A Frugal Lifestyle

With the cost of living going up, up, up, the call has been made to change our lifestyle to one that is more frugal. So, what kind of changes can be made? Well, that is the point of this tag. Mumsgather wants to know, but I think this tag originated from Cuddly Family. She too has specifically called out my name to participate.

Well, truthfully, my frugal lifestyle started like 2 years ago.

• Moved away from the city where the rent is cheaper but the house don't get smaller.
  
• Work from home. Don't need to travel unnecessarily. We try not to go out more than 2x a week.
  
• Home-preschooling. Kindergarten these days are just wayyyyy to expensive.
  
• Not signing up kids for 101 tuition and activities. No need to pay extra fees and no need to chauffeur them all over the place. There's plenty they can learn at home (if you take the time to teach them.) Try not to be overly "kiasu."
  
• Shop and pay bills over the internet.
  
• Switched to modern cloth diapers.
• Eat at home. I get to practice my cooking skills too.
• Cultivate a garden that is edible. We have 4-5 papaya trees, 2 banana trees and many mulberry trees. Plenty of herbs to make "leong char" (cooling drink). 3 neem trees to help in cleansing blood (but only FIL and DH drinks it. Urgh! Too bitter for me). Vegetables not so much these days, but we used to have long beans, brinjal, ladies fingers, chillies and bok choy. Tomato is difficult to plant. Even if you've cemented up your entire porch, you can plant some of these in pots. It's time to switch from being a consumer to being a producer!
• Air conditioner in the room conked out long ago. We didn't bother to replace it and just use fan. The only other room with air conditioner is DH's office. That one we use only when really "beh tahan" (going to die from the heat).
  
• Get an energy saving plug to reduce electricity bill.
• Turn off main switches for tv, radio and all electrical appliances when not using. Don't just leave them on stand-by mode.
• No more using condense milk for making milo. Switched to using powdered milk. Actually, we also don't buy milo anymore. Not since they raised the price. Not only expensive but somehow the chocolate also taste like it's been watered down. We've been drinking Tesco's house brand "ChocoMalt" and it's okay.
• Make sure kids always carry their water bottle when we go out. That way don't have to buy drinks whenever they are thirsty. I also switched to steel water bottles. No more worry about plastic poisoning. They also last longer. The plastic ones always end up leaking or broken.
  

What more can I do to be frugal? Err... hate to admit it but there needs to be less consumption of junk food in my house. I believe I'm the biggest culprit (*face going red*). Apart from that, I think I'm already very frugal.

Okay, now to pass the "how would you change your lifestyle" baton to:

• Sasha
• Vickylow
• Anggie
• Hijack Queen