How To: Be a Cheapskate

So the other night, R&I were working on (yet another) project in the garage.

It was date night actually. His turn to plan. He wanted to work on projects together so he treated me to $.99 kids meal night at Fazoli's and we came back to work on projects. That's not the point of this post but I thought you should know he's a cheapskate too. And that he's sneaky. That was his way of getting out of projects on Saturday- the day his beloved Cyclones take on the Hawks. Anyway....

So we are working on a project and as he's spray painting he looks at me and says I should host my own tv show about how to do things cheap. Some might be offended by that comment but those of you that have been to our home, know this is a compliment to me. Most of our furniture/decor were hand me downs, picked from someone's junk piles, or found on the curb. The few nice, new things we do have were gifts. (Or purchased with tax refund money- isn't that our citizenly duty to go spend that??)  :)

We both know he's joking about the tv show idea but we start kicking around episode ideas.

Here's the storyline of episode number one: Husbands, if you want your wife to be frugal, don't call her treasures that she brings home trash. I realize there are only two men that read my blog (I know- the number jumped up from just R. I found out this weekend one of our guy friends reads it too.) but I still think this is a key component to share.
It can take some trial and error to be thrifty. Sometimes I have an awesome idea that just doesn't pan out like I had planned. Sometimes I think I've really found a gem in the ditch, only to be setting it out on my own curb the next trash pick up day. It's not easy being gangster thrifty. But when your wife is working on a project that she's just sure is going to turn out really awesome, for pete's sake, don't tell her it's trash! (Especially if she's 7 months pregnant. She'll cry. And then she'll shoot your budget down the drain and go buy something new to replace your so called 'trash.' Or at least she'll think about it really hard.)

That episode brings me to the next one: Be Patient.
It might take time to get the look you're going for. Our entire home is one giant work in progress. One of R's buddies (a GUY) said I really needed to do something in our basement family room. (I wish I were joking.) But it's true. We do. And we will. Eventually.
To be thrifty, you have to be patient. You may have an idea in mind but it may take awhile to come across what you need to execute the plan.
Example 1: Our upstairs living room. It's one big pile of blah right now. With one giant wall that needs something. We're being patient with it.
Example 2: Our little guy's children's book collection. We have a nice little library for him (with lots more books not even pictured here). With the exception of the 3 books we've purchased new, our entire library cost less than $20. Garage sales are an awesome place to find gently used books and if you're picky, you can get books that look new (with no scribbles or rips) for $.50 or less. I always check out the children's books at garage sales. And I have little P trained to check them out for me as well. :) But it takes time. My first garage sale book buy was in 2002. A $.25 practically new copy of Dr. Suess' 'My Many Colored Days.' That was over 9 years ago, folks.

So be patient. You really can do things on the cheap if you are willing to live in the middle of projects for.... well.. pretty much ever. (And if you're willing to have 75% of your child's books to have an inscription to someone else on the inside of the front cover.)

(Some of little guy's books pictured above. You've probably seen the IKEA spice racks idea on pinterest. That's what those are, just painted. Another 'how to be a cheapskate' idea but I cant take credit for that one.)