Thursday Thrift: Budget Chic Lifestyle I

So last week's Thursday Thrift topic was tips (courtesy of the Star-Ledger) for dining out thriftily.  Another article in the series is Budget Chic Lifestyle.  The article stresses the role of creativity in living less expensively (they say 'cheaply', but I find that word so aesthetically displeasing).  E.g., one person quoted uses plastic bags from Target as garbage bags and makeshift shower caps.  Forsooth!  (Now there's a quality word.)  Most creative.  Here are some of the suggestions; the rest will be in a future post.

1. Quit the gym and rock out doing stuff around the house.  E.g., if you have a cleaning service, fire them, pump up the volume and make your housecleaning into a workout.  Also, weather permitting work out outside: in the yard, helping a friend/neighbor/relative do something around their house, use the exercise stations at public parks, etc.
2. Pot luck & clothing exchange.  Invite your friends over; everyone brings a dish; plus they bring clothes that are in good condition, but that they no longer want/fit into/etc.; everyone tries on stuff, takes some items home and you've livened up your wardrobe for the cost of a covered dish.
3. Barter.  Everyone has something they can offer others...a thing or a service.  The classic barter item is to swap childcare related activities with other parents, e.g., taking turns driving the carpool or watch your friend's kids if they need to go somewhere w/o the kids.  There's probably lots of things we all have or can do that would be of value to someone else, but we don't even think of ourselves in that way.  I also think that relying on others in this way helps to strengthen relationships.
4. Puzzle night.  Buy some cheapo puzzles, invite your friends over, form teams and race to see which team finishes first.  I guess you could do this with board games, electronic games, backyard games (which reminds me: I bought a fab retro badminton set on ebay a couple of months ago and I totally forgot about it!  Now it will have to wait until spring.), etc.
5. Make your own coffee.  Kevin does this.  He used to have some at home in the morning and bring the rest of the pot in a travel mug for his drive in.  Now that he takes the train in, he just has coffee at home (being the law abiding citizen that he is, he doesn't bring food or beverages on the train).  He used to get coffee during the day at the cafeteria at work, but then his floor got one of those Keurig machines.  They have to supply their own coffee nodules, though, so he buys a bunch of boxes a few times/year.  Keurig coffee is more expensive than homemade coffee, although I don't know how it compares to coffee shop coffee (e.g., Starbucks).