Hidden costs of living...frugality

It is often in the things we take for granted that we find the greatest waste.
The cost of Electric, water and phone/internet is added to find your expense in these areas
One way to get a good idea is to find if your utility offers a "balanced payment plan" our electric does so We pay the average of what our costs are in a calendar year. Of course your place of residency must be established for a year to do so.
This is the billing for each month
No look at your water costs
and so forth...Add these together and see what your daily cost is by dividing it by 30 days.

Study these things and target a goal.
Be creative at ways to bring each utility under your authority (so to speak)

Electric: call your electric company for a check on the average homeowner like you and see if you fall in line. Now insulate, use a time of use plan and so forth. Plant shade trees or cover glass with sun shades. Learn! Investigate what you can do to keep some of your hard earned money.

Water Treatment Plant
We use Reverse Osmosis under the kitchen sink for ingested water
Primary investment!
Wisdom gained after two trips to Russia

Water : this is my biggy, I want a water tank to harvest rain water so bad! Even here in the desert this could really make a difference. Not only in the volume consumed on the grid, but the quality of the chlorine free water for my garden. I am still in a bit of a battle with my husband on this on. Use care and use it wisely. I am not able to use my gray water in my set up. If you do use it take care that all cleaners are bio degradable. Fill your sink half way and the fill it up with the rinse water as your first load is rinced off. Think reuse and conserve. Not just for the dollar but for the respect of it.

check your phone bill

Phone and internet service. This is in a very primary way for us. I do not own a cell phone (however a friend confiscated a teenage daughters phone and lent it to me for emergency use) . We use a phone card not the long distance of the phone company. We therefore know the cost each month and have no surprises.
We have no bells or whistles, just basic service. Bare bone, no caller id, why? I can ask who it is if I do not know. If I am concerned I can just let the answering machine get it. I have done nothing wrong so nothing to hide and no one to be afraid of. If it is a telemarketer I kindly bid them no, and hang up. They are surprised when your kind to them. I was one for a month or two many years ago. It is a horrible job full of rejection. Accept them reject the marketing.
Regarding directory assistance the internet is faster and that is just what they do for you for $1.

No cable TV, try (HULU this is a hot link) on line for movies. They are free (except of course the internet charge) . This is included on our phone bill.

We have no car payment and have never done so. We drive high quality (by consumer reports standards) cars. do research on anything you purchase! Buy the very best you can afford. Buy for the long term of the item. Not just the bells and whistles of show off to your cronies. :) This reduces the tax and registration and Insurance fees. By having your home and auto insurance at one company. Caution (as a former licensed insurance agent) I will tell you... avoid anything other than a "standard" insurer. Auto Indemnity such as geico may be cheep but when you have one incident your rates will sky rocket and it will take 5 years to be able to switch back to a standard policy with a standard insurer. You will be grouped with "high risk" clientele for years.

We do not use a credit card and have become debt free! (except for the mortgage).
We use a zero balance budget sheet every month and account for each dollar of income before we ever see it. One -two months in advance. If we get hit we just transfer the category on the sheet and know right where we stand.

We have no flat screen. I was married 16 years before I had a micro. I did not suffer. I just kept a tea kettle on the stove for hot water.
study these things learn about what power you have to reduce your dependency.

I love my homemade laundry soap. Invest in the tools of the trade. A food mill and so forth.
Look at what you use... think before you toss it out. Can you use it for something you normally purchase new?

Compost. When you mow save the trimmings, the kitchen scrap research it.
Boil your bones and root scrap (then strain it) for soup stock. Soup stock is a basic ingredient of the very best kitchens.
Garden. Even if only in a pot. Study heirloom seeds (save your seeds) for the others are mules and can not be planted. This a ploy to stop us from the freedoms, so that we find dependency on the seed manufacturers.

Oh yes the work is hard , but that is the joy of life to find pleasure in the labor of our hands.
Consider it a free gym membership :)

I would rather do it for myself than to have to go out to earn the money and pay someone else to do it for me (at their standard). Now with so much unemployment these skills are essential.

Clothing...co-op with other families or thrift. Learn to sew! Mend rips and sew on a button when it falls off! Don't toss the garment (unless you want someone like me to find it for next to nothing) :) I do not mind sewing on a button...nice price

Make your own cosmetics TRY Blogs like this one for information.

Walk softly yet leave an impression that flatters the ground you walk on.