Uber Frugal January

[I'm a red panda]

I posted over the past few days 5 different "ISO" to my "buy nothing group". Every single one was met with "I have that for sale" and a price. 

For the record, I think it's kinda douchey for those people to respond to a Buy Nothing group post with a sale price.  Seems to defeat the purpose!  That's been bugging me since I read it, ha.

It's very against the rules.

To update my day (after $25 in medical bills):
I bought 2 things at the grocery store (and ran the card twice, so I have 2 of my 12 required debits for the month...since doing this gets me $40 a month in interest, it seems worth it.)
$1.38 for pasta sauce; $3.99 for salsa

So I'm at
Day 1: $0
Day 2: $0
Day 3: $30.37

[EngineerYogi]

We are eating down the leftovers, I made kalua pulled pork on the 31st knowing I'd have hungry guests and I got lots of leftover pork. We've been eating it in tacos(add some diced onion, chopped cilantro, homemade green salsa and a squeeze of lime) and mixed with eggs at breakfast. I also have cooked chicken breast, sweet potato and some lentil soup so we are fed for the rest of the week.

So far $0 spent here, we grocery shopped on the 31st, but it was well under what a normal shop includes. I still have some optimizing to do, we went to Grocery Outlet and found good prices for most things but then went to the commissary and saw a number of the same items were actually cheaper there. I knew that eggs would be cheaper at the commissary but wasn't sure on a lot of the other stuff. I'll have to find a better way to keep track.

[Mezzie]

I did buy one unplanned item while I was out, but it was only 99 cents and I'm very, very excited about it (gluten free croutons... it's been years since I've had croutons!), so I don't feel bad. Now that I know they exist, I won't have to be impulsive next time. Unfortunately, though, in the Celiac workd, good products disappear suddenly. I didn't want to miss my one chance.

[jesse_runs_far]

We finished up meatballs from NYE tonight...meal 3, and now everyone is officially sick of meatballs!

And I DIDN'T buy coffee today! Winning!!

[pachnik]

I liked Mrs. Frugalwoods' post this morning about waiting 72 hours before buying something.  I already kind of do this but only because i don't like shopping.  If there is something I need to buy - the latest thing was a yoga strap - i write it down on a small stickie and put the stickie in my wallet.  It is more of a memory aid than anything else for me. 

[katscratch]

We are eating down the leftovers, I made kalua pulled pork on the 31st knowing I'd have hungry guests and I got lots of leftover pork. We've been eating it in tacos(add some diced onion, chopped cilantro, homemade green salsa and a squeeze of lime) and mixed with eggs at breakfast. I also have cooked chicken breast, sweet potato and some lentil soup so we are fed for the rest of the week.

Nice!  Sadly in my house when I make kalua pork it disappears in one day!  Especially with guests.  It's too good :)

We finished up meatballs from NYE tonight...meal 3, and now everyone is officially sick of meatballs!

And I DIDN'T buy coffee today! Winning!!

WAY TO GO!

I put stickies on my phone for the same reason :)  but my list is usually more boring like something I forgot at the grocery store ;)
I liked Mrs. Frugalwoods' post this morning about waiting 72 hours before buying something.  I already kind of do this but only because i don't like shopping.  If there is something I need to buy - the latest thing was a yoga strap - i write it down on a small stickie and put the stickie in my wallet.  It is more of a memory aid than anything else for me. 

[I'm a red panda]

Made skillet lasagna for dinner. Last month when DH made this I ended up bringing most of my meat home after taking it to work for leftovers (pregnant and not enjoying meat...), which leaves an awkward container of meat for dh to finish.

To save money we cut the recipe to 1/2 pound of beef instead of full pound,and now it will be a better ratio for me to enjoy. As a bonus, the beef took less time to grind :)

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I'm catching up on the emails. Here's my goal setting.

Why?
For starters, I am super broke and my current income is very low. Actually I think that if I increased my spending, I would probably be a bit happier with my spending by YMOYL standards but have had to cut too many things.

So reducing a fancypants lifestyle is almost no part of my goal. I meal, sure, there's probably a little fat to cut, but that's not so much the point. It's more, I guess, that I want to get my spending dialed down so well that when I DO get a full-time job, which is bound to happen eventually (right?), I will really feel like I am sitting on a gushing fire house of income even though it would only be like $50K and I live in a pretty HCOL (Denver) with kids.

What do you hope to achieve?
See above. Dial down spending. And if I find areas where I actually want to spend MORE when I have more money (for instance: my underpants stick out the back of my pants because they are ones my sister bought for herself but didn't like, and that's just not OK), then that's fine, too.

What are your longterm life goals?
Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Doing these together. Honestly, I'm not so sure. Just got divorced and all. I want enough money to have options and to make options for my kids. Right now, my kids are, well, kind of poor kids. I mean, we're not really "poor"--I'm a middle class white woman in temporarily straightened circumstances--but they have to eat school lunch whether they like it or not because it's free, and if one of them was unhappy at school I wouldn't be able to change their school because the logistical challenges would be too expensive. So there's that.

I also would like to own our own house, even if it's tiny on a tiny plot. Just something where a little bit of outside is all mine.

What about your current lifestyle might prevent those goals from coming to fruition and what can you do about it?
Honestly, it's not my lifestyle, it's my income. I was working part-time when I was married, but now that I am on my own it's not enough. I do have 4 applications currently pending for full-time jobs, so fingers crossed. I own a paid-for car, cook all our food, live in a one-bedroom apartment, and shop so little that I actually wear hand-me-down underpants. But it's the income.

[frooglepoodle]

No spend today. A friend gave me two bags of fabric she was cleaning out in anticipation of a move, and a decent portion of it I can actually use. The rest will go in my giveaway fabric box for when we move.

I now have an added motivation to kick our frugal engines into overdrive*. I learned today that we will likely have to cover the cost of our upcoming move. Hopefully DH will find a job that offers relocation benefits, but it would be foolish to plan on that.


*This may be a bad metaphor, not a car person.

[Ms Terror]

So far I've been ok, spent nothing myself for the first four days except $21 on fresh veggies at the supermarket yesterday and the water connection charges for this month (looking forward to farmer's market re-opening this weekend!). Feeling a bit pleased with myself as my partner is not on board with this challenge (while not particularly spendy, he enjoys his daily coffee) so today I convinced him to not have the coffee and take a bottle of cold drip he made over the weekend and have that at work instead. :)

[horsepoor]

Spent $37 today for a few groceries (OK, wine and coffee) and a package of Cold Calm in an effort not to join the ranks of the ill.  Need to buy about $100 in animal feed this week, but then they'll all be good until March.  Hoping that will be it until I travel on the 9th.

[Anatidae V]

We woke up late thanks to the hot weather last night. DH wanted to get to work on time and I didn't want him to buy lunch, so I smashed some lettuce and leftover carrot sticks into a tub and he grabbed his tuna tin and a little tub of cream cheese. He had no time for breakfast, so he's buying a box of cereal to keep in the work pantry. WINNING.

[HappierAtHome]

On our walk last night (to collect the free nappy bag!) I went through the "where do you see yourself in 5, 10 and 20 years?" discussion with Mr Happier. It was exactly as I expected (we're on the same page with life goals / values, and we talk about these things a lot already) but still fun.

iowajes, a friend of mine had the same thoughts last year - she was having a hard time finding clothes especially. 

Talking about it one day, we realized she'd only been looking for free clothes but hadn't put the word out herself as a potential recipient.  In our area we have a bunch of Facebook buy/sell groups, as well as NextDoor, and once she'd posted on those she got TONS of stuff.  NextDoor especially is awesome for this-- it's just local neighborhoods and people that haven't given two thoughts to the bags of clothes in their basement will gladly give them up to someone who asks. 

Oh no, this was a result of seeking.  I posted over the past few days 5 different "ISO" to my "buy nothing group". Every single one was met with "I have that for sale" and a price.  Maybe when I start looking for toddler things it will be easier- it seems like baby spoons or toys pop up quite a bit.  Ms. Frugalwoods posted about getting a thousand dollar stroller for free! I'm looking for stuff in the $20-30 range!

Maternity clothing came out of the woodwork for me; though most didn't fit. I was able to alter all the pants, but I sucked it up and found petite tops. My shoulders are just too narrow.

My Buy Nothing group has been good for other baby stuff (bath, monitor, nappy bag...) but is crap for clothes. No friends or family have had babies within the last few years and are even vaguely the same size - well, my sister might have had a few things to pass on, but she's pregnant too! And I'm tough to fit because I'm tall and broad-shouldered, so I've pretty much resigned myself to having to buy what I can't do without through pregnancy.

[Fresh Bread]

Yep sorry I forgot the crucial word 'insurance'. It used to be that much but I got it lowered by increasing the buildings insurance. Hopefully it's just a mistake, ha ha.

[MonkeyJenga]

Day 1: $0
Day 2: $11 food and stuff (plus $8 copay but that's necessary)
Day 3: $0

Since I'm on quarantine and am working from home, I haven't even bought my monthly MetroCard yet.

My cold and the cold rain outside stopped me from going to buy more soup and candy. Instead I finally cut up those veggies and am making my stew. Didn't realize the burner flame went out and was releasing toxic gas for half an hour! That was fun panic.

[nnls]

My uber frugal January started badly, but I shouldn't have to spend any money until the 10th or 11th thanks to being at work

Day 1 - $20 on a game of golf
Day 2 - $0
Day 3 - $0

Game of golf was totally worth it though, drove down to Mandurah to visit aunty and uncle, uncle is currently undergoing chemo, he finished his radiation mid December. The 1st was this first day he had felt well enough since October to go for a hit, and wanted to have a game with me and my aunt, so although I am not a very good player and he ended up only being able to do 7 holes it was still great to be outdoors and doing something he loves with him. So definitely not frugal, and I know the point of this is to cut out unnecessary spending but I am ok with it.

And I know people use all sorts of justifications to explain spending but hopefully mine is somewhat acceptable.

[horsepoor]

Since I'm on quarantine and am working from home, I haven't even bought my monthly MetroCard yet.

Oh yeah.  $10 on a metro card.  Will get one paid through work, but paid for this one since I wasn't sure it would arrive before I leave on Monday (if not, DH will use when he comes to visit)

[tortoiseshell]

Day three was all right; I spent nothing and husband spent $2 on a coffee, which was a budgeted expense (he works outside and wanted to eat his lunch out of the rain, which is understandable). I haven't quite figured out what I'm bringing for lunch today and have nothing prepared, so I guess it'll be oatmeal.

I keep a wishlist in the notes app of my phone with things I want to buy but can't justify the purchase at that time. It's amazing how many things I've removed from the list this year without buying.

[westtoeast]

I posted over the past few days 5 different "ISO" to my "buy nothing group". Every single one was met with "I have that for sale" and a price. 

Westtoeast, my house has had a similar pattern in the past for no apparent reason, so now I'm on a budget plan that averages my usage- both my gas company and electric company offer this program.  It was maddening trying to figure out where the spike in usage was coming from.

Oh, I never thought to ask about doing that! It would be really nice if the bill was at least predictable each month. I'll make a call.

Have you checked the meter against the numbers quoted on the bill? One time in a new apartment, I kept trying to save money by barely running the AC in a miserably hot summer, but my electricity bill was really high. When I finally checked with the company, it turned out that my low usage had been flagged as a mistake and substituted with the numbers from the same month of the previous year or something like that. They issued a big credit, so I didn't pay for electricity again for several months.

Yikes, this is awful. I can't believe the company would do that. I'm certainly going to double check and make sure this didn't happen to us... although I'm not sure we've been quite as hard core as you were being that summer! Thanks for the info.

[Kansas Terri]

I am sick right now. So, instead of having my husband feed himself at a fast food joint on the way home, or instead of cooking an ordinary dinner I went to my cupboards. First I opened a box of Cajun rice, added a can of chicken, threw in some mushrooms from the fridge, and I cooked it all in the rice cooker.

It all took just a couple of minutes, and since the cooker kept things hot I figured DH could eat it when he wanted to.

For tonight I will put a package of brats and in the oven and serve the leftover rice dish with it. I should probably throw some vegetables into the pot of rice: frozen peas, perhaps. Last night I did not occur to m that the meal was not quite balanced!

[jesse_runs_far]

Ended day 3 with a big fat zero! yay!!

Forgot to add previously that I bought an unlimited yoga pass for the month as part of an intro special when I went on a free pass with a friend on Monday.

Day 1 (Sun, Jan 1): $0
Day 2: $40 (groceries), $43 (unlimited yoga for the month)
Day 3: $0
Day 4:

[gaja]

Jan 1: 0
Jan 2: $9 (coffee beans), $36 (postage for delayed Christmas presents)
Jan 3: 0
Jan 4: $4 (parking)

Got free lunch at a meeting. Dinner today was potato dumplings, from a batch cooking in early December. Still have one portion left in the freezer, but have wait until we can get more sausages. Making a traditional potato dumpling dinner is almost like the old tale about cooking soup based on a stone. When you have added the fried sausages, bacon, carrots, swedes, and boiled lambs meat, you can hardly see or taste the dumplings anymore. Some people even add boiled potatoes or mash.

[Tick-Tock]

We're eating leftovers and more leftovers.  Hopefully won't have to grocery shop this week.  Did have to pay my yearly dues for my bar membership, but since I need that for my job, I don't feel bad about that expenditure.

[Guava]

I spent the morning call around on insurance rates. Looking right now like I can save $1,000 a year by making a switch.

[EngineerYogi]

I scoped out several free yoga classes for the month. I have a friend that is committed to doing yoga with me every Saturday and the studio I completed my teacher training with has a free class 2 saturdays this month! ($22 value each!) I think we'll try some online videos and do yoga at each other's houses for the other saturdays this month.

[Bracken_Joy]

Useful thing I found for people with Citi cards: they have a tab where you can see ALL recurring charges listed in one place. Dovetails nicely with the Day 4 email I think!

Quite a bit of snow today, so we're staying home!

So far:
Day 1: gas, $33
Day 2: groceries, $18
Day 3: gas, $20 and groceries $51, general household $14, dog nails clipped $13

Gas is high since we started the month out of town in the truck and the car was below 1/4 tank going in. Will stay fairly high starting next week though since SirB will be 110 miles each way twice a week for classes. (Last term! So close!)

[alleykat]

So far so good and I know it is early still.  Besides groceries and gas, I didn't buy much else.  I should find my receipts and keep a tab even for those purchases to see how much I will spend by the end of the month.

I have noticed though, I need to be mindful. It is amazing how many purchases we pick up without thinking. I was in Costcos the other day and right in front there were pistachios for 15 bucks.  I put them in my cart and then after 5 minutes put them back. I wont rest until I finish them and right now I am trying to lose some weight so I was happy I left them on the shelf.  Good but very calorie dense. 15 bucks saved. It just proved how mindless I am in the stores and I need to get better at that.

[EngineerYogi]

Called comcast and got my internet reduced by $30/mo!

[nottoolatetostart]

Doing great here. Have spent zero so far other than meds and $23 in groceries.

My anti-MMM DH even is walking to/from work and I have been using stroller to walk daughter to pre-K. I can tell DH is mulling over going to 1 car based on a couple comments he has made. He is even enjoying his walk to/from work because he listens to podcasts that he otherwise would not have a chance to listen to. This would be so amazing to get to 1 car!

I have been jotting down my wants of impulse buys on a list in my phone. I do find myself getting a little creative to make do, but it is crazy how my list is adding up even though I am not actively shopping or looking online,

I wish I would have done a challenge like this year's ago....sigh.

[MrsDinero]

I scoped out several free yoga classes for the month. I have a friend that is committed to doing yoga with me every Saturday and the studio I completed my teacher training with has a free class 2 saturdays this month! ($22 value each!) I think we'll try some online videos and do yoga at each other's houses for the other saturdays this month.

check out www.doyogawithme.com


I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

[EngineerYogi]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

[Mtngrl]

Made skillet lasagna for dinner. Last month when DH made this I ended up bringing most of my meat home after taking it to work for leftovers (pregnant and not enjoying meat...), which leaves an awkward container of meat for dh to finish.

To save money we cut the recipe to 1/2 pound of beef instead of full pound,and now it will be a better ratio for me to enjoy. As a bonus, the beef took less time to grind :)

I do this with any casserole or soup that calls for meat -- use half the meat and if necessary, bulk up with more veggies. Makes for a healthier, less expensive meal and I have had zero complaints.

[pachnik]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

I love this site too.  Especially Melissa Krieger and Anastasia Hangemanole's classes.     

Yesterday was a rough day for me re:  UFJ.  I had to take my husband to an evening walk-in clinic because he thought he had pneumonia and we ended up eating dinner out at the mall's food court so as not to lose our place in the clinic line.   But the most important thing was to get him to a doctor which we managed to do.   We are back on track tonight for dinner at home as usual.

[frooglepoodle]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

I love this site too.  Especially Melissa Krieger and Anastasia Hangemanole's classes.     

I love Melissa Kreiger's classes as well! I haven't tried any from Anastasia Hangemanole but I will have to search for hers.

The only spending today was a $12 medical copay. We took advantage of the nice weather and played outside with the neighbors this afternoon, and I'm baking bread and starting some bacon to cure this evening.

[I'm a red panda]

So my daily update:

Day 1: $0
Day 2: $0
Day 3: $30.37 (me)  and $17.08 (DH)
Day 4: $3.56 (me) and $7.42  (DH)

DH bought apples and oranges. I bought cans of diced tomatoes that will go in the rice we are making for a neighborhood potluck this weekend. Once again, I ran it as two debits, so now I am at 4 of 12 I need this month :)

[Juslookin]

Doing well here. No spending. Eating planned meals, burning wood to stay warm, hunkered down for winter. Have a day trip for work tomorrow so I'm in a work rental car and tomorrow they buy me lunch. It almost makes having to put on real pants and leave the house worth it.  Almost.

In other news, DH and I are discussing goals for the year. I read a blogger who gives each year a theme, one year it was focus, another year strong, this year they're going for simplify. We like the idea and are thinking about our own theme, it's opened up lots of conversations. I know I want this to be the year of saving, so our theme might be a phrase. We'll see.

[Fresh Bread]

Eating out is not going to plan at all, but I have justified yesterday's brunch as a xmas present to the other person, who is a sort of distant relative. She got us some very generous and thoughtful things including a gift card, whereas our gift to her was some regifted champagne. She really liked it but I felt bad. Hubby has been invited out to a post work meal with friends on Friday night. Some extremely high earners will be there and it's never a budget night out. 

Our meals at home have been so cheap though - apart from paying $5 for an avocado on Tues from the local shop. On Monday I bought a marked down free range chook and roasted it with veggies, including some from the garden. Lunch next day was chicken and avo sandwiches, and dinner was left over cold meat and veg (it's hot here). Then last night we had chicken risotto. That's 4 meals from one $4 bird and the dog still has some scraps left!

Although we don't go out with/ buy gifts that often for friends, when we do, we align them with the social norms of the group even if those people are biggish spenders. If I don't, I worry that we look tight or anti-social. However, behind closed doors, we are frugal! We have two main sets of couple friends, and luckily the one we spend time with most are all on budgets and we've very much moved to picnics over meals out etc. One couple is even talking about early retirement, which is great. It's a big relief and much easier on the budget for us.

[MonkeyJenga]

Although we don't go out with/ buy gifts that often for friends, when we do, we align them with the social norms of the group even if those people are biggish spenders. If I don't, I worry that we look tight or anti-social. However, behind closed doors, we are frugal! We have two main sets of couple friends, and luckily the one we spend time with most are all on budgets and we've very much moved to picnics over meals out etc. One couple is even talking about early retirement, which is great. It's a big relief and much easier on the budget for us.

Why not request that nobody exchanges gifts on birthdays and other events, or keeps to a $ limit? Are they going to stop being friends with you?

Yesterday was a rough day for me re:  UFJ.  I had to take my husband to an evening walk-in clinic because he thought he had pneumonia and we ended up eating dinner out at the mall's food court so as not to lose our place in the clinic line.   But the most important thing was to get him to a doctor which we managed to do.   We are back on track tonight for dinner at home as usual.

I hope your husband's okay!

[pachnik]

Yes, thanks Monkey Jenga.   Mr. P. doesn't have pneumonia.  So we guess it is just a very bad cold with chills.   :(     He has an appointment on Monday at our regular medical clinic. 

[Fresh Bread]

Although we don't go out with/ buy gifts that often for friends, when we do, we align them with the social norms of the group even if those people are biggish spenders. If I don't, I worry that we look tight or anti-social. However, behind closed doors, we are frugal! We have two main sets of couple friends, and luckily the one we spend time with most are all on budgets and we've very much moved to picnics over meals out etc. One couple is even talking about early retirement, which is great. It's a big relief and much easier on the budget for us.

Why not request that nobody exchanges gifts on birthdays and other events, or keeps to a $ limit? Are they going to stop being friends with you?

We buy little gifts for kids of friends that we are seeing around xmas time, so we stay away from the spendy people then, ha!
We need to have a talk with the distant relative I mentioned, she's probably the only adult we exchange Xmas gifts with. We do give neighbours and xmas hosts things, but they are home made or very small. There was an awkward moment though at a xmassy get together where a couple of friends exchanged gifts secretly by their car. They are happy I guess that we aren't into it, but still want to give each other things.

And then on birthdays, we give a gift if someone is hosting us at a party or dinner but generally if we are paying our own way at a dinner the host will say 'no gifts please' on the invite. My main focus should be working on the spendy friends to choose cheaper venues for group meet ups I think. And if we get invited to a REALLY expensive restaurant, to decline.

[CloserToFree]

Inspired by everyone's frugality!  Today I brought my own travel mug of cofffee to a coffee date with a friend, and tonight another friend is coming over for wine (from our stash) instead of us meeting up out somewhere.  Score. Spent nothing today and it feels great.

Day 1: $150 (groceries)
Day 2: $7 (necessary meds)
Day 3: $0
Day 4: $0

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

Yes! Another vote for doyogawithme.com! When we lived in Cambridge, I got free classes at my studio by volunteering at the front desk--it's probably the only thing I miss about living in the city! Now, I'm all about self-directed practice or doyogawithme. Let me know if you find any other free sites you like. Most of them charge... blerg.

[horsepoor]

Better than spending nothing, I had two people come buy my ski jacket and ski pants from Craigslist ads, both without even haggling on prices.  So I'm up $110 for the day and have two items reminding me of my utter failure as a skier out of the house.  Yay!

I am thinking about buying a Kindle book, but need to look through everything in my library first and see what I haven't read.  Will also look for free/very cheap options.  We live outside city limits, and weren't eligible to borrow e-books, but I need to look into that again.

[pbkmaine]

Better than spending nothing, I had two people come buy my ski jacket and ski pants from Craigslist ads, both without even haggling on prices.  So I'm up $110 for the day and have two items reminding me of my utter failure as a skier out of the house.  Yay!

I am thinking about buying a Kindle book, but need to look through everything in my library first and see what I haven't read.  Will also look for free/very cheap options.  We live outside city limits, and weren't eligible to borrow e-books, but I need to look into that again.

https://www.bookbub.com/home/

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

On our walk last night (to collect the free nappy bag!) I went through the "where do you see yourself in 5, 10 and 20 years?" discussion with Mr Happier. It was exactly as I expected (we're on the same page with life goals / values, and we talk about these things a lot already) but still fun.

iowajes, a friend of mine had the same thoughts last year - she was having a hard time finding clothes especially. 

Talking about it one day, we realized she'd only been looking for free clothes but hadn't put the word out herself as a potential recipient.  In our area we have a bunch of Facebook buy/sell groups, as well as NextDoor, and once she'd posted on those she got TONS of stuff.  NextDoor especially is awesome for this-- it's just local neighborhoods and people that haven't given two thoughts to the bags of clothes in their basement will gladly give them up to someone who asks. 

Oh no, this was a result of seeking.  I posted over the past few days 5 different "ISO" to my "buy nothing group". Every single one was met with "I have that for sale" and a price.  Maybe when I start looking for toddler things it will be easier- it seems like baby spoons or toys pop up quite a bit.  Ms. Frugalwoods posted about getting a thousand dollar stroller for free! I'm looking for stuff in the $20-30 range!

Maternity clothing came out of the woodwork for me; though most didn't fit. I was able to alter all the pants, but I sucked it up and found petite tops. My shoulders are just too narrow.

My Buy Nothing group has been good for other baby stuff (bath, monitor, nappy bag...) but is crap for clothes. No friends or family have had babies within the last few years and are even vaguely the same size - well, my sister might have had a few things to pass on, but she's pregnant too! And I'm tough to fit because I'm tall and broad-shouldered, so I've pretty much resigned myself to having to buy what I can't do without through pregnancy.

Totally agree that it's not cool for people to try and sell in a Buy Nothing Group! It's actually against the rules! The moderators of my group in Cambridge were amazing and very hardcore about maintaining the ethos of free for everyone.

So my Cambridge Buy Nothing Group was nothing short of amazing for finding baby stuff--truly, we were extremely fortunate to live there. Now that I live in a town of 400 people, our Buy Nothing group isn't very active. But, I've been finding hand-me-downs, and giving stuff away, through our town listserve and also through word of mouth. Most of my hand-me-downs these days come from friends and I mostly give stuff away to people I know. It's a slower pace of give-aways, but it's working and it's keeping Babywoods in clothes (so far! fingers crossed! she is wearing a lot of boy clothes, but I don't care! ;) )

[Bracken_Joy]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

Yes! Another vote for doyogawithme.com! When we lived in Cambridge, I got free classes at my studio by volunteering at the front desk--it's probably the only thing I miss about living in the city! Now, I'm all about self-directed practice or doyogawithme. Let me know if you find any other free sites you like. Most of them charge... blerg.

I like Yoga with Adrienne on youtube. She does really nice gentle flows normally.

[Mezzie]

It's more lucky than frugal, but I got a fraudulant charge for $160.00 reversed. *whew*

[pancakes]

My local buy nothing group is not very active at all. I tried to sneak an invite to the neighbouring group (I live about three blocks from the border) but they are very strict on location and declined me.

To be fair to my local group, I have no been listing things myself as yet either.

[PDM]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

Yes! Another vote for doyogawithme.com! When we lived in Cambridge, I got free classes at my studio by volunteering at the front desk--it's probably the only thing I miss about living in the city! Now, I'm all about self-directed practice or doyogawithme. Let me know if you find any other free sites you like. Most of them charge... blerg.

I like Yoga with Adrienne on youtube. She does really nice gentle flows normally.

I second Yoga with Adriene. I'm doing her 31 day Revolution Challenge. So far so good. Also love her video for tired legs, the one for back pain and the one for runners.

[Bracken_Joy]

check out www.doyogawithme.com

I go to classes once a week and use this website for all other days.   They have some great classes.

Thanks for the resource! I'll check it out. :D

Yes! Another vote for doyogawithme.com! When we lived in Cambridge, I got free classes at my studio by volunteering at the front desk--it's probably the only thing I miss about living in the city! Now, I'm all about self-directed practice or doyogawithme. Let me know if you find any other free sites you like. Most of them charge... blerg.

I like Yoga with Adrienne on youtube. She does really nice gentle flows normally.

I second Yoga with Adriene. I'm doing her 31 day Revolution Challenge. So far so good. Also love her video for tired legs, the one for back pain and the one for runners.

I really love her pre-bed routine for nights I have insomnia. (Not often anymore thank goodness). Great if you're going to bed too sore to sleep from a rough hike or something too =)