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I would like to say I am frugal because I have the discipline to be and my efforts to saving money is going to afford me an early retirement. I wish being a cheapskate was second nature and just my choice of living. But truth be told I became a cheapskate out of necessity rather than choice. As a mother of six it is extremely hard to make a paycheck stretch all the way through the month and even harder to have any left over at the end to save for emergencies and occasional luxuries.

I started with little things like turning off unneeded light and insulating our windows and doors better to save on electricity. Turning off the air conditioner at night and early mornings and keeping the heat at a moderate level helped even more. I started to see our bills getting lower and that is when I realized how much money we were wasting on things we did not need. I had caught the fever, the cheapskate fever, a highly infectious disease as it proved to be. At first my children were not at all happy about taking school lunches instead of eating cafeteria food but after they saw what we could afford with the savings they promptly changed their tune. We are now all taking home made lunches and are living not only cheaper but also healthier. Drinking more water instead of expensive soft drinks was quickly added to the family savings plan. Along with quite a bit of savings we now enjoy a healthier and slimmer life with less illnesses and associated doctor bills.

Though the kids and my husband still need to be coaxed into helping out with little incentives they are all actively participating in the family cheapskate plan. I used to think my grandmother was crazy washing and reusing zip lock bags, guess what, that saves a lot of money. Whenever possible we re-use instead of throw away items. And the items that we cannot find a use for we sell at our yearly yard sale.

Our family meals take a bit longer to be prepared since I cook a lot from scratch now, but they are healthier and once I got a little practice they actually are much more tasty as well. I take full advantage of living in a rural area by growing my own vegetables and getting what I cannot grow myself from local farmers. I help out harvesting and in exchange I receive loads of free food. Dehydrating fruit makes snacks the kids love and leave me with a fuller wallet.

When I do have to buy groceries at the store I check the sales of the week. Whenever possible I buy in bulk, this is usually cheaper and saves gas money for

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