Project Simplify: Five Things I’ve Learned About Frugality

Over the last month, I’ve been undertaking a little project to simplify my living space. Part of that process has been to try to lower my living costs. Here are a few lessons in frugality I picked up that I thought I’d pass along:

You Don’t Need Paper Towels.
I’m a little embarrassed about this particular “revelation.” I’ve not used a paper towel in a month. And yet, I’ve done my windows, cleaned up spills, cleaned countertops, etc. Over the years, I somehow ended up with the erroneous belief that paper towels cleaned better. It’s not true. A couple of clean handtowels and rags work just as well. Besides being cheaper, you gain some storage space from where the paper towels took up residence.

Make Your Own Microwave Popcorn.
I love popcorn. Along with Shreddies and Corned Beef Hash (the canned kind), microwave popcorn has, sadly, been a staple in my diet. I’ve never liked popcorn that came from a hot-air popper (I find the consistency of hot-air popped popcorn stale). Turns out, you can make your own microwave popcorn with a paper bag. Put half a cup of popcorn in a paper bag and triple-fold it closed. That’s it! I assumed the fold closure would give and popcorn would fly everywhere, but that’s not the case at all — the fold holds the popcorn in tight. Who knew.

Kiss Cable Television Goodbye.
It’s been almost a month now since I dropped cable television.¹ I don’t miss the programming because I can still watch most of it on the web sites of the major broadcasters (Links to shows: Global TV, CBC, CTV). I’ve also gotten back in touch with some of my favourite radio shows via podcast like This American Life, The Ethicist, The Moth, On The Media, and plenty o’ CBC podcast lovin’. (Another nice thing about radio — you can walk around and do things while listening, which you can’t really for television.)

Rethink the Heat in Your Bedroom [insert dirty joke here]
I used to keep the temperature in my bedroom at 22 degrees, regardless of the season. I’ve since taken to turning the heat off entirely and, in fact, leaving the window wide open. I just started using a warmer duvet. Turns out the old advice of sleeping in a cold room is true — I do get a better sleep.

Eat What You Have
At the start of this simplification process, I vowed to not go grocery shopping for anything more than the essentials (milk, juice, bread, etc.) and that I would eat what I already had in my cupboards. My cupboards weren’t exactly bulging, but there were perfectly good items in there that I keep ignoring when doing the “what should I eat tonight” inspection. Tins of tuna, a box of Hamburger Helper, cans of chili, a bag of rice — I promised myself I would start eating these items away. It’s been a month and I still have plenty of them to go. As a result, my grocery bill is about a third of what it used to be.

What’s your best frugal tip?

1. When I called to cancel, Shaw said they would keep billing me until they could get a technician out to neuter my connection. If you argue long enough, they’ll stop billing you the day you request the service to stop. Which, of course, they should. [↩]