Being Frugal

I am getting a good laugh from all the tips on being frugal. With the economy in the dumps the papers, magazines, and television all have these tips. What I am laughing about is that I have always done that. Only have basic cable is a biggie. We have always had basic cable. Use coupons and purchase sale items. Back in the day I had a store coupon folder that I carried religiously to the grocery store. Staycations is a great new word. But we did staycations for years not knowing we were cool. I patched hand me down jeans for the children. I made their Halloween costumes. I washed and reused ziplock bags. I made baby wipes out of paper towels. I rented movies from the library for the children. Books were read from the library and still are. I baked bread, muffins, and cookies. I made jams. We picked strawberries,apples and peaches. I went to the farmer's market every Saturday morning. I saved everything paper wise for crafts including meat trays to use as paint trays. I even made play dough. My point is I thought everyone lived like that. For years I didn't realize that people had parents who bought appliances, cars and down payments on houses. We did everything ourselves. I just keep waiting for some eye opening frugal tip that I haven't heard. When I do I will blog about it so we all will be frugal.