https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/campaigns/scrapsbook-zero-waste-recipes-pub147efb60

What's the best thing you've bought? Maybe it was something expensive or not, but it's made your life better and easier.

Mine is my sewing machine, I use it all the time for repairs or making things to sell.

What's the best thing you've ever gotten for free? Mine has to be access to free wood for my wood stove, I simply stopped and asked a tree cutting company if they'd leave their wood for me to pick up. I've put away 3 cords of wood in the last month. :)

I usually just bypass the clothing for me. Sometimes I’ll find stuff for my husband but female plus size clothing is kinda hard to find for me. I once found an accessories set for a Kitchen Aid Mixer and flipped it. Any good finds lately?

I am a pro at fixing things myself. I have replaced many many parts on my old beater van, including brakes and rotors, motor mounts, etc. I use YouTube for mechanic videos, and sometimes I'll start a $5 trial of JustAnswer to speak with a mechanic for things I can't figure out on my own. I buy my tools at Harbor Freight, their Pittsburgh brand has a lifetime warranty and they almost always have a 10-20% coupon available. I have built my tool collection over time. You can also "rent" specialty tools at places like O'Reilly Auto Parts and get your money back within 48 hours.

Home repair follows the same method. I've learned the basics of plumbing and electrical (please be careful with this!) and I've saved myself thousands of dollars in repair costs. Knowledge is available everywhere, from books at the library to the internet.

I repair clothing by hand and by machine. Simple tears and rips can be mended quickly and efficiently. Zippers are a little more challenging but can be done.

Anyone else out there fix stuff on their own and do everything they can to avoid paying for things they can learn to do themselves?

What are some little things you do for yourself/your family that make you feel less poor? I clean my house a LOT. I find the cleaner things are, the better I feel. I clip flowers from my garden during the spring/summer to make me feel special.

We eat dinner at our table every night, and sometimes I'll break out a candle. We play board games as a family a lot, we got the games for cheap or free at a thrift store.

Before I was diagnosed with celiac I would make beautiful loaves of bread and enjoy the "luxury" of fresh bread.

What about you?

So my grandmother was a person who cleaned everything. Constantly. She was a nurse and believed things weren't clean unless they smelled like bleach.

She used bleach in kitchens and bathrooms and literally only soap everywhere else. She wouldn't use dish soap with bleach because of the toxic fumes it emits, but she had a cheap jug of bubble bath that she put in an old squirt bottle. Need to clean poo off of the inside of your toilet? Squirt a blob in and scrub.

Soap scum ring in the tub? Break out the soap and go to work. Stains on your laundry? Wet it, put soap and scrub a bit between your hands.

It honestly works pretty well and is really cheap. I am currently using a huge bottle of watermelon scented shampoo that my son picked out and hated. It works awesome to swipe counters and make quick work of keeping things tidy.

I check my local grocery store ads every week for loss leaders. Sometimes I have extra money for them, sometimes I don't. I'm really excited about .69 cent a lb whole chickens this week at a tiny grocery store. I'll buy a few for my freezer.

Any good sales by you?

I'm a big believer in catching things on sale and stocking my pantry. When things were super tight for our family, I only had $20 a week for groceries. I still tried to grab *SOMETHING* to put in the pantry.

What do you stock and keep on hand? We keep potatoes, onions, rice, beans, canned tomatoes, canned green beans (we all hate fresh/frozen), chicken leg quarters, salt, spices.

I'd like to have a weekly post where we all share things we've done to save money for the week. No matter how small or big, little things that trim the fat so to speak on your budget is welcomed.

We lost water several times last week due to busted water mains in our neighborhood. Luckily we had water on hand in my pantry that I'd previously purchased so we didn't have to spend anything to have water.

I made pots of broth and soup out of bones I've been saving in my freezer. I pressure canned 8 quarts of broth for my pantry reusing jar lids. I'm able to reuse lids carefully a few times before having sealing issues. I saved all the fat from the broth to cook with. This was easy, I put the pot in the fridge (after it cooled) and allowed the fat to rise and the broth to congeal.

I sewed solid colored face masks for my husband out of fabric in my stash that was given to me previously. I also recovered my $1 pot holders from Dollar Tree with denim to prolong their lives and give them a little more thickness.

We spent zero money on food this week and used what we had.

What about you?

All my life my mom has called me a pack rat. I know I get it from her though. She’s got dishes and serving ware she’s never used. I’m slowly getting better at getting rid of things.

Where do you draw the line at? What’s your main pack rat items? Boxes, gift bags, containers, beauty products?

Let's play a game. The cupboards are getting a little bare... you don't have a lot. What is something you make that gets you by until the next shopping trip?

I always have a bag of chicken bones and veggie scraps in my freezer. I'll make broth with these. I save excess bits of meat or veggies from meals in an old ice cream bucket in my freezer and I put this in the broth with rice or potatoes, any other veggies I have, some salt and spices, and voila! random soup.

I don't agree that poverty is relative. Poverty is being unable to meet your basic needs on a regular basis while being comfortable.
I'm from generational poverty. There simply wasn't resources available to my family to help us escape paycheck to paycheck or even welfare check to welfare check living. I'm 66 female and my parents were children during the Great Depression, so those frugal habits were passed in to me, but all that did was stretch our money to cover expenses, not to save anything to get us out of poverty. As someone 2 months from full retirement age, the reality of limited poverty level income for the rest of my life is all too real and somewhat scary. It's nice to know there are others still struggling and who frankly, will always struggle due to circumstances beyond their control. Looking forward to reading others tips and sharing what has worked for me.

No judgment here from me. I'll share.

I dumpster dive for items to fix up and sell or for food. I primarily feed myself and several other families with this. (They know where it comes from and are grateful in these hard times.) It costs me $5 a weekend in gas, but saves me $300 a month in groceries. I've found great tools, furniture, etc.

I use a handheld bottle bidet instead of tons of toilet paper.

I have a minimal wardrobe and wash 90% of my clothes by hand with my rinse water from washing dishes. My washing machine broke and I can't afford to replace it. Once every 2 weeks I'll wash a load of laundry at the laundromat that is hard to wring out and hang it to dry.

I use everything I can at my library. I've learned new skills, watched movies, listened to music, etc.

I keep my thermostat at 60 during the winter, but we have a fireplace and get free wood to heat our house up a little more. I keep my thermostat so low to prevent busted pipes but save on my electric, because my furnace is ancient.

Summer I use window ACs only if it's over 80 degrees. I keep it at 80. Again, poor.

Tea is one of the little luxuries I buy from time to time, occasionally it's a $1 box from Dollar Tree or if I've got a few extra dollars I'll splurge on a nicer box. Either way I always reuse the tea bag 2-3 times. It still gives you flavor, maybe not as strong, but it stretches the pleasure of the box. Anyone else relate?