get what you NEED. Plan ahead ( meal planning ) you can spend a lot less.
We like to buy our meat and cheese in bulk. PLAN AHEAD. But, if you find a good deal... GET IT. Meat often goes on sale towards the end of the week... so I buy a lot, and just freeze it. Every two weeks BIG huge blocks of Armstrong cheese ( 900 Grams ) goes on sale for 6.99... so I often by 2 or 3. ( Cheese can be frozen as well as fruit and veggies )
Chop your fruit up. Don't buy those pre cut packages.. you get WAY LESS.. and you don't know where the fruit is from
Try to buy local. We found that there's a lot of little organic fruit/veggie huts around here, and your produce is amazing and cost is way less.

Sleep on it. Often when I find something I want, I sleep on it. If I really want it in a few days, I'll buy it.

Last but not least ( because there are so many more important factors in being frugal ) is to be content with what you have. Why buy something it new if your current item still works?
 
Happy Shopping!