apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Another money-saver is to institute a regular low-stakes poker game, regular play date group, TV party night, or other social activity that takes place at home. Saves money over going out, and keeps you from feeling isolated.

Gosh, that's a beautiful Living Room...

...and I agree w/ Lisa - rather than spending a ton on dining out or entertaining, why not host a good old-fashioned pot-luck? We periodically do this at the office for lunch and it can be quite fun!

Cleaning and organizing can sure help me! I spend more time organizing and less time shopping. When you have to manage so much stuff, you don't want to go out and buy more!

That's a strangely beautiful living room. Would love to see more of the house it's in.

We've been doing movie nights at our friend's home. He has a huge collection of movies. For our little family to go out to a theater, it's $30-$50 easy. This is free, plus more comfortable chairs! The only deal is that we have to agree not to care if anyone doesn't clean their house beforehand. :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's Amy Butler's living room.

Sewing is a great money saver! I took a 6 session course (minimal cost) offered by a nearby sewing centre years ago. Between that and what you can find on the internet you can create many items for around your home - custom to your taste and at a fraction of the cost.

Where can I get the recipe for that savoury chicken and noodle dish? It looks delicious!

I love thrift store shopping. It is so fun to find an old piece for a bargain and repaint it or recover a cushion. I really hate to see a house with all new furniture in it, no character!

Live with parents not on the list?

When everyone recommends eating at home, I think of all the people in the restaurant industry who will lose their jobs and businesses as a result -- I think people should support their small and local businesses, mom & pop restaurants, etc., and not turn their backs on them during these hard times.

i'm starting the new year with several money saving strategies. my main ambition is to start taking lunch to work, instead of buying it in the cafe every day. this requires new shopping and cooking habits, but so far it's given me a nice feeling of accomplishment. i also decided to started marking on a calendar when i spend money and what it was for. hopefully visualizing my spending will help keep in from running through my fingers.

I will say that, although I absolutely love it and consider it one of my main hobbies, thrift store and flea market shopping is WORK. It takes time. It take patience. It is not for the faint of heart! (Nor for the person who is so fastidious that "used" is an epithet!)

Effective flea marketing/thrifting calls for planning, comfortable shoes, provision for moving purchases (like a roomy vehicle), a basic knowledge of what things are "worth" and what you are willing to pay (not always the same thing).

You need to really look things over for damage and repairs, and know what you are able to fix and what you can't. (Fixers are nearly always cheaper -- so if you can glue or stain or reupholster or whatever, you can often get something that other peopel pass by.)

You need to be dlilgent, and go back to the same shop frequently to get treasures -- one Goodwill store I visit once a week -- they get new stuff every day, so even then something I would adore may come in the day after and be gone before I return. I have a good chance for bargains, though, because I go on Monday, the day they mark certain things down by 50%. Sometimes weeks go by with nothing, then possibly one donor with simlar taste to mine makes my day, and I find a bunch of things!

I guess I should say that REAL treasures are (at least in this part of the country) really rare. But I got two midcentury chairs in original upholster for $20 each a few years ago. It can happen. (I think it happens more in urban areas where more people have good stuff.)

-- I think people should support their small and local businesses, mom & pop restaurants, etc., and not turn their backs on them during these hard times.-- mschatelaine

I don't feel I owe it to any business to break my budget and overspend to support them. However, when I do splurge on a dinner out I try to spend my money at smaller businesses.

I agree with mschatelaine--

I am trying to spend more money at my favorite small businesses, not because I "owe" them but to help them stay in business.

i agree with StudioStarter. if you have the money to continue spending whether at a mom & pop or a national chain for that matter, go right ahead. i try to do this at every opportunity. but for most Americans now, what good is it to try to support a business when it may jeopardize our personal/family finances? especially when most people have unmanageable debt and no savings?

All of this takes TIME: time that could be better spent making money to buy more practical, useful things that will last.

This is such a useful post! I've bookmarked it for future reference - it's not relevant just because of current financial mish-mash, but more generally - these are good tips for living a mindful and frugal life, without giving up the good stuff - ie, while still loving home and food and family and so on. The posters above who mention small businesses have a point - it won't help things to stop spending altogether. But there's a certain type of shopping that is empty, wasteful and environmentally reckless - like snacking on a whole bag of something tasteless just for something to do. This kind of mindless materialism is mindless materialism, even if a by-product is giving an extra few dollars to the shop down the road.
This really is an invaluable collection of links. Thanks again.

You forgot another very important tip - Repair! Instead of throwing out and buying a new item, see if you can repair it. There are a lot of very good simple home improvement books out there that will show you how. If you don't think that you have the skills or time to make a repair then check if there is a repairperson or friend that can do the job. While I would have loved to chuck my old washing machine the first time it broke and get a swanky new one, I looked into repairing it. Turns out it only needed a new belt and the part cost a lot less than than a new washing machine!

That picture from White Attic in Chicago just killed my buzz.