10 PAINLESS Ways to Save $100....from 1990?? 

I remember that book.

I read that book so many times about 20 years ago, borrowed from the library

I had the Tightwad Gazette 30 yrs ago 😂 my kids HATED the powdered milk, it was a no-go for us back then lol.

I used to have the 3 separate books and when I found it in a used bookstore in the combined edition, I gave the others to someone who needed it. I love having all 3 in one book.

Obviously some of her ideas are outdated because of the advancement of technology, but most of her ideas have withstood the test of time.

Good for you!

Bravo!👏

That is awesome!! You are awesome!! Thanks for sharing.

Me, too! I was a subscriber for years until she discontinued the newsletter.

Congratulations 🎉

My then boyfriend and I each had $300 phone bills per month when he lived in Colorado and I lived in NY.

I remember, in high school, driving to the next town over, to use the payphone at the gas station, to call a guy across the river where it was long distance!

I was coming here to say how it was an extra charge to call anywhere outside your area code. 😅 We were thrilled when domestic long distance was included.

I remember waiting til after 8pm to make a long distance cell call lol

I remember those "per minutes" myself.

Yes I also have all of Mary Hunts newsletters too!

ME TOO! I saved everything in a binder. Good memories.

I loved Amy and Mary. Yes I had Mary’s news letters for year and kept them all--needs to call and fix my subscription and Mary answered. She was the customer service too in her home grown newsletter

I had Mary hunt’s book love your life on half of the price. That gave me the inspiration to buy cars for cash!

She still does have a blog but it is called something else now... I get her email's every week.

We made playdough too! I forgot about that. How about smashing the toilet paper roll before placing it on the dispenser so it wouldn't just freely roll out way more paper than needed. Hee hee

Electricity is very high here in Maine. I know my electric bill is at least $100 extra a month when using the dryer. I try to hang every load unless I'm sick then I brace myself for a high electric bill.

@@agodlyhome My heart goes out to you. In Arizona we have solar offset programs and a few solar panels run a lot of my electronics - which saves me a ton of money. I looked at retiring in New England (I like the culture) and Maine in particular as being the most affordable, but when I factored in snow removal, the utility costs, etc.; Arizona won out with energy company incentives, and lower taxes for retirees. I'm hiding from the desert heat in Prescott, a high mountain valley.

@@agodlyhome I'm in Maine, too. I line dry everything.

@@SirenaSpades Hi i love meeting new people from Maine. Glad to hear it. It saves so much money.

Desert dweller here also and it is true that things dry very fast even in the winter months. Always dry the lingerie on top of the dryer or hanging up in the laundry room.

This is so inspiring!!

@@Homegrown_Hillary Thank you. That's very kind of you to say. ^_^

Every little bit counts, it adds up. Glad you were able to get out.

@@michellejarvis7878 thanks! Me too!

I grew up in the '60s and '70s and I believe that school lunch was 35 cents a day or maybe A week? I don't know. I always brought my lunch. I was a picky eater anyway. I always had a lunch box but I always broke the thermos because there was glass inside of it and I was klutz. I never got to use the thermos it was always broken before I had the chance. So I bought milk at school and it was like a half pint or something and I'm pretty sure it was four cents a week. I mean really it was the '60s and also '70s I don't remember buying milk in junior high or high school so let's stick to the '60s. Actually there was one day where I didn't bring my lunch and I had to buy the school lunch It was when I was in high school. And for 12 years I had, as far as I can recall, a tuna fish sandwich and a Twinkie. I'm sure there was something more yummy but they said I was allergic to chocolate. I don't think that's true. I'd much rather have chocolate than a Twinkie. Years later when I was a grown up I had yodels until they sold them they went out of business then somebody bought them and eventually they ended up tasting like plastic so no more yodels darn it. And now I am eating some incredibly expensive brownies from Walmart because I'm too lazy to buy the brownie mix and make them myself. That would definitely be cheaper. The only kind I like is Duncan Hines. I just don't like cooking. I didn't hear Amy's last name I had forgotten all about her. But I think I know what it is. I'm going to assume she had a husband I don't remember his name. It seems to me that used to go to the grocery store with walkie talkies and divide and conquer. By the way back in the '90s, the early '90s and the late '80s when I was feeding two people on $40 a week, I used to coupon I went to five different supermarkets when I went grocery shopping. Gas was cheaper. One year it was 88 cents which is unbelievably cheap because I think it cost more before that. And one time we went to the five grocery stores with all our coupons and everything checking the flyers before I went It took two or three hours and it was raining like crazy! It turns out about 30 minutes north of us The perfect storm was taking place. Up in Gloucester right? We were in Salem. But we didn't know anything about that we just knew it was raining a lot. And one time I was going to a movie I had free tickets for. Somebody said to get there early because they had oversold the free tickets, three tickets for each seat. I don't know if that was true but the weather was so horrific that the place was not packed. The movie was American beauty. It was an Oscar but I wasn't thrilled with it. I had to take two buses to get there and one of them was early and one of them only ran once an hour and of course I missed the first one and then the next one was late so it took forever and it was pouring like crazy. Thankfully it was September and not November in Massachusetts. I knew I was going to be soaked all the way through so I put a set of dry clothes into a waterproof bag and I carried it with me - even though I was wearing a raincoat or a jacket and I had an umbrella and everything I still was going to be soaked. I must have taken another pair of shoes also. And when I got to the mall thankfully it was in a mall and I changed my clothes so that I was dry. When I got married which was in 86 we were so poor that I never left the house without a bottle of something, usually ginger ale. So we never had to go to a convenience store or even a grocery store to get something to drink. Really if I want to be frugal I really am capable of doing it. And even now the thought of people who get lattes and things like that... I'd rather have cable. And boy the price of cable just keeps on going up. If we lived not in Florida where for some reason the TV towers are so far away and the ground is very very flat then Id just have an antenna and maybe a streaming service. One with commercials. Commercials are convenient. You can go to the bathroom or get something to drink or answer that question your roommate was trying to ask you while you were trying to do something else or you can do a little chore clean up a little mess but only a little bit and it's not as overwhelming as saying hey today I'm going to clean the house. And the commercial breaks are not as long as they are on television. Honestly I watch Network evening news. Half an hour. And I know when the commercials are going to be and which one will be longer. And I'm like look! It's a drug commercial! It's going to take a long time to read all the small print so I can accomplish this! Whatever this happens to be. Yes I like television. Thought it would be nice to be able to get it with an antenna because usually the things I'm watching are major networks broadcast networks. And someday I would like a cell phone that is newer than the one which I've had since 2019 that cost me $90 on eBay. Because boy is it slow. But my brother tells me you can't replace your own battery anymore... I'm not good with batteries

You said exactly what I was thinking, except clearly and concisely!

I do all my yard work--cut grass, pull weeds, plant and grow a big garden. My troglodyte neighbor across the street came over and said "it's a shame you can't afford to pay someone to cut your grass". I thought about (but did not) reply "it's a shame you were apparently raised by wolves." My yard looks great and it's excellent exercise. His yard is pumped full of smelly and harmful chemicals. I suppose growing grass is more important to him than growing healthy kids. My home is paid for and his has a giant mortgage. I LOVE doing things differently from my neighbors! PS - Most of my neighbors are wonderful. He's the outlier--from the planet Zot!

My grandfather used to say: the more you can do for yourself, the less you gotta pay someone to do for you!

I was 20 in 1977, same year I was married. 🤣 Still married to the same man, living frugally means we are debt and mortgage free! I still have my big Tightwad Gazette. Time to re-read ❤

I had the book and I’m so sad, I loaned it to a friend and never got it back. I would love to have it now to share with my now married children.

My heart sinks every time I think of the money I've given to Ma Bell over the years compared to what it would have cost now! My late former husband lived in NYC while we were first dating in the mid 90s and I was in NOLA. It wasn't uncommon for our long distance bills to average $800/month collectively in addition to our dial-up pay by the hour emails and postal mail costs. For perspective, my rent at the time was $400 for a giant one bedroom (it was nearly the entire house) in a nice neighborhood, which also included water.

We all got some big phone bills back then. I dreaded calling my mother she talked for hours 🤣

Phone charges were awful, not only did you pay for long distance, you paid if someone was out of your area. We lived in a rural environment, we were in a different dialing area than the house just west of us so it was a surcharge to call them but someone five miles away was free.

Remember calling after 5 or 7pm for cheaper rates?

RU-vid University is such a phenomenal resource! My version of RU-vid then was PBS. I still love it, but I learned to be a better cook from so many wonderful chefs/cooks on there, construction/diy/savvy keeping of a home that would qualify for This Old House, and plenty of mending/home keeping tips from Martha Stewart's show! I didn't have enough spare credits to take Home Ec or Shop in school, so these were my fill ins!

If Amy had what we have today(internet) she'd probably have 5 milliom subscribers and be called an "influencer".

I called it my Frugal Bible also. I was 25 in 1990 with two under two. What I learned from Amy was not so much the specific things suggested, although there were many, but the mindset of 'can I do this cheaper? or not at all?' which I still apply today. It gave me the financial ability to stay home with my kiddos for over 10 years and I will be forever grateful.

But there is Trudeau..... seriously...my husband's salary has doubled since 2010 and we are still drowning and we are frugal. The taxes and inflation in Canada are out of control.

I remember her being on the Donahue show too.

So cool!!!

That had me actually laughing out loud 😂

Oh this is super illuminating. Thanks! Never even considered things like a specialty diet cake.

I really appreciate that you mentioned using reusable dishes. I love to entertain large groups, but keeping a ton of actual heavy ceramic plates/bowls, etc. around isn't practical for me and using them outside or with kids in such a situation can be a bit risky. So, I picked up a bunch of the Room Essentials line's dishwasher safe, sturdy matte plastic cups/plates/bowls from Target a few years back for between $.25-.50 each piece while they were on sale (usually offered each year at back to school time, but price may be twice as much now even discounted). I believe I got the service for 12 for around $15-18, including a large oval platter (which I really wish I had gotten more of!), in a neutral enough color to have some pizazz and still be flexible for any occasion's color scape. They take up almost no room and I keep them stored in a 2.5 gallon zip top bag in storage to keep them dust free after washing!

Oh my, you and me both. I also subscribed and have all of the yearly updates she sent for seven years after the newsletter was discontinued. I am only missing one issue of the newsletter and have no idea what happened to it. Like you I also punched holes and have them in a big binder. I enjoy pulling out the binder in the winter time to flip through. I also have a couple of copies of each of the three books. Really miss that newsletter. It was so fun to get every month.

Oh my goodness, I love ALL of this! I’m saving those Lego party ideas for next year.

Mine are still on my shelf and referred to when I need frugal encouragement or something specific!❤

What a cool idea!

@Homegrown_Hillary Thank you kindly! It just occurred to me that this may be a good option for bulk herb drying as well! You may also be able to do something similar with a fold out/expanding laundry drying rack using binder clips to hold the screen spanning across horizontally opposing rungs for a multi-tiered option, too, depending on the rack design.

In the 90s I was in highschool and my mother would give me $20 to spend at the elementary school bazaar. I would get my whole wardrobe for the next 6 months on that $20. My tastes and body were changing super fast at that time. Of course my mother bought my socks and underwear new. But pants, shirts, dresses, and silky nightgowns were all from the bazaar.

I frequently bought a couple sizes when I found great kids ' clothes, but sometimes it was out of season when they hit that size! In general though, it works great.

We got one present and a homemade cake with candles and we were very happy. The present would be a coloring book, later a barbie doll outfit sewn by mom, at 11 it was a pair of knee high socks. Miss those days. As teens we got to have a root beer float.

Some good homemade presents, would be a box of old bridesmaid dresses and jewelry to play dress up, an appliance box to make a play house, several colours of slime, home made play dough. Instead of a party, let the birthday kid choose their favorite meal, skip their chores, etc. Have a party every other year, rather than every year for every kid.

If I am remembering right, the early 1990s was a time when many parents were taking their kids to restaurants along with many of their friends to do a restaurant birthday party. I think Amy’s comments about birthday parties or more to try and reset those ideas of what was minimally acceptable for a party.

4, 3, and 11 months. 😂 But they are learning!

Dollar Tree has the best deals that I've found on party supplies in case they (or anyone else who sees this) still need such things. Also, they even have supplies for making the balloon arches that are so popular now!

We have a happy birthday banner and some vintage clown cardboard pin ups. Those are our bday decorations every year. It has saved so much money.

I need to find a way to like this comment about five more times.

Buy Nothing?

My subscription to Family Circle more than paid for itself! I'm still making some of those recipes now 25 years later!

This is the sweetest. (And what company to keep in a list of names!) Thank you, Kathleen :)

Oh totally! I definitely do sheets on my clothesline. I love the smell too. ❤️

I like the frugal fit mom’s no knead bread recipe. I add a table spoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of sugar. It’s so easy. Sometimes I add Italian seasoning and cheese right before I bake the bread. So yummy!

We had Dollar Tree then. It just didn’t have all the party stuff that it does now. I still loved shopping at the Dollar Tree back then. It’s definitely changed over the years. I’m still waiting for them to add Welcome Home/back party themed items.

Yes!! Her muffin recipe is my most flipped-to page in the whole 1000 page book!

I love the idea! Does anyone really want a 12 hour video from me though? 😂

YES!!@@Homegrown_Hillary

Yes, yes yes and yes

It could be a series!

Never considered how serving sizes have changed! Interesting!

Ooooh I need to do some organizational sticky-ing with mine. Great idea!

Ahh! This is the sweetest! Thank you!

On many items, clearance and sales can be cheaper than thrift prices. But jeans have gotten crazy expensive.

Even though it's cheap to send an email, it's still worth sending a letter or card. People love to receive some cheerful personal mail, and it makes for a nice surprise. Also tells people you're thinking of them and helps add some shine to their day.

So jealous of you

Good point! Plus, if they've been through the wash a few times, any of the extra denim dye has already bled out so it's less likely to stain your skin/other clothes.