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CTC Readers' Poll:
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"Food! I definitely let food slide. I don't make as much
from scratch and don't look as carefully at nutrition content.
I have an example from just last night. We were particularly
busy getting ready for short notice company and I gave my
two-year-old a piece of processed cheese for supper! On a
normal day, I would never do that." ~ Annie
"When I am busy, I do not shop for groceries carefully. I just buy something handy to get by. I waste money by overbuying when friends come to visit. Sometimes I buy to impress--not wanting them to see my frugal side." ~ Judy "My essential habits are: * homemade breakfast every morning, sometimes its cold cereal with banana slices, but it's never anything that's individually wrapped. * brown bag lunches for myself and my family everyday, not always glamorous, but tasty and so much less expensive than eating out. * teaching my kids to cook, i.e.: helping with dinner, weekly cookie baking, etc. * carrying all the grocery ads to the WalMart Supercenter to get the loss-leader prices. My non-essential penny-wise habits are: * clipping coupons gets postponed for calmer times * bread baking is another habit that gets put aside when I'm under a time crunch * ironing is much more time consuming than throwing a damp article of clothing in the dryer for a few minutes, though I know that ironing makes things look nicer and is cheaper in the long run. * bathing the dog twice a week in his special shampoo to protect him from his rather costly skin allergy. Usually, I don't neglect to do this but once a month or so. I'm one of those dreaded public school teachers, so times will be somewhat more relaxed for a while and I can catch-up on some of the money-saving activities that really make a difference for my family." ~ Candy "Forgotten:
eating out, not taking
time to cook. Or running to the grocery store every few days
for quick and easy meals.
Remembered:
Packing lunches for
school (though it's easy to want to just grab $2.00 for hot lunch)
and paying bills on time to avoid late fees." ~ Moe
"I notice that when I get
overly busy...that I use my dryer more. I don't take the
time to hang clothes (either inside or outside) to dry." ~
Sandy
"When life is extremely busy
we tend to slide back to the old habit of going out to eat for
fast food." ~ Sherri
"When I get busy the first things that go are eating at home and using cloth diapers. However, I hardly ever resort to using my dryer or buying cheap junk food. At least when we go out to eat we tend to eat healthier than buying cheap junk and eating that." ~ Kathy "I had to laugh out loud when I read this latest question because I was saying this very same thing to my husband the other day. We recently had our third child, a boy, and we have two other boys, ages three and two. Our lives were anything but laid back before the birth of our third son Thomas, but now life seems even more crazy than when my husband was working full-time and going to school! I've noticed that the one major 'act of frugality' on my part that gets tossed out the window when life gets too busy is my meal planning. I always make a meal plan for each month, making a list of the groceries needed, and in that way I can minimize the amount of money we spend on food. Whenever life gets too hectic though, my shopping becomes erratic and I always end up shopping every day rather than twice a month." ~ Katherine
"When life is hectic and
summer is here, I tend to get lax about my cooking. I find I am
quicker to order out, or run for a pizza. But I NEVER buy
groceries without coupons. I also recycle and reuse any and
every container I can -- no matter how hectic or stressed my
world is!" ~ Jo
"The thing that goes out the window fastest for me is eating out. I try to cook at home most of the time. However, there are days when I just can't get it together or things have just gotten too hectic. It is so easy to say, 'Hey, let's just go out to eat today.' It can really add up fast, though, if we aren't careful." ~ Ann
Editor's Note: Thanks to all these readers who took time to write! |