Hi Pat, I just went to that web site but due overwhelming response they are down for awhile. I will try later. $3.77 and rising in New Braunfels.
Wendy - Texas

If any of you would like to have your voices heard in regard to increasing production of oil and gas in this country, to get the prices down again, check out

http://www.americansolutions.com/drill now

I went there this afternoon and signed the petition when there were 166,000 signatures on it. It's now up to 196,000. And this one will get the attention of our Congress.

Pat in Rockport, TX who filled up the van for $3.73.9 this afternoon, hurrah!

Okay everyone about the Listerine mouth wash,"did you know that you can put this in a spray bottle for mosquito repelent" (sp) It works great! You might smell like mouth wash alittle but it does work,you can buy the cheaper brand. It's really not that bad,the smell goes away pretty quickly. I saw this on a link sent to me and I tried it. No bites yesterday! Those bugs eat me alive "not any more"! I guess those Mosquitos don't like fresh breath!!!
Kathy

dogquilter wrote: I just did that - bought some "web specials" from Connecting Threads. They're never going to be cheaper than they are now!

retiredgrandma5 wrote:
In my humble opinion, you saved money by buying anything sewing related........the prices will go up.....you saved money. I look at it like an investment. Save the saving for somewhere else in your life. just kidding you know.

I grew up with a mom who grew up during the Depression. She's extreme in her abilities to "cut back" on everything! We've always lived pretty frugally and my married kids are pretty good at it too. Here are some of my suggestions:
Utilities: We really scale back our heating/cooling. We put on warm socks, sweats in the winter and drink lots of water in the hot months. We have a programmable thermostat. I have a loveseat in my main sewing area and a TV. That way hubby can spend his time in the same room as me and we only have the lights on in that room.
Food, meals: We have always packed our lunches for work. I really look for grocery bargains and use off-brands wherever I can (sometimes they're just not what we can tolerate). I'm working on not wasting leftovers.
Medications: Other than our prescriptions, all OTC meds are off-brand. They contain exactly the same ingredients. Any pharmacist or dr will tell you that ibuprofen is ibuprofen, whether it's called Motrin or something else. Same goes for Claritin (loratadine) or Zyrtek (cetrizine HCl), Tylenol (acetaminophen) and on and on. Read the labels.

Probably my greatest advice is: "Think before you buy anything." What makes you want to buy it? Will you still want it next week? A great book on the subject is "Living on Less and Liking it More" by Maxine Hancock. I don't agree with everything in it, but it's been a good guide for many years. I think we will all see harder times before they get better, and I certainly want to have enough funds to support my quilting habit. Nancy

Someone was talking about watering down mouthwash... not a really good idea as you need the full strength to get the benifits...

I do water down the shampoo and conditioner... this is a trick used by many salons....I have a measured pump I use to dole out the shampoo so I know the amounts are the same. .... 2 to 1 ratio works good but you can water it down even more.... the thinned shampoo and condition works just a well as the original shampoo and has the added avantage of being easier to rinse out of your hair easily.

The only drawback with waterdown shampoo is when you travel for some unknown reason the bottle of waterdown procuct seems to leak easier than a regular bottle of shampoo... but most of the time I just use the little bottles of shampoo in the hotel room... I save them all and use the freebies when they are not supplied at other hotels.

I hate my BOSCHE dishwasher and will never buy another Bosche product. I hand wash and dry everyday meal dishes but for parties and catering I use the dishwasher... I expect it to work and do what I bought it for... wash and dry my dishes effectively.

I am not an energy hog but MY TIME IS OF VALUE, so if I use the dishwasher I expect it to save me work not give me more.

Time for a confession. I was doing very well with my cost cutting efforts and just as pleased as I could be about it until.....I went to my LQS last night for a class. Seems like I can resist temptation just about everywhere but there. Batting was on sale on Thursdays in May, last night was the last Thursday so I had to get three. I needed a quilt backing and that cute quilt from Thimbleberries was made with my granddaughter in mind. Plus the bendable light is one I've been looking at for so long and it was discounted. I figure it this way, I'm doing my part to make sure she stays in business, it's good for the local economy. Now, back to pinching pennies until old Lincoln screams.

Rachel

"Thank You for the support", it could be agreat penny pincher thing! Thats alot of money in the pocket in many ways. I Love your insight on the cancer patients/ Hospice ideas/and nursing homes((those are all great ideas)).
Kathy

I know this isn't a penny pincher thing but to those of you who are thinking of quitting smoking. There are several avenues to follow. Some of the best ones I can think of and that are probablely the most healthy and helpful are:
1. When you quit, put the money you would spend on cigs. in a jar for 6 months then treat yourself to something fantastic.
2. Do a toxin flush at least weekly. Get those toxins out of your system. This will aid you in your craving for that nicotine.
3. Your a quilter work on a quilt for a breast, ovarian, lung, or hospice patient. All while you are quilting you will be reminded why you are quilting.
4. If none of this helps you and you still want to smoke. Ask your local Hospice or hospital if there is a cancer patient whose family could use a break and if you could volunteer your services to sit with thier loved one. Many times these places are desparate for volunteers and caregivers are so burned out that the break is such a blessing. I can almost guarentee you that the next cig. you light will make you think twice.

My father quit smoking right after my 6 sinus surgery. The Dr. told him that if he didn't then every year I would be having surgeries. The polyps they were removing should precancerous cells. He said it was just a matter of time. That night we came home and I had a nose bleed and a severe asthma attack. Dad never lit up again. He smoked 2-3 packs a day from the time he was 14. He quit when he was 48. Have faith it isn't easy but you can do it. Rachel

Some of the things we have done here is we are renovating the house one room at a time - strip it to the studs, put in insulation (There was NONE in the walls!!!), drywall, and Low E replacement windows. I wish we could afford to do it all at one time, but the cost is just too much for us right now. Also we have a fairly good sized garden in this year (each year we expand a little further - we are up to 4 plots) with tomatoes, zuccini, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, corn, spinach, carrots, lettuce, sweet peas, and a variety of herbs and onions (that sweet basil already smells heavenly!!) I freeze a lot and I also make my own tomato/pasta sauce to can each year.

Another thing I decided to finally get around and do is clean out the house and have a yard sale - the money from the sale will be used to pay for my kid's birthday party later this month. All stuff left over will be donated to the Goodwill and Catholic Charities. Meanwhile with the summer months ahead and yard sale season looming I will probably prowl other sales for kids clothes and such more than I have in the past.

As for gasoline I am trying to convince my dh to switch me cars. His thinking is that since his drive to work is so long we should save the "good" car (2006 Impala) and beat up his old car (1999 Contour). Up till recently this made sense, but the Impala actually gets much better gas mileage (26+ mpg compaired to about 21mpg on the Contour) Now I am trying to convince him that i really can make due with the old car for what I do.

Kathy

we bought a gas-guzzler car too, two years ago we bought a tahoe, we bought it for the extra room of comfort and were paying for it too, $80.00 to fill it up! I love the Macys sales too & the old navy. "Sounds like we found the same bargains at Macys". I bake breads alot if anyone has a good recipe for the buns like "ryans" has let me know please, I can't find a recipe with the same roll texture. I make wheat/raison breads and rolls but not like ryans has. I have done the bagels,pretzels/donuts. Baking your own breads,cakes,brownies,cookies from scratch saves alittle. Make your own jams/jellies. I Love the fresh hot blue berry bagels.

Our Sam's Club doesn't sell gas, so that's out. Our local convenience store has a milk club, buy 10 gallons, get the 11th for free. Not a bad deal.
We went food shopping and we did great!!! Of course I didn't have to buy much meat, we had enough. But what I did get was stuff that was on sale at 10 for $10-Hunt's spaghetti sauce in the 26 oz can. With a little bit of spice, it almost tastes homemade. DH got his yogurts 10 for $3.99.
We're going to try to buy bulk when it's on sale and stock up. I spent little enough that I can go back next week for a few of those sales. I usually have to wait because we spent so much at the commissary.
Also, our local supermarket has a program where if you're 55 or over, you get a sticker on your check cashing card and you save an additional 5% on certain days. Hey, if I have to be this age, I might as well exploit it
eileenkny